Free Cave Dwellers by Jonathan Randall Page A

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.”
       Zaac shook his head, trying to clear it.
       “If you put one hand on my shoulder and hold my hand with the other, do you think that may be enough to steady you? I’ll lead us as well as I can.    
    Ramira reached around and took his left hand in her left hand.  “Now place your right hand on my shoulder.”
       With Zaac gripping her, she started forward. She navigated him around boulders, helped him to duck and assisted him over obstacles. She had to stop at one point to squeeze through a narrow enclosure, then helped him do the same thing. Progress was slow but they pressed on.
       Abruptly she came to a halt. “There’s a hole here around three feet across. It looks like a chimney that goes down. I’m going to jump across, then guide you up to the edge. I will reach across and take your hand. When I say jump, you leap across after me. You should be able to jump across without a problem.”
       “I don’t know. Maybe I should build a fire so that I can see to jump across.”
       “Sure, if you want but it would take more time to get a fire going than it would to just make the jump.”
       Zaac thought about it for a few seconds. She was right, even if he didn’t like the situation. “Okay. I am going to trust you. Just don’t let me fall.”
       Ramira couldn’t help but smile. “If I let you fall, who will keep me company?”
       He couldn’t argue with that. “I’m ready when you are.”
       Within a minute, they were both safely across. They continued up the cave, travelling steadily for several hours before Ramira suddenly stopped.
       “What?” Zaac asked.
       “There appear to be boulders sticking out from each of the walls. On the other side of the boulders, there are some shapes—a lot of little creatures on the walls and along the floor. Some type of bug or something. There are also a couple of larger creatures. I’m not sure what they are but they may be eating the bugs. I’ve watched you build fires. Let me try so we can get a better look.”
       Gathering the supplies caused enough noise that whatever varmints were there scurried away. It took several tries but Ramira managed to get a good sized spark on the cotton ball, which jumped into a flame. She had torn a page into shreds and she added those, soon getting a tiny fire going.
       “I wonder what they were.” Zaac was very interested. “That is the first life form we’ve come across besides insects.”
       Ramira used her hands as she tried to describe them. “They were the size of a groundhog or raccoon. Hopefully we’ll get a better look at them later. But the most important thing is what they were doing here.”
       “What do you mean?” Zaac asked in bewilderment.
       “They were eating bugs.” She walked to the boulders. Reaching across, she picked a bug off of the wall. Taking a few steps further, she bent over and grabbed another one off the cave floor. She turned around and came back holding a bug in each hand. Sitting beside Zaac, she held them close to the fire, where they could see. One was a cave cricket. The