Chapter Five - Hopeless

The Goblins lined up, first the young, then the sick, the elderly and after that the rest of the refugees. Jerry tried his best to fairly distribute food amongst the camp. The queue for food that snaked around the camp was so long that some goblins would be waiting half a day for their food.

Every starving Goblin who got to the front of the line would cry or grumble, devasted that their wait was for nothing but a hand full of oats mixed with sawdust.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to feed the whole camp. Jerry had to ask the remaining last two thousand goblins to leave. It was noon by the time the line disappeared.

Jerry returned to his tent, his wife, Alena was boiling some grass and leaves. Jerry pulled out his pocket a handful of dry oats he had preserved for her. He put it in a cup and handed it to her. Her deep green eyes suddenly lit up with hope, something that had been absent for days.

"Good, the aid has arrived!" Alena grinned. "grass is off the menu"

"Its all gone now," Jerry muttered, he was close to tears. "We had a couple of thousand left to feed."

Jerry's stomach gave a low growl. Alena laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You should eat," she offered him the cup of sad oats. "You've been working so hard."

"No, you're eating for two." Jerry shook his head and smiled, he added. "I will survive."

Just then calls for Jerry echoed across the camp. Jerry sighed and pecked his wife on the cheek. He stood and stretched. "The scout is back, I'll be back in a second."