He smiled at her enthusiasm as she told him to take aim at the elephant-cow thing, “Ok, but try not to…” He stopped mid-sentence as her boundless enthusiasm had her up and moving before he could answer. He watched her run toward the tree for a few seconds and then turned his attention back to the native animals. A moment later he heard a low rumbling and turned to see she was nowhere in sight. Alarm quickly turned to panic as he scanned the area she should have been and saw nothing.<br/><br/>Scott jumped to his feet and sprinted with his rifle at the ready to the tree she should have been standing next to and saw the steep downward slope which had been invisible from their previous location. He could see dust in the air and the movement of small rocks as they settled on the slope. He keyed up his radio and spoke quietly, “Doctor Randall!”<br/><br/>Worried that the fall may have separated her from her radio he carefully leaned over the edge of the slope, “Doc!” He called in a loud whisper, trying not to startle anything that didn’t already know they were there.<br/><br/>“Randall!” He yelled loudly growing more concerned by the second that she was seriously hurt. The dust and scrub brushes clouded his view of the lower end of the slope and for a split second he thought about trying to slide down the slope after her as he started thinking the worst. He quickly regained his senses, dropped his pack and began to dig out some rope when he heard her calling out.<br/><br/>“I copy that.” He yelled down to her no longer worried about startling the wildlife and more concerned about reaching her.<br/><br/>Scott quickly tied off a secure line on the tree, hooked into his back carbineer and began a quick but secure run down the slope. The loud roar of an unseen beast sounded below him and he ran faster, scanning the tree line for any sign of the doctor or the angry sounding animal. Finally he saw her crouched down low as she obviously heard the same animal he had. He slowed his descent and then stopped as he brought his rifle up and sighted in on the shape which was moving slowly through the trees and brush toward Doctor Randall.<br/><br/>If the thing up top was an elephant-cow, then this new creature was a panther-spider…with large deadly spikes on its back. It was obviously a predator with four running legs and two extra arms with claws on its neck. It was perhaps one of the ugliest animals he had ever seen and it was easily big enough to eat a human or two for breakfast.<br/><br/>The creature moved slowly but assuredly toward Randall; Scott didn’t want to shoot it as he had no idea what effect his bullets would have but he was running out of options… “Hey! Over here!” He yelled out hoping to distract the creature; but when that seemed to have no effect he took careful aim and fired one shot into its back.<br/><br/>The animal was not bullet-proof and stopped in its tracks as it let out a higher pitched roar that could only be pain. The panther thing seemed to finally see him and turned to face him. He was about 200 feet from the bottom of the slope and the creature began to scurry up the slope after him. Scott took aim for the head of the beat and opened fire, this was now turning into a life or death situation and he had no plans to be eaten by the ugly thing.<br/><br/>His rounds hit their target and the animal turned around and headed back down the slope toward his first choice of food. It appeared to be seriously injured but it didn’t seem to be thinking about retreating.<br/>