Nathan Jones - First Winter

Jack waved that off. “Bah, never was much for parties.” He was momentarily interrupted by a particularly harsh blast of wind, and shivered slightly as he glanced up at the sky. “I’ve been in this area a long time,” he said grimly. “I’ll admit, I’m not as familiar with things up here in the mountains, but even so this weather feels off. I’m afraid the storm that’s blowing in is going to be a bad one.”

“I think you’re probably right,” Matt agreed. “Speaking of which, I should probably get my chores done. Why don’t you head inside and warm up a bit? Mom usually makes a pot of herb tea or hot chocolate these mornings.”

“I might just do that.” Jack shook his hand again, then headed towards the distinctively shaped Larson cabin. Matt hurried on to the town barn to deal with his livestock and check on things.

By the time he came out snow had started falling.

It was already a thick flurry, and getting thicker by the second. For a moment Matt stood staring up at the mountains to the west, which were mostly obscured by the storm that had finally arrived. Cold wisps lightly touched his face as the flakes swirled around him, soon becoming trails of chilly water trickling down his cheeks.

He wasn’t the only one out in the storm. In spite of the howling wind and swirling flakes falling thicker by the second, the streets of the town were soon flooded as the people of new Aspen Hill emerged to watch the first snow of the year. In the middle of October.

Among the crowd Matt was surprised to see Sam trudging his way against the wind, already building up quite a layer of snow on her clothes. As close to childbirth as she was, combined with her petite height and the coat, hat, and scarves she’d bundled up in, she was so round that with every step she looked like she’d fall over from sheer awkwardness. But beneath all the layers wrapped around her mouth and nose, he could see her cheeks were rosy and her eyes sparkled.

It constantly amazed him how cute she was. He just wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. So he did, reaching her with long strides to hug that bundle of warm clothing and very pregnant wife.

“Should you be out in this?” he asked.

“Probably not,” she admitted cheerfully. “But it’s crowded in the cabin and it stinks. Besides, Dr. Maggy wanted me to get fresh air.”

“Maybe not when it’s below freezing in the middle of a snowstorm.” He kissed the scarf about where her mouth should be. “Where were you headed? I’ll walk with you.”

She shrugged. “Just wanted to be here with you to see this.” She fumbled at her waist and produced a canteen. “Also I figured I’d make sure you were getting enough water.” To suit her words she popped the top and tugged her scarf down to take several gulps, then offered it to him.

Matt waved it away. “Thanks, I’m good.”

“You sure?” she asked. “I’ve heard in the cold you don’t always know you’re thirsty, so it’s important to drink even when you don’t think you need to.”

“Okay, Mom,” he said wryly. But he accepted the canteen and took a few gulps himself. His throat had been a bit dry.

Together they ambled back towards their house, the ground already sporting a thin layer of white underfoot. With so many people out in force he almost would’ve thought it was a celebration, but the mood was anything but celebratory. Even the young children, who normally would’ve been happily waiting for the snow to get deep enough to play in, sensed the mood of their parents and huddled close to them in wide-eyed silence. The adults were equally quiet, the only sound the howling wind carrying the beginning of nuclear winter to their town.

Matt shivered, and from more than just the cold.

Sam, huddled against his side, felt it and shivered as well, burying her face in his chest against the bitter wind. “Is it too late to go south?” she asked in a small voice, trying to sound flippant and failing.

Before he could answer a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump. He turned to see his dad beckoning. “Come on,” he said gravely. “There’s a few last things we should do to prepare to ride out this storm before it gets too bad.”

Matt nodded. “Give me a second to swing by town hall. There’s probably things I’ll need to do to help prepare the town for this as well.”

His dad nodded. “We’ll manage.” He offered his arm to Sam, who stood on tiptoes to give Matt a quick kiss through her scarf before taking it.

Matt watched the two trudge away for a few moments before hurrying to town hall. Chauncey was already there handling a dozen or so townspeople, who were all clamoring about help they desperately needed to survive the storm if it lasted for days.

With a sigh Matt stepped in to help organize the chaos, offering help where people needed it and being firm with those he was pretty sure didn’t.

Meanwhile the tent, even made of thick canvas as it was, just wasn’t up to keeping out the chill. They’d been in the process of building a more permanent town hall to house the radio equipment and provide a headquarters that would keep out the cold, but unfortunately it was only half finished and the snows had already arrived. They’d probably have to move all this into the clinic for now and be resigned to having that serve as town hall for the winter.

Just another thing to get done, although aside from protecting the sensitive radio equipment the rest probably wasn’t urgent enough to warrant handling in the middle of a storm. Especially when there was already enough to do, and no telling what they’d be able to get done before conditions became bad enough to drive them inside.

Sighing, Matt got to work.

Trev spent most of the morning with the defenders helping Matt handle a few emergencies, as the snow piled up to a few inches with no sign of letting up.

Even with all the time everyone had been given to prepare, and the constant warnings to do so because this winter was going to be a brutal one, somehow there were still dozens of people who needed immediate help just to survive the storm. There were even more who’d be in trouble if the intense cold stuck around for more than a week, which it showed every indication of doing.

So they worked outside for hours huddled against frigid, blasting wind, snow piling on them and sneaking into collars and up sleeves. They chinked cracks in walls with cold slimy mud that constantly threatened to freeze, shored up and fireproofed fireplaces so they wouldn’t burn down the house when used or vent improperly and fill the space with smoke, made hasty repairs to leaks in roofs, distributed warm clothing from the town’s supply to people who would freeze to death without it, and half a dozen other vital tasks that should’ve been taken care of weeks ago.

When Trev finally stomped into his room he was half frozen and exhausted from constant shivering and hard work. He wanted nothing more than to heat some water to wash up, get a hot meal if his mom had one ready, then huddle under his warm blankets and sleep through the storm.

It turned out Deb was already there comfy and cozy in his bed, reading a book.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said apologetically. “Your mom invited me to spend the morning helping her make enough soup to last us a few days. She sent me next door to bring Lucas some, and by the time I got back I decided I didn’t want to go out there again. If you’re okay with it I think I’ll wait the storm out with you.”

“I’d love the company,” Trev said sincerely. They had the ropes up between shelter group cabins so Deb could conceivably go home at any time, even in this weather. But before too long the snow would be bad enough and the snow deep enough to make it risky and impractical. Which meant she was trapped here until things cleared up.