Whiteout II-13(The Ice Field)

Sorry this one took so long! Needed a lot of editing :3

13. The Ice Field

     Hours later, Nick found himself cursing and at the front of the line with Lopsang and James. They stood on a large, angular block of ice, flanked on all sides by equally large chunks of rubble. Before them was a twenty-foot crevasse, dark blue, and sinking infinitely deep into the mountain. Behind them lay half a day’s trekking, and a dozen crevasses they had already managed to cross.

     Death surrounded them on all sides, and Nick felt a constant tension as though he were walking a high wire. He supposed it wasn’t all that far from the truth. To cross the crevasses, they had to crawl on metal ladders, strung together for length, and hope to god that none of the ice broke loose. Every creak and moan of the shifting ice in the midday sun sent hot blood pumping through Nick’s veins. Even when he wasn’t the one crossing, his heart was hammering.

Lopsang on the other hand seemed perfectly content to stroll along, and always knew their path, even when the rest of the mountain was blocked from view by the ice field. He may have seemed grim about the proposition of ascending the mountain, but Nick thought every so often he caught a glimmer of excitement in the Sherpa’s eyes.

     James on the other hand, was miserable and content to criticize. “You just had to run your mouth, didn’t you?” he said for about the fiftieth time since Manchester had sent them to the front of the line.

     “You know, most of my apprentices,”

     Lopsang interrupted before Nick had time to start another fight. “Any smart man would have put us in front, regardless of Nick’s fat mouth,” he said, carefully lashing two ladders together and standing them upright. They swayed a little in the breeze, but held. Slowly, he lowered the ladders down and over the deep, blue chasm. “Without a guide, the team wouldn’t have made it ten feet into the ice field.”

     Nick for one thought it was true. Almost immediately after they had started their journey across, Manchester had nearly fallen through what at first looked to be solid ice. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who was looking on, Lopsang had saved him at the last second. The ice field was deceptive, with every path looking stable, but mostly being brittle facades, disguising death. Nick found himself wondering just how deep into the mountain the cracks went, and what lay at the bottom. Scientists would say nothing existed below, but he knew better. There’s no such thing as a blank area on the map.

     The clack of the metal ladder landing on the other side of the crevasse brought Nick back to the present. A wave of nausea and stomach pain gripped him as he looked across. It hadn’t gotten any easier throughout the day. In fact, each crossing brought him closer to the Vikram Wall, and that alone was enough to scare him. Heights had never really troubled him, but there was something about the cracks in the mountain that made him unenasy.

      “Don’t worry friend, it’s safe,” said Lopsang, sensing Nick’s unease. He put a boot on the ladder and stomped up and down. The ladder shook, but did not falter.

     Nick wished he hadn’t. If the ladder was stable, it isn’t now. “Thanks,” said Nick, a little shakily, and walked over to the edge of the crevasse. He looked down through the metal rungs and saw nothing he liked. The light blue of surface ice very quickly gave way to pitch darkness, making it impossible to tell just how far down the crack went. Not wanting to spend any more time than he had to, Nick aligned his boots with the grooves in the ladder, and began to climb.

Hand over hand, he moved across, slowly, but safely. The ladder shuddered with each step he made, and the ice at both ends made uncomfortable grating sounds. Though he knew it was better to look ahead, Nick found that his eyes kept wandering to the dark below. The lack of light caused shapes to shift and play tricks on his mind.

“Anything live in these crevasses?” he asked, hoping to god that the answer was no. Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to, he thought.

     Luckily, Lopsang’s response was a bitter laugh. “The only thing that’s down there is those who have long-since passed.”

     The thought didn’t make Nick feel any easier. “Well the dead love company,” he muttered.

     “Keep going Mr. Ventner, almost across,” chided Manchester from safety. He had made a habit of talking to Nick right as he was in the middle of his crossings, perhaps hoping that through distraction he could aid an unfortunate accident. They had sworn to do no harm, but never anything about mild annoyance.

     Nick wanted to retort, but found he could not spare any thought. If we make it out of here, I’m never coming near a mountain again. So far, he had seen nothing to convince him that mountain climbing was a hobby worth pursuing. Anyone who does this for fun is clearly an idiot. Nick had found that just listening to Lopsang talk about the ascent had been exhausting. Unfortunately, the climbing itself had been much worse. Halfway across the ladder, Nick paused, his hands trembling slightly, likely from fear, and exhaustion. Movement only became harder the higher they climbed. Come on Nick, you can do this.

     “Don’t look down,” whispered a voice that sounded as if it had come from directly below him.

     “Very funny James,” said Nick, but he knew the voice hadn’t been his.

     “I didn’t say anything,” he called back.

     Nick looked back for a second to see if he could spot any trickery, but James just looked genuinely concerned. Of all the places to run into an evil entity, he thought, slowly turning back toward the front of the ladder. He tried to avoid looking directly at the chasm, but a flash of movement caught his eye, causing him to jump. Nick lost his footing and fell flat, gripping the metal sides with both hands. The ladder buckled under the sudden weight, and Nick’s blood froze. He held tight, waiting for the ladder to stop moving, and staring at the darkness below.

     The ladder held, and once more he continued, faster than before. In the extreme altitude, every step felt harder than the last, and climbing the ladder, while not steep, was exhausting. His hands began to shake harder, his lungs burned, and his vision wavered. Mind’s just playing tricks. That’s it, nothing more. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that said it was not the case, but he tried his best to ignore it.

There were only five or so feet left to the other side when the voice called out again. “Better climbers than you have fallen here. Just relax, join us.” The voice sounded raspy, and dry.

     Nick looked down and saw a flash of orange quickly fade into the dark. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a set of pale blue eyes watching him from below. Fuck this mountain, he thought and sped up his ascent. It took all his energy to keep moving, and all of his concentration not to look back at where he had seen the orange flash. In a matter of seconds, he was off the ladder and on the other side of the chasm, panting in the warm afternoon light. The chill that he had felt on the ladder quickly melted as the sun bathed him.

He sprawled onto the bright, white surface of a large piece of ice, feeling like a man who had just run a marathon. Looking back across, everyone seemed much closer than they should have been. The mercenaries were laughing at him, but Lopsang and James looked perturbed. Ahead of him, only a few hundred feet away, the jungle of ice, rock, and snow ended, giving way to a smooth slope, leading up to a steep face made of ice and rock.  The Vikram Wall, he thought, and shivered.

     “Everything alright, Nick?” asked James.

     Nick thought back to the flash of orange and the voice in the crevasse. “Yeah,” he said, unconvincingly, “Just,” he faltered, “don’t look down.” Nick was not sure what kind of entity was in the crevasse, but when in doubt, avoiding eye contact seemed to be a safe course of action. It was a trick he had picked up from watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, but more often than not, it helped.

     “Thanks for the cliché,” said James resuming his permanent tone of sarcasm, and began to climb. The previous ladders had given him no trouble, but something was different as he crossed.

Nick thought his movements were stiff, and slower than before. Could be the altitude getting to him, thought Nick, knowing it wasn’t true. “James, I’m serious, don’t look down.”

“You’re not helping,” began James, but then froze mid-sentence. Inadvertently, his gaze had drifted between the rungs of the ladder, and down to the crevasse. A rigid stillness took over his body, and his eyes glazed over. Something was moving in the darkness below him. Two, blue pinpoints illuminated, and a voice began to speak.

     “Help me,” it whispered. “My team left me for dead, but I can still make it home.” There was deep sorrow in the voice.

     It cut to James’s core, and he could feel the climber’s sadness. “There’s someone down there,” he said, dazed.

     “James, don’t listen to it just climb!” Nick yelled.

     James ignored him, his right arm drifted away from the ladder and hung down towards the dark below. “Lopsang, get me some rope, we can reach him,” he said, almost dazed. “We should help.” There was a faraway urgency to his voice.

     “Someone get up there, he’s suffering from altitude sickness,” said Manchester stupidly.

     Lopsang stepped in front of the mercenary who tried to carry out the order. “Don’t set foot on that ladder. Any more weight and it will fall.” His voice was calm, but Nick thought he saw worry in the Sherpa’s face. If none of them could reach James, then it was up to him to survive.

     The mercenary stepped back, affronted.

     Lopsang continued. “Don’t listen to it. There is nothing down there but death. Look straight ahead, and keep climbing.”

     James still did not move, and instead continued to gaze into the crevasse. The blue pinpoints moved closer, and he could see the outline of an orange hood. “It’s a climber, I can see him.” He reached his hand farther into the crevasse. “I can almost reach him.”

     “This is no time for childish pranks,” spat Manchester. “We are wasting precious time.  

     Nick shot him a murderous look and turned his attention to James. “Come on James, snap out of it.” He was growing desperate. The longer James looked at the thing, the worse the situation was likely to get. James did not move. “I’m taking a percentage for every second of my time you waste,” he called.

     James said nothing, and leaned over the ladder to get a better look below him. The blue lights grew even closer, and a rotted hand reached out to grab his. In the dim light, he saw the climber’s face illuminate. It was blackened with frostbite, and had begun to sag, as if under great strain. Horror gripped James, but he felt frozen. Blood rushed through his ears, but then through it all, he heard Nick yelling from the other side.

“Worthless apprentices, always getting themselves killed.”

     James barely heard the word apprentice, but then jerked away, just as the creature below tried to grab him. Hot anger melted away the fear, just long enough for him to look away. With stiff limbs, he began pulling himself across the ladder again, fighting every urge to look down. In less than a minute, he too had crossed, and fell onto the cold, but solid ice, out of breath.

“You alright?” asked Nick. He was pleased to see that they weren’t going to leave James behind as a frozen corpse, but had no intention of showing it.

“There’s something down there,” panted James, ignoring the sarcasm.

     “Yeah, I saw it to, but,” he turned away and spoke in a low tone, “there’s a chance it’ll kill Manchester. This might work out after all.” Genuine excitement crept into his voice for a moment.

     James was not pleased.

“Oh you’re no fun. The other good news is we’re almost out of here.” Nick motioned to the Vikram Wall. It felt like a silent sentinel, guarding the mountain, and laughing at their trouble on its slopes.  He didn’t have much time to think about it, as a voice from behind startled him.

“Are you two alright?” In the space of a minute, Lopsang had crossed the ladder with ease.

Nick and James looked at him confused.

“Nick was right,” he said. “The trick was to not look down.” Lopsang gave a broad smile as if all their troubles were over, and the wall did not still lie ahead of them.

     “What the hell was that?” asked Nick.

     “A bad sign.” Lopsang hung his head. “Many climbers have lost their lives in these crevasses, and the mountain stops them from resting peacefully.”

     “A mountain of the undead. Wonderful.” Wish I had splurged for a few more shotgun rounds. Nick had found that while equally effective against the undead as other weapons, shotguns gave a more satisfying splatter.

     “Not exactly. Normally the souls can’t cross over, so they lay dormant, unable to leave, but also unable to do any damage. It’s like a dreamless sleep, but,” Lopsang trailed off.

     “But they’re not sleeping anymore, are they?” added Nick.

     “It doesn’t appear that way.” Lopsang’s voice had grown dark again. “What did you see down there?”

     “Nothing but an orange flash. I couldn’t get a good look.”

     “I saw him,” said James.

     “Him?” asked Lopsang?

     “Yeah, it was a man, or what used to be a man. His face was black with frostbite, but I could tell it was a climber.”

     Lopsang uttered what sounded like a curse in his native tongue. “Then the gates really are open. We need to get to the next marker now. If the dead are up and walking, we have more than one reason to get to a marker by nightfall. The closer we come to the summit, the more we will find.”

     “Do people just leave them here?” asked James.

     Lopsang shrugged. “It’s too dangerous to take them down. Just below the summit is the rainbow trail.”

     “Let me guess, sounds nice, isn’t nice,” said Nick, bitterly.

     “Correct,” muttered Lopsang. “It is so named because of the colorful hiking jackets that still poke out of the snow. We will be fine during the day, but come nightfall, we don’t want to be unprotected.”

     “Well then I’d say it’s time to get moving.” The sun was still bright, but was quickly descending toward the mountain. Twilight would be upon them sooner than Nick liked.

     “Everything alright up there?” asked Manchester, annoyed.

     “Sure is Harvey,” called Nick. “Come on over, and don’t look into the crevasse. There’s an undead hiker down there and he’s looking for some friends.” Nick turned to Lopsang and smiled. “Let’s get the next crossing set up, I’m feeling lucky.”