Brandon's POV
My foot slipped, my frozen fingers tightening on the rock in front of me while my rope held me up. I could hear my heart beating as I looked down and found my footing again and steadied myself against the rock.
The freezing sleet coming down made staying out here a risk. I needed to end this climb before I fell and injured myself. Otherwise, I wouldn't be found for days. That's if I was lucky. I could be exposed to the elements and freeze to death, maybe get mauled by a wild animal.
No. That wasn't an option. I'm not the fittest nor the strongest, but I was determined. My determination fueled me most of the time.
I took a deep breath and slowly released it while looking up. Only a short distance remained to the safety of the ledge. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself up. I needed to find somewhere to shelter from the storm.
I ignored the burning in my muscles. I was exhausted. I had pushed myself harder than usual on this climb. Now, the freak blizzard was forcing me to stay out here even longer.
I looked around. There was nothing I could use to shelter from the piercing wind and sleet. I could barely see two feet in front of me. My breath came out in white puffs as the temperature continued to drop. The storm was getting worse by the minute.
I loved climbing these mountains. It helped me think and clear my head. I came out at least once a month. It was refreshing to be surrounded by nature and silence. I loved leaving the noise and bustle of the city behind and just being engrossed in the task at hand. Pushing all my thoughts and worries to the back of my mind for a few hours. I always returned to civilisation refreshed, energised, and ready to tackle my issues head on.
Today's climb had suddenly become my biggest problem. It was now a fight for survival. I was dressed appropriately for the weather, but nobody had predicted a blizzard. I was not equipped to spend the night out here.
I stood up and clapped my hands together and jumped on the spot to get my circulation going. I looked around as I tried to think of what I was going to do. At first, all I could see was the sleet and my own breath in puffs of smoke in front of me. I closed my eyes and shook my head. I can't panic. When I opened my eyes, I saw a trail of trees in the distance. A sliver of hope was all I needed. I headed towards the trees carefully, as I couldn't afford to lose my footing. I was hoping for any type of shelter, a cabin, a cave, or even fallen trees, which I could use to fashion a small hut from.
I was surrounded by the howling wind and unrelenting sleet, when suddenly I heard something. It sounded like a shout. My mind must be playing tricks on me, I thought. I stopped walking and strained to see if I could hear it again.
A shiver ran down my spine. What I heard wasn't a shout of "help!" It was an angry growl. I couldn't be sure it was a wild animal, but I froze and looked around me. Then I saw something moving. It was bright pink. As I crept closer, I could make out it was an arm. It was stuck under a large branch. As I got closer, I could see it belonged to a woman wearing a bright pink anorak and bright pink gloves and hat. Even her snow boots were bright pink. Her face was scrunched up in pain, but she wasn't screaming.
"Are you ok?" I asked tentatively.
"What do you think?" Came the reply. Then, "Sorry. No, I'm not."
I bent down and pushed the branch off her arm. That's when she screamed. A piercing, haunting scream that went right through me. The sight of blood made my head spin. I took several deep breaths to overcome the nausea. I bent down to help her up. She struggled and then winced in pain.
"My ankle," she said. That must be hurt as well.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I slipped and fell. The branch must have fallen from the weight of the snow. I guess I sprained my ankle when I fell. It all happened so fast, " she managed to say while breathing raggedly.
I had no idea what to do. I held her up as I said, "Um... we need ..."
"You need to tie a tourniquet above the cut to stop the bleeding." her face was white, and she had started shivering. I wondered how long she'd been out here.
Then I remembered my first aid kit in my backpack. I sat her down on the ground against the fallen branch while I dug it out. I took out two rolls of bandages. My practical side was finally taking over, I wrapped one bandage around the open wound and used the other bandage to tie a tourniquet just above the wound, tying it as tight as I could. She grunted in pain. She must have been in agony.
"Right, we need to find shelter," I said as I helped her up again and leaned her against my side while holding her uninjured arm around my shoulders.
"Thanks," she said "my cabin isn't far" she gestured to her left.
We were both shivering from the cold by now. We navigated our way to her cabin. We made our way through the trees, but I couldn't see a cabin. Just as I was starting to panic, thinking this was some kind of trap, she pointed ahead and I could just make out a very small and very old cabin. We made our way towards it and I pushed the door open.