The Yeti

by Mike Miller

  “What are you setting the trees ablaze for?” replied Baxter angrily.

  “It was his idea,” Conrad retorted, holding a hand aloft to point at the small Asian. The monster stood upright with one hand bracing itself against the central pillar. It had hoisted Jah up on the line like it was a freshly caught fish. Its wide maw of fangs prepared to devour the helpless boy.

  “What are you waiting for?” Conrad said, stuffing the gun into Baxter’s chest. “I loaded it.”

  Baxter took the gun, levelled it at the beast and fired.

  The shot collided into the beast’s hip, staggering the monster to fall to a knee.

  Jah recovered woozily, saw the beast’s angered face just feet away, and slashed his sword downward into the branch between the animal’s feet. The entire wooden length creaked and bent, and the monster’s eyes narrowed with shrewd disbelief. Jah took the sword in both hands and hacked away again at the branch.

  On the second attempt, the chop prevailed. The bark severed and shredded as the outer length toppled away. The monster tried to hang onto the tree, its claws digging into the rough hide of the tree’s trunk as it stumbled. Jah pulled himself up the chain and plunged the tip of his sword into the monster’s exposed ribs. The well-placed poke forced the monster to release its grip on the tree, and it lost its balance.

  The two tumbled down through the tree. The beast flailed its arms and legs for any hold, but its momentum was too great. The aged and dead timber broke into brittle bits in its paws.

  Conrad shoved the dumbstruck Baxter aside, then dove away himself as the large creature fell into the ground with a large wallop. Jah followed closely behind to land atop the beast, sending an awkward grunt out of the monster’s chest.

  With the monster between them, Conrad and Baxter both arose to see Jah and the monster crumpled together in a pile on the ground. “Go,” said Conrad, who dashed forward to pull Jah off to safety after untangling him from the chain tether. Baxter advanced forward but was uncertain as to how to attack the downed opponent. With the rifle still in his hands, he hammered it down on the beast’s head, breaking the stock open on its thick skull. He regretted the loss of his weapon, casting it aside.

  Conrad retrieved his own sword and testily bounced in place measuring up the concussed beast. The monster toiled languidly on the ground, struggling to put a hand underneath itself to raise up itself. Time was short, so Conrad settled on slamming the blade down onto the creature’s wide back. Despite his heavy swing, the metal barely punctured the creature’s thick hide, bouncing off as if it were blunt.

  “Here,” Baxter said. He had retrieved a large can of oil and was rushing over with it splashing out the top.

  “Good,” agreed Conrad.

  Baxter emptied the contents onto the fallen monster. The spilled liquid was invigorating as the chemical stung the open sores. The Yeti howled with alert eyes wide, sending both men tumbling backwards in shock.

  Sizing up the two men, the monster advanced forwards Baxter, who quickly scrambled away while futilely lobbing the remaining can at the beast. Baxter would have outright fled against such overpowering opposition, but the forest conflagration had become a roaring ring of fire, imprisoning all participants into a flame-lined arena. He cursed their plan which was originally conceived to trap the monster, but now only confined himself. Then he saw the monster shudder and groan, so perhaps the mounting heat had begun to affect it as planned.

  Baxter found his way to a sword lying on the ground and wielded it quickly. The monster swiped at him, and he dodged backwards. A second claw slashed forward, and Baxter had nowhere to run with his back to the blaze. So he was compelled to parry away the massive paw with his steel. The creature winced, but soon another strike swept through the flimsy metal weapon, and batted Baxter to the ground. A long gash had shredded Baxter’s coat, and some thick red blood splashed out of the tattered wound. He screamed from the wound.

  Conrad retrieved another burning stick and whipped it across the way to strike the beast on the back. The torch touched the oily beast, and the Yeti’s hide burst into a miniature fireball.

  The beast yowled in torment and threw itself to the ground. Thrashing about on the icy dirt, the monster quickly extinguished the flames in a small cloud of snow and dust.

  Baxter dashed over to Conrad who was ripping through their stash of supplies. “ We need more fire,” Conrad proclaimed.

  “There’s fire everywhere you do realise.” Baxter picked out a new sword.

  Conrad splashed Baxter’s blade in oil, then doused his own. “More fire,” he said sternly. When he placed his weapon against the nearby flames of a burning tree, a gentle whoosh accompanied the ignition, and the sword was ablaze.

  With a loud battle cry, Conrad rushed towards the groggy monster. Baxter smiled and lit his own sword.

  Conrad sank the burning blade into the beast’s side with surprising ease, almost as if its flesh was liquid. The creature yowled again and punched Conrad, who fell on his rear but retained the fiery sword in his grip.

  Baxter rushed forward to help his friend to his feet, brandishing his own lit weapon.

  With swords ablaze, the two men circled the Yeti. The creature’s tiny eyes bounced back and forth between the two opponents, wary of their weapons. For the first time in the encounter, the creature nervously retreated from the men. The two were pleased to recognise its trepidation, and with a quick check upon the other to be sure, they both rushed forward at the monster at the same time.

  The beast’s size and length was the equalising factor, able to parry and counter the onrush from the swordsman. But the vigorous assault from the two fanatics struck the beast repeatedly in its arms and sides. While none of the blows were deep, they were many.

  The Yeti scrambled backwards until its tail sensed flames at its rear. The humid temperature of this enclosure was a spa, as the melting vapours of the snow and ice boiled with the heat of the flames. Though the fire was yards away, the temperature was uncomfortably smouldering the Yeti’s hide.

  With no means of escape, the monster desperately surged forward with a double-armed slash reminiscent of a swimmer’s breaststroke. Baxter tumbled aside to fall out of the creature’s reach. Conrad positioned his sword to block the hit, but the vicious swing knocked him over, also sending the blade clanging from his hands.

  The Yeti was scarred thoroughly, a large piece of its skull was missing, its body had been burned in numerous places, and its broken horn gave its head a distinctly asymmetrical imbalance. But the beast was from done.

  It recognised an opportunity to finish the white man as it positioned itself over Conrad for a kill. Baxter watched as the creature reared a claw over its head, poised to slice his prone friend on the ground.

  Baxter yelled valiantly as a man possessed, and he charged the beast. Lowering his head, he tackled the creature from the side while slamming his blade as best as possible into the monster’s gut. The burning sword sank moderately into the monster’s belly, but Baxter’s momentum and bold ambush dislodged the off-guard creature.

  The two staggered along the ground. Wrapping his arms around the thing’s waist, Baxter pumped his legs wildly as he tried to drive the creature aside, perhaps into the encircling flames of the forest.

  The monster stumbled for footing, but remained upright. It slashed downwards, and its talons shredded Baxter’s back. Even in the dark, unpredictable light of the flickering fire, Conrad could see blood seep out of Baxter’s perforated backside as he crumpled weakly to the ground.

  “Baxter!” Conrad cried in alarm as he fumbled to a stand.

  But though he had collapsed, Baxter shot forwards again to smother himself against the monster in a fierce grip. The warmth of Baxter’s seeping blood and sweat caused no small amount of discomfort to the Yeti. It squirmed to escape as it pushed him aside, releasing a timid yelp in the process.

  Conrad dashed over and began hacking at the Yeti’s flank as if he were entered in a wood-chopping cont
est. With the creature distracted and retaliating to the new attack with drunken swings, Conrad was able to dodge a few until one eventually knocked him down.

  As his compatriot fell, Baxter knew he had to rise. Though weakened with pain, he still charged the Yeti with resolute determination. At the final paces, he lunged upwards at the unsuspecting abomination and wrapped his arm around the creature’s throat.

  The Yeti yowled and gagged as Baxter locked in the grip with both arms. The hot blood on Baxter’s body melted the creature’s frozen fur, helping to bond the man to the monster. With the beast’s gruesome face inches away from his own, the position permitted Baxter to appreciate the jagged rows of white teeth and slick black tongue inside the monster’s screeching mouth. Baxter also had an excellent view of the monster’s double-pupil eyes grow wide with fright, encouraging him to tighten his grip.

  He skilfully drove his shoulder up into the Yeti’s chin to keep its dangerous mouth positioned away from chomping him. He had strategically chosen to attack the side of the monster that had lost its horn, leaving more room for him to burrow into his grip. Baxter could now feel the frigid flesh and blood of the monster seeping into his own skin as the two bodies further fused together through force of combat.

  The Yeti’s knees buckled but did not bow. Its left arm sank its claws into Baxter’s torso to rip him away.

  Conrad serendipitously returned in time to promptly stab that limb before it could do further harm. Its large right hand now toiled to dislodge the feisty man choking its neck. As the large paw enclosed his waist, Baxter stomped it back with his leg. Soon he was using both legs to deflect the monster’s angry hand.

  With eyes clenched tightly from the exhaustion, and all too aware of both the snapping jaws and menacing claws of the Yeti fighting to destroy him, Baxter relaxed, knowing that he would not let go until either the creature or himself were dead, if not the both of them. He mentally retreated into tender thoughts of his lovely wife, how much he loved her, yearned for her, and regretted the decision to ever leave her to pursue a wealth for them.

  The Yeti gagged and a thick spew of black blood spat from its mouth and dripped along Baxter’s back. The freezing ooze singed his body, but Baxter was too far removed to feel any more pain.

  Another blind, wild swing from the beast punched Conrad’s sword from his hand. So Conrad leapt up onto monster’s shoulder, wrapping both arms and legs around the monster’s arm in a ferocious bear hug.

  The lopsided weight of both men dropped the Yeti to one knee. With Conrad still encumbering one arm, the Yeti planted its other palm to prevent itself from falling altogether flat on the ground.

  Conrad saw that Jah was stirring to life, and called out to him. “Jah!” he roared in such an uninhibited volume that flecks of phlegm accompanied the cry. “Jah!” he yelled again.

  The boy had worked both arms under himself though he still lay sprawled across the earth. Then one hand and one stump sunk into the dirt as his head slowly rose to analyse its surroundings. The slow, disjointed blinking did not bode well for his condition.

  “God help us, damn it!” Conrad snarled again at the boy, while driving a knee up into the monster’s elbow in a vain effort to inflict any more damage upon the unstoppable foe.

  With one sudden crank of his head, Jah’s mind locked onto the scene, completely comprehending the predicament of both men grappling with the beast. Now his eyes became alert. His jaw hardened with grit.

  Despite Baxter’s throttling and Conrad’s encumbering, the creature recovered and rose upright, suspending both soldiers in the air with its power. The old British soldier was flabbergasted at its inhuman strength. He was even more stunned when the beast launched itself onto its side, driving its elbow and the man into the ground. Conrad released his hold with an exhausted gasp of emptying wind.

  Jah snatched the hook and chain up from the ground as he dashed over to join the fray. Seeing a trail of spilled oil on the ground, he dragged the metal links through the shimmering fluid as he charged. Still running forward, he snapped his wrist to whip the metals links across a lit tree trunk. The long stretch of metal links combusted into a row of blazing flame. Swinging the burning chain back behind him so that it never touched the ground, Jah flung its hooked head directly at the Yeti’s face.

  The three prongs of the hook thumped off the monster’s skull. With a quick jerk backwards, the device locked into the Yeti’s face. One barb locked around its broken horn, another tip burrowed into the exposed flesh of the forehead.

  “Let go,” Jah instructed, and the nearly unconscious Baxter somehow received the instruction to release his grip. A leaden wheeze signalled the creature’s immediate endeavour to refill its lungs with breath.

  As Baxter fell away to the ground, Jah leapt up onto the beast’s back while tossing the end of the burning chain in a wide loop. The metal links arched outwards until Jah deftly wrapped them back around the creature’s throat. The boy grabbed the fiery metal in his sole hand to swiftly lasso it around the monster’s neck once more though the hot iron singed his palm.

  With two full loops quickly woven around the creature’s neck, Jah cinched in the length of chain while standing fully astride the beast’s back. Also tying the line around his amputated arm, Jah tugged backwards on the chain to strangle all breath from the beast. The links of metal became a burning collar on the monster.

  Still worn from Baxter’s assault, the creature could only sound a muffled wheeze.

  Both of the monster’s shaggy arms flew back overhead to reach for the new assailant. Conrad again flung himself onto the nearest arm to further hobble it.

  Jah skilfully kicked away an arm with his foot, still wrenching at the chain to sink the burning metal farther into the monster’s neck.

  The creature again realised the best counter to remove the vengeful youth, and it jumped onto its own back. Jah abandoned his upright stance to lay flush against the beast’s back as his only recourse to mitigate the blow. He succeeded in changing position, but was still violently squashed between the hulking brute and the hard ground. The Yeti’s tactic succeeded as Jah released the chain, and the burning metal line went slack.

  Conrad thumped against the ground too, but retained his hold on the Yeti’s arm.

  The creature rolled over onto its stomach to rise again onto its feet, leaving Jah behind on the ground floundering like a fish on dry land as he coughed for air. Though Conrad’s weight kept one arm pinned down, the monster could still use it to leverage itself up to all fours.

  It reached up to remove its suffocating collar when Baxter slammed his foot fully into the monster’s throat. The creature gasped in surprise and planted its face into the earth.

  Climbing onto the Yeti’s back, Baxter took up the chain’s ends and pulled it taut in both hands. His body was weakened, but he was still mighty enough to tear at the line and tow the monster’s head upwards. The still flickering metal had sunk so deep into the beast’s throat that rivulets of its cold, blue blood oozed outwards to extinguish parts of the chain’s flame.

  “Kill it!” screeched Conrad in encouragement still wrestling the monster’s arm to submission. “Kill it!”

  Baxter rode atop the beast and yanked with all his strength.

  The creature fought weakly but defiantly. The Yeti bucked its back to toss the black man from its body, though Conrad’s hold greatly limited its ability to move with any true vigour.

  While the monster danced them all about in a stumbling circle, Baxter pulled and pulled. His various wounds stretched open, threatening more blood and flesh to seep from his body.

  But as the muscles in Baxter’s arms and back trembled from the furious effort, so did his mind. At first it overflowed with thought, his warrior calculations of what else might happen and how to strategise for that contingency. However the beast could move, he was readying to react. His head spread itself apart to account for all the possible futures from this moment. He could see every outcome and variants in t
he next minute of his life, everything between victory and defeat, life and death.

  The monster began thrashing and convulsing. But Baxter endured the disruptive waves. Still he pulled.

  His vast thoughts of the battle grew in scope to now encompass everything in his life. Flickers of thought about his wife, his home, his sins, all began to invade his head. They threatened to overwhelm him from the inside, and so Baxter found himself further wrapping his palms into the chains as if to keep himself from coming apart.

  The creature’s motions slowed, and Baxter found even more room to arch his back to rip at the chain.

  But with all his concerns about what might happen and what had happened, Baxter’s perspective shifted. Suddenly all the scenarios and possibilities collapsed into one singular idea. Right now, he existed solely to kill. There was nothing more to it. It would be done.

  And so he pulled on the chain. No matter what this monster did, it would not stop him.

  The monster’s resistance subsided. Its large head fell limp into the earth. The Yeti died with a pitiful little gargle.

  Baxter continued to pull at the chain nonetheless. If he could have seen the creature’s face, he would have noticed the small eyes glaze over without any shimmer of vitality.

  Conrad released his hold, and went to pat Baxter on the shoulder. “It’s over, mate,” he congratulated, but Baxter continued tugging at the chain.

  The monster’s head became slightly severed from its body, popping a few inches upward and permitting Baxter to slide his grip further up the chain. So he continued to pull.

  “You can stop, Baxter,” Conrad said, digging his hands into Baxter’s bloody mitts to pry the fingers away from their unyielding grip.

  When Baxter let go, it was because he had fainted. Though his eyes were closed asleep, his wide chest heaved for breath.

  Conrad smiled and said, “Good man.”

  He fetched one of the swords from the ground, and whilst passing Jah, nudged him with his toe to awaken him. But Jah too lay dead still on the ground, yet the youth still breathed.