Cave Dwellers (8 page)

   Eventually they came to a small cavern with a wall nine to ten feet high. Above that was a ledge.

   “Good place for a break,” Zaac said.

   Ramira flopped down. “Yes!”

   He built a fire and in its light they could see what appeared to be the same type of fungi that had been growing on the flowstone, a pale yellow, stringy organic matter. It was a species of lichen, so far undiscovered.

   “What is that?” Ramira asked rubbing her hand across it.

   “Some type of lichen, I think. Lichen is a combination of algae and fungus. I remember
reading that only about two million species of flora have been discovered, yet there are probably between five to one hundred million species in existence.” Zaac sat down beside her.

   “I have a feeling that we’ll see a lot of things down here that other people haven’t seen.” She tried consciously to relax her body which was getting stiff with all the exertion she had to put out.

   Zaac got some water out of his pack and handed it to Ramira. They both took a few swallows, looking up at the ledge. They could see an opening a few feet back from the edge where the cave continued.

   “Do you think we can reach it?” Ramira asked.

   “I think so. I’ll try jumping up and get a hold on the edge. Then I’ll hoist myself. I can help pull you up.” Zaac stretched, trying to relax. He had been sitting only for a moment when he jumped back up, jerking off his jeans.

   “What are you doing?” Ramira asked, astonished.

   “Something is biting me.” He saw several ants crawling on his legs. They had a white exoskeleton with a tan pigmentation. They were fierce.

   “Where did these come from?” He brushed at them frantically.

   Throwing a couple more pages on the fire, he could see that he had stirred up a colony. Making sure no more were crawling on him, he shook his pants and turned each leg inside out to scrutinize it. Reaching the conclusion that they crawled on him and not the material, he put the jeans back on. Going to the opposite side of Ramira, he sat back down.

   “All of these creepy crawlies seem to be hungry down here. Someone forgot to tell them that we are above them in the food chain.”

   “We can designate you to instruct them in the proper order of nature.” Ramira laughed.

   Zaac got up. “Let’s give this a try.”

   Ramira stood back, allowing him room to jump. He took a couple of bounds and leapt. His fingers missed the edge by a good eight inches. Going back further, he tried it again, jumping even higher. This time his fingers barely touched the tip of the ledge. He crashed against the wall and fell back. Trying it one more time, he reached the same spot as before, allowing his fingers to graze the edge but not enough to grab hold. There had to be a way.

   “If I intertwine my hands and give you a boost while you jump, do you think you might be able to reach it?” Ramira asked.

   “It’s worth a try.”

   Ramira stepped up to the wall, interlocking her fingers. Bending over slightly, Zaac placed one foot in her hands.
“On the count of three—one, two and three.”

   Zaac jumped as Ramira shoved upward. He was able to grasp the ledge with the edge of his fingers. With this hold, he pulled his body up, getting first his elbows and then his knees onto the ledge. She passed him the packs and was soon beside him.

   After a moment to catch their breath, they forged ahead up the passage with what little light the cellphone afforded. Zaac pointed the phone at his feet and held one hand up, moving it back and forth in front of his face to avoid any obstacles.

   Suddenly Ramira spoke up, “I think we need to take the fork to the left.”

   Zaac paused, “What fork to the left?”

  
“The one just ahead.” Ramira pointed with her hand.

   Taking four more steps, Zaac reached a fork that branched to the right and left. He gave Ramira a look, lifting his eyebrows. Without a word, he took the fork to the left.

   They continued for another hour before the cellphone’s light dimmed. Zaac started a fire. Even using the pages sparingly, he was tearing out a good portion of what was left of the trig book.

   “You might want to help me here,” He suggested.

   “What are you going to do?”

   “We’re going to combine two pages and roll them up to make a single long one. We’ll use them as torches, lighting one after another.”

   After they rolled the pages into long cylindrical tubes, Zaac asked, “Can you hold most of them and pass them to me as I need them? I’ll hold one, using it as a torch, and light the other when it dies down. If I have too many in my hand, I’m afraid I might catch more than one on fire.”

   “Yes. I can do that.” Ramira picked up the tubes.

   Zaac lit one from the fire. He kept another in his left hand. Ramira carried the remaining ones and they started on their way. The makeshift torches only lasted thirty to forty minutes. Before the last one went out, he rolled up a page and lit it, positioning it on the floor. He realized the pages burned more slowly rolled up than they did if he just laid them on the fire or crumpled them. They both rolled up several pages and set them aside to feed the fire.

  
“Now what?” Ramira asked. Her voice was tinged with despair.

   Zaac was at a loss. “I’m not sure what would be best. We can continue to roll up all the pages using them as torches but that will only last so long. Then we will be in complete darkness. You must be getting hungry because I’m starving.”

   “Me too. The Snickers and crackers yesterday morning didn’t last too long.” Ramira felt her stomach rumble at the thought of food.

   “You want to get some sleep and see how we feel after a few hours rest?” Zaac thought sleep might get their minds off hunger.

   “We might as well. But I already know that I’ll wake up hungry.” Ramira lay down, trying to get comfortable.

   They were soon fast asleep. As the fire died down, the shadows disappeared and the darkness settled around them. The only sounds were their rhythmic breathing.

7

   Ramira woke first after sleeping for six hours. Hunger gnawed at her. Zaac also awoke famished. He found his fire starter kit. It took a bit longer without any light source but soon he had a fire going.

   Getting out the last bottle of Gatorade, he handed it to Ramira. Taking a few swallows, she said, “I’m starving. Are you?”

   “Yep, famished.”

   “What are we going to do? No light.
Nothing to eat. We can burn the rest of our pages as torches but when they go, we will be left with nothing down here in the dark.” Ramira was getting agitated.

   Zaac glanced up from the fire looking at her steadfastly, “Can I ask you a strange question?”

   His tone of voice made Ramira stop what she was doing. “I guess so. What is it?”

   Zaac struggled to word his question appropriately. “Have you ever had a sixth sense about seeing things before you saw them? I know that sounds weird but it is the best way that I can explain it.”

   “No,” Ramira replied instantly. “Not that I can remember.”

   “Well. You have displayed that quality three times now. The last time you knew that fork was there before we reached it and you also knew which way to go. How did you know it was there?”

   “I don’t know,” Ramira replied. “It is like my mind pictured it even though I couldn’t see it.”

   Sitting there putting pages on the fire, he wondered how she would feel about his next suggestion. He knew that she’d probably balk at it but he couldn’t think of anything else.

   “Maybe you had this ability but since you never had to use it, you didn’t know it was there. These extraordinary circumstances have brought it out.”

   “You make it sound like I’m psychic or something,” Ramira said.

   “No. I don’t think it is psychic. I’m not exactly sure what it is. But it does look like you have a gift and maybe it just needs to be more developed to reach its full potential.”

   Ramira thought about that. “How do you suggest that we do that?”

   Zaac knew that he was about to blow her mind. “I was thinking along the line that maybe you could try to lead us down here in the dark.”

  
“You what? Are you crazy?” She thought Zaac had flipped. “There is no way that I’m going to lead us in this nightmare down here.”

   “I’ll be right behind you all the way. When the space allows us, I’ll walk beside you.” Zaac paused for a moment to let Ramira absorb what he was saying. “If you like, we can hold hands. That way you’ll know that I’m with you.”

   “It’s bad enough being down here period. It will scare me to death trying to lead us in the dark. Just the thought of it gives me the creeps.”

   “Will you at least try? You never know until you give it a shot.”

   Ramira thought about it for several minutes. She definitely did not want to lead them around in the dark. He must have lost his mind to even suggest it. But she had done some strange things the last few days. Maybe she did have a gift that she was just now starting to experience. She had no other explanation for what her brain had showed her recently.

   Ramira was indeed experiencing a very strange phenomenon, one that no human had experienced before. The bat bites, the bat saliva, had caused a change in her biological functions. Her vocal cords had transformed, along with her ears and eardrums. She was intermittently sending out vocal signals that were being picked up and processed through her ears to her brain. Her brain was then processing the information and giving her a visual image in her head. In layman’s terms, she was beginning to acquire echolocation, much like bats use for navigation. It would become a lot more acute in the coming days.

   “I’ll give it a try,” Ramira responded finally. “But I want you holding my hand every step of the way.”

   “You don’t have to worry about that,” Zaac said. “I won’t be able to see a thing. I will definitely be holding your hand.”

   She reached out with her right hand and took a hold of Zaac’s left. They started up the cave passage.

   “Put your hand on my shoulder, I need both hands to feel my way along.” She lifted his hand to her shoulder.

   She extended both hands, trying to feel in the dark. He placed his left hand on her shoulder and tried to use his right hand to feel anything that protruded.

   “Let’s step to the right,” he suggested. “We can place our right hand on the wall and use that as a guide.”

   “I’m starting to get very dizzy. I think the darkness is throwing off my equilibrium.” Ramira’s knees started to tremble.

   “I am too.” Zaac’s head began to spin.

   They reached out to touch the wall. Holding onto it, they stood swaying, trying to regain their balance.

   “I don’t think this is going to work.” Zaac hoped that he wouldn’t fall over.

   Ramira’s head started to spin also. Her body began to sway. Her breathing increased with fear. She was having a panic attack. She opened her mouth to take more air into her lungs. Unknown to her, that allowed her to send air waves vibrating out from her vocal cords. They resonated off the cave walls and came back to her in signals. Her brain processed those signals and an image appeared in her mind of the cave passage surrounding her. The image was faint, but it was there.

   Closing her mouth, she reached out to touch the far wall, working from the image in her brain. As
soon as she closed her mouth and started forward, the image disappeared. Dizziness engulfed her and she fell to her knees. With another panic attack starting, she opened her mouth again to take in more air. Once more, the signals were sent out and retrieved, allowing the image to reappear in her brain. Her breathing slowed. The dizziness faded. She stood and stepped over to the far wall, touching it. Without realizing it consciously, she instinctively knew to keep her mouth open, allowing the image to stay.

   She turned and walked back to Zaac. He had knelt because of the vertigo he was experiencing.

   Ramira knelt down beside him. “Zaac, how are you feeling?”

   “I’m a little lightheaded and dizzy. This darkness plays strange tricks on your mind.” His voice had a slight quaver.

   “Here. Take my hands.” Reaching down, she held out her hands to him allowing him to touch them. She helped him to stand. “I know this will sound strange, but I have a mental image of you and the cave passage in my head. It’s like I can see in the dark, yet I can’t see a thing with my eyes.”