All The Sinners Crawl: Joel x reader

January 2004

The icy ground crunched beneath your boots, the undisturbed colourless fluff compacting under your weight to leave behind a pattern of your trail. The navy blue thermal socks that you located in the main master bedroom had certainly become well loved during these baltic months as they snugly encased your feet on your little outings, those and the abundance of mountain climbing attire that Tommy had found in boxes up in the attic. The boots had been a size too big but your socks padded them out just enough to prevent your achilles from blistering- they were more practical than the ratty old converse's that you had now retired until spring broke.

Crouching down, you could feel the cold radiate though your jeans and onto your knees from the snowy layer that you hovered over. The brisk air burned your lungs as you sucked in a breath to then release it as a deflated sigh. Another empty trap.... The third one this morning with only four more to check...

"Woah! Watch it- that one's snappy!" Tommy called out from behind as your hand ventured near the snare to just readjust it a little.

You snapped your head around to face him, arm frozen. Tommy paced a few steps towards you and displayed his middle finger that sported a scabbed up wound, "That one caught me the other day... fuckin' hurt."

"Jeez, no need to swear at me." You winked before glancing between him and the trap.

He sneered light-heartedly then spoke again, "Just leave it. Don't think changin' the angle will do much... it's effective, we know that," Tommy wiggled his healing finger once more, "just ain't anythin' coming near it."

He stepped behind the contraption and scuffed his boot into the slightly buried scattering of trail mix that had been left out as a lure, "Bait ain't even been touched..."

The past month had been rough... The snow fall had been persistent but intermittent in the same breath. Falling for a solid twenty four hours at a time and then nothing for a couple of days after but yet the climate was so brisk that the flurried terrain wouldn't melt- that is where the concern laid firm. It wasn't that the three of you were snowed in, not at all... It was the fact that you had become trackable. If a scout was sent to the nearby town and god forbid there were other hostile occupants along route, they would find you with ease, the trail of boots leading straight to your front door. It wasn't worth it, not when the snow wasn't falling fast nor hard enough to cover your prints in a timely manner.

This was the exact reason you were both out here. The benefit of your location meant that the house backed onto a woodland that lead up into the mountains behind and with your stock now almost non existent and with no other current sources of protein, the three of you had been left with no other option but to hunt.

You say the three of you but this outing had actually been your first... Usually it being Tommy or Joel to set and check the traps and then dismember and gut whatever prey had been caught. It wasn't that you were overly keen on getting involved with that side of things- you actually hadn't a clue what you were doing but god, you had been going fucking stir crazy whilst stuck inside those four walls for weeks on end. You were eager for fresh air, to go anywhere other than the greenhouse in the back yard.

It was colder than you expected, being out in this climate. You weren't used to the way the cold bit at your nose and turned your cheeks rosy... You don't think you had ever seen the temperature drop so low back at home nor in Austin for that matter. Your teeth chattered as you hugged your arms around your chest and kept walking.

"S'the matter? Can't handle the cold, Angel?" Tommy teased, that taunting little smirk to his lips.

"Oh, fuck off," You quipped, "Like you aren't freezing your tits off, right now."