He walked along the edge of the iceberg, scanning the horizon with desperate eyes, hoping against hope that the boat would reappear, that he would see Mallory and Jacob waving at him from a distance. But the hours dragged on, and the landscape remained unchanging.
The boat was nowhere to be seen. His legs grew heavy, each step becoming harder than the last as the bitter cold sapped his strength. The sun dipped closer to the horizon, casting long shadows across the ice.