"Who are you? What are you? Where am I?" she asks, startled, her blue eyes bright, alive, terrified.
"You're from the future?" I ask her.
She frowns. "The future? No, I just... I was in the cave, but I can't find it and there was this tiger and..."
"You came through the same portal as me then," I tell her plainly. "You were in the underground caves in Tulum?"
She nods, terrified, looking at the dead tiger behind me. "I was in town for my sister's wedding. I came to Mexico and..."
"Did anyone come through with you?" I ask, wanting to know if there are more humans here, more people. Wanting to locate them if there are.
Human connection is something I never expected to miss as much as this, but damn, do I ever.
"No, I was alone. I got lost and separated from the tour group and I'm so confused. Where am I? Why can't I get back to the cave? My family is probably worried sick. How long was I passed out?"
"Not long, minutes really. I heard you scream, that's why I came running."
"You live out there?" she asks, pointing to the jungle behind me. Rainforest as far as the eye can see.
"Yeah," I say, running a hand over my beard. "That's where I live. Seems like it's where you'll be living too."
She frowns. "What are you talking about? No, I'm going back home to my family at the resort. They’re at the Four Palms in Tulum," she says. "Do you know it?"
I smirk. "Honey. There's no resort to go back to. I can walk you to the ocean front if you want, but there's not a single condo, a single vacation home, a single four-star spa. I promise you."
She shakes her head. "What are you saying? I've got to get back. They're probably so worried about me. The tour group must be sending out search parties, looking for where I got lost."
"You're probably right, they probably are, but they're not going to find you."
"Well, then I'll find them," she says, indignant, standing now, hands on her hips. She has long, wavy blonde hair and in that wetsuit I can see all of her curves. She's got them for days. Big tits, big ass, tiny little waist.
I bite my bottom lip. Damn. Forget the fish and that saber-toothed tiger. I want to eat her. I'm goddamn starved.
"What are you thinking?" she asks. "You just... Who are you?"
"Who am I? I'm Rock."
"Rock?" she says, shaking her head in disbelief. "And you, like, live here?"
"Yeah. I, like, live here." I chuckle. "And so do you. When you went through that exit in the cave, you unknowingly traveled through time. This is the Paleolithic Age – I think – and whatever you had from before, it's over. Life as you know it, it's gone."
Her eyes fill with tears and she runs back to the rock wall as if searching for a cave that no longer exists.
"But I was just in there."
"Whatever it was, it's gone," I say. "It got lost when you time traveled."
"Time travel," she says, shaking her head. "That's not real."
"Oh, it's real," I say. I reach out my hand. "Touch me. I promise I'm not a mirage, though I have no problem being your fantasy."
Her eyes widen and she steps back, furious. "How dare you?"
"How dare I what?" I ask. "I was just trying to be polite. You didn't think I was real. I can prove otherwise."
"No," she says. "I won't be staying here for long. I've got to find a way out." She turns to walk away.
"You sure about that?" I ask her.
She looks over her shoulder, eyes bewildered and hair long and loose, her shoulders back, her tits perky, looking like the prettiest damn woman in the whole fucking world. "Sure about what?"
"Sure about walking into the jungle all by yourself to look for a life that no longer exists." I pull the gun out, pointing it to the tiger lying dead behind me. "This boy has brothers. You want to go out there and find out if they want to play?"
Her shoulders fall as she realizes I'm right. It's a death sentence if she walks out there alone, not knowing this land. The fact that I've made it this long without dying is a goddamn miracle.
"How long have you been here?" she asks, looking me up and down, and I wonder what she sees. Long, unruly hair, a beard that's grown. I don't have on a shirt. My skin is bronze, muscles more taut than ever.
The good old days when I used to work out for hours have nothing on the way I look now. Now I'm ripped in ways I never dreamed about because I fight for every meal I have. Every night I light a fire. I work to live here.