Snowbound

6

It's been two days since Miranda woke up and every day she was grateful. Ben was nursing her back to health the best way he could. She appreciated his strength and resilience. She would always feel indebted to him for his kindness.

"What is that?" Miranda asked as Ben walked through the door. Holding something by its fur.

"It's a rabbit," he answered proudly.

"How the hell did you manage to catch that?"

"The dog did. I guess he was just as hungry as we were,"

"Good job buddy," Miranda chimed rubbing his fur as he came and sat beside her.

Miranda got up and walked into the kitchen. She watched as Ben skinned the rabbit. He gutted it and cleaned it out. The surgeon in her almost wanted the opportunity to do it.

"I never thought I would see the day where I was okay with eating something like this." She chuckled.

"My grandparents are from the south. This wouldn't be my first rabbit." Ben replied using a bucket of water to clean it off.

Miranda opened the cabinet and smiled. "Yes,"

"What?" Ben asked.

"It's seasoning in here."

Ben laughed as she took out seasoning salt and pepper.

She helped him season the rabbit and then put it on the fire.

"While that's cooking, can you heat me some water? I would like to clean up for once,"

"Yeah, I got you. I could use a good wash-off myself."

"I'll wash your clothes." Miranda returned.

Miranda washed off and the warm water felt good all over. She felt refreshed and as back to her regular self as she could feel considering the circumstances.

After she got cleaned up she wrapped a sheet around her naked self to let her clothes dry. Watching the food, she let Ben take his bath while she hung his clothes to dry.

Ben came out with a discarded robe wrapped around him.

They sat by the fire and ate. Talking about everything and then nothing of importance.

"This is really good." Miranda praised after swallowing more of her food.

"Yeah, it reminds me of chicken."

"It's close."

"I saw that they had a deck of cards...gin rummy?"

"Prepare to lose Benjamin,"

"Well we will see about that," he scuffed grabbing the cards.

Days went by and Ben and Miranda actually enjoyed their time inside. Since they were able to eat the rabbit and the other half cold for the following day. This cabin was truly a break from surviving. They felt as if they got to know each other even more because they could sit around for once.

But as always good things have to come to an end. It was four days since the dog caught the rabbit. It was storming out and the snow was knee-deep. He didn't know if they were going to have something to eat again and the conditions were getting worse. They could not stay in here in this bubble for too long. They would ultimately starve if they were to be trapped inside. The cold snap would keep the snow from melting.

"Fuck!" Ben yelled outside as he looked around for anything that would give them more time.

He walked through the front door and it slammed behind him. Miranda jumped and stood slowly moving to where he was. She knew the weight of the situation was weighing on him.