After taking out another flashlight for Brian and turning that one on, Zena led him to the dark back of the cave. “It looks like there’s a path back here,” she mentioned.

The two of them started walking together into the dark, shining their flashlights ahead of them. Brian could tell Zena was afraid as well as cold, because the circle of light emitted by her flashlight was trembling.

When they had been walking for a couple of hours, Zena and Brian decided to stop and rest, and maybe eat something. According to Zena’s watch, it was 8:00 pm at home right now. Since they were in the same time zone, it was also eight in the cave, which all totaled to one conclusion: she was hungry and exhausted.

Brian seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he was taking out the granola bars. He unwrapped one and broke it in half, and then he offered the other half to Zena. They happily ate and when they were done, set up a place to sleep.

Both Brian and Zena had brought their own sleeping bags, so they rolled them out and then crawled into them, enjoying the insulation. It felt good to finally be warm after so much cold.

The next morning (or what felt like morning, because it was still dark in the tunnel), the couple awoke to find their site undisturbed. They began their trek again, but this time stopped a lot earlier to eat their “breakfast.” This time, they accompanied the bar with some coffee they made on their portable mini gas stove. After heating a chunk of ice into water and then boiling the water, they added a small scoop of instant coffee. Soon they had a simple but warm drink.

Their day went on like that until lunch, when they had a very similar meal, except they decided to drink tea instead of coffee. Zena had also brought a couple of tea bags.

However, as they continued to hike into the late afternoon, the tunnel seemed to brighten a little and sunlight started to filter in through the roof.

“Wow, look at that!” Zena sang. “We must be closer to the surface… maybe there’s even an exit up ahead!” She started running forward on the ice.

“Be careful, Z!” Brian called after her. “The ice is slippery and these crampons have to be used cautiously.”

“Okay!” she shouted back, slowing down slightly but not dampening her enthusiasm.

Could this be it? Could they finally be safe?