COLD

Cold. The kind of cold that burns. With every inhalation of frosted mountain air my nose stings, my eyes tear. My hands and feet are immersed in icy fire, but most of all I feel the cold in the wound at my side. The bullet lodged there is a freezing lump resting above my kidneys.

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been here, watching, waiting. I can only tell you that I am not alone. It’s not just the men who have been tracking me through most of this cold New Idaho day. The same men who gave me the lead icicle that now rests in my gut. No, it’s something else. I’ve felt it before on long solitary hikes through these back woods. A presence out there quietly observing, never revealing. Always staying in the next shadow or stand of trees, always concealed within the forests depths.

Folklore would have me believe that it’s a Gedi out there. Looking after me like they do all such travelers who come into their woods. Rumor has it that since the fall of civilization these shy creatures have come out of hiding to once again roam the Rocky Mountains, free of their old fears and willing to help mankind.

Children’s stories, wistful thinking, the last fantasy thoughts of a dying man. Better to focus on the clearing below me and keep trying to work the circulation into my hands. No one’s coming to my rescue. Base camp is a mountain away and the cold will get me long before I reach it. The only thing to do is stand my ground.

Sometime later I come to, drifting out of a cold induced sleep. Something woke me. A low hollow thrumming sound echoes in my ears. I struggle to lift my gun up. Two men are already in the clearing and looking up the slope in my direction.

Damn, I’m not gonna be quick enough.

One of the men raises his rifle. As he’s about to squeeze the trigger a huge fur covered claw comes crashing down out of the bushes to land on his shoulder. The other man turns in surprise and becomes enfolded in the same iron grasp. Both men are then lifted up and slammed together with tremendous force.

Their lifeless bodies hang from the arms of a giant man-beast as it emerges from the forest. The creature lets out a snarling howl, drops the two carcasses, and dives back into the woods. Moments later one gunshot, then a sound like wet branches being snapped in half, then silence.

I wait. I listen. Nothing. As I’m about to rise to continue my freezing trek to camp, the Gedi ghosts back into the clearing. For a brief instant it looks up at me and shakes a triumphant fist. I swear the beast is smiling as it reaches down to brush the blood from its thick, white fur.

Yeah, that thick, white, warm fur.

I aim for the head….