Page 28 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

“Help.”

Gwen grabbed Sawyer’s coat. “Did you hear that?”

“Brent?” they called out together.

“Help me.”

They stopped dead in their tracks and listened intently.

“Help me.”

Sawyer and Gwen turned toward the sound and cautiously walked toward it. His heart pounded as he heard the call again, this time a little louder.

They slowly approached the edge of a small ravine. Brent was huddling at the bottom, about twenty feet down, covered in snow.

Gwen blew loud, long, and hard on her whistle as Sawyer unzipped the backpack, remembering that he had seen some parachute cord among the supplies.

Sawyer tied it around a nearby tree and pulled on it, making sure the knot would hold his weight.

“I’m going down. Be ready to pull him back up.”

Gwen nodded and bit her bottom lip.

Sawyer kissed her cheek and said, “He’ll be fine.”

He started lowering himself down the steep side of the ravine. The icy-packed snow made his boots slip a couple of times. It was obvious why Brent hadn’t been able to climb out. There wasn’t any place to dig in with his fingers or boots.

He finally made it to the bottom. Brent was looking at him, wide-eyed. He was shaking, his teeth were chatting, his face was grey, and his lips were turning blue.

“I-I fell. I-I-I couldn’t g-get b-back up,” he stammered.

Sawyer crouched around him. “Are you hurt?”

“I-I don’t think s-so. I-I can walk and m-move everything. I-I didn’t hit my head. My f-foot slipped and I s-slid all the way down here,” Brent managed to get out.

Sawyer was worried. He could see that Brent was suffering from the onset of hypothermia. He quickly untied the rope from around his waist and looped it around Brent’s waist and under his arms.

“I need you to hold on tight to the rope. Use your feet to push yourself up when you can, because it’s going to be hard for Gwen to pull you up, even though she’s strong and you aren’t heavy.

He nodded.

“Gwen, pull.”

Sawyer pushed the boy up as far as he could and then watched as he made steady progress up the ravine side. He winced a couple of times when Brent’s foot slipped and heseemed to slide a little. Finally, though, Brent made it over the top.

The rope came flying back down toward him. Sawyer wrapped the rope around his waist and grabbed hold of it with both hands. Gwen pulled on the other end, helping him get to the top.

When he got to the top Gwen ran over to her brother and cradled him in her arms. Sawyer pulled one of the thermal blankets out of the pack and wrapped it around Brent. He activated a couple of the chemical hand and foot warmers and tucked them into the blanket.

“He’s going into hypothermia. We have to get back to the lodge as fast as possible.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Gwen asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“He will be as long as we can get him back to the lodge and get him warmed up. You’re going to have to hold both flashlights. Make sure the light is shining in my path so I can see where I’m walking.”

The snow was starting to fall faster. Sawyer groaned. It was going to make the trek back that much harder. He scooped Brent up in his arms and they headed back to the lodge. Eventually, Brent’s shivering slowed a little but his lips were still blue and he was dangerously cold.

The snow was like tiny blades of ice as it hit their face. It was getting harder and harder to put one foot in front of the other. After the first half hour, Brent’s eighty pounds was starting to feel more like two hundred pounds. His arms ached and after a while, Sawyer’s complete focus was making sure he didn’t drop the boy.

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