When T-Dog awoke the next morning, he was struck by how silent it was. He lay in his sleeping bag for a second, straining to hear a sound from the camp. When he heard nothing, he started to panic. Cautiously, he pulled himself out of his make shift sleeping bag. As the air hit his exposed skin, he gasped. It had gotten a lot colder since the previous day. He glanced over at Glenn, who had at some point during the night huddled himself into his bag. As he breathed, T-Dog could see it mist in the air. He moved to the tent opening, grabbing one of the blankets off his bag and wrapping it around himself. Carefully, he moved aside the opening.
The whole clearing was white, covered in a thick layer of snow. T-Dog started. Could it really be this late in the year? He tried to figure out what month it might be, but he couldn't even remember if it was still 2011 or if they had moved into 2012. He pulled his boots on and moved into the snow.
It was thick, six or seven inches already. He looked up at the sky, which was black, heavy with snow. He groaned. There were already a lack of food, despite Daryl and Georgie doing their best. He couldn't see that this snow would make it easier. And if by some miracle, food did appear, they had left most of their equipment and clothes at the complex. They could very easily die from the cold. And then there was water. Would the lake have frozen over? T-Dog clenched his fists. He needed to talk to Rick, Dale and Adele as soon as they were up. In fact, screw waiting til they were up, this were urgent. He strode over to Georgie and Adele's tent and, coughing loudly, opened the flap.
To his amusement, he saw that Ben and Adele were curled up together in one sleeping bag. Ben sat up as soon as T-Dog entered, a mixture of embarrassment and shock on his face. Adele moved slower, rubbing her eyes.
"You know, just because you can't knock on a tent, doesn't mean you can't give some warning." She squinted at T-Dog. "Why is it so bright outside?" T-Dog motioned with his head.
"Snow."
"Shit." Adele reached a bare arm out her sleeping bag and grabbed her long sleeved top. "How deep?"
"At least half a foot. And there's more coming." T-Dog looked around the small tent. "Where's Georgie?"
"The bus." Adele pulled on her shirt and sat looking at T-Dog pointedly. "I'll be out in a bit. Little privacy maybe?" T-Dog grinned and withdrew his head from the tent. Almost as soon as he was outside, he heard footsteps crunching purposefully through the snow. He turned to see Daryl heading straight for him. T-Dog wasn't that surprised to see Daryl dressed with no regard for the icy weather, still wearing a thin sleeveless shirt and carrying his beloved crossbow. He waved at Daryl, who gave a curt jerk of his head in reply as he came to a halt in front of T-Dog
"What's th plan then?" T-Dog blinked.
"I don't know yet, I'm waiting for Rick and the others." Daryl looked impatient.
"Whatever. I ain't waitin' around for them. What do you want to do? Way I see it, snow's come kinda early, me an Georgie might be able to find some game to store if we go now. Cold weather'll stop it from going bad fer a while. So if you don't have a better plan, we'll go now." T-Dog felt a stab of irritation. Why was Daryl asking him? Hadn't they made it clear last night T-Dog was no longer solely in charge? And since when had Daryl needed permission to do anything.
"Man what are you stupid? I'm not in charge anymore. It's a group decision. Do what the hell you want! Jesus, when have you ever asked to do anything? Fucks sake!" T-Dog was surprised at his outburst. It wasn't as if Daryl had been particularly irritating-in fact for Daryl this was downright civil. He felt a little ashamed, but Daryl didn't react. Instead, he looked around him, and then started to speak in a slightly quieter voice to T-Dog.
"I don't care who ya say is in charge, far as I'm concerned, Ima only taking advice from you. I mean, look at the other people who ya voted in, some old guy, blondie an the cop. Now, I know this whole thing was based on who people trust and that shit, but when it comes to fightin', the only person who's manned up an done what needed to be done is you." He shifted his feet, starting to look uncomfortable. "An anyway...you an Georgie...y'all are the only ones who though ta come back fer me. So...I owe you both one." He squinted to the side. "I don't even reckon Merle woulda come back fer me." T-Dog looked down at his feet. Whilst he was touched by Daryl's show of loyalty, he felt just as uncomfortable as Daryl obviously was at the admittance. He coughed loudly and looked up. Daryl was still not looking at him, suddenly finding the tree to his left of extreme interest.
"Yeah well, thanks. I think you're right about the whole food thing. I'll fill the others in. You take Georgie and go do what you do. And for God's sake, put another shirt on. One with sleeves. Georgie's in the bus." Daryl grunted and walked to the bus, to find his hunting companion.
"Aww, that's so sweet." T-Dog glanced down at the tent behind him. Adele was crawling out. "You've BONDED with him." She drew herself up and grinned in Daryl's direction. "You're gonna have a bro-mance. Such a beautiful love story." T-Dog cuffed her gently around her head.
"Shut up blondie. And, if we're gonna talk about love stories, let's talk about you and Ben. We don't need another pregnancy so..."
"I am not having the safe sex talk with you. Especially not in the middle of the snow." Adele pushed T-Dogs arm from around her neck, and strode over to the RV. T-Dog laughed softly, and turned to the bus. Georgie was coming out, followed by a wide eyed Carl.
"Look at all the snow! Awesome!" Carl made to jump into the snow, but Ricks hand pulled him back.
"Warm clothes. A jacket at the least. You two as well," he said, nodding at Daryl and Georgie. Georgie rolled her eyes, and grabbed her leather jacket. Daryl ignored the request. The pair of them ambled into the trees and out of sight.
A hour later, the group had assessed the situation. Despite T-Dogs immediate fears, the situation wasn't as bad as he'd thought. Miao and Carol walked down to the lake and reported back that although the lake itself was frozen, the rivers that ran in and out of it weren't, meaning that there was still drinking water. Adele and Ben theorised that if the area really was meant to be a camping retreat for families, that there would be other cabins with warm clothes and supplies. Andrea backed up what Daryl had suggested earlier, pointing out that the snow had come in early November, and so hopefully the animals wouldn't have moved too far, giving Daryl and Georgie time to bring in a supply of food. Given that Andrea had been the only person keeping any sort of track of the time, T-Dog felt better. All in all, it was concluded that only two things could proved deadly: Walkers and the cold.
"All the same," Dale mused, "I'll feel better when Daryl and Georgie get back with some sort of meat. Knowing that we have food is important."
"Daryl went hunting with Georgie again?" At the mention of Daryl's name Katie, who had seemed disinterested throughout the whole discussion, sat up.
"They always go hunting together." Adele spoke matter of factly, but T-Dog could see a wicked smile on her face. "And they always stay out the whole day. Sometimes the whole night too."
"How the hell would you know?" Andrea spoke up, shooting Adele a warning glance. "When Daryl first taught Georgie to hunt, you were still in the complex."
"Daryl taught Georgie..." Andrea realised her mistake and bit her lip. T-Dog quickly changed the subject before Katie could explode.
"I reckon from now on, we don't store water up here. It'll freeze too easily. We just take it from the river and boil it up."
"Agreed." Rick sat forward. "I think now, we need to scout the area. Go in pairs or threes and see what we can find in terms of more cabins and supplies. Clothes are a priority right now. Why don't we start now? Volunteers?"
"I'll go." Glenn spoke up. "I'll take Maggie too."
"Me and Ben can go look too." Adele stood up, ignoring the knowing look on T-Dogs face.
"Ok, four should be enough for now" Rick stood up. "You all know how to scout the area so I won't tell you to be careful or whatever. But if it starts to snow again, you turn around, no matter what you think you're about to find and you get your asses back to camp." The four of them nodded solemnly, and moved to their respective tents to gear up and move out.