Love Restrained | Yellowjackets

chapter twenty one

XXI

It was still the night when Hayden woke up with a strong aroma in the air. As she looked around she saw everybody else with an intrigued expression as they sniffed the air.

"What is that?"

"We have to go."

Everyone was slowly getting up, curious and tempted by that smell in the air. They headed for the cabin's door and when Shauna opened it, the smell became stronger, invading the whole place.

Although it was cold outside, they proceeded to walk through the snow, in the direction of Jackie's cremated body.

Except it wasn't cremated.

Something happened while they were sleeping because now her body was somehow completely cooked, explaining that tempting smell.

Once everybody acknowledged what happened, they all stared at Jackie's perfectly cooked meat, not knowing how it happened but also not putting much thought to it.

"It wants us to." Shauna whispered, kneeling before her best friend.

They looked at each other, looked around and waited.

They were out of food. They were hungry.

And right at that moment they were being controlled by the most primitive instincts of the human body.

When Hayden looked at Shauna again the girl had a knife in hands, studying closely the body before her. And Hayden thought she was hallucinating, that couldn't be real, it wasn't happening.

But the image of Shauna cutting Jackie's meat before her eyes was too real to deny it.

And before anyone could think of anything or say anything, they were all in. Devouring Jackie's body just like wild animals who had been hungry for just too long.

Ben Scott got outside not knowing he would wish to erase that sight of his memory until his last day. He was completely horrified.

He slowly started to head inside, being the most careful he could, afraid they would hear him.

What was happening was the proof that people are capable of doing anything when the situation is critical enough.

Ben wasn't safe anymore. Nobody was.

.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.

The next morning, the first to stir was Hayden. She pushed herself up, careful not to wake the others, she moved quietly through the sleeping girls, creaking the floor as she navigated through them.

Reaching the front door, Hayden paused, her hand on the doorknob. Something felt strange. Her mind was a fog, but she had a bad feeling, she just wasn't sure about what it was.

She took a deep breath and opened it, stepping out onto the cabin's porch. Her breath immediately caught in her throat and her legs suddenly feeling like lead.

Hayden slowly started making her way through the snow, her heart pounded in her chest as she approached, the realization dawning.

The memories of the night before came rushing back in a torrent of disjointed images. The smell. Shauna holding a knife. The knife through the flesh. The hunger. The feeling of satiety.

It all hit her as she stared at what once was Jackie Taylor. What once was her friend.

Hayden stood frozen in front of Jackie's remains, her eyes wide with shock and horror. She felt sick as the full weight of her actions crashed down on her.