Hey guys i know this chapter is kind of harsh but listen, i wrote this entire chapter whilst one song played on repeat in my headphones. its called 'cold' by aqualung & lucy Schwartz. i felt that it gave the chapter the emotion it needed. id suggest you listen to it while you read.


The wind shifted. A harsh storm was heading towards Alexandria.

Carol looked out her window seeing frost cover the glass. "the crops wont last the night." maggie sat before her fear and loss covering her face.

The sky was dark. Rick stood in the street eyes to the sky. Michonne nearby doing the same. Others all throughout the town followed their movements. A flake fell landing on Carls nose. he looked up into the trees. Edin grabbed her things.

"its going to be bad... wed better get back."

"yeah" carl picked up his hat and slipped it on his head.

Father Gabriel Closed the curtains to his empty church slumping down. by morning all livestock on the outside would be diceased. He bowed his head in prayer.

Gabe himself looked out his window of his lonesome home. his eyes catching something flying to the ground. a single shard of ice smashed into the ground cracking cement. his jaw opened in concern. his eyes found more heading towards the ground. people began to flee to their homes. a man on the street running to his wife who stood in her doorway her five year old son at her ankles. the man made it to his yard before ice ran through his body. he hit the ground his blood flowing across the yard and immeadiatly freezing.

"Carl!" Rick shouted.

"rick come on!" Michonne shouted at him from her door.

He complied with fear on his face.

Several bodies hit the ground none of which Gabe could truely recognize. He heard shouting nearby.

Carl was yelling at Edin to quicken her step as he sheltered her as best he could.

"come on!" Gabe shouted from his door.

"go!" carl told her.

she ran in followed by him.

Gabe slammed the door.

"Will the fence hold up?" Edin Asked.

"doesnt matter... the dead will be walkers by morning." Gabe shrugged looking out his window once more.

"why are you here?" Carl asked.

"i came to retrieve some things i left and decided to stay." he responded softly.

The sky was darker then night its self. depression lingered throughout the town like an early twilight movie. pale being a common color in many a faces. the cold was peircing. many lives were gone. this storm would be the death of the entire town. no one knew how long it would last. no one expected it. it was as though death himself decided to fly down and take poor souls who lived simply for the sake of others. Gabe had half a mind to kiss the lips of the dark winged angel himself. he wondered if that would leave him forsaken.

"oh my god." whisper from the lips of the innocent. edin was horrifyed. she looked out at an injured child in the street. she belonged to the woman next door whos husband had met his fate. if nothing was done that woman would loose a child to raven of hell. her innocent cries and pleas for help filled Edins ears with determination. "i have to help her."

"Edin no!"

"i will..." she turned to him. "or die trying."

"Edin look at me." Gabe sighed. "would an innocent child be better off here in a sin filled world or in heaven where its safe?"

"her mother cant take much more..." Edin cried. "motherly instinct will most likely tell her to save her daughter... i dont want to have an orphan on my hands... that feeling hurts."

"think i dont know that..." Gabe scoffed. "your not the only one who is alone."

Screaming came from outside. the mother had done what Edin predicted.

"do you want that little boy to feel the way we do?"

Gabe did not respond. She ran. Carl lunged. gabe held him back.

"let her go... with any luck that little girl will make it to her brother..." Gabe assured.

"at what cost?"

Edin made it to the two struggleing survivors. she assisted the mother in lifting the child and carrying her to the door. Cries of pain filled the boys ears. Shame filled their heart. could they ever call themselves men.

An hour passed. the only sound from beyond the four walls that surrounded Carl and Gabe were the sounds of ice shattering against every surface it met. the air was painful. to breath stung the throat. fingers were purple faces were white. Fear, pain, and confusion went through Carls face. Gabe sat on the love seat looking at him. he felt the same sympathy the boy had for him just days before. Gabe then realized... if this boy hadnt found him... hed be out there right now dead. he stood up and walked over sitting down next to him. he wrapped a blanket around the two of them and held the boy to his chest. Carl must not have noticed because he kept the same facial expression. staring off into the distance. after a moment he began blinking rappidly and he looked up into the face of his new friend.

"why?"

"because you did the same for me..."

"i dont like feeling alone..."

"no one does... its a pain one cannot describe."

the snow began to fall around three in the afternoon and didnt stop. by nine it was so high one could not open their front door. the cold was so harsh that one would dread using the bathroom. the plumming was frozen, not to mention one would fear that their bodily liquids were frozen inside them. most likely it would hurt to let it out.

"rick?" michonne asked knocking on the bathroom door. "Are you alright?"

he wasnt... blood flowed from his bladder instead of urine. a pain he would be embearassed to utter.

Glen, in his home with his beloved wife maggie, stoked a fire as she sat on her couch. Carol and Daryl sitting at the bar wrapped withing their heaviest clothes.

"my stomach is hurting..." maggie whispered.

"i wish we could help." carol sighed.

ugene was still in the doctors office. he was resting agaisnt the back of a desk. as if he were hiding from the cold but to no avail. he had no form of clothing or blankets to protect him from the intense chill. he lie down and took his last breath.

Gabe himself was in pain. He looked up and nearly screamed at the sight of his brother.

"You killed me."

"im sorry..."

"for what?" asked Carl whos breathing was slowed to all but a stop.

"hang on... ill be right back" Gabe whispered following the figure portrayed as his brother.

"i could be protecting you." the blonde boy cried as he stood halfway up the staircase.

"i didnt want to kill you you made me."

the figure dissapeared at the top of the staircase.

"if wed have waited id be right here with you holding you fighting the cold." the figure said at the door of the bedroom gabe had chosen days ago.

the figure vanished.

Gabe entered the room to see it sitting on the bed.

"are you cold Gabe? join me.." he bit his lip.

Gabe nodded and crawled into the bed with him. PJ slipped his shirt off and Gabe watch it disolve in the cold air. the arms of the figure wrapped around Gabe and held him to its chest. Gabe felt his brothers warmth and immediately slipped into a deep sleep.

Moments later Carl appeared at the doorway blankets in hand seeing Gabe asleep on the bed. He laid down next to him wrapping them in the quilts and holding the boy close. he then slept. after about twenty minutes ice busted through the windows downstairs snow flowing into the living room. the boys however were sleeping so deep that they couldve been in the same room and not heard it.