Chap­ter 1 opens with the pro­tag­o­nist, Mick­ey, find­ing him­self in com­plete dark­ness, dis­ori­ent­ed, and lying on a cold, unfor­giv­ing stone floor. The imme­di­ate sense of con­fu­sion grips him as he tries to recall how he end­ed up in such a dire sit­u­a­tion, but his mem­o­ry is frag­ment­ed, like shards of bro­ken glass. He only remem­bers cer­tain moments—being dropped off at a crevasse and notic­ing a rock for­ma­tion that struck him as curi­ous, even amus­ing, as it resem­bled a monkey’s head. This fleet­ing dis­trac­tion led to him los­ing his foot­ing and tum­bling into a hole, leav­ing him injured in more ways than one. His left wrist is swollen, and pain radi­ates through his body as he sur­veys his sur­round­ings, try­ing to make sense of where he is and how he can escape. In a des­per­ate attempt to find help, he checks his com­mu­ni­ca­tion device for a sig­nal, and to his relief, he man­ages to reach Berto. Berto con­firms that he had wit­nessed Mickey’s fall but also express­es his inabil­i­ty to assist him, cit­ing Mickey’s sta­tus as an Expendable—someone who can be replaced upon death. This cold real­i­ty hits Mick­ey hard, as it means no one will risk their lives for him, leav­ing him to face the con­se­quences alone.

The con­ver­sa­tion between Mick­ey and Berto, while briefly light­heart­ed, is tinged with a sense of dark humor. Mickey’s frus­tra­tion is pal­pa­ble as he lis­tens to Berto’s dis­mis­sive atti­tude, acknowl­edg­ing that he is, indeed, noth­ing more than an expend­able resource in the eyes of those in charge. As the pain from his wrist inten­si­fies, Mickey’s thoughts turn inward, and he begins to reflect on the cold­ness of his envi­ron­ment, where the real dan­ger is not just from phys­i­cal injury but from the freez­ing tem­per­a­tures that threat­en to end his life. He has often con­sid­ered the pos­si­bil­i­ty of dying in the harsh cold, and now, strand­ed in this des­o­late place, it feels like an inevitable fate. Mick­ey’s inter­nal mono­logue blends humor with dark­er themes, as he con­tem­plates his own mor­tal­i­ty and the lack of sig­nif­i­cance he feels in the eyes of oth­ers. His mus­ings about death become a med­i­ta­tion on life itself—what it means to be alive in a world where sur­vival is a con­stant strug­gle, and where one mis­step can lead to an untime­ly and uncer­e­mo­ni­ous end. His mind wan­ders, ques­tion­ing whether his life, which has been reduced to the role of an Expend­able, ever tru­ly had any mean­ing or if it was all just a series of mis­for­tunes lead­ing to this very moment.

Just as Mick­ey begins to accept the inevitable, a sur­pris­ing mes­sage from Nasha shakes him from his res­ig­na­tion. Nasha, who seems to hold a mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion to him, reveals that she is on her way to attempt a res­cue, giv­ing Mick­ey a fleet­ing sense of hope. This unex­pect­ed glim­mer of hope brings with it a rush of con­flict­ing emo­tions, from the relief of some­one will­ing to risk their life for his safe­ty to the fear of lead­ing Nasha into a sit­u­a­tion that could endan­ger her. Mick­ey allows him­self a brief moment of hope, but this hope is quick­ly over­shad­owed by the grim real­i­ty of his sit­u­a­tion. He real­izes that he is trapped too deep under­ground and that no res­cue attempt could suc­ceed with­out jeop­ar­diz­ing Nasha’s life. With a heavy heart, he urges her to turn back, under­stand­ing that her safe­ty must take prece­dence over his own. Mickey’s deci­sion to pri­or­i­tize Nasha’s well-being over his own sur­vival speaks vol­umes about his inner con­flict and his accep­tance of the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing his life.

The chap­ter reach­es a poignant turn­ing point as Mick­ey reflects on his impend­ing fate, resign­ing him­self to the fact that he will not sur­vive this fall. As he con­tem­plates the slow, inevitable death by freez­ing, he can­not escape the grav­i­ty of his sit­u­a­tion. Despite his resolve, a small part of him still holds onto the hope that some­thing might change. The real­iza­tion that Nasha’s deter­mi­na­tion to save him has reignit­ed a sense of hope with­in him brings a sense of emo­tion­al con­flict. It is the first time in a long while that Mick­ey feels some­thing oth­er than the cold, suf­fo­cat­ing despair that has defined his exis­tence up to this point. But as the cold sets in, and his phys­i­cal state dete­ri­o­rates fur­ther, Mick­ey knows the truth: he is too far gone, and Nasha’s pres­ence, as much as it has giv­en him hope, can­not save him now. The chap­ter ends on an unre­solved note, leav­ing the read­er with a sense of emo­tion­al ten­sion and uncer­tain­ty. Mickey’s final thoughts on the mat­ter hint at the com­pli­cat­ed emo­tion­al ter­rain he must nav­i­gate in the face of death, con­sid­er­ing how his poten­tial demise will affect those around him, espe­cial­ly Nasha. Her role in his final moments adds a bit­ter­sweet lay­er to the sto­ry, leav­ing read­ers eager to see how their rela­tion­ship will evolve as the nar­ra­tive unfolds. The chap­ter sets the stage for deep­er explo­ration of themes such as sur­vival, sac­ri­fice, and the emo­tion­al weight of fac­ing one’s mor­tal­i­ty alone.