‘I hurt my ankle when I fell but otherwise, I’m okay.’
That was a relief to hear. ‘Hang on, I’ll get you out.’ Lukas looked around. There were no trees where they had come. Nothing but snow in all directions. This was less than ideal. He would have to be the anchor to pull Katherine up. He couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong. How ironic it was that he hadn’t wanted Katherine to drive, because he didn’t trust her in a car on a safe track, and yet now, if anything went wrong it could be the end of them both.
Lukas grabbed the rope, tying a figure eight knot like his father had taught him, ensuring the loop at the end was big enough to go around Katherine, and made his way back to the edge.
‘Put the loop around you,’ he instructed as he lowered the rope down. Once it was around her torso and her shoulders free, he gave her the next set of instructions. ‘Hold on to the rope tightly. Don’t try to climb it, I will pull you up. Got it?’
Katherine nodded.
‘Yes or no. I need to know you understand.’
‘Yes,’ she said, through chattering teeth.
Once he was satisfied that she was following his instructions, he moved away from the edge lest he fall too, and pulled. One hand over the other. The rope burned his palms but he didn’t care. He was singularly focussed. He pulled, and kept pulling until he saw hands and the top of a jacket hood emerge. Lukas, keeping tension with one hand, lunged with his other and grabbed ahold of Katherine’s forearm, pulling her out of the crevasse and placing her safely on the snowy ground.
‘Th-th-thank y-y-you,’ she stuttered through chattering teeth. Lukas knew he had to get her warm immediately.
He ignored her thanks. Instead he looked her over for any signs of injury. Anything that could complicate their next mission: finding refuge from the storm. The wind was already whipping around them.
‘Can you stand?’ he asked as he helped her to her feet.
‘I think so,’ Katherine replied but struggled to keep her balance as she hobbled two steps in the snow. The wind was picking up the snow on the surface and curling it around them. They didn’t have time to hobble. And with her shaking so badly, progress would be slow. Lukas had only one choice. He placed his arms around her back and under her knees, then lifted her against his chest. His body came to life as if he’d been struck with a bolt of electricity the moment he held her to him. He ignored the feeling, not willing to analyse it when there were more important things at hand.
Her body, racked by shivers, trembled in his arms and he cursed her ridiculous jacket. There was nothing he could do about it now except fight his way through the storm that was already upon them. And as hard as it was to struggle through the wind and snow that was stinging his face, it was nowhere close to as bad as it would get.
Lukas noticed Katherine’s eyes starting to droop.
‘Don’t sleep,’ he instructed.
‘I’m so tired,’ she slurred.
That wasn’t good.
‘Talk to me.’ He needed to keep her awake.
‘About what?’ Snowflakes landed on her lashes and he had to fight the urge to brush them away. He had to keep walking. The cabins weren’t far from the track. He just had to keep going and he would get them there.
‘Eyes open,’ he commanded, and she obeyed. Blue irises peered at him through half-closed lids. His heart rate sped up, which was ridiculous. He wasn’t exerting himself enough for it to do so this frantically. ‘Anything.’
‘I like polar bears.’
‘There are no polars bears here.’
‘That’s a shame.’
There were no polar bears but there were trees. Trees he recognised and as Lukas made his way through them, he saw the cabins come into view.
Cabins that were dark even though the vehicles were out front. It made sense for his cabin, there was no one there, but not the other.
Lukas climbed up the front steps to the small porch that was already covered in a layer of snow and, balancing Katherine’s body against his, managed to open the door. When he stepped inside, he saw that nothing had been packed up. Items that belonged to the crew lay on several surfaces but there was no fire in the fireplace. No lights switched on.
‘Hello?’ Lukas called but no answer returned.
The crew were gone.
They were alone.
When they realised how close the storm was, they would have likely been airlifted out. And Lukas was annoyed. Annoyed that the production team had been operating on outdated information. Annoyed that Katherine had stormed off because no one had seen them walk away. The evacuation would likely have been chaotic. Lukas was certain both teams would have just assumed that he and Katherine were with the other. Their absence would only have been noticed once everyone was together. And now, with no one on the team having any idea where they could be, they would be deemed missing.
