Hypoxia

Under

          Day 28, 1:00 am, Mt. Everest

        Colby opened his heavy eyelids. He guessed he must have fallen asleep. He had been staying up all night waiting for word from Sam or Clare. Last time Base Camp called they had said something about, Clare going down a avalanche or something. They hadn't been too clear on it.

       The wind had picked up a bit outside, Abhik was hoping that it was calm down so they could make their trek back to base camp bu Colby didn't want to leave knowing Sam and Clare were still on the mountain.

       He decided to go back to sleep. There was no point in getting up and if he didn't he would probably wake up Jake who was sleeping in the same tent. Colby closed his eyelids and began to slow down his breathing.

      Just as he began to drift off, he was awoken by someone shaking awake."Hey Colby wake!" Jake said."Your radio is going off."

       Colby rubbed his eyes. As he locked back in with the world he picked up the sound of his radio going off. "Hello?"

        There was a lot of static, the sound of someone talking was heard somewhere in the background. "..Colby...I...need..hello...help...I..am..do..here."

       "Whoever is there I need you to speak louder." Colby said."My radio is barely picking you up."

       "Its...me..I need....elp...hear...hello.."was all they could make out.

      "Okay whoever this is can you tell us your name?" Jake tased tuning in.

      "..Clare...I need..elp..Sam..here...avalanche." The voice said.

        "Clare? Did you say you need help?" Colby asked.

      "Yes..on..he..I am off trail...stuck..bring oxygen." Clare said over the static.

      "O.k where are you?" Jake asked.

     "Off trail..near ice slopes...to the..right...Stuck..hurry!" Clare said.

       "Don't worry Clare we are coming right away." Colby said, getting up to grab his jacket.

       "Wait! What now?" Jake asked.

      "Yeah now!" Colby said, getting the rest of his gear on.

      "Shouldn't we tell, Elton and the others?" Jake asked.

     "You can radio them after we leave. "Colby said, grabbing a few spare oxygen canisters "We don't have time to wake them up right now. We got to go."

     "Are you insane-"It was no use. Colby had already left the tent. "Oh gosh." Jake muttered rushing to put on his stuff. Jake stumbled out fo the tent trying to follow Colby while in the middle of attempting to put on his gloves. Colby took of the path up the mountain.

     "Keep up Jake." Colby said.

     "I'm trying!" Jake said."Here if we are going to rush off like this in the dark we should tie ourselves together."

      After quickly being themselves together, they turned on their head lights and headed off to the ice slopes. Jake got in contact with Elton who of course could the both of them thickheads for walking off and telling them after they left.

      "Umm can we trust to see you guys coming to get us if we have a problem?" Jake asked.

       "As much you guys will deserve to get buried alive, frozen alive and starved. I'm still the protective uncle of this group so we'll be there the moment you sorry morons hurt yourselves." Elton said.

      "Thanks Elton. You're awesome." Jake said, switching off before Elton could shove any profanities in his face.

      "Hey Jake we are here." Colby said.

      "Ice slopes yeah!" Jake said.

       "Alright Clare." Colby said turning on his radio." We are here. Can you tell us where you are?"

        There was static for a bit before someone answered."On the right...off trail..under.."

       "Under?" Colby asked."You mean you're under the snow?'

      "..Yes.."

      "Oh great." Jake said."We better start looking before they both suffocate."

     "Just hang on Clare." Colby said."Try and make some noise so we can find you."

      The radio went quiet and Jake and Colby listen closely. They could make out a muffled shuffling and the sound of someone calling.

       Jake shinned his light across the snow covered mountain side to their right. He saw a slight movement coming from one specific spot. "Hey over there!" He said moving off trail towards it.

       "Jake stop!" Colby said, pulling him back."There could be crevasses. We have togo carefully."

        Colby went in front of Jake and they used their ice pikes to make sure there path was safe to walk across. They made their way to the stop were the movement came from.

      " You don't have to move anymore." Colby said to Clare over the radio."We found you."

        Jake and Colby began to dig, a arm shot out of the snow. Making them jump a little. They continued to dig until Clare and Sam were completely uncovered. Jake took out the extra oxygen from Colby's backpack and gave it to Clare and Sam.

        "Are you okay Sam?' Colby asked, patting Sam's cheek to get some blood circulating.

       "Where t-the f-f-flip am I?" Sam shivered.

        "Okay he is out." Jake said. Colby hit Jake on the arm.

      "This is serious." Colby said.

       "I think I hurt myself." Clare mumbled.

       "You're going to be fine, Clare." Colby said. "Just lay still."

      "We're going to need more help." Jake said, he pulled his radio."Elton are you there? We need you over here on the side of the ice slopes. We found Clare and Sam, both of them re in pretty bad shape."

       "Don't worry, Jake we aren't too far away." Elton replied.

       "Hey l-l-look lights-s-s" Sam shivered.

         Colby and Jake looked over their shoulders to see climber head lights coming towards them. "You guys good?" A voice clearly Corey's asked.

       "Sam and Clare need some serious help here." Colby said.

      "Let me look at them." Abhik said, he moved passed Colby and looked at Sam first." He has some serious hypoxia and probably a slight dose hypothermia." He then looked at Clare."She may have some frostbite either way we have to get these two back at camp as fast as possible. "

       Corey and Jake put Clare's arms over their shoulder and helped her lean on them. Colby and Elton took turns carrying Sam.

        "I missed you so much Sam."Colby said."Don't you ever dare do that to me again."

         "I missed you t-too bro." Sam whispered.

      A/N: And here we are at the end of the story.......I'm kidding. There is still one more video recording scene to go. Hope you have enjoyed reading the story up to this point.

Love you all!😘

Idunn-Frostfall