"Shh," Jax says as he backs from the window. "We don't want to spook them."

He grabs his discarded jeans from the floor, pulls them on, and then puts on his shirt as I watch, confused.

We don't want to scare them off?

"What do you mean? They're outside our cabin," I whisper back urgently.

"The rifles are both still loaded, and so is my small Glock," he says quietly and way too calmly. "Can you carefully and quietly set them on the table and make sure the safeties are off?"

He's pulling a sweater on now over his teeshirt, and my eyes widen in horror.

"You're not going out there after them," I whisper shout.

"Listen to me." He steps into my space, touching my shoulders and leaning closer. "This is the best chance we'll get to eliminate this threat. They are unaware of us. I know you're scared, but we won't get another shot like this."

"I get it," I say as I gulp back my fears.

"I need a second to figure out how to do this so we don't waste this chance. I think...." he trails off as he contemplates. "We stay quiet for now— let them get into the smoker."

Even as he says this, I hear a growl and louder scratching from outside.

"But all that fish-" 

"Is worth losing if we can get the wolves, Sam. If they start eating, they'll be all the more distracted."

"That's true," I murmur. Could we really get rid of this enormous threat right now? It would be such a game-changer for us.

He steps into his boots and then moves back towards the window. A loud, splitting sound makes me jump. I remember my task and start gathering the rifles. My heart is thundering so loud I'm sure the wolves can hear it.

I'm also shivering, and I'm not sure if it's fear or because I'm still in my underwear. Either way, I hurriedly head to the bed and grab my clothes. Jax is standing stark still, looking out the window as he waits and thinks.

"They've almost got it down," Jax whispers as he backs up again, and turns to look at me. "Here's what we do. We wait until it's knocked down, and they're distracted with eating the fish. I'm going to the door. You're going to the window. Are you with me so far? I know you're scared, but trust me, okay?"

I gulp as I nod. "I'm with you."

"Good. So you should easily be able to shoot one from the window while it's distracted. That shot will make the other two run. I want them to run towards me, so I am going to open the door the moment you shoot, so they look at me, and then I'll step out and start shooting." He picks up his small handgun. The one that was once pointed at my face...seems like so long ago now.

"Can't you stay in the doorway?" I beg.

"I can't miss them. I need to step out, but I'll be careful, baby. I should be able to shoot them both before they even get close to me, but I'll stay close enough to the door that I can get away if I need to. You can keep shooting from the window, too, if need be."

"Okay," I agree, trying and, I'm sure, failing to sound confident.

"We're going to be alright, Sam. We got this."

That's a lie. We're talking about three wolves; he can't know that. I should have never asked him to lie about us being okay because now he thinks he always can.

I make my way to the window, gripping my rifle. When I look out, it's terrifying to see them so close. They are thin. I can see their ribs, but they are still so deathly looking. The smoker is on the ground, and I see it's split down the side. One of them growls while they all paw at it.

"As soon as they start eating, let me know. Then open the window and shoot," Jax directs from the doorway.

I keep my eyes peeled, as the biggest one flips it over, spilling out all the fish.

"Now!" I say and then open the window at the same time as Jax opens the door. My heart is racing in my ears, and I feel like I'm flying above my body as I aim and shoot right at the biggest one. It makes a noise and goes right down.

The one beside it looks up and growls at me while the other runs off. I'm frozen in fear for a very brief moment. Everything stops as I stand in the open window while the wolf stares menacingly at me baring it's fangs. 

It starts to dash towards the window, pulling me out of my stupor. I don't hesitate to shoot, hitting it right in the face. It makes the worst sound I've ever heard and then goes down.

"Oh god..." I start shaking as the room spins around me.

"Sam!" I hear Jax's voice, but it sounds like it's in a tunnel.

"You're okay, you're okay," Jax whispers into my ear, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "It's all over now. You got it. We got them all."

I hear his words, but they aren't registering. My heart is still pounding so hard, and my vision is all blurry. I realize then it's because my eyes are all teary. When did I start crying?

"I got you. Let it out, let it all out." I bury my face in his shoulder as he strokes my hair and continues to whisper comforting words. Finally, the fog starts to lift, and I pull back and look at him as he brushes the tears away from my cheeks.

"You're okay, baby. I'm so sorry. I should've left you out of the plan. I didn't know it'd lunge at you. I thought they'd both run to me. I was chasing the one because I didn't kill it on the first shot, and then I heard you scream and– are you okay?"

"I... think so. You got the other one too?" I whisper.

"I did... we're safe. We got them all."

I wipe the tears from my eyes and take a few shaky breaths.

"I'm so sorry," he looks at me worriedly. "I shouldn't have involved you in this plan. It was too much.."

"No, don't do that. You needed me, and I'm okay, but I need to see the bodies to shake off the rest of this fear."

"Come on," he says, taking my hand and leading me outside, stopping at the door to let me step into my boots.

"Oh my–" I gasp.

It's a blood bath out here. There's one wolf near the path to the woods, and it left a massive blood trail through the snow. Another is lying in a puddle of blood by the smoker that is growing larger as we stand here. The last one is closer to the cabin, and because of where I shot it, it's a terrible mess. I have to look away from how bad it left him as a tremendous amount of guilt washes over me.

"It was them or us. At one point, we would have run into them, and if it was when we were out hunting, unaware and starving..." He leaves it unsaid, not needing to finish that.

"I know." Even dead like this, there's something so terrifying about them that even though I do feel remorseful, I'm more relieved than anything.

I step closer to the two wolves and then frown at my smoker which is in pieces on the ground.  The smoked fish they didn't eat is all lying in the ground, too, but I'm sure none of it's good anymore.

"You feeling any better?" Jax's gaze washes over me as he puts his arm around me and pulls me closer.

"Yeah... I think so," I lean into his comforting touch. "But the smoker is shot, and we lost all that fish."

"Sam... do you see this," he motions to the ground where the wolves are lying. "We have at least two hundred pounds of meat here."

"Oh, right, I didn't realize we could eat them," I say; it feels weird because it's not an animal we'd normally ever eat, but meat is meat out here. 

"Not just them... We can cross the creek and get all that food, too."

"We can cross!" I exclaim as it all finally hits me. We eliminated the threat, and there's food, tools, and, most importantly, food over there!

I am so overwhelmed with emotion that I turn and throw my arms around his neck. He lifts me and swings me around, hugging me right.

***

"We're finally here!" I declare as we finally step foot on the other side of the creek.

It's early again, but today, we popped out of bed in a hurry to get to the other side of the creek.

As bad as we wanted to come over here yesterday, we knew walking the icy creek in the dark would be a bad idea. It also allowed us the evening to process the three wolves. That took a long time.

We want to make bone stews from all that meat, so we had to make a new box. Luckily, we had all the wood from the broken smoker to use. We're nervous something might get into it again, so until we find supplies to secure it better, we have it in the outhouse and have the door barricaded. It's not an ideal solution, but it just has to work for this one day. The box is closed up tight, and we haven't been using the outhouse by the creek cabin, but still, I hate the idea of food in there, of all places. The sooner we get it back home and on our roof, the better we'll both feel. 

We start walking towards the clearing where the cabins are. There's so much snow that huge drifts are everywhere and there are very few game trails to walk on.

"Not much for animal tracks on this side," I comment. 

"I think most of the deer cross over when it freezes. It's harder for them to get the water hole on this side," Jax explains.

We stop outside all the cabins, where we set the boat and sled down. We're hoping to fill them both with food and supplies. It feels like going shopping or something, and it makes me all giddy and excited.

Jackson looks at the cabin he once stayed at, and I see the flicker of pain in his eyes.

"Why don't I go through that cabin while you start on the others?" I suggest. 

"You don't want to be in there with the bodies..."

"No, but better me than you," I say firmly. "I got this, Jax." 

"You sure...?"

"Yes. I am. Don't worry about it. I'm going to focus on what to grab and not what's in that room."

"There's going to be clothes in that room that Ang had here. You might want to grab those, but if you can't handle it—"

"I'll handle it," I assure him. The appeal of new clothes to wear is too big to ignore.

"I hate that they're just left like that..." Jax says quietly. "Maybe we could bury the remains in spring when the ground is soft again. It'll be hard, but I'll feel better about that than how they are now."

"We'll do it together." I reach over and squeeze his shoulder.

"You're perfect. I tell you that yet?"

"Stop," I brush it off with a soft smile. "Let's get to scavenging."

"Meet you back out here," he says, ducking off into one of the cabins.

I inhale and exhale a nervous breath and then step onto Jax's old cabin. I go straight to the kitchen area first, intending to avoid that room for as long as possible.

When I open the first cabinet, I nearly tear up at all the food inside. It's full of cans, soups, and vegetables, like corn and beans. I start pulling them down and tossing them in a bag.

"Spaghetti-os!" I cry out excitedly when I find a bunch of those and several of the beef raviolis as well. This is going to be dinner tonight!

I even find two full and unopened jars of vegetable oil! There's the fat we so badly need right now.

"This is amazing, but poor Jax knew all this food was here and couldn't get to it all this time."

I can't even imagine how torturous that was.

The following two cabinets are already open, probably from when Jax ran back here that one winter. There was a bag of flour and sugar, but they're all torn up and gone. The mice poop everywhere tells me what happened in here. I do see a bottle of whiskey toward the back, so I grab that.

The cabinet after that is mostly emptied. I grab the few jars and pans that are in there. I'm also excited to find a small stack of plastic plates and bowls and grab those, too.

"What a haul," I say as I look at the stacked backpack.

I leave the kitchen and head to the two back bedrooms. I start in what must have been Jax's room. It's small but cozy. There's a twin bed, a dresser, and even a small built-in closet.

These cabins are much bigger and better equipped for long-term living than ours. I don't think Jackson would be willing to move over here, though. It would be too close to those terrible memories. I won't mention it. We need to make it to summer, and we're out of here anyway.

I find a handful of old textbooks and a stack of books with crossword puzzles and stuff and grab all that, too. The rest of his stuff seems to be cleared out, mostly.

So the only room left now...

I walk in and as hard as I try not to look at the floor, my eyes go directly to the bloody clothes and bones anyway. When I see a skull near the bed, I clamp a hand over my mouth to stifle the sob that escapes me.

Thank God we got the wolves before this happened to us, too...

I shudder and pull my eyes away as I hurriedly head to the closet. There are stacks of clothes folded up in little built-in cubbies. One side is all women's clothes. They are smaller than I used to wear, but they'll probably fit me fine now. I notice a few duffel bags on the floor near the closet. I grab the first one and start shoving all the female clothes I can find into it. I also find several boxes of tampons stacked up behind her clothes and pack those up too. 

I glance at the other stacks of men's clothes. Would Jax want them, or would wearing Carl's old stuff mess with his head?

 I'll take them, I decide. If he doesn't want them, we'll bring them back or something. I grab the other duffel bag, and as I lift it, I feel something inside already. Curious, I open it and find a smaller bag inside.

I unzip that to find some razors, soap, a comb, and ...

"No way!"

A box of condoms! 

I stand there holding it in awe and shock. My face starts heating up as I think about our sexy makeout sessions and how we always have to be so careful that we don't go too far. Not anymore... I'm nervous and excited as I toss it in the bag. It's a big box too! I wonder if that's the only one? 

I look through the little cubby for more as I shove some clothes into the bag. In my haste, I knock over a stack of towels. I lean down to get them, trying not to look at the bones on the floor as I do.

Something catches my eye from under the bed, it looks like a shoebox. I'll need to move the skull to reach it, but that idea sends a chill down my spine.

"Sam!! You're not going to believe this!" Jax calls from outside. I stand up quickly, relieved by the distraction. We can check what's under here when we return in the spring since we're coming back to bury them anyway. 

I grab both bags and happily escape that death-ridden room. On my way out, I also grab our huge bag of food.

I find Jax outside one of the cabins, pushing a chest freezer out with him!

"A freezer?" I rush over to meet him. 

"If we keep this outside, we can keep meat in it. It'll stay cold if we pack it with snow, and no animal is getting into this."

"This is amazing," I breathe out in awe.

"More than you even know." He flips it open. "Look inside."

"Whoa!" The freezer is stacked with dry foods. There is a huge bag of rice, a sack of beans, and several boxes. I pick one up to see it has instant potato flakes in it, and then another that has instant milk. There are also several boxes of malt-o-meal. Under those, there is a crate with corn syrup, vinegar, salt, sugar, corn starch, baking soda, and even a box of powdered cocoa.

"Do you think this is all still good?" I ask. "It could be years old. How do we know?"

"I think most of it should be," Jax says, looking as bewildered as me. "It was closed up in here, no air, and nothing is opened. But we'll have to check out everything carefully before using  anything."

"This is unbelievable. Your old cabin had so many canned items, too."

"I feel like I'm dreaming," he says as he looks inside. "This was in the kitchen, piled with old newspapers, bullet boxes, and other random junk. At first glance, I thought it was just a countertop, but then I got this feeling about it." 

"It is so big inside," I mumble as I examine the space inside. "We can fit the wolf meat and then some in here."

"We'll need to keep the root vegetables in here, too. So they stay frozen. Those will go bad as soon as they start to thaw, so we have to eat them before spring, and any meat we still have in the freezer, too." 

To think we have so much food now we have to balance what to eat first!

"Should we dig those up now?" I ask as I glance toward the huge snow drift that covers the garden.

"I found a few shovels and stuff in that cabin. I'll work on that while you go through the rest of the cabins."

"Yes, please," I agree eagerly. Scavenging is so fun after all this time with so little. 

"Talk about a great day, sweet Sam," Jax says with a grin that lights up his whole face. "Christmas came early."

"It sure did," I say with a soft smile as I glance up toward the sky and say a silent thank you.

It's not a lie anymore. We are going to be okay.  

**Only three chapters left!! Starting the next soon!  Thanks for coming along on this journey with Sammy.

There is going to be a sequel too!