Chapter 216: Winter Closing In

Editor: nnpdad

The compound was quiet when I returned to it. There was a small fire going in our fire pit, providing minimal illumination in the common area while shadows smothered the details of all but the very closest objects. The light breeze that made it past the wooden palisade was not enough to perturb the fire or transform the cold night air into the bitter bite of winter. The fire would keep the night watch company and a bit more comfortable during their shift; it was an unpleasant but necessary task.

The night watch was a rotating duty covering the deepest hours of the dark. The primary responsibility was to watch the fires, keeping them properly safe and lit. Occasionally we’d have critter incursions but we’d not seen anything truly threatening yet, what with the dogs helping us watch and the cats making their nightly hunting forays. Coyotes and wolves weren’t a problem for us yet and unless the weather took a severe turn for a long period, I doubted that they would be.

I had a few hours left before I had my turn out here. They had tried to leave me off the list but I insisted on inclusion. We already exempted heavily pregnant women and women with newborn infants, so I would be taking my turn in a few hours and I needed some rest before then. I slipped into my camper as quietly as possible, removed my coat and boots in the flickering light of the stove and slid carefully into bed.

Mouse was half awake and snuggled back against me muttering somnolently in her half-sleeping state. Quiet comfort was the order of business so I simply held her close and drifted in to join her just over the edge of sleep. I wandered there in a blissful doze for what was either hours or minutes before the soft rapping came at my door, calling me to watch. Mouse made as if to come with me but I bade her to sleep and dream sweetly. Even if I was a little tired and grumpy in the morning, sweet mannered Mouse would make my day so much the better. I pulled on my boots, a heavy sweater and my coat before I slipped out into the cold night and quietly called for Brin, insuring my hours on watch wouldn’t be lonely.

As usual I took the dreaded death watch, to me it simply meant that I was getting up a few hours early in the morning. I could understand why so many dreaded it, because in the long nights of winter the sun still wouldn’t be up when you were charged with making your wakeup rounds. However in the summer weather you got to watch the sun come up and enjoy the cool morning air in peace and solitude. It was one of the simple joys in life.

Tonight I expected to have a couple of hours on my own until the breakfast crew showed up. I wanted to do some thinking and play with my drone a bit; it had been actual months since I last got to use my own toy. I was relieving Holder on this night and he sat up for a while to chat with me. He was still a young guy and was more than a little confused by what had happened with Mouse.