Rat-Catcher

by Chris Ryan

  ‘Just a bit further,’ said Li, without turning round.

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ said Hex. He stood in front of Amber, lifted her chin with his fingers and studied her face. There were beads of sweat on her forehead and the skin around her mouth was a sickly-looking grey. ‘We’re stopping,’ he insisted.

  ‘But Paulo is up there,’ said Li sharply.

  ‘Five minutes,’ said Hex. His voice was calm, but his green eyes were worried as he studied Amber. ‘We all need a break.’

  Li sighed and headed for a large rock where they could shelter from the freezing wind which was howling down from the higher mountain passes. The spongy, wet ground squelched under them as they sat huddled together and they were glad of the protection of their waterproof trousers.

  ‘Bit of a change from the lower slopes,’ said Alex with a shiver, looking around at the grey, brittle landscape. ‘I think it’s time to put another layer on.’

  They all struggled into their fleece jackets, gloves and balaclavas, except Amber. She took out her phone first, and sent a text message to her uncle. Then she pulled her diabetes kit from her belt pouch and did a blood-sugar test.

  ‘Is it OK?’ asked Hex, as Amber pulled out her insulin pen.

  ‘It’s fine,’ said Amber, peeling layers of clothing away from the top of her thigh and administering her second injection of the day.

  ‘Are you sure?’ persisted Hex. ‘You’re not looking too good.’

  ‘I don’t feel great,’ admitted Amber, shivering as she pulled on her fleece jacket. ‘But I’m not having a hypo. The blood sugar’s fine.’

  ‘It’s mild altitude sickness,’ said Li. ‘That’s all. We’re all suffering a bit because we’re climbing so fast.’

  ‘What are the symptoms?’ asked Hex, still studying Amber.

  ‘Breathlessness, fast pulse, headaches. Oh, and dehydration. We lose more moisture because we’re breathing faster.’

  ‘Time for a drink, then,’ said Alex, pulling a bottle of water from his rucksack and handing it round.

  ‘Can we do anything about it?’ asked Hex.

  ‘Nope,’ said Li, doling out high-calorie snack bars for everyone to chew on. ‘The longer we stay this high, the worse the symptoms get. That’s why we should push on.’

  ‘OK,’ said Amber, struggling to her feet and trying to ignore the wave of dizziness that overtook her. She gazed up at the mountain and her mouth dropped open. ‘Would you look at that?’

  They all looked up and stared in amazement. A thick grey fog was racing down the mountain towards them, carried on the freezing wind. It moved like a torrent of water, pouring through gullies and swirling over rocks. Within seconds they were enveloped in a bitterly cold, grey blanket and visibility dropped to virtually nothing.

  ‘Well, that’s just great,’ sighed Amber, reaching into her rucksack and pulling out her compass and a map in a waterproof covering. She studied them for a moment, getting her bearings, then she hung the map and compass around her neck. ‘That way,’ she said, pointing into the fog.

  An hour later, the strengthening wind suddenly tore the fog apart like tissue paper and blasted it away down the slope behind them. They were left standing on the exposed shoulder of the mountain, with clear skies above them and the start of the snow line only a few metres away. The sun had already dipped behind the other side of the mountain and the left fork of the glacier stretched ahead of them like a white highway in the dim late-afternoon light. Over to the right, the dark bulk of the rock outcrop towered over them.

  ‘Good compass work, Amber!’ yelled Alex, over the howling wind. ‘Spot on!’

  Amber nodded and grinned weakly from where she stood, clinging to Hex’s arm and gasping for breath.

  ‘Fix the crampons onto your boots now!’ shouted Li, once they were out on the face of the glacier. ‘And then we need to rope ourselves together before we go any further!’

  They nodded, turned their backs to the wind and sat down to fasten the twelve-spiked crampons onto the soles of their boots. Li secured the rope around her waist, then moved from Hex, to Amber, to Alex, knotting the rope around their waists and leaving ten metres of line between each of them. They huddled together while Li gave last-minute instructions. ‘Keep the line strung out, OK? It’s safer that way. If one of us falls down a crevasse, we don’t want the rest of us getting dragged in as well.’

  ‘OK, let’s go,’ shouted Alex.

  Li nodded but hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at the glacier. For the first time since they started the climb, she seemed unsure about carrying on. She walked a few metres, then bent down, took off her glove and picked up a handful of snow with her bare hand.

  ‘What is it, Li?’ asked Alex, stomping through the snow to join her.

  Li gave him a sideways glance but said nothing.

  ‘Tell me,’ said Alex.

  ‘This isn’t looking too good,’ admitted Li. She held out the handful of snow. ‘You know how we had rain last night in Quito? Well, up here, it was falling as snow. Now, this layer of fresh snow has had the sun on it all afternoon.’ Li let the snow sift through her fingers. ‘See the consistency? Like sugar. That’s going to make the climbing hard going and . . .’

  ‘And what?’ prompted Amber.

  ‘And it makes an avalanche far more likely,’ said Li. She looked down at her boots before she said the next bit. ‘You see, climbers usually start out on a short route like this at dawn, so they’re back down again before noon. Before the sun has had a chance to warm the snow. But - we’re crossing this glacier at the most dangerous time of day.’

  ‘And you wait until we’re up here before you tell us this?’ snarled Hex.

  Li’s head snapped up and she glared at him. ‘Why? Would it have made any difference if I’d told you at the bottom?’

  ‘At least we’d have had a choice in the matter!’

  ‘Paulo is up there!’ hissed Li. ‘Would you have chosen to wait until tomorrow morning?’

  Hex stared at her for a moment, his jaw clenching and unclenching. Then his shoulders relaxed and he shook his head. ‘No.’

  Li looked at Alex, then at Amber. They both shook their heads. ‘OK, then,’ said Li. ‘Remember what I said, keep the line strung out.’

  The night drew in, the wind yowled and the air grew colder as they moved up the glacier slope. Li led the way and they tramped along behind her, strung out in a long line in the powdery snow. The moon rose behind them and their long black shadows walked across the luminous face of the glacier beside them. Amber stumbled along in a daze, her head spinning and her breath coming in frantic gasps. Hex kept stopping and sending worried glances over his shoulder at her, but then the rope around his waist would tug as Li ploughed on up the slope and he would have to start moving again.

  Suddenly, Hex felt the rope go slack in front of him. Li had stopped. She was standing, staring at the surface of the glacier ahead. Hex looked back at Alex, who shrugged. Amber did not even raise her head to see what was happening. She just stood there with her head down. Alex hesitated, remembering Li’s instructions to stay apart, but Li stayed motionless, staring at the snow. Alex went to Amber and helped her up the slope to Hex, then the three of them moved up to join Li.

  Alex pulled his balaclava away from his mouth. ‘What’s up?’ he yelled, turning his back to the wind.

  ‘Snow bowl,’ said Li briefly. ‘See it?’

  Hex stared out at the glacier and shrugged. It all looked the same to him.

  ‘The colour’s different. And see how it’s slightly curved, like a pillow? It was once a hollow in the surface of the glacier, but it’s filled up with layers of packed snow.’

  ‘So what’s the problem?’ asked Alex.

  ‘Could be unstable,’ said Li.

  ‘What about going round it?’

  ‘That would make the climb longer,’ said Li. ‘If we keep going straight on, we could be at the glacier fork in just over an hour!’

  Alex looked at her.
‘It’s your call,’ he said. ‘But remember, we can’t rescue Paulo if we’re dead.’

  Li did not return his grin. Her face was serious as she studied the snow. ‘We go on,’ she decided. ‘There’s been no sign of danger so far.’

  They spread out again and continued on their way, heads down against the wind. Li was well onto the snow bowl and Alex had just walked over the rim, when a deep, regular booming began to sound, as though someone was beating a very large drum. Li and Alex stopped instantly, but Hex tramped on for a few more steps, pulling Amber along behind him, before he realized that the booming noise matched his steps. It was the packed snow beneath his feet that was resonating hollowly, every time his boots struck it.

  Hex looked up at Li. She had turned to face them and her normally rosy high cheekbones were as pale as candlewax in the moonlight. Hex felt a bolt of fear slam into him as he stared at Li’s terrified face. For a few seconds they stood, frozen. Then, with a muffled whoomp, a whole section of the glacier surface over to their left shook and settled as though all the air had been knocked out of it.

  Li froze, watching the snow. She knew that a weaker, older layer of snow had just collapsed under the slab of snow to their left. It was now extremely unstable and could quite easily slide off the glacier like a plate from a tilting table. If that happened, they would be taken down the mountain with the avalanche. She waited for a few seconds, then decided to retrace her steps. As soon as she put her foot down, cracks appeared in the snow, spreading outward from under her boot in a star pattern. Li felt her mouth go dry. Snow only cracked like that when it was under great pressure. The slab they were standing on was about to collapse.

  FIFTEEN

  Li took a deep breath and looked up at the others. They were all watching her, waiting to know what to do. She pointed towards the rock outcrop at the right-hand edge of the glacier, then slowly started to move towards it, away from the unstable slabs of snow to their left. With every step she took, the snow slab boomed and a spiderweb of cracks spread away from her boots, but there was no option. They had to move out of the snow bowl and hope that they made it before the slabs detached themselves from the glacier and avalanched down the mountain.

  The minutes ticked by as they crawled across the glacier towards the rock outcrop. Finally they reached snow that did not boom like a drum when they stepped on it, but they were still in great danger. Li could not understand why the unstable slabs had not avalanched already. The relatively shallow angle of the slope and the steadily dropping temperature must have kept them in place, but that could not last much longer. They had to climb higher, round the edge of the snow bowl, so that they were above the avalanche when it happened.

  Li pulled a snow stake from her rucksack and moved off up the slope, probing the snow as she went. The snow here was less unstable because it had been in the shade of the rock outcrop all day, but she knew they faced another problem. When a glacier came up against rock like this outcrop, deep crevasses could open up along the edge of the glacier, hidden under layers of snow.

  They were barely clear of the snow bowl when there was an explosive crack and the slabs behind them finally began to slide, picking up speed as they moved down the slope until they were roaring down the mountain at the speed of an express train, sending huge clouds of powdered snow into the air and taking massive boulders bouncing down the mountain with them. Alex, Li, Hex and Amber watched from the safety of the rock outcrop, each imagining what could have happened.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Li, as the rumbling died away down the mountain.

  ‘We survived,’ said Alex, ‘but is it safe to go on?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Li, turning away rather too quickly.

  The other three looked at one another, then turned to follow her. They were all panting hard now, but they made good progress, following the rock outcrop. When Li stopped for a breather, Alex raised his head to look up the moonlit slope. He thought he could just see the top end of the rock outcrop in the distance. Paulo and Eliza were just round the other side of that outcrop. Alex felt his heart lift but, at the same time, the metallic taste of fear came into his mouth at the thought of what they were about to do.

  Ahead of him, Li started out again. Alex took a step forward - and the ground opened up under his feet. There was a brief, dizzy sensation of falling into darkness, then he was jerked to a halt by the rope around his waist. He swung on the end of the rope, gasping with shock and pain. He tried to straighten up and grab the rope to stop it from biting into him. The rope slid up around his chest and began to constrict his already overworked lungs. Alex hung in the intense coldness of the crevasse, gasping for air. He peered up at the faint glow of moonlight far above his head until a grey mist came down over his eyes and his head lolled back.

  Up on the surface of the glacier, Amber screamed as the rope jerked her from her feet. She slid down the slope on her back, heading for the black crevasse that had opened up in the white snow. Behind her, Hex lost his footing too. ‘Li!’ he bellowed as he slid.

  Li jammed her crampons into the snow and leaned back against the rope. Below her, Hex stabbed at the snow with the spikes of his crampons, gradually slowing his downward slide. Li pulled the ice axe from her belt, slipped the strap around her wrist and slammed it into the slope above her. She hung on with both hands. The rope jerked, nearly pulling her arms from their sockets. Hex dug his crampons in deep and took hold of the rope too. His arms strained as he hauled back on the rope and, finally, Amber came to a floundering halt on the lip of the crevasse.

  ‘Amber!’ called Li, her voice wobbling with strain. ‘Can you move up the slope at all?’

  Amber turned onto her back, grabbed the rope and began to dig her crampons into the snow. Above her, Li and Hex did the same and, gradually, they moved up the slope in a series of short, grunting heaves.

  ‘OK! Stop!’ yelled Li, when she judged that Amber was out of danger. ‘Alex? Can you hear us?’

  There was no answer. Li groaned, trying to decide what to do. ‘Hex and Amber? Do you think you can take the strain?’

  Hex dug his crampons in deeper and hauled back on the rope. Below him, Amber took her ice pick from her belt and anchored herself to the snow. Li felt her section of rope slacken. Carefully, she got to her feet and hurried down the slope to Hex, untying the rope around her waist as she went.

  ‘I think Alex must’ve passed out because of the rope around his chest,’ she panted as she reached Hex. ‘I’m going to go down there and see.’

  ‘Careful,’ grunted Hex, his face taut with strain.

  Li edged as close to the crevasse as she dared, pulling another rope from her rucksack as she went. She put a loop in one end of the rope, then measured out a ten-metre length and tied it onto the taut rope that linked Alex and Amber. Li threw the new rope over the edge of the crevasse, then started calling to Alex.

  Down in the crevasse, Alex swam up out of a cold, grey mist. Someone was shouting to him, but he could not understand the words. He tried to lift his head and the rope tightened around his chest. The pain brought him fully awake again and he heard Li’s voice floating down from above him.

  ‘Alex! Put your foot through the loop!’

  Alex turned his head and saw the new rope dangling in front of him. He reached out and grabbed it, then slipped his boot into the loop at the bottom. As soon as the new rope took his weight, the rope around his chest slackened and his head began to clear.

  ‘He’s done it!’ yelled Li, running back up the slope and tying herself back onto the other end of the rope. ‘We can pull now. Go!’

  They pulled as hard as they could, backing up the slope and digging their crampons in for purchase. Soon, Alex’s head appeared. They pulled harder and he slid over the lip of the crevasse onto the snow. Once he was well clear of the crevasse, they helped him to his feet and took him to safety.

  ‘That’s it,’ growled Alex, as soon as he could talk. ‘I’m calling a halt.’

  ‘But we’re nearly
there!’ cried Li.

  ‘Li, you’re too tied up with getting to Paulo,’ said Alex, rubbing his sore chest. ‘Your judgement is way off. If we keep doing as you say, somebody’s going to die.’

  ‘He’s right, Li,’ gasped Amber.

  ‘Let’s wait a few hours,’ agreed Hex. ‘Give the snow time to harden. We can still be there before dawn — sneak in while they’re all sleeping.’

  Li looked at the three of them, then nodded a reluctant agreement.

  ‘Is there a way of getting out of this wind?’ asked Hex, giving Amber a worried look.

  Alex looked around until he spotted a promising drift of deep, hardened snow against the rock face. ‘Over there,’ he said, pulling a snow shovel from his pack. ‘We can dig a snow hole.’

  They piled their rucksacks around Amber, giving her some shelter from the wind. Alex dug into the snow bank, keeping the entrance small and low to the ground but hollowing out a larger, low-ceilinged space beyond the entrance, inside the bank. Li and Hex cleared away the snow that Alex pushed out through the entrance hole.

  Once the space was big enough for all four of them, Alex set about creating three different shelving levels inside. He had built a snow hole with his dad once, out on the Northumbrian moors, and he knew they worked on the principle that hot air rises, and heavier, cold air sinks. The smallest shelf was the highest, where the fire would be. When Alex had finished it, he took Li’s snow stake and pushed it carefully up through the roof of the shelter to create a narrow chimney above the fire. Next, he levelled out a second, much larger platform just below the fire platform, for them all to sit on. The third level was a small trench dug just inside the entrance hole and that was where the cold air would gather, leaving the warmer air circulating on the higher platforms. Finally he picked up the block of snow he had kept back from the trench and slotted it into the entrance hole as a door. Nodding with satisfaction, he put the block to one side and crawled out into the freezing wind. The whole process had taken less than half an hour of hard digging.