Keneric was intrigued. "Like what?"
"When the water started gushing in… I saw some rats getting caught off guard there." Joy pointed toward the entrance. "Only a few of them survived, but the ones that walked out… had changed. They were the size of those wheelie bins, and one of them tried to eat another rat of the same size."
"Great, now I have to worry about one more thing." Keneric shuddered.
He remembered stepping on the swamp land earlier—nothing had happened then. He tried to convince himself the water outside didn't look the same. Maybe it had been absorbed by the ground and lost its mystical properties after changing the terrain?
But then he remembered—
"Wait. Where are the mutated rats right now?"
"Oh, don't worry. One chased the other out." Joy shifted in her seat, nodding.
"By the way, whose car is this?" Keneric asked. Most students lived on campus, and nobody bothered renting places outside. Melbourne was too expensive. So her having a car didn't make sense.
"Well, no. I was lucky. Found the door open and hid inside to escape the cursed water," she said simply.
They stared at each other.
Keneric chuckled. "Sounds about right. Still doesn't explain why you're here in the first place."
"Leave it. It's classified information." She humphed audibly.
Keneric didn't press further. He carefully stepped to the edge of the car roof and scanned the surroundings. He was searching for a way out. Then he spotted it—a fire hose cabinet mounted on one of the walls. He smiled.
"I have an idea," he said. "But I'll need to get to that fire hose."
Joy followed his gaze and gasped. "That's so far away… How are you going to—"
But before she could finish, Keneric stepped back, gathered enough speed, and jumped onto a nearby car. It shook slightly, but he managed to balance himself.
"You're insane," he heard Joy mutter.
"Probably. But you haven't seen what I've seen out there. Trust me—waiting for rescue isn't an option."
"That bad??" she asked, eyes wide.
Keneric didn't reply. He made another jump, this one shorter, and landed smoothly on top of a red car.
"Whoo," he breathed.
The fire hose cabinet was within reach now. He kicked the glass door open. Inside was a red coiled hose and a fire axe.
"Jackpot."
He had lost his makeshift spear earlier, but now he gained something better. So no complaints.
Once he felt ready, he grabbed the axe and jumped back the way he came. The added weight made it harder to jump, but the axe helped—every time he landed, he drove it into the car roof to stabilize himself.
Vandalism was not a concern right now.
Two more jumps and he was back on the car beneath the vent where he started. He looked up and paused for a moment, his expression tightening. Then he continued and jumped onto the SUV where Joy was trapped.
She watched, stupefied, as Keneric landed on the roof.
Before she could say anything, he said, "Get back. I'm going to break the windshield."
"Huh?"
"Don't you want to get out?"
"Yes… but—"
"We don't have time. When I was near the vents, I heard something. Remember the mushroom army I talked about?"
"Yes?"
"Yeah. I think they finally found their way through the ducts. And wherever they go, the big giant follows. So if you don't want to die, move back."
Joy nodded instantly and climbed to the backseat, catching the urgency in his voice.
Keneric used the back of the axe to smash the windshield in one hit. Then he cleared the remaining glass shards from the dash. Joy also helped. Next he helped Joy climb out, and soon they were both standing atop the SUV—unharmed.
"So here's the plan," Keneric explained in seconds while pointing ahead toward the exit.
"Not bad for a Volleyballer," Joy said, smiling. "But… I don't think I can do it."
She was trying to act tough, but Keneric noticed her hand was trembling. He understood. She liked putting up a front, but she was scared. Actually—who wouldn't be?
Wait. Why wasn't he scared?
That thought lingered. There was something off. His reactions… they weren't normal. He was calmer now, better at assessing risks. Then it hit him—back at the gymnasium, things had felt hopeless. Compared to that, this situation had better odds. That must be why. His risk tolerance had changed—shaped by that earlier chaos.
Suddenly, a mushroom dropped from the vents above and landed on the roof of a nearby sedan before bouncing into the green liquid below. Keneric's breath hitched as he watched the spot where it fell. But nothing happened.
Still, he wasn't going to count on luck.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Joy's shaking hand and looked her in the eyes.
"Trust me, okay?"
Joy chuckled. "A lot to ask from someone you met less than an hour ago, right?"