Provisions were getting low with some flour

 Page 11.

Provisions were getting low with some flour, salt and only a barrel and a half of dried beans. No one said anything but in times like these they made people wicket with fear. We need meat someone yelled while others began to moo loudly, Granny finding her blunderbuss pointed it toward the direction of the mooing and said, “Holy Cow”, in a defending tone and the mooing abruptly stopped. It was dark now and the wind and snow whistled through the cracks in the shelter touching anyone nearby with an icy death lock. Parents huddled together with their children between them like a human sandwich. Even with the fires bodies shook and trembled while teeth chattered in between the swirling winds. Perhaps morning would bring some relief but it was doubtful, they were all doomed and anyone with a brain knew it but the folks tried to hide their true fate from the children. Sometime in the middle of the night, Gerald Higgins though he heard the sound of a barking dog? At first he though he as dreaming or the cold and wind where playing tricks with his mind?

At first it was very slight and muffled then the barking sounded far off into the distance, but it grew stronger and louder coming almost near the shelter and then it stopped. But there it went again and the barking sounded like the O’Neils dog “Posse”. Higgins couldn’t believe his ears and he tried to wake the others but it seemed no one else heard the barking but him. Higgins knew what he had heard and he was determined to find out so he lifted the canvas flap that covered the door and peered outside into the black darkness. Suddenly he again heard the muffled bark, this time coming from the direction of Millers wagon. “He’s got Posse”, Higgins said out loud and quickly rushed toward Millers wagon pulling he’s Bowie Knife from it’s sheave. Higgins reached Miller’s wagon and stood silently next to team, the horses now uncovered and almost frozen remained motionless. Higgins called out in a whispered tone, “Posse, come here boy, is that you”? A looming shadowy figure began to rise from the front of the wagon, it was Miller and he stood above Higgins glaring down at him with his Tomahawk raised above his head.

Miller hissed staring down at Higgins and cackled like a crow, “Posse is that you, come here boy”. Higgins eyes filled with terror dropping his knife as he reached up with both hands to try and deflect the blow. “It’s just the pig farmers hog with the notched ear”, said Miller as he buried his tomahawk deep into the top of Higgins skull. Higgins life was instantly over and his body stood frozen and upright with his arms outstretched like a marble statue. Miller continued to hack on Higgins body all the while making squealing noises and it wasn’t until the next morning that Higgins was discovered. Lorenzo was the first to find Higgins after leaving the shelter and noticing all the stock bunched together as far from the body as possible. What Lorenzo found shocked him to the very core of his soul. Higgins body remained standing with his two arms held outstretched and skyward with the exception of two horrifying things, his head and heart were missing. His head was replaced with the head of a snowman with pieces of black charred wood for the eyes and nose.