Percy Jackson:The Mountain Climbers

Digging a Snow Cave: Percy

"Frank!" I called into my shoulder radio. "Get back to Command!"

"What the hell happened?!" he screamed in his Canadian accent. He sounded freaked.

"The whole Icefall just collapsed!" I shouted back. "We barely got out of there! Aaron didn't make it - but I need you to get out of here as fast as you can!"

"What about you?"

"Jason, Nico and I are gonna keep going, but you need to get out of here! Now move it Zhang!" I hated screaming at him, but I couldn't allow someone else to die while things could get a lot more dangerous. If Frank were to die...Hazel would be crushed. I couldn't allow that to happen.

"Alright, I'm on my way back," Frank answered through the radio. "Good luck!"

I looked back at Nico and Jason. They didn't look too good - Nico was slightly hunched over, as if he couldn't breathe properly and Jason was hugging his chest as if he broke a few of his ribs. To make matters worse, the snow blew into their eyes. 

I wasn't any better: my arm was broken, so I had to place my hand into my pocket in order to support it, though every time I had to move it I yelped sharply. To make things even more diar, my hand felt seriously numb and if it gets worse...I would truly know what frostbite looks and feels like. I knew right away I had to get out of the cold and get my hands warm to reduce the risk of frostbite.

Judging by our scene and location, I guess we were somewhere between the Lhotse Face and the South Col. The ground became more level and there weren't as many glacier ice. The snow was thicker and deeper, so I went knee deep into the snow when we crossed the endless sea of white.

Aaron...gods, why did he do that? Force my hand off him when I could've saved his freaking life. He said he had a girlfriend - a girlfriend who won't even see him again. What was her name? I tried racking my memories trying to remember what he said whenever we talked.

Suddenly, I remembered the conversation we had only yesterday...

We were sitting by a campfire, looking up at the great exspanse of stars. Aaron was drinking a bottle of Corona while I sat back and drank a cider. I was new to drinking alcohol, though it did remind me of a particular time - namely when I was on Calypso's island. That was when I first had cider, though I didn't tell my mother that when I got home.

He then asked me how I met Annabeth and I then went into this whole story about how I came to Camp Half-Blood and Annabeth was the first person I met when I woke up from unconsciousness. It was a scene that was forever stuck in my mind and I prayed every day that I wouldn't forget it.

"You drool in your sleep?" Aaron laughed. "Oh, man that must be embarressing for you."

I placed my face into one of my hands, whilst smiling. "Yeah, it is. So come on - what about you. Do you have a girlfriend? If so, details."

Aaron looked into the distance, and I swear his eyes went misty. "I've been with her for years now. We met back at school. She's practically my soul mate."

I nodded my head - I knew what soul mates were: they're pretty much like you and almost like your better half. I should know because Annabeth was my soul mate. "What's her name?"

Aaron looked at me. "Tayla. Her name's Tayla."

Tayla...that was the name of Aaron's girlfriend. I silently swore to myself that I would keep my promise to Aaron - I will tell Tayla that Aaron loved her.