Short Stories From Fading Worlds

The Sleepless' Road: Chapter 3

They'd arrived at the clearing in good order. There was a small pond that they all washed their faces and hands in, and the woodsman was able to find them some apples and wild vegetables lying in the dirt. They boiled water in a pan over the fire, then made a watery soup.
After dinner they'd all had enough of being awake for one day. Their group leader pointed to a little hollow near the cliff face that marked one edge of the clearing, which gave them all a small measure of shelter from beneath their sleeping bags or torn blankets.

"I'll-"

"Let me guess. You're taking first watch?"

The woodsman huffed in a mixture of noise and amusement.
"I'll be asking for two volunteers tonight. I won't be resting. One of you will stay up the first four hours with me, the other the second four. Whoever it is 'll be on the shotgun."

"I'll do it-"
Four voices rang out at once, which seemed to amuse the woodsman. She looked over at the cobbler, then the teacher and his teenage son.

"Well if you're all up for it, you'll each have a two hour watch instead. Should make tomorrow easier on you?"

She raised her voice.
"What about you? You'll have been up for days if you're up all night tonight."

"I can live with being tired another day. No offence, but I don't really trust any of you to keep a watch here by yourself. I don't trust this place, gives me the creeps."

"I take it there's no arguing with you on this?"

He chuckled.
"Is there ever any arguing with me?"

The teacher and cobbler both snorted, whilst her and the teachers wife locked eyes with an exasperated expression.

She took her watch at the first shift. The two of them were silent for the entire two hours, with not even the sounds of insects to break the stillness of the night, neither were there the sounds of owls or other nocturnal animals. She wasn't surprised. Any animals that had once lived in these woods were long gone. She watched as the woodsman kept scanning the treeline, casting worried glances back and forth, between the smouldering fire and the empty jerry can, but said nothing. She shrugged. There was nothing there, but then the woodsman obviously didn't last out here that long without developing a hint of paranoia. She'd be lying if she said the prospect of the canister being empty didn't worry her somewhat as well. If they didn't make it all the way to safety tomorrow... well, she didn't want to think about that too much.

She'd slept remarkably well that night, given the circumstances. The knowledge that she'd be walking over thirty miles come the morning must have helped with that a tad, as well as the long miles they'd all put behind them this last week.
She didn't know how much longer she could manage walking like this, but she was determined to last at least one more day.
She would not be the reason everyone got stuck in the dark.

The walk was long, the going tough, but there had been a strange sense of levity that the group had been missing since they came together almost a full week ago; the old cobbler and the teacher had been talking for a while, and eventually they began to sing. She didn't recognise the words, nor did she pay attention, but after a little while almost everyone in their motley group was whistling or humming along, the simple actions making her feel a much more positive sense of camaraderie than the usual "Stop me from dying and I'll stop you from dying" variant.
At one point even the woodsman had joined in, much to her quiet surprise, but the university student still refused to join in.
Miserable bastard.

Later in the day, long after the brightest hours of the day had passed, a voice called from the east, not far away.

"Woodsman, is that you?"