This part is from our protagonists fathers perspective.
A cold winter it had been the snows had come early and deep the temperature had fallen so far as to make it impossible to leave the house food was growing thin despite our best efforts to stockpile for the winter I'd not eaten in 3 days so my pregnant wife would have a bit more to eat was this to be our end would we not survive this winter no I wouldn't let this be our end. I left the house early tunneling through the snow until I reached the surface and I found nothing but the barest hints of trees and the chimney of our hut poking above the sea of snow I tested my weapons the hunting knife was sharp and ready my rifle only had a few bullets left ammunition is expensive and hard to come by the only other weapon I had is a ancient flintlock and some home made black powder sadly lead was nearly impossible to get so I'd made some ball ammunition out of stones and sanded them down to fit.
Picking up the old flintlock I set off looking for anything that might be edible my dry bag hanging limp and empty at my side the cold bitter and biting what choice did I have. I spotted the top of a pine tree sticking above the snows so I harvested as many pine needles as I could reach for tea at the very least and kept looking around finally spotting a thin scraggly hare that I decided to down the old flintlock aimed carefully I fired and the stone ball flew true striking the hare in the head and I quickly added it to my dry bag and hoped for more. The report from the old flintlock had been loud and I couldn't find anything nearby so I quickly dressed the hare leaving nothing but the inedible parts and even those I eyed with hunger.
I'd reloaded the flintlock and was as prepared as I could be but then a host of wolves came smelling the discarded viscera and looking for a meal luckily I spotted them first 5 of them thin from hunger my first shot put one down and scattered the others acting quickly I reloaded trying to keep an eye on them though I lost them for a moment though quickly spotted one trying to circle around me. My second shot wounded the Wolf the stone not quite as accurate as lead and with only 3 wolves left in fighting shape I had to switch to my rifle as I looked for the remaining three. I spotted the third wolf not far from me creeping towards me in the brush my rifle I had loaded long before reported sharply as the bullet cracked taking the third down before I spun around to find the last two luckily I completed my spin as one was leaping for my throat and managed to drop it with my rifle though now I was out of bullets I pulled out my old hunting knife and searched for the last wolf it would be nearby certainly ready to pounce and it was then while looking around desperately that I felt it's teeth tearing into my calf I acted quickly my knife finding the wolves neck ending it quickly though the damage was already done bleeding and with a wounded wolf nearby I needed to clean and dress tge 4 carcasses and take what I could carry before anything else showed up.
Arriving back at our hut with enough food to last us another month or two we used every ounce of those animals from merrow to skin every ounce was devoured we made teas and soups to make it last as long as we could and by the time we had finished everything tea included the thaw had arrived and food was more plentiful thankfully but this single winter drove home a deep desire to never experience this situation again so I taught my son every trick I knew and made sure to learn a few more myself and even made traps for the winters