Avoid the Cracks
Your steps are light and unsure. You don’t want to be sucked into the earth again, even if you can’t currently see it. You trot down the streets, surprised to hear how much more life is there now. Was it really only a few days ago that you could only hear rats running around?
Now you can hear birds and rabbits and squirrels, their movements rustling the new leaves that have fallen from recently sprouted trees.
The buildings are getting stronger. Their bones are holding more steadily the further you get from the heart of the forest.