GROAAANNN!

The carbonemys fell to the sand, bloodied and beat to a pulp. Serenity loaded her shotgun, putting it on her back and drawing her pickaxe. She began hacking at the corpse while Sodden watched, twiddling with his thumbs.

“Earlier, before we made it to the TEK cave,” Sodden reminded her. “You said you knew about the Multiverse. Apparently, Rod knows too, wherever he is…”

Serenity nodded, standing up from the bones, looking away from her implant. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“Is it even possible for something l-ike this to happen?” he inquired. “To be transported to an entirely different universe, rather than the ARK we were supposed to go to?”

Serenity rubbed her eyes. “Look. I don’t know, okay? Rod was an Explorer— so he was able to travel the Multiverse if he wished. But it’s not a very appealing idea. There are so many timelines and universes out there, it’s impossible to tell if they’re ever safe or not.”

The two began making their way back to the fire. Serenity dropped all the leftover meat and hide she couldn’t carry into Sodden’s arms. They had killed at least a few dozen of those oversized turtles.

“You think Rod had something to do with this?”

Serenity squinted her eyes. “I never said that. But it’s a possibility, especially since he’s gone.”

“He has to be somewhere in this world though,” Sodden declared. “I thought I could trust him. But now…”

“We’ll think about and try finding Rod later,” Serenity said, “But we need to follow whatever plan we craft up, with or without those attribute users.”

The fire came into view. Ben and June were already sitting at the fire along with Dorack and Nal. It seemed l-ike they had already made up their mind. They were going to work with the four new survivors.

Dorack and Nal waved at Serenity and Sodden as they got closer to the fire.

“Hey! You two are finally back!”

Serenity and Sodden plopped the meat on the fire. June was sitting next to Ben, looking away from the group and up at the stars. Ben nodded his head at the two as they sat down.

“Now that you’re all here,” Ben said. “I suppose I’d l-ike to apologize earlier. The attack was unwarranted. Right, June?”

Ben nudged June on the elbow. June glared.

“Yeah. I guess I’m sorry too.”

“No. We’re sorry too,” Sodden said sadly, “We must have frightened you two, us four combined. I hope we can work together. And maybe, maybe just be friends?”

“Hmph,” Ben muttered, looking down at the roasting meat.

“Maybe.”

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