We emerge into light. 

Not bright light. Not blinding light. But a soft, gentle light that cannot really be called light. I look around. And all around me are trees. And grasses. And shrubs and bushes and moss. 

But I can barely see any of it. I can barely notice the green and the brown because I am flooded with so many emotions that I have never felt before. 

Emotions that are brand new yet so familiar that I feel as though they've always been a part of me. Emotions that are so intrinsic yet so unfamiliar at the same time. 

I am almost overcome. And I can't even name by what. 

I stand beside the Wall as the others file through the hole one by one. I see their faces light up in ways that I've never seen before as they emerge into this new world. 

We do not say anything. We do not have words. This is beyond words. Beyond all forms of representation. We can only feel it flowing through us and look at each other in awe as everything seems to be both revealed and hidden all at once. 

There is Rod. There is Ali. There is Leia. There is Marcus. There is Emilie. There is Sam. There is Peter. There is Elliot. There is Karla. There is Garrett. There is Melissa. There is Lauren. There is Albert. There is Hubert. There is Joanna. There is Ryan. There is Carmella. There is Andrew. There is Evelyn. There is Ruth. There is Harry. There is all of us. 

Elliot breaks out into a jubilant smile and we all smile back. Our smiles seem to shine brightly like the stars. 

"Great job, Kiddos," Leia tells us. 

Rachel moves to hug Emilie. And then we all hug each other. The hugs are warm and close and soft and intimate. They are unburdened by fear and misery. They are the most joyous, victorious hugs I've ever received in my life. 

We keep hugging until we are tired. And then we just stand there. Just soaking up the light of the Forest and everything that is in it. We feel as though we are in a dream. As though we are in a trance. And we feel as though we can do nothing but stand there and soak it all in. 

The Forest seems to spark with life. Seems to flow and spin and thrum with it. With an energy that I can neither see nor explain. That I can only feel through the very depths of my very soul. 

I can't describe it here. I just cannot describe it. The Forest seems to go beyond the senses. It engages me entirely on a level that is beyond my senses. On a level that is somewhere deep in the very depths of my soul. 

I feel almost as if I have transcended the material plane of the city and have entered instead into a spiritual plane where there is only feeling, only emotion, only life. 

So much life. Life all around us everywhere we turn. The world all around us everywhere we turn. Everything overwhelming us and overcoming us. 

Merging with us until we are one. Until I don't know where I end and where the others begin. Until I don't know know where I end and where the Forest begins. Until I don't know where we end and where everything else begins. 

It's peaceful. Not in the same way that a lullaby back in the city was peaceful. No, this peace reaches far deeper, far thorougher, far more real and inclusive and ineffable and intangible. I feel this peace down in my very being. I do not know what to do with it. All I can do is name it. 

"It's so peaceful here," I whisper softly into the silence. 

"It is," Karla responds, breathlessly. 

There is quiet again for a while, for a long while. Stillness. Silence. The leaves blow through the wind like a mother rocking their child to sleep. But not like my mother. Not like any mother I have ever met before. No, this is like the type of mother that transcended humanity. The type of mother that is a mother to all. 

I feel as if I'll spend my whole life trying to understand the Forest and yet maybe I never will. 

I feel as if I'll spend my whole like trying to understand my companions who are with me. Yet maybe I never will. 

"Thank you," Joanna breathes. I don't know who she's thanking or why she's thanking them. But I feel it in my heart. I feel the gratitude in my heart. And it's beautiful. Beyond beautiful. 

"Thank you," Elliot replies. 

"Thank you," Lauren whisphers. 

"Thank you," Peter responds. 

And then we all are thanking. We don't know who we are thanking. What we are thanking. Even why we are thanking. All we know is that we're grateful. Grateful for the feelings that we're feeling. And we want each other to simply know that. 

It's something we can come to know. Something we can come to embody. Something we can come to depend on. Something we can come to merge with. 

Together, as one. 

I feel so very together with everyone here. So together that it makes my heart ache with it. Makes my spirit sing. They type of song that cannot be heard. Only felt. 

"We should probably get moving," Leia tells us. "If anyone comes through the Wall we'd be found out and screwed."

"You're right, Leia," Melissa says. And after some talking we all agree. We agree to go out into the Forest and get lost there. 

The Forest is filled with life. As we walk through it it completely surrounds us. Engulfs us. Envelops us. In every which way. Singing a silent song and blowing an intangible breeze. 

I feel a sort of excitement I've never felt before as in one long line we all move to experience the Forest. To go through it. To become one with it. 

It seems vast but not in terms of size. It seems never ending. But not in terms of continuity. Or maybe in terms of continuity. It's beautiful but not in terms of aesthetics. It's powerful but not in terms of force. 

It holds us but doesn't hold us. It leads us and walks alongside us and follows us. 

There are bugs. Squirrels. A deer. Mosquitos that come up to us and bite us. Moss that rolls over fallen logs. 

"It's so beautiful," Hubert exclaims to us softly. 

"It is," Marcus replies, his tone hushed in reverent softness. 

"But it's a different sort of beautiful," Karla speaks. "Not like any type of beautiful I've ever seen before."

"You're right, Karla," Harry replies. 

"I've never seen such beauty. No, seen is not the right word. I've never witnessed it." Carmella's voice is awed and wonderous. 

"Neither have I," Evelyn answers. "It's not like anything else." 

"It really isn't," Ruth responds.

"The city people would never understand it," Ali speaks into the silence. 

"You're right. They wouldn't," Garrett voices.

"That's so true," Rod replies. 

"Fuck the city." Garrett's voice holds anger in it. 

"But how are we going to survive here?" Elliot asks. And that's a reasonable question, as much as I hate it. We were all taught in school that it is hard to survive in the wilderness. Maybe impossible. 

"Well," Marcus starts, "I'm sure we can do it." There is something tentative in his voice. "After all, humans were living in the wilderness before they built cities and lives in civilizations." 

"You're right," Andrew tells him. "I'm sure we'll find a way to survive."

I look around. Or, more accurately, I feel around. Here in the depth of the Forest I feel safe. Safer than I have ever felt in the entirety of my life. I feel loved. I feel protected. I feel cared for. I feel secure. I don't believe that the Forest will hurt us. I don't believe that it can. 

"Even if we die," Ryan starts, "it will have been worth it."

"Exactly," Lauren echoes, "I'd rather die out here than live a full life out in the city." 

And she's right. She's absolutely right. I think it's something we all would do. And one by one we all voice our agreement. And it's like a promise. Like an oath sealed in blood. Like something both terrible and beautiful all at the same time. 

I've made many such promises over the course of this last year and a bit. 

"But I don't think we will die," Joanna states. "I think that the land will provide for us. That it will protect us. That it will give us what we need." 

And I take a moment to feel that. Because it's exactly what I have been feeling all of this time. Exactly the knowledge the Forest has been sending echoing through my insides. 

"You're right," Melissa speaks. And it's the truth. 

"We should at least be looking for a source of water, you kids," Leia tells us. "If we're going to succeed at surviving we need to at least try to survive." And she's right. Or maybe she's not right. But I think she's right. 

We all agree that finding water is the best course of action at the moment. 

Walking through the Forest with an actual aim in mind is very different than walking through the Forest aimlessly. But the Forest still embraces us. The Forest still holds us. 

And it guides us to water. It guides us to a small, clear stream of fast-moving water nestled into a slope. And we all drink deeply. 

It's cool. It's sweet. It doesn't taste like taste. It tastes like something I've never experienced in my lifetime. 

We stay by the stream for a little bit. Drinking with our cupped hands. Washing our arms and faces. It's quiet here. Calming. 

"I have something to tell you guys." Garrett's voice is quiet and unsure. 

"What is it?" Evelyn asks him. 

"I think I'm not a boy. I think I'm a girl." 

We all look at him - no, her - for a moment. We take a moment to absorb her words. She's a girl. Thet's strange. She has the characteristics of a boy. 

But there are many strange things about humanity. Humanity is strange. It doesn't go by the rules that the city's society set out for it.

What I learned is that feelings matter a lot more than the material and tangible. The soul is what makes the human. If Garrett feels as though she's a girl, if she says that she is a girl, then she is a girl.

I tell her this. And she smiles so beamingly. It lights up my heart to see. One by one we all tell her that we accept her. And I can feel something transform within us. 

Our group is not the same as it was a few moments ago. Us as individuals are not the same people we were a few moments ago. We're better. Freer. More drawn together. And I wouldn't trade this revelation for all the wealth in the world. 

Not that I've ever wanted wealth to start with. I don't want it. I never have. It's so empty and hollow compared to all of this. Compared to this spark of life that flows through everything. 

"I think I'm not a girl," Emilie speaks up, voice small but confident. "I think I'm a boy."

And this time it's easy to accept. It's not something to ponder about. It's simply another case of a person being honest about who they are. 

And we accept this honesty. And we all tell him so. 

"Can I say something?" Sam asks. 

"Sure," Rod replies, voice kind.

"I don't think I'm a boy or a girl. I think I'm something in between." 

And this is strange. A strange thing to accept. But it's still understandable. It's still beautiful. It's still one of many ways to be a human being. One of many ways to be alive. 

"So should we call you a she or a he?" Ryan asks them. 

Sam is silent for a while. I guess they've never thought about this before. I guess they've never thought that they'd have the opportunity. 

"Call me a ze."

"Okay," Peter replies. And we all congratulate Sam on being brave and unveiling zer true self to us. 

We stay by the stream for a while. Sometimes talking, sometimes basking in the silence. 

We all talk. We all listen. 

I suppose that this is my family now. These are the people I'll be living my life with. I never thought I'd have so many people by my side. That I'd have so much. Though this isn't so much. It's beyond measure. 

"Are we always going to stay together?" Carmellla asks us. 

"Yes, we are," we all reply. 

We decide to go look for some food. And it's strange, coming to all the different plants and trying to decide which ones are edible and which ones are not. But it's interesting. 

Eventually the Forest cover thins. And the grasses grow tall. We emerge into a Field stretching out in front of us, full of blowing grasses. It's so bright. But not bright in the way that light is bright. It's bright in a way that can't be seen. In a way that shines in our hearts. 

The Forest stretches out on our left side, and the Field stretches out on our right. And everything seems to be in perfect harmony, including us.