Paws of the Yeti by Steve Higgs

Author:Steve Higgs [Higgs, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

Yeti Attack. Thursday, December 1st 1155hrs

Navigating to the site was surprisingly easy, not because I had a compass inside my head, but because we could see it when we reached the top of the very first rise. They were two-hundred feet below us and half a mile away with the sun on our backs. It still took over an hour to get to it, by which time Francois had been joined by Hubert and another team of searchers that had been designated an area not too far away. The hotel guests that were among the volunteers were waiting to be taken down the mountain but there had been staff from the hotels, and villagers that worked in other businesses that had been pressed into digging the bodies out.

It was grim work and tiring. Big Ben saw what was going on, the two of us joining the work party soundlessly except for a word to keep Jagjit and Alice with the Ski-Doos. It wasn’t that I thought them too weak to handle it, I just didn’t want either of them to see sights that would stay with them forever. Big Ben and I were already scarred.

Most of the work was already done though, the bodies were no more than a few inches down in the snow where they had fallen. It was at the edge of a short drop so the air was blowing over it, making the snow thinner there. It was pink in places, no doubt that was how it had been spotted. Francois was standing near the feet of one of the bodies, not moving, not speaking, just staring at it silently, the cold breeze coming up the hill making his wispy hair flutter. The sun had warmed the mountain and was amplified by the snow reflecting it. It was cold only when the wind blew.

As I joined him, he turned to see who it was. I got a rueful nod of his head as he said, ‘I have to tell their parents. I see bodies every year. There is always a climber that falls or someone that ignores the warning signs and skis where they shouldn’t. Or there will be a paraglider that hasn’t checked his equipment. It’s never been someone I knew until this week though.’

The young man on the icy ground in front of me was barely recognisable as human. Only his clothes gave it away. His face looked like it had gone through a wood chipper. I forced myself to focus on the details as I picked a clean bit of snow to kneel in. Leaning over the body, I could inspect the wounds. ‘Can I touch him?’ I asked without turning my head.

‘Yes,’ Francois replied. ‘Just don’t move him. I need to take photographs yet. Hubert sent for my camera equipment. The storm knocked out the phone lines and damaged the cable car so the coroner cannot get here until we fix it. I have to catalogue the scene and arrange for the bodies to be removed and stored until I can transfer them.

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