text: Soon after setting off Dutch Charley Burger and young William Murphy return, having decided they cannot keep up with the Snowshoe Party. Reed Teamster Milt Elliott returns from a visit to Alder Creek with the terrible news that Jacob Donner, Samuel Shoemaker, Joseph Reinhardt and James Smith have all died. Dutch Charley, a chubby individual is the next one: weakening steadily he dies in Louis Keseberg’s lean-to soon after his return. You are all suffering now.
  
  
  The cold is permeating every part of you. Every moment of every day you are hungry and at night the cold numbs your body. It is like being on fire and unable to put it out, one night it is worse than ever and you find all you want to do is give in, to walk out into the howling snow and die rather than go on suffering like this. Your companions are mere skeletons of themselves and despair is etched on every face.
  
  
  What do you do?
  
  
   
  > You continue suffering
  The New Year brings no fresh joys with it. Those in the cabins around Truckee Lake remain cold and starving and those at Alder Creek are little better off. After the initial wave of six deaths people are adjusting to the terrible conditions but that doesn’t make it any easier. The babies and young children cry continually and it is hellish for the adults. You have heard nothing of the Snowshoes Party and have no idea if any of them have made it to civilization. Things continue to worsen and near the end of January Louis Keseberg’s infant son, also called Louis, dies in the Murphy Cabin. Keseberg is grief-stricken and one night he stumbles into your cabin with his dead baby in his arms and asks you to help bury him in the snow.
  
  
  What do you do?
  
  
   
  > You help Louis bury his son
  You stumble out into the snow with Louis and scrabble around in the snow trying to dig a shallow grave. The infant is finally laid to rest but when you return to your cabin you find you cannot see. The world is darkness. Lying down makes it better and during the night you slip away.
  
  
   