“Follow them. Yulia, hold Debby’s leg; I’ll walk ahead, so we don’t lose the soldiers.”
Yulia inhaled loudly and exhaled. She had felt like her limit had been reached the moment she had boarded the helicopter in Kathmandu. By now, she had forgotten herself and was simply obeying her instincts and Dr Capri.
The wind hit the rocks in sharp gusts and lifted small stones. They shuffled the ground and complemented the rumble of the wind with a crackling sound. Debby cried softly and Yulia ran up to her. She took her hand and squeezed it tightly. Dr Capri walked forward and shouted, addressing Jean-Pierre first.
“Follow me!”
“Go!” Jean-Pierre commanded and followed the doctor.
“I can’t see them!” the doctor shouted. “Hurry up!”
Tulu-Manchi walked ahead and shouted back without looking. He gazed anxiously into the dim space in front of him. He was almost running, doubting every step. Torn between rushing forward and losing the porters behind him, or hesitating and condemning them to the fate of a mountain storm.
Jean-Pierre lost sight of the doctor and tried to quicken his pace. He could hear Debby crying from the shaking, but he tried to walk faster.
“Faster, come on!” he shouted.
Yulia ran beside the handmade stretcher and held Debby’s hand. She could feel Debby’s hand clenching with each step from the pain running through her body. The wind rumbled so loud and fierce that Yulia didn’t dare look up. The cold seeped under her clothes and burned her body. Little icicles sliced her face and hands.
The fascinating landscape was drowned in fog and blackness. The sun had disappeared, though it was only a few hours after noon. The landmark of the rock was swallowed up by black clouds. Jean-Pierre picked his direction at random, trying to find the doctor.
Yulia felt Debby’s hand weaken and her fingers loosen.
“Stop!” Yulia screamed.
David began to reduce his step, slowing down the procession. Jean-Pierre turned over his shoulder and looked at Debby. Breathing heavily, he shouted desperately into the fog:
“Doc! Doctor!”
Yulia looked ahead and screamed in fright, too:
“Dr Capri, where are you?”
The light was still breaking through the dust and fog, but the hum drowned out their voices. Yulia pointed ahead at eleven o’clock, noticing some sort of movement.