Cold does not numb. Well, not initially at first, as so many people describe the temperature as numbingly cold. People who say this sort of thing, usually are wrapped up in nice coats and fur boots or they're carrying portable heat packs. The people who describe that sort of cold are warm.
The truth however is that cold burns. It blazes as an impossible fire, an example of the should-nots on this Should-Not of a world. As in, Should-Not exist. The blackening on fingers and toes from frostbite isn't from the loss of blood. It's the cold charring the flesh, roasting it like frost-burn. The numbness that comes after the burn? That's the burning out of fragile, silk thread yellowish nerve bundles removing all feelings, not the cells dying from the drop in temperature.
A man burning to death seeks the cold. A man dying from frostbite seeks the warmth. When it comes down to it there is no hot and cold. They're exactly the same. Only together do they cancel each other out. These dying men can only seek the company of each other to survive.
