The Hunt For A Yeti [Jan2014]

The ground trembled ever so slightly, rattling loose snow from trees and creating something of a strange ripple effect upon the loosely packed ground. Of course, there was no one around to witness this small earthquake, the animals that had been present several moments ago had felt the initial tremors and fled the area.

Slowly, the air began to shimmer as though someone was throwing random particles of glitter into the frosty air, and the trees began to bend out of shape. A small mushroom cloud of warped air coalesced into light, as three figures that were simply not there moments ago crouched in the snow.

Slightly disoriented, the three rose to their massive feet warily. Covered in a thick hide of unkempt white fur, their large red eyes betrayed the intelligence beneath the beastly exterior. The largest of the three gazed at the horizon, picking out with keen eyes a seemingly well hidden white metal dome and a series of radar towers, covertly concealed by the evergreen firs that stood monument over the blue sky.

Speaking in a series of grunts, the three conversed quickly, their hands gesturing wildly as the biggest motioned in different directions for the others. After a moment of what seemed to be argument then solution, two of the three set off in different directions. The third stared longingly at the white dome for several moments, watching the others leave the area. With what seemed like a sigh, he trudged through the white powder, his goal clear.



Yuri hated this post. Isolated, in the middle of nowhere, nothing to keep him company, just the hard-ass stares of the half-dozen or so Special Forces soldiers to keep him company. And the cold. For someone who was raised in the bleak Russian winters, even this place was hell on earth. He may as well be living on Mars. Luckily for him, he was good at cards, and the soldiers around him seemed to be paid in either cigarettes or vodka, of which he had a plentiful stash. A stash he would give up at once for a night with a woman, or even just to have some female company and warmth for an evening.

He gazed over the banks of monitors before him, staring at the endless fields of white broken only by the occasional greenery of trees that persisted despite the cold. All staff, even he as a scientist, had to take shifts watching for any signs of movement in or around the camp. As boring as the place was, three nights ago there had been some action out on one of the frozen ridges. One of the soldiers had begun screaming about monsters, followed by gunshots. Yuri had seen the blood as one of the crew despatched to retrieve whatever it was they killed, and there certainly was a lot of it. Unfortunately, before he could examine the body, of which he was told was a polar bear, a jet black ex-cold war helicopter had thundered into the area, almost like it was parked only a block or so away, and the special forces troops had turned up, and were yet to leave. Yuri, at this stage had the door slammed in his face, as he was told a truck would be arriving tomorrow to retrieve the “bear” and remove it for study. Yeah right.

The lights flickered on and off a few times, drawing Yuri’s attention away from his thoughts for a moment. Nothing out of the ordinary, probably just the generator struggling again. Then his ears perked up as what he suspected was a multitude of gunshots rang through the near empty hallways. A distant shout followed as Yuri had a sinking sense of de ja vu.

It looked like the bears were back.



Invisible against the white backdrop, the creature watched as a black clad soldier approached warily, machine gun at the ready. The distraction had worked perfectly as several of the soldiers, brought in by the last commotion, trotted off in the wrong direction, looking for another of these things. Only one had stayed behind, guarding the gate. Movement and trickery had been enough to draw him out into the open, and now he stood only metres away, his brawny fur covered arms at the ready. Like fluid he slinked beside the human, who was completely unaware of his presence. Like a hammer his arm fell, the soldier crumpling into a heap in the snow. As he surveyed the area, the cameras at the edge of the installation were focused right on him. Under the shaggy fur he smiled, despite the seriousness of his mission. The footage would somehow leak to the internet, where a bunch of believers would hail the latest Yeti video, while the skeptics would tear it down piece by piece until it became another myth or legend, or forgotten altogether.

Waving his arm in a tight circle, the creature vanished back into the snow, ensuring to leave a random trail of footprints first that ended abruptly first. It was all a part of the game.

Yuri huddled under his desk, popping out only infrequently to watch in amazement at the video screens and to capture the moment with his cellphone. Like a band of ghosts the white creatures, who were clearly not bears, seemed to pop up on one feed in one instant, then simply vanish and re-appear moments later in a completely different part of the installation. The soldiers, highly trained and focused like lasers, fell like trees one by one as the creatures subdued them. But Yuri did notice as he watched mesmerised, the creatures did not outright kill the humans, merely subdued each and every one until he was all that was left.

A series of low thuds beyond the door marked heavy footsteps. Armed only with his phone, still recording, Yuri gazed upon the camera feed beyond the heavy steel door.

The creature knew there was one more human behind this door that must be subdued before his mission could be completed. He could smell the fear from down the hallway like it was right under his nose. As one, the others joined him, seemingly walking from right out of the walls. Grunting and pointing, he relayed unintelligible instructions to the others, who vanished away without word. Standing before the door, the creature could easily hear the human’s rapid breath and heartbeat. He raised his massive hand.



There was a knock at the door. Yuri had practically already wet himself with fear, knowing this giant shaggy beast, which had taken out fourteen soldiers with ease, was standing on the other side. He had also watched as the creatures had somehow jumped from one point to the next, and knew full well it could simply appear behind him. Instead it had knocked on the door. With a shaking hand, Yuri pulled on the handle slowly, revealing the creature.

It easily stood nine feet or more, and was very heavy set. Red, intelligent eyes peered out from under the mane of white fur which ran in scraggy patterns down the entire length of its body. Yuri felt an overwhelming urge to both wet himself again and perhaps flee, although he knew the creature could follow him anywhere.

“Don’t kill me,” he squeaked in Russian, the only words he could muster. The creature instead pointed at the banks of screens, grunting an unintelligible noise. Yuri slowly turned back, expecting to have his head caved in, to see the other two randomly jumping between feeds. Clearly they were looking for something. Or someone. It dawned on Yuri what these creatures were after.
(Cont below)

“Room 406. Down the hall, left and...” He found himself in the outside hall, a huge hand guiding him forward with little effort. Guess he was showing them where.

“Here. Behind this door. It’s locked though, so I don’t know how...” The other two creatures appeared at the larger ones side. They placed their hands upon the door, sliding through it as though it was wide open. Moments later they re-appeared with another just like them, although this one was bruised and bloody, either from battle or experimentation. The thought actually made Yuri shudder. Without a sound, the two smaller creatures and the injured one seemed to vanish from view, leaving Yuri alone with the larger one.

It made a dual grunting noise Yuri could have sworn came out as a thankyou before the blackness closed in on him. His last recollection was seeing the creature simply vanish from the hallway.



A small man in a black suit and a larger one in a highly decorated military dress watched the multiple screens intently as the creatures swiftly went about their work. In less than ten minutes they had infiltrated a military installation, despatched every guard without actually killing anyone, retrieved their comrade and vanished into thin air. A few haphazard footprints outside in the snow were the only clue they had even been there at all.

“Do we have the samples?” the military man asked quietly. The small man nodded eagerly.

“It is 99.9% human. Only one base pair in the DNA is different to ours.”

“What do you make of it?”

“The difference in DNA has been seen before. It is a mutation of sorts, brought on by exposure to radiation. Whatever these things are, they have suffered through the effects of an atom bomb and emerged different to us. We have seen this kind of modification in the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I would suspect this exposure is what gives them the ability to ‘gate’ or ‘jump’ between places instantly.”

“Perhaps that is why we never find them. Maybe they simply ‘gate’ as you say back to wherever it is they are from,” the military man mused.

“Perhaps,” the suit responded absently.

“I will deal with the soldiers and the scientist. See to it a press release is brought forth of a large white bear attack at the installation, and inform the families of the men there were no survivors.” With that the military man left. The suit nodded again without responding, rubbing his chin thoughtfully at the footage.

He was close this time. Very close.

Atop a floating palace staring out over a vista of endless white, a large hairy snowman watched over what had once been his planet. Now completely frozen over, his kind had resorted to living in the skies, endlessly floating on what had remained of this planet’s moon.

Silently the warrior approached, waiting for acknowledgment. The elder turned from his endless view.
“It is done?” he muttered in a language that had long combined all the various dialects of this world. The warrior nodded.

“My brother is rescued. There were no human casualties. We also destroyed and tainted any samples they may have gained”

“Did they capture any footage of you or your team?” The warrior nodded.

“What they captured will be secured by their government and not seen by their public. Most likely they will report it as a bear attack.”

“And the second part of your mission? Did you place the second set of beacons?”

“Indeed,” he grunted in reply, “hopefully they will not degrade over time.”

“The bigger concern is that humans will actually listen when the warnings start to arrive. We can only guide them to a better world. Not one like this.” With that he spread his arm over the frozen world below.

“The humans can never know how we became them. I just hope for their sakes, they can wake up to the danger their world is in, before it is indeed too late.”