They walked in silence for a few minutes before Randi spoke again. “Why does something like this happen every time we see each other? I’m starting to think we should each pick a hemisphere and stay there.”

“Probably not a bad idea.”

The foliage started to encroach on the edge of the stream and Kyong was no longer visible ahead. He wasn’t hard to track, though. His thrashing would be audible for hundreds of meters in every direction and his trail of broken branches and muddy footprints would damn near be visible from space. Worse, though, was that Smith had underestimated the drop in temperature when the sun dipped below the horizon. Kyong would stay warm as long as he could keep moving but his trail was starting to wander. It was doubtful that they had much more than an hour before he collapsed from exhaustion.

Smith passed Randi and came up behind the man, watching him with admiration. He might not be fit, but he could sure as hell suffer.

A few hundred meters ahead, a cliff rose above the foliage and the area around the base looked relatively flat and dry. The glow of the sunset was still powerful enough to illuminate the fog of Kyong’s breath, but it wouldn’t be long before the unfamiliar terrain would become too dangerous even for Randi and himself.

He glanced back at her. “Dig in up there?”

“Looks good.”

When they arrived in the tiny clearing, Randi took off her jacket and held it out to the Korean.

He shook his head. “It’s yours. I’m fine.”

Randi smiled and pointed to a natural furrow slanting northwest. “Don’t be too hasty. I need you to do something for me. Walk up that for about fifteen minutes and then turn around and come back. Don’t step out of the groove, though. You’ll get lost.”

He looked scared but, to his credit, just took the jacket and set out.

They watched him for a moment and then began gathering sticks and leaves, piling them next to the tangle of bushes and vines growing along the base of the cliff. When they had a reasonable supply, Smith began constructing a small lean-to—less than a meter high and barely wide enough to accommodate the three of them. With the frame finished, he covered the outside with dirt and leaves, then crisscrossed it with the vines growing around it. Randi weaved together a makeshift hatch out of the same materials while he finished up by stuffing the interior with grass and moss.

“What do you think?” Smith said, standing and dusting himself off.

“I’d probably walk by it. Particularly once it gets completely dark.”

They heard Kyong’s stumbling footfalls coming from above and Smith jogged over to help the exhausted Korean down a steep section of rock.