doomsday. [ yellowjackets ]

vingt-sept.

xxx.

chapter vingt-sept.
chapter twenty seven.

xxx.

         It's been two months since Jackie froze to death, and you could feel it in the air since then. The snow had not stopped since that day, falling every other night, bringing harsher breezes and scaring away any game that had previously wandered the woods. Despite the sun shining brighter against the sparkling snow, the atmosphere of the cabin was dull and despairing. Laura Lee was dead, Jackie was dead, and it felt like only a matter of time before the rest of them followed suit. The group was fractured, whether any of them were willing to admit that or not. There's the half that have started poking and prodding Lottie to discuss what the 'Wilderness', as they were referring to it now, told her or asked of them. Then, there was the half that thought all of the bullshit coming out of Lottie's mouth was exactly that: bullshit. There were also a select few that couldn't exactly place their feelings one way or another, like Tara.

          While Taissa, Alex, and Natalie seemed to be the ones reacting to the idea of a supernatural element influencing anything they were doing out there negatively, Lottie was the 'voice' of the Wilderness; Mari and Van seemed to be her number one cult members, but every day Tara could tell another person was being convinced more and more. Unfortunately for Tara, one of those people happened to be Travis.

The blonde was already awake at the literal crack of dawn, it had become a regular occurrence since, not Jackie's death or the first snowfall, but the doomcoming. The dripping noise might've stopped after she and Travis slept together, but now she had a new problem and she wasn't willing to tell anyone other than Travis and Natalie in fear of what they might say or do; she couldn't sleep, if she managed to, it was never for more than a few hours, and she would find herself awake longer than the others at night and up severely earlier than anyone in the morning.

And, because she never got to sleep, she also never knew when to expect the whispers. Those had also started when the dripping stopped. At first, they sounded like bees zipping by her ears, incomprehensible and just a bit annoying, but they had evolved into full sentences whispered into her ear like the person saying it was right beside her. The clearer the words became, the more scared Tara got. It was mostly just random, impulsive words, but as they went from simple comments about how 'Jackie was better off dead' or 'everyone will understand soon' to harsh whispers about taking the rest of the food or killing Mari for a smartass remark she made, Tara started to think she was losing it.

Which was completely plausible given the situation and her lack of sleep, but she still made Travis and Natalie promise not to tell anyone. She was beginning to think one of them had broken that promise though, as recently she noticed Lottie also being awake as early as she was, and the glances the dark haired girl would steal her way.

It was that way now. Tara was sitting up, shoulders slumped as the fireplace crackled behind her. She held her arms around her knees and picked at her nails, trying her hardest not to look up at Lottie, who sat in the windowsill, looking out at the softly falling snow.

She knows.

" Fuck off. " Tara murmured to herself, rolling her eyes as she dropped her hands and planted her chin onto her legs.