With everything inside her she tried to keep it together, both physically and mentally. Then the mangled thoughts of blame started, as they always surfaced when she was about to die.
Why did I take this job?
Damn Margaret for asking me to look at the theories her colleague had!
If only I had called Sam back instead of squeezing in this job first.
Where is Purdue with his gadgets and money when I need him to escape?
Nina shivered profusely in the spot where she stood, mildly soothed by Neville’s body heat and the slight warmth of his embrace. He also attempted to calm himself by taking long deep breaths as the scuffling of the huge beasts’ feet came toward their little hideout. Nina and Neville held their breath as the yeti walked past them, hardly 16 feet away. The stench off their bloody fur was repulsive. That hot, sweet odor filled the air and Nina fought not to choke and cough from its foul harassment of her senses. Neville pressed her face hard into the padding of his coat, in case she succumbed to the nauseating smell.
For a moment the yeti grunted in primitive articulation, a form of communication, as if discussing their next move. It was both terrifying and sickening to Nina that they spoke, in effect. To her it was like hearing a pack of wolves speak French or Spanish after killing a herd of their favorite prey — a most eerie and grotesque thought indeed. Vaguely the sound of voices, real voices speaking words, came from outside. Nina already envisaged more carnage as they approached, but to their surprise the big creatures quickly fled in the opposite direction. Deeper into the dig site they moved, eventually growing quiet in the distance while the talking men shouted for support at the entrance of the tunnel.
“I know those voices!” Neville said suddenly, startling Nina. “Dr. Gould, we are safe!”
“I don’t feel particularly safe right now, pal,” she whispered urgently, clinging to the Indian geology graduate and guide who had, minutes before, become the new leader of the expedition when Cammerbach was consumed by a white death.
“No, Dr. Gould, I know them. I know their voices. They are the men from the base camp I was visiting last night with Herr Cammerbach,” he tried to convince Nina, but she embraced her skepticism with a shake of her head.
“Don’t go out there,” she whispered as they drew nearer, calling out in a language she could not quite place.
“Come, before they desert the place. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be here alone, especially after the dark comes,” he told her. Nina had to agree that it would be suicide to stay behind without weapons, provisions, light, and a GPS. She trailed Neville as he stepped out of the hiding place and called out, “Hello! We are in need of help! Hello, anyone?”
“Are you all right?” a man asked. “Guys, we have two survivors from the Cammerbach party! Medic! Do we have a medic?”
“We are unharmed,” Neville told the man, who resembled his colleagues almost precisely because of their uniform anoraks and balaclavas. Nina guessed the team at about twelve, all wearing the same protective clothing. From the sound of their words they were Scandinavian and British nationals, some using military terms and others following orders.
“Are they from the armed forces?” she asked Neville, while they waited for the two medical technicians to check them.
“I think so, but nobody we would be familiar with. They are naturally not from my country. I mean, look at their complexion and features,” he half jested.
“I did notice that,” Nina smiled. “But why would the army be involved in an archeological dig in Asia?”
Neville looked serious and pulled her closer to speak under his breath, “We should rather avoid asking such questions aloud, Dr. Gould. In fact, it would be better if we asked no questions at all.”
“Can we trust them?” Nina asked him.
“I believe so. Met them last night and they did not seem out of the ordinary,” he shrugged. “But they said nothing about the army. Maybe they are special forces or something like that.”
“That’s not a good thing,” she replied, watching the men enter the excavation’s tunnel. A moment later one of them rushed out, compelling Nina to yelp at the sudden movement. He sank to his knees and vomited profusely. Another man emerged from the hole and just stood outside, looking up in a dazed expression as if he just needed to get some air and see something other than what he had seen in the tunnel.
“Jesus, they’ve been taken apart, just like this one,” one of the men reported to the others and pointed at the remains of the unfortunate Herr Cammerbach that was strewn about the entrance, “just like this one.”
“Neville, I think we should warn them about the…” she hesitated, searching for a less absurd word than yeti, “about what came into the tunnel. Remember what happened to the others? We might want to keep that from happening to our rescuers?”
Neville oddly did not reply. He only checked his hands and wiped them on his shirt. To Nina he came across as either dumbstruck, afraid to share a monster tale and be laughed at, or he simply dismissed the presence of the big apes. Nina shook her head, “Unbelievable! Well, then, I’ll do it for you.”
“No, Dr. Gould!” Neville implored and reached for her as she headed for the leader of the rescue party. But she pulled free of Neville’s grasp and kept walking to the stocky gentleman who was barking orders and receiving reports from several of the men.
“Excuse me,” she said politely.
“Yes, ma’am?” he said, clearing his throat.
“There are hostiles inside that tunnel. You might want to get your men out of there.” she informed him while her dark, wary eyes stayed on the entrance of the hole. If anything was going to come out of the tunnel, she wanted to be prepared to make a solid distance from it.
“I reckon so, Dr. Gould,” he said nonchalantly. “That is precisely why we are here.”
“How do you know my name?” she frowned.
“We have been following your expedition since you left base. Let’s just say that our employers have… interests… in the Cammerbach project and we are supposed to make sure that everything runs smoothly,” he explained casually, pointing to two of his men to take blood samples from the remains.
“Your employers,” she said, meaning to pry and knowing that it was probably a futile endeavor. The man turned his head and faced her with his big dark eyes. His skin was red from the cold and she noticed his heavy brow.
“Don’t fret. We are on your side. We are hired mercenaries, as I am sure you might have surmised, Dr. Gould,” he sighed in a thick puff of cold air.
“On our side,” she retorted with a slight tone of cynicism.
“Yes, we work for people who have your best interest in mind, so no need to worry,” he smiled.
“I… am the only people with my best interests at heart, sir,” she reminded him with a scoff. “If they are so bloody protective I can know who they are.”
“The Brigade Apostate,” he revealed, “courtesy of Sam Cleave.”
Chapter 3
“Take the rope, Franz! Pull it with your whole weight so that we can get some leverage!” Purdue shouted up to his gardener, who was standing on some tall scaffolding next to the northwest wall of the Purdue residence, Wrichtishousis. The young man he had employed, along with three others to tend to the yard surrounding the mansion, was a scrawny immigrant worker, about twenty years of age. Franz first approached millionaire explorer and inventor Dave Purdue on reference from his late uncle who worked for Purdue in the 1990s.