They had been walking for over an hour now.
With no place to go they had no choice but to keep moving forward, heads held high in hopes of finding someplace to stop by and relax.
Zoe, the leader of the group was upfront while the others were trailing behind her. With each step they took their bodies neared the advantage of collapsing. Their feet were sore and they were tired, dehydrated, and hungry.
Amani kept her gaze set on the ground, staring at her beat up sneakers praying someone would take her out of this miserable and lonely world.
She averted her gaze, lingering on the brunette next to her, Soren. He was about a year younger than her and cared for her in a way she never experienced before. She felt a connection with the broken and beat down teen, she felt his pain. In fact she felt everyone's pain. They all been through things unimaginable, something no one would dream of going through.
There were about 5 of them, including herself.
Her gaze slowly drifted to the blonde next to him; Savannah. She had dirt blonde hair that fell over her shoulders and ice blue eyes. She was fierce but knew when to back down. She had a big heart for those she cared for, but if you were to get on her bad side, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
With a sigh her eyes fell back to the ground, inviting it into a staring contest. She felt a hand place itself her shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.
Her eyes followed to whom the hand belonged to, only to be met with charcoal grey eyes. The teen smiled lightly at Amani as if telling her everything would be okay. With a swift turn Soren kept his gaze set up ahead, hoping that his way to comfort the older teen seemed to soothe her stress.
'Hope'
He wondered how such a thing could continue to exist for him. He had lost everything, minus his older brother Elijah whom to everyone, Soren was a younger version of him.
Maybe there was still a chance for him to be happy again. A chance for everyone to be happy. A chance to escape everything, all the worries of the world. To escape the hurt, and pain that hide's beyond the shadows.
A chance for freedom.
The curly head; Zoe, forced herself to keep walking, desperately searching for a place to rest. Her stomach begged her for food while her throat demanded a drink. Swiftly she wiped the sweat that threatened to fall down from her forehead. But in doing so her chocolate orbs landed on a large over run building, it looked as if it were abandoned. Which sort of gave them an advantage since no one would think to go in and search for a bunch of broken, desperate runaway teens. No one would want to stay in a creepy and dark place like that.
'They think we're weak.'
Her brain kept repeating to her, making her pride boost up as if trying to redeem itself from all the pressure and stress that was put on it.
"Over there." Without hesitation she pointed in the direction of the building, guiding everyone's gaze. "Well stop by there for the night." She announced.
She caught a spark of hope and relief shining through everyone's eyes, she mirrored them, finally giving her a chance of having hope.
She led the group across the busy road into the alleyway. With every step they took folks made sure to give them a suspicious or weird glance.
As they continued to get closer they caught a whiff of the sea signaling they were getting closer to the ocean.
Near the ocean within the forest lies the mountains.
And beyond the mountains lies their freedom.