The next morning dawned—maybe. Snow was still falling at an accelerated rate but the wind had died down considerably. It was a change for the better. Maybe the snow would taper off sooner rather than later and they might be able to get out of here…if they were both still alive.

Bret slowly woke, wincing as he moved stiffly. His eyes flew open in shock when he felt the body that he held in his arms, and he quickly raised a frozen hand to feel for his brother's pulse. "Bart?" he said. "Bart, wake up!" The beat that he found under his fingers was still too slow, but it was there.

To Bret, it still felt just as cold in the cave, and he saw why: the fire had gone out while they'd slept. He groaned at the sight and tried to get up, his body not wanting to cooperate. He finally had to push his brother out of his arms to struggle to his knees. There was no movement from Bart as he put his hands on the ground and pushed himself into a standing position. He took a step and almost fell, his legs trying to lock in place from sleeping in one position all night.

One of the horses whinnied and tried to get up; Bret had to sooth the animal back into place on the frozen earth. The horses were just as hungry as he was.

Once he was sure that his legs were firm under himself, he tried to find his way further into the cave. There had to be something to burn back in there somewhere. The further he went the darker it got and it became harder to see. Finally he missed a step in the dark and fell hard, trying to brace himself as he went down. All he succeeded in doing was twisting his right wrist.

Bret winced and sat up, reaching to see what he'd tripped over; to his surprise, it was a small tree branch. Shock and relief flood him like a wave; the only way a tree branch could've ended up in the cave was if someone had taken shelter here before and brought it in. Standing, he grabbed it and headed back to their non-fire, but stopped walking in shock at what he saw: both horses were on their feet, no longer providing Bart with their body heat.

"No no no!" he exclaimed, rushing on still-frozen legs. "What are you doing?" he asked the horses, as if they could actually answer him. He dropped the branch near their fire-that-wasn't and tried to make the horses lie down again.

Bart's cooperated, but Bret's would not have it.

Giving up for a minute, Bret grabbed the branch and stood it upright before forcefully stepping on it sideways to make it snap. Once it was in pieces, he quickly set it aflame before kneeling beside his brother and arranging him better against his horse. He checked Bart's pulse and found it unchanged. Sighing, he stood and went back over to the blankets that were still ice cold and not very dry in the freezing air. Getting an idea, he picked one up and brought it over to his horse. "If you're not gonna keep Bart warm, then you're gonna make this warm," he said, tossing the blanket over the horse.

Now that he was up he finally remembered to check his saddlebags for any leftover jerky. He found a small piece and broke it in half, wanting to keep the rest for his brother. It wasn't much but it was better than anything else he'd had since the snowstorm ambushed them. No steak had ever tasted quite so good.

Bret grabbed one of the canteens and shook it. It still felt like there was solid ice inside, but he heard a little bit of liquid. He took a cup out of his saddlebag and poured the meager amount into it. He did the same with the other canteen before placing the cup nearer the fire: it was much too cold to drink, especially with their body temperatures being so low.

Bret sat beside his brother and heaved a sigh, watching his breath freeze in the air as he shivered. Looking at Bart, he wondered why his brother was in such worse shape than he was...or was he? Bret was exhausted, trying to stay awake, needing to stay awake for Bart's sake. That must be it; Bret knew that if he gave in to collapse, they would both die here.

With another sigh, he grabbed the cup and held it over the fire, warming up the water in it so he could feed it to his brother. The flames were hypnotizing, and it seemed like no time had passed at all before he felt the metal cup growing hot. He sipped the water to check the temperature, before holding the cup over the fire again.

Finally, the water was warm enough—he didn't dare make it hot, knowing that it would shock Bart's system and do more harm than good—and he pulled his brother's upper body into one arm and placed the cup to his lips. "Bart," he said, giving him a shake. "Drink this."

Bart didn't react to the first trickle of water that passed his lips, but he reacted to the second one, his body starting to shiver harder as he woke up a little and swallowed the water.

Bret smiled. "That's my boy. Drink it all."

Bart's eyebrows furrowed as he apparently became aware of pain within his body; not surprising when more than half-frozen, and he drank all of the water, giving a little moan when he was done.

"It's all right, Bart," said Bret, putting the cup down and holding his brother to his chest. "I've got you."

Bart tried to speak, and it was the best thing that Bret ever heard. "What...where...?" he mumbled.

"We're in a cave," Bret said. "You've been out all night."

Bart gave no reply, breathing softly, his temperature still too low to have him fully aware.

Bret grabbed the piece of jerky and jostled his brother again. "Don't go back to sleep, Bart, it's time for breakfast!"

That didn't go over as well as the water. "Not…no," was as much as Bart could manage.

Bret wasn't taking 'no' for an answer and broke off a small piece. He put it inside his brother's mouth and waited for instinct to kick in. The jerky was half chewed, half gummed until it was soft enough to swallow. "That's it, one more," and Bret tried the same thing again. He was met with slightly less resistance the second time, with the same end result. "Good boy. One more?" The procedure was repeated until the jerky was gone.

"Now isn't that better?" Bret asked.

Bart, eyes closed, was too disoriented to figure out how to answer.

Bret jostled his brother again. "Stay awake, Bart, you hear me?"

"Tired," Bart whispered.

Just the sound of that word remind Bret of how tired he was too. "I know, Bart, but it's dangerous to sleep when we're so cold. Try to stay awake, all right?"

"Sure," his brother mumbled.

Bret sighed. 'Sure' never had a definite meaning when Bart said it. "Well, 'sure' isn't good enough, Bart," Bret said, jostling him again.

"Stop it," Bart mumbled.

But Bret did it again. "Nope," he answered. "I'm gonna keep you awake if it's the last thing I do!"

At that, Bart opened his eyes slightly, looking confused. They slipped shut again without him saying a word.

Bret was overjoyed to see Bart open his eyes, if only for a second. He continued to jostle him.

"What you...doing?" Bart said, almost speaking a whole sentence. His voice was weak but annoyed.

"That's it, brother Bart," said Bret. "Get mad! That's a good boy."

Bart's eyes stayed closed and he mumbled something else, but 'baby' was the only word that Bret caught. "Oh, I know you aren't a baby, Bart," he said. "But when you were, I used to rock you all the time, even as young as I was. And you know what? I never dropped you, either."

Bart mumbled something unintelligible.

Bret smiled. "Well, there was that one time..."

Bart didn't react.

"Nah, I'm joshin', I never dropped you...I couldn't. You were too important to me." He paused and looked at his brother, half-frozen in his arms. "You still are," he said, quietly.

At that, Bart suddenly moved his hand, sluggishly shifting it to touch his brother's arm.

Bret smiled and held his brother tighter. "We'll get through this, brother Bart," he said. "Before you know it, we'll be toasty warm, devouring steaks in an expensive hotel, smoking cigars and playing poker."

Bart said nothing.

"We'll get through this," Bret repeated. "You'll see."

At that last statement, Bart emitted a soft groan. Then once again he mumbled, "Sure," and Bret took it as an indication that Bart heard him and understood.

But even so, Bret joked, "You need to come up with a better word than 'sure', brother Bart. It has too many different meanings coming from you."

At that, Bart smiled slightly. "Sure," he said.

Bret laughed, glad to see that his brother was coherent enough to joke. Suddenly, he thought of something from years ago that he'd never forgotten. "Bart, do you remember when we were children? You were still too young to go to school, but Pappy had to go to town one day and couldn't take you with him, so the schoolmarm said that you could stay with the class. Remember when she asked if any of us could count to ten, and you yelled that you could count higher than ten? She was shocked, because you were so young, and said, 'okay, what comes after three?' You yelled, 'four!' Then she asked what comes after six and you said seven...then she asked what came after ten...do you remember your answer?" Bret was laughing.

Bart chuckled, to Bret's relief.

"You yelled, 'a jack'!" Bret said, anyway. "I almost fell off my chair! She was mortified!"

"Pappy laughed," Bart said, in defense of himself.

Bret nodded. "He sure did...the whole town was laughing about it that day...when Pappy came back that night, twenty different people had already told him about it. But here's something you didn't know; pappy was just as proud as he could be that you knew which card came after the ten!"

Bart chuckled again.

Bret suddenly realized how much time had passed while he'd sat there with Bart. He looked at his horse and wondered at the status of the blanket. "I gotta lie you down for a minute, Bart…gonna see if a blanket is dry enough for you."

Bart must've been drifting off again, because he answered, "What?"

Bret propped him against his horse. "I'll be right back." He stood on stiff legs and went over to his stallion, finding with immense relief that his idea had worked; the blanket had dried thanks to its body heat! He took it off and grabbed the other blanket, draping that one over the animal and quickly bringing the dry one back to his brother. "Here you go, Bart!" he said, sitting beside him and draping it over them both. He grabbed his brother and pulled him closer again, overjoyed that they now had a barrier against the freezing air in the cave. With a sigh, he shook his head, never thinking that he could be so happy over something as trivial as a blanket…

TBC