Jim woke to the sound of movement outside the cabin.  Glancing over to where Sam was, Jim saw he wasn’t lying there, and the bedroll was gone as well.  Jim hurried to his feet and wrapped up his own bedroll.  He put it in the closet, where the chairs from the previous night now were.  Jim stepped out of the cabin.

The air was exceptionally colder than Jim expected, he shivered a little.  Sam came around the corner.

“Good, you’re awake, I was just about to wake you up.  Here take this.” Sam said, offering Jim a tunic of his own.

Jim put it on, hopefully it would help with insulation and help keep him warmer.

“It makes for great camouflage.  Where we’re heading, we can use all the camouflage we can get, and a little luck to go with it.” Sam said, walking back in the cabin.  He walked back out with a travel sized backpack of the same material and some oddly shaped water bottles.  Jim gave Sam a look of curiosity.

“Don’t ask how I got them.  Just know they’re safe to use and drink from.” Sam replied to Jim’s reaction.

Taking the hint, Jim gladly accepted the water bottle and put in in a backpack of his own.  Jim began to follow Sam away from the cabin, stopping only to urinate about twenty feet from the cabin.  Jim was eager to see what they were going to be up against.

The dark morning air was cool and crisp.  The tunic did well enough to keep off the chill, but Jim could feel goosebumps forming on his arm.  It wasn’t pitch black with the waxing moon getting closer to the horizon, but it was still dark enough that Jim had to stick fairly close to Sam, who was hiking an apparent tried and true path.  The morning dew had formed on the grass along the sides of the path, glowing with the moonlight.  It created a sort of runway.  Jim knew he was in for a hike, when Sam told him that they needed to get there before the sun came up.

Jim could hear little creatures scurrying about on either side of them.  Jim was searching for his friends, and they were searching for their sustenance.

The path went in all different directions, it winded left and right, uphill and downhill.  The path even wrapped around a couple of very large trees.  The trees were pine, and had very large bases.  The roots of the tree were only partially submerged.  Some of them were half in the ground, some of them stuck up a few inches.  Jim took care not to trip on any of them.  They wouldn’t cause much damage, but he also wasn’t looking forward to tripping and skinning a knee, or twisting an ankle.

Sam didn’t really say much on the way there.  Much like when they had first met, Sam was very much focused on survival.  Sam had only said it was a few miles away, but this definitely seemed longer.

Jim once again could hear the sound of running water, only this wasn’t nearly as violent as the waterfall from the previous day.  

“Follow me very closely, one wrong foot and you’ll end up going over.” Sam warned.

Jim could begin to make out a shape as they approached what looked like a small river.  It was difficult to see in the darkness, but Jim could make out what looked like an old foot bridge.

“This bridge ain’t in great shape, and it’s about twenty feet to the water below.  It’s not enough to hurt you, but the nearest exit from the river is a lake about two hundred yards downstream, coupled with some white water halfway there.  You’ll survive, but you ain’t gonna be happy by the end of it.” Sam informed.

Sam and Jim approached the bridge, and Jim looked over the edge, the moonlight cast enough light glow on the water.  The bridge itself was rather thin.  It had wooden planks about two feet in length all of which were tied together by some kind of crudely fashioned rope.  The hand rails were also the same type of rope, with a securing length that tied to hand rails to the planks every three feet or so.  The rushing water underneath caused spits of water to land on the planks, in addition to the rain the past few days.

“Stay right behind me, and cross it like you mean it. You’ll be okay.” Sam said, as he took his first step out on the bridge.

As Sam and Jim entered the bridge, they could hear the ropes tighten and strain.  The wooden planks under their feet were, in fact, a little slippery.  They walked carefully, step by step, plank by plank.  By the time they got to the middle, the ropes seemed like they were strained to their maximum, but they held.  They both came out on the other side of the bridge.  Jim turned around to look back at it.

“It looks worse than it is.” Sam said, exhaling.  “I couldn’t imagine putting too much weight on it though.  I wouldn’t want to be the one to find out it’s weight capacity.”

Jim only glanced at him with a ‘Me neither’ look on his face.

“The sun’s gonna be up in about an hour, and we still have a couple o’ miles to go.  Chew some jerky, and drink some water, we need to be there before dawn.” Sam said, giving Jim some dried meat.

As the two men pressed on, Jim couldn’t help but notice that the other side of the river was a little different.  There were a couple of different trees around, they were white, and the bark looked like it was almost peeling.

“Birch.” Sam said, noticing Jim looking at the other trees. “The bark makes for an excellent firestarter.  It’s a shame we’re so close to where we’re going, they’d smell a fire burning for sure.”

Sam went immediately silent.  He motioned for Jim to duck down.  Jim did so, and followed Sam quickly into a thicket of bushes behind a tree.

“Stay down and stay quiet!” Sam whispered urgently under his breath.

Jim looked around but could see no danger.  Sam was peering through the bushes in a specific direction.  Jim had no idea what to expect, then he heard something.  A twig broke in the distance from the direction Sam was looking.  Jim also peered through the bushes in the same direction.  Sam began turning his head in a forty-five degree angle field of vision.  Sam reached back and grabbed Jim’s shoulder, pushing him down farther.  Another twig snapped and Sam had found what he was looking for.  Jim finally caught a glance as well.  

Two figures were walking nearby.  Both of them had what looked like guns.  Thankfully, they weren’t heading straight at them, but they were walking by close enough that any sound could potentially alert them.  Jim wasn’t looking to get shot today.

The two figures were dressed in some kind of black cloth pants, they were sort of baggy.  They had on a green cloth shirt with the chest area exposed, a thin twine belt, and a semi-automatic rifle with a sling attached that could very easily fit around their shoulder to waist.  They both wore straw hats with medium sized brims.

Jim watched carefully, quietly, shallowing his breath, watching the two figures walk in the direction of the bridge about thirty feet away from him and Sam.  The two figures were now passed them and began getting farther away, increasing the distance between them. Jim could hear Sam finally let out a breath again, prompting Jim to do the same.

“We’re closer than I thought.  Those were patrols.  Stay low from here on out and be prepared to hide again if necessary.  When we get to the edge of the tree line ahead, you’ll know exactly where we’re heading.” Sam said before beginning to walk again toward their destination.

Jim followed once more.  Jim was now hyper-aware of his surroundings with that close call.  The sky above was slowly starting to turn a very deep red and orange on the horizon.  The stars were beginning to disappear.  Dawn had arrived.

Sam picked up his pace and Jim did the same.  The edge of the treeline came into view better with the slow exit of night.  The two men rushed, low and quiet to the edge of the treeline.  Sam found a downed tree and motioned for Jim to follow and use it for cover.  Jim rushed through the bushes and made his way over to Sam.  Jim leaned behind the fallen tree with Sam.  The tree was easily about three feet in diameter. 

“When I say, we are going to slowly look over this tree.  The encampment is on the other side.  We’re gonna be here a while, so get comfy.  We need to study absolutely everything we can about the layout, and guards.  This is no longer fun and games.  This is the real deal.  If you don’t wanna end up down there like them, you need to do exactly as I say, exactly when I say to do it.” Sam spoke, not a trace of humor in his voice.

Jim knew he was serious.  Jim couldn’t help but look at Sam in that moment, and recognize a style of leadership that he wanted to be able to emulate.  Jim nodded his head.  Sam could tell that Jim understood the severity of his words.  Jim may not have fully understood yet, but he understood enough.  Sam placed his hands on the tree as an anchor, Jim did the same.  Sam slowly began to stand up, Jim did the same.  Sam turned his head to look over the tree.  Jim took a deep breath and lifted his head up to look over the tree and wasn’t prepared for the scene ahead of him.