Footprints

It was a bright, clear and very cold day in the Himalayan foothills when we saw the tracks in the snow; tracks that belonged to no animal that any of us was aware of.

We stopped dead, our breath clouds of steam in the freezing air, none of us voicing what we were thinking.

I was the tour guide; Mike Torrance and Jerry Malcolm my paying customers; Malcolm was the first to speak.

“You’re not thinking…what I’m thinking, are you?” he said, his voice whipped away by a sudden icy gust of wind. He looked pale.

Torrance had been riding the younger man for most of the trek. Malcolm had made the mistake of asking me about Yetis at the start of the journey.

“You mean the “Abominable Snowman” Malcolm?” Torrance had said with a snort of laughter.

“Sasquatch? Hairy monsters? You believe in that nonsense?

“Honestly, I’m sure when we get back down the trail, they’ll be waiting for us, selling shrunken gorilla heads and saying they’re Bigfoot. They’ll see you coming a mile off…”

Now however it looked like Torrance had changed his mind. Along with Malcolm he had his phone out and was taking photos of the tracks. Although as there was no signal here, they wouldn’t be able to share them until we got back to base camp.

I said nothing. If it was a hoax, however, it seemed impossible for the culprits to have done this without leaving footprints of their own; human footprints.

Which these were definitely not. I reckoned I would be able to get both my feet into one of them.

I felt something soft and cold on my cheek; on the other side of the valley, a mass of black cloud was building. In my role as guide, I had other things to worry about right now.

“There’s a snowstorm on the way” I said. Already, large flakes of snow were beginning to swirl around us.

“We may have to think about going back to base camp…”

“Listen” said Torrance.

“I’ve paid you for a full ten days trek; I’m not going to waste half of it going back to base.”

Torrance had certainly paid well; so much so that I had let go the fact he had brought a rifle along with him on the trek. Sadly, I needed the money too badly.

“And I want to have a scout around for one of those…things, before I go back…”

I weighed up our options. The wind was already picking up, the sky darkening.

“Okay” I shouted. 

“We’ll head back the cabin. See if we can ride the storm out.”

My words were cut off by a sudden, deep howling, which came closer then receded as it echoed around the canyons and valleys of the mountain range.

I looked around. Torrance had put his phone away, replacing it with his rifle. I looked at him questioningly, to be met with a smirk.

“You heard that sound, right?” he said. “There could be something to this Yeti business after all.”

“You know my thoughts about the gun…”

“Oh yeah? Well that sounded like a dangerous wild animal to me” said Torrance, checking the weapon.

“You might just be glad I brought this along.”

There was another distant cry, immediately lost in the shriek of the wind.

“Quick” I said. I knew how quickly a storm could build in the mountains; we would be lucky if we made it back to shelter in time.

All the way back to the cabin I had an overwhelming feeling that the three of us were no longer alone. I noticed the other two were also looking round constantly, as if afraid of being followed.

Once I saw, or thought I saw, a dark shape against the white in my peripheral vision; but when I tried to see more closely, whatever it was seemed to melt away.

By the time we reached the cabin we were almost bent double against the wind. It was a relief to slam the door closed to shut out both the cold and the noise.

We settled down for the night around the small fire, using what firewood there was scattered around and not covered by the snow. I had decided to return to the base camp the next day, whether Torrance liked it or not. If he caused too much of a fuss, I’d give him his money back.

Eventually, the wind became just background noise, and we were able to sleep to a degree.

Even while I was asleep, images of the snowstorm filled my dreams; I was lost in the whiteness, wandering into a never-ending distance. Ahead was a wall of white, like a frozen tidal wave racing towards me, to suffocate and destroy me…

When I awoke, the wind was still there, still violent. But there was something else now. A low wailing sound, like the keening of a distressed dog. It was distant, but all around us. The sound was slowly becoming louder; either that, or the creatures making the noise were getting closer.

We were all awake now; Torrance looking for his gun, Malcolm staring at nothing, straining to hear.

I peered through the small, filthy window. Outside the cabin, the snowflakes were flying almost horizontally, so that any further than a few feet from the cabin there was nothing visible other than a grey white blur.

The howling was now even louder still, moving in and out of the screaming wind as if in counterpoint to it.

“Wait a minute…” I squinted, trying to make sense out of the chaos. There it was again…

“There!” I shouted. “I saw something moving…something large.”

As I spoke there was another sound, a low moaning, much closer by.

And something else. A shadow, moving past the other window, behind Malcolm.

“There’s something out there” snarled Torrance. Suddenly, the rifle was in his hand.

He pushed past us and made for the door, wrenching it open before anyone could stop him.

Immediately the wind found its way inside, flurries of show carried with it.

Torrance stepped into the doorway, myself and Malcolm crowding around him to see.

Suddenly, he pointed.

“There! And there.” We could now could also see. At the very edge of our vision, large, dark shapes, vaguely human, moved in the storm.

“What the…what are they?”

“let’s find out” said Torrance, raising his rifle and firing in one swift movement. The crack of the shot was suppressed by the storm.

I grabbed Torrance’s arm.

“What are you doing?” I screamed against the wind.

“You don’t even know what they are!”

Torrance grinned.

“Of course I know what they are. We all saw the footprints back on the trail; if I can bring down one of these…”

“Is that all you can think of doing? Killing something?”

Torrance stepped further into the storm, raising his rifle again.

“If it will make me a lot of money, sure.”

He shook his head.

“No good; need to get closer.” He pushed past me back into the cabin and began to rummage in his rucksack. He pulled out a box of cartridges.

“I’m going after one; who’s going to help me?”. 

Suddenly there was a sound from outside the door. It sounded like a large animal breathing.

“There’s one right outside” whispered Torrance. He raised his rifle.

“Open the door Malcolm…now!”

Malcolm glanced at me, his eyes wild, panicked.

“Now Malcolm!” Torrance’s rifle was now aimed directly at him.

Malcolm flung the door open. Then screamed.

The figure in the doorway was huge, much taller and wider than the door frame.

I could make out what looked like a pile of grey black fur coats, on a figure that looked part bear, part gorilla. Yet it stood upright, like a man.

The face was a furry blur, apart from the eyes. They were grey, piercing, ancient; they fell on each man in turn, finally resting on me.

Our eyes locked. I was unable to move; there were thoughts inside my head, but the thoughts did not belong to me. They were at once alien and very human, filled with warmth, and with a knowledge that I suddenly became aware of. A knowledge of the earth, and the stars, and the universe, an understanding that I found at once both frightening and inspiring. There was also a sense of unimaginable age there, as if I were communicating with a centuries old tree; although this creature, I was sure, was much older…

There was something else; images, visions. A vast wall of snow and rock, spinning and cascading towards me like a huge, tsunami, completely unstoppable and deadly…

There was another shot; something whipped through the creature’s fur. Torrance stepped closer.

“No!” I grabbed the rifle, the two of us struggling in the doorway. Suddenly, Torrance stopped resisting; his eyes were on something.

I followed Torrance’s gaze, and I too froze.

All around the cabin were more of the creatures, some as big as the one at the door, others of various sizes.

“We’re surrounded” gasped Malcolm.

The howling now became louder, as each of the creatures joined in, different voices moving in and out of and around each other. They were moving now, swaying from side to side in time to their unearthly, hypnotic music.

And suddenly it all became clear.

“Whale song!” I shouted.

Malcolm gave me a puzzled look.

“They’re singing to each other to communicate; like whales do! That’s their language, the singing…

“And also…I think they’re trying to tell us something…”

Torrance suddenly pushed me aside. He leaped back through the door, slamming it behind him and leaving myself and Malcolm outside.

There was the sound of breaking glass, and the rifle barrel appeared through the window, pointing directly at the creature’s head.

I screamed “no” and leapt forward as the rifle cracked again. I felt something brush through my hair, and the strength left my legs. I sank to the ground, trying to understand what was happening through the mayhem of the storm.

There was more howling; and several more gunshots. There was also a distant, rumbling sound, which meant something important to me; but I felt too faint to recall what it might be.

I became aware of the creature standing over me, a great paw reaching out to my head. The paw came away stained with something red.

The creature sniffed at the blood, then it flung its head back and howled. It was deafening and filled with despair. All around, there was a cacophony of sound, as the others joined in.

I had a final image of two giant arms reaching for me; and the huge face coming close to my own, eyes once again boring into me. My nostrils were filled with a definite animal scent, strong, yet not unpleasant; it reminded me of a recently bathed dog. 

And as I lost consciousness, I finally understood…

“Adams! Adams…wake up!”

The voice disturbed my warm dream; I felt the heat of sunshine on my face, making me want to drift off again.

Someone was shaking me by the shoulder. I opened my eyes, expecting to see a great shaggy head; when the blurring cleared, instead I saw the face of Jerry Malcolm. The storm had passed.

“Thought you were dead” said Malcolm.

“I thought I’d been shot…where’s Torrance?”

Malcolm shook his head.

“Didn’t make it; those things, they…”

“They killed him?”

“Nope. They didn’t kill him. The avalanche did…”

Malcolm waved his arm in a vague direction; my eyes followed.

Where the valley had been was now just a mass of snow and rocks. There was no evidence that the valley, or the cabin, had ever existed.

“It was the…creatures that saved us. That’s what they were trying to do, to communicate with us, tell us of the danger.

“I saw one of them pick you up, carry you off. Thought you were finished; then another one appeared. And I looked into his eyes…

“And you saw things? Me too. Didn’t understand, not then; perhaps if Torrance hadn’t fired at them, the message might have got through…”

“I didn’t understand either, said Malcolm. “Not straight away. And Torrance had lost his mind by then…and you know, I don’t know if it was a little bit of the things’ telepathy affecting me, but I looked at Torrance for help, and all I could feel was his hate and his fear. It was overpowering, clouding his judgement and his thinking.

“All I could think of doing was following you then. Found you here, with the big thing kneeling next to you. He had something in his hand, leaves of some kind; he was rubbing them on to your head.

“He looked at me with those weird eyes, as if to say, “I feel sorry for you,” then he took off…”

I reached up and felt my skull. There was a slight bump; when I took my hand away there was no blood at all.

“What do you think they were, those things?” said Malcolm

“I think” I said “that they were here a long time before we were. I don’t know, perhaps when we came along, they decided to hide themselves away in the furthest places, leaving the world to us? Otherwise, I think they might have been forced to destroy us, to protect themselves.

“And I got the impression, just from a few seconds of sharing their thoughts, their feelings, that they are far too civilised for that…”

Malcolm took something out of his pocket.

“D’you think they were watching us…are still watching?”

“They’ve been watching us all for a long time.” I sighed.

“I said I was joined for a moment with their emotions, just before Torrance started shooting. There was something I experienced, something I didn’t understand. But I do now.

“When Torrance shot him, the creature vented forth not with fear or with anger; no, what I sensed from it was an overwhelming sense of disappointment, if not disgust. I think that’s what has forced them to hide themselves away from us…”

“They’ve done okay with that so far” said Malcolm. He was holding his phone, scrolling through something. I looked over his shoulder; it was the images of the footprints in the snow.

“You know” he said “like Torrance said, I could make a lot of money out of these. Of course, most people would say they were fakes; but I’m sure there would be another Torrance who’d come up here to capture or kill one of them.

“Ah well…”

As I watched, Malcolm deleted the photos, one by one.

As if in approval, there was a distant, mournful wail; perhaps it was the wind, perhaps something else. Then it was swallowed up by the mountains, and we heard no more.

In silence we began to make our way back down to base camp. Back to people like ourselves. Back to civilisation.