"No, the living come first," Mikhail soften my guilt, "to know how he died is a huge weight lifted. I had nightmares of leaving him to freeze or starve to death."

"I don't think he knew what happened," I added, "I don't think he suffered." The hacked up face returned to my mind again. No, no one lived for more than a second after a trauma like that. Mikhail gave me a fatherly smile.

"Would you return and show me where he's buried?" Mikhail asked. My first thought was absolutely not. I shoved it aside and considered his pain. I knew I wouldn't want to leave my family member to...