Answer: The man is distraught over the job he has been assigned.
In this excerpt, the man tells us that he has been assigned the job of taking the woman's daughter with him. He says that he does not wish to die, so we can assume his punishment for not doing his duty is death. Because of his words, and the way his voice trails off, we can conclude that the man is distraught over the job he has been assigned, and would prefer not to do it.