The trees were pines, spindly conifers amid their larger cousins, but Blue navigated through them with the ease of a natural predator. She heard familiar sounds: squirrels up in the branches, owls flitting through the needles, rabbits rustling in the low vegetation. She scented fresh water, not too far ahead; a stream or river, gurgling its way to a larger body of water somewhere.

The air was clear, thick with the scents of summer and alive with the chorus of frogs and night insects. She both heard and felt Omega close behind her, following her every move and the knowledge pleased her, made her run all the faster, whipping through the foliage with careless abandon.

She finally emerged on the bank of the stream--which could be labeled a river, really, the water shimmering in the moon's light. Blue peered over the bank's sandy edge, then dropped a fist-sized rock, laughing softly when she heard the splashy ca-chunk! Without any other hesitation, she immediately began peeling off her clothes, unlacing her boots and pulling them off, as well.