Four days after storm, let's start from the beginning.

The storm after they rested stayed for about a day when they travelled, taking so much breaks but couldn't stand in the cold as their faces are red from the bites of the harsh wind and having no time to build a shelters when their fingers are cramping up by this storming weather.

They'd worried about the possibility of that happening, but they'd planned to be taking time and always themselves up with the canteen of hot chocolate and building fires as it happened, so they could get their bearings, find some dead wood and hide under the trees from the cold wind, using traps and blankets to warm themselves. What they hadn't accounted for was the detour they had to take after a long stretch of wooded backroad turned out to be a dead end. They'd had to double back on two hours' worth of walking, and that was when they had to ditch the trail that Kal used before. Cold and uncomfortable, Kal was pissed that the trail he used was gone and now has to detour a map from Max and try to find the river where it leads to the school. Max was panting on his jog, Johan wedged into the trunk of a tree, Killeen and Kal wedged together to take their breaths. Poor Rin was shivering, the scar on her cheek was so pale, paler than her cold skin. Max went over and uses his blanket to wrap around Rin, giving a pat to her head and she thanks him.

They detoured down a second path in day three. It was good Killeen packed so much supplies so they wouldn't be worried on running low of them. Killeen worked together to keep everyone entertained, telling stories of the cards of famous Bounty Hunters, even telling the story of them helping the Saviors on the KillGames with the rhino and the exgrating explosion of the walls and Johan and Rin singing along as everyone sings along, including Kal. Max could tell, after a while, that the constant chatter was starting to grate on everyone else's nerves, but he elected to ignore it and carry on. If one kid complained, they would be a hell of a lot more irritated. And beside that, Max was enjoying himself. They need a day to have some fun.

Everything went smoothly enough until they reached on day four. On the map it had been marked on a gas strip- and it was stripped clean. It had never been a big town, certainly, barely a pit stop, but it had been a pit stop that they desperately needed. And there was nothing- a single gas station, stripped clean, the pumps long since dry, and the gas tanks of the few shambling cars left in lots and roads were empty. The scant houses and shops yielded nothing of significance, and forty miles after they'd left the town behind them, their water dry down.

"Crap." Max hissed as he checks for any fresh creeks.

"You out of juice?" Said Kal

Max sighed and scrubbed a hand through his long hair. "Yeah. Anyone else have some water?"

Johan nodded, looking resigned. "Only half a quarter. Better take only sips."

Everyone sat in the forest snowed bed for a moment, knowing what they had to do but not wanting to accept it quite yet. Max was the first to move, grabbing the roadmap wedged in between his pack and the center console and hopping out of the car. Everyone else followed suit as Max and Kal scans the map he'd spread out.

Max glanced up at him. "How much further to the school?" He asked, part of him dreading the answer.

Kal sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. "About twenty miles."

"Fuck."

"I know."

"Language!" Killeen said.

"Sorry."

"Max, we don't have it in us to go another fifteen miles. Where we take, there is a short cut..."

Max folded the map back up, shoving it in the back pocket of his worn jeans. "Then we take it." He said.

"But there is a river. The river will be frozen, but I can't be sure it would hold any type of weight, the five of us together."

"But we don't really have another option here."

"Yeah." Kal repeated, squeezing Max's shoulder. "It's no other choice."

Max's eyes were weary, but he managed to grace Kal with a tired smile. "No other choice."

Water were tightly rationed, used sparingly as they trudged along the seemingly endless stretch of wooded forest. Kal saw how people were reluctant to take sips of water, to accept an offered cracker or bit of granola bar. He'd been confused by it at first, but he got it now: they were looking out for each other. And while Kal got it, he really did- this was how they operated, putting the needs of others before themselves- he also saw that this insistence that "no, really, I'm fine", was driving them to exhaustion.

It was only when they came across a pack of stray fox. He was relieved about that, he thought, digging into a chunk of meat with his teeth as Johan cooks them up over a fire as easily as if they'd been squirrels. And the meat is surprisingly good.

Past that incident, water was scarce, the woods not yielding much in the way of hunting game in the weather and the time animals sleep and get up for food, and in the cold of winter, the combination of dehydration, hypothermia and full-body exhaustion added up to a lot of weary, bone-tired people who were barely capable of fending for themselves. This far off the beaten path, it was hard to count the miles, and Kal began to worry that people were going to start dropping from the exhaustion before they could get anywhere near the river.

When they stopped for the night, Max was the first to volunteer to keep watch. He was seated beside the small fire they'd kindled for the sake of keeping some semblance of visibility, and Kal decided to stay up with him. He sat close.

"We can't keep going on like this, Max. It's only a matter of time before people start dropping like goddamn flies in the heat. If we are gonna pass out, I don't think the frozen river would be right." It felt redundant to say it aloud when he'd already seen it written all over Max's face, but he has to speak up for Max.

"I know, but I can't be helpless for you. I made a deal for you," Max replied, voice weary. When he reached out to give the low embers of the fire a nudge with the end of a stick, Kal saw the way his hand shook.

"Jesus, Max, here," He reached behind himself, fumbling through one of the backpacks to find jerky, holding it out to Max.

"Kal, I don't-" Max started, shaking his head.

"You most certainly do. Listen to me. I've seen you, Max. You think I haven't noticed you giving Killeen, Johan and Rin most of your share of the food? You're going to kill yourself doing that shit, you know that, right? And what good are you to them if you're dead? Huh? Now eat. You're shaking." He unwrapped the bar and pressed it to Max's lips. Max's expression wavered in uncertainty, and Kal's face softened. "You're smarter than this, Max. You know that you can't keep this up. So please. Please just eat something."

Surprisingly, that seemed to do the trick. Max held his gaze for a moment, intense blue eyes reflecting flickering embers, and then he took a bite, eyes fluttering closed in pleasure at the taste of food in his mouth. Unconsciously, Kal's tongue flicked out, wetting his lower lip as he watched Max eat. Max caught the look, the hunger in Kal's eyes as actual physical hunger, and tilted the bar toward him.

"You, too."

Kal laughed. "I guess I need it too."

"Just a bite. It'll make me feel better about eating this if I know someone else helped. C'mon."

Kal couldn't say no, so he took a bite. Just one, before pressing the rest back to Max, eyes insistent.

The next day was better than before, a hazy, dry heat that soaked their shirts with sweat and hearing their clothes bodies. By midday, the group's steps became more of a trudge, aching feet dragging weary, malnourished, thirsty bodies further along an endless stretch of the same forest. Max is getting tired of seeing tree after tree, becoming frustrated if he sees that same damn tree again. And what makes it more worse is that the clear snow made it look no different; no colour to spark his interest, the weather not compiling to his needs, and once a while birds chirp in the morning up five or when the first clips of the sun rises and they chirp so loud, letting Max not get any sleep or rests.

Soon he heard a gurgle of water, and several times he tries to glimpse every direction as to where the water comes up. Listening carefully, he heads north and he finds a stream that cuts down land towards a creek. Nope, it was a large frozen river, travelling over hundred yards away.

Max sighed in relief. "We made it. We're almost there," he muttered.

The rest follow up and came beside him, grouping together as they look at the frozen river.

"It's still a long way," Killeen said, his eyes sad. "We can't be sure the river would hold."

Max trudged along slowly towards the river, looking at the thick sear ice. From the glance it looks to be solid, about seven or maybe more inches thick. Carefully putting the sore of his feet, he moves down onto his left foot then putting down his right foot, seeing nothing cracking or anything.

"Everyone hold hands and walk slowly."

Johan immediately took his hand and squeezed it. Rin held Johan's as Killeen was third, and Kal held behind. There was a whole yards away of being close to saving Kal's friends.