Chapter Text
It was a warm, lazy afternoon at the Taylor's house. Marilyn and Marco were in the living room, both comfortable on an antique leather sofa that had a classic, almost timeless feel. The TV was playing softly, a variety show on a broadcast channel. The hands of the wall clock moved slowly, keeping pace with the tranquil rhythm of a day.
Marilyn was leafing through a fashion magazine, her gaze constantly wandering around the room, while Marco fiddled with the remote, changing channels without much attention. The comfortable silence was broken when she, still engrossed in the magazine, said in a more thoughtful tone than usual.
"I wonder if Jackie has arrived at the airport yet?" She looked up, trying to read Marco's expression. Their daughter, who was traveling with the women's soccer team to a championship, never went this long without contacting them.
Marco shrugged and looked at the clock hanging on the wall beside him, marking the end of the afternoon. The girls were expected to arrive around that time, and the man imagined they might still be arriving at the hotel to rest. He was more carefree than his wife.
"They must still be on their way. With those girls, they're probably making a mess, testing the coaches' patience, as always." He smiled, as if the answer was sufficient, returning to fiddling with the remote control in his hands.
She nodded, but didn't seem very calm, still a restless feeling in her chest. Not that it was anything new, Jackie was always full of energy, but the lack of news at that moment was different. She should at least have called from some phone at the airport to let them know they were arriving in the other state. And she was worried.
"Could they have gotten lost at the airport, or I don't know... Are they doing something again?" She said, trying to laugh, but her voice sounded a little more nervous than she wanted to admit.
"I don't know." Her husband replied, in a relaxed tone, still pressing the button on the remote control. He didn't seem particularly worried, but the thought that his daughter hadn't yet arrived at her destination was beginning to quietly bother him.
They both fell silent after Marco's response, a dark tension now rising in the parents' minds. They had an extra, overprotective concern for their daughter for a reason, and especially at that age, the couple was freaking out about the teenager, even if it wasn't over mundane matters.
Then, the doorbell rang. A sharp sound that interrupted the light silence unfolding beneath the low hum of the television. They both looked at each other, surprised. They weren't expecting visitors that day. Marilyn stood up from the sofa, with a slight frown. Her husband stayed where he was, silently watching attentively as she walked to the front door.
As she opened the door, she came face to face with two uniformed police officers, who looked more serious than usual. A weight quickly fell on her stomach, a thousand thoughts raced through her mind, and none of them could bring good news.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Taylor." The older police officer said, looking directly at her, but without making any movement that suggested anything. "We need to talk about your daughter, Jacqueline Taylor."
Marilyn felt a tightness in her stomach increase, as if the air had become thicker. What could have happened to her daughter? The blood quickly ran cold in her bones.
"What happened? Is she alright?" Her voice trembled, though she tried to hide it. Something about the officers' demeanor made her feel that the conversation would not be good.
"The Yellowjackets women's soccer team's flight... the plane never reached its destination." The police officer spoke with the calm of someone who had delivered this type of news many times before. "The plane crashed. There's no confirmation yet about exactly what happened, but the team is missing. And currently, we still don't have any location."
Her throat tightened. Her hands began to sweat, but she forced herself to maintain her composure. She tried to speak, but the words stuck in her throat. She couldn't show all her horror, the fear that chilled her soul at that moment. She didn't know what to express inside.
Marco appeared in the doorway, beside his wife. His eyes narrowed, but he didn't bother to interrupt the conversation, as if he were waiting for more explanations, still trying to process what he was hearing. All he did was place a hand on the woman's back, trying to offer some kind of support.
"The team didn't arrive at the airport." The police officer continued, as if reading a report. "We are conducting the search now, investigating what happened. We ask that you approach other parents. They have more information. The investigation is ongoing, and we will do everything possible to find it."
Marilyn looked at Marco, and he looked back at her. It was a quick but intense look, and for a brief moment, nothing else seemed to make sense. There were no words to express what they were feeling at that instant.
The police officer paused slightly, as if noticing the parents' reaction. He looked at the other officer, who was standing a little further back, a rookie who seemed nervous about what kind of reaction the couple would have.
"We are here to provide whatever support is needed. We are doing everything possible to find all the answers."
The woman took a deep breath, trying to maintain control, but panic was slowly spreading. The expression on her face was that of someone who wanted to question, to scream, but remained on the surface of what could not be changed. Marco was also silent, but his gaze already betrayed his concern.
“Thank you, officers, we’ll keep in touch.” It was Marco who ended that strange visit, maintaining a neutral tone as he spoke.
The older officer seemed to understand the tension in the couple, and simply apologized and said goodbye. They walked away with firm but unhurried steps, and strolled to the car parked on the sidewalk. The couple stood there, observing, as if trapped in that moment, unable to move.
For a moment, the house seemed to fall even more silent. The weight of the news hung in the air, and the afternoon heat, which until then had been comforting, now seemed suffocating. The door closed with a heavy sigh. There were no more words. Only the sound of a clock, marking the time that dragged on between what they had heard and what, in fact, they still didn't know.
Marilyn stood still, motionless, barely breathing. Her husband didn't move from the door. They were both immersed in a kind of silent paralysis, as if the simple act of speaking would break something inside them.
Finally, she broke the silence, but her voice sounded lower than she intended.
“She’s almost of age, Marco… Jackie… She… is almost ready. And now this… what are we going to do if…” She didn’t look at him when she spoke, as if the words came out on their own, uncontrollably.
Marco looked at the wall, as if Marilyn’s words were merely reflecting there. He was trying to process, trying to understand what it meant. When he answered, his voice was nervous and unsteady.
“I… I know. I know, but… but, Marilyn… we don’t even know if she… if she’s okay. Or if… what happened… if…” He stopped, his face contorted with frustration. His eyes burned with a frustration he needed to control at that crucial moment.
The tension increased with each passing second, as if time were stretching, making the atmosphere more oppressive. Marilyn looked at him, now with a firmer gaze, but still trying to remain calm.
“She doesn’t know the truth, darling…” Marilyn said, her voice trembling slightly, but the sentence came out as a harsh statement, as if she were trying to convince herself of it too.
It was as if the air inside Marco simply compressed. He turned to her with wide eyes, now more tense, and for the first time, control was breaking. As if everything they had worked on, carefully not to overflow, had finally cracked at that moment.
“I know that, Marilyn! I know! But… what I’m saying is… WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON! NOTHING! We don’t know if she’s alive! We don’t know anything!” He shouted, anger and frustration bursting from within him, with no further attempt to hide it.
She didn’t back down, but the shock of the shout made her chest tighten. She looked at him with teary eyes, but didn’t cry. She was, in fact, completely terrified by the uncertainty, by the lack of answers. She had become accustomed to controlling her emotions, to standing firm. But now, everything seemed about to crumble.
“I… I worry about her, Marco. She… has no idea what’s going on. She doesn’t know what this is… She doesn’t know what’s coming. She… doesn’t know the truth.” Marilyn spoke, her voice breaking. Fear seeped into her, uncontrollable.
Marco moved away from her, pacing back and forth across the room, his hands pressing against his temples, as if trying to force his thoughts into order.
His wife closed her eyes for a moment, trying to gather her strength. She was beginning to realize that what she feared, what she felt as a weight inside her, was a reflection of what was happening to Marco as well. They were both on the edge of something profound and unknown.
The sound of the clock in the corner of the room seemed louder, more relentless. Marco sat back down on the sofa, but his posture was rigid, his shoulders tense. He was in a state of complete despair now, unable to control his frustration.
“I don’t know what to do, Marilyn…” He said finally, his voice breaking into a tired sigh, his ever-rigid eyes gleaming with fear and worry. “I don’t know what to do…”
Marilyn approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. The touch was gentle, but full of meaning. She knew that, like him, she was getting lost in the same uncertainties and the same fears. The atmosphere in the room was dense, the air seemed heavier than ever, as if the house itself were holding its breath. They were on the edge of their emotions, their minds spinning around a chaos that seemed uncontrollable, without a single clear path to what would come next.
“What if someone finds out our secret? Someone will find out. We can't hide it anymore... nobody can hide it anymore. We're already on the edge, and now this...” She made a vague gesture with her hand, unable to put into words everything she felt. "What if someone finds out?"
Marco reacted with a grunt, his teeth clenching slightly as he pulled at his own hair, nervous, but without raising his voice. He was tense, full of frustration, but something prevented him from screaming, from exploding.
“Enough, Marilyn… enough. Don’t go down that road now… it’s not the time.” He muttered, anger and fear mingling within him, as if he were in a silent battle with himself.
But Marilyn didn't let herself be shaken. She fixed her eyes on him, with a concern that was difficult to disguise, and her voice became a little lower, more broken.
"I'm worried about her, Marco. Worried about what... what she might be going through right now. Don't you understand? My heart is in pieces, inside." She placed her hand on her chest, as if trying to contain herself. "She doesn't know what's happening. And this... this destroys me. As a mother, I don't know how to act, what to think... but I know I'm lost. Lost without her."
The following silence was deep and heavy. Marco didn't say anything immediately. He turned to the window, his eyes empty, as if trying to find something outside that could bring some relief. But finally, he let out a low, humorless laugh, more of a discharge of frustration than anything funny.
"Yeah, maybe..." He murmured bitterly. "In two full moons, Marilyn." He said, in a deep voice, almost like a prediction. “We’re going to have to fear the worst. Because what’s coming… it’s not going to be anything like we imagined. And this is just the beginning.”
She looked at him, her heart pounding, as if each of Marco’s words was a warning she didn’t know how to face. Something inside her broke, once again, and the worry for Jackie, for what she might be facing, mixed with the terror that came from Marco’s words.
Silence settled between them again, heavier than ever, while the house around them seemed to close in. Whatever was about to happen, there seemed to be no turning back. The future was beginning to crumble, and neither of them knew what to do with the truth that was approaching.
⤝≡≡≡≡≡≡≡⤞
The plane crash had been horrible, it seemed like everything after that could finally fall apart, that there was no hope left. Jackie felt terribly ill, and as she watched everyone slowly becoming stressed, she seemed like she was going to lose her place there. Her leadership. Her harmony. Even her best friend no longer supported her decisions, which felt like a betrayal.
Jackie also began to feel a heat in her body, a fever she couldn't shake off. It was as if the jungle was consuming her strength, the scorching sun burning her skin, the biting cold of the night swallowing her body and her strength, a constant struggle between extremes. The worst part was the hunger.
She never imagined that the feeling of hunger could turn into something so devouring. But here, she was beginning to understand what it meant to be completely consumed by it. Hunger was inside her, coursing through her veins like poison, a beast that crawled, waiting for the right moment to attack.
She tried to ignore this desire, this growing need that made her stomach churn, but she couldn't. It was as if an animal force had been awakened within her, something she couldn't control.
She felt feverish, unwell. As if something was going wrong with her body, as if her system was collapsing. But Jackie knew she couldn't show it. She had to hide it. She couldn't be vulnerable. Not there. Not in front of everyone. Not when her leadership was slowly slipping through her fingers.
Deep down, she knew something was wrong, but she ignored it, forcing herself to continue. The panic that the fever might overwhelm her and that she would simply succumb there, in the middle of the jungle, wouldn't leave her alone. But, more than that, she feared Misty's care. Jackie preferred to deal with the pain and fever alone than to be subjected to any kind of attention from the crazy nurse who, somehow, felt that their survival depended on a control bordering on obsessive.
She tried to disguise her symptoms, the fever, the tiredness, the feeling that her body was falling apart from the inside. And everything seemed worse, she couldn't define if it was the pain corroding her body, her senses so sensitive, or everything together. But the worst was the intense headache that started the moment they arrived at the cabin.
It was like finding hell on earth, and what was a headache quickly turned into a migraine, to the point that she couldn't even perform simple tasks without wanting to just collapse right there. The nights seemed like torture too, next to Shauna, it felt like she was slowly melting. This was because the girl had always been the warmer of the two, but Jackie couldn't even be near her without her body heat becoming unbearable for her.
And when the other girls started talking about menstruation, she panicked. Their cycles were synchronized, but she never had her period there. So, she did what she could and pretended. She swallowed hard, forcing her mind to ignore the absence of that physical pain that all the others were facing. She couldn't be different.
The days seemed endless. Jackie spent more time watching the other girls than anything else. They were all struggling in the heat of the wild, in a cruel survival game that seemed to take something from them every day. They fought with their bodies and minds, trying to find a way to keep going, to survive. But Jackie felt like she was sinking, faster than any of them. She was there, physically, but her mind was distant, lost, trying to understand how everything had come to this point.
Everything was like a huge disaster, Shauna turning into a butcher for everyone there, Nat and Travis teaming up on the hunts, Van still angry with her, Mari ordering everyone around in the cabin, Lottie disappearing. It was like pure chaos on earth, there wasn't a soul to save them there, and when Tai suggested seeking help after finding that dilapidated plane, it was as if an alarm had gone off in Jackie.
She didn't feel good about the girls running out of her sight to get help, but she knew that her opinion there now was worth as much as a mosquito was worth to a bear. Nothing. So she could only watch from afar, hoping that nothing would happen, but she was completely wrong when the group returned completely injured.
For the first time in years, she felt like she was losing control, that migraine worsened when she saw the cruel state Van was in, and she even felt tempted to avenge the girl. But the snap of her parents' orders kept her firmly on the ground. And she never left the cabin, at least not until one silent morning Laura Lee announced that she was going to try to fly to get help with the plane. And that sparked another wave of emotions in Jackie.
The silence was broken by a firm and shrill call, and Jackie, in a last gasp of resistance, heard Laura Lee waking the girls and coach Ben Scott. She announced her intentions, her voice strong, a commander in the midst of chaos. She was determined, without looking back.
Coach Scott tried one last time, begging her not to go. But Laura Lee looked at him with unwavering calm. She wasn't the same sweet, gentle little girl from before the accident, there, Laura Lee showed a strength and hope that could sustain them all. She was like the damned sun in the middle of winter, and her words managed to warm everyone in a way that Jackie was no longer capable of.
This brought a certain relief, as well as envy of Laura Lee, which only made her feel bad for her feelings. It was better to ignore everything that was on her mind.
And so, when the plane was ready, when everything was prepared, Jackie saw Laura Lee entering the cabin with a small but genuine smile, and placing the teddy bear Leonard beside her, as if the toy was more than company, as a promise that she wasn't really alone.
Jackie watched from afar, feeling a mixture of pride and irreparable sadness. She didn't know what would happen, but deep down, she feared the worst. The plane took off, and for a moment, everything seemed perfect. Laura Lee was truly flying, she was like a golden canary, a phoenix that could save everyone there. But soon, the scene turned into a nightmare. What had once been warm quickly became unbearable and cruel.
The explosion was as sudden as it was terrible. The fire spread, the smoke rose, and what had been hope became a tragedy. Jackie, seeing the plane shatter in the air, felt her heart clench in a way she couldn't describe.
Jackie felt her head ache even more, feeling the weight of the loss, and for the first time since they were in the wild, she felt the pain of not having done more, of not having been the friend Laura Lee needed. The silence of that night was profound, and Jackie, deep down, knew that something else had died along with the plane. Everyone had finally lost hope.
The night was cold, but she didn't feel the heat of the fire in the distance, nor the muffled sound of conversations. She was still trapped in her pain, in a grief she couldn't process, as if a shadow had settled deep in her soul and wouldn't let her breathe. Laura Lee. The girl who tried to save them all, and for a brief moment, believed that the impossible could happen, that a chance of escape still existed. Now, all that remained was a painful memory, like a recent scar that still burned.
The group, in their attempt to cope with grief and frustration, decided to do the so-called "Doomcoming." The idea seemed like a macabre joke, a celebration of the end of a cycle, of the end of everything. The girls were indulging in this collective delirium as a way to breathe, but Jackie, with a heavy head and the feeling of being on the edge of the abyss, didn't allow herself to enter into it. She didn't want that false relief. She didn't want to get even more lost in something that could only obscure the pain she already felt. She didn't touch the fermented fruit wine or the stew, knowing that reality was already bitter enough without needing any substance to intensify the feeling of despair.
She simply swallowed her hunger as she had done many times before, and just sat on the log, watching everyone eating and drinking as if the world were about to end. Which, in their current reality, could very well be the case. So she just stayed there, watching everyone as she had been doing lately.
She was just there, in silence, trying not to think, trying not to feel. But with each laugh that echoed, with each scream that arose from the girls, she felt as if she were sinking faster. None of this made sense. All that remained was a cruel reality, one in which she no longer knew who was controlling what. One in which Laura Lee was dead, and she felt increasingly powerless.
Her leadership meant nothing there, the girls didn't listen to her words. They were all surrendering to the most primitive aspects of each one of them.
And then, the screams began. They weren't laughs of happiness or celebration. They weren't sounds she expected to hear amidst the chaos of the night. Screams of pain, of panic... And Jackie felt her heart clench.
As the girls began to move, hurried and disoriented, something inside Jackie screamed for reason. She couldn't help it, but dread was already taking hold of her. She saw the girls, including Mari, the most affected, begin to act erratically, the fever in their eyes palpable. They looked like predators, and the strangest and most horrible thing of all was that no one seemed to care about what was happening.
She tried to follow the girls, worried that something was affecting them all to make them act like that, as if they had all smoked some really bad marijuana. But as the group howled and ran through the forest, something seemed to scratch at the back of her skull, threatening to break her bones to escape. Then they all reached the cabin and cornered Travis, who seemed as disoriented as they were.
She watched, still in a state of shock, as the group locked her in the closet. It was like being in a nightmare. The moment the door slammed shut, she felt a wave of panic. She was alone. Alone, but now in a more terrifying way. The voices outside became distorted and frantic, and soon she heard the sounds of a fight, screams, and uncontrolled laughter. But the worst was yet to come.
She couldn't imagine what was happening, but when Travis's screams began to echo in the darkness, something broke inside her. What was happening? What had those girls become?
The closet opened. Nat was there, her eyes wide with terror, and without a word, Jackie felt her hand pulling her out. There was no time for anything else. They ran, desperate, following the screams. And when they reached the clearing, the scene crumbled before them like a bloody and chaotic scene.
Travis was there, immobilized, with the girls, driven mad by the substance, around him. Shauna was in the act of cutting his throat, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Horror gripped Jackie, and she tried to process what she was seeing, but the images seemed blurry and unreal. She heard the sound of the blade cutting through the air, and in a desperate impulse, she ran toward them. Nat was beside her, yelling for the girls to get away. But they didn't hear. They were in a trance, like creatures they no longer recognized, just hungry, destroying everything around them.
It was such a grotesque scene that Jackie couldn't help but shudder. She never imagined something like this could happen. She never imagined that the people around her could turn into monsters before her eyes. She felt as if she couldn't recognize those familiar faces in front of her.
The moment they managed to stop them, the panic was absolute. Jackie knelt beside Travis, who was panting, his eyes wide with fear, his body tense and in shock. He still seemed disoriented, but luckily his neck was intact, maybe just a bump on the head, and there was an acidic smell coming from him. She looked at Nat, and they both knew that the only thing they could do was protect Travis, keep him safe, so they needed to get him inside the cabin. What remained of the group had become irretrievably lost, running and howling through the forest again. When they reached the room, they locked the door. The two were together, but alone. Just them and Travis, trying to forget, trying to hide from that savagery.
Jackie's fear was palpable, stronger than the pain she felt from the loss of Laura Lee. But she had no choice. Now, she needed to focus on what remained. She was so terrified that she hadn't even felt the burning sensation in her body yet, the pain mixed with adrenaline prevented her from feeling it. Not until Nat approached and the smell of blood became real.
She looked up startled when she felt a cloth on her face, and when she looked in that direction, she noticed Nat looking at her with a strange concern. She had the same blurry, dilated pupils as everyone else, but she still had a more conscious glint.
"You're bleeding, Captain." The blonde explained, pressing the side of her face, and she finally grimaced.
"I hadn't noticed." She murmured weakly, raising her hand to feel the spot, but all she felt was the smell of Nat's dress pressing against her wound, the smell of blood, and the slap she received on her hand.
“Don’t touch it, it’s a minor wound, but all the blood needs to be cleaned up.” She grumbled, pressing her wound tightly for emphasis.
She let Nat tend to the wound, sitting on the floor of the room, while the only sounds were the girls’ screams outside and Travis’s groggy mumbles lying on his bed in the room.
“At least you’re a better nurse than Misty.” Jackie teased, trying to lighten the awkward atmosphere. She looked up again, noticing Nat holding an amused smile.
“Don’t overdo it, Taylor.” She teased, and finally pulled aside her makeshift gauze dress, noticing that no more blood was flowing, examining the wound near her cheekbone. “Maybe there won’t be a scar on your face, but I can’t say the same for your ear.”
She didn’t respond to that, even noticing that Nat was trying to alleviate some kind of concern she might have about her appearance. Jackie could only look at the blonde still crouching, now moving away to sit leaning against the wall. A silence fell over both of them. The heat of the night felt suffocating, and for a moment, the weight of what had happened seemed to fall on their shoulders like a rock. Travis, still in shock, breathed irregularly beside them, and they stood there, unsure what to do next. Just waiting for that strange nightmare to finally pass.
She looked at Nat, her expression hardened by tension, but her eyes filled with a silent sadness. Something about the way she lay there, motionless, trying not to succumb, made Jackie feel a strange sense of closeness. They had never been friends. On the contrary, they had always been distant, with Nat being the tough one and Jackie the popular girl, with worlds so different that they seemed never to intersect.
But there, in the dark, in that cramped and stuffy room, it didn't seem to matter, in the end, she was still there, unlike Shauna. Especially the easy way Nat noticed and cared for Jackie's slight injury. This made her notice something she'd never realized before, how beneath all that scowl, the blonde could also be extremely caring and kind.
She approached the girl, almost instinctively, noticing the blonde's cautious gaze, but she didn't say anything or grimace. Then she settled down next to Nat for a long silence, both offering a comfort they couldn't express in words, and she just stayed there, strangely appreciating her body heat beside her. Jackie could even swear she smelled a sweet scent she'd never smelled before.
For a moment, her mouth seemed to water with something more than just hunger. She had to swallow hard to forget.
"He... will he be okay?" Jackie asked, the only thing she could think. Her gaze fixed on Travis's figure lying there, he seemed to murmur something as he looked at the ceiling, his expression somber and relaxed.
Nat looked at her, and for a moment, her eyes seemed older than anything she'd ever seen.
"I... I don't know." She took a deep breath, almost as if trying to maintain control.
She nodded with a lump in her throat. And no more words were spoken from that moment on, and Jackie felt strangely vigilant in that room, unable to do anything but watch over the two souls who had somehow fallen asleep in the middle of the night.
The night wore on in an uncomfortable silence, even as the girls returned for sleep, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing and the occasional crackling of the wind outside. Jackie just watched through a crack in the door, feeling vigilant as she saw the silhouettes, Lottie guiding them all inside like a flock of lambs, and they all fell into an exhausted sleep.
And that was it. She spent the rest of the night like that, in silence, her body tense with pain, a migraine, and the strange feeling of vigilance that wouldn't leave her, watching over the two bodies with her in the room. The fear, the despair, the loss, it was all there. There were no promises that dawn would bring anything better.
The next day arrived, cold and muggy, and the sound of the girls moving around the cabin was muffled by a growing tension. They were still processing what had happened, the horror of the previous night hanging over them like a dark cloud, but somehow they tried to ignore the reality.
They tried to continue their lives as if yesterday's savagery had never happened. But Jackie couldn't, she still felt alert, her body still ached, her eyes begged for rest, and something still seemed to scratch at the back of her skull, something cruel and ferocious. The weight of the night, Travis's lost gaze, the blood, the screams, it all seemed etched into her mind, unsettling and inescapable.
But the tension, instead of being addressed directly, was pushed aside. Lottie began to talk about how they wouldn't starve in the forest anymore, then the damned bear appeared, bowing before Lottie, and they all gasped in shock. They needed to move on, find a way to ignore what haunted them, what made them vulnerable.
Find something to blame for their own sins.
Jackie, however, couldn't let it go. She couldn't simply pretend nothing had happened. Her mind was boiling, the words were about to explode from her mouth, and she couldn't hold back. When Lottie began to pray over the bear, her quiet voice, in contrast to Jackie's inner fury, was the last straw. She stood up, cutting short the moment of reverence.
"I'm not going to participate in this," Jackie said, her voice lower but laden with contained anger. "You're all crazy to keep going like this!"
Those words shattered the atmosphere of reverence that Lottie had tried to create with her prayer over the bear. The ritual she was trying to impose, as a way to restore order or meaning to those shattered lives, now seemed like just another illusion. Jackie couldn't swallow it anymore.
Mari, with tired eyes, positioned herself.
"We're trying to survive, Jackie! We're trying to maintain some control over this!" She spoke with an intensity that, even though almost a muffled scream, still reflected a contained anger, as if she were trying to convince herself as much as the others.
But, for her, that no longer made sense. She felt the words burning inside her, wanting to get out, and she could no longer hold them back. It was like something she had tried to swallow and now was trying to find freedom climbing up her throat.
"Control what, Mari? Control the madness that's taking over everyone here? Control is what we don't have anymore!" She turned to the two of them, without mincing words. "You were there last night, running and howling through the forest like animals. You turned savage. You were so desperate that you would have killed Travis if Nat and I hadn't stopped you!"
The room fell silent. The weight of the words fell on them all like a sledgehammer. The horror of the previous night, the frantic race through the forest, Travis's scream, and the animalistic instincts that had arisen from themselves.
"How can I be the one in the wrong here for not wanting to join this fucking insane orgy cult?!" She exclaimed angrily, the combination of her pain causing things she swallowed to slip down her tongue.
But it was when Shauna, for the first time, tried to say something, that the tension finally exploded.
"Jackie, you need to calm down, that's not what happened yesterday." She tried to argue, but her voice seemed to be already falling apart.
And that's when Jackie's anger took another turn. She laughed, but it was a bitter laugh, a mixture of pain and contempt.
"Ah, now my best friend finally has the courage to say something!" She snapped with an explosion of anger, her eyes flashing. "Now you remember, Shipman? Now you have the courage to open your mouth, after everything that happened? If that wasn't what was happening, then what would you have done with a knife at Travis's throat, huh?"
Shauna froze for a second, as if Jackie's words had hit her with the force of a wave. Her gaze was sharp, full of frustration, a weight she could no longer carry alone.
"Shut up! None of this would have happened if you weren't here, rubbing your insignificant high school girl morals in our faces." The words spat out like venom dripping, and Jackie froze for a tiny moment.
The tension in the cabin reached its peak. The other girls looked at each other, unsure how to react, as if the clash between Jackie and Shauna was something they never expected to see at that moment. The best friends, so close, now looked at each other as if they were just strangers.
Jackie was on edge. She felt the pressure building inside her, the weight of what had happened, the loss, the need to maintain some sanity. She looked at all of them there, the girls who used to be her teammates, she could almost call them friends, who used to be united by the team, living and caring for each other as if they were a family, and now all they saw before them were strangers.
"Do I rub it in your face? So who's better, the insignificant person, or the supposed best friend who had the audacity to sleep with boyfriend's her best friend and get pregnant on top of that?!" She barked angrily, her eyes narrowing, and her lips curving into something cruel and familiar. "What's this beautiful baby's name going to be, Shipman?"
The tension in the cabin grew with each passing second. Jackie was at her limit, and the words that had accumulated inside her were finally exploding, as if they were the last thing she could control in that moment of chaos. But no one seemed brave enough to argue with the fierce captain before them, they eyes averting.
When she turned back to Shauna, who now looked like a frightened deer in headlights, fear and dread flooded her gaze, along with a realization, Jackie had read her diary, where her secrets and worst thoughts were kept.
"Are you going to be quiet now, Shipman?"
Shauna looked at her, still standing, but her posture was already changing, becoming more defiant. Something cruel obscured her once frightened gaze, and something dangerous and hungry was finally revealing itself.
"And what the hell do you want me to say? That you're perfect and right?" The anger intensified as Shauna spoke, her voice becoming sharper with each word. "You're so obsessed with yourself, I'm surprised you even remember I exist. You never thought about what I might want!"
Jackie, with clenched teeth and a racing heart, moved even closer, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.
"Am I the perfect one? I always wanted the best for you! You were my best friend, and all I wanted was for you to be happy!" Jackie screamed now, her voice choked with pain and indignation. "You never told me how you felt, Shipman! You never told me anything! And you're going to look at me and say you don't know why? You left me in the dark, you let me believe we were still friends!"
"Because I was trying to put up with you, Jackie!" She yelled, frustration taking over her voice. "I never asked to be a part of your life, I never asked to be a part of your perfect world, where everything was about you! I'm not you, and I never was!"
Those words cut the girl like a knife. She took a step back, Shauna's words making her heart clench, as if she were being torn apart from the inside. But she needed to swallow reality and face what was in front of her.
"So now you accuse me? For trying to be your friend? For trying to make things work?"
But Shauna was beyond any regret now.
"You never asked what I wanted! You always controlled everything, Jackie!" She yelled, her eyes filled with frustration. "You made my life about you! It was always about you! About your plans, your dreams. It was never about me! I never asked to be by your side, I never asked to live in your shadow! I was trapped in it!"
Jackie stopped, the weight of her words crushing her heart. She tried to remember their friendship, everything they had lived through, but now it was like a distant dream, an echo.
"I tried to be your friend, I tried to be... part of something, and you... you hate me?"
Shauna stood face to face with her, anger mixed with deep sadness.
"I hate how you've always had everything. How everything has always been easy for you! You've never had to fight! I'm not you, Jackie, and I never will be."
"You're right." Jackie replied, her voice low, full of resentment. "I never knew what it was like to fight, did I? I always had everything, I was always the star, I always had everything I wanted."
But Shauna's words began to pierce Jackie deeply. Each one felt like a blow to the heart, and she no longer knew how to react. She tried to remain strong, as her mother had always taught her, without showing weakness, without crying. But the pain was too great, and her gaze, now full of contempt, destroyed everything.
Shauna didn't respond immediately. She just looked at Jackie with an empty, bitter look.
"I hate you, Jacqueline Taylor."
Those words cut like a blade, and the pain she felt at that moment was unbearable. She no longer knew what to do. She no longer knew who the people around her were. Everything seemed to be falling apart.
"You hate me now? After everything? After everything I've done for you? And this is how you treat me?"
The silence that followed was heavy, crushing. The cabin was filled with tension, and all the girls were watching, unable to do anything to stop what was happening. Finally, it was Mari, with her cold, distant gaze, who broke the silence.
"Maybe you should leave, Jackie. Maybe it's better."
The group looked silently at Jackie, and before she could say anything, Ben, who was at the door's room, tried to intervene.
"No one here is leaving!" But the group's word had already been given. The pressure was on her, no one was on her side, and that hurt more than anything. She was completely alone.
Jackie looked at Shauna, her eyes full of anger, but also pain, as if she were falling apart inside.
But before Shauna could answer, Lottie appeared in front of her, her tall, imposing figure filling the entire space. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes gleaming with unusual intensity, her teeth bared wildly, almost like a creature on the hunt. It was the same Lottie from before, when they were in the forest, when control seemed to have slipped into madness.
"Jackie, get out." The word came from her lips authoritatively, but at the same time, like a warning. A dangerous threat.
Jackie took a step back, and her throat tightened at the sight of Lottie's gaze. There was something wild about her, something reminiscent of the previous night, when they were all running through the forest, frantic and out of control, like hungry beasts. Lottie's gaze was now imbued with an unrecognizable, something primal.
"You don't belong here anymore, Jackie." Lottie repeated, her voice deep and calm, but full of an authority that seemed to break down any resistance. "No matter what you say, no matter what you do. This place, these girls... we don't need you anymore. You don't belong here."
Jackie looked at Lottie, feeling a mixture of shock and anger, but also a cruel sense of hopelessness. It wasn't the first time she had been confronted by someone trying to take her leadership position. But now, seeing Lottie before her, teeth bared, with the same ferocity she herself had shown in the forest, something inside Jackie seemed to break.
She opened her mouth to retort, to challenge, to shout that she was still the leader there, that she was still someone. But the words wouldn't come out. The strength of the last few hours, the pain, the wear and tear of everything that had happened, accumulated inside her in a way she could no longer hold back.
Jackie felt the weight of the whole group on her, the weight of a responsibility that was no longer hers. The girls were changing. They were beginning to lose their humanity, surrendering to savagery, to instinct. And perhaps, at that moment, she was finally losing the battle to this new reality.
There was no one there to fight for her. She was alone, no one looked at her with compassion anymore.
"I don't belong here anymore, do I?" She whispered, the words almost slipping out without her realizing it.
Lottie didn't answer immediately, only kept her gaze fixed, her eyes narrowed, defiant, almost as if she wanted to confirm that the decision was made. And finally, she took a step forward, blocking any attempt by Jackie to move or react.
"No." Lottie replied, the word being all she needed to say. "You don't belong anymore. And you know it."
She swallowed hard. She felt the anger rising inside her again, but it was a powerless anger, without fuel. She looked around, seeing the gaze of the other girls, some trying to hide, others looking away, all silent. No one was there to defend her. No one wanted her there. She was no longer the Jackie she used to be. She was no longer the girl who could control everything around her.
"So be it." Jackie murmured, the pain transformed into a bitter coldness. "I don't need you either."
With one last look at Shauna, who now watched her with something between anger and indifference, Jackie took a step back, feeling the need to run away, to get away from everything that was crushing her. She felt the weight of her own defeat, and there was no more room for pride or resistance.
"Jackie, you don't need to leave." She heard Tai's voice behind her as she headed for the door.
She glanced over her shoulder at the other girl in the middle of the group. She seemed hesitant, but still had that haughty posture of hers, the ever-arrogant, aspiring leader Taissa. And something bitter flooded her mouth, something she perhaps should let out of her teeth.
"Taissa, don't lie to yourself, I know very well that this is what you always wanted." She spat the words out with disgust, without making a face, but maintaining her coldness. And that silenced any other girl who might pretend to be some benefactor among them.
She turned to the door, and before leaving, said one last thing, without turning to anyone.
"I don't know who you are anymore, Shauna." Jackie murmured for the last time, her voice almost inaudible.
Shauna stood there, watching her leave, the deep silence between them now unbearable.
"Or maybe they never would." She murmured, her voice full of bitterness.
And she finally closed the cabin door, all the warm color of the fire fading, now giving way to the gloomy air outside. Then she simply started walking, the weight of the argument, her body begging for rest. But she didn't want to be there anymore, in a place where she was no longer welcome. She needed to disappear, vanish far away, perhaps into different arms that could embrace her again. So she plunged into the trees, moving like a dying and lost body.
Jackie walked through the forest, her steps faltering and uncoordinated, as if she were fighting against the very earth that seemed to move beneath her feet. The fever burned her skin and her mind, turning everything around her into a haze of blurred images and distant sounds. Her body was in tatters, her muscles weak, her head spinning, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Each breath was a struggle, and the growing heat inside her seemed to want to tear her from reality.
She didn't know where she was going. The surrounding forest seemed like a labyrinth of shadows and trees that bent over her like invisible arms, but she continued, compelled by something she couldn't control. But she couldn't stay there any longer, she needed to get away, needed to escape that place.
And then, when thought her mind couldn't bear it any longer, a figure appeared before her, emerging from behind a tree. It was Marco, her father. But he was there in an unreal way. His face was serene, with the same neatly trimmed beard, and his clothes clean and pressed, but his penetrating gaze seemed to demand something from Jackie.
"Jackie." He said, his voice calm but firm. "Keep control. Always control, understand? Don't lose control. You are the image of what everyone expects."
She tried to speak, to try to understand, but the words wouldn't come out. He watched her, as if expecting her to say something, to be perfect, to act as she always had. But everything was broken. She had lost her leadership, her place there, and even her best friend. She had already lost control.
Then, the figure of Marilyn, her mother, appeared beside Marco, dressed as charmingly as she was at home, with impeccable makeup and hair. She smiled softly, but there was a coldness in her eyes that Jackie had always known, a look of someone who expected more.
"You're losing your composure, Jacqueline dear. You need to go back to who you are. You can't let anything break you. Maintain the image, maintain the facade."
These words hit her like a blow. The weight of the expectation her mother had always placed on her, the pressure of being the perfect girl. But now, in the midst of the chaos, she felt the facade crumbling, and nothing made sense anymore. She no longer knew what was real.
Her parents remained there, silently watching her, their eyes demanding she act as they commanded, their posture tall and firm like theirs. The arrogant coldness that should have lived on her face. Control, always control. She should never lose control.
"Jackie, please, go back to safety. Go back to where you can protect yourself." It was Laura Lee. Her serene presence seemed to have the power to soothe, but even the memory of her sweet voice only made the pain in her body worse. She was asking Jackie to go back, but what did that mean? Where could she go back to? To whom?
Before she could answer, reality began to distort around her again, and the voices of her teammates began to invade her mind, no longer as friends, but as a cruel threat, mocking and laughing at her weakness.
Shauna appeared before her as she ran to escape, with a bitter smile.
"You were never a leader, Jackie. Nobody needs you. You were never who you thought you were." She spoke those words with such contempt that Jackie almost felt as if a blade were cutting her soul.
Shauna was there, not as the friend with whom she shared secrets, but as the girl who secretly hated her. There was her true face, cruel and bitter against her, only wishing to tear her flesh without mercy.
She whimpered, running and passing against the shadow of Shauna's image, trying to distance herself from it all, to flee the cruel reality like a coward. But then Lottie approached, her gaze cold and distant, as if she were making a merciless judgment.
"You're not the leader, Jackie. You don't have what it takes." Lottie repeated this several times, her voice firm, cutting, each word a bitter reminder that she had never been who she thought she was.
The girls' words began to mingle in a constant buzz, a cacophony of laughter and jeers echoing in her mind. They laughed at her, at her fragility, at her attempt to be strong when all she did was fall apart. Those who had been her companions now saw her as a joke, a caricature of herself, and the weight of each word crushed her.
Jackie tried to move away, but her steps slowed, her body grew heavier. Fever burned her skin, her vision blurred, and the pain in her head was so intense she could barely maintain consciousness.
Before her consciousness seemed to want to be consumed, her sensitive senses picked up a familiar scent, a noise that seemed to awaken all her attention, a warmth she felt hungry to devour. Her mouth watered as she looked to the side, and a familiar figure appeared, looking so wild compared to her illusions, without contempt or resentment in her gaze, only a strange concern.
“Taylor? How did you get here in this cold?” Nat asked, her dragging steps drawing closer.
She seemed very real, but Jackie's mind was wavering. She knew deep down she must be puzzled by how she had wandered so far and plunged into the forest, to the point of encountering one of the hunters, even though Travis didn't seem to be with Nat. But her instincts only made her gasp even more, breathing in the flavor that filled the air.
She was very hungry, and her mouth opened in gasps, her eyes completely immersed in the image of Nat approaching. The girl seemed to be saying something else, but all she could perceive was the tempting and delicious scent that her senses focused on, as if nothing else mattered besides her attention on the blonde.
She growled when she felt a sharp pain, but nothing mattered besides her focus on Nat, who continued talking, her eyes seeming to go from desperate to shock, and as Jackie felt even more out of control, a terror plunged into Nat's cold blue eyes when the other girl stood up, a huge body blocking the light of the full moon in the background.
Deep down, Jackie knew something was wrong, her voice had been replaced by a deep, hoarse growl mixed with saliva, and there was danger when Nat grabbed the shotgun and pointed it at her, but her instincts guided her away, her consciousness seeming to fade into a lucid dream.
And everything seemed to vanish when she leaped toward the blonde, a guttural sound scratching her throat as she lunged forward, at the same time as a shot rang out in the forest, aimed directly at her chest.
Finally, everything went dark.
