doomsday. ( yellowjackets )

soixante-cinq.

xxx.

chapter soixante-cinq.
chapter sixty five.

1997.

xxx.

           " Dana? What are you doing out here alone? " Tara questioned gently, approaching the short, dark haired girl from behind. She casted a glance over her shoulder to see the glowing orange flames of the cabin burning in the near distance. Smoke billowed up through the trees, at least making it easy to identify how far away they were.

            The rest of the group was attempting to put together shelters, a good distance away from the cabin, which they'd been doing for the past nine days since they were effectively evicted from their home and condemned to the coldness of the woods. Someone had made a comment about Dana being no where to be found and Tara took that as her opportunity to break away from them; she felt bad leaving Travis, but given everything that had happened recently, she simply couldn't be around them all longer than she absolutely had to be.

            That held true for Dana, too, but Tara didn't have it in her to fully abandon her. She might've been on board with preventing Travis from helping Natalie survive, but she hadn't been there when Javi drowned. Whether she would've let it happen too, or not, wasn't something Tara wanted to debate herself on.

           The blonde could hear Dana whispering to herself, not really a response to what she said, and subsequently pulled the fabric around her head further down her ears. Since the cabin was set aflame, it was as though sleeping in the woods had caused the things Tara heard to increase dramatically; she wasn't sure if she'd been able to sleep even a collective eight hours over the course of those many days. It was the sounds of water splashing, aggressively, not someone playing around in the ocean or a pool, but someone desperately trying to stay afloat; infant tears, wails of the innocent, begging to be heard, and Javi's yells of her and Natalie's names, pleading with them to help him, pleading with them to not watch him die.

           Now wasn't an exception, she heard all of those things, causing her head to pound, but she simply called the girl's name again, louder, over the sounds deafening herself, " Dana. Are you alright? "

           Finally, Dana's whispering to herself ceased, and she turned slowly to meet Tara's worrisome gaze. Her big brown eyes were circled in red and watery, evidence of tears down the sides of her face. Without thinking, Tara took a step towards her with her hand extended, but Dana instantly flinched backwards, her voice shaking as she spoke, " I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be here, Tara. "

          She stared back at Dana, unsure how to respond to that. Tara assumed she was having a bit of a breakdown, which was normal given the circumstances. She assured her, " It's okay, Dana. None of us were supposed to be here, but we have to keep going— "

          " No, no, you don't get it, you—you don't understand. " Dana cut her off, shaking her head profusely, and that was when Tara caught a glimpse of what was in her hand. Previously being hidden by the oversized sleeves of a jacket that they'd found in the cabin, a glint reflected in the light to reveal she was holding one of the knives they used for stripping the meat.

           One of the knives Shauna used on Javi, Tara grimly assumed.

          " Okay. " Tara's demeanor changed the slightest bit, holding her palms up to show she wasn't going to hurt her, " Okay, if I don't understand, then tell me so I can, Dana. "