[ bad. forever. everything is bad. as they make it to the edge, he reaches up and squeezes ashlyn's shoulder, once, bolstering for himself and for her, too. it's not real, and that's what they have to concern themselves with. don't look back.

as they step back out, rondo does remember, as he's composing himself. there's a thing! ]

You're not hurt any further, right? There's - I saw something, at the bottom of the pool. It might be... I'm going to dive down to get it.

[ god knows he wants to wash sazantos' blood off of himself. he puts the axe back on his back, and once he's pretty sure there's nothing else horrible out here that's going to attack them, he goes to start diving down into the water. ]