Embers of Fear

Whistling.
That was the sound she heard most from high atop the fire watch structure. The night sounds of the dense forest all eventually faded into a calming background ambience. But the whistling, that was one sound that she always noticed. The wind hissing through the trees that just barely reached her perch. That sound always brought her back from whatever tired stupor she started to slip into during her long shifts.
Tonight was different though. She wasn't slipping into any type of complacent guard. The reason for her alert nature was the lack of the sound that kept her eyes open. The whistling wasn't there. The night was quiet. Too quiet.
She surveyed the vast forrest, preparing to see the thing she was hired to spot: the telltale tendrils of black smoke rising above the tree line.
She squinted into the dark.
The silence compelled her to stand up from the wooden chair she had occupied and take a tentative step towards the railing. No wind blew the loose strands of hair out of her face as she peered over the railing out into the night.
The tops of the trees were still. There was no wind tonight.
Letting out a small content sigh, she relaxed her shoulders.
Before she could return to her seat, she heard a new sound.
Her ears perked at the cry, the human cry, and the hairs on her arm lifted. She glanced, wearily, towards the bottom of her fire watch stand. Down the long wooden beams supporting the structure, she saw movement.
As she leaned over the rail, the wood creaking against her touch, she heard the anguished cry again.
She didn't hesitate to turn towards the old rotting stairs and start to briskly make her way towards the bottom of the watch tower. As she landed on the lowest platform of the tower, she peered over the edge again. She could clearly make out two figures through the shadows. One was laying on the ground making barely audible sounds, the other stood above with something held tightly in their hand.
She inhaled as the standing figure hit the cowering one on the head silencing the whimpering. Squinting in the dark, she saw something wet glistening on the rock. She was frozen to her spot as the figure slowly lifted their head up. Up. Up.
They had seen her.
With animalistic speed the shadowy figure raced toward the stairs leading towards the platform she occupied. The woman briefly registered the movement before she too rushed toward the stairs. The stairs leading up, away from this thing running towards her.
Breathing quickly she climbed as fast as she could up the old rocking staircase. The creaking wood behind her spurring her to run faster.
She could hear their breaths. Knew that they weren't far behind.
Adrenaline fueled her and she hardly felt the burning in her chest as her breaths turned to pants. Her legs number as they rushed as quickly as they could away from the shadow they grew closer. She didn't know what she was going to do when she got to the top. There would be nowhere to go.
The man, she could now tell it was a man, was getting closer and closer.
Risking a glance behind her, she saw his face twisted in pure concentration as he encroached on the distance to where she climbed.
She was nearing the top. She would have nowhere to go.
She noticed that she heard the whistling sound she had missed earlier when she burst onto the highest platform of the tower. Rushing towards the railing, she started to scream for help. The man closed the distance. His hands reached around her to cover her mouth.
• • •
She woke up with a start. The small chair she had fallen asleep in creaked with protest as she stood up. The first light of early dawn was creeping above the tree line. Her shift was over. Her night was done.