We sledded over the mountain with the train tracks. Northward, I was told. My toes and fingers were numb from the cold. Tried warming my hands between my thighs. Dávvet also seemed a little chilly, because he leaned back onto Larry, who in turn, leaned his head against my corset, then pulled a fur blanket over the three of us. Dávvet had cut a small hole, allowing him to see out of the blanket, without letting too much freezing air in. Difficult to tell how long I laid there in the dark, leaned against the back of the sled, our bodies heating the atmosphere under the blanket to a reasonable warmth.

“Mammoth spotted!” Niilá yelled. I must’ve dozed off, because his voice startled me. Funny, because I swear I could hear the dogs running in the snow the entire time.

Dávvet pulled the blanket off of us. I squinted and held my hand up in the sky to block out the blinding green light above. Cannot describe it in any other way than the sky itself dancing, whirling, and shifting colors from green to purple to white. Mesmerizing. No trees at this altitude, which in combination with the magical night sky made me feel a little lightheaded. The brothers parked their sleds so that their side faced the mammoth. It was peacefully drinking some water from a bubbling pool of water; a hot spring. Too far away to notice us.

“Must be a male, which is favorable. A little small though. At least we won’t have a herd chasing after us,” Gábe said.

“There’s no point in trying to shoot through its fat body. We all aim for the head, preferably the eyes, and shoot on my command.” Dávvet broke the barrel of his gun, loaded a shell as large as Grimmington’s electric torch into the breech of it, then snapped it back into place. Niilá and Gábe did the same. Should’ve had access to those we fought Nessie.

“3… 2… 1…” Dávvet counted down, mammoth still being unbothered by us, “Shoot!”

Limplessly plunged into the water; an easy kill. We had all hit the mammoth’s head, breaking through its furry skin and thick skull. A mammoth calf, previously obscured by the adult mammoth’s body, tooted away from us in the opposite direction.

“It was not a male.” Gábe said. I took someone’s mother from them, just like my mother had been taken from me. Now it was left to fend for itself, just like me. Was I any better than Harald? Bullshit. Mammoths don’t have as complex thoughts as humans, I told myself. Shouldn’t overthink my every action.

“Get it onto the sled, quick,” Dávvet told Niilá and Gábe.

He strapped what looked like tennis rackets to his shoes: “I only brought one pair of these, so you two will have to stay here.” Dávvet got off the dogsled while the others moved the reindeer sled to the edge of the hotspring. The rackets allowed him to not sink through the snow. They backed the sled halfway into the water.

They untied the reindeer sled, and instead tied the reindeers to ropes around the floating mammoth. With the help of the reindeers, the men managed to pull the mammoth onto the sled, and tied it down with more rope. The reindeers were retied to the sled, then helped pull the sled out of the water.

The ground rumbled. A herd came from where the mammoth calf had run off to. Technically, they weren’t running, as at least one of their feet touched the ground at all times, but they were fast. Faster than you’d think.

The tooting mammoths made the dogs uneasy, whining and yapping. Dávvet tried getting back, but his hurried steps made the rackets sink through the snow. Niilá and Gábe stood on the reindeer sled, getting it moving.

“They’re getting closer!” Larry yelled at Dávvet.

The reindeer sled passed us, going back the way we came from. Dávvet was still less than halfway to our sled when the mammoths passed the hot spring. The dogs began moving, rotating us away from Dávvet and the mammoths. I looked back, they had caught up to him. He threw himself on the ground, curling up into a ball. My view of him was obscured by a cloud of snow. The dogs took off, running in the path of the other sled, leaving Dávvet behind. The mammoths seemed to be chasing after their fallen sister, and we were in their way.

Larry grabbed ahold of the reins, tried whipping, pulling, twisting. Nothing got the dogs to steer clear. Sure, they didn’t eat us, but they didn’t seem to respond either. The mammoth toots got closer, and felt angrier than before, thirsty for blood. Our blood. One of their trunks brushed against my hair. I leaned forward against Larry’s back. The trunk touched my Kodachi, reminding me of its existence. Stood up on the sled facing the mammoths, the snow was smooth enough to keep me steady. Unsheathed the Kodachi. The trunk that had touched me belonged to the biggest mammoth of the herd. Red eyes, of course. Its trunk extended out, trying to wrap around me. Slice.

Dropped into the back of our sled like a giant sausage. Pushed it off into the snow with my boot. Blood spewed out the nostrils of the biggest mammoth’s stump of a trunk. No longer tooted like it used to, instead sounded the way forcefully blowing a runny nose does.

Didn’t have high hopes that it’d do anything. Seemed like the mad ones would keep going until their bodies wouldn’t let them any more. The biggest mammoth trampled the back of our sled, catapulting me into the herd. Landed on a mammoth’s back with the Kodachi’s blade going right into its flesh. The entire thing, all the way up to the guard and handle, was now stuck in the mammoth. It stood on its hind legs, and tooted in reaction. I held onto the Kodachi, keeping me from getting thrown off. The mammoth slammed its front feet into the ground, the dogs whimpered. I heard Larry scream. Hoped they hadn’t been stepped on.

The mammoths were charging toward Niilá and Gábe. Pulling the mammoth corpse appeared to be a tough job for the reindeers, and soon, the herd reached them.

“Abandon the sled!” Niilá yelled, “abandon the sled!”

He cut the ropes between the sled and the reindeers. Niilá and Gábe threw themselves off opposite sides of the sled, curling themselves up the way Dávvet had. The mammoths were uninterested in their dead friend or even the escaping reindeers. They lowered their heads, running their tusks along the snow, pointed straight at Niilá and Gábe.

“Huuuugh,” Niilá’s breath left him, and didn’t return. He was stuck to one of the mammoth’s tusks.

“WAAAH-” Gábe disappeared into the snow under another mammoth’s foot.

My turn. Pulled the Kodachi out of the mammoth’s back, causing it to rear once again. I jumped off, sinking down to my waist in the snow. Stuck. Fuck.

The trunkless mammoth glared at me. Lowered its head and pointed its tusks toward me, wanting revenge for what I had taken from it. Tried pushing myself out of the cold burning against my bare calves, but it only caused my hands to break through the hard top layer of the snow. I utilized my last resort; the rifle. The mammoth charged at me, I fired off every last round in that metal box, all towards the mammoth’s right red eye. Hoped it’d be enough to get through to its brain. The rifle clicked after only two rounds. Should’ve reloaded beforehand, or at least kept count. Perhaps this was the end of the road for me. Closed my eyes and held my arms out, accepting my fate.