As Harris stared out across the frozen tundra of the Himalayan mountain, with his eyes agape behind the snow goggles, only four words reverberated through his mind.

"Mary Mother of God!"

Exactly what this beast ahead of him was remained uncertain. All Harris knew at the time was that it was not any man, despite its blurred hominid appearance. He clenched tightly to his double rifle, a massive elephant gun he'd been using for the latter part of ten years all over the world. He'd received the fax three hours ago back at base camp about the approaching blizzard, with gust up to fifty miles an hour. Out here, once that starts going, you're lost. All around you comes nothing but walls of white, billowing snow blinding you in every direction. Deafening you with its constant howl.

That storm was breaking its way in across the tundra, slurring the sight of the behemoth. Through the white breeze, Harris could make out only a silhouette. Twenty yards out, towering out of the snow. Looking at first glance like an ordinary man in a parka. But once the details of the solid white fur billowing across its muscular back and its sulking massive arms came into view, it was clear that this was no man. Harris remembered the words of his little villager guide just before the squirt took off without him an hour ago. Didn't understand a shred of the kids gibbering. But based on the rapid movements of his hands, the funny little monkey impression he gave, and the fear streaked clearly across his gaze, the boy knew of these things.

Yeti.

That was the only word the boy used to describe it, a word that shuddered with the boys teeth each time it seethed out of his mouth. Kid was clearly scared of these things, along with the rest of the villagers back at base camp apparently. None of them seemed comfortable having him around. They especially hated the idea of having a stranger like himself trekking out here in this part of the mountain. A place they had long deemed forbidden. Because of this yeti creature. Harris had heard the word before, but back home in the U.S. they called it something else. The Abominable Snowman. Harris remembered the name, and only let forth a cackle at his little guide when it ran across his mind. Harris had no interest in hunting myths. He was hunting something else altogether out here in this frozen desert of ice and death. Snow Leopard.

He didn't dare tell the villagers that, nor anybody else for that matter. He was a hiker, nothing more. Just passing through on to the next village, carrying a big suitcase that concealed his weapon of choice. Hunting snow leopards was new to him. First time he'd gotten a request for the pelts. Wasn't exactly like hunting white tails back home, where he had gotten his start as a teen thirty years ago. Hunting became his passion, his life. But after traversing the world, he grew bored with the average game. And moved on to bigger bucks. He'd grown so successful at bagging the prize and keeping out of sight with the laws of the word that his name became synonymous with hunting exotic animals. On the black market that is. Hell everything that was legal was too easy these days, too boring. Now he was getting paid big bucks for the rare stuff. The game that could get him thrown away for life if his actions were discovered. His employer had given him strict instructions before departing. Tell no one of your intent. If Harris came through, the pay would be incredibly gracious. Snow leopard pelts went for a lot these days, right up there with pandas and Bengal tigers. But these things....

It was when this thought crossed his mind that the wind picked up. It howled through the nearby icy canyon beyond the tundra, sending up a swirl of white that quickly descended upon Harris. The snow swelled into the air, blanketing all sight. Just before it all turned to white, Harris got a jump. A brief jolt of fear that shuddered through him with the cold. He could have sworn it had turned around. Could've sworn he saw it gaze back at him just before it disappeared completely from view behind a blanket of snow. Harris had no choice but to stand there and wait. To move through this kind of wind meant a greater chance of death. Without sight or sound to go by, you could stumble right off the edge of a cliff and not even know it until your stomach flies into your throat.

It was in this long period of waiting that the thought returned to his head. What would his employer think if he bagged one of these things? What would the old coot say when Harris hauled in the carcass of a yeti, the Abominable Snowman itself, and laid it out on his desk as if basking in a sick sense of glory? Wonder what the price of its shiny white hide would go for? Nine digit numbers streaked furiously through his mind as the wind continued to howl. Harris smirked beneath his greying beard, now peppered with ice and snowflakes. The cold was now numbing. Even through his thick gloves he could feel the cold metal of the gun in his grip, numbing his fingers. How long was this wind gonna last? He didn't have to wait long. Three minutes passed before it died down, coming close to perfectly still. It did that often, stirring up like a blender before dying down ever so briefly to complete stillness. The ridge ahead came back into view, and the mountain peaks off in the distance were even visible. But the creature, the towering hominid that had stood before him not three minutes ago, was gone.

Harris lifted his gun in defense. He was almost certain the creature had seen him before the wind picked up, and that it was now aware of his presence as well. Did it flee? Did it scurry off into the mountains when the wind picked up? Or was it still around somewhere close-by, hunting him? This question brought more fear into his stone cold heart. Harris had no idea what these creatures were like. He had no idea how they lived, what they ate. For all he knew these things ate people like they were entrees. And Harris had no plans of becoming a steaming pile of Yeti....

"What was that?"

There came a slightly chilling sound to his left. A howl. The wind was steady now, barely making a whisper against his ears. This howl, brief and low, was not the wind. Something else had made it. Harris turned his sights towards the area, but the snow had again picked up. He couldn't see more than ten feet out in all direction. Better than before, when he could barely make out his own hands not two feet away due to the intense gust and the snow it carried. Harris felt safe with his gun, despite the chill running down his spine from that howl. Had to be the yeti thing, just had to be.

Harris had been used to hunting carnivores. Things that could turn the other cheek on a hunter and reverse the game of cat and mouse. But this was in countries he was familiar with, places and terrain he could use and maneuver through to silence his quarry before it could silence him. Dense jungles were an easy environment, thick enough to stay hidden and remain downwind. Out here was another story. Despite being in roughly open terrain, where in most cases visibility was perfect for his keen eyes, he was helpless. Out here he was practically blind in all this snow. The storm was his disadvantage. If the wind had only stayed down, he could have spotted his quarry with a brief glance to his left. But again, mother nature would not concur with him.

The wind began to howl again, billowing another wall of snow around his form. Harris stood stiff as stone again as the whiteout swam over his body with the intense wind, grasping ever tighter to his rifle. Why now, why today? Why did he have to come out in this nightmare, knowing full well that a full blown blizzard was moving in? Why couldn't he have just come across a snow leopard, his original quarry, instead of running into the missing link? Why didn't he shoot it when he had the chance, when it had its back to him. Instead of staring dumbfounded like some dazed kid? Harris was growing frustrated. It kinda helped out here in this cold. His blood boiled with a growing rage, and it actually warmed him a little.

For a brief moment in his anger, Harris could have sworn he heard the crunching of snow. The steady rhythmic sound of something bipedal walking through the ice, something big. Harris heard it to his left just as the wind died down. Before he could even make a move, even turn to face it, the creature was on top of him. A ghastly howl, mangled with age and a deep treble, shocked into his ear as his head snapped in its direction. He let forth just a gasp. A massive body covered in a coat of white fur and a gaping ape-like maw were all he glimpsed before a brunt blow knocked him sideways. A jolt of pain etched its way down his shoulder and back as he was knocked viciously into the snow. Harris skid to a stop ten feet out, his gun still held firm in hands. Shaking off his daze and the pain, he sat up out of the snow. And in the clear break of the wind, he glimpsed his attacker.

She was at least eight feet tall. Her gender made apparent by the sagging ape like breasts hanging from her chest, covered in fur. All over her body was a coat of magnificent white fur, the hairs about three inches long. It grew thick on the forearms, which bulked with dense muscle. Her triangularly shaped head rested on a hidden neck atop massive shoulders. It was her face that scared Harris the most. Only because it looked so human. The eyes, glimmering with a curious rage beneath a thick brow. A wide nose like that of a humans resting beneath her stern gaze, and beneath that - her mouth, bulking out and slit wide like an ape.

Harris sat stunned only for a moment before his defensive instincts took over. He glimpsed the creature staring at him now, not moving in its stance. Just glancing down on him as he fumbled the hammers back on his rifle. It tilted its head, blinking hard with pale blue eyes. A clear sign of curiosity. She was wondering what he was doing. Probably wondering why he hadn't shot to his feet and took off running. Harris didn't care if she were to stand there all day. He wasn't taking anymore chances with this thing. It had already struck a blow, almost breaking his shoulder with a swing of its massive arm and sending him flying like a rag doll. He raised the tip of his rifle, aiming it square for the yeti's chest. He hesitated only once as the thought of actually bagging this beast crossed his mind again.

In that hesitation, the first signs of aggression shown their way across the creatures face. Her brow cringed into that of a menacing glare, her pale blue eyes widening in rage. Her mouth fell open in a wide gape, revealing massive ape-like gums and four glistening canines at least an inch long. She roared, emitting a sound of anger that echoed through the mountains. She took one step towards him, revealing a twenty inch long foot with her single long stride. Harris pulled the trigger.

The guns blast roared through the still air, echoing off the mountains in the distance. Harris glimpsed a brief spray of blood from between the females breast. There came a howling cry of pain, a brief squeal from the behemoth before him as it fell. She collapsed backwards from the shot, thrown off her feet from its impact. There was only a single thud, a large crunch in the snow to signify her fall. The wind picked up again, its chilling breeze the only sounds in the silence that followed.

Harris sat stunned in the snow. Smoke billowed out of the twin barrels of his rifle, dissipating with the passing of the breeze. Through his goggles, he could make out now only the silhouettes of the fallen creatures feet, sticking vertically out of the snow ahead as she lay motionless with death, he figured. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, grimacing and shaking off the pain that still lingered in his shoulder. Harris coughed once, barely hearing it in the howl of the wind. It was in this torrent of snow and gust that a different kind of howl came to his ears. A familiar howl that gave him a chill. It was coming from the yeti.

Harris had heard a lot of animals give death cries in his lifetime. But this one for some reason just yanked away at his heart. It was a horrible sound. Almost human. A wail of pain that was carried off into the wind and echoed slightly against the mountains and crevices in the distance. Harris pulled two more shells from his pockets and quickly loaded them into his rifle. Again, he wasn't taking any chances.

He approached the creature with slow, steady caution. He didn't want this thing shooting off the ground suddenly in a last minute spurt of aggression. Harris pondered in his head all kinds of thoughts. Where did this thing come from? Why was it here. Things like this weren't supposed to exist! He moved slowly up to its right side, making out the wound he had inflicted in its chest. The hole wasn't as big as he would've imagined. Usually when he shot an animal with this rifle it left quite a mark. This at first appeared as simply a flesh wound. But it was apparent by the amount of blood seeping out of the hole, turning the snow red beneath her, that it was more than a flesh wound.

Harris got another jolt. Another howl of agony emanated from her mouth, loud and disturbing. Harris almost shot her again. But there came a new sound with this howl. A cry that again made him sink with dread and regret. A whimper. Not like that you would hear from a wolf or coyote. This sounded almost like the sound a child would make. A human child. As Harris kneeled down beside the beast, a new thought crossed his mind.

"How close to being human are these things?"

This creature wasn't the same as a gorilla or orangutan in sound and appearance. Harris had killed plenty of them, and none of them looked like this. Or sounded like this. Its stance stood out the most. It had stood upright, stout, not hunched like most apes. And its nose, bulbous and protruding like a humans, instead of flat against its face like most apes. All the signs pointed towards it being human. Or close enough to be considered. A sick feeling fell into his gut.

Harris pulled his goggles up, letting them squeeze against the yellow headband across his forehead. He squinted his exposed gaze against the slight breeze, and stared deep into the creatures eyes. They were pale blue, like most albino animals, and wide with a gaze of pain. Tears were actually coming from them, flowing down the light gray skin of her hairless face. Her eyes found his, and they both shared a brief glimpse into each others souls. And for the first time in his life, Harris regretted shooting something.

He knew she was dead anyways. No way she would survive this. Harris had never in his life fired upon or so much as made any attempts to kill a man. He was no murderer, in his mind at least. Others who hear of his occupation might say otherwise, and he wasn't fond of those sympathetic animal lovers. But this creature had him at a crossroads. He saw nothing but animal in its body and form, its actions. But its eyes told a different story. Their gaze filled him with something he never thought he would feel. Sympathy, and true regret. For her teary gaze was, for lack of a better description, almost human.

Harris couldn't help but do what he did next. He reached out and took her massive hand in his. He had no thoughts of looking like a sissy, as some of his colleagues might think if they saw this. He tried his best to provide this creature some comfort in her last moments of life. Her whimpers died down, becoming loud raspy breaths. He hadn't taken his glove off, and couldn't feel the rough texture of her bare gray palm. Her hand was almost twice the size of his, making his large hands look like that of a child. Her thick fingers slowly closed, and wrapped themselves around his. Her grip was surprisingly gentle, not the savage vice-like grip as he would have predicted. Harris sat kneeled in the snow beside the fallen creature until she was gone. She made no more howls, no more whimpers. Just breathed shallow breaths with her gaze fixated on him until death claimed her. Her chest stopped heaving, and her eyes went blank. The blood continued to pool into the snow around her even as she lay dead. Harris let her hand fall from his grip. Her eyes remained open, remained fixated on him as the first few snowflakes built up around her eyelids.

Harris just sat there. The wind had picked up again, billowing stronger than it had before. His gaze was again blinded by a wall of white all around him. He paid little heed to it. His thoughts preoccupied him and sent the thoughts of his numbing knees and burning eyes drifting away. He thought of this creature fallen before him. This lost link between apes and humanity that he had struck down with a single shot of his rifle. If it had been any other creature, any other animal, he would have whipped out his skinning knife by now. But this thing, this yeti, was no animal he knew of. And deep down in his cold heart, a part of him said that it was more human than animal. He almost let his emotions get the better of him.

But then the pain in his shoulder throbbed back, and the memory of this thing smashing him off his feet flooded back. Self-defense. That's all it was. The creature had attacked him, and was charging to do so again when he opened fire. He had to fend for his own life. It would be no different than a man attacking him. He would do what he must to defend himself, it was his instinctive right. And no laws could say otherwise to that. Still, he regretted taking this creatures life. It would remain there in his cold heart until his death. But for now, the nine digit numbers were flashing through his head again. The zeros piling up at the end of them. He thought again of the money he would get for this creature as he reached for his skinning knife. Of the possible fame it could bring him.

Then a howl echoed in the distance.

Harris went stiff. Not from the cold, not from the chilling wind that sweltered over him, but from fear. That wasn't the wind. It had come from the north, beyond the ridge ahead of him. He'd heard it before, the same chilling cry, emitted by this beast now laid out before him. She was dead, at his hands. And it was quickly becoming apparent that her kin was moving in. Drawn by her dying cries of pain. He didn't think about that possibility at first. That this creature like most apes traveled in family packs. But now that he had his mind cleared to ponder it, his gut filled with terror.

Another howl, similar in sound, echoed out behind him. Couldn't have come from the same creature. Had to be another one. Harris reached for his rifle again, ready to use it. But again, the regret in his heart flooded forth. For the first time in his life he didn't want to use it. He tried to cling to those thoughts of self-defense. But his heart, which had remained cold for years, was finally seeing some warmth for these creatures he hunted. More howls echoed out of the distance. Dozens of them by the sounds, coming from all directions. Even if he put up a fight, judging by the sound of things, he wouldn't make it anyway. Harris didn't try to find them with his gaze. He just closed his eyes, let his rifle fall from his grip, and listened to their approach as he accepted his fate.

The howl of the wind was constant, droning and deafening. The wind had left a wall of white blanketed across the tundra, erasing visibility completely. Harris kept his eyes closed, listening. He heard it now, the repeated crunching steps in the snow. Dozens of them approaching him from every side. He murmured a prayer in his head, a brief plea of forgiveness for his sins. He remained kneeled in the snow, listening as the steps all at once stopped. The howl of the wind remained steady, before it disappeared altogether. Harris opened his eyes, seeing nothing but a wall of white all around him. His first impression was snow, that the whiteout was continuing. But the wind had died, the air was unbelievably still. Yet the wall of white remained.

That wall of white was fur.

Didn't take Harris long to see them. Nine of them, all over eight feet tall, standing in a circle around him and their fallen companion. Eight were females, like the one he had killed, for they had breast as well. They all glared down at him with gazes that spoke a million words. Gazes that showed the most basic of human emotions. Rage. One of them had a peculiar looking furry bulge hanging from her right shoulder. Harris saw it move. Before he could even realize what he was seeing, the little babies face came into view. It reminded him of a baby chimpanzee, a little white monkey with big pale blue eyes that gazed down on him with childish curiosity. There came a brief chirping type sound from its mouth before it scurried with tiny limbs over its mothers shoulder, clinging to her fur as it took shelter on her back. Its mother didn't share the same curious look as her child. Her face clearly shown an unbridled anger. A deep hollow grunt came from the one before him. There were nine of them, but as he saw eight were female. The one standing directly in front of him though had no breast.

Instead his chest heaved with heavy pectoral muscles beneath a fine coat of grayish white fur. The alpha male. He stood a good foot taller than the females, at the very least nine feet tall. His nose was broader, and his brow thicker. The pointed tip of his head rose higher than the females, and the glare he gave Harris was twice as menacing. All of them looked back and forth with their pale blue eyes at him and their fallen companion. Harris didn't know what to think. Nor would he have time to.

The female to his back let forth a hoot. Then the others started hooting, puckering their mouths together with each cry. Harris only heard the female behind him take a side step out of the way, before the males massive foot kicked out. Harris felt a blow to his chest so hard every ounce of breath in his lungs shot out of his mouth. He let out a hollow grunt as he was sent flying back into the snow by the males kick. He landed thirteen feet out, tumbling back over once before coming to a painful halt in the powder.

Sprawled out and helpless, Harris could only listen to the males angry grunts and roars. His gaze slowly looked back up at the pack, as the male took massive strides towards him. In four massive steps it was standing over him, a white giant in a snowy land. Harris tried to take a breath, but the pain rushing to his chest with each attempt drove forth spasms of suffocating agony. Before he could even realize that his rib cage had been crushed in, the male finished what it had started.

All Harris could do was think. Ponder his life and his actions as it was all carried away. He thought of how human these things first appeared. Of that look in their eyes, and how they shown more than animalistic tendencies. As Harris was lifted off the ground, held high above the males head in the grip of its massive hands, he thought of how they may have acted. As he was carried to the edge of the nearby crevice, just beyond the tundra, he thought of what emotions they may have given off. Human emotions. He'd seen sadness, he'd seen rage. And since these things were almost human, he was seeing an emotion all too familiar with humans. Something man might show upon losing something. Revenge.

Harris felt gravity grab him. The alpha male had let forth one final roar, a deep grumble of rage that trebled through the air. Then it threw him over the edge. Harris felt life leaving him as he plummeted to the bottom of the crevice, some two hundred feet down. His final thought, as the darkness shrouded him in his plummet, wasn't what he thought it would be. Wasn't a prayer, wasn't a curiosity over this vengeful race he had enraged and fallen victim to. It was something simple. A question that burnt itself across his dying mind.

"I wonder if anyone will ever even find me?"

The alpha male grunted, gazing down into the icy chasm in which he had thrown the murderous bald attacker. With a short swing of its massive arms it turned and strolled back to his family pack. The nine females had already scooped the loose snow over top their fallen companion, forever covering her body in the ice and concealing it from prying eyes. One of the females toyed with the rifle, its strength inadvertently bending its barrel with ease. Her curious mind would never have figured it to be the cause of their companions demise. The alpha male yeti let forth a roaring cry to his kin, an order.

As he strolled off into the raging blizzard, his eight mates followed in toe. The baby let forth several chirping calls as it swayed from its mothers back, all of them fading into the wind as it truly started to pick up. They left a trail of massive footprints in the snow behind them, all of them however would be covered by the blizzard in a matter of minutes. And all traces of the brief encounter between man and yeti would be forever erased from modern times. The troop of yeti disappeared into the wind, remaining the elusive mystery to their neighboring kin as they had been for thousands of years.