Episode 14 (Serena Season 1)

I'm kicking myself for keeping all the bottles of water in my room,

but I'm not sure if that would have kept everyone else from getting sick or if we'd all just gotten ill later.

Serena's expression turns grave, jaw tight as she mulls everything over.

MC: "I'm sorry, I wasn't--"

Serena: "Don't blame youself, ."

Serena: "It kept you healthy, which is what's important."

Serena: "You're probably the only reason the rest of us didn't wander off into the jungle and get eaten."

MC: "Are you sure?"

Serena's wry smile cuts right through the tense knot in my chest,

eased even more when her fingers brush over my shoulder.

Serena: "I'm sure."

Serena: "But we'll have to find something to replace it."

Serena: "And enough for everybody."

A. Maybe there's more on the ship?

B. Can we clean the lake water?

C. What happens if we don't?

---

B. Can we clean the lake water?

MC: "Can we purify the water in the lake somehow? There has to be ways to do that, right?"

Serena: "Logan wasn't confident doing that with the ocean water, unfortunately."

Serena: "And if I have no way to test for the disease,"

Serena: "we wouldn't know if cleaning it had worked without risking getting sick again."

---

Serena lets out a contemplative hum, and the sound makes me smile.

She's always thinking, mind relentlessly working, and it's so nice to see her being back to herself again.

Serena: "What's that grin for, mm?"

MC: "I missed you."

Serena: "I think you're the first person to ever say that."

Her tone is dry and amused, but I hear a sound of surprise when I pull Serena into a tight hug.

MC: "I don't think that's true."

Serena: "Want to bet on that?"

MC: "No."

MC: "I'll just say it to you more often."

A grumble sends warm breath over the top of my hair,

but Serena doesn't pull away until I do, raising a brow when I wipe at my eyes.

Serena: "I'm not worth crying over, you know."

MC: "Hush."

MC: "You were sick for days and it was terrible."

Serena: "I guess you meant that confession, didn't you?"

Heat climbs straight up my face.

I don't want to rush Serena for any sort of response, but I do want her to take what I said seriously.

MC: "Of course I did."

Serena: "You're sweet."

MC: "And I know that between the two of us, we'll figure this out."

MC: "Besides, the people who built this place had to get water from somewhere, right?"

MC: "If they'd all gotten sick, construction wouldn't have gotten very far."

Serena: "That's a good point."

Serena: "Your optimism never ceases to amaze me, ."

MC: "Hey, someone has to keep a sunny disposition here."

Serena: "And I'm fresh out."

Both of us laugh, and it makes me that much more determined to push on.

If Serena has faith in me, if we work together, then we'll find a way to get everyone well.

(We have to.)

When the rays of the sun start trickling in through my window,

I yawn, amazed that we managed to stay up the entire night.

(If she didn't go to bed, I wasn't going to.)

(This isn't solved yet.)

Serena: "I'm going to try and wake up Clyde to see how he's doing."

Serena: "Sleep is good for him, but if his condition has progressed, I need to know."

MC: "That makes sense."

Serena: "You should get some rest yourself, ."

Serena: "Especially since you spent the last few days taking care of us."

Serena: "Which was my job."

MC: "You were sick."

MC: "That's not your fault."

Serena: "I'm a doctor, ."

Serena: "I can handle it."

MC: "And doctors usually have nurses and EMTs and hospitals to make everything easier, right?"

MC: "Trust me, I want to help."

I keep my eyes locked on Serena's, wanting her to take me seriously,

and after a moment of silence, she smiles.

Serena: "Alright. If you insist."

(Yes! I didn't even have to break out the puppy-dog stare.)

We head to Clyde's room together and enter quietly,

the even sound of Clyde's breathing carrying through the shadows.

He's thrown off his blankets and curled up,

face flushed dark and the sheets around him drenched in sweat.

Serena: "His fever must have spiked."

MC: "That's bad, isn't it?"

Serena: "Fevers are part of the body's immune response."

Serena: "It's helping him fight off the sickness, but after a point..."

Serena: "It can do more harm than good."

Serena: "Clyde, are you awake?"

Clyde's face tenses before his eyes open, lined with red.

Clyde: "Aye."

Serena: "How are you feeling?"

Clyde: "I've been better, but no worries."

Clyde: "I'll be right as rain in the morning, yeah?"

Clyde: "Probably something I ate."

Serena shakes her head and goes to his bedside,

pressing one hand to the back of Clyde's neck and brow before frowning.

Serena: "It's what you drank, actually."

Serena: "That lake we found? It's contaminated."

Serena: "Everyone's gotten ill except for ."

Clyde: "You look fine to me, Serena."

Clyde: "You sure about this?"

Serena: "There was fresh water left from the ship that helped me get better."

Serena: "You were given some of it, but we ran out."

Serena: "I know everything's in a haze right now, Clyde, but I need you to trust me."

Despite the state he's in, Clyde manages to crack a full smile.

Clyde: "Of course I trust you, Serena."

Clyde: "I know you've got my back."

Clyde: "Told you every ship needs a medic, aye?"

Serena: "That you did."

Her expression softens a little and I feel a tug of warmth in my chest.

I know Serena really cares about Clyde, even if she's not keen on showing it.

MC: "What do you want to try first, Serena?"

Serena: "Well, there was plenty of fruit in those cans we sorted through the other day."

Serena: "It's not a replacement for a new source of water, but there's plenty of hydration we can get from food."

Serena: "And the cans are sealed."

MC: "So there's no contamination."

Serena: "Exactly."

Serena: "It should be enough to keep Clyde stable for now."

(Damn, I wish I'd known that earlier.)

(I'd have been making everyone eat fruit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.)

(I'm so glad she's back to herself again.)

Clyde: "I could definitely go for a bite."

MC: "We'll go fix something up for you."

MC: "Just hang out here and rest, okay? We'll get you back in shape."

Serena tucks the blankets up over Clyde and he lays his head back down on the pillows,

eyes starting to drift closed again.

Serena: "Keep those on you this time."

Clyde: "No promises, doc."

She rolls her eyes,

but I can see some of the cloud over Serena's head ease away as we leave the bedroom.

(I know she won't stop until he's better.)

Serena and I separate all the fruit out of the cans in the kithen before taking a few open ones up to Clyde,

where he's left with strict instructions to eat so we can check on TK.

Serena: "We need to go back to the ship."

Serena: "If there's any water there, it has to be brought back."

MC: "What about Logan and Arthur?"

Serena: "They'll have to come with us."

Serena: "I don't want them disrupting Clyde or TK's sleep, and they're too out of it to help keep an eye out."

MC: "And if there's a lot of water, they can help us carry it back!"

Serena: "Here's hoping."

It takes some convincing, but eventually Logan and Arthur follow us out of the resort and down to the beach.

Arthur talks incessantly, pointing out the details of every tree and rock we pass,

but Logan reuses to say a word and simply fiddles with Hope's controls.

We reach the ship by afternoon and it looks even more worse for wear than last time,

wood warped and cracked from being under the sun and constantly slapped by the ocean's waves.

MC: "Wow."

MC: "What a mess."

Logan: "My ship..."

Logan: "All that hard work was for nothing."

Logan: "I spent so long working on it."

Serena: "Tell that to the storm, Logan."

Serena: "We have more important things to worry about."

Arthur: "Don't worry, Logan!"

Arthur: "I could afford ten of those ships, as soon as I have access to my bank account again..."

Logan groans but Arthur's smile doesn't relent,

and Serena shepherds both of them up onto the ship before reaching down to help me up onto the tilted deck.

After more than an hour,

the only thing I've managed to find is a bunch of shattered liquor bottles,

their contents long since lost to the ocean.

(I can't believe we were partying here days ago.)

(It almost doesn't seem real.)

MC: "Serena, did you find anything?"

Serena: "No. Not a drop."

Arthur: "I don't understand why we even need water."

Arthur: "We found that lovely lake the other day."

Arthur: "It's good for drinking and swimming and washing and--"

Serena: "It's making you sick and senseless, Arthur."

Serena: "The lake water is contaminaed."

Logan: "..."

Logan: "Right."

Logan: "Of course it is."

Logan: "Why would anything go right on this island?"

Serena: "I never thought I'd miss your jokes, but it would be nice if you weren't depressing the rest of us, Logan."

Logan: "If we're all doomed anyway, why does it matter?"

Serena pinches the bridge of her nose, teeth briefly bared in frustration before she sighs.

The look she gives me is grave, absent any trace of humor.

Serena: "This isn't good."

Serena: "We have a matter of days, if that."

A. There has to be another lake.

B. What about the fruit?

C. We'll find something.

---

B. What about the fruit?

MC: "What about the fruit? You said it would help."

Serena: "As a temporary measure."

Serena: "And we only have so much of it available."

Serena: "Those cans won't last very long between the six of us."

---

I want to say something to alleviate her grim mood, but I'm not sure what.

Unfortuantely, Logan and Arthur can't really help either.

(Wait a second.)

MC: "The tomatoes."

Serena: "What?"

MC: "Tomatoes are fruit too, right? At least it'll give us more of a supply."

Serena: "Logan, do you remember where the patch is?"

Logan: "...Yeah."

Serena: "Then let's go."

Serena: "Now."

She turns and climbs off the deck without a word, leaving the rest of us to catch up.

My shoulders sag as I start walking across the sand, hoping we'll get back to the resort soon.

(I thought she'd be a little happy to hear that.)