Avalanche Alert

by Jan Burchett

  Zoe wished that there was more she could do. The cub was just lying there, so weak and helpless. But now, all she could do was wait — and hope. She stroked the soft fur, admiring its beautiful pattern of spots.

  “Come on,” she whispered. “Get better, little prince.” She smiled to herself. “That’s what I’ll call you — Prince!”

  Quickly scrolling through the BUG menu, Zoe started the tracking program. She moved back a bit, then fired a dart into Prince’s thick belly fur. At once, an orange light began flashing on the screen.

  “We won’t lose you now,” she said, reluctantly sneaking back to a safe distance. She wished she could stay with him, but she knew that Rani would be back at any moment.

  Ben scrambled along a ridge at the edge of the valley, projecting the hologram as far away from himself as he could. The snow leopard moved stealthily after it, nose raised, picking up the sheep scent from the BUG.

  So far, his plan was working well. Rani was so close now that he could see all her beautiful markings quite clearly, as well as her rippling muscles. He crouched, playing the hologram slowly along the rocks. Now was the time to fire a tracking dart. But as the dart hit home, Rani suddenly turned and headed straight for him!

  There was no time to react. Ben cowered, arms covering his head, as Rani pounced into the air.

  THUD! Ben heard the snow leopard land very close. Any second now, he’d feel her claws carving into his back. But just then he heard a sharp squeal of pain nearby. Ben peeked between his fingers. Rani was slinking off over the rocks with a hare in her jaws. She was taking the food back to her cub. Ben picked up his BUG, turned off the hologram, and followed. After that scare, he made sure to keep his distance.

  There was no time to warn Zoe. He hoped she’d had long enough to give the cub the antidote — and get away safely.

  Soon he could see the snow leopard cub lying under the ledge. To his relief, Zoe wasn’t there. Its mother bounded to its side and, dropping the hare, nudged her baby gently with her nose. She pushed her offering toward her cub, but it didn’t react at all.

  Zoe was crouching behind a rock a few yards away. “Am I relieved to see you!” she whispered as her brother ducked down beside her. “For a moment, I wasn’t sure what Rani had in her jaws.”

  Ben let out a snort of laughter. “You thought it might be a little chunk of me, didn’t you?”

  “Well, if Rani is really hungry, then she won’t be picky,” Zoe said.

  “How’s the cub?” asked Ben. “Did you manage to give it the antidote?”

  Zoe nodded. “And the cub’s a little male, not an it,” she said. “I’ve decided to name him Prince.”

  “Let’s hope the medicine’s not too late for little Prince,” Ben said. “It doesn’t look like he’s moved.”

  “You’re too impatient,” Zoe told him. “That antidote will take some time to work.”

  Ben and Zoe made themselves as comfortable as they could. They sat and watched the mother and cub. Rani lay down next to Prince, wrapping her long tail right around him.

  “Aw,” Zoe said with a sigh. “How cute.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “Ugh, cuteness overload,” he said. “Though I admit, Rani is a great mom. She knows how to protect her baby from the freezing air.”

  Rani suddenly gave a high-pitched mew and stood up, her tail swishing back and forth nervously. She nosed urgently at her cub, but Prince didn’t stir.

  Rani gave Prince a tap with her paw. Still there was no sign of movement.

  “What’s wrong?” whispered Zoe. “He’s not dead, is he?”

  Ben zoomed his goggles in on Prince’s limp body. “I can’t see if he’s breathing or not,” he whispered.

  The twins watched anxiously for any sign of movement from the cub. Rani gulped down her kill, then she flopped to the ground and wrapped her tail around her cub again.

  “Can we get any closer?” whispered Zoe. “I need to know what’s wrong with him.”

  “No,” said Ben. “We have to leave it to Rani — and the antidote.”

  “She doesn’t seem too worried now,” Zoe said. “Maybe she can tell he’s healing.”

  Ben jerked his finger toward the leopard. “Wait, did you see that?” he asked.

  “What?” Zoe asked.

  Ben rapidly adjusted the zoom on his goggles. “I’m sure he twitched an ear,” he said. “Look, he did it again. He’s alive!”

  Zoe squeezed Ben’s arm. He could see that her eyes were bright with happy tears. Then she stiffened. “Prince being poisoned has really slowed us down,” she said. “I wonder how the other cubs are. They need their mom, too.”

  Ben hit a key on his BUG. “I’ll send a message to Erika and find out,” he said.

  The reply came quickly. “Have spotted fresh tracks, but no sighting of cubs yet,” Erika’s text read.

  “Oh, no,” said Zoe. “Do you think they died?”

  “Don’t despair just yet,” said Ben. “Erika won’t give up until she’s found them.” He quietly rummaged through his backpack. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Here, have an energy bar.”

  Zoe grinned as she took it from him. “You’re always starving!” she said.

  Before they could take a bite of their snacks, Rani suddenly jerked to her feet. She cautiously nudged her son, and the little cub raised his head. A moment later, he shakily rose to his feet.

  “Look, Ben!” Zoe whispered.

  Ben pulled on the nozzle of his BUG. “Yep!” he said. “Now to get them heading in the right direction.”

  Zoe checked her satellite map. “We’re a ways off from our original route,” she said. “We have to go west now.”

  Ben tapped a key. “I’ll set it to fire the scent bomb a hundred yards west of our current position. That should get them on their way quickly.”

  “No more holograms,” said Zoe.

  Rani caught the scent right as the pellet smashed into the distant rock. She pushed Prince to go with her. He sniffed the air and gave a small mewling sound.

  “I bet his instincts are kicking in,” Zoe murmured. “That’s great. He wants to check out the smell even though he’s still weak.”

  Rani grabbed Prince by the scruff of his neck and set off, moving slowly and carefully over the bare rock.

  Zoe called up the cub’s signal on her BUG. “It’s a good thing she’s carrying Prince,” she said. “It’s slowing her down enough that we should be able to keep up with her.”

  They walked across the flat floor of the valley, following the leopards. Gray, jagged rocks and sheer cliff faces rose in front of them, and Rani was already climbing up toward the scent bomb.

  “Time to rope ourselves together,” said Zoe. “Then we can put our WILD climbing training to good use.”

  They slipped on their harnesses and helmets, and took out some metal spikes with holes in the end from their backpacks. Then they clipped the spikes to a ring on their belts. “We’ll need these pitons handy,” said Ben.

  Both Zoe and Ben clipped the ends of the rope to their harnesses. Ben was soon getting into the rhythm of the climb, finding holds in the craggy rock face like it was second nature. Then he stopped, took one of his metal spikes, and rammed the point hard into a horizontal crack in the rock. “The piton’s firm,” he called, giving it a tug.

  Ben attached a clip to it and pushed the climbing rope through its clasp. “The carabiner is firmly attached,” he called out.

  Zoe set off after him, cramming her gloved fingers into crevices to get good holds. She felt the strain on her muscles as she hauled herself up the rock. When she reached the first anchor point, she pulled it out and stowed it in her pocket.

  The temperature was dropping as Ben and Zoe took turns climbing up. They could see their breath in a thick cloud of vapor that looked green through their night-vision glasses
. The icy air made the lenses mist up and they had to keep stopping to wipe them clear.

  “The goggles need little windshield wipers!” said Zoe, as she pulled herself onto another rocky shelf. Her arms and legs were aching with the effort of the climb.

  “We should tell Uncle Stephen to improve the design,” Ben said.

  There was no more talk as they climbed higher. Instead, they focused on trying to find the safest route. They kept constant watch on the tracking signals. Whenever Rani stopped, they sent another scent bomb to lure the cats farther along their route.

  Every now and then, they caught glimpses of Rani carrying her cub toward the scent.

  After what seemed like hours, Ben and Zoe took a short rest on an overhang. Zoe crouched down close to her brother. They sat together, warming their bodies and numb hands.

  Zoe found herself breathing heavily in the thin air. She felt dizzy, and it was coming over her in waves. She tried to convince herself that she was just tired. She decided not to tell Ben. She didn’t want him to worry.

  “My turn to lead,” Zoe said, struggling to her feet. She made a new anchor and attached their rope to it. Then she reached out toward a crack in the rock that would give a good handhold.

  It seemed to move away from her fingers. She blinked hard and went to grab it. Her hand missed and she lost her balance. The next second, she was plummeting into the darkness of the ravine. Rocks, snow, and sky whirled in front of her eyes in a terrifying blur as she fell, too shocked to scream.

  “Zoe!” cried Ben.

  Ben jammed his boots against the rock face and held on to the rope with all his strength. He felt a hard jolt. For a second, he thought the force was going to pull out Zoe’s anchor and send them both tumbling down the mountainside. But it seemed secure — for now. Ben carefully peered over the edge of the overhang. Zoe was dangling against the rock face, limbs flailing.

  She twisted awkwardly around and looked up. “Ben!” she said feebly.

  “Zoe!” Ben said, calling down to her. “You okay? I don’t know how long the piton will hold, can you climb back up? I can pull you up, but you need to help me.”

  Zoe could just see her brother’s worried face looking down at her. She tried to clear her muddled head. She reached out for the rock. As soon as her numb fingers found a handhold, Ben pulled. Zoe jammed her feet and hands into small cracks and began to climb with Ben’s help.

  “You took your time!” Ben said. He was grinning down at her over the edge of the rock as he held out a hand. Zoe took it, gladly, and Ben helped her up to join him on the ledge.

  Zoe sat down shakily. The world was spinning before her eyes and her head was pounding. With a sinking feeling, she realized what was wrong. It wasn’t the fall that had made her feel this way, or the tiredness. She’d felt like this in the climate chamber. It was altitude sickness. She knew it could be serious and that the only cure was to get down the mountain. But they couldn’t do that. Rani and her cubs were too important.

  “Are you all right?” asked Ben.

  Zoe nodded. There were dark circles beneath her eyes.

  “What happened?” Ben asked, his eyes narrowed.

  “My glove must have slipped,” Zoe said quietly. She stood up before he could ask more questions. “Let’s get going.”

  Ben flicked through the BUG’s menu to check the satellite map. “There’s a long ridge northwest of here,” he said, jabbing at the image with his glove. “It’s the one that leads straight over the top of the avalanche. It’s about two hours of climbing, looks like.”

  “Sounds good,” said Zoe, trying to act normal. She checked her watch. “But dawn will be breaking in about an hour. Rani will stop then, so we’ll be able to get some sleep and reach the ridge by tonight.”

  Ben looked up at the mountainside. “It won’t be long until we’re at the snowline,” he said. “It’s going to be even more slippery on those rocks. Remember what Erika told us on the plane? The surface of the snow melts when the sun’s shining, and then it freezes again at night. We’re going to be climbing on sheer ice.”

  Making sure their ropes were still well fastened, they set off up the steep climb. Zoe had to use all her strength to keep going. The terrain was bare rock at first, but gradually, patches of snow showed up beneath their feet. Soon there was no rock to be seen, and the whole mountainside glistened in the moonlight.

  Ben hit a clip on the side of his boots and blades popped out. “We’ve got our own claws,” he joked.

  Ben jabbed the spikes into the ice to get a good grip. Then he took his ice axe out of his backpack.

  Zoe did the same, continuing to follow her brother up the ice climb. Finally she hauled herself up next to him onto a wide shelf of rock and slumped to her knees, fighting away the dizziness that nearly made her tip over.

  “You sure you’re all right?” asked Ben.

  “Y-yes,” Zoe answered quickly. She pulled out her BUG. “Just checking Prince’s signal.”

  Zoe stared blankly at the screen for a moment. “I think . . . we’ve almost reached them,” she said weakly. “And they’ve stopped over there somewhere.” She pointed to a hollow in the steep mountainside with a dark crevice below. “Well, they should be there according to the BUG, but I can’t see them.”

  Ben had a look. “If the BUG says they’re there, then they must be,” he said. “They’re probably just camouflaged.”

  Something stirred in the hollow. “There they are,” Zoe said with relief. “They’re snuggling up together. They must be settling down to sleep.”

  “It is their bedtime, after all,” said Ben. “Look at the sky.”

  Above the peaks the eastern sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn was on its way.

  Zoe zoomed in her goggles for a close-up view of the cub. “Rani must have found food for Prince,” she said. “He looks a lot perkier — he’s biting his mom’s ear!”

  “We’d better set an alert on the BUG so we get a warning if they start moving again around nightfall,” Ben said. “I’ve read that they sleep most of the day.”

  Zoe eased her backpack off her shoulders. She longed to put her head down and shut her eyes.

  “Supper first!” said Ben. “Or is it breakfast?” He produced two bags from a pocket inside his snowsuit.

  “Liquid sausage and beans,” Ben announced. “Give the packet a squeeze, and it’ll be hot in minutes.”

  Zoe forced the food down. It felt good to have the warm food in her belly, but she grew nauseous even looking at food.

  The sky was lighter now, covered with dull gray clouds. Ben pulled out their sleeping bags and spread them under a low overhanging rock where the snow didn’t reach. A little way along, their shelf disappeared in a deep ravine. He didn’t want to roll over in the night and end up falling to the bottom of that. Ben rammed a piton into the rock and secured their backpacks, sleeping bags, and climbing rope to it. They crawled inside their bags, making sure that their heads were completely covered.

  “What I’d give for a nice, comfy mattress,” Ben said, his voice muffled by the sleeping bag. “I’d better count some sheep . . . or leopards.”

  But Zoe didn’t answer. She was already asleep.

  Zoe awoke with a start. The sun was low in the clear western sky, just now dipping behind the tall peaks. She could tell she had slept all day, but she didn’t feel any better. There was a stabbing pain behind her eyes. For a moment, she wondered why her bed felt so hard. Then she remembered she was a long way from home.

  Wearily, she prodded her brother awake.

  “It’s almost night,” she said. “The snow leopards will be moving soon. We need to get up and make sure they go the right way.”

  Ben peered out from their rocky shelter and let out a gasp. “There’s been another snowfall!” he said. “And it was a heavy one. We’d better be on the lookout for avalanches.”
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  Zoe rubbed her eyes. Their ledge and the rocks around were covered in a thick layer of snow that glistened in the late afternoon sun.

  Ben crawled out of his sleeping bag and stood up on the ledge to check on the snow leopards. His BUG vibrated. “Update from Erika,” he said. He read the text out loud. “‘Still no sign of the cubs, but some of the food is gone.’”

  “Hope the cubs were the ones who ate it,” muttered Zoe, holding her head in her hands.

  “At least our cub has his mom with him,” said Ben. He looked up the glistening white mountainside. He could see the hollow where the leopard and her cub had slept. There was one small shape curled up inside.

  “Rani’s not there!” Ben cried. “She left Prince on his own. Where did she go?”

  When Zoe didn’t answer, Ben looked over at her.

  Zoe was sitting with her head in her hands. Her eyes were closed. She looked very pale.

  “Are you all right?” Ben asked, looking alarmed.

  Zoe couldn’t hide it from him anymore. “Everything’s whirling around,” she said in a slow groan. “And I have an awful headache.”

  Ben knelt down next to her. “I bet you have altitude sickness. First things first, you need to take some acetaminophen.” He dug around in his backpack and handed one to her, then gave her a drink of water. “Then we have to go down to a lower altitude until you feel better.”

  “I know the drill,” said Zoe weakly. “But we can’t go down. That would mean abandoning our mission.”

  “Altitude sickness can be very serious,” said Ben. “If going back is what it takes to keep you safe, then that’s what we have to do.”

  Ben swung his backpack onto his shoulders and helped Zoe put hers on. Then he pulled out the piton that had anchored them while they slept.

  “No, Ben,” Zoe said, almost sobbing. “We have to keep going.” She looked over to the little cub. Prince was on his feet. He sniffed the air and began to climb unsteadily out of the hollow. “We can’t give up now.”