Winter's hope

Location: The Homestead & surrounding regions
Timeline: Early to mid-winter
Focus: Survival, supply run, trust, loss, renewal
Tone: Gritty but emotional — a glimmer of warmth in the cold darkness

Synopsis:
Winter has descended on Wisconsin with bone-deep cold and endless gray skies.
The Homestead’s food stores are dwindling faster than expected. A blight ruined part of the root cellar harvest, fuel reserves are low, and one of the generators is failing. Even worse — several residents are down with fever, and medicine supplies are critically short. The ice and snow have made travel near impossible, cutting off trade routes and stranding nearby survivor groups.
But then, a message arrives — faint, crackling, but real. A nearby community claims to have resources: medical supplies, propane, preserved food. The catch? They want something in return — not supplies, but help. A dangerous group of raiders has been pressing on them, and their defenses won’t hold much longer.
The Council is divided. Is it a trap? Is the risk worth it?
But Serena Reynolds sees it clearly: this may be their only hope to survive the winter.