Alena hid the pain in her stomach, she needed food, the little they had been fed for years was not enough to sustain someone to exert this kind of energy, and the berries they'd picked at were little help. They couldn't eat, not yet, they needed to keep going, to get as far away as possible from the men looking for them. Despite feeling no more confident than Erika, she nodded and managed a smile. "Yes, we'll be okay, we just need to keep going..." With that she urged Erika forward, listening carefully, hoping to find the river.

Her feet were aching so bad, she wished they had boots that fit them to protect themselves from the sticks and stones, the rough forest floor that tore up their skin, but unless they found a town, they were out of luck. Yet they had to keep going if they were ever going to be free. "I think I hear water..." She murmured, leaning in close, not wanting her voice to carry. It was faint but she tried to follow the sound, steering them towards what she thought might be the river and their only hope of not being lost in the woods.

Something scampered by her feet, she wanted to scream, to cry out in fear but she bit her tongue and said nothing. It couldn't have been big, probably a mouse or a rat, she figured, but she hated this darkness that surrounded them. Would they even see if the men chasing them approached? Surely the would make more noise than a little mouse.

Rather suddenly the stream was before them and despite her better judgement she burst from the treeline and crouched at it, cupping her hands and drinking the cold water. It felt amazing and she couldn't help but continue, filling her belly with the cool liquid, hoping it would hold her over, if only for a short time. Once they drank their fill they would have to continue, it was easier now, they'd follow the flow of the river, the current their guide in which direction they needed to head. Hopefully they had made the right choice, hopefully this led to a town, to civilization, and not back to their imprisonment.