Wonderful Insane World-Chapter 46: A Nice Bath

Dylan stepped out of the underbrush and froze.

In front of him, a river stretched out — alive, yet peaceful — like a long ribbon of fluid glass sliding over the grey stones.

The water was so clear, it felt like you could just walk right across it; every rock, every pebble beneath the surface looked close enough to grab.

The current whispered softly, light and easy — not threatening at all.

Almost... welcoming.

On the other side, a forest of emerald green stretched out as far as the eye could see, broken up only by glinting reflections.

Above it all, the sky — blindingly blue — seemed to dive straight into the river, like some raw, heart-wrenching painting.

Dylan felt his heartbeat slow, his breath ease — this place... it felt like a hidden paradise, smack in the middle of the leafy hell they’d been slogging through.

And the breeze brushing his face was like a silent promise:

"You can put your weapons down here. Just for a moment."

That’s what it felt like.

He stepped closer, letting his fingers trail across the cool surface.

Barely a ripple.

The water wasn’t deep — maybe up to the knees at most.

Perfect to cross...

or just stand there, for a second, and forget why you were even running.

The water was just the right temperature.

Dylan’s eyes widened slightly, and instead of looking at Maggie, he glanced over at Élisa — who was already busy slitting the throats of the two unlucky rabbits she’d caught.

He said, "I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna go take a proper bath."

Élisa nodded without missing a beat, still focused on her work, but Maggie... Maggie seemed interested — just a lot more hesitant, probably because of Dylan’s very male presence.

"Actually, I’m gonna head a little further down," Dylan shouted as he grabbed his suitcase and started walking away. "Don’t wanna traumatize you this early on."

"And yet I kinda wouldn’t have minded, handsome!" Élisa shouted back, flashing him a big grin.

Dylan shook his head and headed further downstream, finding a big enough rock to hide behind — far enough from the girls to get some privacy for his bath.

He dropped his suitcase onto the rock and started stripping down, peeling off all the layers of military gear, and finally, that poor, filthy pair of underwear that had seen way too many days.

"Normally, I don’t do this," he thought, as if someone might actually be there to judge him.

The wind brushed against his bare skin, making him shiver a little — not from cold exactly, more like from a weird new sense of exposure.

Now that he was completely naked, and with that rope still dangling uselessly between his legs, he finally felt... free.

He stepped off the rock and dipped one foot into the water.

The coolness wrapped around him like silk, and Dylan sighed inwardly, closing his eyes as he slid his second foot in — and of course, the third one followed naturally.

The water reached up to his knees — maybe even higher if he waded out a bit further.

For a second, he wondered how they’d actually cross without swimming, but then he spotted it:

A line of huge stones, laid out way too neatly to be natural, practically inviting them to walk across.

He filed that thought away for later and went back to enjoying the hell out of his refreshing bath.

At some point, Dylan caught the sound of Élisa’s laughter, a little closer than before.

He figured she and Maggie had decided to jump into the water too.

"Hope they enjoy their bath," he thought, gripping a rock with one hand, head tilted back to let the gentle current wash over his skin.

No dirty thoughts, no peeking — after all, a true gentleman like him would never do something that low.

But hey, the human mind — especially the male kind — has its flaws.

He couldn’t help but picture the scene in his head... and yeah, he grinned like a big, dumb idiot.

"Could’ve been worse," he shrugged to himself.

Then, suddenly, something felt... off.

The water trickling over him changed — the color, the way it slapped against the rock, even the way it splashed onto his head.

It was like... when you stick an obstacle into a flowing stream, and the water piles up before spilling over.

Dylan frowned and lifted his head, curious to see what the hell was messing with the flow.

And when he saw it —

his heart just stopped.

Right there, caught against the rocks, was a massive humanoid figure.

Gray-skinned, twice his size, bleeding out into the water — the very water Dylan was bathing in.

"Oh shit."

Dylan yelped, scrambling to get out of the water as fast as he could.

"Double shit!"

He realized halfway up the bank — he was stark naked.

No way he was fighting like this.

Cursing under his breath, Dylan bolted back toward the rock where he had dumped his suitcase.

As he was pulling on his still-soaked pants, Dylan shouted, his voice cutting through the air:

"Lise, Maggie!!"

He yanked on the zipper like a madman.

"Get over here, there’s a... shit, I don’t even know what it is!"

Behind him, in the water, the "thing" started to move.

Not a cute little twitch like some fish struggling, no.

A heavy, sluggish, slimy movement that made the water slap around in a way way too alive for a corpse.

Dylan threw a panicked glance over his shoulder.

The grey figure was slowly straightening up, with jerky, clumsy motions, like its bones were barely remembering how to walk.

A trickle of blood ran from its chin into the already crimson water.

"No, no, no, NO!"

Dylan half-grabbed his boots, half-grabbed his suitcase, and froze like an idiot, torn between bolting or chucking the suitcase at the damn thing.

He spotted Élisa and Maggie emerging from behind the trees, soaked, hair wild.

Élisa looked up, saw the scene, her eyes went wide with horror, and she shouted:

"Finish it off, you idiot!!"

Dylan pointed behind him, out of breath:

"How the hell am I supposed to finish that?!"