“Umph. Umph.”
Its chest compressed and its shoulders flinched when it made the sounds.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Its body was more slender than a gorilla’s, although it was difficult to truly tell with all of the hair. And the shape of its face was different. The short forehead sloped backward toward the hairline from an upturned pug nose, but the jaws didn’t protrude to nearly the extent of any simian. And the skin was pale, nearly translucent. It looked almost like Caucasoid skin over Negroid bone structure with an ape’s nose. It looked almost…human.
“Umph.”
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
“Come on!” Coburn yelled.
It leaned forward, stabbed its balled fist into the snow, and moved closer. One lumbering step, then another.
Coburn aligned the barrel of his rifle with its broad chest. From this range, he could blow a hole the size of a baseball straight through it. Maybe even through the tree behind it, too.
It stopped where it was, as though sensing his thoughts.
Why was it just crouching there? Like it was daring him to take a shot?
“Umph. Umph.”
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
It was as though it wanted Coburn to destroy it, but that made no sense. Why would it draw his attention to it, let him sight it down, when-?
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Understanding struck him so hard he staggered backward and nearly tripped over Baumann’s head.
It was a diversion.
He swung his Remington to the left. There was another one. Nearly flush with the ground. Closer. Not more than a dozen feet away. He hadn’t even seen it slip out of the trees. It watched him through cold blue eyes, its face a Rorschach pattern of frozen blood. Its lips peeled back into something resembling a smile, its teeth rimmed with red along its gray gums.
He turned to his right. Another one. Even closer. Ten feet maybe. Two running strides and a lunge. A fraction of a fraction of a second. It held its left hand out to its side and unfurled its disproportionally long fingers. The creases in the skin were lined with blood. Its nails were short, but he could tell they were sharp, even from a distance.
Back to the one straight ahead.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
It bared its teeth in triumph. It knew that it had him cut off from any chance of escape, that he had one shot before they were upon him, and he would undoubtedly take it at one of the other hunters who were closer to him, the more immediate threats.
It knew it had won.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Coburn’s plan had failed. Forward had failed. Down had-
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Animal instincts.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Even if he did reach help, no one would believe him. No one who hadn’t seen them. No one who hadn’t survived them. Not without proof.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
“Umph.”
One shot.
Three attackers.
They knew what he would do. They always did. They’d done this before.
Movement in the woods. There were more of them back there.
THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump-THUMP-thump.
Animal. Instincts.
“rrrRRaaAHHhr-!”
Coburn squeezed the trigger. The bullet struck the lead creature in the center of the chest with enough force to lift it from the ground and toss it backward into the bushes with a spray of scarlet. Ropes of blood trailed it through the air from the wound.
The ones to either side of Coburn froze and stared in shock at the fallen one bleeding the snow red, but he didn’t stick around to watch. He was already in motion before the body came to rest in the snow.
He dropped his rifle, spun around, grabbed Baumann’s head, and ran toward the edge of the cliff.
One thought.
Down.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
Coburn leapt from the ledge. He cradled the head to his chest and tucked his legs close to his body.
A sensation of weightlessness.
An eternal sensation of weightlessness.
Time slowed.
“rrrRRaaAHHhrrr!” from behind and above him.
Impact.
His feet struck the upper canopy with an explosion of snow and pine needles. He cartwheeled forward, crashing through branches, bouncing from boughs, ricocheting down.
Down.
Down.
Branches cut his face, tore his clothing. He tasted blood.
He hit the ground on the steep slope in two feet of snow. His momentum carried him onward in a tumble.
There was no breath with which to cry out. A darkness blooming from inside of him, threatening to absolve him of sight, thought. He flipped downhill, landed on his back, slid on the ice under the snow.
Slid over rocks and weeds and tufts of grass.
Fired from the crest of a steep knoll.
Landed, tumbled, slid some more.
Stopped.
Alive? Not alive.
Dead? Not dead.
Pain.
He existed in a realm of pain. Somewhere between life and death, where either alternative would have been a blessing.
The screaming wind. Driving flakes.
He pushed himself above the accumulation. His breath returned only to be expelled on a bellow of agony.
“rrrRRaaAHHhrrr…”
Soft. Distant.
He tried to rise to his hands and knees, tried to crawl, but fell onto his face. Something tucked under his right arm. He didn’t look at it, but he knew it was important. He shoved it up under his jacket, against his chest.
He tried again. Crawled.
Forward.
Down.
Help.
One hand in front of the other. One knee in front of the other. Again. Again.
“rrrRRaaAHHhrrr…”
Still distant, but closer.
He somehow managed to stand, staggered forward. Fell. Stood again.
One foot in front of the other.
The cracking sound of ice beneath him.
Stream. He was on a frozen stream.
Streams led downhill to larger bodies of water.
Downhill.
Coburn limped into the blizzarding snow.
Down.
* * *
The pain kept him sharp, focused. The pain kept him alive.
Ribs were broken, but he no longer tasted blood. His right fibula was fractured, but it wasn’t a weight-bearing bone. His left radius was broken, Colles-style, forcing him to carry his arm against his chest to stabilize it. He used it to hold his cargo in place under his jacket. His head pounded mercilessly. He was undoubtedly concussed. Conscious thought gave way to animal instinct. He knew that should he stop moving for even a minute, he would be dead. So he concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other, moving forward. He concentrated on heading down. And he fantasized about finding help.
Help: it was the shining light at the end of the tunnel; the culmination of all of his hopes and dreams; his entire world embodied by four little letters.
In addition to heading downward, he stayed downwind so as not to leave a scent trail. He left false tracks; backtracking in his own footprints before heading in a different direction entirely. He dragged a pine branch behind him to scour his footprints. He walked on ice or rocks whenever and wherever he could. He tried not to break any branches, trample any shrubs, or snag his clothing on brambles. He slid down embankments and wound through valleys. He ate only when he absolutely had to, and then only sparingly. He sucked on icicles to stave off dehydration. He held his bladder until he was able to find a place where he could break through the ice and urinate directly into the water, which swept his smell away. There were even times he suspected he slept even while he was walking.