A high-pitched shout echoed throughout the foliage. Flocks of birds suddenly took flight, their calls almost deafening as they flew out of the treetops. James, tall and wide-shouldered, and Spence, small and quick, didn't hesitate. In tandem, they took off in the direction of the shout, ignoring the thick growth trying to slow their progress.

With a suddenness that surprised them, they rushed out into a small clearing surrounded by large trees and thick brush. The entrance they entered through looked like a tunnel of living green.

Guilford and Ian stood just inside the circle with rifles pointing toward the trunk of a tree on the far side of the clearing. A five-foot tall, hairy shape, partially hidden in the foliage beside the tree, stood very still, it's eyes gleaming yellow at the rifles pointed at it.

"It's the proof I've searched for years to get. Finally, I'll make all you idiot academics stand up and acknowledge me as the best." Guilford sneered when he saw James and Spence standing, dumbfounded, in the clearing.

James eased closer; his eyes glued to the creature now snarling at the sudden arrival of two more humans. "Shut up, Guilford. This isn't the time." When he saw Ian edge closer to the brush, he whispered, "For God's sake, Ian, don't shoot. It won't harm you if you don't threaten it. Back up."

The young man ignored him, a malicious and self-satisfied smile on his thin face. He stepped closer to the creature, which responded with a weak cry of fear. Ian stepped even closer, the rifle steady on the dark shape.

When the women, led by Nathan and trailed by Marc, stepped out into the clearing, James held up his hand to them, indicating they should stay where they were and keep quiet. Nathan halted and held himself motionless, his gaze glued to the brush with the others. One of the women gasped as the hidden creature stumbled and reached out a hand to steady itself against the tree, revealing a thickly coated arm.

Spence moved quietly up beside Guilford and whispered. "Whatever it is, it's dying, King. Let it be. You'll still have your prize but let it die in peace."

Guilford snorted in derision then stepped closer to Ian, leaving Spence standing behind him. Their two rifles never moved from the target. James took a step toward the two hunters, intent on convincing them to back off. As his foot hit the ground, the long, hairy arm stretched out of the brush toward the knot of people beyond Guilford and Ian. A loud whimper issued from the shape as its hand, palm upward, reached out in supplication. Slowly, the bulky creature began to move into the clearing, its hand still held out in peace.

The leaves parted, revealing a face with large, liquid eyes dulled with pain. Ian pulled the trigger. A hole the size of a golf ball appeared in the middle of the sagging creature's chest, blood blossoming like a crimson flower against its thick coat of hair. It finally fell, unmoving and fully revealed out of the brush.

When the report of the shot died down, the silence in the clearing was deafening in its intensity. Then pandemonium broke out. Ian war whooped at the top of his lungs and ran toward the dead creature lying at the foot of the tree. Guilford lowered his rifle and stamped his foot in rage at the younger man's action, the women screamed and James moved back to the small group standing behind him as if to protect them against the madmen with the rifles.

Spence still stood inside the clearing, his shoulders slumped and his fists bunched into knots of rage. His face, a mask of hatred and loathing, worked and twitched. His chest heaved as he sucked in large gulps of air. Gradually, his body straightened and tensed. He slowly pulled the long fishing knife out of its sheath on his belt. Crouching into a defensive stance, he slowly moved toward Guilford's back. Standing so close he could smell the man's sweat, Spence poised the knife to plunge it into Guilford's kidneys.

Nathan roared, "No, Spence!" and pushed past James to run into the clearing.

James spun around to see his friend ready to commit murder and leaped into the clearing right behind Nathan. Guilford, now aware of the threat at his back, turned around with his rifle raised. Nathan hit him at a dead run, grabbed the rifle out of his hands and slung it into the undergrowth. James grabbed Spence, pinning his arms down against his sides. The old man cursed and spat like a cat that had just been bagged. In spite of their size differences, James struggled to hold onto his friend.

The women rushed toward the knot of men. Marc remained at the mouth of the entrance, pressed against the thick bush that made up its impenetrable walls. As he stood at the edge of the clearing, Marc's head moved from side to side like an autistic child who refused to believe the evidence of his eyes. Sam reached James and stretched out a trembling hand toward his arm as he shook Spence and roared, "Get a grip on yourself, Spence. We need you to have a cool head right now. Spence!" When Sam's hand gripped his arm, James ignored her and continued to glare into Spence's unfocused eyes.

Clutching her boyfriend's shredded pack, Cindy stumbled toward the huddle of inert fur at the base of the tree. She moved like a sleepwalker, her eyes fixed and her face smooth with disbelief and horror. She froze next to the body, her arms rigid at her sides.

Cindy's somnambulant walk across the clearing alarmed Sam. She dropped her hand from James's arm and moved quickly across the clearing toward Cindy. When she reached the silent girl, Sam searched her face and patted her shoulder. She took a deep breath and squatted next to the limp body. Sam looked down into its peaceful face and reached out to lightly touch the silken coat with trembling fingers. When Cindy crouched beside her to put a comforting hand on hers, tears suddenly began to stream down Sam's face as she murmured over and over again, "My God, it was just a baby. It was crying. My God…"

James used all his strength to hold Spence while he shouted into the old man's ear to snap out of it. Spence stopped struggling so suddenly James thought he might have had a seizure. Then he saw what the rest were beginning to see.

Ian had rushed from his hiding spot among the thick brush and was now standing triumphantly with one foot on the Yowie's body, his rifle held high in a parody of an old African white hunter. The women were crouched beside the body and staring behind Ian into the thick trees. He didn't notice what was happening just behind him but the women rose slowly and began to back away from him, their eyes huge with fear.

The green of the foliage began to shimmer and take on form. Shapes of varying height and width began to solidify and move. They moved toward Ian with clenched massive hands. Before he could move to protect himself, two of the huge man-like creatures appeared behind Ian's back and had his struggling body locked inside massive arms before he could react to their presence. Several other figures began to appear inside the trees, each standing as if watching an execution, silent, somber and unmoving. The two larger ones each took hold of one of Ian's arms, growling and snarling their rage. Their brilliant yellow eyes flashed like liquid sunlight as they held his puny body between them. When the blood and death smell of their companion lying dead under Ian's feet reached their wide, flaring nostrils, they bellowed with a roar that shook the dusty leaves on the trees. They lifted Ian off the ground like a rag doll and his screams of terror began.

The silent watchers in the trees moved silently forward in anticipation. Ian screamed again and the duo, with roars of triumph, began to pull Ian's body tight between them. His limbs pulled from the sockets like they were made of tissue paper, tearing and popping with the incredible pressure put upon them.

It happened so fast Ian had no time for the pain to register in his numb brain. By the time it did, the pair still holding his torso upright had a firm hold on his legs. The scream of agony that finally erupted from Ian's throat drowned their sounds of revenge as they pulled him apart.

With a movement that clearly spoke of utter contempt, the largest Yowie reached up and twisted Ian's head off like a soda bottle's lid, ending the man's scream as abruptly as shutting off an annoying audiotape with the press of a button. The dominant Yowie held the head high in the air and roared, showing long, yellowing fangs, while the other casually tossed the limp body aside. Holding Ian's head in front of his eyes, the larger Yowie stared into the face of the dead man, roared once again and, with an attitude of disdain and revulsion, threw it into their midst. Totally ignoring the other humans standing stunned before them, they lifted the body of their dead companion as tenderly as a mother with a child and disappeared as mysteriously as they'd appeared. Not a trace was left to verify they'd been there except the metallic stench of blood in the air and Ian's mangled head lying in the clearing at Guilford's feet.

Guilford's eyes gleamed with naked admiration, respect, maybe even love, as he stared at the huge beasts.

Marc's whimpers, Spence's labored breathing, and the sound of Ratana vomiting as she knelt in the dirt only broke the utterly complete, shocked silence that remained.