"Baby, you gotta get up."
Chloe smiled as she looked down at Beca who was snuggled tightly around a pillow. She was warm, comfortable and nothing could wake her up.
It was almost worrisome, when Chloe first couldn't wake her. Then Beca had let out a small sound of defiance when Chloe had started to shake her awake.
Now, she was just glad that Beca was comfortable enough to allow herself to fall so deeply into her most vulnerable state.
Chloe was fully aware that before she and Aubrey came along, Beca slept maybe three hours at the most every night. If that.
So to see her now, the dark circles under her eyes had gone away, she was refreshed, well rested and healthy. That is all Chloe could ask for.
However, it was nearly noon and Beca was still asleep. They were supposed to go hunting that morning, to have meat for the next trade, but Beca wouldn't wake up.
" M'Sleepy." She mumbled, burying her face further into her pillow and Chloe sighed sitting back.
"You are so lucky I love you." She said leaning over and leaving a soft kiss on her cheek before quietly leaving the room.
That is how she found standing in a foot of snow, thirty minutes later with Jesse and a shotgun.
"Thanks for coming, Jesse."
"No problem. I'm a terrible shot though."
She chuckled as she adjusted the old wool hat on her head so they covered her ears more.
"Yeah, Beca has told me." She laughed and Jesse shook his head, his cheeks tinged red.
"It's okay, I'm probably no better. But I don't want to show up to the next trade with nothing but fish and water."
He nodded. "It's still three days out, we have some time." He said.
She nodded. "And, Beca is the only one other than Stacie that can hunt, and I'd like to take some of that responsibility off of her. Stacie too." She said as they began walking through the snow into the woods.
"That's very kind of you. I know Beca will appreciate it."
They were quiet for the remainder of the walk, leaving the perimeter around their cabin and venturing into the woods.
Jesse kept his eyes peeled for tracks in the snow and Chloe lead them to the same tree Beca had shot the last deer from.
"It'll keep us out of the snow." She said as Jesse hoisted her up onto the lowest branch so she could climb up higher.
"Works for me," He huffed as he lifted himself up and followed after her.
Once they were situated, Chloe blew warm air into her hands and Jesse reached over pulling her jacket up further over her neck.
"Beca will kill me if I bring you back sick."
She smiled and looked down. "Thank you, Jess. You're a good guy."
He shook his head."Nah, just a decent human being." he laughed lightly and Chloe laughed as well as they settled in and waited for their next trade to walk by.
XXXXXX
An hour after they left, Aubrey looked up from where she was hanging some clothes to dry by the fire to see Beca walking in.
"Good afternoon sleeping beauty." She said and smirked at Becas disheveled confused look.
"Where's Chloe?" She asked, her voice thick with sleep.
Aubrey looked back to where she was shaking out a shirt. "She and Jesse went hunting. She didn't want to miss the trade and she couldn't get you up." She smiled, so Beca knew it wasn't a big deal.
"Jesse is with her?"
She nodded and watched a few different emotions flash across beca face before she relaxed. "Was she bundled up?"
She nodded. "Oh, yes. I made sure of it."
"Thank you. Sorry, I don't know why I slept so late. I just couldn't wake up." She said walking over and dropping down beside her to help her hang the clothes.
"It's okay, obviously you needed it. Don't let Chloe fool you, I once had to flip her mattress off her bed to get her up for class."
Beca laughed. "She was in it?"
"At first." Aubrey laughed. "Then she was under it."
Beca laughed again and turned as the door opened.
Stacie walked in, stomping sow off of her boots.
"Hey honey," Aubrey said standing up and Beca smiled at the pet name she gave her girlfriend.
She watched as they greeted each other with a kiss before Aubrey stood back.
"All I got was a couple rabbits. I figured one for us and one for them. We could cook the meat, season it and make that jerky stuff Beca made that first time I met you guys. It lasted us a bit and I bet they'd like it. They didn't exactly say what they expected."
Beca finished the clothes that Aubrey left and stood up. "I'm sure that will be fine. Did you happen to see Jesse and Chloe out there?"
All she got for an answer was a confused look as Aubrey helped her out of her jacket and Beca took the rabbits.
"They went out about an hour ago, opposite direction to hunt." Aubrey said and she nodded in understanding.
"No I didn't, but the temperature is dropping, so I doubt they will be out there long."
Beca suddenly looked worried, her eyes flashing to the window before she turned and walked into the kitchen.
Aubrey helped Stacie out of her many layers as Cody walked in from the back of the cabin.
"Oh cool, rabbits!" He said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Yep, come in here and watch how I do this. You'll need to do it too someday." Beca said and he climbed up onto the counter to watch how she skinned it.
XXXXXX
Chloe let out a breath the air freezing and a puff of smoke floating up above her.
"Chlo, its cold. We should get back." Jesse said. "You get sick too easily."
She shook her head. "You can go back if you want. I'm going to wait a little longer. Until sunset at least."
"Chloe, its been hours. We haven't see so much as a squirrel. Beca is probably worried sick."
She looked at him, her face falling. "I wanted to get one so bad."
He nodded. "I know you did. How about, if we go back now, I'll come back with you in the morning?"
She let out another breath looking out over the white, abandoned forest. It had started to snow again and it was below freezing. She finally nodded and began to move to get down.
Jesse got down first and had just reached up to help Chloe jump from the lowest branch when she gasped.
"Jesse, behind you!" She cried as he was hit from behind and fell into the snow.
A creature, they hadn't seen, covered in what looked like ice was on top of him and she fumbled for her gun as the sound of its teeth clashing together rang in her ears.
She got her pistol and jumped down, her legs buckling and she fell, but raised her gun and shot it in the side of the head.
Jesse was gasping for air as he pushed it off of him and sat up.
"Thank you." He breathed. "Are you okay?"
she nodded.
"Are you?" he nodded too,
"You got him before he got me." He said standing up and grabbing her arms and pulling her up out of the snow.
"Come on. Let's get out of here."
"That's the first one I have seen since we got here." She said. "We should make sure the perimeter is good when we get back."
"Agreed." He said before he stopped dead and grabbed Chloe pulling her back.
She looked confused for a moment before she heard a snarl.
About ten yards ahead of them, trudging through the snow, was a hoard.
"They're coming from the direction of the cabin." Chloe gasped and Jesse grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
"Back in the tree, come on." He said and she hurried over, she didn't have time to even try and reach up before his hard grip was on her waist lifting her up and she grabbed the branch to steady herself, before climbing quickly so Jesse could get up there too.
They were near the top by the time the hoard reached them and Chloe looked in horror at the sheer size of it.
"You don't think-" She stared and he shook his head.
"We would have heard gunshots."
"What do we do?" She asked and froze as the hoard got louder and a few looked up, spotting them.
A/N: I'm trying so hard to make this what you all want but I'm not getting a very good response at all. Can y'all please review? So i know it's is okay? It would really help me want to update more often.
