I looked out of the window. It was almost dark. The grayish vail had almost fallen over the vast field in front of the cottage. As long as the eye could see there was smooth untouched layer of thick snow. It made the world looked even more abandoned then it was. Forsaken. Almost dead. How unnatural? I used to love the snow. It used to fill my heart with such joy. I still hear Sophia's laughter as she was running through the snow all wet, frozen hands and rosy cheeks. This memory always makes me smile, for one blissful moment my heart fills with warmth and my lips shine with love. A second of brightness. Then the pain strikes and everything darkens. She's gone. And all I have left from her are only these precious few seconds when I remember her voice and see her face in the fog of my memories.
In accordance with my thoughts the snow outside sank into the night and disappeared from my sight. Now I could only see my own reflection in the window in from of me. This dreadful silence scares me. Winter is relatively safe time because the temperatures fall so low that the walkers freeze. For a few months the only danger once again are only the living. Still I haven't seen neither of the two for more then two weeks. Complete solitude. Didn't I ask for that? Sometimes it is too much. The nights are the toughest. Closed inside the house I feel both protected from the walls and exposed by the windows' lights that everyone could see from the distance. I am not sure if this is exactly fear that I feel. I don't think I fear anything at all anymore but the uncertainty is heavy. The unknown that spreads around the house lurking in this silence, invisible for me. I hate that feeling. I need to be prepared. To be in control.
A loud knock on the door startled me. I instinctively searched with hand for the knife that was hanged on my waste. "You are being stupid Carol" I thought. I don't need a knife. A walker wouldn't knock. So whoever is outside, it is a human. I would need a gun. I reached for the one that was on the table and went to the door. Took a deep breath and opened it.
"You can lose the gun, Carol! It's just me."
"Morgan!" - he was smiling - "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you. If yo don't mind?" - he said looking at me with his firm but calm eyes. "Can I ...."
"Of course. Come in!"
He went straight to the fireplace reaching his hands towards the warmth of the fire.
"It's freezing outside" - he looked back at me still smiling.
"You didn't have to go out in this weather."
"I haven't come to see you for more then two weeks."
"That's ok."
"Do you really feel good here, all by yourself?"
"Yes!"
"Carol, I am not an enemy. Don't look at me like I came to steal from you."
"Why are you here, Morgan?"
" I wanted to see you, ok? Is that so hard to believe? I am worried for you!"
"At this time?"
"Ok. One simply can't argue with you. I have to tell you something."
I sat on the sofa. He was still warming his hands.He just kept talking, still with his back at me.
"They found us." I knew who he meant but didn't utter a word. "They came two days ago. At the Kingdom."
"I don't want t know more, Morgan!"
"Rick is planning a war. He needs people. As many as he can get. He ...."
"Morgan, please! Don't!"
"Ezekiel is willing to help him. He will join Rick, he will fight with us."
"Us? Does that mean you will fight too?"
