It took a surprising amount of time for them to make it to the cave they saw in the distance. The sun was getting real low in the sky and the freezing temperature was only getting worse. The mouth of the cave was almost completely covered in snow. Only a large black circle could be seen from the outside.
Tom and Alex did their best to clear a path inside. They used their hands to move some of the snow out of the way. By the time they were done, Alex's hands were frozen to the bone and even Tom's were turning red.
Inside, the temperature wasn't much better but it at least blocked the wind. Thinking about caves on earth made Alex wonder if maybe something lived here. On earth there wasn't a single cave that wasn't lived in by something as far as he knew. It could be bears or wolves or something. But for an alien planet? He felt paranoid just thinking about it.
He took a quick look around the cave but came up empty handed. There was no sign of anything having lived here. The others were already getting settled near the mouth of the cave, just far enough inside for the insulation.. Tom used his watch to open a small rift and pulled out another fur cloth like the one he gave to Alex, but this one was for Daniel.
It seemed whatever they had that made them resistant to the cold didn't work for Daniel as much.
Feeling curious, Alex wanted to explore deeper into the cave. This was a real life alien planet. He would be stupid to not want to explore as much of it as possible. "I'm gonna take a look deeper inside!." He called out to the others.
"Try not to get killed!" Tom replied without even looking.
Rose on the other hand looked a bit concerned. "Just be careful!"
"I will!" He started to move deeper and quickly found the light from the mouth of the cave fading fast. It got so dark he couldn't even see his hand waving in front of his face. He moved to try and retrace his steps to go ask if Tom maybe had a light inside that rift he keeps pulling things from, but he was only able to take a few steps before feeling weightless all of a sudden. Was he falling?
For a moment he couldn't tell. It was too dark to see anything. He could only feel the air brushing against him and then a loud crashing sound echoed through the cave. He must have blacked out because when he came to he was still lying on the ground but he could here Tom and the others calling out from somewhere above him.
It was still dark yet there was a faint glow coming from somewhere ahead of him. Before he got up, he wiggled each of his limbs one at a time to feel if he was wounded anywhere. Surprisingly he was perfectly fine. It seemed something had cushioned his fall.
Alex slowly got to his feet and walked towards the soft blue glow he saw in the distance. It wasn't that far away from where he landed. It looked like some kind of crystal. It was protruding from the stone wall of the cave. He poked it with his finger just incase it was hot or something. It wasn't.
He firmly grasped it with both hand and gave it a hard yank. It gave a little and with another pull it finally came loose. Thankfully it didn't lose its glow and continued to shine blue. With this he could now use it to see in the dark. It gave off as much light as your standard lighter but in the pitch black of the cave it was equivalent to a lighthouse.
He held the crystal out in front of him and spun around trying to get his bearings. From what he could tell, the cave had given out when he walked over a weak spot and now there was a huge hole above him.
He pointed the crystal forward and walked in the same direction until he hit a wall. He placed his hand on the wall and kept it on his left as he moved. He did this until he had a pretty good mental map of the area. From what he could tell, he was in a small room like space around the size of a bedroom.
Having mapped the perimeter, he now moved inward. For a few steps he only saw rocks and pebbles. Then a bedroll came into view. He had seen people use bedrolls like this when they go camping. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on but it had to be better than the stone floor he guessed.
But why was there a bedroll here in the first place? If what Tom and Rose had told him about being on an alien planet was true, then why did it look like someone had been here before. The farther he moved the more evidence he saw. There was the bedroll, then he found an old looking backpack, and a bunch of papers spread out on the cave floor.
He sat the crystal down and opened up the backpack hoping to find... well, something. He dumped the contents out on the ground. What fell out was exactly what he expected. A pan most likely used for cooking, a bowl, a fork, and a journal.
It looked old, really old. Whoever left this stuff here was long gone, of that he was sure. He blew the dust off the cover of the journal and opened it up. Maybe the person had kept notes on what they were doing here and where they went. Maybe.
He pulled open the crusty pages and found the first page. "It's been three days since the accident. My brother is nowhere to be found. I'm worried about him, but I fear I wont be worried for long. I was able to make it away and found a cave to hide in but sustained injuries." Alex read aloud from the journal. He tore his eyes away and looked around until he found a skeleton sitting in the corner of the room.
It must have been the person that he was reading about. "They got me good. I don't believe I'll survive the night. Liam, if your reading this somehow, they didn't get it. I hid it in this cave where I hope it will be safe. You must get it and return home. Its the only chance for survival we have. Good luck." That's all that was written. Alex closed the journal and shoved it into his pocket.
Just what was it he was talking about? It sounded like he was running from someone and they were after something he had. If what he said was true and it was hidden somewhere in this room then Alex wanted to find it. If this person was willing to die for it then it must be valuable.
Unfortunately, just by looking around there did seem like there was any place something could be hidden. Alex went through the persons things again just to make sure. He ruffled through weird looking clothes and personal items. Nothing.
Alex spent twenty minutes looking around for this thing mentioned in the journal but still couldn't find it. This guy really knew how to hide things. He must have really not wanted the people that were after him to find it.
Well, there was only one place in this room that he hadn't checked yet. Mr. skeleton's body. He was trying to avoid his body this whole time but there was nowhere else to look. He took a second to build up the courage and approached the skeleton.
It looked like it had been here for years. Maybe someone had already came and retrieved the thing. Like the brother he mentioned in his journal. "Liam."
Either way he felt compelled to find out for sure. I mean surely this guy didn't just hide it on himself right? That's what Alex was hoping. He slowly reached out with his hand and attempted to move the bones.
He didn't know why but he thought the bones would stay together. They didn't. As soon as he tried to move them, they fell apart and into a pile on the floor. A huge amount of dust flew up into his face making him cough and wave his hands around to try and clear the air.
"Fuck, that's gross. I just inhaled a dead person..." He stood there for a moment disgusted, but then he saw something sticking out of the bone pile. It was just the guys jacket. His skeleton was still wearing it after all this time. Alex decided to take it, and after dusting it off, he put it on under the fur Tom gave him. It was a nice jacket. It was black in color with a strong but comfortable texture. Back on earth this would probably cost a hundred or two dollars. And it fit perfectly which surprised him.
With maximum bravery, he stuck his hands in the bone pile and tried to feel around for anything. Sadly he only gained a bad memory from the experience and nothing else. Whatever, someone must have already gotten it. He needed to get back to the others.
With great sadness, he started looking for a way out of this room he fell into. There was no way for him to climb back up the hole so he had to go down the only tunnel leading out of this room.