Snow covered barren forestry surrounded them as they made their way through the terrain they now found themselves in. A few times Liesel found herself slipping on the frosty, icy ground, only to retain her footing and plough on. Erik a few times found himself not too sure of his footing either, but unlike her, he never found himself falling or slipping to the ground below him. They had been walking for a few hours before Erik realised he was no longer being followed. Stopping and looking behind himself, he sighed at the sight of Liesel leaning up against a tree. She had managed to slip her boot off and rubbed at her foot before placing her boot back on and doing the same with the other foot. With a small huff she looked up at him, she casually shrugged before trotting over to his side.

Liesel wasn't alone in aching. Erik's feet were slowly loosing feeling. Before this his boots were quite durable, hard wearing and perhaps the best boots he had ever owned. But now, after having to live in them day in, day out, he was slowly finding the sturdy leather to be failing. No holes had appeared but he was rather certain if they continued on, there soon would be. It seemed Liesel was in the same boat. Only her boots were too big for her, and already battered and worn even before leaving the camp.

Exchanging a look they slowly nodded and continued onwards in silence. Everywhere around them was silence. There was not a sound to be heard. Their footsteps were crunching mutely on the snow covered ground, but that was it. There were no sounds of nature. No birds singing, and no animal calls. It was as if the animals knew to stay away. Soon hearing one step of footsteps again, Erik stopped and looked back. Liesel stood sniffling quietly and looking rather forlornly at him.

"We can't keep stopping." He said sounding slightly harsher than he actually meant to. Liesel flinched from his tone and picked her feet up with some difficulty and trudge her way over to him, again. It wasn't until he stood watching her that he realised the snow was growing denser, thicker and softer on the ground. Unlike him, Liesel was not in possession of a pair of long legs. Whereas the snow barely reached mid-shin for him, it was practically above that and then some on her. So hell bent on getting away, he was rather ignorant to the struggling which Liesel was going through to keep up. A small pang of guilt shot through him before he put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Liesel, it isn't fair me nagging at you every second to keep up...but you really must. We can't get separated out here, do you understand?"

"Of course I do." She said defiantly. She didn't quite like the thought of him believing her to be some idiotic girl. She knew full well if they somehow parted ways that it would perhaps lead to death for one or both of them. Either by the biting cold, or recapture, there would not be a happy ending if they split up. Erik merely nodded and kept a hold of her sleeve. If he kept a hold of her then she wouldn't have the option of stopping. It was rather cruel to inflict nonstop walking on her, but they really did need to get some distance between them and the camp. "May we perhaps pause for a break soon?" The question which had been niggling at her for the past few hours finally got spoken. She wasn't surprised by the highly thoughtful look which flitted onto his face. "Please, Erik...we cannot keep going without trying to reclaim lost energy. And the only way we can do that, is if we have a break. We have been walking for the past...three hours, is it? As yet no one has come for us, and to be honest...if you keep dragging me I will fall to the ground, and then you'd be wasting energy on pulling me around." Liesel said, she had managed to roughly calculate the time thanks to the sun through the clouds. But she was being honest, her legs ached from the cold snow so much she was losing feeling in them. She was surprised she was even upright still.

"I wouldn't pull you around," he muttered while letting go of her anyway. He mused over her words while scanning the area. She did have a point. As yet no one had come in search for them. Perhaps it was believed they had been shot down in the revolt which actually gained them their freedom. But whichever it was, they'd put enough distance between them and the camp to warrant a break, he supposed. Noticing a cluster of trees which seemed to collapse on themselves, he led her over. Hunkering down on the moss and snow covered ground, they wrapped their arms around their knees and looked out at the silent space before them.

"We aren't going to get out of here." Liesel's voice spoke quietly, defeatedly and tiredly as she sighed and watched her breath billow in a small cloud in front of her.

"You see the future now?" Erik quipped back, trying to lighten her mood and the moment. Even if deep down, he was feeling slow growing defeat.

"I see my fingers turning blue...that's how I know." Liesel said with a small shake of her head. She jumped when Erik unwrapped her arms and turned her hands over in his. Sure enough, the tips of her fingers were turning a pale blue.

"How long have you been like this?" Erik asked worriedly while rubbing his hands on her fingers in hope to revive them. "Why didn't you say something?!" He exclaimed annoyed only to quieten down and look around with wide eyes. Speaking above a whisper wasn't wise, let alone shouting.

Liesel frowned, "A while...I didn't want to tell you because you'd be like this."

"What? Be helpful? Worried? Yes, because I wouldn't act like that over something so big, would I?" Erik frowned at her. "You're an idiot." He berated, how she believed he would be casual over such a thing, he didn't know. She wasn't making looking out for her very easy.

Liesel pouted. "Tell me, what can you do? Is this really working? I still can't feel the tips of my fingers." She nodded to their hands and then looked at him.

"Just...you...for God's sake, Liesel! You can't keep important things secret! I don't know what else to do, but if I do nothing your fingers..."

"We should get moving." Liesel said sadly while smiling at him. She'd pretty much accepted her fingers slowly going numb. In this situation which they found themselves in, there was no way they could avoid something like this.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Erik sighed and let go of her hands. Making sure she placed them in her pockets he stuck by her side as they commenced walking again. "We should try and find somewhere for when nightfall comes."

"I'm not optimistic, but that looks like a road." Liesel nodded towards the tree line where she thought she spied the snow covered road. They walked onwards for several more minutes in silence. Both keeping an eye on the tree line to their right. The trees thinned slowly but surely, as if they had been cut back to make room for something. Eventually after another few minutes of walking, the trees seemed to stop completely. A fork in the road appeared. There was the road which led straight down, back to camp. A road which went off to the left, back into the tree line, and the other to the right, which seemed lacking in cover.

"We can't take both...we can't explore where one goes and then double back."

"Why?"

"You said it earlier on, we're running out of energy." Erik looked down at her before kneeling down by her side in the edge of the trees. Liesel huddled on the foliage around her looking from one direction to the other. "Not only that, doubling back means more chance of running into someone."

"Which is a no go."

"Exactly."

"So...what do we do?" Liesel looked uncertainly away from the silent roads.

Erik shifted and reached into his pockets. "Heads, we go left. Tails, we go right." Liesel looked even more reserved at the coin in his hand. She didn't need to know of its origin. Any money they had was confiscated which meant that it only came from one person. Who knew that such a simply problematic item would ultimately decide where they were going? "Sound good?"

"Well...I suppose...we don't have any options..." Liesel squeezed her eyes shut as Erik tossed the coin in the air. The quiet swishing of it in the air stopped when there was a thud. Opening an eye she looked down at the silver coin imbedded in snow. "Right."

"Right." Erik confirmed. He plucked the coin off of the ground and placed it back into his pocket before standing up. Liesel jumped up by his side and smiled, it was an uneasy gesture but she was trying to portray some inner confidence. Peering out of their hiding place, they checked both ways before running across the road. Running into what little cover there was, they stayed silent for a second or two before pushing away from the trees and continuing on.

"What if we come across a town?"

"We don't enter."

Liesel frowned at this yet gave a slow nod. "I suppose we do not know who can be trusted." After all, really, she did not know if she spoke for the both of them; but her whole captured predicament came about from her family formerly trusting someone. Trust was not such an easy thing to come by. Erik gave an agreeing nod before falling silent again. "Do you think...?"

"If you are going to dwell on what is happening back there, you will simply torture yourself. Concentrate on what we are doing. And then ponder over what is happening back there."

"But-"

"I know, your sister is back there. And though I wished you were finally together like you wanted, it seems fate had other plans."

"Do you at least think everyone's all right?" Liesel asked a little exasperated by Erik's flippant responses. The look he gave her said enough for her to fall silent and sad. They both fell into silence again then. Liesel had ran out of things to ask him, and her thoughts were elsewhere. Whereas Erik was too busy taking in the surroundings they were walking through. One of them needed to be vigilant, seems Liesel was finding the ground hugely intriguing, it fell to him. The next few hours passed like this. In silence, cold silence. With the coming and going of day, night had come. And when it fell, so did the temperature. Neither of them had any thicker clothing. Just the simple shirts and trousers they had been forced to live in for the past however many months. It was surprisingly really how both of them weren't falling under the effects of the cold.

It was getting more to Liesel and she kept falling back only to trot and catch up. Her head lolled to the side as she struggled to keep up as well as see in the oncoming dark. A few times she thought she had lost Erik only for him to appear beside her again. Marching through most of the early night, it was only natural for them both eventually to collapse from exhaustion. Most of the night was a blur as they slept right through. Not even finding a suitable place to sleep, they actually both ended up huddled together in a ditch. It was off from the main road so it acted as suitable cover. And it kept the wind and other elements from bearing down on them, but the ground was hard and unforgiving. It wasn't much different than their bunks. But by morning they both struggled hugely to come to.

Yet again, Liesel more than Erik. He shook her several times when dawn first woke him up. The sun seemed to shine bleakly from behind white grey clouds, and it had woke him up. She muttered in a hoarse voice and opened her eyes briefly only to fall silent again. "You've got to wake up." Erik urged and got a whisper from her, he didn't know what she said but it caused him to frown. She was fading. Hungry, cold, and shivering. She was really suffering. Managing to hoist her onto his back, Erik gritted his teeth from the dead weight. Getting his feet underneath him, he pushed himself to stand and trudged on through the light snowfall of the night. Thankfully the snow didn't hinder his progress too much, but the oncoming fatigue and thirst however did. Neither had had anything to eat or drink since leaving. Their last meal and drink would've been at least two days ago. No wonder it was starting to take affect now considering the conditions they were travelling through.

"It's so cold," Liesel's small voice whispered. Seems she was having a moment of awareness as she looked around at the weak sun trying to shine through the trees.

"I know, hold on." Erik said while somehow managing to climb out of the ditch while maintaining a hold of her. Her arms loosely tried to tighten around him only to go limp again. With annoyance he picked up his pace and marched along the road. He no longer cared who'd cross his path. Even in the state he was in he could render their weapons useless, if he needed to.

His determination though seemed to waver and dissipate as what eventually crossed his path was something way bigger than what he expected. Sinking to his knees from the weight of Liesel, the cold, and redoubled exhaustion, Erik looked up with narrowed eyes at the tank which rumbled its way down the small road. The simple track of the road got kicked up and churned over by the tracks on the tank. Erik held up a hand, to do so he had to let Liesel off of his back. She laid beside him oblivious to all in a world of darkness. The attempts of manipulating the tank ended in failure as it continued to move forwards. Resting his arms in the dirt beside him Erik hung his head before sinking into the snow and mud beside Liesel, her eyes were open a fraction and looked at him, though her vision was not focussed. Slowly her eyes slid to a shut and against wishing to Erik followed suit. He was minutely aware to being turned over onto his back. There were people speaking a language he did not wholly understand before being picked up. If there was more strength in his limbs, he would've fought back. Turning his head he managed to catch a glimpse of Liesel being carried behind him. She was unconscious again.

Being laid on a flat surface, he struggled to keep his eyes open. A man, dark haired and brown eyed appeared in his line of vision. Whatever he was saying was lost on Erik, he didn't know what he was being told, but he gathered it was meant to be reassuring. Simply because of the sympathetic look which was in the man's eyes. Seeing as how the man moved and sat beside him, Erik figured he was laying on a bench of some sort. Liesel was laying on the one opposite with someone trying to coax her to consciousness. With struggled movements he tried to sit up and help, only to gently pushed back down.

But in that split second of being up, Erik managed to see others sitting along the benches. Each wrapped up in bandages in some way. Through the canvas slits at the back he saw the tank trundle on down the road as the truck he was in commenced moving in another direction. They were with other wounded men of this war. Where they were going was a mystery, and Erik never got around to trying to ask before collapsing backwards and shutting his eyes. At long last he joined Liesel in unconsciousness. The gentle rocking of the truck aided in lulling him to sleep as the quiet whispers of the foreign men surrounded him.

----

Edited: 7/June/2019

Reedited: 13/August/2021