Life was hard out on the road; it had been five months since the farm had been overrun and the group was constantly moving. It was hard to believe but over the five months they had barely travelled twenty miles, a paltry distance that would have barely taken an hour to travel in back when the world wasn't crazy. They were just ten now; having lost Dale, Shane, Patricia and Jimmy all within a few short days. Ten tired and hungry people living out of their two cars that would, in a few short months total eleven.
A crisp autumn had slowly given way to a damp chilly winter and Rick knew that constantly moving along the road and never spending more than a night or two in the same place was not good for Lori or the baby she was carrying. The Grimes couple had hardly been speaking ever since the first night on the road, when Rick had revealed the truth behind Shane's death.
'I killed my best friend for you people!"
It was now Carol that Lori turned to when she needed a shoulder to cry on; or just to talk too, she would have used Carol like a hot water bottle to snuggle up to but Carol always ran cold unlike T-Dog and Daryl who would radiate heat like a human furnace.
The group had been grateful for the shelter anyway as they were in desperate need of respite from the sudden ice storm that had appeared out of nowhere. One moment it was a typically gloomy wet day and the next it was pelting ice pellets. Rick had nearly lost control of the red suburban as he skidded on the slick road and signalled for Maggie to pull over. He'd been frozen through as he ran to the other car and advised her that the driving conditions were too dangerous to continue on.
"It looks like there is a cabin up ahead; could be a ranger station or an old trading post. It's pretty dilapidated but it has four walls and a floor which makes it our best shot. Follow me, and be careful."
"Okay, Rick." Maggie said as she rolled up the window again; shivering as she felt the icy pellets melt against her neck. They had only been talking through the window for less than a minute and yet she had felt the icy blast as if they had been outside for hours.
She followed Rick slowly as he rolled the suburban along the road until they came to the cabin. Daryl slid his poncho over his head and hefted his crossbow over his arms ready to scout the cabin for any previous tenants that could be waiting for their next meal to walk through the door. Rick pulled his sheepskin jacket collar closer to his neck and together the two men checked the cabin over, inside and out for possible Walkers.
"Ain't nuthin' but four flimsy walls and a concrete floor; it'll keep the ice out but not the cold. No stove, no seats; nuthin' on the shelves 'cept some old newspapers." Daryl stood in the middle of the small structure and surveyed the room.
"So not a hunting cabin, then?" Rick questioned and the other man snorted.
"Probably nuthin' but a tradin' post for the tourists. Newspapers date back a couple years; musta cleaned the place out when it went belly up. Ya can see where they pulled the fittin's clean outta the walls. Might have been some shelvin' tacked up but nuthin' much else."
"Okay." Rick sighed heavily as he rotated his stiff neck, "It isn't much but it will have to do for now. I'll go tell them all to come in."
"I'll take first watch," Daryl offered and twitched his poncho. "Don't think we'll get much Walker activity in this storm but I'll keep an eye out for an hour or so from the car."
"Okay. An hour then, no more."
Glenn, T-Dog and Carl had sunk to the floor almost as soon as the door was shut, falling asleep as soon as their eyes closed. T-Dog and Glenn had been on watch the previous night when they had been forced to sleep in the cars and were now beyond exhausted; Carl, being Carl could sleep anywhere.
Hershel sighed heavily as he eased himself down onto the cold concrete and gestured for his daughters to snuggle against him. Carol spread the two thin blankets that they had on the floor next to T-Dog and gestured for Lori to lie down.
"C'mon Lori, try and get some rest. You must be exhausted and Carl said that T-Dog kicks out enough body heat to melt an igloo."
"I'm not gonna argue with you Carol, it's too cold for that. What about you?" Lori manoeuvred her six month belly into a comfortable position and curled herself against T-Dog's broad back.
"I'm gonna try and plug some of the gaps in the walls with the newspaper that Daryl found on the shelf and then snuggle down in a corner; figured it would be warmer than sitting out in the middle of the wall." Carol smiled at the tired pregnant woman battling to keep her eyes open and patted her shoulder. "Go on, rest now."
Rick came back into the cabin just as Carol was tearing the newspapers into small strips; she turned at the blast of icy air and shivered in response. Rick carried a few of the bags in from the suburban and set them down in the corner.
"Brr! It's getting worse out there, I brought in the weapons and the little bit of tinned stuff that we had remaining; didn't want it to freeze in the car. Do I want to even know what you are doing with that newspaper? I thought we had plenty of toilet paper still."
"Newspaper is a great insulator. I'm going to use it to plug up a few of these holes and then spread a few layers down in the corner to stop the damp coming through the concrete. Lori has the only two blankets that we have; we really need to find more Rick otherwise we won't last the winter." Carol used the newspaper strips to fill in a hole where a knot in the wood had fallen out over time. "There, you can't feel the wind anymore. I think there's a couple more over there to be plugged and this cabin will soon feel a bit cosier." Carol held out a few of the strips and Rick reached up to place them where she indicated.
Carol then spread a few layers of the newspapers over the concrete floor in her chosen corner and grinned up at him.
"I'm glad they didn't read the scandal sheets…think of how thin those papers would have been!"
"Yeah, pity it couldn't have been the Times – those are broadsheet newspapers and we could have carpeted the whole cabin!" Rick grinned back and Carol passed him across a small bundle.
"Here take a few, make sure you layer them up; three or four papers thick should do it. Should I wake the others and get them to do the same?" Rick looked up from where he was laying his newspaper and shook his head.
"No, leave them. They deserve the rest, we'll save some in case anyone wakes up later." Carol nodded and left a pile of newspapers next to Hershel before sitting down in the furthest corner of the cabin from the door. Rick slumped next to her on his own mattress of newspaper and leant his head back against the wall.
"Get some rest, Rick. You've been driving all day and I can see from the way you've been arching your neck that you're sore and achy." Carol patted her knee and tugged on his shoulder. "Come on, I'm not sleepy yet; you can use me as a pillow for a while."
"Ordinarily I'd say no, but tonight I'm just too damned tired." Rick shuffled over and leant his head against Carol's legs. "Daryl should be in shortly… tell him that I've pulled most of the weapons from the cars and just left the emergency rations inside."
"Okay, Rick. Sleep now." Carol murmured softly and within moments heard his gentle snores. Despite her best intentions, Carol felt herself nodding off herself, lulled by the rhythm of the sleeping man's breathing and sliding deeper down the wall until she was prone on the floor with Rick's head resting against her stomach. She shivered in her sleep as the door opened again; letting a chill seep in the air. That chill was replaced by the feel of a warm woollen weight being placed over her shoulders, causing her to sigh with pleasure.
"Huh…thought ya hated being the big spoon?" Daryl felt a little put out that Carol had allowed Rick to rest against her, when he was the one that she usually chose to bed down with. He bent closer to tug the poncho higher over her shoulders and only then noticed the layers of newspapers crunching beneath his heels. He smirked as he realised that only Carol could have come up with something like that; none of the other's would have even thought of using the newspapers to line the floor. Carol stirred slightly and forced one eye open.
"Hey…" She murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes like a little girl waking from a too short nap.
"Hey, yerself…nice mattress ya put down. Got room fer one more?" He hitched a thumb over at the rest of the group. "Don't feel like bedding down like the rest of those puppies." Carol turned her head to see that Glenn had wriggled over so that his arms and legs were flopped over Hershel's lap; squashing poor Beth in between them, all so that he could hold onto Maggie's hand in his sleep.
"Sure, saved you the comic section." Carol held up the corner of the poncho so that Daryl could slide next to her, he rolled to his side so that the majority of the woollen material was spread across her. Daryl raised his arm so that Carol could slide underneath, and in the process knocked Rick's head to the floor. He was so deeply asleep that he didn't even notice.
"Now I'm the big spoon and yer the little spoon." Daryl's low voice rumbled against the back of her neck and Carol chuckled quietly.
"Nah, I'm still Rick's big spoon." As she had rolled over to her side, Rick's body had rolled as well following her warmth and he was now holding on to one edge of the poncho tightly. "But I have to admit, it's much warmer with the three of us; a Carol sandwich."
"You guys mind keepin' the smut level to a minimum? Some of us are tryin' to sleep over here." T-Dog's aggrieved voice floated out across the room and Carol felt Daryl chuckle against her back.
"Sorry, Dog…"
"Yeah, sure you are. Sounds mighty cosy over there."
"Yup, Carol laid out a nice warm mattress of newspapers and ya can hardly feel the chill from the concrete." Daryl smugly murmured and then wanted to bite back his words when the gangly form of Carl crept over to where the three of them were nestled together.
"Mind if I join you? My mom's sucking out all of T-Dog's heat and I'm pretty cold."
"Grab a couple of the newspapers and set them down over by your dad. He'll probably stay asleep if ya roll him over and nestle down between him and Carol." Daryl directed Carl gruffly; he could see the pinched look around the boy's face and knew that he was suffering. Carl did as Daryl suggested and soon was snuggled up with his back against Carol's front. She tugged a little more of the poncho material over to cover his shoulders and pulled him a little tighter against her.
"Thanks, Carol." Carl was grateful for the additional warmth seeping through the fabric and from Carol herself
"No problem, honey. Get some rest." Carol snuggled in against Daryl's arm and he rested his head on top of hers.
"Let's all get some shut eye, g'night."
"G'night, Pookie."
Carol woke up the next morning, feeling as though she had been sleeping in a sauna. She opened her eyes slowly and for a moment thought that she had grown an extra set of arms and legs. During the night, other cold members of the group had crept over to their cosy corner and had snuggled up to whomever was on the end. Finding no other spaces on the newspaper sheets, Beth and Maggie were spread across Carol and Carl's lap with Hershel and Glenn tucked up against Rick. Only Daryl had no one sleeping behind him, nobody would have wanted to make him feel uncomfortable so had left him on the end. T-Dog and Lori were still sleeping away from the main pile of bodies, but only because T-Dog was impervious to the cold and Lori had the blankets keeping her separated from the cold concrete.
Daryl twitched beside her and peered over at the slumbering bodies through slitted eyelashes.
"Huh, guess I really am the big spoon in this group, after all."