The days passed hard and slow. Things that once had taken minutes now consumed hours. The primary focus of every day was securing enough food and water, and not freezing.
The snow melted after only two days. We gathered as much as we could the first day, when it was clean and fluffy. We filled everything we could. The stream was no longer an option for us or the horses. We never knew when Mick would try and poison us again. We did use it for washing our clothes. Though it was so cold my hands turned numb before I finished washing even one pair of underwear.
The diagram Quint had been drawing on the legal pad the first day I met him was for a meat smoker. Smoking meat was the only way we had of preserving it. Everyone worked with him to build it; even Quinn and JP contributed in their own
