The Terror of the Cold

A group of foreign tourists had decided to go on a trip to the Vast icy mountains up in the north of Poland. Their group had a total of 11 members including men and women. All of them were excited about their trip. Along with being excited some of them also had the fear of going there, as Mount Yetinimus was a place where many past hikers had died due to avalanches and being trapped in the harsh frigid weather that it possessed. It was November 07 when they set off on their journey.

Report: 11 foreign hikers have reportedly gone missing in the mountain ranges of Yetinimus. It can be due to the ruthless, unpredictable weather of this area. The rescue team will soon be sent for the operation.

“This is our menu for the breakfast today “ I hinted at the report card and handed it over to Mr. Mike. Mr. Mikayal Yuzik Klazinkov, who was my senior officer and also in charge of this case of the lost hikers. He was intensely reading the report card of the case and also blowing the smoke out from his mouth, from the cigarette he had. I had been working with him for as long as I could remember, We, together worked on many Difficult cases in our job as detectives, and Mr. Mikayal always had been a very keen officer. He looked very much like a professor whenever he wore those pair of glasses whenever he was about to read a piece of paper. He was a rangy guy with pale skin. He looked refreshingly young when we first met around 6 years ago when I joined this profession but since then he aged quite swiftly. I guess it's because he smoked vigorously or the fact that he had been single all these years. All this time I never got courageous enough to ask him, why he had not married yet. “Ahh what makes these young men and women go to such remote and dangerous places .“ He murmured! “Excitement! “ I replied hastily . “11 people missing for about a week in this frigid hostile weather. I hope they are still hanging on. “ He prayed hopefully.

Without further delay, he ordered me to bring out our jeep. I did as ordered and took our vehicle on the track. As we moved towards our case–destination, while driving I was thinking about the possible reasons for their disappearance. I had already heard many stories about Mount Yetinimus from my late uncle Pedro who would always narrate various stories about some mysterious creatures like witches, and wendigos. I was specifically trying to recall the story he had told me about Mount Yetinimus. “Would you step on the gas comrade? “ He requested and took a cigarette out of his cargo pockets and began smoking .”Sure, Marshall! “ I affirmed and stepped on. During the early days of our work I detested whenever he smoked, it was not the habit of smoking that I hated rather it was the nasty pungent smell of the smoke that I detested. Along with time, it became bearable and now I am somewhat smoke-immune I guess. After driving for about two and a half an hour, we reached the Villiage of Velas. As per our information, Mount Yetinimus was about only 5.2 miles away from this Village named Velas. The paved track had vanished and now all we could see were unpaved, mountainous tracks. We left our vehicle because all we could do was walk up to those tracks that lead to those Humangous mountains. We took our bag-packs which contained instruments required for our job and continued our mission. As we moved forward for about half an hour up the hill, we noticed an old cabin. The weather was freezingly low, the winds were blowing fast, and the blizzards got severe, so we decided to check on that cabin and barged into it. The first thing my eyes noticed was the stove fire, in this frigid unfriendly weather, the sight of fire must have solaced both of our hearts. I went close to the fire, took off my gloves, and tried to warm up my hands for a while. While Mr. Mikayal was speculating around the cabin. I asked him to come over and warm himself up a bit but he didn't say a word and continued his search. My eyes had been locked on to that fire, I could feel my soul heating up just by gazing at it.

BAM! The door opened, a hoary old fellow entered. His grey beard overflowed and his hat oversnowed. It was evident that he was the cabin owner. Before I could say anything Mr. Mike took out his duty card saying “we are detectives !” He explained to him that it was the storm outside that compelled us to break into his house. The old fellow didn't seem to be much bothered by our presence. “What has brought you guys here ?“ He asked . “11 hikers had gone missing while hiking in the mountains of Yetinimus .” I informed. The moment he heard the word “yetinimus", the friendly look on his face changed. Now there was a sense of grave fear upon his face. Mr. Mike and I briskly gazed at each other in surprise. “Dont say this word ! “. He whispered in a very deep tone. “What word ? Mount yetinimus ! “ I replied. “Stop , stop ! “ He put his fingers in his ears trying to unhear what he just heard from me. The old man pointed at his eyes and murmured,”his eyes , never dare to look inside them. He will come for me ,just stay away from me. Go away ! “. Mr. Mike went for further inquiry “what is gonna come for you ?” He asked. The old fellow looked quite disturbed so I held Mr. Mike’s hand and took him out of the cabin as the storm had also calmed down. “What is coming?” Mr. Mike murmured to himself. “ Officer let’s go! We gotta find those lost hikers. “ I said.

As the weather seemed better, so we continued our search. I was wondering why the old guy reacted so weirdly. What could be coming for him? “Wolves! I cried. I have heard that these mountains abound with wolves. “ Mr. Mike was not amused at all by this information as if he already knew. We are armed enough, So don't worry comrade! “ He said. Mr. Mike spotted some prints of feet, I also found some prints. We were sure that these footprints belonged to the lost hikers. We started to follow those foot trails, following them for about half a mile, it lead us to a point where we saw a tent for camping which was approximately buried under snow. Mr. Mike went forward took out his mini shovel from his bag and vigorously started to dig out the ice that covered the tent . I was also assisting him, as we were uncovering it I saw a body lying down there. “Gosh! “ Mr. Mike exclaimed upon seeing it. When examined , it seemed to be in a very bad condition . The skull had suffered a major injury which seemed to be the cause of his death .” Poor fellow, huh! “ Officer Mike sighed . “There are other footprints as well but only one guy in here. We gotta hurry comrade, “ He said and went on following the other foot steps, and so did I. As we were strolling forward in these white snowy tracks, I began to sense the coldness of these mountains. These massive white snow-capped Mountains promised nothing but a sense of fear and ruthlessness. After seeing that corpse , I unfortunately expected more deaths . “Comrade! Look, quick! He pointed at the lake and when I gazed at the frosty lake my eyes witnessed what it were expecting earlier. A couple of bodies were floating on the surface of the lake. We were sure they were the bodies of one of the lost tourists. ”What unfortunate fellows “, He murmured. We went close to the bay and retrieved those corpses. Oh gosh, oh! I cried when I noticed that one of the dead bodies had its eyes missing. It seemed as if some wild claws had snatched his eyes out. It was not all, when examined the other corpse was also in a horrible condition, It was missing one of its eyebrows. “What could have happened with these . “ Asked the detective frowning and feeling pity for them. “I told you earlier , wolves ! These mountains for a long time have been an abode for dangerous creatures like wolves . “Comrade! Comrade! He repeated twice. “If it were wolves ,how come those predators leave all their dead bodies without eating them out . He said nodding his head in negation. “Uh, well! That kinda makes sense but if it’s not wolves then what?” I asked hopelessly. “ The only predator in this region as far as I know is a wolf. “ I said. “ You sure on that comrade? He asked, staring into my eyes, aiming to change my current opinion.

The sun was drowning, the evening had approached, the frosty winds moved faster than before, and the all-white scenery was getting darker and dull. The surroundings got silent, the only sound we could hear was that of the blowing winds, which whispered mystery and a certain element of fear in our hearts. We couldn’t continue to go and search further. It didn’t seem a wise decision to stroll through these mountains, though we were armed, I had my 9mm T.7 Cannon, which was gifted by my father on the very first day of my service as an officer. While Mr. Mike carried a sleek designed Semi-auto rifle, his shooting skills were unmatched: he could shoot moving targets. I had never seen a better shooter in my 6 years of service than Mr. Mike. I started preparing the tent for our camping, and Mr. Mike was speculating about the surroundings. “Sir here you go! “ I cried as I erected the tent. It was all ready to accommodate both of us. I went inside the tent, officer joined me shortly and brought a pile of wood. We had petrol, an igniter, and wood, so we ignited the wood and warmed our cold bodies. I took out some snacks, and Mr. Mike and I satisfied our appetite with them. To fight the cold weather, He took out a bottle of liquor . “life starts all over again after a sip of liquor. “ I said. He smiled and shared his drink with me. Now there was complete pitch-black darkness accompanied by a cold silence. In the meanwhile, I finally remembered the tale my late uncle had once told me about Mount Yetinimus. He said that a Powerful mysterious creature lived in these mountains, which would hunt humans who would go there. He even claimed that this mountain,” Mount Yetinimus", is named after that scary mysterious predator. I shared these insights with Mr. Mike but he smirked and said that it was a captivating story but didn’t believe it at all, as he never believed in these kinds of folks and tales. He was one of those men who would cut any idea with their razor-sharp logic If it was not fed by rationality. “What if this is all true and the bodies we saw of those hikers were all the work of that “Yeti" ?” I asked. “Yeti! What? He replied in astonishment. “ I am not saying it with conviction but the way those dead bodies were mutilated doesn’t seem to be normal at all officer! Offer me your logic on that. “ I replied. As usual, he spitted out notions powered by his sharp logic. “As far as the corpse are related, it seems to me that avalanches can be the cause of all that, these injuries are somewhat evident of that. “ He replied. I was not much convinced, and after conversing for a while, I reclined and he also had enough of a discussion. So we had to rest and I was ready to sleep while Mr. Mike lit off the fire we had. I was trying to sleep as he went outside probably to answer the call of the nature. Now my eyes were almost full of sleep and as I was about to sleep, I heard a distressing lone cry of a wolf. I jumped out of my sleeping place, took out my 9 mom T.7 Cannon, and went out to look for my Sir. It was completely dark outside so I turned on my torch, turned it around, and flashed it on Mr. Mike. He had already been vigilant enough and was holding his rifle toward the snowy woods. I went close to him while holding my gun towards the area where he had already been pointing his weapon. “Sir! You heard that?“. I asked. He nodded his head in affirmation. Till then we had only heard a lone cry of a wolf but a while after it was followed by multiple cries of a pack of wolves. Those raw howls sent a shiver down my spine. We were still standing there steadfast and then again there was a silence, an awkward silence, which was overcome by a strange huge raw growl. A ghastly growl that was one of its kind. It was a very distinct sound. For the first time ever, I noticed a disturbance on the face of officer Mike. I could feel fear gushing through my veins, a single roar followed by nothing but fear.

We were standing still and had aimed towards the direction from which that sound came, suddenly Mr. Mike shot fire towards there as if he saw something. “ Maybe a wolf! “ He murmured. He told me that he saw something sneaking from

behind a tree. We went inside the tent, We both were mindful of the danger that was now lurking on our heads. Mr. Mike was not sure about what he saw, He only caught a glimpse of it. “Can it be a wolf? “ I asked. He shrugged and remained quiet but anxious. I noticed that Mr. Mike did not seem okay. His eyes had become bloodshot. We decided that one of us will remain awake while the other will sleep. I suggested him to sleep as I could see, he had not been okay ever since he shot fire at that thing in the woods but he refused and ordered me to sleep first and that he would be doing the first shift. I unwillingly had to agree, so I laid down and went to sleep while he was awake. I didn't know how long it had been but when my eyes opened after a nap, I found that Mr. Mike was not there in the tent. I stood and hurriedly went outside. It was pitch dark, so I had to turn my torch on, I looked around but couldn’t spot him there. I saw trails of feet that were going towards the inside of the woods and unfortunately to the direction from where we earlier heard those sounds. Something did not feel right about the situation. I was aware of the danger that could be present there but I had already decided not to let go of my sir. I started following the foot trails and had my gun ready for any threat. As I moved for a while, I saw Mr. Mike around 100m far standing still in the middle of the woods. I could only see his back. “Sir! “ I screamed, as loud as I could but he didn’t move an inch. I couldn’t understand what was happening. So I decided to move closer to him and it was then that a wild Humanlike but massively huge, around 9 feet tall, with broad shoulders and with gray hair on almost all of its body emerged from the dark and charged towards Mr. Mike and smashed him into a tree with a sheer force that Mr. Mike went flying. It then sat upon him, choking him to death. I quickly shot multiple fires at it. I wasn’t sure whether it hit him or not but it was enough to make him retreat into the dark woods. I rushed towards Mr. Mike, he had been seriously injured by the jab of that monster. I noticed deep cuts on his body which were bleeding heavily. I had a bandage that I rolled up over his body to stop the gush of blood. “Help me get up comrade !” He requested. I assisted him made him get up and started to move back. I asked him, why he had gone there alone while I was asleep. His reply startled me at first, he said that he had also been oblivious to the fact that he had been standing there alone. He confirmed that the ferocious creature that attacked him had the same grey bloodshot eyes that he saw earlier behind the woods. “There was something disturbing about those eyes, I felt my head spinning when I made eye contact with them.” He said. I remembered the old man, we met, he was also hinting at Yeti: he even said something about its eyes. I now understood that there was a direct interconnection between Mr. Mike’s weird behavior and his incident with Yeti when it sneaked at us. “The eyes! “ I cried.

Mr. Mike’s condition was deteriorating, A single bondage was never enough to stop all that blood. His blood was dipping out of it. He stopped and told me that he couldn’t move further, He laid down on the ground. I saw his face getting pale, his breathing quicker. “No sir! “ I cried. I requested to carry him on my shoulder but he refused. I could sadly see his soul gathering up in his eyes ready to depart. His Breath stopped, and his limbs became still. My sir, My friend, Mike Yuzik Klazinkov passed away in my hands, in front of my very eyes. I vowed on his blood that I would take revenge on Yeti. My friend was gone and now I had to prepare for a final battle. I knew it would come for me as well. It was the eyes of yeti that one must not make contact with as it contained a supernatural force to hypnotize one. I thought that if I did not look at it, How would I shoot it if it comes? I was sure of the fact that I must at all costs avoid looking up into its eyes. An idea popped into my mind. So I reached a place where I stood at the ledge of a cliff and to avoid looking at it, I took a small mirror which I had in my Bag, I held the mirror in front of my eyes but a little crooked downwards so I could see him coming from behind. I slit off my hands as predators can smell blood from anywhere, The smell of my blood was inviting him to his end. And then a moment after I heard heavy footsteps coming from behind, I could hear its hideous growl and saw him looming in the mirror, a gray furry grisly beast, It briskly charged towards me and as it was about to hit me, in a fraction of a moment I dived towards my side and Yeti went falling off the cliff, and vanished in the dark misty bottom. I left and never looked back. However, this dreadful incident carved a relentless Terror of the Cold on my soul.