A River Runs Through It [Damien]

[Anna Lehmann]

Water. It was kind of important. And Anna had been in the middle of a whole lot of forest that she was getting the idea was not anywhere in Germany or her surrounding countries. There was the fact that it was cold. It had definitely been summer when she left southern Germany, but this weather was definitely fall. In fact it felt like snow was hardly a month away. Now the trick would be finding civilization before that snow struck. So far there hadn’t been anyone. It was like the forest was purposefully cleared out, even of common animals. Which meant so much for food too, despite the fact that she had no weaponry either. Well this was a fine kettle of fish now wasn’t it?

She did, however, find a creek. Or rather, she dubbed it a trickle. It was hardly enough to hold her hands under and get a mouthful of water after a full minute. That and the water tasted of mud and had the debris of fallen leaves and things she did not particularly want to think about in it. So she used her little trickle more as a navigation tool. After all, it had to come from somewhere, right? And that somewhere just had to include more water. And usually water was also a place to find food, be it plants or animals. At this point she would settle for just about anything.

The trickle did lead to more water. A lot more water. In fact, it lead to the biggest river Anna had ever seen. There was the Spree River back home in Berlin, but it was so completely surrounded by the buildings and streets of Berlin that however big it may have been when it once ran naturally was lost to history. This river, however, was enormous and untamed and so clear and inviting. She gave it one cursory glance to make sure there was no immediate threat. What was she expecting though, a bear? She hadn’t even seen a rabbit lately. The fact that it was all clear established, she ran for the riverbank and sank to her knees, scooping up handfuls of water and drinking as much as she could. A good deal of it ended up splashing on her face, but honestly she didn’t care. The water was clear and cold and fresh. There wasn’t any debris or mess or mud. It was as clear as tap water but almost sweet. It sure made a great improvement from the trickle.

Word Count: 420
Tag: Damien Gilreed