1_5_contest entry

The last glow of sunset faded quickly in the deep shadows of the woods. Two lost hikers, one with his leg in a crude splint, held their breath as they tried to strike their last three matches. The first fell apart in a smear. The second wouldn’t light no matter how many times it struck the matchbook. Mike held up the final match.

“Careful! Don’t waste it!”

“Who knows how long they’ve been in the back of my wallet, they might not be any good anymo- Ah!”

The final match burst to life with a hiss.

Mike cupped a hand around the newborn flame as he gently lowered it to the dried tinder, shielding it from the wind. The fire slithered through the sheltering nest of old pine needles, radiating an appreciative glow. Mike and Steve gradually added small twigs, careful to not smother the little flame. For a moment nothing happened, as though the fire wasn’t sure what to make of its new food, before the twigs ignited and were consumed by the growing blaze. Bigger and bigger sticks were added, until a roaring campfire illuminated the small clearing.

Mike gathered all the fallen branches from the edge of the trees, a smaller pile than either of them was very comfortable with. For a while they enjoyed the warmth and glow of the fire, making small talk and discussing plans for finding their way back to the trail.

“We could follow the stream, it would at least get us going in the right direction. But with your leg like that, we’re probably better off staying put. I wonder how long it’ll take for everyone to notice we’re gone?”

“Mary is such a worry wart, she’s probably already called in the National Guard by now,” Steve chuckled, wincing a little as he tried to move his leg into a more comfortable position. “Who knows how long it’ll take anyone to find us, though.”

“All the more reason to keep this fire going,” Mike said, snapping another stick into smaller pieces and tossing it on the fire. “I’m going to go a little deeper in the trees to get some more wood.”

“I’ll help!” said Steve, trying and failing to get on his feet.

“You stay here, someone’s got to watch the fire anyway. If it goes out we’ll never get another one going. I shouldn’t have to go too far in, it’ll be fine.”

Steve watched Mike disappear into the dark woods beyond the light of the campfire.

“This is all my fault,” Steve said to himself, warding off the eerie silence of the late autumn woods. “If I hadn’t slipped, we would have had plenty of time to find the trail again.” The fire crackled and snapped in reply, but no other sounds could be heard. The songbirds had long since migrated south, and the bugs burrowed in for the coming winter. Steve heard the footsteps crunching on the fallen leaves from a long ways away when Mike returned with an armful of wood.

“There’s tons out there! We’ll be fine until morning, no problem.” He said with a smile. Mike warmed himself back up at the fire, and both tried to remember exactly what landmarks they had seen before they got turned around. The waterfall had absolutely been along the trail, but after that nothing quite looked right compared to the map. The sky was filled with stars, but neither was sure which one was the North Star.

Before long, Mike got up to go get more wood.

“A couple more trips should do it, then we can stay put and figure out what we’ll do for tomorrow.”

Steve fed the fire more sticks as he waited. He knew that search teams probably wouldn’t be out in the dark, but he wondered if there was anyone out camping on the other hillsides that could see their fire and report their location. Phone signals had been spotty at best as they got closer to the remote park, and neither hiker had been able to catch a signal since they left the parking lot. Mike returned with another armful of wood, and left again to get one final armful before they could take turns resting.

Minutes crept by, first 15, then 30. Steve called for Mike, panic slowly growing, but there was never any answer. Did he go too far in and get even more lost? Maybe he changed his mind and decided to follow the creek after all? Could he have fallen and hurt himself too on the dark and uneven ground? Or could something even worse have happened? The possibilities grew worse and worse as Steve considered them. There were definitely bears in the woods, no grizzlies but even black bears weren’t 100% harmless. No wolves, luckily. Some claimed that there were mountain lions, but the DNR denied it and none had ever been caught on a game camera. Campfire stories were told about mysterious black panthers lurking in the trees, stories that seemed silly and fun until you were alone in the inky darkness.

Steve fed the fire slower, trying to stretch the wood pile as close to dawn has he could. His jacket had been fine in the daylight while moving around, but wouldn’t be enough if the fire went out. He thought he caught a brief flash of eye shine just beyond the edge of campfire glow, but couldn’t tell what it was. A curious raccoon looking for camping scraps, or a bear waiting for the fire to die out? Steve tossed a few more sticks on the glowing embers. The fire flickered weakly in response, like an old dog wagging his tail. Steve's hopes dwindled with the flame. Was Mike okay? How was he going to find him and get out of here? Was anyone really looking for them yet? He threw the last of the wood on the red coals, with one last flare of fire and hope.

Loud crunching footsteps startled him awake from his doze.

“Hey! Who’s there!?” yelled Steve. His voice cracked a bit, and he wasn’t sure if he was scaring away animals or calling for help.

“There he is! Right ahead in the clearing!”

Mike waved from inside the group of searchers, and the last ember of the fire blinked out.