Reese, Hetty, and Byatt are settled groggily in the boat as it moves idly across the water, taking turns sleeping. Byatt is awake right now, having made a miraculous recovery despite the wound and lack of the Tox. Hetty is the first to suggest that they follow suit; if Byatt can recover, why can't they? So, using a knife, she feels for the parasite and cuts it out, killing it with her boot. She, too, lays unconscious for a good time, before eventually waking back up, seemingly healthy. So Reese does the same.

Now that they're Tox-free, and presumably no longer contagious, they can sleep easy.

..Until a large cruise ship approaches, blaring its horns loudly, startling the three awake.

(PFP was created with Picrew’s “makowka character maker II“, all credit goes to them.)