doomsday. ( yellowjackets )

soixante-huit.

xxx.

chapter soixante-huit.
chapter sixty eight.

1997.

xxx.

" You're wrong, you know. We didn't kill Javi. " Mari said, breaking the otherwise peaceful silence of the cave; Coach Scott and Sam had led her back to their home— if you could call it that —to give Coach time to think over what they should do. Sam felt pretty useless given everything, but she didn't know any better than he did.

            " We.. did eat him, but we had to. He saved us. " It sounded like she really believed it, which didn't make Sam feel any better about it. The image of the blood-coated snow and his clothes, his shoes, folded in a neat pile near his body after they butchered it would never leave her mind. " And anyways, we're not doing that anymore. Akilah's been raising ducks, Gen's been hunting. "

         Perhaps Mari was understanding that she was speaking to, not deaf ears, but two people that had nothing to say to her. She was persistent, a quality of hers that Sam often found a bit annoying, but that hadn't changed, " They're gonna come looking for me, and I'm gonna tell them how you set a fucked up Silence of the Lambs trap in the woods and took me prisoner. You know, I'm starting to believe that you did start that fire, maybe—maybe both of you did— "

         " You didn't want him to leave you. " Sam suddenly said plainly, finally looking over at Mari. There was a crackle of fire in between them before she asked, " What was the alternative? "

        Mari stared back at Sam, unmoved. She didn't have a response, because obviously she had wanted them to let her go after they got her out of the hole. Obviously, she had known that wouldn't happen.

         Coach Scott, who'd been mostly silent since they got back, finally scuffled over to them. His crutch was loud against the gravel on the floor of the cave, but Sam didn't mind. She simply watched from her peripherals as the man made his way over to Mari, passing her along the way, but he only carried one cup. Sam had already had one, plus, as he had discovered the night before when they found the containers of MREs and supplies, she didn't like hot chocolate anyways.

          " What's this? " Mari questioned when he sat that cup down in front of her, an unreadable look on his face.

         " It's hot chocolate. " He answered truthfully, an exhaustion to his voice that proved he had no energy to argue with Mari then; Sam couldn't blame him, it was as he had said at the hole— they would never believe anything he had to say anyways. Coach Scott had been singled out since the night they ate Jackie, and it was never going to change.

        " What? How? "

        " I found it. You're welcome. " He said simply, then stood back up and walked back away from her, allowing Mari to lift the cup to her mouth to test his truth. From the way she started slurping down the drink, Sam assumed that she figured out he was being honest.

        Sam felt Coach Scott's hand graze the top of her head when he scooted past her, a silent exchange to tell her that he was going to try to turn in for the night. She ducked her head and watched him hobble over to the corner of the cave that was more poorly lit, listening to the soft echoes of his whispers.