Fear

 The morning broke gently, the light rain had stopped, leaving the ground fresh and the air cool. The camp was stirring to life with the sounds of morning routines. Birds began to sing, and the scent of damp earth filled the air. Lily and Ed were still asleep, their faces peaceful after the emotional turmoil of the previous days. Right now I'm planning for us to go more North-West from here, we shouldn't stay here for too long. To put it into view this trip was horribly planned, we don't have much food left and Why did I feel the need to adopt another kid? I could barely manage with just Lily around. But looking at Ed's hopeful eyes, I knew I couldn't turn my back on him now. At this rate if we can't find a village or something soon we'll starve to death, not even putting the amount of people that want to kidnap the kids and turn them into slaves into the equation. Ugh, we gotta move out of this area to find food, even if we had plenty of money it won't help if there's no one to buy from. And forget about sharing, the people in the other camps don't seem like they don't even want to be asked for food. We'll just move for the meantime, maybe we will find some wild berries somewhere. I wish I went camping more often when I was younger, I don't know the first thing about being in the wild at all. Because of my carelessness Lily and Eddy are going to miss their breakfast, I sign then call them up to leave.

- Time to wake up you sleepy heads, we're going to leave soon. I told them gently.

 They both are still mostly asleep Not knowing what's going on in the world.

-Is it morning already? Lily mumbled, sitting up and stretching.

-Yes, and we need to get going. I replied, moving over to Ed and shaking him awake too. 

- Come on, Ed. Time to move out.

Ed stirred and sat up, looking around groggily. "

- Where are we going? he asked, his voice still thick with sleepiness.

-Northwest, I said.

-We need to find food and a safe place to stay. We can't count on anyone here to help us.

As we packed up our makeshift camp, I couldn't help but feel the weight of responsibility pressing down on me. We set off through the grass field, the ground still damp from the rain. The path was rugged, and our progress was slow. The field was vast, and the bright flowers seemed to stretch on forever, but the beauty couldn't mask the underlying danger. We walked in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts.

As the we started climbed higher in the mountain range, the day grew warmer. The wildflowers gradually gave way to a dense forest, the canopy providing much-needed shade. The air was filled with the sounds of rustling leaves and distant bird calls.

"Look, berries!" Lily suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a bush laden with small, tart-looking berries.

We rushed over and began picking the berries, filling our pouches and eating our fill. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep us going for now.

-These will help us for a while. I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. But we still need to find a village soon.

We continued our journey through the forest, the shadows growing longer as the day wore on. The atmosphere was tense, every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves putting us on edge. We couldn't afford to let our guard down.

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through the trees. We froze, hearts pounding.

-What was that? Ed whispered, his eyes wide with fear.

-Shh. I hissed, straining to listen. The forest was silent for a moment, then we heard it again, a snapping branch, followed by the unmistakable sound of footsteps. No one was here at all, and I'm sure that no one followed us since morning. And there were multiple people too, a gut feeling told me that it's time to hide before they see us.

"Hide!" I whispered urgently, pushing Lily and Ed behind a large bush. We crouched low, barely daring to breathe.

The footsteps grew closer, heavy and deliberate. My heart raced as I peered around the trunk of the tree. Through the dense foliage, I saw a group of men, their faces hardened and cruel. They were armed, and they moved with the predatory grace of hunters.

-Slavers.

I motioned for Lily and Ed to stay quiet and still. The men passed by our hiding spot, their voices low and menacing as they talked among themselves.

-There's gotta be more of 'em around here somewhere. one of them said. "Keep your eyes peeled."

We stayed hidden until the men were out of earshot, then I slowly exhaled the breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"We have to keep moving," I whispered. "Quietly and quickly."

Lily and Ed nodded, their faces pale but determined. We slipped out from behind the tree and continued our trek through the forest, every step a reminder of the dangers that lurked just out of sight. How could I have forgotten the only reason that there were so many slaves in Platinum is because they hunted down Veldora's citizens then smuggled them back, they certainly didn't get those slaves from the capital. So the only place they could have hunted was near the borders between the two countries, if they went all the way up here then they must have run out of victims down stream so they went up here, those bastards… We have to be more careful, we can't go back now it's too late and there might be more down the mountain. We have to continue until we find a safe place. It was already dark, what are we going to do now?

 - Sister…I'm scared. Lily said, holding onto me trembling with fear as the night got darker. We can't afford to have a light source or they would find out where we are. The only thing I could do to not lose them in the darkness is to tie a rope to one of their hands and tie them all to mine. I can't see very well at all. It was all blurry with only the moon lighting our way.

- Hold on tight you guys. I said under my breath, I don't know how long it has been since we started walking but if we keep following the compass we will reach a small town by tomorrow evening.

- I'm really tired… Lily said and silent tears started to fall down her round cheeks.

- Me too… Edy said out of breath.

- I'm sorry… We should sit down and rest for a bit, but you guys have to stick close to me okay? I told them, I was barely on my feet. We still had some berries left in our pocket so we took them out and ate most of them. If this could help us last a little while longer than it was worth it. We sat there for a while and drank some water as we rested, suddenly I heard a familiar sound. They were footsteps and they were heading our way.