Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Maddie pulled the trigger as Charlie lunged.
The gunshot cracked across the mountain.
The impact hit Charlie’s left side like a sledgehammer. Her beacon—the hard rectangular device strapped to her chest under her vest—exploded. Shards of plastic and metal drove into her shoulder through the vest's gap.
Charlie went down, gasping. Pain spread like fire through her shoulder and chest. She heard Viv scream, Duke and Rowan shouting until a roaring filled her ears and drowned them out. She thought it was her own blood at first.
Until she could feel the vibrations throughout her entire body.
She looked up the mountain at the massive white plume filling the night sky.
Oh dear merciful God. No.
An avalanche.
A massive wall of white—twenty feet high, maybe thirty—rushed down one of the Seven Sisters straight toward them.
Charlie's training kicked in, driving out the pain in her shoulder. One thought, pure and absolute.
Get to Viv.
Charlie stood. Viv was frozen in shock, the oxygen canister still clutched in her hand. Rowan was reaching for her from the other direction. Duke stumbled backward, his face white with terror.
And then there was Maddie.
She stood perfectly still staring up at the avalanche coming toward them. Her face was calm. Peaceful.
Then she turned and gave Duke a triumphant smile that said I don't care if I die as long as you die too.
“Move!” Charlie yelled.
Her shoulder screaming and her vision blurring, she grabbed Viv and threw her body over her principal, trying to get them both down, trying to create any kind of shelter.
“Arms over your face and deep breath now! Swim! Here we go!”
Charlie filled her lungs as the avalanche hit.
The force was unimaginable.
Like being hit by a truck. A freight train. The fist of God.
Charlie felt her body lifted, twisted, tumbling. She held onto Viv with everything she had. Her shoulder wound screamed bloody murder but she didn't let go. Would never let go.
The world turned to gray-white chaos and crushing force and the sound of the mountain tearing itself apart.
Air pocket. Need to maintain an air pocket.
Charlie got one arm up over Viv's head, the other over her own face, creating a small space between them as the snow tried to rip them apart.
Then the snow compressed.
Everything stopped.
Silence. Absolute silence.
Charlie was completely buried. The snow pressed against her from all sides, packed tight by the avalanche's force. She couldn't move her legs at all or move her arms more than an inch or two. The air pocket she'd created was maybe the size of a basketball, shared between her and Viv.
Her left shoulder was on fire. Wet warmth spread—her blood.
But I’m alive.
“Viv?” Charlie whispered through her clenched teeth while still holding her breath, acutely aware of not wasting precious oxygen. Her voice sounded strange in the tiny space. Muffled.
Dead.
“Viv, can you hear me?”
Viv made a tiny movement against Charlie’s chest.
“Charlie?” Her voice was barely audible.
“I've got you.” Charlie's relief almost overwhelmed her. “Hurt?”
“I don't... I don't know. I can't move. Charlie, I can't move—”
“It's okay,” Charlie soothed. “We're alive. Someone will find us.”
Please let someone find us.
Charlie tried to assess their situation in the crushing darkness.
The air pocket. Basketball-sized. Maybe enough air for both of them for ten minutes. Maybe fifteen if they stayed calm.
My shoulder. Gunshot wound to left shoulder. Bleeding but not arterial. Her tactical vest had deflected the worst of the bullet, but the shattered beacon had done damage. Her ribs hurt—cracked, maybe broken from the avalanche impact. Her left leg was pinned. She couldn't feel her feet.
Viv's condition. Breathing rapidly. Conscious. Pressed against Charlie's chest in the tiny space they shared.
Our position. No idea. They could’ve been three feet under or fifteen. Hard to know which direction was up.
The beacon.
There was only pain where the beacon should be and warm liquid.
Blood.
The bullet had hit the beacon. Destroyed it.
No signal. They won't be able to find us with the beacon. Ironic that the thing that probably saved me will now cause us to die.
Panic tried to claw up Charlie's throat. She forced it down.
Stop thinking that way. Ben is here. He will find you.
“Charlie?” Viv whispered. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing. Just checking something.” No point in scaring Viv. “We're okay.”
But they weren't okay. Without the beacon, Ben and Shane would have to grid search. That took time. Time they might not have.
The temperature was already dropping around them. The snow was so cold on her back. Charlie could feel it leeching the heat from her body, but it would have been much worse if they didn’t have each other’s body heat.
Then she felt something hard pressing against her ribs between her and Viv.
The oxygen canister!
Right. Viv had been holding it when the avalanche hit.
“Viv,” Charlie whispered. “The oxygen. Can you open it and hit the button?”
Charlie felt Viv’s hand shifting. “Yeah. I... I think I can.”
Hope blazed through Charlie's chest.
“Got it.”
There was a faint hiss followed by the smell of pure oxygen.
Charlie felt tears of relief freeze on her face. “Small breaths. We need to conserve it until we’re found.”
“You breathe deep,” Viv said. “You're hurt—”
“Viv—”
“You threw yourself over me. You took a bullet.” Viv's voice was firm despite the fear. “You're losing blood. You first.”
Charlie didn't have the strength to argue. She tilted her face down and she heard the oxygen hiss out of the bottle as Viv pressed the button.
The oxygen was clean and pure. Life.
“Your turn,” Charlie said, then held her breath.
They took turns in the darkness. Seconds stretched into minutes that felt like years. The oxygen helped but Charlie could feel her body still shutting down from the cold, the blood loss, the shock.
“Rowan—” Viv's voice cracked. “Where's Rowan? Is he—”
“Viv,” Charlie said quietly. “I need you to stay calm. Breathe slowly. We need to make this last.”
Viv sobbed.
“Rowan's smart. He had oxygen too. He'll get himself out or they'll dig him out.”
Please let that be true.
Time became meaningless in the darkness.
Charlie counted her breaths. Slow. Steady. In for four counts, hold for one-hundred twenty, out for ten. She tried to use as little oxygen as possible while keeping Viv calm.
Her shoulder throbbed with every heartbeat. The blood didn’t feel warm which meant she must have stopped bleeding. That was good. Less blood loss.
But bad for other reasons.
The cold was seeping deeper. Into her bones. Into her core.
“Charlie?” Viv's voice was small. Scared.
“I'm here.”
“Are we going to die?”
Charlie wanted to lie. Wanted to say of course not, we'll be fine, help is coming.
But Viv deserved the truth.
“I don't know,” Charlie said quietly. “But I'm not giving up. And neither are you.”
“I'm scared.”
“Me too.” Charlie adjusted slightly, trying to ease the pressure on her ribs. Pain shot through her side. “But we're still breathing. That means we still have a chance.”
Silence for a moment, punctuated only by another hiss of oxygen. How much more did they have?
Then Viv whispered, “Tell me something. About you and Ben. Something happy.”
Charlie closed her eyes in the darkness and calculated keeping Viv from panicking and hyperventilating versus spending her breath on talking.
“He made me a necklace. Silver filigree with blue stones. Took him weeks.”
“Are you wearing it now?”
“Yeah.” Charlie could feel it against her throat, the metal warm from her skin. “He gave it to me with that Evelaine dress at the Ren Faire. Called me his princess.”
Viv was quiet for a while.
“He's going to come for you,” she finally said. “You know that, right? He's up there right now, digging for you.”
“Yeah.” Charlie barely kept her voice from breaking. “I know.”
The air was getting staler.
Charlie could feel it. Each breath was a little harder. The oxygen in their small pocket was depleting despite the canister. Carbon dioxide was building up.
How long has it been? Twenty minutes? Thirty?
Charlie’s thoughts were getting fuzzy and she wasn’t sure if she hadn’t drifted off. The cold seeped deeper.
My body’s starting to shut down, she thought without emotion. Then, When was the last time I heard the O2 hiss?
“Viv?” Charlie whispered. “You still with me?”
“Mmm.” Viv's voice was faint. Slurred. “Getting... sleepy...”
“No. Stay awake. Stay with me.” Charlie tried to move, to jostle Viv awake, but she couldn't move enough. “Viv. Viv. Hit the button, Viv.”
“Tired, Charlie...”
“I know. Me too. But we have to stay awake.” Charlie's own voice was fading.
The canister hissed but it sounded weaker.
We're running out of time.
Charlie's training told her what was happening. Hypoxia. Carbon dioxide poisoning. Hypothermia. The deadly combination that killed avalanche victims even when they had air pockets.
Ben. Please. Please find us.
“Charlie?” Viv's voice was dreamy now. Distant. “If this is it... if we don't make it... I need to tell you something.”
“Save your breath—”
“No. Listen.” Viv took a shallow breath. The oxygen hissed weakly. “You saved my life. At the joust. And just now. You threw yourself over me. You could have run. Could have saved yourself.”
“That's my job—”
“It's more than a job.” Viv's voice cracked. “You're... you're family, Charlie. You know that, right?”
Charlie's eyes burned. “Yeah. I know.”
“And Ben loves you so much. The way he looks at you... that's real. That's forever.”
“Viv—”
“If I don't make it, tell Rowan I love him. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry we didn't have more time.”
“You're going to tell him yourself,” Charlie said fiercely. “We're both getting out of here.”
But she could feel herself fading too. The cold. The lack of oxygen. Her body shutting down.
This is what dying feels like.
The hiss of oxygen was getting fainter.
“Charlie?” Viv's voice was barely audible. “I think... I think it's almost empty.”
Charlie's heart sank. They'd stretched it as long as they could. Thirty minutes, maybe more. But now—
“I pressed it, Charlie, but it didn’t make any noise that time.”
The canister was empty.
“Okay,” Charlie said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Okay. They're coming. They have to be close by now.”
But the air in their pocket was so stale. Thin. Each breath harder than the last.
“Charlie?” Viv whispered. “What's heaven like? Do you think... do you think we'll know we're there?”
Charlie thought about it. About Ben. About the life they were supposed to have.
“I think,” Charlie said slowly, “heaven is anywhere Ben is. That's my heaven. Him and me and our life together. That's all I need.”
“That's beautiful.”
“What about you?”
“Rowan. And making movies. And...and all of you. The whole family we built.” Viv's breath hitched. “I don't want to leave yet, Charlie. We were supposed to get married. Have kids. Make a hundred more seasons of BattleLore...” She slurred her words.
“You will.” Charlie's voice was fierce despite her fading strength. “You will, Viv. I promise.”
But the darkness was closing in. The cold absolute. The air gone.
Charlie forced her thoughts to stay on Ben. His smile. His hands. The way he called her Princess. At least she’d die with his necklace on.
I'm sorry, Ben. I'm so sorry.
“Charlie?” Viv's voice was barely audible now. “I can't... I can't breathe...”
“Me neither.”
This is it. This is how it ends.
Then—
A sound. Distant. Muffled.
Metal on ice. Digging.
“Did you hear that?” Charlie whispered.
“Hear what?”
The sound again. Closer.
Someone's digging.
“They're here,” Charlie said. “Viv, they're here. Stay with me. Just a little longer—”
The digging got louder. Closer. Frantic.
A dog barked happily. Flo.
Then faint light that grew brighter.
Finally brilliant, blinding light piercing the darkness.
Cold air rushed in like an answered prayer.
“Charlie!” Ben's voice. Desperate. Raw. Broken. “Charlie! I’ve got you, Princess.”
“Here,” Charlie tried to say, but her voice wouldn't work. “Ben...”
Then he was there, his face filling her vision. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“I've got you, Princess. I've got you.”
“Get Viv first,” she whispered. Charlie gasped, coughed, tried to breathe. Her lungs wouldn't work right. Everything hurt, but dully and far away. “Viv,” she managed. “Viv—”
“We've got Viv, Charlie.” Bear's voice. “She’s alive.”
Charlie actually relaxed. Viv was safe.
Then Ben’s strong arms were lifting her so carefully. The weight of the snow was gone. Cold, fresh air filled her lungs.
Ben was carrying her across the snow, then wrapping her in something warm. His coat. She could smell him—metal and cedar smoke and Ben.
“Stay with me,” Ben said. His voice was shaking. “Charlie, stay with me—”
“Always,” Charlie whispered.
Then the world went dark.