Chapter 3

She looked at me crumpled in the snow. Not a trace of warmth in her eyes. Just disgust.

"Fine, Ethan. You like putting on a show?"

She sneered and tightened her windproof mask.

"Then stay here and perform. We'll rest ten more minutes, then move to the next shoot location."

"If you can't keep up, enjoy your little tragedy out here on the mountain!"

She turned without hesitation.

The others kept their heads down, checking equipment, talking over the route ahead.

Nobody cared if I lived.

Caleb's eyes passed over me with contempt. A faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

I lay in the snow. My shivering was getting weaker.

Every breath was harder than the last. Even the pain in my lungs was going numb.

My vision darkened. My hearing faded.

I could barely pick up the sounds of them packing, and not one of them looked back.

Despair closed in like the coldest ice, sealing me in.

Maybe... this was it...

Just as I gave up all hope and braced for the final dark, a stranger's voice cut through.

"Hey! Friend! Are you okay? Do you need help?"

The concerned stranger's voice pulled my fading mind back.

I forced my eyes open.

A tall figure in a bright orange climbing suit was standing in front of me.

Behind him were several more climbers, all well-equipped, watching with concern.

They looked like a professional climbing team.

"Friend, you look rough. Do you need help?"

The man's voice was steady, solid, unmistakably professional.

He gently pulled the torn edges of my jacket closed, his brow furrowed.

"You look like severe altitude sickness. Where's your team?"

A desperate pull to survive made me open my mouth. I wanted to beg for help, to expose all of it.

But only a broken, rasping hiss came out, like an old bellows.

Then Selene walked over fast and planted herself between me and the climber.

"We're fine, thank you for your concern. He's my Mate. We're all on the same shoot team."

"He just has a bit of altitude sickness, and we had a small argument. He's being stubborn. Sorry about this."

Her words sounded perfectly reasonable.

Caleb rushed up too, his face the picture of helpless worry.

"Yeah, yeah, sir, my brother's not feeling well, he's in a bad mood, he insisted on resting. We can't talk him out of it."

"We'll be fine in a bit. Don't let us hold you up."

The climber looked at my sickly-pale face, then at Selene and Caleb. He hesitated.

"Are you sure he doesn't need help? He looks in serious danger."

He asked again. His eyes swept over Selene.

"Really, no need! Really!" Selene waved her hands. Her smile got warmer.

"We're all professional photographers. We spend half the year in high-altitude territory. We know what we're doing."

"He's just tired. Throwing a fit. He'll get over it. Right, Ethan?"

As she spoke, she bent down. It looked gentle. It wasn't. Her fingers dug hard into my arm.

"Don't embarrass me," she whispered. "Say you're fine. Now."

The pinch stabbed through me, but my throat wouldn't work.

I used everything I had left to reach out, begging with my eyes.

But to the stranger, my struggle probably just looked like more sulking.

The climber took in our strange exchange, glanced at the photography gear in the distance, and finally nodded.

"All right. Be careful out here."

"This area just went on alert. Local avalanche risk this afternoon. I'd head down as soon as you can."

He left the warning, looked at me one more time, still clearly uneasy.

But his team was urging him. He turned and went.

Hope, like a dying spark underfoot, snuffed out.

The orange figures disappeared into the snow. Selene's smile dropped.

She turned to Caleb and the other assistants, her voice cold.

"Pack up. We're leaving."

"What about him?"

A young assistant asked quietly. She sounded like she still had a conscience.

Selene glanced at me like I was a pile of trash in her way.

"He loves playing the victim? Let him cool off right here!"

"Leave him. We'll hit the next location, finish the shoot, and pick him up on the way down!"

Caleb's mouth twitched up. He covered it with concern.

"Selene, is that okay... what if there's an avalanche..."

"What 'what if'?" Selene cut him off.

"He ripped his own clothes! Someone tried to help and he turned on them!"

"If a man this ungrateful dies out here, he brought it on himself!"

Her words were pure ice. There was venom in them.

Then she looked me over and decided she wasn't done.

"Go," she told Caleb. "Pull the spare fleece and sleeping bag out of his pack."

"And check him for food and water. Take it. He won't need it. No point wasting it."

Caleb's eyes lit up. He nodded fast.

"You're right, Selene. The shoot comes first."

He eyed the heavy down jacket still on me.

"Selene, I'm a little cold. Can I borrow Ethan's jacket for a bit?"

"He's not moving anyway. We'll give it back when we come down for him."

"Sure, layer up. Don't get cold."

Selene said it like nothing, like it didn't matter at all if I froze to death.

Caleb grinned and reached in to strip the jacket off me.

I don't know where the strength came from.