A News Report

"It can't be true." Chloe whispered as icy breath escaped cracked lips while she forced back tears. Chloe and Michael stared at each other in disbelief as they huddled together tightly for warmth, with their bodies shivering against the frigid temperatures inside the snow shelter. The shortwave radio crackled a disheartening news report that confirmed their worst fears. Chloe and Dade listened to the startling report as the search and rescue team was called off. The news reported stated that they had been "missing now for over a week" and that "no one could have survived such a storm."

Chloe and Dade exchanged glances as hope dwindled; knowing that their chances of survival were now fading. To ensure their own survival, Chloe and Dade would have to make a risky decision to save their own lives. If not, they would all be dead within a matter of days. Michael was fighting the effects of dehydration and severe frost bite from exposure to high winds and cold. If his condition worsened, he would not live to see another day.

"How can they just give up on us?" Dade pleaded as he shook the small radio between his cracked, swollen fingers. "I just don't understand. It's only been a week!"

Out of denial, he turned the radio off leaving behind a deafening silence. Dade leaned back against the wall of the snow cave with his head buried between his hands in a gesture of defeat. He was the leader of the expedition and had climbed the mountain many times before. It was his idea for all of them to make this climb together. They had all grown up together seeking adventure and new thrills. Dade's mind wandered as he thought of the events that had occurred during the past week. He had planned everything so carefully. The ice axe, extra supplies, the medical kits, even the radio. Everything was going as planned until the storm hit. It came in so suddenly; with no warning. The ruthless winds raged at nearly sixty miles per hour, pounding snow against their soft fleshy faces as they walked into the white fury. Michael was hit the hardest out of the group. His mask was thin and had a large opening over they eyes and nose that offered little protection from the blistering cold. They had no choice but to dig a snow shelter in the side of the mountain and wait for a rescue team. A week ago the cave seemed like a perfect escape from the storm, but now was turning into a claustrophobic coffin.

Dade's heart sank into the hollow pit of his stomach as guilt set in.

"I 'm so sorry, Chloe, I should have known better than to take a risk like this. We could have been better prepared for this situation."

"Hey, we're all in this together." Chloe reassured him as she scooted closer grasping his arm her in her hand, giving him a gentle squeeze. "Don't give up on us yet. I need you to stay focused." She begged. "You know this mountain better than any of us. No one could have predicted this storm."

A growling noise echoed against the icy walls as Chloe's stomach gurgled and moaned, aching for food. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a sandwich bag that was once full of bits of granola and trail mix pieces. The bag was nearly empty with just a small portion remaining in the corner of the bag. Rations had held up through the week, but would not last another day. There was enough food for one mouthful. She continued to fumble through the bag to check the supply of water and realized there was a much larger problem at hand.

"No. This can't be. It has to be in here somewhere."

"What is it, Chloe?" Dade asked.

"We've used up all of the matches. I thought for sure there was another box of matches in here." Chloe replied as she dumped the contents of the bag onto the frozen floor. "How are we going to melt the ice into drinking water?" she continued.

"Maybe they fell out on the ground somewhere. Look over there by Michael." Dade responded.

Chloe glanced over at Michael as he lay against the white wall of snow. She could not focus on the task at hand as she stared at his face. Arctic temperatures and harsh winds from the storm had already burned through his flesh, eating away at the soft skin and layers of tissue. His eyelids were swollen, hiding pale blue eyes behind a blanket of flesh. A handsome face was now a frost bitten mass of flesh, she barely recognized.

She watched him carefully as he breathed faintly inside the shelter of the snow cave. Tiny frozen beads of moisture clung to his lips as small puffs of white air flowed from his nostrils into the air around him. Chloe pressed her fingertips into his neck to feel the strength of his pulse. Blood pumped slowly through his veins as the strength of his heart began to fail.

"Chloe...is that you?" A raspy voice rattled across Michaels' tongue.

"Yes. It's ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />me." She said as she pulled her fingers away from his neck.

"I need to tell you something." He whispered.

Chloe leaned in close as she waited for him to speak.

"I never told you." He gasped.

"Never told me what?" She replied softly as she caressed his hair in an attempt to relax him.

"If I don't make it out of here...I need you to know that I have been in love with you since the first grade." Michael laughed with his voice shaking.

"We're going to get you out of here. You, Dade, and I are going to go back to California and we'll be surfing the waves in no time." She joked as she patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Chloe had secretly loved Michael her entire life, but never had the courage to tell him. The thought of rejection made her hide her feelings, burying them deep inside. Now she knew that their feelings for each other were mutual. With his condition worsening, Chloe did not know if she would ever be able to tell him how she really felt. Although they tried to deny it, Dade and Chloe knew that Michael was dying before their very eyes.

"Michael, we're going to get you out of here." She said as she tapped his shoulder.

There was no response. He had slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

"Dade, we've got to get him out of here. I don't care what we have to do, we just have to get him down this mountain or he's going to die." She pleaded.

"If the weather isn't any better, we will die out there before we even get to the base camp. Besides, we have no more food or drinking water." Dade replied.

"It doesn't matter. Don't you get it? No one is going to save us! You heard it your self, they think we're already dead. That means it's up to us to get out of this hole and get back down the mountain. If we stay here, we'll die anyways."

Chloe was surprised at her sudden will to survive. Seeing Michael, the strongest in the group, in such a terrible state forced her to become stronger. The news report was a rude awakening, but it was also the edge she needed to rise up and take control of the situation. Chloe knew that she wasn't ready to die. Life was waiting for her back in California and she wanted to get back to living it. Dying was not an option.

Her thoughts drifted to better days in the warmth of the sun. She longed for the glow of the sun and the salty spray of the sea. The freezing temperatures had swollen her toes, literally freezing the fluid between the layers of tissue engorging them to the point she could not slip on her snow boots with ease. Tucking her feet inside Dade's coat was the only way she was able to keep her feet warm, and now it was time to put her boots back on.

The pain was excruciating, like stuffing a bratwurst through a tiny drinking straw. She forced her toes into the boot, smashing them until they fit inside. Her eyes welled with tears as her heel finally popped into the boot. There was no other choice. It was time to get moving and she needed her boots for the long journey ahead.

Quickly, reality set back in as the weight of the snow began to press down on her from up above. She questioned her sanity and second guessed her judgment, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her. But it was not a hallucination. The snow shelter was beginning to collapse under the heavy weight of the fallen snow. Layers of snow were compacting on the surface and sliding over the small snow shelter, trapping them inside.

"Chloe, grab Michael and help me pull." Dade screamed as the snow began to fall down in chunks around them. "We've got to move quickly or this snow is going to bury us alive! We've got to get out of here!"

"I can't find him! There's too much snow. I can't see anything." Chloe yelled back as she searched frantically through the cover of white snow. Her arms stretched out as she dug through the wall of mush. She could feel his finger tips through the icy mixture. Michael was quickly being swallowed up by the heavy blanket of snow.

"Pull damn it!" Dade yelled as he grasped Michael's hand in his. He held one wrist tightly in his hand, but the weight of his body was held down by the collapsing snow. "There's no time. You've got to let go of him!" Dade yelled back as he let go.

He knew that they would have to leave him behind, or they would all suffocate in the wave of snow. Dade began scooping away at the soggy mixture, swimming upward toward the ceiling of the snow shelter. The air pocket within the cave was disappearing fast as the white flood rushed in. He took a full breath and held it as he struggled to break through to the surface above.

"Wait! We can get him out of here. We can't just let him die! Dade, you have to help me, please." Chloe pleaded.

"There's no time. You have to let him go, Chloe." Dade yelled back as he continued moving upward forcing the piling snow away from his body.

Dade's words echoed in her ears. Let him go.

Michael's fingers slipped through hers as she forced her self to let go of his hand. A blur of memories flashed through her mind as his fingers touched hers one last time. The space grew between them as the wall of snow fell down around them.

"I love you too, Michael." She told him as she let go, leaving him buried inside the ice-cold grave.

Chloe took one deep breath as she forced her body upward, pushing away layers of heavy snow. The wall of white was closing in around her quickly as she searched for an opening to the surface. Finally, her fist punched through the top layer of snow breaking the surface as she searched for a helping hand. Dade began pulling her upward through the icy abyss. Chloe struggled for breath as her lungs pulled in bitter air, nearly freezing her lungs. Chloe's eyes ached as harsh light from the sun reflected from the snow, temporarily blinding her as she breached the surface. It was daylight and the winter storm had subsided. She was alive, but her heart sank as she realized what she had left behind and what still lay ahead of her.