"I don't know how to swim," Lily admitted quietly.
They turned to look at her.
Sam blinked. "Not even a little?"
She shook her head. "City kid. Closest I got was taking a bath, or watching other people swim on tv."
Victor let out a small sigh. "That's a problem."
Ethan was already in the river, testing the current.
Walter studied the riverbank and the width of the current. "The water's fast, but not deep all the way through. We can make it work."
AJ spoke up, his body shifting. "I can make a rope. If someone swims across with it, we can attach it to her and drag her across."
Sam began preparing his own gear. "Instead of dragging just her across, let's attach the rope on both sides and we can all use it to get to the other side."
AJ quickly made a rope using plants fibers. Ethan tied one end of the rope around his waist. "Pull me back if the river starts to win."
Victor checked the knots, gave them a sharp tug. "You're not allowed to drown."
Ethan smirked, walking deeper into the river. The current surged around his legs, but he kept moving, one step at a time.
On the shore, Lily watched in silence, jaw clenched.
Walter stood beside her. "You'll be fine."
She didn't answer.
They all watched as Ethan reached the far side with a mix of walking and swimming. He hauled himself out of the water and tied the rope to a thick root jutting out from the embankment. He gave a firm tug. "Ready!"
Lily nodded to herself, stepped forward.
"You don't need to swim," he said. "Just keep a firm grip as you pull yourself along."
She stepped into the river. It was cold, but she didn't flinch. She gripped the rope with both hands and slowly made her way across. The current tugged her sideways, but the rope held.
Ethan watched her from the other side while the others steadied the rope for her, when she was close enough Ethan grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto the bank.
She coughed once, soaked and winded.
"That was awful," she said. "Let's never do it again."
"You did well," Ethan patted her shoulder with a grin.
The others followed in turn, holding onto the rope and pulling themselves along. AJ flowed along the top of rope.
Walter moved with a slow and calm rhythm. Victor grumbled about wet pants the entire way.
They regrouped beneath the trees, wringing out gear and checking their gear.
Sam pointed into the depths of the forest. "Richard and Maria are that way."
They moved out, gear strapped tight. Mushrooms lit up around them as they passed, pulsing briefly before fading again. Trees here grew close together making travel slow and laborious.
By the second evening, the forest gave way to stone. A craggy cliff face loomed ahead, half-swallowed by vines and the creeping dark.
A wide, uneven opening yawned at the base.
Walter stepped forward. "A large cliff and a cave. It's a bit late to be trying to climb the cliff, shall we sleep in the cave?"
Sam nodded, voice hushed. "Let's see what's inside."
They quietly entered. AJ latched onto the walls, leaving a trail of glowmelt that cast a dim, steady light in the tunnel.
The stone floor grew smoother as they went deeper inside. The air turned warm, humid, tinged faintly with sulphur.
Victor sniffed. "What's that smell?"
Lily squinted ahead, where some steam appeared. A smile tugged at her mouth.
"I think I know what it is."
---
The tunnel opened into a cavern so wide it could have swallowed a house whole. Steam drifted lazily from natural fissures in the rock, curling around some stone pillars.
Pools of water dotted the uneven floor, some shallow and bubbling, others still and mirror-smooth. The scent of minerals and something faintly floral hung in the air.
Ethan whistled. "Okay. This I like."
They spread out cautiously at first, checking the edges, testing the water temperatures. The pools were warm, clean, and inviting—one even had luminous fish darting through it, leaving trails of glowing ripples.
AJ melted into a shallow pool at the edge and immediately let out a sound like a contented sigh. "This is... lovely."
The others began stripping down.
Victor sat on a smooth rock and began pulling off his boots with visible disgust. "My socks could be declared a biohazard."
He glanced up and barked out, "Nobody look this way unless you want a fight."
Ethan had already stripped down to his shorts and tossed his shirt onto a nearby rock. "You don't have to worry about me looking."
Lily, removing her underwear, shot back, "Anyone peeks and I swear I'll drown you myself."
AJ wordlessly continued his relaxation. Walter undressed slowly, setting each article of clothing in a precise pile. "Decency's more about intention than sight, but still—let's be courteous."
Lily was already halfway into one of the warmer pools, shoulders dipping below the surface. "This is incredible."
Sam stood at the edge of a deep pool, staring into the shimmering reflection. His expression softened, lines around his eyes easing. "We should take full advantage of this. Wash ourselves, and our gear."
Walter nodded. "Take some time to truly relax too, go over the past few months mentally and digest what we've been through."
For a few blessed hours, they weren't warriors or survivors—they were just people. Tired, sore people.
Walter sat in the shallow end, eyes closed, a rare smile tugging at his lips. "I feel younger. Less aches. Fewer complaints from the knees and spine." He cracked one eye open. "I can even stand up and sit down without groaning."
Victor snorted from his pool. "You've said that three times now old man. Seems like your memory didn't get better with the rest of you."
Ethan cracked an eye open. "By the way I just remembered something... don't we still have that mammoth core? From the tower?"
There was a beat of silence.
Lily sat up. "Oh my god. We do. We totally forgot about it."
Sam slapped his forehead. "I packed it into one of the lower pockets for safekeeping and just... never pulled it out again."
AJ chuckled, bubbles rising. "We should probably figure out to use that thing."
"Agreed," Sam said. "Let's make it a task for tomorrow."
Right now they just wanted to enjoy the peace for even a moment longer.
Even Victor, who'd kept his pants on and scowled at the heat, leaned back and let the steam soak into his bones.
Sam sat in a pool near Lily's. She was stretched out, limbs barely moving, letting the water cradle her with a look of bliss.
"We've been running so long, I forgot what calm feels like," he said.
"Feels like floating on clouds," she murmured. "I can't swim, but this... this I can do."
"Seems like you've figured out the whole floating thing," he said with a smirk, keeping his eyes fixed safely on a distant stalactite.
She let out a breathless laugh, hummed another few notes, then stopped.
"…I always thought if my parents died, I'd break," Lily said suddenly.
The steam curled around her face, softening the lines of her expression, but her voice was steady. "Like, full meltdown. Screaming, sobbing, collapsing kind of thing, you know?"
No one interrupted. They just let her speak.
"But when I found out, I didn't… fall apart. Not like I thought I would. I cried a bunch don't get me wrong. I don't feel good when I think about it but the thoughts aren't consuming me, I feel fine most of time."
She ran a hand through the water, trailing slow circles. "I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with me."
Her words floated in the steam, half-swallowed by it. Sam, AJ, and the others listened attentively.
"I don't feel empty. I just… moved on. Like my brain checked it off a list and kept going." She gave a quiet, confused laugh. "Is that normal? To not fall apart?"
She didn't sound like she wanted reassurance. She sounded like she wanted honesty. Maybe even a diagnosis.
"I thought I'd break," she repeated, lower this time. "But I didn't and that scares me more than the idea of losing them."
She leaned back, letting the water lap against her neck, voice drifting with it. "Sometimes I wonder if I just haven't felt it yet. Like maybe the grief is waiting. Or maybe I left it behind."
She was silent for a moment.
Then she shook her head quickly, forcing brightness into her tone. "Okay, okay. That's enough. Sorry, water's clearly boiling my brain."
No one laughed. But Sam, without looking at her, spoke gently.
"You're not broken, Lily. Some people collapse. Some people go quiet. Some keep walking. There's no one way to grieve."
"…Thanks," she murmured, barely audible. "I just needed to say it out loud."
Ethan exhaled through his nose.
"…Y'know," he muttered, "I used to think I'd lose it, too. If something ever happened to them."
Lily's ears perked up.
"My crew... we were tight. Dumb, loud, always in trouble… but tight." He said with a slight smile. "We used to call ourselves the Roaches. Because nothing could kill us, well, that's what we said anyway."
He paused, jaw clenched, like the words were too big to push out all at once.
"I met with Eric in Richard's settlement as you know and he told me about what happened to them. Jamie didn't even make it past the first damn day. He was the best of us. Kept us grounded. Always knew what to say. Now he's just… gone."
As they did with Lily the others gave him time to say what he needed to.
"The twins went into a structure, probably a dungeon. Thought they could map it and beat it. That was their thing. 'If it says no, it means go.'" He gave a rough laugh. "Idiots."
He closed his eyes, then a deep frown appeared.
"And Lisa... she got taken by bandits. Who knows what she went through at their hands." He briefly paused.
"I thought I'd lose it. But I didn't, just… kept going. Same as you. Like part of me already knew the world was going to take them."
A silence followed, broken only by the distant drip of water on stone.
Then Ethan muttered, "Still think about that zipline. Me and Eric spent a whole weekend building it out of bike parts and bad ideas. It broke launching me face-first into a creek."
Lily gave a soft laugh.
"…Bet you were proud of it, too," she said.
He nodded once. "Hell yeah. Mud in my teeth, ribs bruised, and I still told him, 'let's wear helmets next time'."