Word: adriane
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...Perhaps Adrian had fallen. I looked down. He hadn't. But I might. I panicked momentarily because for the first time it finally dawned on me that any moment, with any slip, I could die, that, in fact, I probably would--especially since there was no safe way to get across the snowfield. The only thing to do was to sit and slide on the snow and try to halt before the rocks, which reared up like so many menacing bone-breakers, stopped me. So I did, and it worked. The snow even warmed my legs, which scared...
...were in much worse shape than I was in, walking slowly, in scantier clothes, soaked, with ice-caked beards. They needed help badly and I knew I wasn't strong enough to do what was necessary alone, which scared me. No longer thinking about myself, I tried to follow Adrian's footsteps at a run but kept losing them since the switchbacks had stopped as the ground leveled off for a while. Because the cairns meant to mark the trail were snow-covered, and indistinguishable from countless other rockpiles, it could go anywhere. I started to panic, tearlessly, soundlessly, then...
...told them to follow me. I asked them if they'd seen any tents they could go to. They slowly answered no, stumbled and followed. Hypothermia. I ran on, hoping they still knew enough to follow my footprints. But I couldn't keep going for long. Again Adrian's footprints ran out, suddenly, for good reason. There was a torrent that had to be crossed, one that looked too strong to ford...
...soon as the search was sufficiently underway, the sheriff drove Johnnie and me back to the police station in Lone Pine where we could spend the night. Adrian had hitched to pick up his car 20 miles away, and we hoped that he would find us in Lone Pine. Eventually Adrian found us, eating in the only restaurant open in that kind of small western town. We stayed up until 3:30, again rehashing everything, occasionally wondering about the men. Not until we'd been asleep for an hour, at 4:30 a.m., did the all-night monitor reveal anything...
...talked to them. They had no food, no dry clothes, no tent and only wet down sleeping bags which sap heat from cold bodies. They were defenseless, and worse, they were succumbing. I didn't think I could cross the stream alone even though it looked as though Adrian had. I wondered if I shouldn't set up the tent, get in the sleeping bag and bite through the plastic bag at my belt to get crackers and chocolate and try to save the two men along with myself. But how could I? I still couldn't use my fingers...