60 HideBy the time Flash made it back to the snow-covered plain, the animals were gone. 

He swooped down low over the area where he had seen them, and was able to follow their tracks toward an area where giant tree trunks protruded through the surface of the drifts. 

Here, he lost their trail, but the colossal trees intrigued him. He brought the ship down in a clearing that was more or less protected from the wind. 

The surface was firm, but Flash moved with caution on what could be unstable terrain.  He approached one of the trees but then stopped dead in his tracks.  It appeared that he was not alone. 

He drew his ray gun and pointed it at a large hairy animal laying in a hollow at the base of another tree.  Other than the wind blowing its shaggy black coat, the animal did not stir. 

Flash stood frozen in his tracks and barely breathed. Whatever this creature was, he did not want to startle it. But it was too cold to stand motionless for long.  With his ray gun aimed in self defense, he hollered.  Nothing happened. 

He threw a snowball at it. Still no response. Could it be hibernating?  

A barren branch jutted out above where the creature lay. Flash blasted the base of the branch which fell directly onto the animal. Still, it remained motionless, and Flash made a wide circle around it.  This was no living thing. He approached it and prodded it with part of the branch. It was a wooly black hide, and Flash stretched it out on the snow. It had been picked clean. 

The hide could come in useful. Flash gathered it up and headed back toward the TNI2. The pelt was heavy, and the wind was bitter, so Flash wrapped the hide around himself, and followed his tracks back to the ship. He heard something, and raised his gaze. A mammoth and a saber toothed tiger stood between him and his craft.