Episode 17 (Serena Season 1)

My heart is heavy as I head downstairs to the dining hall with Serena,

expecting to have to rouse the guys from the couches after breakfast,

but all of them are sitting at the table, looking pale but in much better shape than last night.

Clyde: "Morning."

Clyde: "You're a sight for sore eyes, Serena."

Serena: "You mean I don't look chewed up and spit back out?"

Clyde: "Aye."

MC: "How's everyone else feeling?"

TK: "Like someone stuck me in a microwave and turned it on high."

MC: "Ew."

TK: "Don't make that face."

TK: "You asked."

Arthur: "Colorful as that metaphor is, I have to agree."

Arthur: "It's only in the last hour that I've stopped burning up."

Logan: "I thought I was in a coma."

Logan: "Everything went hazy."

(Yes! The berries must have actually done the trick.)

(I guess after these last few days, something had to go right.)

Serena catches my smile and manages a small one in turn,

but her next words are soft and just loud enough for me to hear.

Serena: "It's only temporary, ."

Serena: "We still have a water problem."

MC: "I know, but at least everyone's on their feet right now."

TK: "Does anyone want to explain why I'm starving and don't remember the last couple days?"

Clyde: "I remember Serena saying something about the water... but I'm kind of spacing on the details."

Serena: "The lake water is contaminated."

Serena: "And we were all drinking it except for ."

TK: "Wait, why didn't she get sick?"

MC: "Because I had bottled water from the ship."

TK: "..."

TK: "So you got to skip hopping on the crazy train because you're picky about water?"

Serena: "And they say there's no accounting for taste."

I blush and clear my throat, but I'm glad that TK's grumbling again instead of losing his mind to fever.

Clyde: "But you were drinking it too, Serena."

Clyde: "You don't look sick."

Serena: "I was earlier, trust me."

A faint pink flush crosses Serena's cheeks too, although Clyde is way too smart to comment on that.

Logan does raise a brow, though.

Logan: "Guess it's a good thing  was around to take care of us, then."

MC: "I didn't do that much, guys."

Serena: "That's far from true."

Arthur: "Sounds like the time for a celebration to me."

Arthur: "To good health and all that."

Serena: "Well, we still need to find another source of fresh water."

Arthur: "I think we can do that after breakfast, can't we?"

Arthur: "I'll work a bit of magic in the kitchen."

He winks before heading into the other room,

and TK groans as his stomach lets out a particularly loud sound.

Logan: "Sounds like you've got an elephant in there, TK."

TK: "I could eat one at this point."

MC: "You weren't eating a lot when you were sick, unfortunately."

Clyde: "I'm glad the fever broke and all, Serena, but you don't look too happy."

Serena: "We need to find more fresh water, Clyde."

Serena: "I managed to slap together something to fight off your symptoms, but we're running out of time."

Clyde: "No worries."

Clyde: "Neither one of us ever leave peoplebehind, Serena."

Clyde: "We'll figure it out."

(If both of us have her back, I think things will be a lot easier.)

Arthur: "Alright."

Arthur: "Order up!"

I turn to see Arthur coming out of the kitchen and balancing two armfuls of plates.

Logan quickly moves to help him out and set the food out onto the table,

all of which looks so much better than anything fresh out of a can should.

MC: "Wow."

MC: "This looks amazing."

Arthur: "I found a lot of extra tomatoes in the kitchen and got a little creative."

Arthur: "Let's eat up, shall we?"

TK: "...Yeah."

TK: "Thanks, Arthur."

Arthur: "Not a problem."

I squeeze into the seat between Serena and Clyde and start digging in,

glad to have food that I wasn't responsible for making.

Hope swoops around Logan's head as he digs in, letting out a happy little buzz.

(Now Serena and I aren't going at this alone.)

(We have two days.)

(We can do this.)

Once we're all fed, Clyde suggests we head back to the lake and find the water's source.

It's another long hike through the jungle,

but at this point, I'm filing all the time we spend outside as an awesome leg workout.

(Have to keep the positive spin on it somehow.)

TK: "How far do you think we're going to have to go?"

Clyde: "No way to be sure."

Clyde: "The water in the lake could be draining down from quite a stretch."

Logan: "I'm having Hope stay up in the air too."

Logan: "Between six sets of eyes and a camera, I'm sure we'll find something new to drink from."

Logan: "Or at least what's mucking up the works in the lake."

Arthur: "I have a feeling the answer might be up in the mountains."

MC: "All the way up there?"

Arthur: "If the lake is fed from the rainfall here, it's certainly a possibility."

Serena: "We don't have a lot of other options to pursue."

Serena's voice no longer sounds weighed down with dread like it did the night before,

the lines of fatigue a little less prominent.

I want to talk to her about everything she said last night, the story about the patient,

but not in front of everyone else.

(I just want her to know that I'm not going to get sick and die.)

(That she doesn't have to be afraid.)

(Serena shouldn't have to cut her own feelings off to protect us.)

(It's not fair.)

MC: "Serena, if we have a chance later--"

Serena: "Hmm?"

TK: "Holy shit!"

I startle when TK shouts,

his elbow bumping against mine before he leaps up into Logan's arms,

making them both stumble back before Logan catches his balance.

Clyde and Serena whirl around, looking for a threat,

but TK just points at the ground.

TK: "That spider is huge!"

MC: "What spi--AH!"

It's not very big, but it blends right into the jungle floor,

and I take one big step back just to make sure it's out of leaping distance.

Serena: "Really, TK?"

Clyde: "Lad, if you think that spider's big, you haven't spent much time outside in 'Straya."

TK: "I work in an office, okay?"

Serena: "Should I scare it off with a stick or do you just want Logan to carry you the rest of the way?"

Logan: "Hey, come on."

Logan: "He's heavy!"

The spider makes the decision for us, skittering away to a distant tree,

and TK gives Clyde the stink eye as he peels his way out of Logan's arms.

Logan brushes the wrinkles out of his shirt and rolls his eyes,

but Serena heads to the front again and out of whispering distance.

(Damn it.)

(When am I going to get to talk to her?)

Arthur: "Is something wrong, ?"

I realize Arthur has fallen into step with me and hold in a sigh, managing to wrangle up a smile instead.

As much as I'd like to vent, it's not right for me to share Serena's past in the process.

A. Don't worry about me.

B. I'm just tired.

C. Where do I start?

---

B. I'm just tired.

MC: "No."

MC: "I'm just... really tired."

MC: "I didn't do a lot of hiking around islands back home."

---

Arthur: "I imagine it was a very rough few days for you."

Arthur: "We're in your debt, ."

Arthur: "You took care of us."

MC: "It's not like I was going to let everyone be sick and keel over."

Arthur: "Of course not."

Arthur: "But your efforts are appreciated nonetheless."

Arthur: "I can only hope I wasn't too much of a bother."

MC: "Trust me, you were the least amount of trouble."

MC: "Clyde wanted to wrestle bears."

Arthur: "...Ah."

Arthur: "I see."

Logan: "Check it out! We've got mountains."

He points past where the tree line breaks, and a chain of rocky peaks stretch across the horizon.

It looks like a long way up.

MC: "Is that where we're going?"

Clyde: "That's where the water's coming from."

Clyde: "Let's find out what's making us sick."

Serena: "The sooner the better."

Clyde leads our climb up the mountains,

Serena following just a step behind him.

The two of them seem locked in conversation, and without a chance to get a word in edgewise,

I hang back with Arthur and TK.

TK: "This hike sucks, but at least the view is pretty."

MC: "Pretty? Are you sure you don't have a fever again, TK?"

TK: "Hey, I'm a photographer."

TK: "I can appreciate natural beauty when I see it."

Clyde: "We're almost to the top, everyone."

Clyde: "Keep an eye out."

We take a break at the peak to stretch out our legs and take a moment's rest,

but our work is cut out for us.

The mountains are sprawling,

and trying to find where the water might be draining out to the lake,

means investigating every crack and fissure.

Logan: "Hey, wait a second."

Logan: "I think Hope found something!"

I look over to where the drone is hovering,

flying in insistent circles near the rocky edge of a huge crater.

It's a fair distance away, but we hike our way over,

and Clyde murmurs in surprise as he peers over and down.

There's a deep pool of water there,

and a closer look reveals where it pours down in the direction of the lake,

but a huge mass of ugly thorny vines is stretched across the bottom,

tangled in every direction and soaking wet.

Clyde: "Fuck me sideways, Logan."

Clyde: "Your drone was actually useful."

Logan: "See? Tech's not all bad, old man."

MC: "But what are those?"

Serena: "Those what?"

Serena steps up next to me to take a look,

placing a hand on my shoulder so she doesn't lose her balance while bending over.

The touch surprises me, but she doesn't seem to notice, and I wonder if she would mind if I...

(Focus on the water, .)

MC: "Those vines look bad, right?"

Serena: "They could certainly be a source of contamination."

Serena: "Especially if there's any kind of omld or disease in them."

A. Can we get rid of them?

B. This is a good thing.

C. Wow, gross.

---

B. This is a good thing.

MC: "This is a good thing."

MC: "Get rid of the vines and we can drink the water, right?"

Serena: "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Serena: "These could have been here for years."

---

Clyde: "Hey, Serena, can I borrow your knife?"

Serena: "Of course."

Serena's hand leaves my shoulder to fetch her pocket knife,

and I force myself to keep focused on the task at hand.

Clyde kneels down and draws the blade across one of the vines, starting to saw through it.

Arthur: "It looks like an invasive species."

Arthur: "I haven't seen these vines anywhere else on the island."

Clyde: "And it's--"

Clyde: "The hell?"

Right before our eyes, the chunk Clyde had started cutting out of the vine seals itself up,

bleeding a strange-looking sap.

He slices into it again, but the same thing happens,

and Clyde stands up before offering Serena the knife back.

Clyde: "I'm not the only one that saw that, aye?"

Logan: "Is that thing alive? It just..."

Serena: "Of course it's alive, Logan."

Serena: "It's a plant."

Logan: "You know what I mean."

Logan: "That's not normal."

Arthur: "Little about this island has ever been normal."

Arthur: "Its mysteries mount by the day."

(What have we gotten ourselves into?)

(First the storm, then the animals...)

(And now vines that shrug off knives.)

(What's next?)

TK: "So how do we get rid of them?"

Clyde: "That's a good question."

Clyde: "Fire won't work when it's drenched."

Clyde: "And a pocket knife certainly isn't going to chop all this up before it recovers again."

Serena: "Damn it."

Logan: "There's got to be another way."

(If there's not, we're stuck at the top of a mountain with water we still can't drink.)