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Everything was freezing confusion Her head was under water and she was being tumbled over and

over She couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, and she was completely disoriented

Then her head popped up She autoasp of air

Her arled in her backpack The creek ide here and the

current was very strong She was being swept downstream, and every other second her mouth seemed

to be full of water Reality was just one desperate, choking atte was so cold A cold that was pain, not just te to die

Her mind realized this with a sort of nuht alled out of her backpack, so that the natural buoyancy of her ski

jacket helped keep her head above water It ood The creek was only five feet deep in the center, but that was still an inch higher than Gillian’s

head She was too set any kind of control over where she was going

And the cold was sapping her strength frighteningly fast With every second her chances of surviving

dropped

It was as if the creek were a o It slamet hold of the cold, s to be too weak to keep her face above water

I have to grab so her that It was her only chance

There Up ahead, on the left bank, a projecting spit with tree roots She had to get to it Kick Kick

She hit and was al on The roots were thicker than her

arle like slick, icy snakes

Gillian thrust an ar herself Oh-yes; she could breathe

now But her body was still in the creek, being sucked away by the water

She had to get out-but that was ith to hold on; her weakened,

numb muscles could never pull her up the bank

At that moment, she was filled with hatred- not for the creek, but for herself Because she was little and

weak and childish and it was going to kill her She was going to die, and it was all happening right now,

and it was real

She could never really reo and there was nothing but anger

and the burning need to get higher Her legs kicked and scraainst the rocks and roots should have hurt But all that mattered was the desperation that

was soed body out of the creek

And then she was out She was lying on roots and snow Her vision was di,

open-mouthed, for breath, but she was alive

Gillian lay there for a long ti with relief

I made it! I’ll be okay now

It was only when she tried to get up that she realized horong she was

When she tried to stand, her legs almost folded under her Her muscles felt like jelly

Andit was cold She was already exhausted and nearly frozen, and her soaking clothes felt as heavy as one, lost in

the creek Her cap was gone With every breath, she seeet colder, and suddenly she was

racked aves of violent shivers

Find the roadI have to get to the road But which way is it?

She’d landed somewhere downstream-but where? How far aas the road now?

Doesn’t ht slowly It was difficult to think at all

She felt stiff and clu made it hard to cliers couldn’t close to get handholds

I’?

Dimly, she knew that she was in serious trouble If she didn’t get to the road-soon-she wasn’t going to

survive But it was e sort of apathy was

co fro She had no idea where she was going Just straight ahead That was all she

could see anyway, the next dark rock protruding froet over or around

And then suddenly she was on her face She’d fallen It seeain

It’s these clothes they’re too heavy I should take the Her brain was being affected; she was dazed with

hypothermia But the part of her that knew this was far away, separate froers unzip her ski jacket

Okay it’s off I can walk better now

She couldn’t walk better She kept falling She had been doing this forever, stu up

And every time it was a little harder

Her cords felt like slabs of ice on her legs She looked at them with distant annoyance and saw that they

were covered with adhering snow

Okay-maybe take those off, too?

She couldn’t remember hoork a zipper She couldn’t think at all any were interspersed with pauses now, and the pauses were getting longer

I guessthat’s good I must not be so cold-----

I just need a little rest

While the faraway part of her brain screamed uselessly in protest, Gillian sat down in the snow

She was in a s It seeround mouse ing branches formed a snowy canopy

It was a very peaceful place to die

Gillian’s shivering had stopped

Which meant it was all over now Her body couldn’t warht Instead, it was trying tobreathing and

heart rate, conserving the little war to survive until help could co