Silence is the most terrifying sound after an explosion. The world seemed to stop spinning, leaving behind a hollow emptiness and a cold that began to crawl into the very pores of the skin.
Mateo Rossi choked on air that felt like shards of glass in his lungs. The last thing he remembered was the white wall of the glacier approaching as fast as a bullet, followed by a violent jolt that severed his consciousness from reality.
Mateo opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, swimming in the red glow of the dying emergency lights on the cockpit ceiling, which now tilted at a forty-five-degree angle. The stinging smell of aviation fuel mixed with the metallic scent of blood and the chill of snow that had begun to seep in through the shattered windshield.
"Elena..." he whispered, but the soun
