The first frost came suddenly; not because it was out of the ordinary for the time of year, but more as they had generally pushed aside the ability to track time. Weekends were the same as weekdays now, there was no worship in Church on Sundays and zombies did not stop coming to test their defences just because it happened to be a holiday. So though the days were unmissably shorter and the temperatures not high, the appearance of a ground covering frost caught most of them somewhat unawares.

Not everyone was surprised, however. Tyler kept track of the days almost religiously as he maintained the self made position of senior logistics office of their community. He kept order of all of their supplies and although he did not hold too strong a grip on the amounts of food and essentials, he couldn't stop himself from frowning whenever someone asked him for something. "Patrick, didn't I just supply you with a new roll on deodorant the other day?"

"Er... you did? Oh, but I don't like the smell. Can I not change it?"

"No."

Of course, generally, most members of the community weren't so frivolous and understood that these things weren't infinite in supply. Actually, Patrick was also well aware, but the deodorant smelled like something his old grandfather would have liked and he hadn't been able to help himself from requesting a new one.

The other person was Nathan. As particular as he was about his routine, within this routine lie a second set that had to do with the changing seasons. He wouldn't have been such an excellent gardener even before the end had he not had some affinity to the yearly calendar. It was this instinct that had him glancing out of the window most mornings in wait of this first frost. Now was the best time to harvest the brussel sprouts and the cabbages growing in abundance in the gardens. If it weren't for Ren Zexian reminding him, he may have even excitedly skipped breakfast after sharing tea in order to start the harvest.

They split into groups; protecting the walls and relieving those on the night shift was the priority, while those not strong enough to defend their community followed Nathan to learn how to carefully harvest the cabbages and things. Autumn left bread rolls and smokey tomato soup for Chang Min and the others to eat, while gathering the babies to entertain them in the warmed living room. She would have kept Lucy and young Sienna by her side as well, but her daughter had already run off with her small watering can and a little wicker basket so she could gather ripe chillis and Sienna had followed shyly in her wake. Anyone would have assumed that Lucy was the older child!

Outside, Nathan was teaching animatedly and despite causing some smiles, his small group nodded as if wisely absorbing every word and instruction. Actually, it wasn't too difficult to harvest the cabbages; they would keep the central heart of the leafy plant for their own use, while gathering the outer leaves and storing them as part of the feed for the animals or binning them in the compost heap when no longer edible. The sprouts were more fiddly, but soon they filled a few boxes full of them. There was a possible chance of the plants producing another harvest, but with their last winter being extremely cold and their garden being buried beneath a thick blanket of snow, they decided not to take the chance for all of the plants. Instead, Nathan very ably dug up a handful of the plants and transplanted them into the greenhouse. If they produced some more sprouts, fine, otherwise these would be kept to seed in the spring.

Just this harvest took most of the day, but soon, several shelves in the cold basement were decorated with the large white and red cabbages, while the sprouts were covered in a moist towel to keep them fresh for a good period. The cold basement was exceptionally full at the moment and it lifted their hearts to see it so. Jars were filled with jams, pickles, sauces and preserves, bottles with vinegars and homemade cider. Tupperware contained dried, edible seeds, beans, dried leaves for tea and dried fruit. There was a couple of crates filled with apples, straw separating them, but also there were squashes, carrots and other root vegetables, onions, sacks of potatoes, dried corn and wheat. There was a container holding the two types of rice they were able to eat (Nathan had already kept aside a few portions as seed for the following year).

Broccoli and Cauliflower were nearly all eaten, however, as they did not keep too well, only a few of these still remained in their supplies. Eggs were eaten nearly every day and what was not was kept in the kitchen until the next.

In the freezer were plastic containers of peas, sweet corn, green beans, peppers... but no raw meat remained. Instead, there were cooked and refrozen pieces of pork, minced in the process. That way they could extend their time eating this luxury for a short while longer, even if it was just a spoonful per bowl topping rice or noodles. There was not much meat for Aslan left, but fortunately, they'd obtained several sacks of dog biscuits from the supermarket van, so they didn't need to worry for him for a while. Plus, he often ate the small amount of leftovers Lucy saved for him each meal. Everyone knew that Autumn snuck her a bit more food due to this, but no one mentioned it.

At that moment, Lucy was carefully cutting off a brilliant red chilli with a pair of safety scissors, while Sienna used a fine paintbrush to fertilise the few remaining flowers. It was unlikely the numerous little plants would flower anymore now winter had truly set in. Lucy clapped her hands, applauding her for a job well down causing the other girl to glance down shyly. Nathan wandered into the sunroom to check on the new growth of lettuces that everyone was hoping to enjoy that winter, to supplement their diets. Lucy showed him the red chilli and cutely babbled about how they were taking care of all of the indoor plants, her eyes bright and seeking praise from her big brother. Nathan didn't let her down and although his smile was not wide, he said what she wanted to hear; "Good job."

Ren Zexian moved his little lover into the third large house the following day. Another frost covered the ground and several steely grey clouds had begun to gather in the east. How thick they were or whether they would cover the pale blue sky above them, they did not know for certain, but it was only a matter of time until they saw snow.

Nathan had visited this place a few times in the past couple of weeks, focusing on creating a field for potatoes that they could continue to eat these next spring. There was also young chilli plants in the sun room, though they were unlikely to flower until spring, as well as several off shoots of strawberries. The main plants had been moved to the greenhouse and would be cared for by the First household, but just in case something went wrong, the littlest ones were brought here for Nathan's gentler and much greener touch. Lettuces, kale and spinach were also planted here, though how much greens were picked in the end was uncertain. They could only try.

Nathan dug holes in a large pot filled with compost to add garlic cloves into it, ready to move onto planting some carrot tops. Although the roots would not regrow, these could still sprout leaves and later flowers for new seed. After that, he hurried Ren Zexian, who had just finished hanging their clothes in the wardrobe in the small downstairs room they would sleep in, so that he could continue harvesting things from the main garden. There were still swede, leeks, more potatoes and parsnips to dig up. Plus, he likely could transplant any of the leeks that weren't very big to the greenhouse or the third property...

Author's notes; Want to thank all of those people that share their off grid lives and gardening/farming stories on You Tube. This chapter and many others are given an extra layer of realism (I think) thanks to these people originating from all over the world. I really enjoyed watching their experiences and learning from their advice.