Rina filled the bottle that was given to her, crouching at the lake margin, drank all the water she could before filling it again and then washed her face. She sighed and looked at the others, feeling calmer.
Haruna already drank a lot of water as well, and now Tomomi and Mami were sitting at the margin and holding the other two bottles, drinking as if they were lost in the desert.
- Come on girls, fill those again and let's go.
- Ok, ok. - Tomomi answered, and sank the bottles into the lake.
It felt really nice to be there at that quiet lake, after everything. Rina was feeling like she could think straight again, and rationalize things. Seeing Haruna in that horrible state messed with her mind, but now she was back. She couldn't just lose it, Haruna needed her. All of them needed each other.
Tomomi got up and helped Mami to do the same, and suddenly Haruna let out a snort. None of them got it at first, but then Rina saw the mud covering Tomomi’s and Mami's pants.
- Bad move, huh? - she teased, returning her bottle to Haruna, and the other two seemed confused for a moment.
- Your butts, big head. - Haruna said, approaching them to get their bottles.
- Oh, awesome. - Mami said in a bored tone, looking over at Tomomi's bottom in a way that made Haruna let out another snort.
- Come on, let's get going... - Rina said, taking a few steps away. Then she saw some disturbance on the surface of the lake, and frowned for a second. Just a moment later, she saw something moving and getting into the water on the other side of the margin, something that looked dreadfully similar to a tail. - Ok, get away from the water, all of you.
- Calm down Rina-chan, don't be "Haru part 2". - Mami mumbled, climbing on Tomomi's back again.
- Seriously, get away from the stupid water! - she insisted, seeing the weird movement on the surface again - There's something moving, let's go!
With that statement, all of them took her seriously and hurried away from the lake. Looking back along the way, Haruna caught a glimpse of something large and full of scales appearing on the surface for a moment, and felt her stomach doing a backflip.
- Is that a freakin' crocodile?! - Mami asked while looking back just like Haruna.
- At least two, from what I saw. - Rina answered, frightened, and Mami went mute.
As they ran away and took greater distance from the lake, the leader couldn't stop thinking that Rina had just saved their lives. They were also lucky that the animals didn't seem interested in chasing them out of water.
Another hour or two had passed with a few stops, and they were all silent again. Now Rina walked a little on the front and the others followed. The drummer and the leader kept looking around the whole time while Mami tried not to move anymore, not wanting to make Tomomi's life more difficult. The bassist could only focus on walking, and Mami could hear her heavy breathing.
She felt horrible. Tomomi didn't have enough strength to keep doing that for long, and Mami knew that very well. She never felt like such a burden before. Now she knew how Tomomi was feeling a few days back.
Of all times for her to be so injured in her life, it had to be now that they needed to find their way out of that island with a psychopath running loose. When that man looked her in the eyes, she knew he wasn't like any other person she ever met. His eyes gave her a feeling of death, but she still wasn't able to kill him when she had the chance. Now that crazy man could show up anytime and attack them again, all because she was too weak to do what she had to do.
