"Hey, how does it feel to be shot?" asked Van, who was standing between Lottie and Agami.
They gave the red-haired woman a questioning look, both confused about why the woman would ask such a question and for what reason.
"The fuck, Palmer? I don't know. I have never been shot," replied Agami, her eyebrows furrowed. She then tilted her head forward and looked at the tall brunette with them. "You?" she asked Lottie.
"I can't say I had the pleasure," the woman responded.
Agami shrugged her shoulders off and just focused on the group gathered not far from them. Mari just finished firing her shots, hitting one can successfully out of five targets, and handed the gun to Travis after. Lottie was the one who ran to fix the target again for Travis to hit, quickly went back to where the two girls were standing, then covered her ears just like Van and Agami.
Travis starts shooting, knocking on three consecutive targets flawlessly, but misses the fourth one. The three of them got confused about why the man stopped shooting, only to realize that he was now pointing the gun at Natalie when they looked at the group.
"Travis!" they heard the coach warn him.
Agami pinched the bridge of her nose at the sight of what's happening, frustrated at Travis' misbehavior, which just added to the list of reasons why she hates the guy.
"What the fuck is he doing?" asked Van, her voice obviously containing anger.
"He's being a prick again," replied Lottie, sounding more irritated than usual.
Thankfully, whatever was happening to the group ended quickly, and Travis finished off his turn by firing the last shot he had left, hitting the next target down once again. He managed to bring down four out of five cans, which in Agami's honest opinion was quite good, but the fact that he pointed the gun at Natalie earlier was enough for him to not be praised by anyone.
Natalie was impressive though. She managed to take all the targets down, which earned cheers from everyone in the group, including Van and Lottie, who were jumping and clapping for their friend's victory against Travis. Agami clapped, smiling not just about Natalie's success but also about how the woman proved her skills and that the second chance given to her during the dry firing was worth it.
Her eyes then landed on Travis. He was standing behind Natalie, all quiet, but the frustration was visible in his face. Obviously, his pride had been stepped on by Natalie, and he was embarrassed for himself at the moment.
Agami smirked. She adds salt to any injury for sports and loves to rub it in the wound.
Lottie and Van once again fixed the target cans, this time for Agami, who will be the last to try to hit all the targets. When they came back to their spots, Agami spoke.
"Ten bucks say I will hit all five targets just like Scat did," she said, which immediately got Van and Lottie's attention.
"No. I'll be glad to give you twenty once we're back home if that happens," replied Van, making her bet, a grin visible on her face.
"A hundred. You will get a hundred bucks from me if you hit all five and manage to piss Travis off," said Lottie, challenging the woman.
Agami raised her right fist in front of Van and Lottie, which they happily bumped, using theirs to seal their deal.
"Agami!" yelled coach Ben. "You're up."
Since she's the last one to do it and there's no need to arrange the targets after her turn, Lottie and Van walked with her, the three of them finally joining the rest of the group. Agami took the gun from Natalie, the woman nodding at her in a gesture of good luck, and responded to her by winking.
She loaded the gun with the bullets that'd been in her pockets, which Ben gave them earlier while they were on their way to where they were now. Agami cracked her neck and gave her shoulders a nice roll before positioning herself as she cocked the gun. She was in the same stance she did during the dry firing that helped her succeed in achieving perfect balance and proper trigger control. Agami took a deep breath, eyes focused on the target, slowly put her finger on the trigger, then pulled it without hesitation.
The first and second shots were flawless, hitting the cans with precision. However, when she was aiming for the third can, she might have lost her point of direction and missed it. But the odds were in her favor. Agami accidentally hit the fourth can in her third shot and just went back to the third target after knocking the fourth can off, which she also hit successfully. And finally, her last and final bullet also hit the fifth target, which means, just like Natalie, she managed to hit five out of five.
"Oh fuck," she heard one of the girls whisper, which ended both the silence and tension in the air.
Agami lowered the gun and faced everyone. The girls, as well as coach Ben, were all cheering for her, just like they did with Natalie. Van was even shaking her body aggressively from too much joy, while Laura Lee had both of her hands on Agami's shoulders, pushing them down as she jumped behind her.
But before she could even forget, Agami searched for a specific person, Travis, who was now looking more dissatisfied with the situation. When their eyes met, she smiled at Travis in an irritatingly smug way. He glared at the woman in return, hissing at Agami before he completely walked away. She won both deals.
With that, she smiled triumphantly at everyone as she spoke.
"And that, ladies, is how we smash the patriarchy."
They went back to the cabin after that. It turns out that was where Travis went after walking away. His eyes were shooting daggers at both Agami and Natalie, but he didn't do anything, not like he could anyway. She ignored the man and followed the coach, who asked her and Natalie to come see him.
But Natalie was still busy doing something, so Agami headed first to where Ben was waiting. She found him leaning on a post, putting all his weight on it, while the crutch he was holding helped support his body to stand.
"Coach?" she called the man. Agami was not part of the team, but she got used to calling Ben the same way the other girls refer to him. So she just addressed the man as coach to show some respect to him for being the only adult among them.
"Natalie?" he asked Agami, looking for the other girl.
"She'll be here soon, just doing some stuff. Anyway, what do you want to talk about?" she replied.
Ben handed her the gun, which she accepted without any questions asked.
"You two are gonna have to leave immediately. Hunting takes hours," he said.
That made Agami stop on track. She knows that the purpose of the dry firing and practice shooting earlier was to see who among them could go out there and hunt for food, but it didn't even register to her yet that her being successful when they did the drill would automatically make her the hunter for the group. Agami wasn't competing for that.
Without thinking twice, she handed the gun back to the coach, who looked confused as to what was happening.
"I don't want to be a hunter," she said, her voice sounding a little shaky.
"What?" Ben asked as if he heard Agami wrong. The woman shook her head as she responded.
"I can't be a hunter. I'm not really comfortable with that idea. I'm sorry."
"I don't understand. You were able to hit all five targets earlier. You're a great shooter."
"I did, yeah, sure. But I don't think I'm going to be great as a hunter."
There was silence after that. Ben, who was still confused with Agami's words and trying to understand what could possibly be the problem why the woman wouldn't do it, and Agami, who couldn't shake the heavy feeling that's once again creeping on her chest.
"Let Scatorrcio and Martinez handle the hunting," Agami suggested to the man, who looked skeptical about it.
She had an idea why the coach was having reservations, and she couldn't blame him, but still, her being a hunter doesn't feel right, and she'll stand by what her gut is telling her.
"Besides, the two of them are more precise in shooting than me," she said, still trying to convince the man.
"C'mon, don't pretend you didn't notice my mistake earlier. You know that I was aiming for the third target when we were doing practice shooting and missed it. I was just lucky that the bullet went for another target," Agami stated, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "Consider Martinez and I tied for shooting four out of five."
"Then you are tied, if that's what you want to hear. But I'm choosing you as the winner, so join the hunting," said Ben, his voice showing authority.
Agami shook her head and argued. "No. We can't afford to make mistakes out there. Hell, it better be one shot, one kill if possible."
Ben shut his eyes. He knows that the woman has a point. Failure is not really an option for them right now, and they cannot waste any bullets since they have limited supplies and they already wasted twenty when doing the drill. But his worry revolved around Travis and the man's hostility.
"I will talk to him. I'll make sure he's not gonna do anything stupid again," said Agami, then left after that, not even waiting for the coach's response.
She went back inside the cabin, searching for Travis, but the man was nowhere to be found, so she tried her luck outside. Agami found him sitting in a tree trunk not far from the cottage, tearing some dried leaves, while his eyes focused on nothingness just to avoid looking at Agami's arrival.
Agami didn't waste a second and spoke.
"Coach wants to talk to you," she said in a flat voice, obviously not delighted to talk to the man just as he is to her.
"Go to hell," he replied to Agami, standing up from where he was sitting and attempting to leave.
She quickly stepped forward, grabbing the man's sleeve forcefully and not letting him take another step, which quite surprised Travis that the woman actually managed to pull and stop him from leaving. Agami then let go of Travis by pushing him in front of her, staring at the man and giving him an ominous look.
"Listen here, Flex," she said as a starter, emphasizing the man's nickname. She knows the meaning behind that alias that students in Wiskayok gave Travis. It's terrible to be bullied, yes, but with the man's attitude, Agami is not in the mood to care for his feelings.
"If the girls are letting you be an asshole all the fucking time because of your grieving card and you're their coach's son, I'm not. I don't know you. I don't know your dad. And I certainly don't give a shit about your feelings," said Agami, taking a step closer to Travis.
"We're stuck in the middle of nowhere. Imagine all the things that we can do freely in this woods and what I would do to you if you wouldn't quit being an ass. So, get your fucking stuff and talk to the coach," she stated with all seriousness.
Travis didn't say a word and just glared at Agami. She took that as a sign to finish her words.
"Scat doesn't deserve all that fuckery of yours, so you better stop. I don't make empty threats," she finished.
And with that, Travis walked away, purposely bumping Agami's body with his shoulders, which did nothing as the woman's body stood still.
Agami sighed heavily and decided to stay in the spot for a little while before going back to the others. She doesn't know why she was that aggressive towards the man when she's not usually like that, but she simply blamed it on the heavy feeling on her chest at the moment to avoid overthinking.
Her mind wandered back to her conversation with Lottie at the lake. Their talk didn't give clarity to what's happening between them and just added to the pile of unanswered questions she has had since freshman year. The ambiance in the cabin didn't help either, especially the skeleton they saw in the attic, and the question of what happened to him arose. Then there's the symbol. What does it mean, or does it even have a meaning? Was it related to the man or the cabin? And what's gonna happen to them in such uncharted territory?
Agami then turned around, finally ready to go back to the cabin, and nearly had a heart attack when someone was standing right behind her. She can't help but curse at the surprise, her hands moving unconsciously on her chest, where she felt her loud heartbeat.
"Do you like being a creep and surprising people?" she asked the woman standing in front of her.
"Natalie left with Travis to hunt," replied Lottie, ignoring Agami's question.
"The threats worked, huh?" Agami said in a low voice, her irritation at the man being refreshed.
"It was supposed to be you," said Lottie in a serious voice, staring at Agami.
"Except I wasn't," she replied to Lottie's comments.
Agami started walking, and Lottie did the same, following her back to the cabin but still continuing to ask questions.
"Why would you do that? Can't you see you're being favored?"
That made Agami stop taking another step. She faced the brunette, her face frowning a little as she talked to the woman.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked Lottie, confused by what the woman meant by her statement.
"I can feel it. You're receiving blessings. You're being chosen."
Agami stared at Lottie with horror. She's starting to feel scared about what the woman was saying and couldn't help but raise her voice as she responded.
"Cut the crap, Charlotte. You're starting to sound crazy."
"You're being favored. Accept it and do what you're supposed to do."
"Please, cut it out."
"It's supposed to be you. Stop resisting-"
"Stop!"
It was her first outburst. Everything is coming at her all at once, and Lottie being pushy was her final straw. Them being stuck in the middle of nowhere is still not fully sinking into her yet, along with the deaths of some people with them who died in the initial crash, and that fear of not being rescued any time soon is mixing up and is now messing with her head. The heavy feeling about the cabin, the symbol, and the skeleton they found doesn't really disappear. In fact, it's getting stronger.
The last thing Agami needs at the moment is what exactly Lottie is doing to her right now. It's the overwhelming feelings that made her snap at Travis earlier and now with Lottie. She doesn't like being that, but her emotions are too difficult to control right now.
Agami composed herself, taking a deep breath before speaking.
"I'm not cut out to be a hunter," she said, her eyes slowly going back to their default genuine state and her face a little more relaxed than earlier.
"I'd rather be with everyone here and help keep things around."
Once Lottie and Agami were back at the cabin, they coincidentally caught the girls about to leave the cottage, saying they'd explore the woods and try to find some plants or leaves that were edible to eat. They didn't think twice and joined them since they didn't actually have anything better to do in the cabin.
Their group traveled meters away from the cabin, looking for at least some berries they could eat and hoping they wouldn't get poison if they tried and tested the random berry or crop they found. All of them were walking in silence when Laura Lee suddenly spoke.
"Are any of these, like, maple syrup trees?" she asked, her sight focused on the trees.
"What? I don't know," Taissa replied to the woman.
Agami stared at Laura Lee in disbelief, which the woman noticed and countered with a question.
"What?" she asked Agami in an oblivious tone.
"Seriously? Maple trees? What, you're gonna ask for a pancake next?"
Agami shook her head repeatedly, taking a deep breath, and just left Laura Lee to go stay beside Van. She watched silently as Misty picked up what looked like a mushroom and straightly shovelled it in her mouth, smiling at the woman's both stupidity and daring act. But her fun was ruined when Akilah sprinted towards Misty and slapped the woman's hands before the mushroom could even touch Misty's lips.
"Don't eat that kind!" Akilah warned. "It's poisonous."
Agami let out a snort of laughter when Van asked such a great question.
"Like, 'kill you' poisonous or 'trip your balls off' poisonous?" asked the red-haired woman.
"One way to find out, Palmer," she replied to Van's question, which earned her daggers from Akilah, so she didn't say another word after.
"I don't know. My girl scout troop leader didn't get all that specific about it." Akilah finally responded to the red-haired woman's query.
"Shame," Agami once again commented before leaving the girls behind.
She walked past everyone, getting a little far ahead of all of them on her own, when she stumbled upon something that made her stop. There lies in front of her a Cessna plane that is covered in ivies and moss, just like how the cabin looks, only it is also painted with rust on some parts. The plane gave her the same feeling that the wooden cabin does-the feeling that it belongs to the wild and no one must try using it.
Agami felt the cold shiver in her spine as she walked to touch its propeller and immediately stepped back when her palm surprisingly felt a burning sensation that ripped through her flesh as if she just purposely placed her hand on a burning coal. She yelled in pain, but when she checked her palm, it wasn't red or showed any sign of being burned.
"The hell was that?" she whispered to herself, slowly taking more steps backward.
She then heard the rest of the girls screaming excitedly on their way to where she was and the plane. It must not have been registered to her earlier, when she was so indulged in checking the aircraft that Jackie also found it and immediately called the other girls to see it for themselves.
Lottie stands beside her while the rest hurriedly inspect the plane, not saying a word, and back with that skeptical look similar to what she appeared when they found the cabin, and if she's going to be honest, Agami doesn't like it whenever Lottie makes that kind of expression while she, herself, is having an unexplainable feeling about things because it will only get worse.
What happened next was like a blur. Laura Lee managed to start the engine of the aircraft as it slowly moved forward, almost hitting Van if she was not pushed by Jackie, who would have suffered serious injury or even died if the plane didn't stop moving. The point of the propeller was just a few inches away from Jackie's face, and her trembling body shows she just realized how close she was to death.
Agami remained quiet. Her distance from the plane allowed her to view its whole appearance, and that's when her eyes caught something. A vine spiraled around the aircraft's landing gear, as if it were holding it off.
There's only one thing that comes to her mind. She even tried to shake it off, but the feeling was too strong. Agami doesn't want to say it, not wanting to sound crazy, and holds tightly to the last ounce of rational thought that she has left, only for Lottie to say the exact same thing she has on her mind.
"It didn't want him to leave."
Agami didn't know how she managed to get back to the cabin by herself without getting lost. All she thinks about is getting away from the plane and from Lottie. She drank at least two full cups of water when she came back and splashed some on her own face, hoping it'd help her regain her full consciousness. She sat down in front of the cabin, her face burrowed on her knees, and hugged them as she tried to clear her mind.
A few minutes passed when she heard the footsteps of other girls and their distant voices slowly coming back to the cottage, talking about their finds and discussing the plane they had found. Agami just closed her eyes and tried to feel her surroundings. There was the sound of birds chirping, the warm afternoon breeze brushing on her skin, and the strong unpleasant smell coming from the soil.
The longer they stay in the cabin and the wilderness itself, after all the weird things happening that are unknown to everyone and the incidents that they refuse to perceive in different ways, the feeling of running away from where they are right now grows stronger on Agami. As if something inside her was telling her that something was coming for them soon and they should leave before it gets to them because once they are reached by it, there'll be no return.
Just a few moments later, Natalie and Travis appeared before them, carrying a long tree branch with a deer tied to it. The other girls cheer at Natalie and Travis' successful hunting, but Agami just looks at the dead prey in silence. Because the moment she saw the two and realized that they actually managed to hunt something down, Agami's mind went back to what Lottie said when they saw the plane and how it got stuck with the help of vines spiraling around it just when they tried to make it work.
"Nice work, you two."
"It was all Natalie."
Agami then saw it in her peripheral vision as Lottie walked and stood beside her. The woman claimed earlier that it didn't want him to leave, and there's only one thing you can do to make sure someone won't try to run away. And now, she finally has a response to what Lottie said.
"So it gave him a reason to stay."