By the time it was beginning to grow dark Alfred thought he had made a pretty good camp. He collected enough firewood from the edge of the forest for the next night or two, more food he scavenged off of British soldiers, a blanket he borrowed from another soldier and cleared the area of bodies. He was feeling pretty content as night came.

But the settling darkness brought doubt with it. The light of the campfire only brought harsher lines of darkness, like a black curtain closing him in. Alfred hated it. His eyes flicking back and forth, never stopped scanning the edge of darkness.

He hadn't always been afraid of the dark but he had always been superstitious. As Alfred gazed into the dark wall of the night surrounding his campfire he could feel his heartbeat quicken. And at the thought of the hundreds of dead soldiers covering the fields around him could only amplify his paranoia. The thought, he suddenly remembered, of the soldiers he stole from quickly shot his paranoia into full blown fear.

Alfred huddled in on himself, as close the fire as he could. They were probably out there right now watching him, waiting for revenge. Not only would they have been angry at being stolen from but also from their bodies being left here, unattended. Their angry spirits could all be out there and they could do anything to him.

Alfred stayed there wide awake and trembling for hours. The rustling of bushes, the snapping of twigs and the other odd noises Alfred couldn't place had him flinching. It was like torture. The longer it went the worse it got. The suspense was murderous, and so were the ghosts. Every noise he heard made him shrivel and quiver more in fear. They were right out there, right in the darkness, searching for anything to rest their wandering souls. To exact revenge and justice. They were right there, just waiting to catch him off guard.

He tried to keep his mind off it so many times. To think about something else, anything else. But it never worked. Every time, his mind just brought him back to his little campfire surrounded by darkness and the things waiting just beyond the light.

He was all alone.

Humans have a natural urge to stick together, it was safety in numbers. Which is why it wasn't much of a surprise when the thought of going back to the other soldier crossed his mind once or twice. But he wouldn't. He couldn't. He would not stoop to such levels to show such cowardice in front of the enemy, he reminded himself firmly.

But as the night grew on and exhaustion took ahold of him, he was ashamed to admit, the idea became more and more appealing.

Just then, BANG. A loud boom splintered through silent the night air. Alfred spasmed, nearly jumping into the fire. Fuck, what was that?

But Alfred didn't really have to ask himself that question as he was more than accustomed to that sound.

That was the sound of a gun being fired.

Alfred's heart raced in his chest. A gunshot. The other soldier. What was he doing?

A single gunshot, and then silence.

Alfred was in disbelief. It couldn't be…? The soldier was near bleeding out earlier today. Had Alfred misevaluated the severity of his injury? Could his wounds have become too great and he…?

Alfred continued to sit there in stillness for a few moments.

He still needed information. He still had no idea what happened or how to get back, the man couldn't be dead yet.

He rose to his feet. He had to go see what happened. Kicking the coals down in his already dulling campfire, Alfred was surrounded by darkness. He felt utterly vulnerable, but slowly, in stiff shaking legs, he walked through the darkness.

He had to force himself not to run or quicken his pace, spirits can sense your fear. All the while he was walking he was telling himself it was not because he was afraid. He needed to make sure his asset wasn't dead. He still needed information from him afterall. It was not because he felt safer around another person even if that person was part of the tyrant army. It was not because he needed him.

Stumbling through the darkness, he headed to the sound of the shot. The moonlight led him right to the other soldiers camp. A dim glow lit the area as he grew nearer. His eyes adjusted and he could just make out the shape of the other exactly where Alfred had left him. The light source of what must have been dying embers came from somewhere close behind the soldier, making him nothing but a silhouette. He was eerily still as the laid there, like he was sleeping. Or…

Alfred stopped. What if he found himself alone here? His legs were afraid to move forward. What would he do? He would finally be really truly alone. Would he be destined to die out in the wilderness along with all of his fellow soldiers, cold and alone? Would he starve to death or would the ghosts get him first?

He took a breath. He forced two more hesitant steps forward.

Then all of a sudden, BANG.

Author's Note:

Gotta bring in that point that Alfred is afraid of ghosts!

Anyways sorry about this chapter, it's kind boring and really short and basically only a filler chapter. But it does end on a cliffhanger... oops.

It also occurred to me that this chapter and the last chapter could really have just been combined into one but... oh well.

Hope you like it! See you next time!