"Shit!" Lara whispered. "We gotta get out of here!"
Lara and Julia got and up and found the path up the rocks and up to the top of the waterfall, and hid behind a bush to get a better look at the men.
"You think it's those detectives?" Julia asked.
"I don't know, probably."
Once the men walked in front of the cabin, they got a better look at them. They were both wearing dark-colored button shirts and slacks. They both went into the cabin, and then minutes later emerged. They stood by the water's edge and scanned the area. One of them bent down to pick something up. It was a dandelion root that Lara had plucked and eaten off the leaves.
One man appeared to be talking into a cellphone, while the other man started walking towards the waterfall.
"I think we should go now!" Lara said.
And the two girls bent over and walked away, trying to keep a low profile, until they got enough distance that they righted themselves and sped up to a run.
"Oww!" Julia yelled, as she began hopping, and then stopped by a tree holding one of her feet.
Lara stopped and turned around. "Julia!" she said, running back to see what was the matter.
"I stepped on something sharp, I think it was a piece of wood".
Her foot looked OK.
"Can you walk on it?" Lara asked.
"Yeah, I'm OK." Julia answered. "Come on, let's go."
Lara led the way, but maintained a slower run.
About twenty minutes later, they found the area becoming less wooded, and the ground become more rocky. They had to slow down to a walk, carefully avoiding the jagged rocks. They came to the ledge of a cliff, and caught the view of a valley and saw endless miles of wooded forest and hills.
They continued to walk along the ledge at a more casual pace.
"Lara!" Julia spoke. "I think I need to stop and rest."
Lara stopped and waited for Julia. Julia hunched over and put her hands on her knees and looked down. Then she stood back up and showed an expression of exhaustion and weakness in her legs. They had ran and hiked for about forty minutes.
"I can't keep going!" Julia said. "My feet hurt!"
Lara stood by the ledge looking out across the miles of thick wooded forest below.
"I don't want to go those men, Julia." Lara spoke.
"I know that." Julia answered, opting to sit down. "But, what are we going to do? I mean, how long can we keep running?"
Lara crouched down beside Julia.
"We'll lose them. Don't worry." Lara assured. "We just have to get somewhere deep into the thick part of the woods."
"OK." Julia replied, starting to calm down from the exhaustion. "I'm not going to give up either!"
"Good, because I'm not leaving you Julia, ever!" Lara looked straight into Julia's eyes. "You hear me? I'm never leaving you ever! We are going to do this!"
Lara turned back around and looked at the valley. She stood up to get another good look.
"I think we should find a way down into that valley." She said. "The tree cover looks thick enough that I don't think they'll find us."
Lara waited for an answer from Julia, but Julia didn't respond.
"How are your feet?" Lara asked.
"They hurt."
"Let me look at them." Lara asked.
She crouched down.
"Your blisters are getting worse. We gotta find a place where we can rest for a few days and let these heal."
Julia squinted her eyes under the pain.
"We gotta down into that valley. They'll spot us up here easily."
Julia cried under the realization. But, she slowly lifted herself up.
