doomsday. [ yellowjackets ]

quarante-trois.

xxx.

chapter quarante-trois.
chapter forty three.

1996.

xxx.

        It's been days. Days since the birth and death of Shauna's baby, days since they'd been snowed in by the blizzard, days since Alex had given up her resistance, days since Tara tried to deafen herself from the sound of a crying baby and failed.

Morbidness sat heavy in the air, lingering over their heads and weighing down their shoulders. There hadn't been much movement; most of them remained in the same place they'd been for several days now, pretending to sleep since none of them could let their brains rest after the utter horror that happened. Lottie and Taissa remained close to Shauna, the former sitting against the chair with Theo leaning against her arm as she stared into the fire blankly. Most of the others, including Dana, Gen, and Akilah, either sat or laid in a tight knit circle in the middle of the room, whereas some outliers like Van and Sam stood at corners of the cabin to themselves.

Alex sat a bit further from Shauna, but close enough to know that she was still cradling her baby in his blanket, a hardened look on her face that only disappeared when she would weep softly at night or early in the morning when the others couldn't hear her. Obviously, that meant Alex had yet to talk to Shauna, and she didn't know when she would be able to given the state of..well, everyone.

She rose to her feet, and the moment she did, all eyes were on her. That had been happening frequently since she had woken up, and Alex still wasn't sure how to get used to it. She didn't know if they were looking at her every little move because they thought she was going to pass out again, or if it was something more sinister than that, and she wasn't certain that she wanted to know the answer.

Alex shoved her hands into her pockets, waiting a beat before she walked over to the kitchen. She could feel a few lingering stares on her back but she ignored them, unwrapping her wounded hand to check on the healing gash. It was still pink, the scarring tissue turning a faint shade of white. Alex left it uncovered as it wasn't going to bleed anymore, and moved to pick up a glass, filling it with water from one of the bottles they had left on the counter.

Again, their eyes were on her. It was mainly Van and Mari, but there were sometimes it felt like everyone was doing it. They could tell something was different about her, something had changed.

She walked back over to Taissa, lowering the cup down to her so she could take it and offer it to Shauna, however Taissa set the cup down and instead grabbed Alex's hand. She tugged her down, disregarding the wound in her skin and making Alex wince humorosly as Taissa looked between her eyes.

" Still the same brown eyes, Tai. I don't know what you're expecting to see. " Alex remarked, and the other girl let her go after a moment, turning to give the glass of water to Shauna.

" Here. " At her reluctance, Taissa sighed quietly, " You need to drink, Shauna. "

The brunette simply rolled over, facing her back towards Taissa. Alex glanced down at her, offering a halfhearted shrug. They couldn't force Shauna into doing anything, and there wasn't a point in trying. She would come around when she was ready, but there was no rushing that.

Next to the door, Javi sat in the windowsill, trying to keep his eyes off of Tara, but there was an immense amount of concern filling him with every passing moment. He had been the one to find her outside that night, stopping her before she could stab the blade into her other ear and brought her inside before the snow became unbearable.