Love, Blood and Wilderness | YELLOWJACKETS

Chapter 12

The next morning, Laura Lee, Lottie, Tai and Shauna had all disappeared somewhere.

I stirred wondering where Laura Lee and Lottie went, hoping that Laura Lee was taking care of her and that they were both okay. My heart sunk as I thought just how much I missed Lottie.

With their absence, Nat and I spent the morning hooking up before she went hunting.

"You leave any hickeys I'll fucking kill you," I told her, playfully.

"Relax, Thompson," she muttered in my skin, "I won't leave anything you don't want me to."

When she left to go hunting with Travis, my stomach was in knots once again. I was without Nat, unsure if she was planning on continuing hooking up with Travis, and not knowing where Lottie was. The loneliness took over anew.

I sat with Van for a few hours, who was also wondering where her girlfriend had run off to.

    Travis and Natalie returned a few hours later and I spurred with agitation. It was unfair to Nat that I was, since I allowed her to hook up with who she wanted to.

    It still didn't shake the uneasiness I felt.

    Shauna, Tai, Laura Lee and Lottie had also joined an hour prior to their return.

    Lottie was soaking wet, as was Laura Lee and the agitation returned. How could she get Lottie soaking wet? She could catch a cold. But it wasn't my problem, not anymore at least, but it still made me unsure, because my love for Lottie could never go away.

    She was my best friend for years and I've been in love with her for so long. There was a hole in my heart that no other person could fill but her, no matter how hard they tried.

    Nat and Travis carried an odd looking dear that had a scarlet, fleshy substance hanging off its antlers. It looked like something out of a nightmare.

     "Whoa. That thing is gnarly."

    "It's like Freddy Krueger and Bambi had a baby."

    "I'm not eating that."

    "Guys, relax. Deer shed their antlers every season," Ben assured us, "this is normal. Shauna, do the honors?"

    Shauna, whose face was red and puffy as if she were crying, held the knife in her hands and approached the deer with caution. She was hesitant to touch it and we all scrunched our noses in disgust, but she sliced the skin open.

    As she did, no blood drained out, but instead, maggots crawled out from underneath the gash and a putrid smell wafted from the deer.

    We all grimaced in disgust at the sight of the maggots.

    "That normal too, Coach?"

    "I'm not crazy," I heard Lottie whisper to Laura Lee, and I tried eavesdropping in.

    "No. You have a gift," Laura Lee replied. My brows furrowed.

    "We cannot keep fսck¡ng doing this, you guys," Taissa declared, "what happens when winter gets here? We fսcking starve to death or freeze? We can't count on getting rescued anymore. All of us know that is not gonna happen."

    She glared at Jackie and Jackie glued her eyes to the ground.

    "We have to save us. That's why I'm gonna go find help. I'm leaving in the morning. Come with me if you want to get out of this fսcking hellhole."

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

    The following day everyone was nervous about Taissa's departure. Everyone was stuck between the idea of leaving and finding rescue or dying the first night we left. No one wanted to risk death and leave the comfort of the cabin.