Chapter 258: Fatigued
While Jonas was definitely feeling better, and a burden off of his mind, Elmo couldn't help but worry what might happen if this place with some light pouring in from a hole in the ceiling of the cave was merely a tease as to how close they were about getting out of the cave. He hadn't been able to do much exploring before Jonas woke up, but he was struggling to remain optimistic about their situation.
He'd found a spring of water in a cave that was clear and cold, though it wasn't until then that Elmo had realized that he'd lost his own waterskin. He wasn't sure when that had happened, but it left him less sure of their survival if they couldn't find a way out of this cave soon.
After returning from the spring with some water for Jonas, Elmo looked at the three other potential exits that were visible in this chamber. All three moved into darkness and eventually left the light from this chamber. He couldn't tell just how far they extended, and he was sure he'd have to eventually take a guess as to which one to go with, but at the moment he hadn't been able to bring himself to make that decision.
Maybe part of him had been hoping that Jonas would be able to give him a suggestion about which one he thought would work best, but that didn't really matter when he wasn't sure Jonas would be able to help until he was almost fully recovered. Which wasn't clear as to when that would occur.
Still, Elmo couldn't say if his assumptions would turn out to be accurate. He hadn't really expected Jonas to wake up this quickly anyway, So, it was possible that he'd be able to be well enough to let him know which passage might be best for them to take.
Elmo quickly made his way over to Jonas and put the waterskin to his lips, helping him drink. When Jonas reached for the waterskin, Elmo quickly let him have it. He didn't want to push his efforts to help Jonas if the help wasn't wanted.
"So what's the situation now?" Jonas asked when he finished drinking. "I'm sure you didn't just stop here for however long just to wait for me to wake up."
Elmo felt like Jonas' words pierced him right to his core, since that was almost true. He had been getting tired of basically carrying Jonas around, though mostly because it took a lot longer than he would have liked. Which was critical given how they didn't have anything to eat.
"There's four passages into this place, other than the one that brought us here," Elmo said, not sure how else to put it. "One leads to the dead end where I found the water. The others go too far for me to see anything, so I have no idea if they might lead out of these caves."