Are we out of the woods yet? (The GC)

Chapter 9

The next morning, the group woke up with a nervous tension surrounding them, they were all anxious about the events of last night and they couldn't shake the image of their friend's severed head. 

The two with the most tension seemed to be Vi and Gemma, on account of their argument the night prior. Raven and Jess kept glancing over at Gemma and Vi every so often to see if they had resolved their feud but they clearly had not.

"Uh, guys. I think we need to go get some food and fire wood" Jess said, breaking the extremely awkward silence which Raven, Lisa and Henrik were silently thankful for. "I think we should go get some. We should split up and get some of each-"

"I'll go with Henrik to get the fire wood" Raven cut in quickly, looking at Henrik in a way Jess had never seen Raven look at anyone before. 

"Uh, yeah, okay" She said. "The rest of you guys come with me, see you guys later yeah?"

Raven nodded, looking over at her best friend with a tight-lipped smile. Both of them knew there was a chance, albeit slim, that they may never see each other again. 

Jess was about to turn to the rest of the group but she turned around and jogged over to Raven before pulling her into a hug. "Be safe" She said before pulling away.

Raven nodded with a small smile before Jess gave Henrik a thumbs up, they really weren't the hugging type. "You too"

Henrik gave her a small smile and returned the thumbs up. "Back at you" he said and then soon enough he and Raven turned to walk away from the group and into the trees behind them.

Lisa and Jess shared a look that said 'we need to split up from Gemma and Vi so they can squash their beef' and so they both turned to the other girls. "We're gonna go look for somewhere where we can get water, you guys look for food yeah?" Lisa said

Vi looked over at Jess with wide eyes and a look that said 'save me from this awkwardness' but Jess just shrugged holding in a laugh as she mouthed 'Sorry'

Vi rolled her eyes and Jess and Lisa turned around to go walking deeper into the forest, laughing about the awkward looks on both Gemma and Vi's faces.

Vi awkwardly glanced at Gemma, who avoided eye contact. They stayed like this for a little while before Gemma decided to speak up. "I don't think it's your fault that Caitlin died." She said it quietly and Vi could tell that it was hard for Gemma to say because she really meant it. "And i'm really sorry for taking my anger out on you, it wasn't fair and I don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else so I'm sorry can we please just be friends again?"

Vi looked at her for a moment, at the tears welling in Gemma's eyes, then she pulled her in for a quick hug. "It's okay, I forgive you" She said, pulling back awkwardly. She wasn't very good at discussing emotions of any kind.

"I mean, I know it must've been hard for you guys, finding Luna's body like that" Gemma said.

Vi squirmed at the mention of her friend's severed head. She had been thinking about it all night, waking up various times through out the night in a cold sweat as images of those dead eyes flooded her memory. "Yeah, it was . . . crazy. I've never seen anything like that before in my life" She said

Gemma frowned but placed her hand comfortingly on Victoria's shoulder. "Well we're all gonna stick together alright? We won't let that asshole that killed Luna get anymore of us" She said, truly believing they could stop it from causing them any further harm.

Vi nodded, flashing a smile at Gemma that didn't meet her eyes. "Uh, so what are we gonna do for food? I'm starving and I need a shower" She complained. Gemma nodded in agreement.

"Me too, I can't wait to get home and have a hot shower" She sighed, reminiscing on the comforts of her home. She missed it so much and she missed her family. She knew she had to get home, and she would do whatever it takes to get her and her friends back to safety.

Right as Vi and Gemma were thinking about delicious food, hot showers and comfortable soft mattresses, a rabbit hopped into their peripheral vision. 

Both girls turned their heads to look at the rabbit. That pretty much answered their question about food. But it raised another question. Who was going to kill it?

It didn't take long for Gemma to take the knife from inside one of the blankets at the groups makeshift campsite and sneak up behind the poor unsuspecting animal. Gemma really didn't want to have to do this but she wanted to show Vi that she was willing to get her hands dirty in order to help the group. She felt like she owed the shorter girl this after she had accused her of being the cause of one of their best friends deaths.

Gemma took a deep, shaky breath as she clutched the weapon in her hand. She quickly brought it down, plunging deep into the poor rabbit's head. Her hands were shaking and she had her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she pulled the knife out of the rabbits skull.

Vi was watching with wide eyes as the life left the little creature and it fell to the floor with blood pouring from it. 

"Well, I guess dinner is sorted" She muttered, quietly.