Emily I'm Sorry; Yellowjackets

twenty.

(Emily, I'm Sorry)
ACT ONE - CHAPTER TWENTY

1996

A sense of relief flooded over Emily at the very first sighting of a deer, it seemed that there was hope after all.

She couldn't help but glance upward, a mental thank you echoing through her mind. Maybe she still had some belief in her after all.

Natalie lifted the gun to her shoulder, without saying a word to either Travis or Emily.

Visibly stiffened by the new situation in front of her, tears welled up in Natalie's eyes, visions of her past flashing through her mind.

Emily wanted to take the gun from her, take the burden away from her...however, Emily also understood that this was something the other girl had to do.

A shaky breath escaped Natalie's lips as she pulled the trigger. This one action sent a bullet tearing through the flesh of the deer, causing it to collapse.

Emily flinched, her eyes darting away from the animal, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic toward the deer. It had just been so unsuspecting, there was no noise, and no warning before its life was taken.

Natalie lowered the gun, clicking the safety back on, she shared a look with Emily, but she knew there was nothing the other blonde could do to comfort her.

Not with Travis there at least...no one knew about them, and if anyone was to be the first to find out Natalie certainly wouldn't let it be him.

They approached the animal in silence, Natalie crouching down beside it, Emily joining her.

"We'll be alright," Emily whispered, silence following her words.

After what felt like forever, the three of them finally made it back to the cabin, deer hanging from a stick as they carried it back.

"Good work you guys," Ben spoke, as they set the deer down on the ground, "It was all Natalie," Travis replied.

"I really don't like to agree with him, however, yes it was all Nat." Emily spoke, sharing a look with her.

"So, what do we do with it now?" Natalie asked, inching closer to Emily, leaning on her a bit.

"Well, first we have to bleed it out." Coach Ben explained, then holding out a knife, "So, who wants to try?"

No one responded at first, the idea of bleeding out the dead animal was not very appealing to anyone of the teenagers. That was until Shauna spoke up, "I'll give it a try."

Shauna crossed the small space, accepting the knife, "Right across the throat," coach instructed. Emily looked away as Shauna knelt down, slitting the throat of the deer.

The whole group sat around a fire just outside of the cabin, finally eating. The day had been a small victory in the course of what the crash had been like so far...Emily wasn't going to take it for granted.

Not for one second.

"I owe you an apology."

The girl with seemingly golden blonde hair looked over at Emily, thoroughly confused by her apology.