As Lara slowly turned away from Julia and started walking, Julia relented, and followed Lara.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Julia said. "I mean... I can't believe this!"
Lara smiled, and then held out her hand. "Here." She said.
Julia took her hand and the two continued walking deeper into the oak forest.
About an hour later, the two came to a stream, smaller than the one near the farm house, but still had a decent amount of running water. Lara knelt down and lowered her head to sip some water.
"Ahh! that's good!" She said.
"Eww! Is that even safe?" Julia asked.
"Well, it's all we got right now." Lara said, taking another sip.
Julia did the same, getting down on her hands and knees, lowering her head, holding hair back in the process, and taking several sips.
"Well, I guess I we're miles away from those men by now." Lara remarked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Julia answered, making a face of disgust at the thought of what could be in that water.
Lara looked upstream and then turned her attention downstream, hoping to find something, anything.
"I'm getting hungry" said Julia.
"Yeah, me too" Lara replied.
"Maybe we should follow this stream" Lara continued. "I bet it'll lead us to something".
"OK, but which direction?" Julia asked.
"Downstream. If we go upstream, I think the water is only going to thin out as we gain elevation. We're likely to find something downstream."
After a moments rest, Lara wanted to get going. "Come on, if we're going to find food we gotta move on."
Julia got up, though with hesitation. "Uhh!" She moaned. "My feet ache!"
The girls had followed the stream for close to two hours, and had probably traveled six miles, when the terrain had changed considerably. There were far more rocks and boulders, and they found themselves climbing down hills and canyons. Meanwhile the stream had grown slightly more wide and carried a bit more water.
Eventually they came to a waterfall where the stream poured into a small lake.
Julia took in a breath. "Oh how beautiful!" She said looking at the lake.
The girls found a path down from the waterfall to the lake's level. At the bottom of the waterfall were several large rocks and boulders that had been worn smooth. From there, one could wade into the lake. Lara wandered into the water until she got up to her knees.
"Julia!" She exclaimed. "I think I see something."
On the other side of the lake she saw what looked like a structure.
"What is it?" Julia answered. "I don't know, it might be a house."
Lara walked out of the water and the two girls followed the shoreline until they got to the other side of the lake. There they found a small cabin, no bigger than eight-feet by eight-feet. It had a door, which was unlocked. There was a window, but no glass.
Inside they found trash, old paper cups, some bottles. It was unfurnished, just a wooden floor.
"I don't think anyone lives here." Lara remarked.
"It must have been nice place by the lake." Julia added.
"Yeah, we gotta find some food though."
