The Sound of Silence - Yellowjackets

(S1) 12. Wolves

"Ahhhh!" I hear a scream. I recognize the voice. I burst out of the cabin and immediately recoil from the stench. The sight before me makes my stomach churn. "What the fuck?!" Shauna shouts in surprise, dropping her knife and stumbling away. I stared at the deer we had just brought back and strung up. Shauna had cut it open and now it was on display for all to see.

The inside of the deer was infested with maggots. Travis looked at the deer. "Damnit!" He shouted. He stormed off into the forest. "We made it mad. Now it's punishing us." Lottie mutters next to me. Crazy bitch. Taissa comes up beside me. "Fuck this." She mumbles and turns around to head back inside. "Fuck! We can't catch a damn break!" Jackie shouts, crying. She runs off as well. I look down and see Shauna still staring at the deer, her surprise and shock evident. I walk forward.

"Shauna, let's go inside," I whisper in her ear. After a moment, she starts moving. We both head inside, quickly followed by everyone else who had been watching. "-have to!" I hear the tail end of Taissa's sentence. "What's going on?" I ask. I walk into the kitchen to see everyone having a heated discussion around the table. Even Travis and Jackie had returned. "Taissa is fucking insane! She wants to go out and try to find a town!" Van tells me.

Taissa gives Van a sharp look that she ignores. "I plan on taking a group with me. Volunteers only, of course." Taissa comments, crossing her arms. "Why?" I ask. "It's getting colder and colder every day. Not the "I better put on a coat" kind of cold. We're talking "dying feels like falling asleep" cold." She says. "Were also almost out of food. Were surviving on mere rations. They won't last forever." Taissa says. I sigh.

She's right. But is it even safe? We've all heard the howls and let's not forget that wolf carcass we found when we arrived. "Look, you know I'm right. I'll take a group, we'll take half the supplies and the gun, for protection, and-" she is telling me but I interject. "No. Taissa, I can't stop you. Honestly, I don't think I should. This could very well be our best chance. However, you can't take the gun." I say.

"The majority of the group, I assume, is staying here. We need to be able to hunt. Even if the prospect of finding food is slim, it's worth it. Should something happen to you and your group and we lose the gun, we'll all die." I continue. She nods. "Okay. No gun then." Taissa says. Van scoffs and storms out of the cabin. Everyone looks confused except me and Taissa. Taissa sighs. "We'll talk later, Andi. I need some space and to figure out who all is going with." Taissa says.

I nod. Taissa heads upstairs to the attic. I grab Misty by the shoulder and gently steer her to the pantry, where we can talk alone. "What's going on?" Misty asks. "I'm going to with Taissa. I-" I start but she interrupts. "What? Andi, you can't! You the only one here who-" This time, it's me who interrupts. "Misty, I'm going. You need to stay here and watch everyone, got it?" I tell her.

She nods, hesitantly, and storms away. I've never seen her so upset... it doesn't matter. I have a feeling my patient is going to go on this trip. What kind of doctor would I be if I just let her go without someone who could give her proper treatment?

***---^^^---***

I stare at Taissa's hair. Or, I suppose, lack thereof would be more accurate. "Could you stop staring?" Taissa asks. I snicker. "Sure, sure," I reply. "Is something funny?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at me. I throw my hands up in mock surrender. "No, no. Not at all." I tell her. She continues to give me a dirty look but I refuse to talk. Eventually, she just rolls her eyes and moves her focus back to the forest ahead of us.

I can't believe she chopped her hair off. Now, for the first time ever, her hair is shorter than mine. Damn. Still, back in middle school, she was so obsessed with her hair. It's funny that she chopped it off. I never thought that would happen. "Hey, guys? Can we take a break?" Van asks, sweaty and out of breath. Taissa and the others sigh. I glare at them.

Stop acting like Van is a dead weight. She is recovering from an injury and none of you had any objections when she asked to come with. I don't say anything. I brush twigs and leaves off of a rock and help Van sit down. I grab the old water bottle I use to store water and give it to Van. She takes a few sips and hands it back to me, taking deep breaths.

"Thanks, Stormer." She says. "Anytime," I reply, putting the bottle back in my backpack. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Taissa glaring at me with her arms crossed. Calm down, asshole. I'm not moving in on your girl. I stand up from my squatting position and take a look around us. My eyes land on the sun, which is sitting just above the horizon. I sigh.

"Taissa, it's getting late. I think we should make camp here." I say. Taissa clenches her fists. I can tell she is pissed off. It's understandable. Because of Van's injury, we barely made a quarter of the time we could have. I don't blame her, though. The crash hurt everyone. Her, more than others. I watch as everyone gives Van a dirty look. Van, however, is too busy massaging her leg to notice.

Still, it sucks. We're not even out of the hunting zones yet. If we walked non-stop, the camp was only about forty-five minutes out. "I'll gather wood for a fire." Taissa grits. "I'll go with-" Van starts but Taissa interrupts her. "Stay here. You'll slow me down." Taissa snaps. I glare at Taissa. Seriously, what a jackass. That's your fucking girlfriend you piece of shit. Taissa storms off. The others move a little bit farther from us, no doubt whispering their complaints about Van to each other. I squat back down in front of Van.

I start messaging her leg. "You don't have to help me." She tells me. She pushes my hands away. I can tell she is pissed that everyone thinks she's weak. I glare right back. "I'm not the one you're angry at so why don't you lose the attitude, okay?" I say. She waves me off. I huff and stand up. I walk about five feet away and set my backpack down.

If she wants to be mad, fine. She just needs to learn how to contain her emotions so she is only mad at the person she should be, and not at the ones who did nothing. I search through my bag. I pulled the two blankets I had rolled as small and tight as possible out and laid one on the ground. I set my backpack at one end, for my makeshift pillow, and set my other blanket, still folded, on top of my backpack.

I'll unroll that one later when I decide to go to sleep. I then go and gather some big rocks and start forming a circle for the fire. By the time I finish, Taissa is back with her arms full of sticks and branches. She let them drop into the fire pit I had made. She grabs a lighter from her pocket and, soon enough, we have a roaring fire.

The sky darkens to black. I listen to the crickets and the crackling of the fire as I sit on my makeshift bed. I shiver. It's cold. Off in the distance, I hear howling. I shiver once more, but it's not because I'm cold. I hear whispers from the others about wanting to head back. Wolves, huh? I'm glad I brought my knife with me. Probably won't do much good while I'm getting mauled to death, but it's something I guess.

I look over and see Taissa and Van having a heated discussion. Serves Taissa right. Once more, howling echoes throughout the forest. Taissa jumps up. "Okay, that sounded a lot fucking closer!" Taissa says, looking around with fear in her eyes. She clutches her knife with an iron grip. I stand up as well.

We need to get out of here. "Taissa, let's head back to the cabin. It's clearly not safe-" I start but she interrupts. "No! We have to keep going!" She argues. "You-" I begin. "Ahhh!" A scream rings out. The sound of growling echoes in my ears as I turn and watch in horror as one of the other girls has her stomach ripped out by a wolf.

More wolves come running through the woods. Fuck. I look around as everything appears to happen in slow motion. The reality, however, is that the shock mixed with adrenaline is making my brain work as hard as possible, making everything that's happening happen in slow motion in my mind. In reality, everything is moving at a normal pace.

I'm just processing it all much quicker than usual. Adrenaline truly is a miracle. What do I do? There are about four wolves. Three of them are attacking the others. One is heading towards Van, Taissa, and I. Damnit! How the fuck are we supposed to kill a wolf? Wait, do we even need to kill the wolf? Maybe there is a way to distract it...