Primitive

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xx. THREE .xx

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When I open my eyes, everything is blurry. As my vision starts clearing, I can see I'm in a cave of some kind, and my wrists are chained to the wall. I can feel an all-too-familiar wave of panic coming on. That trapped feeling, the overwhelming knowledge that I'm in a position I didn't put myself in. As the memory of that fear comes back, so does something else. A trick, something I did as a kid whenever I was afraid.



I clear my throat a little, and my voice is tinny, echoing through the cave as I start trying to work my hands free. "I am thinking it's a sign, that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images, and when we kiss, they're perfectly aligned.."



Something in the cave lets out a growl,

and I shiver, pulling my wrists harder against the iron cuffs. I let out a soft grunt as they dig in, bruising the bone as I struggle, my voice lowering to a whisper. "But it's thoughts like this that catch my troubled head when you're away when I am missing you to death.."



"Hebu! Nyamaza!" snaps a male voice, and I close my mouth quickly, shaken by the suddeness of it. "Mzuri sana. Tutaondoka na tutaruhusu wewe rudi kwako. Kwa bahati nzuri, gumu shujaa." One of the men from earlier moves into the light, bending forward on one knee, just slightly.



I press my back flat against the wall as he approaches me with his staff held like a broadsword. What a way to go. He couldn't have just eviscerated me in my sleep, like any respectable cave-dwelling evil.. thing? If you gotta go, go out with a bang, I always say. "As much as I'm enjoying this little safari to the Twilight Zone, I've got a blind date tonight. So if you could just go ahead and kill me now, I'd appreciate it."



"Uko mlezi. Unataka kuuawa?" His dark features curve up into a smile and I close my eyes, wishing the blow would just come. But when it does, it comes above my head and shatters the cuffs around my wrists, allowing me to drop to the ground.



I stare at his feet. "I'm not one for hero worship, but I'll just.. uh.. stay here. In case worshipping is the kinda thing that'll save my neck. And my other parts."



"Uko mlezi," he says again, before his sandled feet begin shuffling away. I stay like that for a long time, maybe an hour. They don't come back, and shaking, I climb to my feet.



I glance around the cave frustratedly, and let out a scream. "What the fuck was.. all of that? Where the fuck am I? What the fuck is happening?" I pause, listening to my echo for a moment. "..and where the FUCK are you when I need some help, B?"



I sink onto a rock and rub my bruised wrists hopelessly. I kind of want to cry, but.. hell. I'm sure I've been through worse than this and not gotten all weepy about it. I also kind of hope that they let Buffy go, too, and she's out there wandering around somewhere, just as lost as I am. Except maybe she'll have found water.



Something shuffles further into the cave, just out of my sight. I decide to make a hasty getaway, and start to stand, but the sound comes closer. A lot closer.



"I ain't 'fraid of no ghost.." I whisper.



There's just a little bit of light seeping from the entrance of the cave--a fact that makes me suddenly realize I've been in here all night--and it's just enough to see a small, pale figure moving towards me.



"Oh, fuck this shit." I'll deny it if I'm questioned later, but I turn and haul ass towards the exit, fast than I've ever moved in my life. I almost wet my pants when I hear the thing following me and gaining quickly. Oh god, I'm gonna die. Some staff-wielding cave-ghost is going to kill me. I'm going to die out here in the desert, alone. I'm going to die slowly, painfully.



The worst thing is, I'm going to die and no one's going to miss me.



The thing that's chasing me hits my back and I hit the ground, sliding through the dirt like the Sox's first home run of the season, with this thing on top of me. I close my eyes and my mouth, cursing myself for not rolling into it.. again. I could have used the thing's weight to my advantage and flipped it right off me. Instead, I stop just short of sliding head-first into a rock, and close my eyes again, waiting to be ripped into.



I feel the thing's fur.. fringe? Something soft, brushing against my neck as it.. sniffs me. It's sniffing me? Maybe it's like.. a cave dog. It climbs off me and I feel a very human hand on my back as it sniffs me again.



I gather up as much courage as I can and cautiously turn my head to see what it is.



There, crouching on the ground, naked (naked?) and covered in sand, is a very confused-looking Buffy.



"Oh, jesus christ. I thought you were a cave dog!" I start to roll over and she growls, stunning me into stillness again. "Uh.. B? What's.. what's with you?"



She points a finger at me accusingly and opens her mouth, letting out some kind of a grunt. I scoot back slowly to sit against a rock, and she lets me, but follows me with her eyes like she expects an attack of some kind.



"Buffy, what did they do to you?"



She shakes her head quickly and looks up at the sky, then takes off running in the opposite direction of the cave.



Well.. shit.