Page 163 of The Heart of Winter

I swallowed, because this gave me new hope.

At a decent pace, I descended the gravel mound and moved toward the small ponds branching off from the main stream, though still connected. Not wanting to get wet, I took off my shoes and quickly tucked them under my arms.

Carefully, I tested the water with my foot, and it turned out to be lukewarm in some places, even warm in spots!

The ponds were surrounded by cattails, which made me happy, Uncle Victor once told me their roots could be eaten raw or boiled.

But that wasn’t all. I bent down because something slipped away from under my feet. Was it a small fish or maybe a shrimp? On the bottom, a little deeper, I saw some seaweed.

I looked around, stunned.

Was the temperature of the water creating a microclimate here?

The shock was overwhelming. I approached the second pond, waded into the shallow water, and stood on something. I bent down… Clams! My heart started racing.

Invigorated, I began wading through the marsh, and… holy shit! There were so many mussels here. I was stepping on them, guessing that the pond was occasionally filled by seawater during high tides. Waves must have brought the aquatic organisms here, where the warm water provided a stable living environment, and there were definitely more plankton and bacteria floating around in the water for them to feed on.

Feeling my heart pounding, I pulled up several mussels. I knew I could eat them without guilt because there were so many, even just in this one pond. So I swallowed a few on the spot. Gradually, I moved toward the others. Everywhere I looked, I saw mussels, and in some of the larger ponds, I even saw something resembling large shrimp. Some creatures quickly slipped away from under my feet, but after a moment, I caught two. In other ponds, and there were probably about twenty, I even saw small fish. My heart nearly burst with joy.

"Winter," I whispered, "Winter, we’re saved!"

I tied one corner of the blanket with the headphone cord, creating a sort of backpack, and loaded it with mussels. I also grabbed some shrimp and even managed to catch two small fish.

Wading, I was also intrigued by the green seaweed; I recognized it as being used in Asian cuisine. I took some and stuffed them into my bag, along with a few cattail roots.

I also examined the stream that fed the ponds.

It, too, had small organisms swirling in it, similar to shrimp. It was like fucking heaven! Why the fuck had we landed on the bad side of the island, when this was here the whole time, waiting!

With my heart racing, I moved a little further upstream and realized that this creek must also have originated from somewhere in a volcanic area, though probably a little farther from the volcano. Possibly, part of its water was also supplied by the melting snow from the volcano’s caldera, because it wasn’t as hot as the other one. The water was just warm.

Then I heard a croak above me and saw a flock of birds flying overhead, some of them settling on one of the cliffs.

For a moment, I wondered if, since there were birds here, they might be feeding on the aquatic life forms from these ponds.

I moved away from the stream and headed toward the cliff.

From one side, the approach to it was fairly gentle, so I decided to take the risk. Soon enough, my intuition proved right.

I spotted several nests, almost all were empty, except for a few that had eggs in them. My heart raced, perhaps some of these birds, taking advantage of the climatic anomaly here, had decided to lay their eggs early?

I had no idea, and I preferred not to delve into it. I reached for the eggs, knowing it would be a bit tricky to carry them back, so I cracked a few open and drank them down. Oh, it was such a wonderful feeling! I knew that eggs were very nourishing, full of fats. I carefully put as many as I could into my makeshift backpack, arranging them on clumps of seaweed, hoping that they wouldn’t get crushed.

I climbed a little higher because I noticed there were nests at the upper part of the cliff, too. A few birds flew off with the flapping of wings when they saw me.

Was I being greedy? Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed my luck, but those eggs were tempting.

So I climbed even higher and turned slightly toward the place where the snowy peak of the cliff ended. I had seen a few birds there earlier, and it was possible there were nests. I moved to the edge and peered down…

In that moment, I felt the ground slip away from beneath my feet.

I turned just in time to save my backpack from being crushed. I fell onto my stomach, but I started to slide. Desperately, I tried to grip the icy, rocky slope with my hands, but it was no use. I slid faster and faster, gaining speed. Finally, with all my strength, I managed to grab hold of a rock. I felt my legs dangling over the edge of the cliff.

I cursed. My fingers weren’t securely gripping anything, and I kicked my legs in desperation. Finally, I found a rocky ledge below me. I was able to stand on it, more or less steadily. I let out a breath, feeling waves of stress wash through my body. Luckily, my backpack had remained attached to my back the entire time, but it was also the reason I lost my balance in the first place, it had pulled me downward, causing me to lose my footing.

With my heart pounding, I remained there for a moment, pressed against the cliff wall. It was a small ledge, and only when I started to calm down a bit did I dare to look around. I nearly stopped breathing when I saw that I was on a large overhang. Below me, there was at least a seventy-five-foot drop. This wasn’t a height from which I could survive in one piece.

Moreover, there were jagged rocks below. The only option was to pull myself back up, but the place where I was had almost flat stones, forming a very steep wall. I tried to wedge my fingers into the cracks, but they were too narrow, and some of them were icy and slippery.

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