I look down.
All I see is snow.But whatever is underneath the snow is cracking apart under the weight of my ATV, making a sound loud enough to be heard over the running engine.
Am I on a ledge?Am I—
Am I on ice?
I slam on the brakes.I go sliding.Spinning.
A river.A lake.I didn’t realize I was anywhere near a body of water.But I’ve been so lost for so long that I could be anywhere.
Thesnap!is as loud as thunder.
It’s splintering under me.If I don’t jump off the ATV…
Right.
This.
Second.
I hurl myself off to the left, hands cycling in the emptiness as I prepare to cushion my fall.The ATV drops out from under me.It falls away.I feel the sucking nothingness it leaves behind.
I smack into the ice with acrack!I hear the cold surface popping and breaking beneath my body.
“Help!Help meeeeeee!”
One splash and the ATV disappears into the watery blackness, silencing the engine.It gets swallowed with a loudglug, glug, glug…
I wonder if that’s the last sound I’ll ever hear.
No.
I can’t give up.
Even as I take a big breath so that I can keep screaming, I realize how ridiculous I am.Who exactly do I think is going to save me?A wolf?A snow owl?A mountain lion?
“Heeeeeeeelllllp meeeeee!”
I scrabble, trying to gain traction on the ice so that I can stand.I fail.All I manage to do is slide from spot to spot, face down, my nose nearly touching the slick, shattering ice.I claw at the neck of my coveralls with my bulky gloves, searching for the cord that holds the avalanche whistle.It’s stuck.I can’t get it out.I have to unzip—
The ice separates under me.I’m going in.Nothing will save me.I’m going to die.But I shove my hand into the neck of my coveralls and yank at the cord.The bright orange whistle flops onto the disintegrating ice in front of me.
I pick it up and blow.
The sound is piercing.I blow again.Again.Again.
I scream for help.I blow the whistle.Again.
The ice gives way.The water takes me.I will keep my head up for as long as I possibly can, for as long as I stay conscious.But my heavy snow boots are dragging me down.I’m trapped inside the weight of the outerwear I thought would keep me safe.
I will keep screaming for help and blowing this whistle until the peace finds me.
CHAPTER 14
Evander
Wait.What the—?
