The Third Man

Chapter 10 - A New Hope

Peter and Dan waited at the far end of the crevasse till the storm subsided. It was night before Peter carried Dan to the site where he was working. Once Dan saw what Peter had done so far, his face lit up into a smile.

"Well I have my doubts, but I have strong belief that this could actually work" said Dan still looking at the ice wall.

"Yeah, I hope so too"

"But what about your hand, you think it wouldn't be a concern" said Dan pointing his visibly maimed hand.

"Well, I think I can manage"

He told Dan why he came to the mountain, how he fell, his injury and his life in crevasse so far.

"You are one tough son of a bitch, aren't you" said Dan, after listening him silently.

Peter arranged some meal and sleeping arrangement for Dan. Dan was asleep in no time but Peter stayed awake. He looked at Dan, thinking when he'll wake up next morning, Dan won't be there, everything will turn out to be a dream.

For the first time in crevasse, Peter felt relieved, his stress a little less. Dan's company had made him positive, and he knew he ll get out of here, and save Dan.

He thought of Mia, fate has not written off of his chances to be with his wife and kids afterall. He slept peacefully that night.

Peter woke up at 7 next morning. He found Dan was already awake looking at him. His eyes had a misty appearance, making him uneasy.

"When did you wake up?" asked Peter as normally as he could

"Can't remember exactly, it's been a while I guess" replied Dan, changing his expression to a friendly one. "At home I always wake up before my wife, can't miss her lovely sleeping face in the morning"

Peter looked at the roof of crevasse, remembering his mornings with Mia. He had always wanted to arrange breakfast in bed for Mia, but whenever he woke up, he would find her already out of bed, either in the balcony in one of her pretty nightgown, or making breakfast, or just sitting across the bed looking at his face, and when he would wake up, she would stroke his hair. Since he found Mia, his mornings had always been better than his most perfect dream. Whenever he found her in the balcony, he just couldn't stop himself from holding her in his arms, her kiss turning each day beautiful.

He always thought no matter what happens in their lives, nothing could be so bad because he had her. So he imagined, until the incident that changed him, his life, his purpose, that dreadful day...

Peter was bought back from his thoughts by loud snapping by Dan. Peter looked at him, noticing a curiosity in his face.

"Just remembering old times " Peter justified himself.

He sprang up, and within an hour he was ready to get some work done. He explained Dan how he was doing things.

He quickly climbed and resumed his work, when suddenly he felt a sense of vertigo. The axe in his hand felt heavy. He stopped for a moment, letting the feeling to pass,and so it did.

The rest of the day went by quite productive. He kept pushing himself till he could not hammer another blow. He climbed down, and after having a quick bite, washing it down with some water, lied down on his sleeping bag.

"Not bad" he heard Dan saying "I guess you were not wrong after all, you can actually get me out of here in two days"

"Yes I can, yes I can" whispered Peter and before he could say anything else he was fast asleep.

He didn't knew for how long he had slept but when he woke up the feeling of vertigo was much worse. Everything was spinning in front of his eyes. He was coughing, finding it difficult to breath. He tried to sit several times but kept falling. He heard Dan calling his name, but it felt as if he was far away, his voice echoing in his head. Finally when he was able to sit, he realized his nose was bleeding profusely. He immediately got some cotton from his medi-kit, plugged his nose, and settled back in his sleeping bag.

But nosebleed was least of his problems. His body was burning up. While he was sleeping, fever had set in. All these symptoms pointed at one thing, severe condition of high altitude sickness. Peter knew if he doesn't go to lower altitude soon, he will die of it.

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