*coughs* Uhh, guys... It's heroine. Unless somebody's on drugs. Erik, is somebody in your story on drugs?
Ellie tells Bloodbath (re: the village), "This is the only place I can get help for Kail." First thought: Why hasn't she tried to FIND Kail first? If she has tried, what does she think of the fact that she couldn't?
Ellie's naïvété is showing through nicely in this scene.
From your wording, Ellie deliberately sneaks up on the woman and her son (no mention of any of the more supposedly dangeorus people in the village whom she might be trying to avoid). Why does she think sneaking up on someone is a good way to get their help? Or to keep them from revealing her presence, if that's what she's concerned about?
I'm trying to decide if it's a problem that Ellie, supposedly worried about Kail, is still willing to sit down and have dinner and take the time to do so. At this point, it's probably NOT a problem, really; it's been long enough that another half hour or something won't make much dinner. But I still wonder. Also, why she didn't look for Kail first is still really bugging me.
"Out the back, you must run!" Maria says it to Ellie when people come a-knocking. And really, there's nothing wrong with this sentence. But I'd still consider having her say simply, "Out the back. Run!" Because--and maybe it's just me--but when I first read this sentence, honest to God, I heard Yoda.
I still feel like I'm waiting for the main story to start.
I don't think getting rid of a "noble/likeable" character like Bloodbath in such a "callous" way is necessarily a problem. I do want to know that there's a point to the sections that involved him, though. And that needs to be answered in THIS book. If there's parts of his story that you want to reveal later, that's fine. But there should be a reason that I'm spending time with him NOW.
I don't really have a lot to add, other than to echo what's already been said.