Danny had always prided himself on his ability to survive in any situation. He had once trekked across the Swiss Alps with nothing but a small backpack. He knew exactly how to make fire from two sticks and a block of wood. He knew how to forage for berries and mushrooms and even knew a wide variety of edible mushrooms. It was because of all these skills that Danny knew that he was going to survive here in the prehistoric era.
It still didn't stop him from screaming at the sky for a full five minutes willing an anomaly to magically appear.
It didn't work.
The only thing screaming seemed to achieve was attract the attention of the pre-hominids. One of them – a particularly hairy specimen – shambled over and poked Danny. Danny couldn't help but notice that this one was obviously male.
"Go away!" he snapped.
The only effect this had was to encourage more of them to come over. One of them made a grunting sound and pushed at Danny from behind.
He stumbled slightly. "Oi!" he said, turning around. "There will be no touching those areas." He gestured vaguely around groin. "Get it? No touching! No touching!" He mimed touching and then slapped his hand hard.
The pre-hominids blinked at him in obvious confusion.
"No touching!" Danny tried again, with more emphasis.
There were a few more grunts and then suddenly, Danny found himself being carried by four particularly strong and hairy-looking brutes. He tried to struggle but it was apparent that life in the prehistoric era was very good at muscle-building.
After a few minutes, he found himself unceremoniously dumped down onto the hard ground. Looking around, Danny found himself lying on a huge flat stone that seemed to be some form of platform. Or sacrifice ground, he realised as he peered closer at some of the dried stains. They seemed to be blood.
Danny could feel his heart pounding. This wasn't good. He had heard of remote tribes in modern Africa that still practiced the art of human sacrifice. It hadn't seemed that important to listen to that class then, but now, he wished fervently that he had paid more attention. Maybe the teacher might have given some hints as to how to get out of being a human sacrifice.
He scanned the surrounding areas but couldn't see any pre-hominids around. He frowned. From what he could remember, there should have been lots of chanting – or in this case, grunting. However, as far as he could tell, it was only him there. In fact, there didn't seem to be anything threatening around at all. Danny supposed that he might have been thrown here to be at the mercy of a wild prehistoric animal that these pre-hominids had to appease, but it certainly wasn't here.
Well, Danny decided, it was obviously the right time to try to escape.
He winced as he got up onto his feet. As far as he could tell, the platform seemed to be at the end of a long narrow canyon that was surrounded on three sides by high walls and the only way out seemed to be by a narrow winding pathway.
Danny gulped. It was beginning to feel more and more like a trap. There was probably some horrible dinosaur waiting to come down that path and eat him. He felt for the knife strapped to his belt. It was still there. He drew it and held it in front of him. He was definitely not going down without a fight.
It was with the knife glinting in the sunlight in front of him, that Danny ventured slowly down the path. He had turned around two corners and walked approximately twenty metres when he suddenly came across a strange sight.
The walls of the canyon seemed to be carpeted with some sort of green vine. As Danny watched, the vine seemed to creep closer to him.
His grip tightened on the knife as he ventured forward.
Then, without warning, one of the vines snapped forward and lashed violently at his face. Danny jumped back. He shuddered and was thankful for his quick reflexes because where he was standing just a second ago was now covered with writhing vines grasping out blindly in search for him. The vine that had struck out at him was now flowering. A beautiful bright red flower grew out of the tip of the vine.
Danny had a really bad feeling about this one. He stepped backwards again as the vines crept closer. It was like something out of a nightmare. Obviously the pre-hominids had left him here as some sort of sacrifice for the vines. He was probably supposed to be out cold while the vines crept slowly towards him. Perhaps they used the flowers for something or ate them. Danny really didn't care. He wasn't about to be killed by a bunch of vines.
He felt around in his pockets. String. Elastic band. Chocolate bar.
Ah ha!
Danny pulled out what he was looking for. He scanned the floor of the narrow canyon until he spied a twig. Reaching down, while keeping a careful eye on the vines, he grabbed the twig.
It took him three tries but finally Danny was able to achieve a constant flame using his lighter. He held it up to the twig. It took a few seconds, but finally, the dry timber caught alight.
Feeling ridiculous, Danny brandished the small twig in front of him. To his delight, the vines seemed to curl back in on themselves. He took a step forward and the vines slowly slithered backwards. Taking a deep breath, Danny took another step forward.
It was with this twig, and several others that he had thrust into his pocket as backups, that Danny managed to edge out of the canyon. The vines twisted and hissed around him but none of them touched him.
Outside, he could see the group of pre-hominids in the distance. He stared at them. Those were the ancestors of the human race.
Danny didn't think he liked them that much. Then again, he didn't like a lot of the modern humans he knew either.
He turned away from the group and started walking in a completely different direction. Maybe he'd come across a friendlier group. Maybe not. Maybe he'd even be able to come across an anomaly to a better, more hospitable place. But until then, Danny knew he could survive any situation this era threw at him.