Cave Boy

Content Warning: general depiction of violence 1 The Paleolithic people danced, circled the red-hot fire, cooking their latest successful hunt, a saber-tooth tiger. One boy, just shy of adulthood, participated in this hunt. When the final stick pierced the beast’s, the boy smiled as his eyes gazed upward. Last warm season, his father joined, as expected of himself, the hunt for food and perished. Leaving the boy to mourn the loss of his father’s life. This time, though, had been different, as evidence of the carcass tied up and held by sticks.  A miracle had happened when no one came back dead. Injured, yes, but not dead. That was reason enough to celebrate. Tonight, he, along with 4 other people, would watch over the camp as the others slept. The warm air caressed his skin, a small comfort for the boy as he stood guard just a few feet away from the village. To his right and a couple of distances away stood another guard, but a few years older than the boy. Darkness cloaked any possible danger, making it difficult to assess a threat by sight alone. A cluster of bushes rustled; in an instant, the guard readied his spear. He took a few steps back slowly but by then it was too late. The thing leapt out and clawed his throat. It took a few bites before it quickly became disinterested and made its way to the small village. The guard had been left to bleed out. The boy remained on guard but jumped at the sound of screaming. Screaming that came from the village. He turned his heel and dashed towards the village. He spotted the end of a saber-toothed tiger, whose front half was inside of a hut. The boy threw his spear at it, earning its attention. He realized his mistake when it ran towards him. He was weaponless, while the tiger only needed its claws and razor-shaped teeth to deal a killing blow. Leaving him with no other choice but to run. And he did. The starry sky was his only guide through the woods. He brushed past branches, trunks and many other things to avoid the tiger behind him. The familiar sound of a growl and the rustling of trees rang in his ears. It’s still behind me, he thought. He ran, turned this way, and that way till he lost it. A fainting blue glow lit the ground, turned his attention towards it, headed for it. Swirling into infinity, floating slightly above the ground was a blue hole, burning brightly in the darkness. The boy barely managed to squint at it. He cautiously took a step , putting his arm up as a shield. It was completely blue, and besides the faint swirling, static. A familiar growl sounded behind him, along with cracks and breaks of sticks closing in on him. He turned around. The saber-toothed tiger. While he was distracted, the tiger almost completely sneaked up on him. The tiger pounced. He shrieked, falling into the blue glow behind him. His eyes shut tight for the longest time before he opened them again. Slowly. The growls that blared into his ears were short and high-pitched. All coming in at different intervals. Something completely unlike anything he had heard before. A pounding sensation ached his forehead. He rubbed his temples, scouring the area. His oncoming headache worsened. Nothing looked familiar to him at all. Four-legged beasts breezed past him, roaring along the way. He slowly stood up, legs shook with intensity, breath came in short bursts. His eyes darted widely for any sense of familiarity. What was this? These four-legged beasts had eyes that glowed through the night but much brighter! He held his head, crouching to shield himself. A four-legged roared, stopping just before him. A dark-shaped person of average height stepped out of it, walking towards him. He squinted at the shape, vaguely reminiscent of the females of his village. It squatted just inches. He heard a noise. A voice. It came from the shadowed person. It- She sounded like one of the female villagers. She grabbed him, helped him stand up. Taking a closer look at the shadow, it was unfamiliar and familiar all the same. She did look like one of them but it was so strange. She smiled while he ogled the strange being. She led him to the four-legged beast and drove off. 2 “And this?” She pointed to a picture of the playground.  “U-uh..A playground?” “Yes, that’s right.” She put the photo in a scrapbook. She smiled at the boy. “You’re improved a lot. I’m proud of you.” The woman, who the boy would come to know as Jane, said. The boy scratched his nose, eyes downward. “T-Thank you.” “We’re going to step it up a bit tomorrow. I’m sure you’re ready for it.” She stood up, leaving the kitchen. “I have to go, behave!” She called out from behind the kitchen door. The boy’s eyes scoured the kitchen, only to see the open window. Outside, he saw Jane putting on her coat before driving off. How long she would be gone or where she would go, the boy wondered. Moments later, a chirping, small blue jay perched itself on the sill. He froze. He crouched down, crawled little by little towards the bird. The bird still chirped. In an instant, the boy snatched it up. The bird wriggled, cried out, desperate to escape. It was too late. The boy unhinged his jaw and bit into it. He repeatedly did so till the bird cried no more. His eyes lit up, breathing excitedly over his hunt. He jumped to the sound of a woman’s screaming. Jane. She stood between the door frame, covering her mouth and eyes wide-open. She rushed to the boy,smacked his hands away. The bird dropped to the ground with a soft thud. She held the boy. “What’s wrong with you!?” She shook him. “Huh?” The boy was stunned. ” Answer me!” She continued. After an hour, They arrived at a small-time clinic. Dr.Williams’s Health Clinic. Jane squeezed the boy’s hand, dragging him inside. He was forced to sit in a chair near the exit while Jane spoke to a woman behind a desk who was currently chewing on something. They exchange a few lines before Jane sat down with the boy. Jane crossed her arms and huffed. The boy tugged her sleeve, a gesture that earned a smack from her hand. With furrowed brows, she turned to him, and replied. “Hm?” “Uh..W-where are we?” He splat out.  “The Clinic.” She huffed. The boy frowned, stared at the ground and fiddled with his thumbs. How long would they have to wait, he wanted to ask but one look at Jane deterred him. Alas, a stocky man with a handlebar mustache came out from the back door and spoke. “Ms. Freeman?” Jane stood up and gently nudged the boy to follow suit, which he did. She smiled at the man. “Yes?” “Come with me, please.” He said, waving them in his direction. They followed. In the tiny off-white, cleaned of any dust, room, the boy was instructed to sit on a strange-looking bed propped up high so that he had to do a small jump to sit on it comfortably. Jane sat on one of the chairs. The doctor withdrew a small flashlight from his breast pocket and spoke. “Open-wide.” The boy yawned “Good. Keep it like that.” The doctor said, as he swished the mini flashlight around his mouth. He hummed, putting it away. “Nothing wrong here.” The boy nodded his head but ran his tongue along his teeth, feeling the cracks and bits missing. He saw Jane’s teeth and couldn’t help noticing how perfectly white they were. No bits missing. Did that mean something was wrong with her teeth? The doctor nodded to Jane. “Step outside with me, please.” Jane and the doctor both stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them. The boy sat perfectly still but tuned to the noises just outside the door. They spoke in hushed tones. The boy could only make out a few words.  ‘Play’,’Food’,’Warning’.  Was it about Jane’s teeth? A few moments later, the two stepped back inside again. Jane remained close to the door, smiling. “It seems there’s nothing wrong here but don’t be afraid to contact me if anything else goes wrong, alright?” The doctor said, His glance landed on the boy but he felt that that statement was more directed to Jane than him. Soon enough, they both left and returned home.  The boy spoke immediately once they were in the living room. “Jane, what’s wrong with your teeth?” 3  Jane quirked a single brow. “What do you mean?”  “I – uh – I mean, at the doctors’, they told me my teeth were good but, uh, what ’bout you?” Jane laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with my teeth, silly.” She motioned her arm. “Come here.” He did so and then Jane embraced him. The boy’s heart thumped. She pulled away just as quickly as she hugged him. Patting his head, shesaid, “Go to bed, okay?” The boy shook his head ‘yes’, doing as he was told. The morning came and the boy shook. Only a dead silence greeted him. No birds, bugs, or cars sung for him. Only this eerie silence that weighed on him heavily. He leapt out of his bed and brushed his teeth. Afterwards,he stopped by the kitchen. Nothing. No signs of someone, Jane, had rummaged through the kitchen to cook something. His eyes flitted to the ground, landing on a strange object soaked in something he knew all too well. Blood. He’d stepped back. His mind raced through every single possibility, only to end at a single one. Jane was hurt. He ran around the house, no hint that Jane was there. His breath ragged, he stumbled about in the hallway. He jumped at the sound of the front door lock unlatching and opening. He spotted Jane standing in the doorway. He swooped her in his arms and hugged her, crying. “J-Jane!” He hiccuped. “I was looking for you! Where did you go!?” Jane chuckled, patting his head. “I went shopping.” She held up an armful of grocery bags. “What’s wrong with you?” “I thought you were hurt.” “Huh?” The boy showed her the strange blood-soaked object that laid in the kitchen. Her eyes widened, when her breath got caught in her throat. She eyed the boy in an expression that the boy found impossible to decipher. Seconds had passed till Jane wiped the floor with a cloth and picked up the object. The boy offered his hand, suggested to Jane that he should take care of it. Jane refused.. “I’ll hold on to this, okay?” She crossed the hallway, stopping just before the door(usually locked every time the boy came across it), and stepped into the basement. It was unlocked now? The boy watched over, curious to see what lay beyond the shadows. The boy took a small step before he heard a voice shout. “Don’t follow me! It’ll be just a sec!” Jane said. It sounded like a warning and he was tired of warnings. He tip-toed till he was right in front of the door. A descending staircase blanketed in shadow awaited him. He strained his eyes to see if he could spot Jane down below. Nothing. He tip-toed closer. A shout rang out. A man’s voice. Heart pounding against his ribcage, he sprinted down the staircase. Jane! He wanted to shout out her name, but couldn’t. Finally, at the bottom of the staircase, he saw it. There was a man, one that resembled many of the older men at his village, but laying down in a pool of his own blood. The man hacked up more of it. A dying man. Towering him above was something the boy had never seen before. The thing towered over him, much like Jane, paired with razor-sharp teeth and fangs, like the saber-tooth tiger, and a body that thinned out the shirt. A shirt that was very similar…to Janes’? He stepped back, bumping into the concrete wall. His throat tightened. A guttural voice spoke. “Run.” And he did, skipping over steps, and dashed to the kitchen. He reached out and grabbed a knife, and stayed in the corner of the kitchen, waiting. He heard someone ascending the stairs. Someone. Like a person. Not th-that thing. He clutched the knife tighter, sweat glistened his forehead and along the nape of his neck. The footsteps inched closer. A hand, a human hand, held the door and swung it opened. It was Jane, smiling. Instead of the dress shirt she usually wore, like today, she was now wearing a graphic tee with a silly cartoon on it. She wrinkled her brow, head tilted. “What’s wrong?” He brandished the knife. “S-stay back!” “Why?” She stepped closer. “I said, stay back!” “Who do you think you are-“, Another step. “to tell me what to do?” “I’m serious!” “I’m also serious.” She inched closer. “I’m serious now,” Closer. “Then,” Closer. “And the day before.” Her neck bent strangely, her face stretched and twisted. Her arms grew, spreading the fabric thin;the nails sharpened into knives. “Let’s do this again. I’m Jane.” She reached out to grab him but met a s***h from a cold blade. Blood spurted and coated his face. He ducked, taking advantage of the opening he created, and dashed out of the kitchen. He turned on his heel and faced the monster, readying his weapon. Jane shook the wounded hand, baring her teeth. She stomped past the kitchen, growling. The boy breathed heavily before- Jane dash towards him at lighting speed, the boy swung wildly at the air till his blade hit flesh. He opened his eyes. Jane’s face. He actually managed to hit her in the face. He tried to plunge it deeper but alas, it was no use. It’d stuck there. He tried pulling it out to the same effect. Stuck. Jane swiped for one last time but missed as the boy lunged himself back, crashing onto the couch. He groaned, clutching his side. Did he break something? He eyed Jane for the last time, who still swiped the air with reckless abandon. Till her arms met her side, and a long drawn out groan escaped her lips and she fell to the ground. The boy caught his breath, free to do so. A long, high-pitched horn blared out, along with red and blue lights peeking through the blinds. Repeated banging on the door made him jump. The door slammed open. Two men dressed in similar clothing walked through. They exchanged looks back and forth between him and Jane. They walked to the boy, binding his wrists in chains. They escorted him to a different looking four-legged beast but it burned bright red and blue. They pushed him to the back of it while they climbed the front. As they drove, one of them spoke into a little black machine. “This is Officer Wright. We have 4120.” A beep and then a murmur. “Yeah, one of them escaped. We will be returning them to the food processing plant. Over.”