‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ he sighed with exasperation as he turned the key in the ignition and wearily resumed the journey. ‘You’re jumping at shadows. There’s no one out there.’

*

He’d left the train earlier than planned, discarding the suit for the more familiar and comfortable faded camouflage trousers and shirt he’d been given by the Brits when they’d liberated the camp. The worn army greatcoat was rolled up in his kitbag in case the weather turned or he needed a blanket to lie beneath in the chill of an Outback night.

It had been the camouflage that had masked his presence from the man as he’d melted deeper into the shadows – but the woman had seen him, and his pulse was still racing from the shock of that strange and unexpected encounter as he waited for the tail lights to disappear into the distance.

Memories of hiding in the jungle returned full force. Of hearing the enemy searching for them, seeing their lights and smelling their sweat as they jabbed the thick foliage with their bayonets and hacked their machetes at the vines that grew as thick as a man’s arm. He could feel his own sweat trickling down his face and back as he slid down the rough bark of a tree trunk and tried to banish those images as he waited for his pulse to steady.

Reaching into the kitbag with trembling hands, he pulled out the tin of tobacco, box of matches and a slim packet of rolling papers. The ritual of making a cigarette finally calmed him and, as he struck the match and lit it, he breathed in with a sigh of pleasure. It tasted so good after the dried grass and thin lavatory paper they’d smoked in the camp and he wanted to savour this sweet moment of victory, for the enemy was conquered and, for now, so were his fears.

The storm still raged, but the wind was picking up, its hot breath reaching him even in the cooler, dark shadows of the surrounding trees. He’d been walking for almost a week now and would have liked to stay here, to rest his head on his kitbag, the soft, dry forest floor a perfect mattress for his tired body, the canopy of trees the only roof he would ever need. But he was still many miles from his destination and he didn’t know how long he had before the gnawing pain in his gut became unbearable and his meagre strength ran out.