A deep crack spread across the ice floor beneath the group of scientists. A rumble echoed around them as the world began to shake.
"Okay, everyone stop what you're doing. This is bad, but it could be worse," Dr. Caitlyn Rose said, struggling to maintain her balance on the unstable ice.
"Jesus Christ. Did you just—you can't say that!" her intern Jared protested. He took a step toward her, lost traction, and went heels over head, the back of his skull smacking against the ice. "Balls. See?!"
"What is wrong with saying that?" she said. "It could be much worse! My words did not make you slip on the ice. Your panicky and jerky movements did."
The shaking came to a stop, and the small group of three scientists relaxed as a calm settled over them.
"We are in way beyond-freezing temperatures, trapped in this mountain of pure ice, which is now cracking! You saying it can't get worse will immediately make it worse! Any worse from this point right here would be catastrophic, so let's not test fate, because fate tends to be a super asshole," Jared said, climbing to his feet as slowly as possible. Once balanced, he started to rub his hands together, desperate for any feeling of warmth.
"A super asshole? Now that is a terrifying thing to imagine," Edgar said.
"Does the asshole have a cape, or is it just really big? I want to know what the 'super' implies in regard to the asshole. Does it have superpowers?" Caitlyn asked with a straight face. Well, she was smiling as much as her partially frozen face would allow, though Jared couldn't see it through her gear.
The three of them were bundled head-to-toe in multiple layers, black winter coats cinched tight around their heads. Each exhale and spoken word visible as white clouds in the painful cold. They wore multiple pairs of mittens stuffed full with as many hand warmers as they could squeeze in. With all that, plus the dark face masks and goggles, it was impossible to tell who was who besides the sound of their voices.
"Calm down, Jared. They're obviously not in here, Caitlyn. So let's just get out of here before Jared gives himself a heart attack," said Edgar, Dr. Rose's partner.
"I know they're in here. We just need more time," Caitlyn insisted.
"We are out of time!" Jared yelled to her. "This whole thing is about to come down on top of us."
"What the hell are you so scared of? What's the worst that could possibly happen?!" Caitlyn yelled back.
There was a crumbling noise directly above the group. Caitlyn looked up in time to see the blur of a massive ice boulder crashing down on Jared. The sickening crunch of his body crushed under the giant ball of ice bounced around the glacier walls. Blood splattered across her coat and mask. She touched her fingers to the blood on her mask while she struggled to comprehend what had just happened.
"I think that was what he was afraid of," Edgar whispered.
"Oh, lord, I think I'm going to be s--" Caitlyn yanked up the now bloody mask covering her face just in time to vomit on Edgar's feet.
"Awesome. This is what happens when we go too far. People die, Caitlyn! Can we please leave now? Before anyone else dies. Specifically, one of us!" Edgar said, kicking off what vomit he could.
"Yes, let's go. We need to report what happened to Edgar," Caitlyn said.
"You mean Jared?" Edgar asked.
"What?" The floor started to shake again, and the room began to spin. Caitlyn found an ice wall to brace against. She wrapped her hands around her head and tried to focus. Black spots flooded her vision, and even with the wall's support, she struggled to remain upright.
"Jared is the one who… I'm still here. I'm Edgar. Are you feeling okay?" Edgar asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Caitlyn looked around, trying to locate the floor.
"I'm so cold," she said, sliding down the wall and onto the ground. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Edgar reached down and carefully helped her back up without slipping.
"Lean on me; I'll help you walk. We need to get you some medical attention," Edgar said.
"Shouldn't we wait for Jared?" Caitlyn asked.
Edgar led her forward, ignoring the question.
"No," Caitlyn said, pushing herself off Edgar. "We need to wait for Jared. We can't just leave him behind."
"He's waiting at camp. Come on, I'll show you where he is," Edgar said in a hurried tone, desperate to get her out. He looked around the shaking glacier; cracks were spreading across the floors and walls. Smaller chunks of ice were falling down, and it was only a matter of time before the ice flattened them like Jared.
"Caitlyn, we need to move now. Everything is becoming unstable rapidly," Edgar said, pulling her against him.
"You were always so nice to me, Jared. I'm so glad I convinced you to come with us," Caitlyn said, letting Edgar lead her along their exit path out of the glacier. "I know you really didn't want to come, but thank you."
"Sure thing," Edgar said. He wasn't sure what else to say, but a pit formed in his stomach thinking about how badly Jared had wanted nothing to do with this trip.
"Wait," Caitlyn said, pulling herself away from him.
"What now?!" Edgar said on the verge of screaming at her.
"Listen. Do you hear that?" she asked, fighting off his attempts to grab her.
"The sound of thousands of pounds of ice about to crush us? Yes, I hear it!" Edgar said.
The glacier's shaking intensified. The ground opened up behind them. Baseball-sized ice chunks rained down on them, forcing Edgar to cover his own head and abandon helping Caitlyn. The crack widened enough to swallow a person. Edgar glanced into the crack, and only darkness stared back. It was too deep for him to see the bottom. The walking room they had was fading rapidly.
"If we don't leave right now, we won't leave at all!" Edgar said, reaching out for Caitlyn.
In a moment of clarity, she nodded and grabbed his hand. They slid along the icy wall together, using each other for balance. The glacier's shaking was so violent that Caitlyn had to stop walking to avoid falling into the expanding crack. As they turned a difficult corner, a beam of sunlight greeted them.
"Keep moving! We're almost out. I can see light from our exit!" Edgar said.
Caitlyn nodded, her mouth firmly closed. She was worried that if she opened it, she would be sick again. Edgar held out his hand to her.
As soon as Caitlyn grasped Edgar's hand, a chunk of ice came sliding down the wall and slammed into Edgar. He grunted and was launched forward off the ledge. Caitlyn gasped as it ripped him from her grip, sending him plummeting into the glacier's depths. Her stomach dropped as the impact almost pulled her down with him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she said, struggling to maintain her balance and reaching desperately for anything to keep her from following Edgar into the darkness.
After a brief moment of waving her arms around as if she were trying to fly, she was able to even out her weight and balance herself.
"Okay, just breathe. You're okay," Caitlyn told herself, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "Just stay steady."
Caitlyn took a step, and her ankle gave out. She tried to lean her fall away from the crack, but only succeeded in smacking her right knee hard against the icy edge.
Caitlyn screamed as she began sliding down into the crack. With her last desperate grab, she caught the edge and stopped her descent. Her gloves were designed for extra grip, but she could feel her hands beginning to slide off the ledge.
"Edgar?!" she called out into the darkness below. As expected, only the echo replied. She had a flashlight stuffed inside her coat, but even with two free hands, it wouldn't help much. "Please, God, oh please, please, please. Don't let this be how it ends. Please."
One hand slid off, leaving her hanging by her fingertips.
"Help!" she yelled, knowing no one was close enough to hear her cries. "Please, anyone or anything, help! I'll do anything!"
Caitlyn looked down at her potential fall. She knew it was just a matter of time before she would join Edgar below. She noticed that the ice seemed to curve as it descended. She could slide down the side, and it was unlikely, but if the ice curved at the end and straightened out instead of dropping to a flat bottom, then she might survive. She could not see how far down she was about to go, but she had no choice.
"Ah, hell. Damn it. Okay, here we go," Caitlyn said, turning to slide on her back. She took a calming breath, then let go, beginning her rapid descent into the darkness.