The tinkling of the water. The tingling inside the stomach. Some slight nausea, accompanied by the familiar hazy dizziness, as though he were faint. Yeah, the water was dirty. Of course, anyone raised in the wastes knew as a law most things were irradiated. It lingers and spreads and has yet to ebb from its emission over 200 years ago.

It’s a shame the springwater was infected, too. He wished this cave might have had some reserves protected from the fallout. Oh well. Irradiated or not, it had a water source and that was all they needed for a temporary inhabitation.