Chapter 1
Chapter One: Cold War
Vífilsfell Iceland.
Cold. It was cold and dark, It felt like Victoria had opened her eyes yet, it was still dark, to add to that, she was freezing she can’t feel her feet. Her toes were turning into a deep color of purple, her breathing was hitched, and every inhale was harder than before, surroundings were dark, she felt with her hands, squeezing whatever she could feel for, grabbing onto whatever she could grasp, cold and hard stones, she thought, and then she remembered the last time she was conscious, her smile was etched on her face, joy was obvious, she missed the ice, until, her dad screamed ‘avalanched’ and then everything went dark.
She realizes she’s under to what she guessed to be atleast a hundred feet of snow, only that wasn’t the scary part, it’s that she doesn’t know where the surface is, if she tries to dig her way out, with only a few hours of life span, she’ll die, but staying isn’t an option, she still dies, only that way was slower and less painful. She just had to wait until her heart stops, the more blood that doesn’t flow the more she knew her life source was decreasing. She didn’t want to die, she had multiple things she still wanted to do, and people are waiting for her, worried people.
Due to her numb feeling, it was hard to figure out if she had fatal injuries, broken bones or even if she lost a limb. Hopefully not. She’s perfectly fine with all her organs and limbs intact.
She had to think of something quick. She needed to find her mother, her father. So she took the risk, she started to dig with one hand trying to plow herself from the cold and the slashing feeling of ice, the coldness was harsh against her sensitive skin, she hated the way it pricked her, her other arm was still recovering, moving it slowly and carefully, hoping that her arm has not yet died from hypothermia, once regaining feeling from her other hand, she felt a rope tied to her hand, her ski poles, it was still attached even after a fatal blow of ice, which meant it was possible that she was still wearing her back pack with all of her stuff. It was hard for her to think in a harsh environment, but she needed to move. Friction. She needed more friction.
Adrenaline gushed down her body, and she plowed for her life, using the poles for support. It felt like forever, and it seemed like she wasn’t going anywhere, she was infact still in place, the longer she dug the more it was harder to feel her legs, her lips turned pale, cheeks were stained of ice and she couldn’t feel her muscles, her teeth clattering, eyes still couldn’t see well. She wanted to get out of there, she wanted to breath properly, and she wanted to be as close to a heat source as possible.
But it was no use if she doesn’t know where she’s going. She plowed as hard as she can even if that meant she didn’t stop. She can keep digging until she could, but with no sense of direction, and all her equipment in her backpack, it was hard. In addition to that there wasn’t aanyone to rescue her yet. No one to call, she was all alone.
Gravity! She mentally cursed, how could she be so stupid! sure nature was deadly but it was helpful too. Living with scientists for sixteen years and she still feels stupid. She had limited resources but it was still useful. Studying everything she could get her hands on, and yet she was so stupid to not stop and think.
Although ironic that gravity caused an avalanched Victoria knew, that it was a good idea, she could find directions. She still had her eyes half closed, but that didn’t stop her. She plowed more ice away from her, creating space for the ice, and stretched her arms out to feel where the ice would fall, she rubbed her wrist together, creating small friction, and revibing her almost dead hands, once she felt ice slowly dropping to her wrist she knew she was laid horizontally, so it meant that plowing for ice in her north direction would be pointless, she needed to shift to east, downwards. But digging through ice was not as easy as she thought, with half her body numb and frozen, she knew she only had a limited time before she dies. Hypothermia, not a bad death isn’t it?
Victoria didn’t want to give up, she dug for her life, it was like being stuck on quicksand only now she was buried under, hours later she plowed out of the snow, taking in the sharp cold air of Iceland, forcing her eyes to open. She pulled herself out of the pile of snow, latching onto anything she could hold onto in this case a ski pole. She breathed, slowly opening her eyes to the sun setting, Night. Another element she had to worry about.
She was out in the wilderness, she knew the ice and temperature weren’t the only elements she had to fight, rubbing her chest with her hands she hoped for friction, just a bit of heat to help, whilst rubbing, her backpack was still intact. She just needed to grab the radio, and call for help. If there was still a facility to call, or anyone within a twenty mile radius that could hear her. She hoped for better.
Once she could feel almost ninety percent of her body back, she didn’t hesitate to grab her bag, and find the radio, flares, flashlight, matches, a small sleeping bag and stone hard water bottle. That was it, she only prayed the radio still works, turns out she lost half her equipment to the blast. She never hoped in using these things to survive, but here she was.
She reached for her Radio, as static erupted, and another and another, was it broken? She thought. She inhaled the sharp cold air of the Iceland breeze, she spoke with a shaky breath, “help!” she mumbled, but minutes passed the sun has set but nobody replied. She couldn’t scream, or make any noise than it is, she was still in danger of another avalanched. Hopefuly she wasn’t in any more danger, just the cold temperature. She grabbed the sleeping bag and with shaky and uncontrollable hands she placed herself inside and hope it was warm enough.
“SOS” she muttered again, she was hopeful, she didn’t want to die, she made it this far. “this is Delta Station, Over!” the radio replied, she cursed mentally, wanting nothing more than to kiss anyone beside her, overjoyed with the possible rescue. After almost forever of waiting someone finally heard, But it was Delta Station that’s atleast fifty miles away from her. What had happened to the other three stations?
“This is Colonel Adams, can you tell us where you are? Over” He muttered, it took a while for Victoria to realize she has no compass in her bag, she was about to reply to the Colonel, when she remembered what she learned from the locals, air always heads north, that’s why birds head north. Her lips were quivering, eyelids were half closed, nose was catching small snow, and her ears were so red it resembled something from a tomato.
She grabbed the matches in her bag and lit it up, but before she could tell where she is the fire was gone. The breeze had blew it away.
“This is Colonel Adams of Delta Station, a Team of rescuers will be there shortly, do you know where you are? OVER!” he muttered again. Victoria wasn’t about to give up, not now. She lit up another match inside her sleeping bag, the fire calmed and blew in the direction of north, like she guessed. If she’s facing north, and the mountain is just above her, she’s either near the southeast of Vífilsfell Mountain or north still. Who knew cartography was handy in these situations. But she was definitely no expert, she just had to hope she was right.
“Vanhussen, Southeast!” she muttered shortly, she couldn’t speak well anymore. The Colonel on the other line took a minute to realize who it was on the other line, his co- worker, “Vanhussen? Vanessa Vanhussen?” he questioned, he regained his formality and added, “A Team is on it’s way, do you have any light or anything to use to signal my men? Over” Adams spoke.
The Colonel wasn’t sure who he spoke to, if it was Vanessa, or her daughter Victoria. But he still ordered his men to search southeast of Vífilsfell Mountain in a chopper, as the chopper was heard leaving another radio voiced out, making half the team of the rescue operation stop, “T-this is Vanessa Vanhussen, of Alpha S-station.” The voice quivered, “Mission 4488, Operation Apollo-“ then there was an eerie silence, people around the Colonel stared at each other, it was their General, the silence was almost like somebody died on the other line, Colonel Adams realize who he spoke to last, it was the Vanhussen’s daughter, Victoria.
He ordered his men to try and track down the location of Vanessa, even after knowing all signals are un-trackable at the moment, lines and signals were all somehow intercepted with the northern breeze of Vífilsfell Area. The Vanhussens were part of an important research team, under The British Government, and held important information. Colonel Adams knew that Vanessa was as important as Victoria at the moment. He knew Vanessa was to be prioritize as Victoria, even if that meant he had to fly another chopper for only one person. “M-my Husband, Garrick Vanhussen is dead.” Then another eerie silence but all of Delta Station listened in. It dawned on half of the people, knowing it was a friend who had died, ringing of the phones and radios echoed all over, A good man died today.
