第2章

I sat in the supply shed and poured myself a cup of hot water.

My phone screen was lit up, and the company group chat was scrolling by faster than I could read.

That was because they had not been gone long enough to get deep into Wildman Gorge.

The one phone nobody had collected, the one in Shaw's hand, still had a signal.

He was sending a steady stream of photos and short videos to the chat.

In one video, Greg and Tessa were posing in victory with their trekking poles on a dry riverbed.

Shaw narrated at full volume.

"Take a look, everybody. This is the dangerous area Nora was talking about. There isn't a drop of water in it!

"This is what killer instinct looks like in our sales department. If you've got the guts, there's no obstacle you can't get over!"

Coworkers from the other departments piled in with rows of thumbs-up and applause stickers.

Gerald Pike, the owner of the company, who never posted in the chat, finally spoke up.

"Mr. Shaw is leading that group the right way. This is the spirit this company needs!

"Certain employees who back down and make excuses the moment things get hard will be writing a formal apology when they get back, and it will be read out to the entire company!"

Pike's words were a verdict on me, plain and simple.

I read the messages, said nothing, and quietly saved screenshots.

Walt, the old local guide, came over with his pipe in his teeth and glanced at the sky.

"You were right not to go with them, kid. That sky is about to drop out."

I nodded and pulled up the weather radar on my phone to show him.

On the radar, a harsh band of red and purple was moving fast toward Wildman Gorge.

"Walt, is there any high ground inside the gorge where they could get out of the rain?"

Walt sighed and shook his head.

"It's a dead canyon, narrow at both ends and wide in the middle. Back in the day, even the herb pickers wouldn't go in there on a gray morning.

"All it takes is one downpour upstream. Inside half an hour the water in there is waist deep, and there's nowhere to run."

I took a screenshot of the severe storm warning the weather service had issued and posted it to the company group chat.

And I tagged Shaw and Pike.

"The weather service has issued a warning. Heavy rain is about to hit Wildman Gorge. Turn the group around and come back the way you came, right now."

The message had barely gone through before a voice memo from Shaw popped up.

"Nora, do you ever quit? You believe a forecast? The sun is out and it's beautiful up here!

"Stop undermining morale in the chat. One more word out of you and you can go to HR tomorrow to process your resignation!"

Greg sent a few voice memos through Shaw's phone as well.

"Nora, is this because you can see we're about to hit the checkpoint and take the prize? Jealous?"

"Right. She won't put in the work herself, so she wants to drag everyone else down. It's disgusting."

Tessa chimed in right after.

I looked at the words of people blinded by money and turned off notifications for the group chat.

I opened the first aid kit I carry with me and did a quick inventory of the bandages, clotting agents, and emergency blankets inside.

As a volunteer rescue worker, my responsibility was to save lives, not to answer for other people's stupidity.

I walked outside the shed. The far peaks had been swallowed whole by a gray ceiling of cloud with no bottom to it.

That is what it looks like right before the sky opens.