It had only been about a year since the scientist aboard the Ark had returned back home to Earth. She had been deemed a danger by both her rescuers and the team on the new world she was headed to. After all, in their mind, she was severely unstable and capable of accidentally getting her colleagues killed. And so the patrol had brought the whole ship and it's specimens back. Including the preserved body of the once living smilodon which had escaped the containment bay and caused her near death.

Yet, even though she seemed to quickly get better the longer she avoided the object of her madness. Our directors quickly had checked the specimens and readied me to take the next trip. The woman eventually confronting me about it on the eve of my trip. Her hand lunging forward to grab hold of my jacket. Her eyes wide with fear as they stared into my own. "Don't make the trip back on the Ark. It's still there! It'll kill you!"

...

Small needle-like icicle shards pricked my skin as I skidded across the icy ground. The freezing surroundings allowing my heavy breaths to become visible as white puffs of air. My body shook thanks to the combination of being so cold and the fear that gripped my heart. The organ beating so rapidly that I felt that it would simply break from its cage.

A thousand questions ran through my mind at such a rapid pace that they became jumbled. Yet, two were painfully clear above the noise. Why had the Ark crash landed here of all places and what was the beast that breached the containment bay?

A heavy breathing had brought me back to reality. The feeling of the creature's eyes which glared into my back not going unnoticed by me. My feet easily heard hitting the ice along with the occasional sound of my feet losing traction, while the creature's feet were soundless. Something that made me almost give in to the possibility that that scientist wasn't lying about the specter.

The ground shook, nearly sending me to the ground had I not somehow managed to keep my footing. The earth underneath the ice growling as the ice shook and cracked. The earth rose upward around me. As if the world had specifically attempted to trap me here with the beast. My breath caught in my throat as I turned around in the hope that another path would present itself. However, I only came to find "it" standing before me.

"This can't be!" I cried as the feline slowly stepped closer. Its lips drawn upwards in a snarl as it showed off every last tooth in its mouth. The primitive big cat's two saber-teeth looking much sharper at that moment than when I had seen it all those months ago. "You're supposed to be dead..."

...

Had I only listened, maybe things wouldn't have ended as they had.