Polar Yeti And The Beasts Of Prehistory (7 page)

Chapter 9

Gina had passed out as the Yeti continued to carry her farther south. She was still half asleep when she felt a warmth emanating from beside her. She opened her eyes slowly, and through blurred vision, she saw an orange color to her right. She blinked twice to focus her vision and the fire that was burning beside her came into view. Gina was disoriented from the cold and she tried to survey her surroundings to see where she was. She quickly realized that wherever she was, it was dark. The only available light was coming from the fire next to her. She looked up to make out several stalactite reaching down at her from above. She blinked her eyes several more times to realize that she was inside of another cave. Gina sat up and when she did so she was immediately hit by the smell of the Yeti. She stood up and looked to her left to see Yukon sleeping roughly sixty feet away from her. When she saw how far away from her that Yukon was sleeping, she realized the vast size of the cave that she was in. The gargantuan Yukon was sleeping a good distance away from her and she still could not determine where the opening to the cave was. By using the Yeti to scale, she could see that the twenty-five foot tall Yeti had plenty of head clearance in the cave. She could also see that the cave was at least three times as wide as Yukon was tall. At a quick assessment, she guessed that the area of the cave that she was in was at least forty-feet high and seventy-five feet wide. She couldn’t even begin to guess at the depth of the immense formation.

Gina noticed that she was sweating and she thought that it was because she was next to the fire. As the thought of how hot she was crossed her mind, it immediately brought two other questions to the forefront of her concerns. The first concern was that it was far too hot in the cave for the small fire to be heating the vast cavern. Gina guessed that the cave they were in must be near some underground source of heat such as magma. The second question that had entered her mind was
who exactly had started the fire?
In her brief time with Yukon, she had learned that the monster was at least as intelligent as a gorilla or a chimpanzee, but she doubted that the beast had the ability to purposely build a fire. She briefly considered that perhaps, in her near frozen and exhausted state that she created the fire herself, but she quickly pushed the thought aside. Gina looked at the fire, and from what she could tell, the fire was being fueled by a mixture of bones and dung. She shook her head and spoke out loud, “I am pretty sure that I was in no condition to make a fire. I am also sure that even with as tired as I was that I would have remembered building a fire.”

Gina started walking around the cave as she continued to talk to herself, “The only animal in the history of the planet that has ever been known to create fire is man.” As Gina spoke the words aloud, she stopped walking and her eyes opened wide. “That means that there are other people here.” Gina’s mind began racing as she considered the implications of her hypothesis. “That either means that there is another missing tribe that knowingly shares a cave with a Yeti or…” Gina stopped in mid-sentence. She couldn’t bring herself to say what she was thinking aloud. Her entire body shook as she realized the other possibility of why humans would be sharing a cave with a Yeti. Based on the wounds to Jun-Tuk’s daughter, and the saber-toothed cat attack that she had witnessed, Gina had assumed that the young women who Yukon had taken from Jun-Tuk’s tribe that he did not return had died. Gina had never considered that Yukon might have kept some of the women in his cave.

Gina’s mind was racing at the thought of women being held captive by Yukon in this hellish valley. She yelled out in ancient Incan, “Hello, is there anyone in here?” Her shout echoed through the cave several times before it finally died out. Then Gina heard two sounds in reply. The first sound confused her and the second sound terrified her. The first sound that Gina thought that she heard, was a crying baby that came from deeper in the cave. That sound was quickly drowned out by a terrifying roar that seemed to come from behind where Yukon was sleeping.

Everything around Gina suddenly started moving in a blur. First, Yukon stood and roared, then a young woman who looked as if she was from the same tribe that Jun-Tuk was from, came running out from deeper in the cave. The woman ran up to Gina, and started pleading with her to be quiet. A second loud roar from what Gina guessed was the direction of the entrance to the cave echoed throughout the cavern. Yukon roared again then the massive Yeti started walking in the direction of the other roaring creature. Every sensible fiber of Gina’s being was urging her to run deeper into the cave and away from the new creature. Conversely, the scientist in her forced her to run over to the area where Yukon had been sleeping in order to see what manner of beast was threatening her and challenging the Yeti.

Gina saw a large stalagmite that would hide her from the view of whatever it was that had made its way into the cave. She crouched down behind it as the woman from Jun-Tuk’s tribe continued to make arm motions for Gina to follower her. Gina was interested in hearing the woman’s story but currently she was much more fascinated in seeing what manner of creature would dare to challenge Yukon. The roar was too deep to have come from another saber-toothed cat. Whatever this creature was, it much larger than the cats that she had come across earlier. Gina peeked out from behind the stalagmite and she was finally able to see the entrance to the cave. She could see Yukon walking toward the entrance. See stuck her head out a little farther from behind the stalagmite to see a huge form lumber into the cave entrance. At first, all that Gina could see was that the animal walked on all fours but she was not able to make out any details that revealed exactly what type of creature the animal was. The beast that was entering the cave roared again and then it stood up on two feet. As the monster’s entire form was silhouetted by the sun light pouring in from behind it, Gina was finally able to make out what type of animal was making its way into the cave.

Gina had seen several species of bear in her travels. She was very familiar with large members of the species, such as grizzly bears and polar bears. She had beheld the huge animals both in controlled settings like zoos and in the field while she was on various expeditions. While both grizzly bears and polar bears were large, the bear that was making its way into the cave would have dwarfed even the largest member of any known species of bear. When the bear was standing on its hind legs, it was taller than Yukon meaning that the beast was somewhere around thirty feet tall. Based on the other prehistoric animals that Gina had seen, she guessed that the animal must have been some species of large cave bear.

The cave bear roared again, then it dropped back to all fours and began running toward Yukon. Yukon threw his arms out in front of himself and roared in return at the bear, both warning the attacking animal and accepting its challenge at the same time. The bear drove its head and shoulders into Yukon’s waist, knocking the Yeti into a sitting position. The cave bear quickly moved forward and attempted to use his body to pin Yukon to the ground. As the cave bear approached him, Yukon pulled his knees in and put his large feet against the cave bear’s chest. Yukon then pushed with his legs and sent the cave bear tumbling back toward the cave entrance.

The bear quickly regained control of his momentum and once again the massive creature stood on its hind legs. It roared at Yukon again, but instead of returning the roar, the Yeti lowered his head and drove his shoulder into the cave bear’s midsection. The force of the impact sent the cave bear crashing into the wall of the cave. Before the cave bear could right himself, Yukon slammed his body into the body of the bear. Gina watched as Yukon hammered the bear with alternating blows from his fists. The Yeti had struck the bear four times before the cave bear was able to swipe Yukon across the face with his claw. The cave bear’s claw slash caused Yukon to cease his attack and take a step backward. The cave bear took a step forward, wrapped his arms around Yukon, and dug his claws into the Yeti’s back. The cave bear then bit down into the Yeti’s shoulder, causing even more red blood to soak Yukon’s white coat.

Yukon roared in pain then the Yeti wrapped his powerful arms around the lower part of the cave bear’s ribcage. The two beasts were locked in a test of strength. As Gina watched the two monsters, she recalled the awesome display of power and the intelligent use of leverage that Yukon had exhibited when he had toppled the wooly mammoth. As she thought about how Yukon had forced the mammoth to the ground, she had no doubt that the Yeti would overpower the cave bear as well. Gina’s prediction quickly came to fruition as Yukon shifted his left leg backward and pushed down with his right arm in a move that caused the cave bear to slam into the cave floor. Yukon roared then he began stomping on the neck and shoulder of the invading cave bear.

Gina was transfixed by the battle to the point where she did not notice that the other woman in the cave had crept up behind her. The woman placed her hand on Gina’s shoulder and Gina screamed in surprise. She turned around to see the woman who said to her in ancient Incan, “Come with me, please! If the cave bear wins this battle, he will kill us if we stay in the open.” Gina’s scream had also caught Yukon’s attention and caused the Yeti to stop stomping on the cave bear in order to see if Gina was in need of his assistance. The cave bear took full advantage of the Yeti’s momentary lack of focus on the battle. The cave bear bit into Yukon’s calf and pulled on it, causing the Yeti to once more fall to the ground. Gina watched Yukon’s skull bounced off the cave floor when the creature hit the ground. The Yeti was stunned and reached up with his hands to grab his head.

The cave bear once again quickly moved forward in another attempt to pin Yukon beneath his body. The disoriented Yukon was unable to use his feet to catch the cave bear and the animal’s entire weight pressed down onto the Yeti. The cave bear opened his jaws and he went to tear out the Yeti’s throat when Yukon’s hands reached out and grabbed onto the bear’s throat. Gina could see Yukon’s sharp claws digging into the bear’s neck and she knew she was witnessing the end of this clash of the titans. The bear continued to try and reach Yukon’s throat as the Yeti squeezed the cave bear’s neck. Yukon’s entire body was shaking as he fought to both keep the bear from killing him and at the same time strangling the beast.

Just as Yukon had done when the mammoth had him pinned to the ground, the Yeti was once more fighting his way back to his feet. Yukon’s incredible strength was slowly forcing the head and body of the cave bear away from his throat. After a few seconds, Yukon had managed to fully extend his arms. Blood was spurting from the cave bear’s neck as Yukon continued to force his claws deeper into the monster’s throat. When the majority of the cave bear’s weight was pushed off him, Yukon stood up and released his grip. The exhausted bear shook his head and Gina was sure that the creature was choking on his own blood. The damage that Yukon had wrought on the bear had caused its own blood pour into its lungs. The cave bear was on all fours and it started to stagger away from Yukon and toward the cave entrance. Yukon stepped forward and kicked the fleeing cave bear causing the dying creature to fall flat on its face in front of the cave entrance. The cave bear was taking its last breaths at the entrance to the cave when Yukon walked over to the beast. The Yeti reached down and grabbed the bear. In another show of tremendous strength, Yukon lifted the cave bear over his head as he stepped out of the cave. The Yeti roared then he threw the cave bear down the steep slope that led up to the cave entrance.

Yukon threw his arms out in front of himself and roared proclaiming his victory to the world. Gina and the woman from the cave were still watching from behind the stalactite when Gina asked aloud in English, “Why did he throw the bear out of the cave? He could have just left it there to die.”

The woman from the cave asked Gina what she meant in ancient Incan. Gina repeated the question in the woman’s native language. The woman from the cave shook her head. “The Yeti god knows not to leave dead things in the cave because it will attract the crawling demons.”

Gina gave the woman a puzzled look. “You mean the saber-toothed cats?”

The woman shook her head again. “No, the crawling demons from deep inside the mountain. The crawling demons move like water and eat the living and the dead. They are attracted by dead things, and if they come as a large group, even the Yeti god would not be able to fight them off. The crawling demons from the cave cannot stand the cold. They will not venture out there to retrieve the dead beast.” The women then pointed to Yukon. “Also, he does not like the taste of cave bear. I find the cave bear’s meat too difficult for my stomach to digest. I suspect that the Yeti god has had a similar experience with bear meant when he has tried to eat it. He will leave the cave bear outside for the black flying demons. They can eat anything and they will remove the remains of the bear.” Gina was about to ask the woman more questions about the
crawling demons from within the cave
when the sound of a baby screaming started to echo through cave.

The women motioned for Gina to follower her. “Come, the Yeti god will rest after his battle. We must attend to our child.”

Gina was taken aback by the woman’s comment. She repeated the woman’s troubling words in English, “Our child?””

Chapter 10

After escaping the wooly rhino, the rescue team continued to follow the tracks of the Yeti. They had continued to head south until they saw three huge dark black shapes in the snow ahead of them. The dark figures were standing over a large red and brown mass lying in the snow. Gordon signaled for the team to come to a stop behind him. He turned around to Dana and she was so close to him that had they not had scarves wrapped around their faces, their lips would have touched. Dana was thankful that her scarf and dark snow goggles prevented Gordon from seeing her blushing.

The young hunter quickly apologized. “I am sorry, Doctor Summers.” He was quiet for a moment and then he finally managed to say, “I was hoping that you could hand me my binoculars.”

Dana reached into the carrying case strapped to the back of the snowmobile and handed the binoculars to Gordon. “Here you go, and you can call me Dana.”

Gordon nodded. “Thank you, Dana.” 

Henry and Jun-Tuk pulled up next to Gordon, and Rodgers pulled his snowmobile to a stop a few feet behind them. Henry could hear the disgruntled Rodgers mumbling under his breath. Henry pushed any thoughts of the self-centered Rodgers aside and brought his own binoculars to his eyes. Henry was able to make out three huge birds of prey each standing nearly ten feet tall. The birds looked like some kind of cross-breed between a condor and a crow. Henry removed his binoculars form his eyes and directed his attention to Gordon. “If I had to guess, I would say that those things are teratorns. Again, I am no paleontologist, but giant birds that were similar in size to those things hunted our earliest human ancestors. They have a wingspan of about eighteen feet long. Skulls of early humans have been found all over the world with three huge holes poked into them. The prevailing belief is that the holes were caused from teratorns using their claws to crush the heads of their prey. They appear to be feeding on the remains of one of the mammoths that we saw earlier.” He put his binoculars back into his carrying case as he sighed. “How do you think we should handle this situation?”

Gordon continued to look through his binoculars at the teratorns and the dead mammoth. “The Yeti tracks look like they lead to the cave up there and then back out again long after the snow storm had ended. The tracks coming out of the cave are much deeper and clearer than the first set of prints leading into the cave. From the look of the surrounding area, I would say that the Yeti killed that mammoth and then after eating a large portion of it, looks like he went back to the cave.” Gordon stopped for a moment and then turned to Henry. “I can’t say for sure, but if the monster went back to the cave after making the kill then he went back in there for something. It could be a sign that he went back to get Doctor Murella.”

Henry’s felt a wave of hope run through his body at the mere idea that his wife was alive and possibly in this area only a short time ago. Gordon looked back to the teratorns. “After exiting the cave, the Yeti tracks continue right past that dead mammoth and those teratorns. They are clearly scavenging off the remains of the mammoth. If they behave like modern birds of prey, they could very well attack a potential meal, especially if humans were once a part of their diet.” Gordon motioned to Jun-Tuk. “Could you please ask Jun-Tuk if he or his people know anything about those birds and how they might react to humans?”

Henry asked Jun-Tuk if he knew anything about the birds. Jun-Tuk nodded and then he told Henry about his encounter with the
flying death birds
as he referred to them. “When I entered the valley to find my daughter, I tracked the Yeti for several hours before the flying death birds spotted me. The birds swooped down at me in an attempt to slay me. I hit one of the birds with my spear but the weapon was unable to inflict much damage on the creature. I managed to run from cave to cave until the birds lost interest in me. Without my spear, I returned to the valley entrance, and as I was leaving the valley, another of the flying death birds attempted to attack me. When I entered the valley pass, the creature flew straight up and away from me. I think that the mountain winds somehow keep the creatures from exiting the valley.”

Henry repeated what Jun-Tuk had told him to Gordon. Gordon nodded. “We don’t have any choice but to go past the teratorns. If we don’t continue to follow the tracks, we may never find Doctor Murella. We will try to make a wide arch around the birds and then loop back to tracks. Let’s hope that the birds are more interested in the dead mammoth than they are in us.”

Gordon leaned back to his fellow passenger. “Dana, I want you to put my rifle in my lap in case I need to use it. Then keep a tight hold around my waist and keep your head low.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t worry, no matter what happens I will make sure that you are safe.”

Dana squeezed Gordon hard, and at that moment, she wished that they were in some tropical setting where she wasn’t wearing a scarf because it was the perfect opportunity to have kissed him.

A few feet away from them, Jun-Tuk spoke to Henry, “Keep your weapon ready. The flying death birds are ravenous. I suspect that we will not be able to give them a wide enough birth to prevent them from attacking.” Henry nodded in reply then he revved his engine and started to arch around the teratorns. He knew that Gordon would gladly have led the team past the massive birds, but Henry felt the young hunter had already more than done his part. They had already lost two people in the attempt to rescue his wife. Henry was determined to do whatever he could to prevent any more of the brave volunteers from dying in the valley. Henry felt that if he could make himself the primary target for the teratorns that if they decided to attack then he would at least be keeping the birds’ attention off the other rescue team members.

Henry rode his snowmobile at least two hundred yards wide to the left of the teratorns before he turned his vehicle back toward the mountain range and the Yeti tracks. Henry was no tracker, but he figured that once they were clear of the teratorns, Gordon could retake the lead position. Henry had his snowmobile moving at top speed as he moved parallel to the teratorns. He kept whispering to himself, “Please, please let the sound of the snowmobiles keep them at bay.” Henry saw the teratorns looking up from the carrion before them to watch the snowmobiles. Henry continued to hope that the teratorns would just let them pass by. Henry had almost cleared the massive birds when he saw one of them take flight. The other two birds quickly joined the first bird as they took to the air as well.

Henry cursed as he tightened his grip on his rifle. Henry was astounded at the speed of the birds. They had managed to overtake the snowmobiles in a matter of seconds. Henry’s thoughts switched from praying the teratorns would leave them alone to hoping that the birds were only curious about the strange new objects moving through their valley. Henry’s hope quickly changed to horror when he heard a high-pitched scream from behind him. He turned his head around to see one of the snowmobiles fall to the ground as a team member was tossed from the back of it. The team member that was tossed from the snowmobile bounced off the frozen terrain like a tennis ball. Even to Henry, it was obvious that the young woman had died when she was thrown into the tundra. The scream of the team member who had been driving the snowmobile was cut short as the teratorn used its claw to puncture the young man’s skull and slice his brain in half.

Henry heard gunshots from behind him. He turned his head around again briefly to see Gordon holding his rifle with one hand and firing at a teratorn as it was swooping down at another team member. Gordon had dropped to the back of the group. He had positioned himself there so that he could try to protect the other team members from the horrors above them. It seemed as if Gordon’s bullets were slowing the teratorns down but they were not causing enough damage to kill any of the three birds. Henry cursed himself at first, thinking that if he wanted to protect people, he should have been the one in the back of the party. Then he remembered that Gordon was a much better shot that he was and that he had put Gordon in charge of the rescue operation for a reason. The stoic Gordon had probably wanted Henry to lead the group so that he could protect the team members from behind if he needed to.

Another gun shot was followed by a scream as a Gordon tried in vain to keep the giant birds from grabbing another team member. This time it was the young man riding on the back of a snowmobile who the bird had taken. The young man’s skull was immediately crushed as the person who he had shared a snowmobile with a moment ago continued to drive his vehicle forward as quickly as he could. The rider moved up next to Henry. The anthropologist looked over at the young student just in time to see a teratorn grabbed the man off his snowmobile and carry him into the air. Henry thought to himself that at least that was the fourth person to die in the teratorn attack. Each of the horrible birds had killed at least one team member. Henry had thought that since all three of the horrible creatures now had something else to eat that the attack was over.

Henry realized that he was wrong about the attack being over when a huge bird-shaped shadow covered his snowmobile. Henry quickly shifted his snowmobile to the right and when the vehicle shifted over from its path the teratorn’s claws clamped shut directly where Henry’s head would have been. It dawned on Henry that the teratorns would kill the entire team. They would crush each of the team members’ skulls and when everyone was dead only then would the teratorns feed on their bodies. Jun-Tuk arm shot past Henry’s face and pointed back to the mountains. The old man screamed, “Head for one of the caves!”

Henry shifted his snowmobile back in the direction of the mountains, but instead of driving directly for them, he moved his vehicle in a zigzag pattern. He looked behind him to see the other team members following his lead. Henry had seen numerous movies where people moved in such a pattern in order to make it more difficult for a sniper to shoot them. He hoped that the same premise would apply to giant birds diving at him from overhead.

The teratorns continued to dive at the fleeing team members, but the erratic movements of the snowmobiles prevented the carnivorous birds from claiming any more of the rescue team. Henry pulled his snowmobile to a stop at the base of the cave. He directed Jun-Tuk to run up into the cave. Jun-Tuk ran toward the cave and Henry started firing at the huge birds as they continued to menace his friends and students. Henry could tell that he had hit one or the birds when it squawked and briefly increased its altitude. The effect was only temporary as after a brief second the teratorn was back in pursuit of the remaining team members. As people pulled their snowmobiles alongside Henry, he screamed for them to run up and into the cave.

Most of the remaining team members had made it to the base of the mountain and were making their way up to the cave when Rodgers pulled up alongside Henry. Only the snowmobile with Gordon and Dana and one other vehicle carrying two people on it were still trying to make their way to the base of the mountain. Seeing that four people were still in danger, Rodgers dismounted and began firing at the teratorns. Henry took aim at one of the birds, but when he pulled his trigger, all that he heard was a hollow click.

Rodgers yelled at Henry, “You are out of ammo! Grab the supply bag on the back of my snowmobile; it’s got some extra bullets in it! Run up to the cave. I will cover Gordon and the others! When you get up there, quickly reload and then cover us as we make our way up there!” Rodgers continued to fire at the huge birds as Henry grabbed the supply bag and ran up to the cave. As Henry heard Rodgers continue to fire at the teratorns, he thought to himself that Rogers may have been self-centered and arrogant but no one could call the man a coward. Rodgers knew that by carelessly running during the wooly rhino attack that he had cost four people their lives. It seemed that he was now determined to try and rectify that mistake by saving four people.

Henry raced to the cave entrance. When he was just outside of the cave, he tried to reload his rifle. He quickly realized that he was not experienced enough with the rifle to reload it with his gloves on. Henry cursed then he tore his cloves off. He could feel the cold sting his hands the instant that his gloves came off. He knew that in the sub-zero temperatures he was in that he had less than a minute before frostbite started claiming his fingers. He worked as quickly as he could and he managed to load several bullets into the rifle before he couldn’t stand the cold any longer.

With his gun reloaded and his gloves back on, Henry looked down at the base of the mountain. He saw Rodgers and Gordon maintaining a cover fire as Dana and the last two graduate students made their way up to the cave. When reached they mouth of the cave, Henry ran into the cave with them. As he entered the cave, Henry was immediately surprised at how warm the cave was. Henry guessed that there had to be at least a thirty degree difference in the cave entrance alone and the outside temperature. He was angry at himself for not entering the cave before trying to reload his rifle and nearly costing himself several fingers. Henry’s thoughts were focused back on the teratorns when Dana yelled at him, “Cover them! They are going to be killed out there!”

Henry dropped to one knee and aimed his rifle at an approaching teratorn. He pulled the trigger and he was pretty sure that he had hit the bird in the wing when it made a sharp turn to its left. When the two hunters heard the shot ring out from above them, they started running for the cave entrance. Another bird swooped down at Gordon and Rodgers. Henry didn’t take time to aim his weapon; he simply fired it as quickly as he could. Henry wasn’t sure if he had hit a vital area on the monster or if an accumulation of bullet wounds had finally caught up to the teratorn, but whatever the cause, the raptor quickly crashed into the snow. To make sure that the monster was dead, Henry fired one more shot at the downed bird. The teratorn lifted its head and screeched one final time before dying. Rodgers and Gordon climbed into the cave and Rodgers turned to Henry. “Good shot, Henry! I didn’t think that there was a hunter in you, but you just bagged yourself one hell of a trophy!”