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You have mixed feelings about Zhu, and after all the day's exertions, you just want to sleep. Best to keep him at a distance for now.

Without saying a word to Zhu, you crawl into your sleeping bag. Within minutes, you are fast asleep.

Next

You awake aching and poorly rested, the milky dawn seeping under the flaps of your tent and through the thick canvas. You have been disturbed by an anguished scream—mixed anger, pain, and frustration. Blinking the sleep from your eyes, you prop yourself up on your elbow and look around.

It's just you and Stevo in the tent. Stevo is inside his sleeping bag, shivering and gibbering to himself. Zhu is gone, outside no doubt.

You wrap up and crawl out of the tent to find out what's going on, and you immediately see the problem. Zhu is standing a few paces outside your tent, head clutched in his hands. The other tent is nowhere to be seen. Nor are the yaks. The guides have abandoned you and taken the animals and almost all of your supplies. The overnight snow has obliterated any of the tracks they may have left behind.

Now it's just you, Zhu, and Stevo, with insufficient supplies, trapped in the high pass in a blizzard which shows no signs of abating. The only trace the guides have left behind is the corpse of Sangpo; his glassy eyes stare up accusingly at the man who killed him.

Next