Of course there are Nazis

Once my mum told me that my adventurous spirit would get the best of me one day. Not everything had to be an adventure. Not everything had to be a challenge. She told me this when I was in hospital with a broken wrist after I tried parkouring up the school administration building as a dare. She said I had too much of an ego.

I regret not listening to mum.

Because if I did, I wouldn’t be here, lost in the Italian alps after I strayed

off course because a meathead named Brady said I couldn’t ski an expert-level

slope.

I said I could.

I’d never skied before today.

I needed months of practise, not a day, and maybe it would have saved me careening off the side of the slope, sailing through the air like an Olympic skier before crashing and rolling down the side of a snow-covered mountain to God-knows-where. 

I looked around. Mont Blanc rose

above me like an angry parent about to scold me for my stupidity. The sky was a

dark grey, threatening to dump a load of snow and bury me, and my ego, in the

mountainside. Waiting to be discovered decades from now, when climate change

turned this place from a pristine snow field into must have beach front

property.

I looked up to the top of the

mountain from where I’d fallen, unsure how I survived. Maybe my ski jacket provided

enough protection and padding on my way down. I wasn’t exactly sure what

happened, I passed out as I rolled down the mountainside and woke up here, and

I don’t know how long I was out.

I checked my watch, but it was

broken, the digital face smashed. The sun was still up, but it was nearing the

horizon.

It was eerily quiet, the mountain a

resting behemoth, and the fact I could hear nothing was a worry. It meant that

the search party was nowhere near finding me.

“Hello!” I called out, my voice bouncing

off the mountains.

Nothing.

“Hello!” I shouted again.

Zilch.

It’s nice to feel wanted.

“It will be ok. They’re looking for

you,” I told myself, my breath fogging with each word. “Just stay put. That’s

what they say isn’t it? Stay put and they’ll find me. It’s open out here, I

shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

The first snowflake fluttered onto

my nose.

“Crap,” I muttered, cursing my

luck. “Me and my big mouth.”

The snow fell steadily, and I knew I

couldn’t stay here. Checking myself over one more time, I made sure everything

was working and nothing was broken. Then I pulled off my broken skis and tossed

them aside.

I stood up, pain lancing through my body, and my cold muscles protested at having to move. Too bad for them, it’s move or be a popsicle. I was on a ledge, overlooking the base of whichever mountain I was on and below was a sheer drop of, at least, 100 metres onto jagged, snow-covered teeth.

Behind me and to the right were

flat walls that I couldn’t pass so my only option was to go left. I headed off,

trudging through the snow, grateful for the warmth my ski gear gave me, but it

wouldn’t last long. If I didn’t get out of here, or find shelter, by nightfall,

I was a goner.

And then there was the matter of

food and water.

My boots scrunched through ankle

deep snow, my breath fogging out in front of me, and I thought about my

options. I think I remember reading somewhere that drinking snow isn’t a good

idea. I don’t know how, isn’t it water?

I thought about the TV show, Man vs

Wild, I could drink my p...

No!

Ok, if I get desperate, I will

drink snow.

Now food. I didn’t know how to hunt,

and I doubted McDonald’s opened a store on the side of a mountain. At

least not in Italy. They’d probably do it in the States.

So no food and snow water that

apparently isn’t a good idea.

What about a fire?

I barked out a laugh. Fire? I can’t even turn on the barbeque and you

ask about fire. Oh brain, you are so silly.

The falling snow turned into a

blizzard as I cut through a wedge in the rocks and emerged into an open section

of flat, snow-covered field. I moved through calf-deep snow and the rocky

terrain beneath it. I stumbled my way across the field, arms shielding my face

against the snow, until I came to a natural tunnel cut into the rock face. The

sky darkened and I figured there was less than an hour of light. I entered the

tunnel, passing through the blizzard like I’d passed through a white curtain,

and stopped. The tunnel was as wide as a road and just as high. Water dripped

from stalactites, forming puddles in a drip,

drip, drip rhythm. Outside the

light was dim, the visibility down to almost nothing. It was a white curtain of

nothing.

I had no food, no water, no light

and no way out. I was stuck in a blizzard with nowhere to go. I sat down and

leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes.

What was I going to do?

I rested, the words repeating in my

mind as I thought, when I heard a loud roar. 

My eyes flew open, What the hell was that?

The roared sounded again, closer

this time. I stood up and, as I did, I felt the ground vibrating. The puddle rippled,

like the scene in Jurassic Park, and I froze.

I should have run there and then,

but curiosity got the better of me, what animal made a sound like that? 

I listened, feeling my heart

thumping in my chest. 

The dripping stopped.

The vibrating stopped.

The roaring stopped.

I held my breath, watching and

listening, but there was nothing. Nothing but the wind whistling through the

tunnel. 

Whatever it was, it was gone.

I breathed out, the air fogging in

front of me. 

And just as the fog cleared, I saw

it. It was only the slightest shift in the falling snow that alerted me, like

when you see air shimmering off the road on a hot day, and I jumped back just

as a white claw slice through the air, tearing my snow jacket and gouging the

wall.

I cried out in shock, falling

backwards into the puddle of water.

A roar echoed down the tunnel and a

huge, gorilla-like creature materialised out of the blizzard like a spectre.

Or Batman.

The creature was about eight feet

tall, with shaggy, white fur and a set of long tusks protruding down from its

upper lip, and up from the bottom jaw. 

What the hell is that! A Yeti?

A small part of my mind thought it

was Brady in disguise. I’m not sure why, I guess because he’s big and tall and

has terrible teeth.

The Breti – as I thought of it - roared

again, shaking the tunnel, and bits of stone and debris rained down on me. 

That was all I needed. I got to my

feet and took off down the tunnel as fast as I could. Behind me, the Breti let

out another tunnel-shaking roar and bounded after me. The ground shook as I ran, heading into darkness while

the Breti chased me.

My chest was heaving, breath fogging, as I tried to put as much distance between me and the creature. Suddenly the tunnel whirled as I tripped over something and tumbled to the ground. Momentum carried me in a forward roll, and I used it to get to my feet and continued running, ignoring the sharp pain running up my shin.

Ahead of me I saw a light at the

end of the tunnel. Ignoring the obvious omen, I put on a burst of speed, the

light getting brighter and brighter. I emerged into the light expecting to be

out in the open, but instead the light was filtering in through a long crack in

the roof, snow drifting in, covering my face as I sprinted on, dodging around

rocks and debris. The Breti kept in pursuit, but I was faster and with the

light guiding the way I was able to put some distance between us. 

I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep

this up forever, I could feel my chest burning and my legs getting heavy as I

ran. I had to do something. Find a way to escape.

A black shadow crossed my path and I

looked up, the crack in the roof narrowing and widening randomly. The shadow

crossed again, and I saw another Breti, following me from above.

My heart sank. One I could maybe

escape, but two of them?

I had no choice, I had to keep

running and hope the crack wasn’t wide enough for it to jump down. I put my

head down and continued on as the second Breti crisscrossed the gap above me,

looking for a way in. 

I burst out of the tunnel, emerging

into the fading light. The snow had eased off and I skidded to a stop. A

piercing roar echoed and the second Breti landed with a violent thud in front

of me.

Drool was running down its hairy

face and tusks as it roared again, spittle flying from its mouth. Behind me,

the first Breti charged out of the tunnel just as the second one swiped at me.

I ducked and dived out of the way just as it barrelled into the second Breti

and they tumbled across the snow-covered plains.

I ran as the two creatures

wrestled, roaring and swiping at each other. I reached the edge of the plains

where it dropped onto a plateau. Behind me, the two Breti’s had disengaged and

were in pursuit.

I breathed deeply, my chest was burning,

and I desperately needed to rest but stopping meant I was Breti lunch. I jumped

down onto the plateau and ran. The snow was deep here, and I barged through the

snow. It was tough going and my legs were burning with pain. There had to be

a way out of here. I searched as I ran. Either side of the plateau dropped hundreds

of metres to jagged rocks, but ahead of me it narrowed into a…

A rope bridge!

What was a rope bridge doing out

here in the middle of nowhere? It didn’t matter, it could be my ticket out of

here. 

I chanced a look behind me and saw

the two creatures landing on the plateau. They gave chase, moving easily over the

snow, and the gap was closing quickly. 

A final burst of adrenaline got me

to the bridge. It was a simple rope and plank suspension bridge swaying

side-to-side in the cross wind. Would it hold my weight? 

I looked back, the creatures were

less than 20 metres away. With no choice, I grabbed hold of the suspension

ropes and stepped onto the wooden planks. I moved across as quickly as I could,

each step swaying the bridge even more and snow slid off the planks into the

dark, misty chasm below. 

I was halfway across the bridge

when the creatures careened onto it. The bridge shook violently under the

additional weight, and I grabbed the ropes tighter, my cold hands aching. A

chorus of roars echoed around me, the bridge rocking, and I took a step forward

just as the ropes snapped behind me, the old ropes unable to take all our

weight at once.

I felt the bridge drop out from

beneath me and I desperately lunged, grabbing a plank as the bridge swung in an

arc and slammed into the cliff face. My head rocked but I held on, my gloves

saving my fingers from being completely crushed between the plank and the cliff

face. Below me, the two Breti’s managed to hold on to the planks, like a ladder.

I groaned, “Give me a break,” I

pleaded.

As I said it, one of the Breti’s

slipped, the plank it was standing on snapped in two and it fell, roaring, into

the dark chasm below.

The remaining Breti glared at me

with beady black eyes. It roared and began climbing, using its claws and the

hanging bridge to climb.

“Shit!” I gasped. I climbed, using

the planks as a ladder. I went as fast as I could, feeling the Breti gaining on

me, but my energy was sapped.

The edge was within arm’s reach

when the Breti swiped at me, its huge, razor-sharp claws slicing through my ski

pants and a searing pain flashed across the back of my thigh.

I cried out, my voice echoing

around us, and I kicked out involuntarily. My foot connected with the Breti’s

face. It roared, shocked, and swiped at me again, but it slipped, and fell. It dropped

a dozen metres before jamming its claws into the cliffside and it came to a

stop.

It roared again and started

climbing up.

My thigh burning, I pulled myself

up, reaching the edge and climbing over just as the Breti swiped at me again.

It missed, instead slicing through the ropes.

The Breti let out one final roar as

it, and the bridge, tumbled down the chasm and disappeared into the misty fog

below, its final roar fading into silence.

I rolled over and lay on my back,

breathing heavily. It was quiet, and dark. The sun had almost set, and I could

feel blood dripping from my cuts. 

“What the hell were those things?”

I breathed. “And who the hell built a bridge out here?”

I had so many questions but the

biggest one was, what am I going to do now?

Blood was seeping down my leg as I

examined the wound. The pants were ruined, the fabric torn, and my leg had

three cuts running diagonally down my thigh, they weren’t deep, but I needed to

wrap the wound. 

More importantly, I had to find a safe spot to hide out and assess the situation. If I was going to survive, I had to get through the night.

I got to my feet, looking around.

There was only one way to go and that was the cave. I hobbled across the snow

to the black maw of the cave mouth. Snow still fell but it was lighter now and

it sprinkled across the entrance like TV static. The cave was as wide as a

freeway and two-storeys high, snow covered part of the entrance before turning

into a muddy slush. I hobbled forward, moving deeper and deeper into the cave,

as the light got dimmer and dimmer. It was almost pitch black when I found a

tunnel that disappeared into the wall. I thought I saw a faint

light in the tunnel, so I entered. The tunnel was narrow, my jacket scraping

against the walls, and I followed it around a curve. As soon as I rounded the curve,

I saw a dim light at the far end. I continued on until I reached the end and

emerged into a huge cavern. Snow drifted down through a huge hole in the

ceiling, blanketing the ground with snow, but what caught my attention was the

fires.

Torches sat burning in iron

brackets spaced evenly along the wall, the fires burning brightly. The light

was dim, and I scanned the cavern. I saw piles of rotted timber and

rusted metal laying to the side and rusted tools were set out on a table near

the end of the cavern next to some partially collapsed scaffolding and along

the wall was…

I gasped.

A body.

“H-hello?” I called out, quietly.

No answer.

No movement.

I hobbled over to the body and got

a closer look. I instantly saw why I didn’t get a reply. The body was frozen

stiff. The man’s skin was the sickly green-brown colour of decay. His eyes were

hollow sockets, thinning hair showing patches of his scalp. It wore a decaying

brown uniform with a red band across the left arm depicting the most notorious

symbol in history.

“Of course there are Nazis,” I muttered.

I stood up and looked around. There

were more bodies littered among the cavern and beneath the scaffolding were a

set of doors.

I hobbled over to them. The doors

were a golden colour and ran my fingers over them, surprised to find it was

metal.

“Real gold?” I wondered aloud.

Etched into the doors were strange letters, they looked Greek but different? Older maybe. Deep gouges were cut into the metal, and I wondered if those creatures were responsible for all of this.

I dismissed the thought and

continued looking around. I found a Nazi with a satchel around his shoulders. I

pulled it free and flipped open the leather bag. Inside were documents. I

pulled them out, the pages yellowed and weathered but still intact and I

browsed through them.

There were research notes and

diagrams of the door written in German. I couldn’t understand German, but from

the diagrams it looked like they weren’t trying to keep people out.

I looked at the golden doors. They were trying to keep something in.

I thought back to the Breti’s and

shuddered. Was all this connected?

I put the documents back in the

satchel and slipped it over my head, I grabbed a torch from the bracket,

wondering how they were still ablaze after all this time.

So many questions.

I thought about what my mum told

me. Not everything had to be an adventure. I decided she was wrong. I wanted to

find out what was going on.

I secured the satchel and put my

shoulder against the golden doors and pushed.

The doors creaked opened, revealing

darkness within and, taking a deep breath, I continued my adventure.