The Fire Pt. 5

She did not trust his cleanliness, and especially not his calmness. It was as if he was expecting them at this very spot. 

Each dog continued to bark and snarl, and came to her side. They closed in around her, a piece of each pup now touching her leg. The barking seized but the unease did not leave them.

‘We have a place just down the road, you could probably see the smoke rising through the trees.’ This man’s words were spoken easily. ‘Yall are welcome to come by, the misses is just cooking up lunch for the others.’. 

‘The others?’ She chimed in.

‘Plenty of folk have made their way over the mountain since, well, you know what. We offer a bit of, refuge.’ The last word seemed to spit from his mouth. 

‘How many are there?’ She needed to know each detail of this place. So badly her legs wanted a break, and her arm needed healing but her physical self could push on. 

‘Oh, this time round, about fifteen. Eighteen including your lot. Plenty of dogs there too. A real pack including these.’ He looked down at the three wolfs gaurding their master. ‘All will fit in just fine I reckon.’.

‘This time around?’ Her husband finally spoke. 

‘Last month we rescued about thirty off the mountain. Month before that we had maybe five. It’s been a good year of people coming over. The winter must have hit some pretty hard. Like yourselves. I’ve seen a sorry lot before but not as sorry as you three look.’ He was blunt, and flashed many smiles to try and ease the tension. ‘How long have you been going for?’ 

His wife grabbed onto his and and squeezed, her shoulders tensed. She did not mean to tell her story today, and he was not telling his. 

‘I honestly don’t even know how long we’ve been out here. Seems like it could be years. We made through the Winter and after that, kind of lost track.’ He gave no true answer, and no details in their struggle. ‘I don’t even remember the day we found this one,’ he gestured towards the third party in their strange grouping, ‘just remember him lying in the snow under a tree. Stuck close ever since.’ 

‘I used to work in the forestry industry,’ the skinny man began but was interrupted almost immediately by the fat, clean man standing over them all. 

‘Tell me on the way, grub and a warm fire are waiting.’.