Chapter 13 — Mist Peak Rescue Team

"The terrain ahead is steeper, full of rocks stacked on top of each other," Vu A Tua said, stopping at the top of a jagged cliff, his voice more urgent than usual. "We need to tie a rope to connect the group. It's easy to separate in this fog."

Khanh Van nodded immediately, not wasting time arguing. "Uncle Tong brought the connecting wire with me. Kien, you connect behind me, Long connect behind Tua."

All four people quickly connected the rope to each other's belts with carabiners, forming a tight chain — if one person slipped, the other three could immediately hold them back, although at the cost of slower movement speed when having to coordinate their steps.

"Visibility is now only about eight meters," Kien said, looking around, his voice unable to hide the tension even though he tried to stay calm. "Miss Van, how far are we from Da Bat cave?"

"According to GPS, about two hundred meters," Khanh Van replied, her eyes glued to the screen of the small navigation device in her hand, the screen light faint in the dense fog surrounding her. "But with this terrain, it could take fifteen, twenty minutes to get there."

They continued to move, each step carefully calculated, Tua leading the way with his stick, occasionally stopping to check the direction using both instinct and the compass worn on his wrist. The wind began to blow stronger, gusting enough to make the whole group lean against it, and the cold was no longer just an unpleasant feeling but had become a real threat, creeping through each layer of clothing, touching the skin even though everyone was wearing enough thermal equipment.

"Stay close!" Khanh Van shouted loudly through the sound of the wind, when a sudden gust of wind made the entire link vibrate, reflexively pulling all four people closer together. "No one can arbitrarily go faster than the person in front!"

Kien, walking right behind her, braced himself to keep his balance on the slippery rock floor, one hand holding on to the link rope, the other hand leaning on a nearby rock block. "Miss Van, I see something in front of me — like new footprints!"

The group stopped for a moment, Tua bent down to check carefully, the small flashlight he had brought illuminated the wet ground. "That's right, the footprints are still quite clear, not erased much by rain or dew. They passed here not long ago."

The feeling of hope in Khanh Van's heart grew more and more, but she forced herself to keep a calm mind, not letting emotions overwhelm the necessary caution in these final steps - this was exactly the moment when it was easiest to make mistakes, when the destination was near but reason wanted to give way to haste.

“Continue, but keep the correct formation,” she said, her voice firm. "I'm almost there, it's not the time to be careless."

The wind became stronger and stronger, and the cold dew now began to mix with tiny hailstones, hitting the face and hands, a clear sign that the second weather front Dac Lam warned about was actually approaching faster than expected. Each person in the group felt the urgency growing with every gust of wind, but no one let it break the established team discipline.

"There's a narrow gap on the left!" Tua shouted through the sound of the wind, raising his hand to signal the group to stop. "It's not Da Bat cave, but it's close by. Let's go around."

The group turned in the direction he pointed, weaving between large rocks covered with damp moss, and just a few minutes later, a towering cliff appeared dimly in the mist - the base of the cliff had a darker, deeper space than the usual rock holes they had passed throughout the day.

"There!" Kien pointed, his voice cracking with excitement. "Is that the cave entrance?"

"Maybe." Khanh Van began to move faster, although still keeping the same rhythm with the link rope. Her heart was pounding, not just from exertion but from a mixed feeling of hope and fear — hope that this was where the three missing people were hiding, fear that they might have arrived too late.

The closer we got, the clearer the shape of that dark space became — truly a cave entrance, not large, but deep enough to form a natural shelter from most of the wind and mist from outside.

"Is there anyone in there?!" Khanh Van shouted loudly, her voice echoed through the cliff, cutting through the howling wind.

A short silence passed, long enough to make Khanh Van's heart stop beating.

Then, from the darkness of the cave, a weak but firm voice rang out, trembling with cold and emotion: "Here! We are here!"

"It's them!" Long shouted, and the whole group accelerated in unison, although the link forced them to keep the same pace, no one could rush forward alone.

Khanh Van felt a stream of adrenaline flow through her body, repelling both the cold and the fatigue that had accumulated all day long. She reached out and quickly unhooked the connecting rope as soon as she was close enough to the cave entrance, without waiting for the group to stop completely.

"I'm Khanh Van, Pu Nhu mountain rescue team!" she shouted into the darkness, her voice now filled with professional urgency, completely dismissing any lingering hesitation. "Is anyone seriously injured? Tell me now!"

From inside the cave, the figure of a man appeared, his gait staggered due to cold and exhaustion, but still trying to stand firm to come out to welcome the rescue team. It was Kieu Thanh Son, his face was haggard, his lips were purple, but his eyes lit up with a strong ray of hope when he saw the orange silhouettes of the rescue team emerging from the mist.

"My girlfriend," he said, his voice broken with tremors and choking. "She... she passed out a few minutes ago, I couldn't wake her up. Please, help her first."

That sentence was like a knife cutting through all the feelings of relief that had just arisen in Khanh Van's heart. She rushed straight into the cave, without any hesitation, Kien followed closely behind, both of them headed towards a figure lying motionless against the cliff in the darkest corner of the cave.

Long and Vu A Tua stayed near the cave entrance, quickly untethered the link and began retrieving basic medical equipment from their backpacks, prepared to follow any upcoming instructions. The flashlight from Long's hand shined deep into the cave, clearly illuminating the image of a teenager sitting huddled close to the cliff, eyes wide open looking at the group of people who had just appeared with an expression mixed between fear and extreme relief.

"She suddenly stopped waking up," Son continued, his voice cracking, following Khanh Van closely towards Bao Anh, his hands trembling, not knowing where to put them. "About ten minutes ago, she said she was dizzy, then... then she collapsed. I kept calling and got no response."

Khanh Van knelt down right next to Bao Anh, placed two fingers on her wrist to feel her pulse, and at the same time put her ear close to her mouth and nose to check her breathing - a series of movements she had performed countless times during training sessions, which now flowed out completely reflexively, without thinking.

“Still breathing, but weak and irregular,” she said quickly, her voice sharp with concentration. "The pulse... the pulse is also weak, irregular, sometimes it seems like it skips a beat."

Kien knelt down on the other side, his hand quickly took an insulated blanket from his backpack, and wrapped it around Bao Anh's body while Khanh Van continued to check. "Miss Van, do I carry a mini defibrillator in my main emergency bag?"

"Yes, but it's at Uyen Nhi's place." Khanh Van felt a cold run down her spine when she realized that shortage - the team's only doctor, with the most specialized medical equipment, was maybe forty minutes away, returning with the injured Bao Khang.

She reached for the walkie-talkie, her voice rang out urgently but still maintained the necessary clarity. "Heaven's Gate, this is Team A! All three people have been found in Da Doi cave! A female victim is unconscious, suspected to be related to heart disease, weak and irregular pulse, urgent medical advice is needed immediately!"

Outside the cave, the wind howled stronger by the minute, and the small hailstones were falling thicker now, pattering against the rocks as a reminder that the time they had left to get all three of them down the mountain safely was shrinking faster than anyone in the group had ever expected.

Nam, still sitting huddled close to the cliff, never taking his eyes off Bao Anh, his voice trembled as he asked, almost whispering: "Will she be okay, miss?"

Khanh Van looked up at him for a second, not wanting to lie but also not wanting to instill more fear in a boy who was exhausted both physically and mentally. "We'll do everything we can," she said, her voice just firm enough to be reassuring, just honest enough to not be an empty promise.