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I roll over, curling up against Alex, waiting for the sound to disappear from my dream, but it doesn’t. It feels like it gets louder and when I open my eyes, looking up at the ceiling, it feels like the cabin is moving. It’s shaking from the sound, vibrating in this weird way that immediately jars me awake.
I bolt upright, my legs tangled in the blankets and I nearly fall as I scramble off the mattress. Running toward the cabin door, I whip it open, the sound is now so loud that it fills the cabin immediately.
I run outside in my socks, my arms flailing around, screaming as if anyone can hear me over the sound, but I don’t care. I continue jumping up and down, throwing my arms around and I pick up a tree branch and toss it into the air.
It’s a helicopter! Someone is looking for us. Someone is here to save us.
I hate to leave but I need to get the flare gun. It’s our only hope of them seeing us. Maybe they’ve seen the smoke from the stove, but I can’t rely on that. I have to make sure they see us.
Alex and I made sure to put the flare gun and the flares right by the door, in preparation for when we would need it. I grab it and the extra flares, running back outside, I point the gun in the air, firing it into the sky, I watch the red cartridge burst into the air like a firework. I reload it and fire it in the opposite direction. Without thinking about it, I reload it again, firing straight up into the air, the helicopter coming toward me.
I use the last flare, striking it, and shoving it into a small pile of snow near the cabin’s porch, letting it burn in the hopes that it gives them a place to land nearby.
I’m standing in the snow, my socks soaked through, my entire body shaking with fear and relief and worry and happiness, it’s a fucking mess. I’m a fucking mess.
We’ve been waiting for this day for so long and now that it’s here, I feel like I’m going to die. I begin to sob, as the helicopter comes closer, hovering over the trees, the wind blowing the snow in all directions. But I don’t move, afraid to walk away, afraid this all might be some sort of sick dream, a nightmare.
But when I watch a rescuer slip from the helicopter, his body hooked to a line that is lowered to the ground in front of the cabin, I run to him.
“He’s inside, help him!” I scream, but the rescuer stops, his hands on my shoulders. He’s talking to me, but I hear nothing. All I can think about is Alex. “He’s sick! He needs help!” I yell, shoving his hands off me, I run back toward the cabin.
I push the door to the cabin open, calling Alex’s name, the tears falling so hard and fast I can hardly see when I reach Alex’s body. I throw myself on top of him, shaking him and crying out his name over and over.
And suddenly I’m pulled away from him.
27
ALEX
Ican feel myself being thrown about all over the place, my body sore, everything aching and bruised. It feels like being back in that avalanche and even though I can barely focus as I try to open my eyes, the only thing I see when I do is white and snow and sky all around me.
Fuck, is it another avalanche?
Air is rushing all around me and I can feel my body being thrown about, even as I’m lying on something hard. I try to lift my arms, but can’t, turning my head to look up, in an attempt to get my bearings.
Holy. Shit.
All around me are treetops and sky, spinning, blanketing my vision with white and blue and brown. But there’s something else too. Something moving above me, dark and blurry.
I feel a hand on my arm and I turn, expecting to see Delaney, hoping to see her. But instead, I see a stranger. A man in a dark jumpsuit, wearing a helmet and goggles. But he doesn’t look like he’s dressed for skiing and when he sees me looking at him, the wind now whipping my hair across my face in hard stings against my skin, he gives me a thumbs up with one hand, while squeezing my arm with the other.
And then the tree tops disappear and I am surrounded by nothing but sky and emptiness and that blurry loud thing above me suddenly comes into focus.
And I realize it’s a fucking helicopter.
And I’m hanging below it. Spinning, tied to something hard and uncomfortable as they lift me higher and higher.
Holy fucking shit.
I turn to the guy again, who looks up, giving a thumbs up to the sky before turning back to me. I want to ask him what the hell is happening, if this is even real, or if I’m dreaming. But then this thing I’m in lurches to the side and I’m hit with a wave of nausea that’s so real, I know I can’t possibly be dreaming.
And that’s when it hits me. I’m being rescued. We’re being rescued.
“Laney?” I ask him, my question caught by the wind and tossed aside.
The guy doesn’t even acknowledge me and even though I can barely breathe, I suck in a breath, my lungs constricting and a wave of pain rolling over me that takes my breath away.
“Laney?” I croak again, the question even quieter this time. “Laney?”
