Attack of the Yetis, page 3
“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir,” Kurtz assured him. “Anything else?”
“If you notice anything else other than us come out of the mouth of that cave before we get back, blow it to hell,” Mitchell told him.
“Roger that,” Mitchell heard Kurtz say as Deputy slid the rover’s side door open and dove through it. Mitchell followed him out, slamming the door closed again in their wake. The storm was already starting to hit. The blowing snow had become thick and denser all around them. Based on how it was picking up, it wouldn’t be long until they found themselves in a total white-out.
Mitchell passed Deputy, taking the lead as they trudged through the snow to the mouth of the cave. Taking a flare from a pouch on his belt, Mitchell lit it and tossed it into the cave. The light from the flare reflected off the ice-slicked walls of the cave. It appeared to be empty of an immediate threat so Mitchell gestured at Deputy to take point and get moving into it. Mitchell picked up the still-burning flare and carried it with them as they went.
The floor of the cave was iced as well, slowing their movement as they crept deeper into it. The tunnel they moved through was slanted downwards, making each step that much more difficult to keep their footing as they went. Mitchell didn’t know how long they walked before the floor beneath their boots began to level out, but he was sure it had been over fifteen minutes because the flare he carried had long since burnt out. As the floor leveled, the tunnel opened into what appeared to be a wide-open space of some kind. They didn’t have the gear to properly deal with the situation they were in. They had no helmet lamps and Mitchell didn’t trust the IR goggles they had switched over to using. Everything was so blasted cold around it all just blurred together without much detail. They needed light in order to really get a look at their surroundings and keep going, but the number of flares they were carrying was limited. With no other choice at hand, he popped another flare and held it high. Sure enough, the tunnel they had been walking through had indeed opened into a wide cavern. He looked around and saw the mouths of several other tunnels leading out of the cavern.
“Hey, Sarge!” Deputy motioned to him as he knelt to examine something on the cavern’s floor.
Mitchell hurried over and knelt beside him, not believing what he was seeing. He moved the flare over it to get a better look.
“What the hell is that, Sarge?” Deputy asked. “Tell me it’s not what I think it is.”
Mitchell looked over at Deputy as he answered, “It looks like a pile of crap, still warm too from the smell of it. A dang big one too.”
“I thought polar bears only lived at the North Pole,” Deputy said.
“I said it was crap, not bear crap, Deputy,” Mitchell grunted, getting to his feet.
“Well, if that ain’t polar bear crap, what in devil left it there then?” Deputy argued. “I mean, come on, Sarge, you saw the little bits of crunched up bones in it just like I did.”
“Weapons hot,” Mitchell replied, dropping his flare to raise his M-16 in a two-handed grip. “Anything moves in here besides us, I want it dead.”
“Am I to take it that means we’re leaving?” Deputy asked.
“On me,” Mitchell ordered. “Back the way we came.”
Mitchell lit another flare and threw it into the corridor they were about to head into again. As it landed on the floor, spinning on the ice there, its light revealed that the corridor was no longer empty. A hulking creature blocked their path. It stood close to nine feet tall, white hair covering its body from head to toe. Eyes glowing yellow, the creature’s lips parted in a snarl.
The barrel of Mitchell’s M-16 swept upwards as he squeezed the rifle’s trigger, opening fire on the monster. His first burst tore at its chest, barely getting any penetration. The creature sprang forward, grabbing his M-16 and shoving its barrel upwards. Mitchell’s second burst sparked against the ceiling above them as he heard Deputy shouting at him. Deputy was yelling for him to get out of the way so that he could get a shot at the monster. Mitchell released his M-16, seeing that the fingers of the creature had crumbled the metal of its barrel, twisting it beneath the pressure its grip had on the weapon. Throwing himself sideways, Mitchell heard Deputy take his shot. Deputy fired a series of three-round bursts, hammering the creature with hot lead. The creature staggered backwards from the barrage but didn’t appear to be truly hurt by it.
Mitchell rolled to his feet, swinging his shotgun from where it hung on his shoulder into his hands. He pumped a round into its chamber as the creature started forward again. Mitchell stepped towards it, meeting the creature with a blast that echoed inside the cavern. The shotgun proved much more effective than the rifles. The heavy slug that exploded from its barrel ripped into the creature’s guts, tearing at them. Strands of purple, green-slicked entrails poured from the mangled mess the shotgun blast made of the creature’s abdomen. Howling in pain, the creature turned to run. Mitchell had no intention of letting it get away. He pumped a fresh round into the chamber of his shotgun and fired again. The blast caught the creature in its back. Green blood splattered the walls of the tunnel as the creature shrieked and collapsed to its knees. It looked over its shoulder at Mitchell with hate and pain-filled yellow eyes, as if promising he would pay for what he had done to it. Mitchell didn’t hesitate. He pumped a third round ready and fired a final time. The creature’s head blew apart, sending bits of bone, brain matter, and green blood flying. Mitchell stared at its twitching body and wondered what in the bloody devil he had just killed.
Deputy had moved up to stand beside him. “That thing …” he rasped.
“Don’t ask,” Mitchell growled, “I don’t know what it is either.”
“I think it might have been a Yeti, sir,” Deputy told him.
Mitchell shook his head. “That’s insane.”
“So is that.” Deputy pointed at the creature’s corpse with the barrel of his rifle. “You have a better explanation for what it was, Sarge?”
Mitchell ignored Deputy’s question. “We have to get it back to the rover somehow.”
Deputy grunted. “Look at it. That thing must weigh close to half a ton. We ain’t moving it by ourselves, sir.”
“Then we’ll at least take part of it,” Mitchell grumbled, slinging his shotgun back onto his shoulder by its strap and reaching to draw the large knife sheathed on his boot. He knelt over the creature’s corpse and began the process of cutting off one of its hands. Deputy looked sick but managed to hold it together as Mitchell finished his gory task.
“How many flares do we have left?” Mitchell said getting up, his prize dripping green blood to the floor of the tunnel. The flare that was burning near them was sputtering and already close to the point of going out.
“Not enough,” Deputy told him grimly.
“Then I guess we better hurry,” Mitchell said, leading the way up the tunnel towards to the surface.
Neither of them heard the monster that came rushing up from behind them until it was too late. The second monster bounded up the tunnel after them, grabbing Deputy by his shoulders. Its teeth sunk into the man’s throat, hot red blood spraying over its white hair. Deputy tried to scream but all that came out was a sickening gargling sound as the creature jerked its head back away from his neck, a chunk of his flesh between its teeth. It flung the dying soldier aside and started towards Mitchell.
Mitchell dropped the dismembered hand he was carrying, going for his shotgun as the creature plowed into him like a charging quarterback. He grunted as his breath was knocked from his lungs. Mitchell felt several of his ribs crack from the impact of the creature’s shoulder smashing into them as it lifted him from the tunnel’s floor and sent him flying. He thudded onto his back a good distance from where the monster stood snarling at him. The monster had already started moving again and he knew this time he wouldn’t survive it getting close to him again. He had to stop it now before it did. The barrel of his shotgun came up as he pumped the weapon. His weapon squeezed the trigger and he fired as the monster closed to point-blank range. The shotgun thundered. Its blast met the creature, sending it reeling backwards into an explosion of green blood. Mitchell didn’t hang around to see how badly he had hurt the monster. He rolled over and scampered to his feet, making a run for it up the tunnel towards the surface.
The blast hadn’t stopped the monster. He heard it roar in anger behind him. His brain was still trying to process that there were more than one of the creatures. It seemed impossible. Monsters didn’t exist in the real world. At least they weren’t supposed to. His breath came in ragged gasps, each sending hot blazing bursts of pain through his chest from his broken ribs, as Mitchell clung to his shotgun and his legs pumped beneath him. He pushed his body to its limits, picking up his pace even more.
Mitchell half-ran, half-staggered out of the tunnel into the mouth of the cave. He could see the thick waves of falling snow outside and could just barely make out the high beams of Rover 2’s headlights through them. His eyes widen as yet another of the creatures emerged from the falling snow into the cave. It had been right in front of him but he hadn’t seen it at all. The snow and its white hair had blended together in a perfect mesh of camouflage to mask it from his vision. He had one round left in his shotgun and struggled to pump it into the weapon’s chamber. His strength was ebbing as the continued pain from his ribs took its toll on him. One of the creature’s hands snapped out to take the shotgun from his hands. The beast flung the weapon aside as its other hand reached for his throat. Mitchell jerked back out of its reach, drawing the pistol holstered on his hip. He hurriedly readied the weapon as the monster roared and drew closer. He could hear the monster coming up the tunnel behind him as well.
Trapped between the two, he knew wasn’t going to make it out of the cave alive, barring some sort of miracle. He kept his attention focused on the monster in front of him as it took a swing at him. The claws of a white hair-covered hand caught in the flesh of his cheek and tore deep grooves along it as Mitchell failed to dodge its attack. He felt two of the claws inside his mouth as they ripped through the meat of its side and scraped his teeth in their passing. Spitting blood, Mitchell threw himself forward against the monster’s chest, catching it by surprise. Shoving the barrel of his pistol up under the monster’s chin, he squeezed the weapon’s trigger in rapid succession. His shots blew apart the monster’s chin and lower jaw, splashing green blood over him. As it staggered backwards away from him, reeling in what had to be hellish pain, Mitchell emptied the rest of the pistol’s rounds into its eyes and forehead. The monster flopped over, thudding to the floor, and didn’t move again. Mitchell was already ejecting the pistol’s spent magazine and grabbing another from his belt to ram home inside it. As soon as he heard it click into place, he whirled about to face the monster charging at him from the tunnel that led deeper into the cave.
The monster came at him like a juggernaut, unfazed by the bullets he fired into its chest and shoulders. It was intent on tearing him apart and it wasn’t going to let anything stop. Mitchell’s pistol clicked empty a second time as the monster reached him. One of the creature’s hands closed about his throat as it lifted him effortlessly into the air above the cave’s floor. Mitchell’s feet kicked and thrashed about, unable to breathe, as the claws of the creature’s hand entered his flesh just above his sternum and ripped him open from there to just above his groin. His intestines and organs spilled from the front of his thrashing body to splash wetly to the floor of the cave below him. Mitchell’s world went black as the creature reached up into the opening it had made and tore his still-beating heart out from behind his broken ribs.
****
Kurtz was kicked back in his seat at Rover 2’s comm. station with his feet propped on it, leaning back in his chair as he sipped a thermos lid full of cold but black and strong coffee. He didn’t mind that the coffee was cold. It did its job all the same. There had been no word from the sarge or Deputy since they had entered the cave but that was to be expected. As bad as the interference was right now, even the short-range comms were on the blink. He felt kind of bad that the two of them were out there running around in the cold while he was warm and comfortable inside the rover with its heat turned up and relaxing, but he supposed someone had to hold down the fort so to speak. Kurtz was ready to roll when they came out of the cave just like the sarge had ordered him to be. He didn’t doubt that the heavy vehicle could make it through the snow that continued to pile up around it. That was what it was designed for. Visibility was certainly going to be an issue though if the two of them returned before the storm was over.
Sitting down his coffee, Kurtz spun around in his chair, his feet thudding onto the metal floor of the rover as he decided it was time to take another look outside. The sarge and Deputy had been gone over an hour now, and frankly, he was beginning to get bored. Kurtz moved to peer out the forward window. The snow continued to fall in waves so thick that seeing anything other than white outside the rover was nigh impossible. Despite the rover’s headlights being on high, he couldn’t even see the mouth of the cave they had entered anymore. Kurtz wasn’t worried about the sarge and Deputy. The two of them could handle their selves. He was ready for them to come back though. The time alone had been a nice break, but the idea of heading back to base camp and grabbing some hot grub appealed to him far more than another hour spent staring at a nonfunctional sensor screen waiting for it to come back online.
As Kurtz turned away from the rover’s window, he caught sight of something in the corner of his eye, a fleeting glimpse of something moving in the falling snow. He turned back to the window, moving closer to it. Whatever he had seen was either gone or completely obscured by the storm outside. He wondered if it might have been the guys returning from the cave. Or maybe it was just a trick of his mind grown tired from boredom. He slid into the driver’s seat, still staring out the window, eyes searching for movement, any trace of what he had seen. Part of him wanted to gear up and head out into the snow to investigate, see if it was the sarge and Deputy, and if they needed help. Those weren’t his orders though. His orders were to stay put and wait for them to come back to the rover. Ticking off the sarge was never a good idea, and if he blundered passed them out there in the storm and they made it back before he did, the sarge would have his head. Still, sitting around and doing nothing seemed like an equally bad idea.
Kurtz knew there was some kind of creature out there that was emitting the radiation they had been sent to track down if the science guys were to be believed. No one knew what kind of creature or if it was dangerous. Alien was the word tossed about to describe whatever it might be. Thinking about it at all was enough to creep him out. Kurtz decided he had to take some sort of action. Kicking the rover into reverse, he backed it up several yards from the mouth of the cave. He kept the rover’s movement slow and careful. If the sarge and Deputy were out there, he didn’t want to hit them or run them over, and with the almost zero visibility, that was a chance he was taking by moving the rover at all. Moving the rover made him feel better. If there was an animal, alien or otherwise out there, he hoped the movement of the heavy vehicle would scare it off or at least give it second thoughts about trying to get inside it. Sliding the rover back into park and making sure its brakes were locked, he got up from the driver’s seat and headed back to the comm. station.
“This is Rover 2,” he called over the airwaves. “Sarge, can you hear me?”
The only response he got was the crackle of the interference that was messing with the system. He tried several more times to reach the sarge and Deputy before finally giving up. With each minute that passed now, Kurtz was growing more on edge. He had to admit to himself that whatever he had seen or thought he had seen had really spooked him.
Kurtz got an M-16 from the gun rack and readied the weapon, making sure it had a full magazine. He placed it near the comm. station within easy reach of his chair. Having the weapon close at hand made him feel better. He relaxed some, knowing he was prepared if something other than the sarge and Deputy came knocking on the rover’s side door. Kurtz started trying the comm. again, this time attempting to reach the unit’s base camp. Again, all he got as a reply was more static. Slumping in his chair, Kurtz sighed, knowing that all he could do was keep waiting and hope that the sarge and Deputy were okay out there. Picking up his coffee, he finished it in a single gulp. It was likely the last thing he needed given the state of his nerves, but no one had ever accused him of being wise.
An inhuman wail came from somewhere outside the rover in the white of the falling snow. At first, Kurtz thought it was the wind blowing over the rover’s exterior in such a way that it just sounded like an animal crying out. As a second wail rang out from the other side of the rover, he knew whatever it was, it was more than just the wind. Kurtz snatched up the M-16 he had readied and held it in a grip so tight that his knuckles went as white as the snow outside.
The wailing outside continued, growing louder. He could hear several different voices now, none of them remotely human. They came from all around the rover. Kurtz wasn’t brave enough to get up and go back to the window to look out again. He was terrified of what he might see out there.
Kurtz told himself that he was safe. The rover was almost as armored as an APC. Surely nothing out there could get into it. A chill crept along his spine as he realized the side door wasn’t locked. He had intentionally left it that way so that the sarge and Deputy could get out of the cold quicker when they returned.
Rising from his seat, Kurtz moved slowly towards the rover’s side door, carrying his M-16 with him. He felt as stupid as he was scared. Was he just being paranoid? Was it all just in his mind? He couldn’t help but doubt himself despite the wailing he had heard. The cries outside the rover had fallen silent. Seconds ticked by like hours as he stared at the side door, working up the nerve to get closer to it. Finally, he edged forward to throw its lock into place. As he did so, the door slid open. A blast of snow and icy wind washed over him, freezing him where he stood. A monster followed the snow inside. It was like something out of a nightmare. Its hulking form was covered with hair as white as the snow. The color of its hair was why it had been invisible to him when he was looking out the window. It blended perfectly into the downpour of snow the storm was pouring down. The monster roared, reaching for him, as he jerked up the barrel of the M-16 at it and opened fire. The rifle’s barrel flashed as it spat a three-round burst into the monster. The bullets slammed into the monster but didn’t even seem to slow it down. The clawed fingers of a white hair-covered hand closed around the rifle’s barrel, bending it upwards before Kurtz could fire again. Kurtz threw himself backwards as the monster’s other hand swiped at him, claws slashing through the empty air where he had been only a fraction of a second before.
