It was all happening too fast. The roaring sound of the snow bowling over her was deafening. And then suddenly, she stopped rolling. Her whole body was tightly compacted. She felt moisture seeping through the sweats into the pants she was wearing.
She was buried alive. They were buried. Oh my God, they were going to die!
Memories of waking up in the car as it sat precariously on the side of the mountain filled her mind. Nash came to rescue her then. Nash was in just as much danger she was now. He was most likely buried as well. Probably buried deeper than she was. Her only hope was to save herself. She had to. What if Nash needed her?
She recalled the words Nash had said to her about using anything and everything for survival. She had nothing. Her phone was gone. But she did have her purse which was wrapped around her shoulder. It was difficult to move but she had to try. Was it still there? Did it fall off?
She had to fight. Pretty soon air that was trapped in this little pocket she was in would be gone. She couldn't hold her breath long enough to climb out.
She fought the packed snow and wiggled her arm to her purse. Yes, it was there. She fumbled around the fabric until she felt her zipper. After carefully and painstakingly unzipping it a few inches, she managed to get her fingers inside her purse so she could rummage around. She had settled somewhat on her side which made it easier for her to move the few items inside her purse around. If she had settled in the snow upside down, there was no way she’d be able to move.
She fought the pressure of the snow as her lungs began to protest. Then her fingers connected with her hairbrush. It wasn't a big brush, but was strong, and maybe she could use that as a tool to dig her way out. She had to try something. She knew from reading about avalanches that finding someone in the snow was the first and most difficult thing to do.
She wiggled the brush out of her purse, not caring about whatever contents spilled out with it, then she stuck the brush in the snow with all her might. Tears stung her eyes and burned her cheeks against the cold ice crystals of the snow packed around her. There was light above. She didn’t know how she knew but she knew there was. If she wasn’t buried too far down she could make an opening.
But as she pushed through the snow with all her strength, she wondered if her arms were long enough to reach the surface. For all she knew she was buried ten feet down.
But when the snow was easier to push through, she knew she was close. And then she’d reached the surface and a rush of fresh air filled the little pocket she was in.
She breathed in deep to fill her lungs, although it was hard to do with the snow pressing against her. She wanted to weep with joy. But she had to dig out.
There was sunshine above her. She hadn’t been wrong. The more she dug, the more sun filled the space around her. She breathed in a deep lungful of breath and then rested for just a few seconds.
“Nash! Can you hear me, Nash?”
Just the act of yelling his name seemed to drain her of all her energy. She listened intently as best she could. She heard nothing but the occasional fall of the branch or clump of snow falling to the ground.
The snowmobile was most likely buried. She couldn't hear the engine any longer. She had to get out of the snow. She was her only chance of making it. With the rest of the strength she had left she clawed her way through the snow in painstakingly small strokes until she could move her leg and levy herself against a felled tree and push herself up. As soon as her head rose above the surface of the snow she paused and took several deep breaths of air. She counted her blessings at how lucky she was that she hadn't found herself compacted upside down.
She looked around. “Nash! Where are you, Nash?”
She frantically searched the blanket of white. It would've been easy for her to miss Nash had it not been for the fact that the snowmobile blades were sticking far enough out of the snow that she could see them. She focused her gaze in that direction and hoped that Nash was somewhere near there.
With her energy spent, she lifted up to a stand and sank down into the snow as she walked through the drift toward snowmobile. And then she saw Nash’s jacket just near the surface.
“Nash!”
It took forever for her to get to him. It seemed like forever for her to climb over the felled tree between them. When she finally got to him, his face was buried in the snow along with half of his body.
“Oh, no. Please no!”
She pulled his torso up and finally his face was free of the snow. She wiped away the remnants of ice crystals around his face and saw his skin was ashen and his lips were blue. Was she too late?
“Nash, stay with me. Don’t leave me, please!”
Harper had enough first aid training that she knew the basics. She was the person on the other end of the phone. She was the person people called when they had a crisis. She’d walked hundreds of people through crises during her time as a dispatcher at the police station. But she never had to actually do any of the things herself. She didn't have a computer in front of her to give instructions. Instead she relied on memory and years of training and moved into action.
She checked for a pulse quickly and felt one. Then
