Attack of the Yetis, page 4
Kurtz stumbled into the comm. station, trapped, with nowhere to run as the monster advanced on him. He stared into the thing’s burning yellow eyes as it moved fully inside the rover. It was so tall it had to hunch over to step the rest of the way inside. Its arms were overly long for its body and thick muscles rippled beneath the white hair covering its entire form as it moved. Kurtz wasn’t carrying a sidearm. He had figured that he didn’t need one inside the rover, not with the sarge and Deputy both armed. Noticing the frozen bits of icy red that smeared the monster’s mouth, Kurtz knew that the two of them were dead. This thing or others like it had killed them. They weren’t going to be coming back to save him. He was on his own and likely as dead as they were.
Desperate for any sort of weapon to defend himself, Kurtz grabbed his metal thermos as the monster sprang at him. He slammed the thermos into the creature’s face with all the strength his adrenaline-loaded body could manage. It smashed into the monster’s nose. Green blood flowed from the monster’s nostrils as it hesitated for a moment. Kurtz had managed to catch it completely by surprise. The monster roared an inhuman cry that echoed inside the confined space of the rover’s interior. Kurtz leapt by it, trying to reach the gun rack where one last M-16 rested on the wall. He didn’t make it. The monster lashed out with its claws. They caught his side, raking across it. Kurtz screamed, toppling to the rover’s floor. He landed hard on his shoulder and felt it snap out of its joint from the impact of his weight coming down on it. The monster was on him before he could even try to roll over. Its hands held him tight, pressing him down, as he felt its hot breath on the back of his neck. Kurtz screamed again as the monster’s teeth crunched into and through his skull. The last thing Kurtz saw was the monster’s claws as one of its hands reached around his head to grasp his throat. His vision blurred and went black, his body jerking and spasming beneath the monster as its claws opened his throat, his blood spraying out of the mangled mess of torn flesh they left in their wake.
****
Colonel Brannon had waited too long to let Dobson take up the base’s helicopter and go out looking for Rover 1 to see what had happened to it. The storm had rolled in fast and hit hard, engulfing the base in a total white-out. The winds from the storm came close to blowing apart the tent-like corridors between the base’s buildings as the snow piled up outside. The situation with the three rovers that had been dispatched to locate the radioactive signatures had grown worse as well. The interference messing with communications had essentially knocked them offline completely. The other two rovers were now long overdue to report in just like Rover 1. Brannon supposed their lack of reporting in could be attributed to the interference and the weather both, but his gut told him it was something more. They were dealing with too many unknowns to take anything at face value. No, his years of experience and instincts told him that one or more of the rovers were in real trouble.
It took six hours for the worst of the storm to move through. The snowfall was tapering off, but the comm. interference hadn’t let up in the slightest. Dr. Harvey had his team working on a solution to the problem, but as of yet, they had been unable to discern a means of getting a signal through the interference, and Brannon knew he couldn’t just sit around and wait for them to find one. His men out there could be in trouble. He had called a meeting of all the personnel who remained at base. They gathered in the mess. It was the largest area of the main building aside from the science team’s lab. The lab couldn’t be used for the meeting though due to the sensitive materials housed there. Dr. Harvey wouldn’t allow it. Technically, Brannon could have pulled rank on him over the issue, but it just wasn’t worth the fight. Though it was cramped, the mess hall worked just as well for the meeting.
Dr. Harvey and his science team sat the mess hall’s singular real table with Quinn. Brannon and Dobson stood due to the lack of seats. Neither one of them wanted to be the jerk that took the last chair and left the other standing. It was odd for so many to be crammed into the mess at the same time. Meals were taken in shifts normally to permit everyone to able to have some space while they ate and enjoy themselves.
“Okay, people,” Brannon spoke up, silencing the quiet conversations taking place among those gathered in the room with him. “We’ve got three rovers that are for all intents and purposes missing out there. We need to get them home. I want options and I want them now.”
“I’ve already told you were working on overcoming the comm. problem, Colonel,” Dr. Harvey said. “It’s just a matter of time until we do.”
“That’s the same thing you said hours ago,” Brannon pointed out. “My men out there may not have the time for you figure out how to do it.”
“We are making progress,” Leah assured him.
“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Brannon told her. “But we need something now.”
“Science takes time, Colonel,” Seeley said. “It’s not magic. Working through a complex technical problem isn’t the same as pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Perhaps your men simply weren’t up to the task we gave them.”
“Dr. Seeley!” Dr. Harvey snapped, glaring at him.
“It’s okay.” Brannon nodded at Dr. Harvey. “We’re all pretty high strung right now and with good reason to be.”
“Right,” Dobson agreed. “We can’t afford to lose focus here. What matters is bringing the teams out there in the rovers home, not who is at fault for the mess we’re in.”
Brannon could tell that Dobson was still chomping at the bit to take out the base’s helicopter and go looking for the rovers. The storm was clearing so Brannon didn’t have any cause to keep him grounded any longer.
“Dobson, has the weather cleared enough for you to—” Brannon started, but Dobson interrupted him before he could finish.
“I can do it,” Dobson told him.
“Okay then,” Brannon replied. “Pick someone to go with you. I want both you and whoever you take armed.”
“No problem,” Dobson said with a grin.
“Dr. Harvey, I want you and your team to keep working on the comm. problem,” Brannon ordered. “Sooner or later, we’re going to need to contact the Hobart regardless of how things pan out with the rover teams.”
“That was our plan anyway, Colonel,” Dr. Harvey assured him. “We can’t really do anything else until one of your teams brings us something more to work with.”
“Right,” Brannon said. “You all know what you have to do. Let’s be about it then.”
With the meeting over, everyone filed out of the mess to get on with the tasks ahead of them. Dobson lingered though. Brannon frowned as Dobson walked over to him.
“What is it?” Brannon asked.
“You said to pick someone to take out with me,” Dobson said. “You and Quinn are the only other two soldiers left here, sir. And we both know Quinn isn’t really a combat one. He’s a tech.”
“I can’t go with you, Dobson,” Brannon told him plainly. “As much as I would like to, my place is here.”
“I understand that,” Dobson said. “I guess that only leaves me drafting one of the science team. Any suggestions as to which one I should take?”
“Dr. Leah would be your best choice, but she’s also our best chance at getting communications working again, so I can’t let you have her,” Brannon said. “And Dr. Harvey is a touch old to be running around out there with you.”
“I was afraid you would say that,” Dobson said, grimacing. “Dr. Seeley it is then. He’s not going to be happy about it.”
“No, he’s not,” Brannon agreed. “But he’s yours all the same. If he gives you too much trouble, let me know and I’ll talk with Dr. Harvey.”
****
Seeley was scowling in the co-pilot seat as the helicopter lifted off. Dr. Seeley had all but utterly refused to carry a weapon. Dobson had loaded one onto the bird for him though despite the doctor’s protests. There were two M-16s and a bandolier of grenades stored in the rear of the helicopter. Dobson hoped that neither of them would have to use the weapons, but he was glad they were there. He had also packed an extra first-aid kit and other gear just in case something happened and they went down. That was unlikely, but Dobson liked to be prepared for anything that might come up.
The weather had cleared nicely. The storm was over and gone as the helicopter flew through the now blue skies above the sea of white below. Dobson had an approximate location for where each of the three rovers should be as long as they had stuck to their planned routes in their search for the creatures that were emitting the radiation.
Dr. Seeley wasn’t a very social person at the best of times. As far as Dobson was concerned, the man was an arrogant bastard who needed to be taken down a peg or two. Nonetheless, it was just the two of them in the copter.
“Where to first?” Dobson asked Seeley.
“You’re the pilot,” Dr. Seeley snarled. “I’d say that’s up to you.”
Dobson grunted. “I thought you might have a suggestion as to which rover—”
“Look.” Dr. Seeley turned in his seat to glare him. “I shouldn’t be here, Dobson, and we both know it. Don’t pretend like what I want matters. I should be back in the lab helping Leah.”
“Come on, Seeley,” Dobson said. “I get that isn’t a good situation for you. It isn’t for any of us, but we all have to do our part. Leah and Quinn are best suited to be dealing with the interference and we both know it.”
Dr. Seeley huffed, clearly insulted by the implication that a soldier like Quinn was better at anything than he was. “I suppose we’ll see.”
“I guess we will,” Dobson agreed.
Since Seeley didn’t give a crap which rover they started with, Dobson decided to go after Rover 1. The helicopter swerved in the air as he set his course and poured on the speed. Dr. Seeley looked sick but kept his mouth shut. The search was a short one. They flew along the rover’s planned path and found it less than half an hour later.
“There she is,” Dobson told Seeley, nodding his head at the rover below them as he brought the helicopter in to hover in front of it. Rover 1 had clearly stopped moving before the storm had hit. There was no sign of tracks behind it. The downpour of snow had covered them. Mounds of white were piled up over the sides and all around the rover but what caught Dobson’s eye was the rover’s roof. Its metal was torn open, as if something massive had climbed on top of it and ripped it apart. Seeley didn’t say anything, but Dobson could see that he was as freaked out by the sight of the unusual damage to the rover as he was.
“What the hell?” Dobson muttered.
“They must have found the source of the radiation,” Dr. Seeley broke his silence to comment.
Dobson shook his head. “What in the devil could do something like that?”
“I imagine we’re going to have to find out,” Dr. Seeley said.
“Rover 1, this is Snow Bird. Do you read me?” Dobson said over the radio, trying it though he knew the interference was likely just as strong in this area as it was at the base.
“That won’t work, Dobson,” Seeley informed him smugly.
“Then we have no choice but to set down and check things out in person if we want to know what happened to them,” Dobson said, enjoying the panic that filled the doctor as he realized he was right.
Landing a helicopter in snow like what was below them was never an easy thing. Dobson approached the landing with extreme caution and finally managed to safely touch the copter to the ground. He popped the belts holding him in his seat and gestured for Seeley to do the same.
“I would rather stay here,” Dr. Seeley protested. “I wouldn’t be any help to you out there anyway.”
“Sometimes even just another pair of eyes can be a huge help, Seeley,” Dobson told him. “Now, come on. We’ve got a job to do.”
Reluctantly, Dr. Seeley pulled his parka tighter and tugged his toboggan lower, getting out of the co-pilot’s seat to join Dobson in the copter’s rear. Dobson thrust an M-16 into his hands.
“You ever use a gun before?” Dobson asked.
“What do you think?” Seeley challenged him.
Dobson took the weapon back, checking and readying it for the doctor, before passing it to him again.
“It’s ready to go. All you have to do is squeeze the trigger. Don’t shoot at anything though unless I tell you to and keep that barrel aimed away from me at all times. Understand?” Dobson warned him.
Dr. Seeley nodded. He looked rather comical given how he was holding the rifle, but Dobson let it slide. Seeley was an extremely intelligent guy. Dobson figured he would do okay as long as he kept calm.
“Let’s get moving then,” Dobson said and opened the copter’s side door. The frigid air outside rushed over them, making Dobson flinch. He shivered as he stepped out into the snow. It crunched beneath his boots as he walked through it. The temp had fallen sharply in the wake of the storm and the snow was already frozen and hard. Dr. Seeley followed after him as the two of them cautiously approached Rover 1.
Something had smashed through the rover’s door. The metal that remained intact was bent inward. The interior lights of the rover were out. Dobson paused, removing a flashlight from his belt and flicking it on. If there was some kind of creature hiding in the shadows inside the vehicle, he wanted to be able to see as quickly as possible. Dobson approached the shattered doorway and shined the light through it.
“My God,” he heard Dr. Seeley mutter from behind him.
The flashlight’s beam moved over the bodies of Laybourne and Nicholson. Both men were dead. Nicholson’s body was missing an arm. Tendrils of his intestine protruded from his ravaged stomach. Laybourne’s corpse lay only a few feet from where Nicholson’s sat propped against the rover’s wall. His back was an open mess of savaged tissue. Most of Laybourne’s head was gone too, as if something large had taken several bites from it. Even from where he stood, Dobson could see the teeth marks that were scratched into the remaining bone that was left exposed.
Dobson heard Dr. Seeley collapse to his knees and start vomiting up everything in his guts. He felt sick himself but couldn’t afford to lose his focus. He ran the flashlight’s beam over the rest of the rover’s interior, making sure that it was empty other than the two bodies. When he saw that it was, Dobson relaxed a little. He told himself that whatever had killed Laybourne and Nicholson was surely long gone by now. He waited for Dr. Seeley to stop puking and then said, “Get it together, Seeley. I am sure you’ve seen worse in your line of work.”
“Dissecting a specimen or doing an autopsy is nothing like this,” Dr. Seeley spat at him, getting to his feet as he wiped at his mouth with the top of one of his gloved hands.
“I reckon not,” Dobson admitted and then said, “There doesn’t seem to be any sign of Hendricks. He might still be alive somewhere around here.”
“Don’t kid yourself, Dobson. He’s dead too. Whatever did this likely either killed him outside of the rover or dragged his body off with it when it left. We’ve found what we came to find.” Dr. Seeley glared angrily at him. “I suggest we get the hell out of here before whatever did this comes back.”
“What? You don’t want to take some samples, a closer look around? I figured you’d be all over finding out what did this to them,” Dobson mocked the doctor.
“Forensics isn’t my field, Dobson,” Dr. Seeley snapped. “If you want some samples, I suggest you collect them yourself as quickly as possible. Anything that could tear through that rover’s door in such a manner isn’t likely to be easily stopped by these rifles of yours.”
Dobson saw the doctor’s point as he shined the flashlight’s beam upwards to look at the hole in the rover’s roof that had been torn through as well.
“Can’t argue with you there, Doc,” Dodson agreed.
The two of them hurried to the copter and Dodson ran through his pre-flight checks as quickly as he could while Dr. Seeley nervously watched the banks of snow surrounding it with an expression of stark terror. Seeley didn’t relax any until they were in the air and headed away from the wreckage of Rover 1.
“So, Doc, you got any theories on what happened to Laybourne and his crew back there?” Dobson asked.
“Something killed them,” Seeley snorted.
“I meant any ideas on what it might have been.” Dobson held his anger at Seeley’s dry sarcasm in check as best he could.
“It was most assuredly a lifeform we’ve never encountered before,” Dr. Seeley said, turning to meet Dobson’s eyes.
“Right,” Dobson said, regretting he had asked. “Rover 2 is up next. Better settle in. It’ll take us a bit to reach its last known location.”
****
Ten minutes later, as the copter was in route for Rover 2, Dobson spotted Rover 3 on the horizon. It was on the move and cutting a path through the snow towards the base given the direction it was headed in. The rover was moving strangely though, as if something was wrong with it.
“What the devil?” Dobson mumbled at the sight of the rover.
“It seems Rover 3 has found us,” Dr. Seeley commented.
