Smosh Yellowjackets AU

The morning after doomcoming, it was very quiet in the cabin. Mostly because almost no one had spent the night there. After Spencer and Anthony had crashed the crazy cult party, only them, Alex, Shayne, Courtney, Angela, and Coach Chanse had made it back to the cabin to sleep. The rest of the team had slept outside in the dirt.

The group woke up groggy, all with headaches and no memory of the night before. Slowly, many of them got up and brushed the dirt off their clothes. Ian found a plastic butter knife laying in the dirt by his feet, and picked it up. How had that gotten there?

Decorations for doomcoming were still up, and there were cups and bowls littered all over the place, but the team decided to leave cleaning for later. They walked back to the cabin to find everyone else.

~

In the back of the cabin, Alex was washing his hands with a bucket of water. He shook his hands out and then wiped the excess water on his jeans. 

“Oh my god,” Spencer said. Alex turned to see Spencer walking toward him, the rifle slung over his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Spencer lifted a hand to Alex’s shoulder but he shrugged him off. 

“Last night, I mean,” Spencer continued.

“I’m fine,” Alex responded curtly. “Actually, I’m better than fine, I finally got laid so I’m doing fan-fucking-tastic.”

Spencer sighed. “I don't care about what happened with you and Anthony, Alex. They had a knife to your throat!”

“It was a fucking butter knife,” Alex said. 

“That’s still weird as fuck!” Spencer shouted at him.

 “I said i was fine, didn’t I?” Alex huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna go look for Selina.”

Alex began walking off before Spencer processed what he had. Belatedly, he turned and started walking after Alex.

“Wait,” Spencer called after him. “She’s not here?”

“Nope,” Alex shouted back, walking faster to get away from him.

~

Those who had slept inside the night before, except for Anthony, were sitting in front of the cabin. Coach Chanse sat next to the campfire, boiling something over the flame. He was the first to greet the group that had slept outside as they came back.

“Hey,” Coach Chanse said, smiling. “I boiled some drinking water in case anyone’s as hungover as I am."

A few people took mugs of the water and drank it hastily. 

“Has anyone seen Anthony?” Ian asked.

As if he had heard him, Anthony came out onto the cabin’s porch, leaning on the doorframe. He crossed his arms, eyes set on Ian. 

“I have nothing to say to you,” Anthony told him. “To any of you. I mean, what the fuck?”

“Yeah,” Olivia scoffed. “Like you’re so innocent.” 

“Hey! I’m not the one who went completely fucking insane last night!” Anthony yelled defensively. 

“Right. ‘Cause you were too busy screwing Alex,” Courtney quipped.

Anthony glared at Courtney and looked like he was about to say something back, but Coach Chanse stopped them.

“Woah, hey,” Coach said, holding his hand up. “Look, I’m sure we all did and said some stuff that we regret last night on account of the shrooms. So, I think the best thing to do is–”

“Wait, wait,” Ian stopped him. “Shrooms?”

Courtney sighed. “Okay, yeah. That makes a lot of sense.” She rubbed a hand over her face.

“Oh, shit,” Shayne said. “The broth.”

Without another word, the entire group turned on Angela.

“You drugged us?” Amanda asked her.

“No, I didn’t!” Angela blurted out. She looked guilty and stood up from where she was sitting on the porch. “Okay, yeah it was an accident. They were meant for Chanse.” 

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, do you know how insane you are?” 

“They were MY mushrooms!” Angela shouted at her. “And you stole them to put them in your stupid soup! Besides, none of this would have even happened if he–” she gestured to Coach Chanse, “–wouldn’t have tricked me into falling in love with him!”

Coach Chanse groaned. “Oh, Angela would you–”

“Wait! Stop!” Arasha cut them off. “Do you hear that?”

There was a rustling in the bushes that surrounded the cabin. The group turned to see a bear coming from the forest, walking right towards them. They all began to scramble backwards to the porch or even all the way into the cabin.

“Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” Courtney yelled, freaking out.

“Alright everyone, just stay calm,” Coach Chanse told them.

“How the fuck are we supposed to do that?” Olivia shot back.

While everyone had moved back away from the bear, Arasha had stayed put. She just stood calmly face to face with a bear only a few feet away from her. 

“Who has the gun?” Shayne asked. “Where’s the gun?” 

“Spencer has it,” Amanda told him. “We saw him take it with him.”

The bear inched closer, growling. Arasha reached out behind her, not even looking back.

“Ian,” she said quietly. “The knife.”

Ian pulled his knife– his real knife– out of his pocket and handed it to Arasha. She took it from him, adjusting her hold before taking a step closer to the bear.

“Arasha, don’t,” Courtney told her.

“What are you doing?” Coach Chanse asked. Arasha shushed him.

She walked even closer to the bear. It growled again, and took another step, but instead of attacking Arasha, it layed down on the dirt. In a split second, Arasha had raised the knife and stabbed it through the bear’s head.

Everyone gasped, except for the bear, who moaned in pain. The bear died quickly, and everyone just watched in shock. Arasha handed the knife back to Ian like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

~

Soon after Arasha killed the bear, the team started to prepare the bear meat for breakfast. Ian had bled it out and once he was done, he and Amanda skinned it. They took the skin of the bear and Coach Chanse and Amanda cleaned it up so that they could use it as clothing or blankets. Ian took the bear meat and began chopping it into smaller pieces to cook. Next to him, Olivia was putting them on the pan she had over the campfire.

Everyone else was helping with daily chores, or preparing something else for breakfast. Angela had walked around, trying to help everyone out in some way, but almost all of them had shrugged her off. She went over to the campfire and offered to put the meat in the fire for Olivia.

“Yeah, right.” Olivia snorted. “Like we’re gonna trust you near the food.”

“Look,” Angela said calmly. “I’m just trying to help, so–”

“Oh my god, Angela, just get the fuck away!” Olivia yelled at her.

Angela stared at her for a moment before walking away and hiding out in the cabin. Olivia continued cooking the meat, and gave Amanda a shrug when she looked at her weird.

Ian passed Olivia a new bowl of meat pieces and got a new big piece to chop up. He scraped up the blood dripping from the edge of his knife. Ian lifted his finger and looked at the drop of blood on his fingertip. After a second, he brought it closer, bringing it to his mouth.

“Ian, don’t.” Amanda stopped him. He looked up at her, lowering his hand. “It’ll make you sick.”

Ian wiped the blood on his flannel and continued cutting up the bear meat.

~

Upstairs in the attic, Shayne was watching the bustle of getting breakfast ready from the window. He turned his head at the sound of creaking coming from the attic’s ladder. It was Courtney climbing up the stairs.

Shayne smiled. “Hey,” he said.

Courtney smiled back awkwardly, but didn’t say anything. Shayne scooted over on the bench and patted the space next to him.

“Talk to me,” Shayne told her.

Courtney scoffed. “Why? So you can tell me how dumb I am?”

Shayne stood up. “You’re not dumb,” he assured her. “I think something really, really scary happened to you and you’re trying to deal with that, but Courtney–”

“I saw something,” Courtney said, cutting him off. “After. Not just the werewolves. I don’t think I was dead, but I wasn’t really alive either. I think I was… in between or something.

“You were in shock,” Shayne rationalized. “Your body was–” 

“No!” Courtney raised her voice. “I know what I saw. I don’t know what it meant, but I know I saw something. Something was out there with us.” She pointed a finger at Shayne. “And I know you saw the werewolves too, don’t try to deny it.”

Shayne raised his hands in surrender and sat back down on the bench. “Okay. You had a near death experience and now you believe in tree spirits and werewolves?” He half-laughed.

“Don’t do that,” Courtney said. “I know you’re scared too, but don’t act like you have any idea about what’s going on out here!”

“Courtney, you think sucking plastic phones tastes good,” Shayne replied. “You believed your life was The Truman Show until like 10th grade. You don’t believe in whatever this is!” He gestured out the window to the group below.

“What if I do?” Courtney asked back. “Huh? And if that’s gonna be a problem for you, then just say it.” Tears were pooling in her eyes.

Shayne paused. He stood up again and walked over to Courtney, immediately engulfing her in a hug.

“No, it’s not,” Shayne whispered. He pulled back from the hug. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” He kissed Courtney on the forehead.

~

Before the sun had set, the team was getting ready for dinner. They had cooked another quarter of the bear meat and prepared some leaves and worms to eat with it. Everyone was setting bowls and plates down on the table, grabbing their own plates and first helpings. 

As people began to eat, Ian stopped them. “Shouldn’t we wait for Alex and Spencer?”

The group paused eating, but no one responded. They were hungry now, and God only knew where Spencer and Alex had gone. 

“Uh,” Coach Chanse started. “I think they have some things to sort out. They can eat when they come back.”

Everyone continued to eat. 

“Arasha,” Courtney said. “Last night, you said we wouldn’t be hungry much longer. How did you know that?”

Arasha chewed and swallowed. “I just did.” 

“Yeah,” Anthony chimed in. He was sitting on one of the chairs that surrounded the living room. “It’s called getting lucky. The bear probably just smelled us and came looking for food. There was probably something wrong with him.” He pushed the meat around in his bowl.

“It didn’t look sick,” Amanda replied. She bit into another piece.

Olivia groaned. “At this point, I don’t even care. Let’s just eat.”

Everyone agreed with that, except Courtney, who stopped them again.

“Wait,” she said. “Maybe we should… I don’t know, say grace, or thank you, or something?”

No one responded at first. 

Shayne sighed. “Yeah, let’s just make it quick, okay?”

Anthony leaned his head back, completely over the cult shit, even though it had barely just begun. The others nodded in agreement and Courtney asked Arasha to lead.

“Let’s hold hands,” Arasha told them.

The group joined hands to those around them. Angela reached her hand out to Anthony, who stared at her like she was crazy. He looked away, pointedly not holding her hand.

“For this gift from the wilderness, we give our thanks,” Arasha said, closing her eyes.

Courtney said thank you in response, her eyes closed as well.

“To the spirit of the bear, who sacrificed so that we could survive, we give our thanks.” 

This time, everyone said thank you.

“To the ancient gods of the sky and dirt, we give our thanks.” 

The group said thank you again. Arasha opened her eyes and let go of Ian and Coach Chanse’s hands. The rest of the team let go of each other’s hands and started to eat again.

Angela leaned closer to Anthony. “You didn’t say it!” She whispered at him.

Anthony stared at her again, wondering why the fuck she cared so much. When he didn’t respond, Angela turned to the rest of the group. 

“Anthony didn’t say it!” Angela told the team.

Anthony laughed dryly. “No, I did not thank the dirt for bringing us a brain-dead bear. What is even happening right now? The fuck is wrong with you all?”

“It’s fine, guys,” said Shayne, standing up for Anthony. “He doesn’t have to–”

“Oh, shut up, Shayne,” Anthony spat. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t a part of it.” The group shifted, but no one spoke. “What? We’re just not gonna talk about it? We just howl at the moon now and fucking hunt people down? And somehow I’m the one who did something wrong??”

“Woah, what?” Coach Chanse asked from the corner. No one acknowledged him.

“Anthony, calm down,” said Ian, rolling his eyes.

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” Anthony stood up, putting his bowl down on the floor. He stepped closer to Ian. “What were you going to do Alex last night, Ian? Answer me!”

“I don’t…” Ian trailed off. “I don’t remember.”

“Bullshit!” Anthony accused. “You had a knife to his throat! You were going to kill him! You probably would have if me and Spencer hadn’t stopped you!” 

Ian slammed his bowl down next to him and stood up. “SHUT UP! None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you! If you hadn’t–”

“Hadn’t what?” Anthony asked. “Hadn’t gotten you pregnant the night before we left for nationals?”

The group gasped, clearly unaware about this detail of Ian’s pregnancy.

“You did read my journal!” Ian had already known it, but the confirmation hurt all the same.

“You were my best friend,” Anthony deflected. “How could you not tell me about that? Do you really not care about me at all?”

“Oh, my god, Anthony!” Ian groaned. “You’re so obsessed with yourself, I'm surprised you’re aware other people even exist! You know, you never even asked me if I wanted to go to UCLA! You just assumed I’d go wherever you wanted.”

Anthony stared at Ian in disbelief. Ian wasn’t finished, though.

“You tell me what to do, what to wear, who to hookup with,” Ian continued. “I DON'T EVEN LIKE SOCCER! You just get everything you want. All the time, like it’s nothing. It’s like we’re just extras in the movie of your fucking life!”

“Oh, my god, I'm sorry I'm all you think about,” Anthony replied, his hand over his chest, mockingly touched. “Don’t make your boyfriend Shayne even more jealous of me. I mean, you're already jealous enough for the both of you.”

Ian shifted on his feet. “Are you quoting Degrassi at me right now?”

“What?” Anthony choked out. “No…”

Ian chuckled. “I'm not jealous of you, Anthony. I feel sorry for you. Because you’re weak, and deep down you know it.” 

Crossing his arms, Ian took another step towards Anthony. “I’m sure everyone back home is so sad to be losing their perfect little prince, but they’ll never know how tragic, and boring, and insecure you actually are. Or how high school was the best your life was ever gonna get.”

Ian sighed. “Maybe I didn’t tell you I was having your baby because I didn’t want to be at your beck and call for the rest of my fucking life!”

“Fuck you,” Anthony said. “Get out.”

“No.” “Go on!” Anthony pointed at the door. “Get out!”

“No,” Ian said again.

“I can’t be around you, I can’t even fucking look at you right now!” Anthony yelled at him.

“Well, that sounds like your problem, so maybe you should get out,” Ian told him.

Anthony scoffed. He looked to the group for back up, but none of them seemed interested in supporting him. 

“Maybe you’d be better off,” Olivia piped up. “Since we’re all so crazy.”

“Okay,” Coach Chanse said finally. “Stop. No one is sleeping outside.”

“Stay out of it, Coach,” Arasha barked at him.

“You know what, fine!” Anthony said.

He grabbed his pillow and a few blankets, walking towards the door.

“Anthony, wait–” Shayne started. 

Anthony turned his attention to Shayne. “Don’t pretend like this isn’t what you wanted the entire fucking time.”

He looked back up at Ian, who was looking back at him. Both of them had tears forming in their eyes.

“I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Anthony said. 

Ian shrugged. “Then maybe you never did.”

Anthony walked out the door, slamming it behind him as he went to sleep outside. The group quickly moved on from the fight and finished their dinner. Ian didn’t touch his bowl. 

Instead, he was watching out the window as Anthony tried to start a fire. He clicked his lighter a few times, but it didn’t set the bundle of sticks in front of him aflame. Anthony threw the lighter to the ground.

Looking over his shoulder, Anthony nearly caught Ian spying on him. Ian ducked behind the curtain quickly before Anthony had fully turned around. A moment later, Ian peeked out the window to see him trying to light the fire again. It was going to be a long night.

~

It was dark in the woods, and Spencer didn’t have a lantern. After Alex had stormed off, he had gone to look for Selina on his own, worried that something had happened to her. Spencer had been searching for Selina for hours, and the sun had set long ago. He was starting to lose hope. Suddenly, he heard someone else calling out for Selina. Alex.

“SELINA!”

Spencer followed the sound of Alex’s voice and eventually stumbled upon him. He was barely able to see him in the dark, but he could make out his shadow and the lines of his face. Alex frowned at him and turned away.

“Uh… I can’t– I can’t find her,” he admitted.

Shit. “She might be back at the cabin,” Spencer suggested.

“No,” Alex said. “Something happened last night.”

“Then I’ll help you look.” Spencer swallowed.

“I don’t want your help,” Alex told him.

Spencer nodded. “I know.”

“I don’t want your fucking help, Spencer!” Alex said louder. His eyes were glossy.

“I know!” 

Alex shook his head at him. Tears began to fall from his eyes. He sniffled. Spencer felt tears build in his own eyes as he watched Alex cry.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said finally. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “I didn’t want to. I… I fucking love you, Spencer.”

Spencer pulled him into a hug, and they stood there for a while, crying and holding each other in the darkness of the forest.

~

After finishing dinner, the team had begun to get ready for bed. Ian and Shayne both made their way upstairs as the rest of the group got under their covers. A few of them took looks out the window at Anthony, but none made any move to bring him inside. 

Up in the attic, Shayne sat down on his blankets. Ian went straight to the window. Anthony had managed to get a fire going, but it wasn’t much. The flame flickered in the wind, and Ian could see Anthony shivering under the layers of blankets he had wrapped around himself. 

Although Ian should have felt some kind of guilt, he didn’t really. Anthony could come inside whenever he wanted. It wasn’t like Ian was standing at the door all night to make sure he wouldn’t come in. 

“Just go talk to him,” Shayne said from the floor.

Ian shook his head and turned away from the window. He laid down next to Shayne, facing away from him. It should have been his most restless night of sleep, but Ian drifted off seconds after closing his eyes.

~

Outside, Anthony was freezing. Despite the three blankets and letterman jacket that were protecting him from the cold, he was still shivering. The fire in front of him was petering out and Anthony only watched, too tired to try and relight it again. 

He heard footsteps crunching on the grass, but didn’t turn. Somehow, he already knew it was Ian. Anthony pulled the blankets tighter around him.

“Hey,” Ian said. “Come inside. This is stupid.” Anthony didn’t respond. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m really sorry.”

Ian crouched down in front of him, forcing Anthony to look him in the eyes.

“Come inside,” he said again. “Please?”

Nodding, Anthony let Ian pull him to his feet and into the cabin. The moment he set foot inside, Anthony felt like he had been thawed out. The fireplace filled the house with a cozy warmth. 

The entire team stood in front of him, all smiling as he walked into the living room. Amanda and Ian piled more blankets on top of Anthony’s shoulders. Anthony smiled at them. 

“Thanks, it’s freezing out there,” Anthony said.

They led him over to a chair in front of the fire and Anthony sat down. 

Anthony yawned. “I’m so tired.”

“Here, this will help,” Arasha told him. She handed him a warm mug.

Anthony brought the mug to his nose and sniffed it. His eyes widened in surprise and he almost laughed as he looked back up at Arasha.

“Hot chocolate?” He asked. “How? Where did you find this?”

 Ian kneeled next to Anthony’s chair. “Does it matter?”

 “Ian–”

 “It's fine,” Ian assured him. “It’s all gonna be fine. I love you, Anthony.”

“We love you, Anthony,” the group chorused.

Anthony looked around at the team and then back at Ian. 

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” Ian told him. “You know that, right?”

“I know,” Anthony confirmed.

Anthony turned to look at the group again, but instead, Trevor Lee stood in front of him. The right side of his face was blurred and blotchy, like he wasn’t really there.

“It’s not as bad as you thought, is it?” Trevor Lee asked him.

Anthony looked to Ian, and then back to Trevor Lee, whose face was becoming clearer, then at the group. Trevor Lee stood and joined the team. Suddenly, Anthony noticed someone else standing in the doorway to the attic. 

Barely visible in the shadows, Coach Defy smiled at Anthony. “So glad that you’re finally joining us. We’ve been waiting for you.”

~

Ian woke up to the cold air biting at his skin. He wanted to pull the covers over his head and go back to sleep, but the light streaming in from the window was much brighter than normal. Reluctantly, Ian got up to see what was going on.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, Ian’s heart dropped to his stomach. A blanket of snow covered the ground and the trees. 

“No,” Ian whispered. “No, no, no.”

Shayne, who had been jostled awake by Ian getting out of bed, turned over and shielded his eyes from the light. “What happened?”

Ian ignored him. He turned and quickly started climbing down the ladder. He haphazardly stepped over his sleeping teammates, waking most of them up in his efforts to get outside. Ian reached the front door and tried to open it, but the snow had seemingly frozen it shut. Around him, everyone was beginning to get up and see the snow. With a final tug, Ian managed to yank the door open and he was met with a blast of cold. 

There was an obvious lump in the snow, right next to the campfire that had also been coated. Ian took a shaky breath, barely processing what was in front of him.

“Anthony,” he breathed, air visible in front of him. He ran off the porch and over to him. “No, no, no, no, no, no.”

Ian dropped to his knees next to Anthony and began frantically brushing the snow off of him. At this point, everyone had realized what was happening. The team gathered outside on the porch, gasping and covering their mouths in horror as Ian just screamed.

Shayne came out onto the porch, pushing past everyone to run over to Ian who was shaking Anthony and trying to wake him up. He wrapped his arms around Ian and tried to pull him off of Anthony’s frozen body.

“No!” Ian screamed, thrashing in Shayne’s hold. “Anthony, wake up!”

Eventually, Shayne was able to get Ian off of Anthony and held him in a hug as he sobbed. Ian was in Shayne’s arms for a minute before wriggling out and latching on to Anthony again. Ian screamed, crying as he held Anthony as tight as he could. 

~

The snow crunched under their feet as they walked. Once they reached the tree stump, Courtney and Angela stopped and allowed Arasha to step in front of them. They kneeled behind her as she did the same. 

In her hands Arasha held the heart of the bear that she had killed the day before. The blood dripped through her fingers onto the white snow.

It was finally fall in the forest that surrounded the cabin. The leaves on every tree other than the thick evergreens were a shade of red, yellow, or orange, and the air was filled with the gentle bite of an autumn chill.

Amanda and Ian were outside, digging worms from the dirt and shoveling them into a large mason jar. Once the jar was filled, they brought the worms inside to cook on the fireplace. It wasn't much, but it was the only food they had.

The group reluctantly ate their worms, except for Anthony. He stared at the plate in front of him, completely untouched. 

“Anthony, you have to eat,” Ian told him.

Anthony scoffed. “It doesn't really matter anymore. We'll starve to death soon anyway.”

They continued eating in silence until Olivia put her plate down, pushing it away from her.

“Okay, I can't do this anymore,” she said. Olivia stood up and grabbed a big jar full of some dark liquid. She put it on the table with a thud.

“What is that?” Coach Chanse asked.

“It was some berries I was trying to save, but I think it might have turned into booze.” Olivia popped the top of the jar off. “I don't know about anyone else, but I could use a drink.”

“Do we think it's safe?” asked Shayne.

“Do we care?” Coach Chanse countered.

“I have a few more jars of this stuff.” Olivia told the group. 

“Wait,” said Anthony. “If we have booze, let's have a party.”

Shayne laughed dryly. “Yeah, cause we’ve got so much to celebrate.”

“Do we need a reason?” Anthony asked him. “We're gonna be dead in a few weeks.”

“There’s supposed to be a full moon tonight,” Angela supplied.

“And it’s probably almost homecoming,” Amanda added.

“We packed nice clothes, right?” Arasha asked. “For the awards dinner?”

The team nodded, they had all brought one set of fancier clothes for the awards dinner at nationals.

“Perfect. We have alcohol, we have nice clothes, we can decorate. Have a… moon homecoming,” Anthony said.

“More like a doom homecoming,” Shayne joked. He looked back to Courtney, smiling, but she just got up and walked away. She had been quiet since the attack.

“A doomcoming.” Anthony smiled at the insane idea of throwing a party at such a tragic time.

“Now that’s a party idea!” Spencer said, laughing.

The group was at least a little more excited now, having something to look forward to than worms for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

~

Soon after eating, the team began to decorate while finishing their other chores. Some began tying leaves together to make garland, others collected sticks, and Shayne was creating masks out of both leaves and sticks for him and Courtney.

Angela sat next to Shayne, making a boutonniere for Coach Chanse. When she finished securing the leaves, Angela got up to go find him. He wasn’t too far, just on the other side of the cabin, sitting on the porch. 

“Hey, Angela,” Coach Chanse greeted as he noticed her. He was stringing pinecones together. 

“Um,” Angela started. She pulled the boutonniere out from behind her back. “I know this isn’t a Sadie Hawkins,” she said. “But I was wondering if you would go to the dance with me?”

Coach Chanse sighed, closing his eyes. He looked visibly annoyed, and Angela backtracked immediately.

“Angela–”

“No, it’s okay.” Angela sniffed. “I get it. I’ve just never been asked to a dance before, and I just thought… maybe this could be my one chance, y’know before I die. It’s fine, Coach. I know I’m not pretty.” Her voice wavered.

Angela turned to walk away.

“Angela, wait,” Coach Chanse stopped her.

She whirled back around in an instant.

“I’ll go to the dance with you,” he said finally.

“Really?” Angela asked, beaming from ear to ear.

“Yes,” Coach Chanse told her. She came closer and almost hugged him but he held up a hand. “But, our boundaries are still boundaries. Understand?”

Angela nodded with barely contained excitement. She bit her lip, handed him the boutonniere, and practically skipped back to the front of the cabin.

~ 

Somehow, Ian and Anthony had wound up together, collecting pretty leaves to use for doomcoming decoration. Ian was trying his best not to talk, but Anthony didn’t seem to like that idea very much.

“You know,” Anthony said. “It’s probably rush week at UCLA right now.” He sighed. “You ever think about what we’d be doing if we hadn’t crashed? Like, we’d probably be going to so many parties.” 

“Yeah,” Ian responded half-heartedly. “I guess I don't really think about it much.” 

“Right, well it’s all I think about,” Anthony told him. He moved closer so Ian had to look at him. “What if this is it, Ian? Everything we did, everything we didn’t do. Every mistake we’ve made, it's permanent now.” 

He really was trying to get it out of him as organically as possible, wasn’t he? Ian almost laughed in his face at how desperate the attempt to get him to confess was.

“What mistake did you make?” Ian quipped. “Everybody fucking loved you.”

Without waiting for an answer, Ian turned and started to walk away.

“Well, I was naive,” Anthony continued. “That’s why I’ve decided I don’t want to die only having slept with one person.”

Ian stopped in his tracks and turned around. “What? With who?” Jealousy flared within him but he knew he had no right to be feeling it. Was Anthony really that low?

Anthony glanced over Ian’s shoulder, and Ian followed his gaze. He was looking at Alex, chopping wood.

“No,” Ian said. “What about Spencer?”

“He and Spencer broke up weeks ago,” Anthony argued. He crossed his arms. “They’re hardly speaking.” 

“Yeah, but–”

“What? Since when do you care so much about shit like that?” Ian didn’t really have an answer for that. “‘Coming up on the end of the world, Hecox. Time to pull out all the stops.”

With a smile, Anthony walked off towards the cabin.

~

Around noon, people began getting ready. Angela asked Anthony to do her makeup, and they sat down in the kitchen with Olivia’s makeup kit. 

“Can I ask you something?” Angela peaked one eye open as Anthony did her eyeshadow. “About boys?”

“Uh,” Anthony paused. “Sure. Shoot.”

“Okay,” Angela nodded. “Me and Coach Chanse have this… special connection. But he’s always holding back because of society and its rules. How do I get him to be with me for real?”

“Oh,” Anthony said, stunned. “Well, my mom always said that when a girl sets her mind to it, there’s nothing she can’t get from a man.”

He reached forward to continue doing Angela’s makeup.

“My mother always said the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

Angela said it like it was the most normal saying. Anthony went on like she hadn't said anything.

“Angela, you deserve to be with someone who really wants to be with you,” Anthony told her sincerely. He pulled the mirror of Olivia’s makeup caddy closer. “Look, you’re beautiful.”

Angela smiled at the mirror, hopeful that Coach Chanse would really fall in love with her looking like this. She thanked Anthony, gave him a quick hug, and rushed out of the cabin.

Outside, everyone else was getting ready. Some of the girls were trying to curl their hair, many of the guys were tying each other’s ties. Angela walked past them all, a little deeper into the forest, to grab her binder. She had kept a collection of all the plants Amanda had identified, mostly the poisonous ones.

She picked up the blanket of moss that covered the binder underneath the thick root of a tree. Flipping through it, Angela stopped at the file labeled “SHROOMS” and took all of them out of the pocket. She put them into a hand towel and wrapped it into a bundle. Angela hid the binder again and went back to the cabin.

~

Once Shayne had finished decorating his masks, he went over to where Courtney was sitting alone. He didn’t say anything as he walked up, holding the masks behind his back.

“I’m not going to this stupid party,” Courtney said.

“I know you’re self-conscious,” Shayne told her. “That’s why I made these.” He pulled the masks out.”

Courtney’s face broke into a small smile. She looked up at Shayne and pulled him into a hug. 

~

Angela managed to make it into the cabin before anyone questioned what was in her bundle. As she shut the door behind her, Ian called down from the attic, asking someone to help him. 

Angela was walking past Olivia, set on ignoring Ian and just making her soup for Coach Chanse, but Olivia stopped her.

“Angela, would you mind helping Ian?” she asked.

Annoyed, Angela hesitated. “Sure,” she agreed eventually. 

She put her bundle of shrooms down on the table. Hopefully Olivia would just respect her privacy and whatever Ian needed wouldn’t take long. She rushed up the attic ladder to get it over with.

~

Spencer was sitting in front of the dingy full-length mirror, fixing his hair. His dark roots were really starting to show now, a stark contrast from the bleach blond of the rest of his hair.

He was trying to find a way to make his showing roots look better, when he caught a glimpse of Alex in the mirror. He was helping Selina as she fumbled with a tie around her neck.

Turning around, Spencer watched as Alex just tied the tie for Selina. He quickly felt like he was intruding on some kind of moment and he looked away.

Spencer tried to go back to fixing his hair in the mirror, but kept finding his gaze slipping off towards Alex and Selina bonding. He got up and decided to get ready somewhere else.

~

Angela came back downstairs after helping Ian with his cummerbund, and noticed that her mushrooms were missing the second she walked into the room.

“Guys,” she said. “Have you seen the mushrooms that I–”

“Yeah,” Olivia cut her off. “You were holding out on us!” She laughed. “They’re in the soup.”

Angela hesitated. She felt her eye almost twitch. “Yeah. I was… Saving them for a special occasion.” She smiled weakly.

Olivia turned back to the soup on the fireplace and Angela quickly got out of the room.

~

The sun was still up when they finally began doomcoming in a clearing nearby the cabin. Everyone was dressed in their nice clothes and they had done their hair and made accessories with leaves and other wilderness objects. 

Shayne and Courtney walked into the party holding hands. They stood in front of the group, both wearing masks that covered half their faces, just smiling at each other. Olivia leaned over Amanda’s shoulder. “Are they…?”

“Duh,” Amanda said.

Just as Amanda had said it, Shayne and Courtney kissed. The group broke out into cheers, all clapping for the couple. The two separated and smiled at each other before turning to the group.

“If we ever get out of here and you tell anyone,” said Buff Shayne (who’s dating Courtney now). 

“We will ruin you,” Courtney finished. 

They both crossed their arms, staring the team down menacingly until the entire team had agreed. Once everyone had either said something or nodded in response, the pair smiled.

“Okay,” Buff Shayne said. 

“Great party, guys!” Courtney cheered.

The party kicked up soon after that. 

They dished out the soup, using a variety of cups and bowls to hold it. Ian brought a cup of soup over to Anthony.

“Please eat,” Ian said. “For me.” He sat down next to him and held the cup out.

Anthony took it with a smile but dumped it out behind him the second Ian wasn’t looking. He pretended to take a sip from it, and then got up. Anthony called Alex, who was trying to talk to Spencer, over to where he was getting a cup of Olivia’s berry booze. Alex reluctantly went over to Anthony.

“In my official capacity as your coach, I cannot condone underage drinking,” Coach Chanse said to the group, holding up his drink. “But that being said: cheers.”

The team began to tap their cups together, but Arasha stopped them.

“What’s wrong?” Courtney asked.

“We should have a moment of silence for Trevor Lee,” Arasha told them.

The group agreed and they all raised their glasses for Trevor Lee, staying quiet for a few beats.

“So,” Spencer said eventually. “What now?”

“Oh, now we just need a DJ to pump up the volume,” Anthony replied.  

“What we need is a slow dance,” Angela said, looking up at Coach Chanse.

Arasha began humming a tune that the group quickly recognized as (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing. They broke out into song and started dancing.

Angela fully turned to Coach Chanse. “Would you have this dance with me?”

“Oh,” Chanse cleared his throat. “I think my dancing days are over. You go have fun though.”

Coach Chanse gestured for Angela to go join the group with a smile. She disappointedly went to go dance with the team.

Anthony wrapped his arms around Alex’s neck, guiding him into a slow dance. Spencer was watching them intently as they laughed about something and then snuck off back to the cabin. Spencer grit his teeth and walked over to Coach Chanse.

“I have real alcohol, you wanna go?” he asked.

“God, yes,” said Coach Chanse.

The two of them left and walked off to the creek. 

~

Spencer and Coach Chanse got down to the stream, far away from the rambunctious noise of the party. Spencer pulled a full handle of vodka out from his bag.

“I found it under the porch a couple weeks ago,” Spencer said as he handed the bottle to Coach Chanse.

The man unscrewed the cap and took a swig from the bottle. He made a face as he swallowed before handing it back to Spencer, who shook his head.

“This is gonna sound weird, but I haven’t really wanted it,” he confessed.

“Well,” Coach Chanse started. “In that case.” He took another big sip.

“So,” Spencer started, leaning back on his forearms. “How much longer are you gonna keep up with the pretend boyfriend act?”

Coach Chanse let out a groan. “I don't want to talk about it. What's going on with you and Alex?”

Spencer sighed. “It’s becoming more and more obvious he wants me to be someone completely different.”

Coach Chanse hummed in response, but his hand soon flew up to his forehead like he was trying to stop a headache. 

“Fuck,” Coach Chanse mumbled. “I think Angela poisoned me again.”

And somehow, Spencer knew exactly what he was talking about. He lifted his hand, flipping it back and forth in front of him.

“I think she poisoned us all,” Spencer said, giggling. “At least, I don't think you can die from shrooms.”

“Wait.” Coach Chanse looked up at him. “Like, shrooms shrooms?”

Spencer’s face broke out into a grin. “Buckle in.”

~

Back at the dance, everyone else was starting to feel the effects of Angela’s shrooms, although they didn’t know they were Angela’s. Courtney started laughing hysterically out of nowhere.

“What?” Shayne asked her through a smile.

“You look like a tree,” Courtney told him. “Like a really hot tree.” She began laughing again. “Guys, doesn’t he look like a tree right now?”

Amanda lowered the jar of berry liquor and wiped off what had gotten on her face. She stared at Shayne, and so did Olivia, who stopped her dancing to look at him.

“He kinda does,” Amanda said, her voice filled with awe.

“Or do the trees look like Shayne?” Olivia wondered aloud.

Shayne burst into laughter at that, and the others joined in. Angela clumsily stood up and scurried off into the woods, muttering something about Coach Chanse. Some of the team watched as she went, but didn’t do anything to stop her. 

Sitting on the ground, Arasha was rocking back and forth with her eyes closed. Her hands were in the dirt, fists clenched around the soil.

“Shhh, do you feel that?” she said. 

Courtney brought a hand to her chest. “I think I do.”

“It’s like energy,” Amanda agreed. She was on her hands and knees, running her fingers through the dirt.

“Coming up from the ground,” Courtney finished, nodding.

Arasha stood up. “Something’s coming,” she announced.

Suddenly, Ian gasped, holding a hand to his stomach. He stumbled back from the torch that he had been staring at. Everyone turned towards him.

Shayne came closer, dropping to his knees and holding Ian’s baby bump. “What’s wrong?”

“It– It moved,” Ian said. Shayne looked up at him, amazed, and then pressed his face against the bump.

“You guys…” Shayne trailed off. “Something’s happening.”

“No,” Arasha replied. “Something’s coming.” 

Arasha walked past Ian and Shayne and knelt at the hollowed out tree trunk that they had decorated with candles for the party. 

“We won’t be hungry much longer,” she said.

Courtney giggled at that, and the rest of the group began to lose interest in Arasha playing prophet. Shayne still had his hands over Ian’s stomach, absolutely stunned by the fact that there was a baby in there. Arasha got up and went back to sitting in the dirt over by the campfire.

~

Anthony had led Alex upstairs as soon as they got to the cabin. When they stepped up into the attic, Alex paused at the landing.

“It’s still kinda creepy up here,” he said, looking around. It was still light out, so it didn’t look as scary as it had the night of the seance, but it was still rather eerie.

Anthony turned back. “I was gonna say… romantic?” He took a few steps forward and kissed Alex.

Alex leaned into the kiss for a split second before pulling back. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“What do you think we’re doing?” Anthony asked, taking a step back. “You don’t want to?”

“Want to?” Alex laughed hollowly. “What about Spencer?”

Anthony frowned. “What about him?”

Taking a deep breath, Alex shoved his hands into his pockets. “I think I’m in love with him,” he admitted.

Anthony laughed, and sighed. “Oh, Alex. You are so sweet, and naive, and dumb.”

“Um,” Alex started, offense showing on his face. “I–”

“It’s fine,” Anthony cut him off. “I used to be dumb too. I used to actually think relationships mattered. I used to think a lot of shit mattered. I didn’t sleep at all the night before we left because I cared that much about a fucking soccer game.”

Alex just stared at him. Anthony turned around, crossing his arms. 

“You know,” he said. “Ian’s baby is actually mine, and he didn’t even tell me about it. I had to read about it in his fucking diary.”

“Oh,” Alex responded. “I’m sorry.”

Anthony faced him again. He smiled. “Don’t be. It’s my fault for thinking Ian actually cared about anyone other than himself. Nothing matters out here anyway. We’re all gonna die sooner or later.”

He moved closer to Alex. “I’m not going to ask again, Alex. The choice is yours.”

Alex scanned his face carefully before closing the space between them and pressing their lips together.

~

The party was still outside, all of them now laying on the ground. The sun had set, and the only thing illuminating them was a few torches. Ian was dragging his fingers through the dirt, Amanda seemed to be asleep, and Arasha was staring up at the sky. Angela was still missing. And Coach Chanse and Spencer. And Anthony and Alex.

“Where is everyone?” Olivia asked.

“Spencer and Coach are friends?” Shayne followed up. He was laying his head in Courtney’s lap as she sat up against a log.

Amanda laughed, her eyes still closed. “Angela won’t like that.”

“But she’s gone,” Olivia told her. “And what about Anthony? And Alex?”

“They left,” Selina said.

“Together?” Shayne scoffed. “That’s so Anthony.”

“That’s very Anthony,” Courtney agreed, grinning at Shayne.

Ian sat up. “He’s not doing anything wrong.”

“But what are they doing?” Selina asked.

No one answered her. Arasha stood up.

“We should find them,” she announced, and began to walk back to the cabin. 

“Wait,” Ian stopped her. “Why?”

Arasha paused for only a second before continuing his search. “He doesn’t belong to him.” She walked right past Ian, and a few of the others were right behind her.

“Wait, Arasha,” Courtney called, quickly getting up and going with her. 

Ian and Shayne looked at each other for a moment before Shayne stood up and followed Courtney. Begrudgingly, Ian got up and went with them.

~

Anthony was buttoning up his shirt, facing the window as Alex did the same behind him. The sun had set now, and only the reflection of the moon lit the attic up.

“Alex,” Anthony said. “I’m really glad I did this with you.”

He turned around. Alex was facing him already, looking confused. His shirt was only half buttoned and he was struggling to loop his belt properly.

“Did what?”

Anthony’s brow furrowed. “Um, we just hooked up?”

“But…” Alex had a spaced out look on his face. “But we disappeared though, right?”

“What the fuck?” Anthony asked. “Alex, are you okay?”

Before Alex could answer, there were a bunch of howls and barks coming from the distance. Anthony rushed Alex to get dressed and they went downstairs. Seconds after the two of them had gotten downstairs, the door burst open. Most of the team piled in. 

“What were you guys doing up there?” Olivia questioned. Although she asked both of them, she was only looking at Anthony.

“None of your business,” Anthony replied curtly. He walked closer to Ian. “What did you tell them, Ian?”

With a very guilty expression on his face Ian said, “Nothing.”

When Anthony tried to take another step, Shayne moved in between him and Ian. Anthony backed up, confused why Shayne would be so aggressive. 

“Why would you do this to Spencer?” Shayne growled.

Alex cleared his throat. “We didn’t. I–”

“You did!” Arasha teased.

“None of us are really here though, are we?” Alex asked. 

Arasha turned to Alex, grabbing his hand. He looked down at the point of contact, and then up at her face. Arasha leaned in to kiss him, but Alex pushed her face away and yanked his hand back. Anthony was watching the rest of the team as they watched Alex and Arasha with hungry eyes, growling.

“Alex,” Anthony said. “Run!”

Alex blinked at him and then bolted out the door. The team turned on Anthony and Arasha stepped closer to him.

“You took something that doesn’t belong to you,” Arasha told him. 

“Oh, what?” Anthony laughed. “Like the fucking tree spirits give a fuck that Spencer called dibs on Alex?” 

“This has nothing to do with him,” Arasha growled. She took another step, and Anthony moved back. The others moved closer as well, and Arasha went to grab his wrist.

“Get off! You fucking psycho!” Anthony screamed at her.

Without missing a beat, Arasha raised her hand and slapped Anthony. He gasped and brought a hand up to the offended cheek. 

“Ow!” He yelled.

“Don’t you understand?” Arasha asked him. “You don’t matter anymore!”

Arasha grabbed his wrists again as Olivia and Shayne opened the door to the closet. She shoved him inside.

“And no one likes old Smosh!” Arasha slammed the door on him and locked it quickly. 

Anthony banged on the door and jiggled the door handle, rattling the door, but none of it worked. “Arasha! Fuck!”

Anthony bumped his head against the door and listened as the team went to go chase after Alex.

~

Down at the stream, far down from where Coach Chanse and Spencer were, Shayne and Courtney were laying down. They had separated from the rest of the group, neither of them really interested in hunting Alex down. Shayne had long taken off his mask, but Courtney kept hers on. 

While Courtney was lying on her back, Shayne was on his side, facing her. He was watching her, a dopey smile on his face as she looked up at the stars. Impulsively, Shayne surged forward and pressed a kiss to Courtney’s cheek. Slowly, Courtney turned her head to look at him with a smile.

“What?” Courtney asked.

Shayne sat up so that she wouldn’t have to strain her neck as much. “Nothing. You’re just so beautiful.”

Courtney blushed and looked away for a moment. Shayne gently took her hand and kissed it.

“Can I see your face?”

Courtney turned back to him, mouth open in surprise. She nodded and reached behind her head to untie the mask covering her face. She took the fabric off, revealing jagged red scars across the left side of her face. Courtney stared up at him with worry. 

Shayne smiled. “Oh, my god.” He brought a hand up to softly brush against the scars. “I love you so much,” he said. 

Courtney matched his smile as Shayne brought her into a kiss.

~

Coach Chanse and Spencer were both lying down in the dirt, looking up at the sky. 

“We're about to starve to death in the wilderness and I'm sitting here crying about a boy.” Spencer cried. “That’s so fucking stupid.”

“No,” Coach Chanse said comfortingly. “It’s not. It’s not stupid, it’s true. It’s love! It’s…” he trailed off. “Holy shit. It’s everything.”

Spencer turned his head to look at his coach. 

“Spencer,” Coach Chanse continued. “Love is everything. It’s the whole reason we’re here.” He sat up. “You have to go. You have to go and find Alex.”

Spencer sat up as well, looking at him like he was crazy.

“Go and find Alex and tell him how you feel!” Coach Chanse told him. 

Nodding, Spencer got up. He quickly ran off back to the cabin to find Alex. Coach Chanse laid down on the ground again, glad that at least Spencer could get his boyfriend back.

He heard rustling in the bushes near the creek and sat up halfway. He heard her before he saw her.

“I heard everything,” Angela said, emerging from the brush. “And you’re right.” She walked right up to him.

“Jesus fucking–” Chanse sat up all the way.

“You’re so right!” Angela dropped to her knees next to him. Her mouth was stained red from the berry booze.

Still in shock, Coach Chanse didn’t say anything. Clearly, Angela took this hesitation as reciprocation because she pushed him back into the dirt and tried to kiss him.

“Angela, what are you doing?” He asked, struggling to push her off.

“Don’t fight it!” She said. “There is nothing to be ashamed of! Love is the reason we’re here!” 

Angela leaned forward again to kiss him but Coach Chase turned his head and finally pushed her off of him. She fell into the dirt and looked up at him like she had been betrayed.

“Angela, just stop!” Coach Chanse shouted. “I don’t love you, I love George!”

“Who’s George?” Angela asked.

Coach Chanse sighed. “He’s my boyfriend, Angela. I'm gay.”

Angela just stared at him, jaw dropped.

“Yeah, that’s right, you heard me,” he said louder. “Gay! I’m gay, gay, GAY.” Coach Chanse laid back down. “YOU HEAR THAT MOM? DAD? GOD? ALL MY FURRY FOREST FRIENDS? I’M GAY!!!”

He began to laugh, and Angela just watched him in horror.

~

The rest of the team chasing Alex were racing through the forest, howling and barking as they ran. Ian was running with them when he heard his name being called. He stopped short and looked around.

Selina was standing in the shadows, eyes wide and staring right at him. She looked scared, and confused about what was going on. Ian stepped closer.

“Run,” he told her. 

Selina nodded quickly and did as she was told, running off in the opposite direction. Ian continued with the team, following the sound of howls as he caught up to them.

~

Spencer got back to the cabin quickly after leaving Coach Chanse. The door was wide open, which he thought was weird, but he walked up onto the porch anyway and found the cabin was empty. As he walked through the door, he heard banging and screaming coming from the closet.

The door to the closet was locked, and Spencer unlocked it, yanking the door open to find Anthony. The boy stared at him in shock before running past him right out the door. Spencer followed Anthony, jogging behind him through the woods. 

“Everyone is chasing after Alex,” Anthony told him. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with them.”

“Angela put mushrooms in the stew,” Spencer said. 

Anthony stopped and looked back at him, surprised but not really. He rolled his eyes before continuing their search for Alex and the others.

~

The team had caught up to Alex eventually and they brought him to the clearing they had decorated for the party. Arasha and Olivia had tied him to the half tree stump.

Arasha took the deer skull that she had brought from the cabin and put it on her head. She had draped vines and some fishnet across the antlers and put the flowers she had decorated her hair with over the skull. 

“Stop fighting!” Arasha told him.

“Arasha?” Alex asked, finally looking up at her.

“Silence!” Arasha said. She turned back to Ian. “You know what to do.”

Arasha stepped back so that Ian could take her place in front of Alex. He reached into his back pocket to pull his knife out. It felt lighter than usual, but he didn’t worry about. He came closer to Alex and lifted the knife. 

Although he knew it was Alex, it didn’t look like him. His head was replaced with that of a stag. And Arasha wanted him to kill deer-Alex. He wondered what she was seeing. Ian turned back to look at her. 

“It’s okay,” Arasha assured him. “It wants us to.”

Ian didn’t want to kill deer-Alex, but it seemed he didn’t have another choice. He turned around again to face him and lifted the knife again, bringing it closer this time. The edge of the knife was less than an inch away from the deer’s skin when shouting distracted Ian.

“What the hell?” Anthony’s voice cut through the fog of Ian’s brain like a lighthouse. 

Ian whirled around, barely having anytime to process as Spencer barreled into him and pushed him away from Alex. He dropped the knife somehow, and Anthony picked it up from the dirt as he stood over him.

“This isn’t even a real fucking knife,” Anthony said. He scoffed. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

The knife in Anthony’s hand was one of the plastic knives they had taken from the plane to use as utensils. How had he confused the two? “Anthony…” Ian trailed off.

Spencer got up from where he was sitting in the dirt next to Ian. He undid the loose knots that bound Alex to the tree stump, and untied his wrists.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asked him.

Alex refused to look him in the eye. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He shouldered past him and walked away, presumably back to the cabin. 

Spencer began to go after him, but Arasha stepped right in his pathway, blocking him from following Alex. She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“It’s in all of us you know, even him,” Arasha warned. “Even you.”

Sick of dealing with her crazy forest shit, Spencer shoved Arasha to the ground. She landed in the dirt with a thud.

“Enough of your weird fucking bullshit, Arasha!” Spencer yelled at her. “Haven’t you done enough?”

Not long after the group had managed to kill the wolves attacking them, they had decided the best course of action for Courtney’s corpse would be to burn it. Shayne tried his best to suck up his tears and help the group as they piled sticks to burn her on, but every time he caught a glimpse of Courtney’s face again he dissolved into sobs. 

Once there was enough kindling to place Courtney on, the group of four lifted her up onto the makeshift pyre. Angela was the one to light the fire, everyone else too horrified to do so. They gathered around as the fire began to grow, coming closer and closer to Courtney. Shayne could barely watch, his face was in his hands, and Amanda wrapped an arm around him, trying her best to be comforting. 

Just as the flames began to catch on Courtney’s sleeve, Olivia gasped. “She’s alive!” she screamed.

Shayne instantly pulled his face out of his hands and was terrified as he watched Courtney’s eyes flutter open. Without even thinking he dove forward, narrowly missing the flames, to push Courtney off the burning pile.

With a thud, she landed on the ground. Shayne had managed to keep the injured side of her face from falling into the dirt, but Courtney still let out a groan of pain. The group quickly gathered around to pat out the fire on her clothes, all letting out a sigh of relief when they were finally extinguished.

Courtney let out a gurgly cough. “Fire?” she asked, looking up at Shayne. “Really?”

Shayne gave a wet laugh and pulled Courtney into a hug. Words couldn't describe the feeling of relief that washed over him.

~

2001

Sitting on the edge of the pool, Trevor Lee was swishing his legs in the water. It was pool day at church camp, and while most of the other boys his age were splashing around in the water, Trevor Lee was sitting by himself, enjoying the sun on his skin and the coolness of the water.

He spotted one of his friends on the other end of the pool and stood up to dive in. Trevor Lee dove into the water and went head-first into the bottom of the pool. He saw blood cloud up the water before letting his eyes fall shut and floating up to the surface. 

The next few minutes were a bit of a blur. He remembered being pulled out of the water and the screams of many of the other campers around him. One of the lifeguards had apparently done CPR on him until he coughed up what felt like an entire lung worth of pool water. When he finally came to, the first thing he saw was the glittering gold cross necklace hanging from the lifeguard’s neck.

“You saved me,” he choked out to the lifeguard. 

“No, Trevor Lee. I didn’t save you,” said the lifeguard, looking up to the clouds. “He did.”

If Trevor Lee had ever had any doubts about his faith, it was that moment that solidified it for the rest of his life. 

~

Trevor Lee sat on the porch, leaning up against one of the support beams and letting his feet dangle over the edge of the porch. 

“Please,” he said quietly, looking up at the sky. “Just show me a sign.”

Just as the words had left his mouth, a small bird landed next to him on the porch. Slowly, Trevor Lee reached his hand out to the bird, but it skittered away and flew off. So much for a sign. He sighed.

Arasha came outside in her striped pajamas and sat down next to him. “Do you think they’re okay?”

Trevor Lee gave her a soft smile. “They’re in God’s hands now. All we can do is have faith.”

Nodding, Arasha didn’t look so convinced. She stared off into the woods, worry clearly etched in her features. Trevor Lee wrapped an arm around her and brought her into a side hug.

~

Spencer swung the rifle over his shoulder and walked into the kitchen where Alex was playing solitaire. He appeared to be stuck halfway through the game.

“Dude, there’s like no queens in that deck,” Spencer said as he grabbed some bullets from one of the jars. Alex didn't respond, didn't even acknowledge that Spencer had said anything. “I’m gonna go on a walk and try to hunt a bit, wanna come with?”

Alex looked up from his game for only a second. “Nah. You’re better at it anyway.”

Swallowing his disappointment, Spencer shoved the bullets in his pocket. “Oh, okay.”

He had hoped that Alex would have said yes and that they could have talked about what happened two days ago. Ever since the incident, Alex had been pointedly avoiding Spencer at all costs. Spencer walked out of the kitchen towards the front door, taking one last glance back at Alex playing with the cards before opening the door and leaving.

~

Instead of making the trek to the plane wreck on his own like he and Alex usually did when going on hunts, Spencer stayed closer to the cabin on his walk. He ended up at one of the streams in the area, wading on the bank of it in his Doc Martens until he stumbled upon Coach Chanse. He was sitting on the rocks that lined the steam, foot in the water. 

“Hey,” Spencer greeted, walking closer. 

Coach Chanse looked up from the book he was reading and smiled. “Hey.”

Spencer stepped out of the shallow water. “Is it cool if I sit with you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Coach responded, sounding almost surprised that Spencer wanted to sit with him. He shut his book and put it down next to him.

Spencer took the rifle off of his shoulder and set it down in between them as he sat down. “So, how’d you get Angela to go with Shayne and them?”

With a low chuckle, Coach Chanse shook his head. “Believe it or not, I didn’t have to. I thought about it, but, uh, that was all her own decision.”

“Wow. Dumped by Angela Giarratana.” Spencer laughed. “That’s rough, man.”

Rubbing a hand over his face, Coach Chanse visibly cringed at the thought. “You guys do know that we were never…” 

“Well,” Spencer started. “I’m pretty sure she’s not your type.”

“And what’s that?” Coach Chanse asked, head cocked.

“Guys.”

At that, Coach Chanse started sputtering. “What? Spencer, how did you–” 

“Nononono–” Spencer rushed to correct himself, hands waving out like he was erasing what he had just said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so… blunt. You just, y’know, have the energy.”

Coach physically relaxed, but he still looked confused as to how Spencer had figured that out.

“So, do you have a boyfriend?” Spencer asked him.

“Yeah, I did.” Coach Chanse smiled fondly. “George. He wanted me to move into the city with him, but, uh, I didn’t want to leave my job before nationals and so we broke up. And now I’m here.”

Spencer nodded and they were quiet for a moment until he asked, “You think Alex likes me, right? ‘Cause we were about to… um, y’know, the other day and he just ran out and I don’t know. You don’t think he’s straight, do you?”

Coach Chanse laughed. “He probably just got nervous. Trust me, Spencer, I’ve seen the way that kid looks at you and it’s not in a straight way. Don’t make a big deal about it, I’m sure he’d be happy to get another chance if you want to give him one.”

“Yeah,” Spencer breathed. “Thanks, Coach.”

~

“Just put one foot in front of the other,” Shayne said, guiding Courtney’s steps as she leaned most of her body weight onto him. “You got this.”

Courtney let out a groan. They had bandaged her wounds with some of their extra clothes, but the blood from her injuries was already seeping through them. Her eyes were bloodshot and Shayne could feel how weak she was just from how much she was pressing into his shoulder.

“When we get back, we’re going to need sterile water and thread to stitch her face,” Angela told Shayne, already planning her steps for trying to fix Courtney up.

“No,” Courtney groaned. She almost collapsed into Shayne, who stumbled to support her. “Leave me,” she choked out.

“Court, stop it,” Shayne said to her. She dropped her forehead onto his shoulder, the good side of her face pressing into his chest.

“It’s not safe,” Courtney said, muffled into Shayne’s jean jacket. 

Shayne lifted Courtney up, getting a better hold of her. “Don’t say that! We’re almost there!”

“Shayne. L…” Courtney coughed, a bit of blood coming out onto her lip. It was clear that it was taking every last bit of energy she had to get the words out. “Let… Let them go.”

Amanda, Angela, and Olivia had stopped walking and were watching the interaction with horrified faces. Olivia looked like she was going to throw up from looking at Courtney’s blood stained face.

“Go back to the cabin as fast as you can,” Shayne told them. “We’ll be right behind you, okay?”

“Shayne?” Amanda asked, her voice a whisper like she was scared Courtney would hear the worry in it.

“Go,” Shayne said. When none of them made a move he said it louder, “Go!”

The girls quickly rushed off in the direction of the cabin. Courtney was entirely leaning on Shayne’s chest now. She let out another groan, pushing all of her weight onto Shayne and causing him to fall to the ground.

Courtney was practically in Shayne’s lap, his arm still supporting her head. He brushed her hair out of her face as she caught her breath. 

“You…” Courtney whispered. She swallowed. “Did you think those wolves… they looked like werewolves, right?” Her speech was slow and laboured much like her breath, every word taking immense effort to force out.

So she had seen the werewolves too. Shayne hadn’t asked the other girls about it, too caught up in the whole keeping Courtney from bleeding out and dying thing. 

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Yeah, I saw them too.”

Courtney let her eyes fall shut, a shuddering breath escaping her. Shayne looked off to where the girls had gone, no longer visible. He pulled Courtney tighter to his chest. Hopefully they would be back soon.

~

Down at the lake, Anthony was thinking over what he had read in Ian’s journal the night before. He had returned the journal that morning when Ian had gone off to get water. 

Luckily, it seemed like Ian had no clue that his journal had been missing last night. He was completely normal with Anthony when he had returned with the water, but Anthony wondered if it was merely another lie. It took all of his self-restraint to make himself appear unaware of the hatred and jealousy that Ian had apparently held for years.

On the pebbly beach, he tucked his knees into his chest, resting his chin on top of them. The deep green trees that surrounded the lake had a few spots of golden yellow and red starting to poke through. The cool air rolling of the water hit Anthony’s skin and he closed his eyes, trying to relax.

When he opened his eyes again, it was because he heard footsteps behind him. Worried that it might have been Ian, Anthony turned quickly, only to find that it was Alex. The boy rolled the hem of his jeans halfway up his calves and waded into the water to check the fish nets the group had set up.

“Anything?” he called out to Alex, who shook his head.

“Nope,” Alex said. He turned to face Anthony, but stayed in the water.

Anthony stood up, taking a few steps closer to Alex. “Why aren’t you out hunting?”

With a shrug, Alex replied, “Told Spencer to go without me.”

“What happened?” Anthony asked him, setting his hands on his hips.

“Who was it that said ‘anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’?” 

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Anthony said, crossing his arms. He stepped closer, his feet hitting the water. 

“I think I really fucked things up,” Alex confessed, frowning. 

Anthony shrugged. “Relationships are bullshit, anyway. Trust me.” He waded further into the lake. “Whatever you did, Spencer’ll get over it. I mean, his standards are pretty low.”

“Cool,” Alex said sarcastically. “Thanks.”

“I didn’t mean you.” Anthony narrowed his eyes. “Besides, you’re like a model compared to the guy he was hooking up with before we left. Ugh, don’t even get me started on him, he was such an asshole. Like, we get it, your hair is dyed, no one cares! He missed like a whole week of practice cause he was too busy hanging out–” He made airquotes with his fingers. “–in the back of his van. I thought your dad would’ve–”

“Who?”

It was then that Anthony realized he had probably said too much, and that Alex didn’t already know what he was talking about. “Uh, Lasercorn. Why, does it matter?”

Alex’s jaw tightened. He angrily stormed out of the lake, which looked a little funny to Anthony because of the way the water splashed around him. He watched until Alex was out of sight, evidently heading back to the cabin to stew on what he had just learned.  Anthony should have felt bad, but with all that was going on with him and Ian, he couldn’t find the energy to care.

~

Alex speed-walked back to the cabin, fuming the whole way there. He hadn't expected to find Spencer, and hoped that the other boy would have still been out hunting, but as he stepped up the porch, Spencer stepped into the doorway. Alex tried to walk around him, but was blocked.

“Can we talk?” Spencer asked.

Alex didn't respond. He tried to walk past again but Spencer didn't let him. Alex folded his arms.

“Come on,” Spencer said with a soft smile. “You have to talk to me. I mean–”

“Lasercorn?”

It looked as if Spencer might have been hit by a bolt of lightning, his spine straightening out and his eyes widening in surprise. “Who told you?”

The jealousy that had simmered on his walk back flared up at the confirmation. Alex scoffed. “I can't believe you.”

“Alex…” Spencer fumbled for words, his mouth opening and closing but nothing coming out.

“You lied to me!” Alex shouted at him. “You said that you–”

“That I’ve only been with two people?” Spencer finished his sentence. “Yeah, cause you were freaking out about it and none of them mattered! That was before I even met you! I made a mistake, okay?”

Alex sighed. “Yeah, well apparently so did I.”

Spencer just stared at him for a moment in silence. “Well, I guess it’s good thing we never actually fucked. That would have been a lot harder,” he spat.

Rolling his eyes, Alex shoved his way past Spencer and into the cabin. Spencer whirled around to find Anthony standing over by the unlit campfire.

“Was it you?” Spencer pointed at him. Anthony didn’t respond, but his guilty expression was an admission all the same. “Fuck you, Anthony!” 

Spencer stormed off into the forest, bumping his shoulder with Anthony’s on the way.

~

Most of the group was outside, either hanging out on the porch or already beginning preparations for dinner. Trevor Lee and Arasha sat on the porch steps, chatting, when shouts in the distance interrupted them. 

They turned to see Angela limping towards them, Amanda and Olivia following behind her. Shayne and Courtney weren't with them. Angela dropped down onto the porch out of exhaustion, Arasha and Trevor Lee supporting her.

“What happened?” Trevor Lee asked. “Where are Court and Shayne?”

“Courtney’s injured, bad,” Angela said in between breaths. “We came to get help because she couldn't walk well and Shayne stayed with her.”

Everyone outside had gathered, and those who were inside the cabin filed out to see what was going on. Arasha and Trevor Lee shared a look. She had known something was going to go wrong on that trip.

“Show us where to go,” Trevor Lee said.

Angela nodded, and they got ready to go. The sun was about to set, so they brought lanterns with them and warmer clothes. Only a few people remained at the cabin: Coach Chanse and Selina because they could not or were not allowed to go and Amanda to set up everything they would need for Courtney when they got back.

By the time the sun had fully set, they were about halfway to where Courtney and Shayne were, according to Angela. It was quite a long distance, but the group was moving rather fast through the dense forest, especially with only a few small lanterns to light their path. They called out Shayne and Courtney’s names intermittently as they got closer to where Angela remembered leaving them, but there was no response. 

“Are you sure you came this way?” Trevor Lee asked Angela. 

Angela slowed down and stopped to turn and look at him. “I… I don’t know. It’s really dark and I can’t see very well.”

The group had caught up to the two, all waiting for Angela to continue guiding them. Just as she was about to start walking again, a red flare shot in the distance, bright in the darkness of the forest.

“It’s them,” Trevor Lee said. 

The group started running towards where the flare had shot from. Shayne and Courtney were sitting on the ground not too far away, Courtney half-asleep and delirious and Shayne fighting sleep off and barely holding the two of them up.

They managed to carefully get both Courtney and Shayne up off the ground, two people each carrying or supporting them. The walk back was slower than they would have liked, but according to Shayne’s watch it had only been a few hours.

When they arrived back at the cabin, Amanda had everything ready to stitch Courtney’s face up. Fishing thread and a sewing needle, a makeshift hospital bed comprised of the kitchen table, pillows and a few blankets. She had boiled water and gotten out their last bottle of isopropyl alcohol, as well as all the rags and towels she could find.

Spencer, Alex, Ian and Keith helped lift Courtney up onto the table. She groaned as she settled into the pillows. Olivia woke Shayne up, and he quickly went to Courtney’s side, brushing her hair out of the way and shushing her.

As Amanda brought the needle closer, Courtney’s breath quickened. Her eyes were squeezed shut, bracing herself for the pain. When the needle finally went through her skin, Courtney screamed, muffed from her mouth being held shut. She wriggled in pain, but Spencer held her down so that she wouldn’t make it worse.

Angela leaned over Amanda’s shoulder. “Oh, don't forget to–”

“She knows what she’s doing Angela!” Ian said to Angela, pulling her away from distracting Amanda.

Courtney’s screams were muffled, but they were loud, and the comforts and assurances from those around her were barely heard over them. In the corner of the room, Arasha was trying to cover her ears and block out the noise. Everyone else watched Amanda stitch up Courtney’s cheek with horror.

Amanda finished the task up as quickly as she could. Spencer handed her the isopropyl alcohol and a rag, which she used to clean the stitches up. With a cut up sheet, Shayne and Amanda were able to bandage Courtney’s face up and redress the less severe cuts on her arm.

When they were done, most of the team started to get ready for sleep, Amanda and Shayne finished putting everything away and getting blankets for Courtney. Shayne wished Courtney good night but he didn't know if she was lucid enough to hear it.  

~

Ian had gone upstairs once Amanda had finished Courtney’s stitches. He brought extra blankets up for Shayne and laid them and a pillow down next to his. Ian got under his sheets, laying flat on his back.

Shayne came up not too long after, silent as he laid down next to Ian. Ian flipped onto his side, facing Shayne, who was staring up at the ceiling. 

“It’s all my fault,” he whispered. 

Ian’s brows furrowed. He moved closer to Shayne. “No, it’s not.”

Shayne turned onto his side to face him. “I let the fire go out. I fell asleep when I was supposed to be keeping watch. I… I woke up in a tree. I think I was sleepwalking, or something. But I almost killed Courtney.”

“No,” Ian said. “You did not. She was almost killed by a wolf, you couldn’t have caused that.”

“Yeah, but I could have prevented it.” Shayne flipped over so that he was facing away from Ian. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, Ian. I’m scared to go to sleep.”

Ian wrapped an arm around Shayne, holding him from behind. “I’ll stay up and make sure you don’t go anywhere. Just get some sleep, okay?”

Shayne hummed a response, so exhausted that he was already falling asleep.

~

After a hectic night spent trying to keep Courtney alive, the team didn't wake to the sunrise as they usually did. Instead, they woke slowly, and some were still sleeping. Trevor Lee stood in front of the group and clapped his hands. 

“I have an announcement,” Trevor Lee proclaimed. 

Some of the team stirred, looking up at him, but most of them stayed asleep or completely ignored him. Trevor Lee picked up the metal ladle they use for cooking and banged on the small table next to him a few times.

“Hi! Excuse me!” He said louder. Trevor Lee waited until the whole group was paying attention before continuing. “In light of the expedition ending the way it did, I've decided that I am going to use the dead guy’s plane and fly south to find help.”

Everyone looked at him in awe, all of them thinking the same thing: what the hell was wrong with him?

“You’re gonna fly?” Arasha asked him, still bleary from sleep.

“But… You don’t know how,” Spencer said. Trevor Lee glared at him. 

Shayne and Ian finally came down from the attic, standing in the closet’s doorway. Ian seemed to quickly realize what Trevor Lee was talking about, but Shayne walked right past him to where Courtney was laying on the table.

“Guys, trust me, I’ve been reading that flight manual for weeks,” Trevor Lee told them. “And I checked the gas tank! It’s full. I’ve watched my grandpa fly, he even let me steer a few times, I can do this!”

Everyone kind of just stared at him, blinking. Almost like they were trying to determine if they were still dreaming or not.

“You can’t deny Courtney needs serious medical attention,” he said, holding his arm out and gesturing to Courtney, half-asleep on the table.

The group was quiet for a moment, but soon Anthony spoke up. “She’s not the only one. Ian, tell them.”

Ian turned to him, mouth open in surprise. “I– I don’t… uh…” What the fuck was he supposed to say?

“Tell them!” 

“What is it?” Amanda asked, looking back and forth between Ian and Anthony.

“Yeah, tell us!” Olivia jeered.

Ian sucked in a deep breath, scanning the room of faces all watching him. “I’m pregnant,” he said finally.

Amanda gasped dramatically. “YOU WERE HAVING SEX!?”

“How far along are you?” Angela asked him, shooting up to stand next to him. 

“Wait,” Olivia started. “Did you get knocked up out here?”

Ian shifted uncomfortably. “No, I–

Anthony cut him off. “It doesn’t matter when it happened. It just matters that we get them both help.”

Next to Ian, Angela began to reach to put a hand on his stomach, but he slapped it out of the way quickly. “Angela, not right now!” he whispered.

Coach Chanse sighed, tired with having to deal with a cabin full of teenagers. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Trevor Lee, you cannot fly that plane, that is nowhere near safe.”

“There is no ‘safe’ anymore, Coach Chanse,” Trevor Lee said. “It's going to be winter soon. If I don’t do this… We’re all going to fucking starve.”

The team was shocked that Trevor Lee had cursed. He was serious about this.

“Alright,” Coach Chanse replied. “Well, I’m still the only adult here, and I say no.” He said it with his coach voice, stern and final. It didn’t seem to hold much weight anymore.

“What are you going to do to stop me, Coach?” 

The cabin was quiet and the tension that filled it was thick. Trevor Lee told the group he was going and that was final, and then walked outside. 

~

Soon after Trevor Lee had made his announcement to the group, he had begun to prepare. He packed a small bag and then set off to ready the plane.

Although he did not ask anyone to come help clear a path for the plane or clean off the vines, most of the group eventually ended up there, only Tommy and Erin staying back to take care of Courtney. Even Coach Chanse came down to help, managing to wield an axe pretty well with only one arm to hold it. 

Anthony was over by the plane, ripping some vines out of the wheels. Ian walked over to him, kneeling on the ground next to him to root out a growing tree sapling. Anthony barely acknowledged his presence. 

Ian cleared his throat to get the other boy’s attention. “Did you really have to tell everyone?”

Anthony stopped what he was doing to face Ian. “I mean, how could I not?” His voice was sickeningly sweet. “Ian, we have the chance to get you– and the baby– out of here, and that’s all that matters. It’s not really the time to be keeping secrets.” 

Did he know? Anthony went back to whatever the fuck it was he was doing and Ian stood up. He pulled the sapling out of the ground and tossed it out of the way before storming off. 

Ian’s journal had been missing just the morning before. There was almost no doubt in his mind that it had been Anthony who had taken it. It would explain his weird behavior the day before, and just now. 

He couldn’t fucking believe it. Well, he could believe that Anthony would do such a thing, but to have it actually happen was surprising. Ian continued clearing out a path with the team. He would wait until Anthony brought it up, because clearly his tactic was to try and guilt trip Ian into confessing, but it wouldn’t work. Two could play at that game. 

~

Once there was a clear runway for the plane to take off and the plane was cleaned, Trevor Lee began saying his goodbyes. He went around hugging people, most unsure what to say, just hugging him tight and wishing him good luck.

“Be safe, okay?” Anthony said to him. 

Trevor Lee nodded and hugged Anthony too. He moved on to hug Ian, but soon everyone had come together to group-hug Trevor Lee. Lastly, he hugged Arasha. She held on tight to him, but didn’t say anything. He hopped up into the plane, settling into the passenger seat and shutting the door. 

Just as he’s about to turn the engine on, Coach Chanse wrenches the door to the plane open, “Trevor Lee, I’m begging you, please, don’t do this.”

Trevor Lee gave a sad smile. “Thanks for worrying about me, Coach, but… this is my purpose.” He reached across the seat and pulled the door closed again.

Coach Chanse hobbled back so that he wasn’t in the way of the plane, watching Trevor Lee with a sad face. He ignored it, and started the engine. Before he took off, he grabbed his teddy bear out of his backpack and put him in the passenger seat, buckling him in. 

“Ready, Leonard?” Trevor Lee asked the teddy bear. Leonard didn’t respond.

He began moving the plane, first just driving it down the pathway. “Gotta get to 85 miles per hour. Just like Back to the Future, remember?” 

When he reached 85 miles per hour, Trevor Lee began to take off, and managed to get up in the air. It was rocky at first, but he was able to stabilize himself and get higher into the sky. He could hear the cheers and shouts from below as they chased after the plane.

“We did it!” Trevor Lee shouted excitedly as he soared up above the lake. “Leonard, we did it!”

Suddenly, the smell of smoke hit Trevor Lee’s nose. He looked down to see Leonard in the passenger seat, on fire.

~

Trevor Lee’s plane was flying over the lake, and the team had run down to the beach, following the plane, all shouting and cheering on the way. On the very shore on the lake, the group was jumping up and down, watching as Trevor Lee flew to safety.

Then, “Wait, is that smoke?” Anthony asked.

Dark, grey smoke was coming out from the plane. The team only had a second to panic before the plane exploded. They all gasped, horrified at what had just happened. Many of them had to turn away, unable to watch as the bits of Trevor Lee and his plane fell into the lake. 

The next morning, Shayne was still dead-set on his plan. He got up early, too restless to stay asleep, and began packing. By mid-morning, the rest of the group was awake and most of them were trying to convince Shayne not to go.

“Shayne,” Courtney warned, watching as Shayne brought his backpacks outside. “Everyone thinks this is a bad idea.”

Shayne sighed, facing the small intervention team that stood in front of him. Everyone was outside already, but only a few were still actively trying to stop him. The others had decided it was a lost cause. 

“It’s not really like we have any other options,” he said. “There’s nothing to hunt.”

“The animals might be migrating or something,” Angela supplied.

“That's probably why the only game we’ve had out here for weeks was that sick-ass deer!” Shayne crossed his arms. “And it's just gonna keep getting colder. And I don’t mean ‘I better put on a coat’ cold. I’m talking ‘dying feels like falling asleep’ cold.”

No one responded. They didn't want to admit it, but Shayne was right. Once winter came, they were done for. If they managed to survive until then.

Over by the campfire, Trevor Lee nudged Arasha with his elbow. “What do you think?” 

That brought the group’s attention to Arasha. She glanced around at the team, then at Trevor Lee. “I don’t know.” She turned her gaze to the ground.

“Look,” Shayne said. “I'm going whether you guys want to come with me or not.”

Next to him, Amanda folded her arms. “Um, well, you're gonna wanna take things with you, right? You don't get to decide that.”

“We can’t send him out there with nothing,” Ian countered.

Courtney threw her hands up in exasperation. “This is an insane idea! Shayne, please, stop this madness.”

“If we go south for long enough, we will find something eventually!!” Shayne huffed. “How many times do I have to say this?”

Spencer began to shake his head. “No. I’m on board with your whole idea, Shayne, but you’re gonna want to take the gun and I can’t let you do that.”

Sighing, Shayne unfolded his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Fine. I can take the things we don’t use everyday. The compass, the plane’s hatchet.”

“There’s a flare gun in the dead guy’s plane,” Anthony said.

Slowly, Courtney turned her head to look at him. “There is no way that you, of all people, agree with this idea.”

Anthony shrugged. “It makes sense. If he’s willing to go, then…” He gave another shrug.

“What if you’re wrong?” Trevor Lee asked. “And there’s just nothing for miles?”

“I don’t know,” Shayne said.

Arasha looked up at him. “You do know.”

He hesitated for just a second. “Yeah. If I’m wrong, I’ll die out there.” Shayne paused. “I’m leaving in an hour.”

Shayne went back into the cabin to collect more of his things.

~

While Shayne finished packing the rest of his stuff, Trevor Lee and Arasha went to dispose of the sick deer. The group had burned it the night before so as to not attract any predators with its rotting corpse.

“Why didn't you tell Shayne about your dream?” Trevor Lee asked her.

She shrugged. “He wouldn't have listened.”

Arasha crouched down and picked up a bone. It was completely un-charred. 

She must have had a weird look on her face because soon after, Trevor Lee asked, “What is it?” 

“This bone didn't burn at all.” She lifted her hand to show him the bone in her palm.

Trevor Lee gave her a shrug. Arasha dusted the ash off the bone and pocketed it.

~

Shayne brought the scissors up to the nape of his neck and cut a lock of his hair. He could feel the pressure release from each strand as he chopped through them. It would look messy, but that was a problem for when he made it to safety.

Next to him sat Courtney. She was quiet, having long dropped her fight to stop him from going. She twirled her hair and watched as he cut his.

“It's pretty hot, actually,” Courtney said finally.

Shayne looked at her in the corner of his eye but didn't turn. “You're not gonna talk me out of this.”

Courtney sighed. “I know. That's why I'm going with you.”

Now Shayne turned to look at her, lowering the scissors. “What?”

“You know, I've only been to New York once.” Courtney sat up fully. “It was for my seventh birthday. All I wanted was to get a soft pretzel and go on one of those horse and carriage rides in Central Park. We saw Cats. Fucking Cats.”

Courtney paused, and it almost seemed like she was going to cry, but she smiled softly.

“It’s stupid, but I want to go to New York with you, Shayne.” She let out a shaky breath. “And I want to get you a fucking soft pretzel and go on a horse and carriage ride. And that's not gonna happen if we don't get the hell out of here.”

Shayne nodded. “You don't have to come with me, Courtney.”

“I know. I need to,” she said. “I’m not gonna die out here without at least trying. And who knows, with you as our fearless fucking leader we might actually make it.”

Shayne laughed at that. He went to bring the scissors back up to his hair and continue trimming it, but as he did, Olivia and Amanda walked up to the pair.

“We’ve discussed it a little,” said Olivia. She took a glance back at Amanda. “And we’re coming with you, okay?”

~

Leaning on the doorframe between the kitchen and living room, Spencer was watching as Alex put his things in his backpack. They were the only two left in the cabin, everyone else busy with chores or helping Shayne get ready to go.

“So,” Spencer started, catching Alex’s attention. “You're going with them?”

Alex turned to face him and smiled. “Well, at the risk of sounding like a sexist tool, I think they might need another guy with them.”

“Don’t worry,” Spencer said, sitting down on the bench in front of Alex. “I’m sure with a little effort you can get over the sexist part.”

Alex laughed and rolled his eyes. He continued to pack and Spencer continued to watch him.

“Alex…” Spencer looked up at him and Alex paused his packing. “Please don't go with them. I'm sure they’ll be fine but I… I think I might–” He cut himself off and cleared his throat. “Please stay.”

Alex quickly nodded. He cupped Spencer's face in his hands. “Yeah. Okay.”

He leaned down to kiss him and Spencer pulled him into a hug.

~

Outside on the porch, Courtney, Olivia, and Amanda were packing their things and making sure they had everything they were taking from the cabin. She handed Olivia the compass they had taken from the plane and asked her to keep it safe.

Arasha came up onto the porch and stood in front of Courtney, nervously fidgeting with her hands.

“What's up, Arasha?” Courtney asked.

Arasha pulled the unburnt bone out of her pocket. “Here.” She handed Courtney the bone. “If you have to leave, at least take this with you.”

“Oh.” Courtney inspected the bone and then looked up at Arasha. “Okay. What is it?”

“Just take it,” Arasha said. “I think it’ll keep you safe.”

“Like a lucky rabbit’s foot?” Courtney half-joked. She turned the bone over in her palm. Where had Arasha gotten this?

Instead of responding, Arasha gave her a pensive look. “I had a dream last night.” Courtney cocked her head, concern filling her. “There was red smoke, and a river of blood. I don't know what it means, but just promise me you won’t lose it, okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Courtney said. “Thanks, Arasha.”

Arasha wrapped her arms around Courtney, squeezing her tight before letting go and scurrying off.

~

In the cabin, Angela was aimlessly walking around while everyone else was preparing the small group to go out into the woods. On her second lap of the living room, she caught sight of Coach Chanse outside. 

She walked closer to the window and saw that he was showing Shayne how to do something with a rope. Coach Chanse smiled brightly at him and jealousy burned like an oil fire in Angela’s gut. Quickly, she gathered her own things and ran out of the cabin to join the leaving group.

“Wait!” she yelled as they began saying their goodbyes. “Wait for me! I'm coming.”

Angela turned to Coach Chanse and moved towards him. She adjusted her backpack straps on her shoulders and smiled awkwardly at him.

“Chanse– uh, Coach. Please don’t try to talk me out of this,” she said. “I feel like I have to be there for my team right now.”

Coach Chanse nodded solemnly. When they found safety, the first thing Angela planned on doing was rescuing him. Maybe when she became his savior, he would finally let them be together for real.

“That’s… Wow, yeah, um. That’s very brave Angela.” Coach shifted on his crutches. “I’ll do the best I can without you.”

Angela blushed. “I’ll come back for you I promise.” She flung her arms around him and squeezed him tight.

After a long minute of Angela hugging Coach Chanse, she finally let go. He gave her a small smile and she joined Shayne’s team. With everyone ready to go, the smaller group began saying their goodbyes. They all exchanged hugs, those who were staying wishing the travelers good luck.

Shayne and Ian were the last to say goodbye. They hugged each other tight and Shayne whispered something to Ian before letting go. He let out a breath, adjusted the backpack on his shoulders, and set off south.

~

Soon after the group had left, everyone else had tried to return to business as usual the best they could. Arasha had suggested heading down to the lake for a swim, and many of them agreed, grabbing a mix of blankets and towels off their clothesline to dry off with. 

Coach Chanse, unable to get down to the lake without a stretcher, opted to stay at the cabin. He sat down in the rocking chair on the porch and closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the peace of Angela being gone. Spencer also sat out of the swim and left to go find Alex. 

Ian told the group going to the lake that he would meet them there, and he went inside to get a change of clothes and find Anthony. Immediately upon walking into the cabin, he found Anthony. Standing in the doorway that led to the attic’s ladder, he was crossing his arms. 

“Hey,” Ian said, smiling. “Arasha and some of the others are headed down to the lake if you wanna–”

“What the fuck is going on?”

Ian could have sworn he heard a record scratch. “What?”

“Something is up with you!” Anthony tightened his grip on his forearms. “What is going on?”

Blood rushed to Ian’s face instantly. How did he know something was up? Was Anthony really that good at reading him?

“Anthony,” Ian started calmly. “Nothings going on.”

Anthony scoffed. “Okay. Liar.”

Fed up, Ian moved to walk around Anthony and get up the ladder, but Anthony blocked him from doing so.

“No!” Anthony pushed him away from the ladder and tried to lift it up. “You can’t just–” He dropped the ladder, giving up on lifting it into its closed position. “You can’t just walk away.” Anthony put his hands on his hips, mildly out of breath. 

“Are you done?” Ian asked after a moment. 

“No, I’m not done!” Anthony shouted. He made an exasperated sweeping gesture with his hands. “You’re obviously hiding something from me, and it’s making me feel crazy!”

Ian shifted on his feet and leaned against the doorway. He folded his arms and avoided eye contact with Anthony, not really sure what to say to him.

“Remember when your parents separated and you told me your dad was just away because he got a new job as the president of Nintendo?” Anthony asked him. Ian looked up. “That was more convincing than you’re being right now.” 

Ian stayed quiet. He felt extremely awful and he wanted to say something– anything– but it seemed like he had forgotten every word ever. 

“I see you whispering and sneaking around with Shayne,” Anthony continued. “And I feel you pushing me away. So, spill.” He paused, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Are you really going to keep something from me out here?” 

When Ian didn’t say anything, he went on, “What did I do? When did you stop wanting me to be your best friend?” Anthony’s voice was so raw, Ian could almost feel its vibration.

Taking a deep breath and standing up fully, Ian prepared himself to rip the bandaid off. “I’m pregnant.”

For a second, Anthony just stared at him. Ian felt small under his gaze but tried to hold it. 

“What?” Anthony faltered, tilting his head and furrowing his eyebrows.

Ian swallowed and nodded. “I told Shayne when I moved up to the attic because I just couldn't keep it in anymore.”

“How did.. How did this happen?” 

Rolling his eyes, Ian said, “Well when two people–” 

“No.” Anthony held up a hand, stopping him. “I mean, how did you not tell me something like that? Is it–?”

“It’s Jackie's.” Ian didn’t know what made him blurt that out, but the second it left his mouth he knew he couldn’t take it back. 

“Jackie?” Anthony breathed. “Wow, okay. Um. Jackie. Baby.” He laughed hollowly. “I have so many questions, I mean–”

The door to the cabin swung open, startling the both of them. It was Arasha. She apologized and said something about needing to grab something she forgot. Neither of them said a word until she had left again. 

“Don’t worry,” said Anthony, putting a hand on Ian’s shoulder. “We’re gonna get through this together.”

He opened his arms for a hug and Ian leaned forward and let Anthony wrap his arms around him. He tucked his chin over Anthony’s shoulder and felt as the guilt began to eat at him from the inside out.

~

About ten minutes into the journey south, the travel team had split into two distinct groups. Shayne and Courtney in the front, everyone else trailing at least five feet behind. 

Olivia had given Shayne the compass once the sun had gotten so close to the middle of the sky, they couldn’t really tell which way was definitely south anymore. While Shayne began fiddling with the compass, Courtney pulled the bone Arasha had given to her. She had wrapped a thin cord she had found around the bone and had turned it into a necklace. 

As Courtney put the bone necklace around her neck and pulled her hair through it, Shayne stopped walking. She walked up beside him and he turned to look at her, noticing her necklace as he raised his head. 

“What is that?” he asked skeptically.

Courtney defensively brought her hands up to the bone. “Arasha gave it to me.”

“Seriously?” Shayne rolled his eyes and kept walking.

“What?” Courtney asked him. 

Shayne sighed. “I’m just saying, if this was a horror movie, she would be the villain.”

With a laugh, Courtney responded, “If this was a horror movie, you’d be the first to die.”

“No, I would not!” Shayne protested.

“Yes, you would! ‘Cause you’re the skeptical one. They always go first and leave the rest of us to keep doing dumb shit and die in unnecessarily brutal ways.” Courtney said  with a tone of ‘duh!’ in her voice. “Besides, Arasha predicted prom queen last year and that Mrs. P’s husband was gay and cheating on her with the janitor.”

Shayne only rolled his eyes, like the clear evidence Courtney had presented him were not enough to justify the bone hanging from her neck. 

“What? She did!” Courtney teased. “Chill out! Oh, my God. You get so serious about this shit.” She bumped his shoulder with her own.

She gave him a comforting smile and Shayne gave her a half-hearted one in return before continuing to walk on in silence. 

~

Spencer found Alex in Coach Chanse’s bedroom, reading a book on the bed. He shut the door behind him and the creak it made peaked Alex’s attention.

“Hey,” Spencer said softly. “You hear that?” He pointed back with his thumb towards the door.

Alex listened for a second and then shook his head. “I don’t hear anything.”

A smile grew on Spencer’s face. “Exactly.” He ran over to the bed and kissed Alex.

Alex quickly tossed his book to the side as Spencer straddled him and pushed him back onto the bed. He pulled back and smiled up at Spencer before taking his shirt off and closing the space between them again.

The two of them separated once more and readjusted, flipping so now that Spencer was laying down. He shifted up the bed until his head hit the pillow and linked his arms around Alex’s neck.

“I want you so bad,” he whispered.

Alex visibly panicked. Before Spencer had the chance to ask what was wrong, Alex was halfway across the room. 

“Alex?” Spencer asked. “Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”

Shaking his head frantically, Alex tugged his shirt over his head as he reached the door. “No, it's just– I’m… I just gotta go. I’m sorry.”

In the fraction of a second, Alex had opened the door, rushed out, and shut the door behind him. Sitting up on the bed, Spencer was extremely confused.

~

Though a lot of the remaining group was down at the lake, there were still a few people at the cabin that Ian and Anthony didn’t need listening in on their conversation. They walked towards the small creek Ian liked to journal at and sat down on a rock.

Now that Anthony knew Ian was pregnant, he had so many questions. Ian allowed himself to be an open book. Well, an almost open book. He still refused to tell Anthony the baby was his. 

“Was it… good?” Anthony asked, cringing at his own question. 

Ian laughed. “It was okay. It only happened once.”

Anthony shook his head in disbelief. “When did this happen? I mean, how could I have missed this?”

“I have a life outside of you, you know,” Ian quipped. Then he watched as sadness flooded Anthony’s expression. “It happened the night of Olivia’s birthday party. You and Kimmy left early, remember?”

Anthony thought for a second before he remembered and nodded for Ian to continue. 

“Well, you guys had just left, and then I had too much Malibu and milk…” Ian said, hoping that Anthony would be satisfied with that and not ask for details.

“I told you to stop drinking that!” Anthony pointed a finger at him. “Mostly cause it’s disgusting, not ‘cause I thought it would lead to the conception of you and Jackie Uweh’s love child.” He made a face.

Ian looked away, glad that Anthony didn’t have any follow-up questions. 

“Wait,” Anthony said warily. “I had to go back and give Jackie a ride home that night ‘cause she puked in the pool.” Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. When did Anthony become so goddamn observant? “Are you sure it was Olivia's birthday party?”

“Uh,” Ian stalled. “Yeah. I guess we were both pretty fucked up that night.”

Anthony hummed, clearly still suspicious, but he let it go. They fell silent.

Eventually, it was Anthony who broke the silence. “Ian, what are you gonna do?”

Ian took a deep breath. “Honestly? I have no fucking clue.”

After another beat of silence, Anthony moved closer to Ian and pulled him into a hug. He didn’t even know the half of it.

~

The minute the sun had begun to set, the small group trekking through the woods settled down for the night. They laid their blankets out on the ground and started a campfire in the middle of the circle they had made. 

Soon it was dark and, with the sun fully gone, it was cold. They had all bundled in shirts and sweatshirts, some draped their thick varsity jackets over their shoulders. 

Courtney had volunteered herself as the group’s entertainment, giving dramatic retellings of movies she had watched a thousand times. 

“So, our girl Vanessa is like totally still in love with her ex-boyfriend Phillip, even though he’s like a total asshole. He’s just broken up with her again for his new crush Megan and in order to get him back Vanessa–”

A howl in the distance made Courtney stop mid-sentence. There were a few more howls, and then the only noise they could hear was the crackling of the fire. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath, trying to be as quiet as humanly possible. Everyone except for Shayne.

“It’s fine, guys,” he said. “Wolves are scared of humans.” When no one was convinced, Shayne continued, “One of us can stay awake and keep watch, but seriously I think we’ll be okay.”

The others eventually relaxed, but they agreed that someone should keep watch. Once it had been quiet for a few seconds, Courtney immediately hopped back into her retelling of Dear Lemon Lima to lighten the mood.

~

Ian climbed back up the ladder to the attic after finishing his morning chores. Since Shayne had left, he had the attic all to himself. It was equal parts great to have his own space and extremely lonely to sleep alone. 

Usually, no one had any reason to go up to the attic other than Ian or Shayne since everyone else was convinced it was haunted and Coach Chanse couldn’t climb the ladder. So, when Ian came up into the attic and found Selina going through his backpack, he was surprised. 

“Um,” Ian said. Selina jumped and stopped what she was doing to look at him. “Hi.”

“Sorry.” Selina tucked a hair behind her ear. “I just wanted to borrow the hunting knife.”

Ian sighed and stepped closer. “You’re not supposed to go through people’s private stuff, you know?” He put his hands on his hips. “Why do you want it?”

“It’s for an art project,” she said. Selina looked down at her feet sheepishly. “It’s probably dumb…”

Sympathy rushed over Ian like an ocean wave. Maybe it was all his pregnancy hormones, but he felt some kind of instinct to make Selina feel better the second that sad puppy dog look appeared on her face. Ian walked over to his backpack and pulled the hunting knife out of the front pocket. He handed the knife, still in its sheath, to Selina.

“Just be careful, okay?” 

Selina took the knife from Ian and muttered a thank you before quickly leaving the attic.

Ian waited until Selina was downstairs before he opened his backpack again and pulled his journal out. It didn’t look like it had been opened, and he really hoped Selina wouldn’t have read it if she did find it, but Ian was mostly glad that it hadn’t been Anthony looking through his things.

He had to find a better hiding spot. Ian took a quick glance around the room and landed on hiding the journal on one of the rafters. He made sure it wouldn’t fall before dropping his hand and checking to see if it was visible from any angle. Once he was satisfied, Ian headed back downstairs for lunch.

~

Courtney stuck her hand in the babbling creek. The water was a deep red, but when she cupped it in her hand it looked normal. 

“We definitely shouldn't drink it,” Angela told the group.

“No shit,” Olivia chimed in. “It smells weird.”

Amanda adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. “What was Arasha’s dream about?”

“Red smoke, and a river of blood,” Olivia repeated. Shayne rolled his eyes. He had heard that exact saying at least a hundred times in the past 36 hours. 

“The mineral deposits could be changing the color of the water. Iron or something,” Angela suggested.

“I'm sure that's what it is then,” Shayne said, clearly trying to end the conversation about Arasha's premonitions. “This has been a fun detour but let’s keep moving.” He turned and began walking again. 

“Uh, guys?” Olivia showed them the compass, which was spinning instead of landing on one point. The group gathered closer to get a better look at the compass.

Shayne took a few steps toward Olivia and shook his head. “I’m sure the iron in the water is messing with the compass. Right, Angela?”

He turned his head to look at Angela next to him. The girl pushed her glasses up her nose, thinking.

“I mean, I guess,” Angela said. “I don’t really know.”

“Then the compass will probably go back to normal once we get away from here,” Shayne announced. “Come on, let’s go.” He began walking again but stopped shortly after when he realized no one was following him.

Turning back to the group, he found concerned faces staring back at him. “Seriously?”

“Should we… maybe think about heading back?” Olivia suggested.

“We just need to get away from this water,” Shayne assured her. 

Again, Shayne tried to get the group moving.

“Wait,” Courtney stopped him. “Maybe we should think about this.”

With a groan, Shayne turned around again. “Think about what?”

“It’s a crazy coincidence that Arasha dreamed about this,” Courtney said. “And now, with the compass…”

“What did Arasha say when we found the dead guy’s plane?” Olivia asked.

Courtney swallowed. “‘It didn’t want him to leave.’”

The group went quiet, except for Shayne, who laughed. 

“There’s no way you’re saying that the woods don’t want us to leave,” he said. “Do you guys know how insane that sounds? The woods don’t give a shit! All of this crazy nonsense with Arasha’s dreams and prophecies and whatever the fuck that is–” Shayne gestured to the bone that hung around Courtney’s neck. She protectively curled her hand around it. “–is getting out of control.”

When no one said anything, Shayne went on, “We don't need a compass, we can use the sun to guide us. We can mark trees so we can find our way back. There is a solution for everything! There is an explanation for everything! If you guys wanna go back, by all means, but I’m losing daylight.”

This time when he walked off, he kept walking, not waiting for anyone to follow him. The group followed Shayne silently, none of them willing to make the journey back to the cabin alone this far out. 

~

After running into the red river, the group heading south was mostly quiet. The compass eventually started working properly again, and no one voiced any more of their concerns related to Arasha’s dream. They once again settled down at sunset, laying down their blankets and starting a fire. By the time the sun had fully set, everyone was ready to go to sleep. 

Shayne tossed a few more sticks into the fire, standing over the group. “I know it doesn’t feel like it,” he said. “But we’re one step closer to home. I promise this will all be over soon.” 

“We don't need another speech, Shayne,” Courtney responded coolly. “We need to sleep.” She glared at Shayne from the ground. “I’ll take the first watch.”

“No,” Shayne said. He sat down on his blankets. “I’ll do it. You all should rest.”

Courtney quickly rolled over, facing away from him and pulled her blanket up to her face. Everyone else quickly went to sleep, leaving Shayne alone with only the fire’s crackling and the sound of wind swishing through leaves.

~

Since their conversation earlier that day, Anthony had been extremely suspicious of Ian and his claims that the baby was Jackie's. There was almost no chance Ian and Jackie slept together the night of Olivia’s birthday party.

Anthony remembered the night of Olivia’s party very well. He and Kimmy had bailed early, and they had gone back to his house since his parents were out of town. Not five minutes after they had stumbled into Anthony's bedroom, Jackie had called Kimmy and asked to be picked up.

Olivia's house was about a five minute drive from Anthony’s, so unless Jackie and Ian had hooked up in the ten minutes that Anthony was gone from Olivia’s party, there was no way the baby was Jackie’s. It was feasible, sure, but it wasn't Ian. Besides, Jackie was sloshed that night, even before Anthony and Kimmy left. Like, absolutely not capable of any motor skills that would be involved in sleeping with someone. 

A little worm in the back of Anthony’s mind kept telling him the baby was his, but Ian would have told him that. Or at least he liked to think Ian would have told him that. Keeping it a secret at first, fine, but lying after being asked about it?

Around noon, Ian had gone outside to help prepare lunch. Anthony snuck up to the attic to look for Ian’s journal. If Ian had lied to him, the proof would be written out in that diary he was always scribbling in.

Anthony found the journal quickly, hidden up in the rafters where it wasn't visible to anyone below. But Anthony knew Ian too well. He took the journal down and stuffed it under his shirt while he climbed back downstairs. When he knew no one was watching, Anthony put the journal into his backpack for safekeeping. 

Hours later, when everyone had gone to bed, Anthony pulled the journal out of his bag. He quietly padded over to the door and snuck outside with one of the lanterns. Once he made sure no one was watching him from inside, Anthony opened the journal. 

The first chunk of pages were dated January of that year. He flipped through until he reached the entries dated around Olivia’s birthday. Absolutely no mention of Jackie. He continued flipping the pages until something caught his eye. A journal entry from the day before they had left.

I don't know how I’m supposed to tell Anthony I’m not going to UCLA with him. Maybe he’ll understand when I tell him I got into Stanford. 

When did Ian apply to Stanford? When did he get in? How long had he been keeping that from Anthony? Heart pounding, Anthony flipped a few more pages. 

Towards the last chunk of pages, the entries were no longer dated. There was one from when they had found the lake and the cabin, and then an abnormally long one right after. Almost a paragraph into the longer entry, tears began forming in Anthony’s eyes.

He had seen a few mentions of himself throughout Ian’s journal, but besides the one about Ian not going to UCLA, he hadn’t fully read one. This entry was almost entirely about him. It was amazing how much vitriol could be in written words. Up until that moment Anthony had been sure that his only real friend out there was Ian, but apparently he didn’t even have that.

The first two or so pages were Ian complaining about Anthony’s lack of help with chores, talking about how everyone was judging him and how he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Then, Anthony found what he was looking for: proof that the baby wasn’t Jackie’s. It was written out a lot clearer than he had expected. 

Well, and then there’s the possibility that I’m pregnant. I’m almost 100% certain that I am and I have no idea what to do about it. I can’t tell anyone. And I absolutely can’t tell Anthony, because it’s definitely his. I mean, someone’s bound to find out eventually, but he’s the last person I need to know.

Ian went on about how much he really did not want to tell Anthony about this pregnancy and how he hated the idea of being so connected to him for another page or so before the entry ended. Tears were streaming down Anthony’s face at that point, and he shut the journal, unable to read any more. He had never felt so alone.

~

Shayne woke to the sound of howling. He startled awake and nearly fell out of the tree he was in. When the hell had he gotten up there? In his hands were the flare gun and Courtney’s bone. He didn’t have much time to question what he was doing up in the tree with either of those things; more howls and screams came from below. 

As quickly and as carefully as he could, Shayne climbed down the tree. Luckily, he wasn’t too far from where the group was. Amanda, Olivia, and Angela were fighting the wolves off with some branches that they had turned into torches. Shayne looked around for Courtney, but she was nowhere to be found. 

“Where’s Courtney?” Shayne shouted over the commotion of the fight.

“Over there!” Angela pointed a few feet away from the group. Courtney was on the ground, a wolf dragging her by her hoodie. “GO!”

Shayne ran over to Courtney and got a better view of the wolf as it began to eat at her face. It looked eerily human-like and Shayne could have sworn on his own life that it was a werewolf, but he chalked it up to the adrenaline pumping through his veins. 

He raised the flare gun and aimed it at the werewolf. The flare whizzed past the wolf’s ear but it didn’t react, it just kept gnawing at Courtney’s face. Out of options, Shayne turned and grabbed the hatchet they had taken from the plane. He came closer to Courtney and the werewolf and swung the hatchet. 

He kept swinging and swinging, blood spattering over his sweatshirt until the wolf was dead. Shayne dropped to the ground and rolled Courtney over. Almost half of her face was mangled and bloody, from her cheekbone to the side of her mouth.

1998

From her bedroom upstairs, Arasha could hear her parents fighting. They had come home from one of her father’s office parties and she had been sent up to her room to get ready for bed so that her parents could talk.

She had apparently had another ‘episode’ on the way to the party that afternoon and it had distracted her parents enough that they had avoided a deadly car crash at the intersection they had been waiting at. Arasha did not remember the episode and she could very hazily remember the crash, but she had gathered enough information from her parents’ hushed whispers that night that she knew what they were arguing about.

Laying on the bed, Arasha couldn’t make out any of the words of her parents’ shouting, only the noticeable tone difference that indicated who it was. She got up and peeled back a corner of her rug, plastering herself to the hardwood floor of her bedroom. 

Her parents’ voices only became slightly clearer. After a minute of trying to get her eardrum impossibly closer to the floor, Arasha stood up. She tiptoed quietly to her door and opened it as slowly as she could, making sure it made no sound when she shut it behind her.

She padded over to the railing that bordered the hallway by the staircase. The landing overlooked the front door, which had an open corridor that connected to the kitchen where her parents seemed to be having their fight. Now, Arasha could hear them clearly.

“You saw what happened!” her mother screamed. "Why can’t you accept the possibility that there are things in this world that we don’t understand?”

Arasha’s mom had been convinced that the episode had been evidence that Arasha could see the future and she had stopped them from driving into the car crash on purpose. Her dad did not agree.

“I can’t listen to this,” her father said. “Arasha is sick and we are taking her to a psychiatrist!”

Then, it became incredibly silent downstairs. The fight was over. Before her parents could come upstairs and catch her eavesdropping, Arasha tiptoed back into her room and quietly shut the door. She pulled herself under the covers, pretending to be asleep.

A few minutes had gone by when her mom poked her head into the room. “Arasha?”

Arasha opened her eyes and sat up a bit. Her mom walked closer to her bed and gave her a hug. She pulled back and smiled before giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Good night, my dear,” her mom said. 

“Good night, mom,” she replied.

As her mom left her bedroom, Arasha lied back down. Why would no one tell her what was wrong with her?

~

Amanda had led yet another crew into the woods to look for plants to eat. She had brought Arasha, Courtney, and Olivia this time, most of the others being busy back at the cabin.

“Why are there no fucking berries?” Olivia groaned. She kicked a berry-less bush in irritation.

Arasha knelt down, inspecting a different bush. There wasn’t anything on that one either.

“Birds could be picking them off,” Amanda said. “Or mice.”

Courtney sat down on a rock. She was looking wistfully off into the distance. “I’d eat the crap out of a mouse right now.”

“Ew,” Olivia said.

“Gross,” Amanda agreed.

Courtney still looked like she was dreaming of eating a mouse the same way a normal person dreamed about eating a delicious hamburger.

“You know,” Arasha chimed in. “Some animals live off eating their own vomit.”

That snapped Courtney out of her trance. “Okay. Thanks for that image, Arasha.”

Olivia laughed. “Did dead cabin guy tell you about that or do you guys just chat about blood and stuff?”

“No.” Arasha stood up. “We usually talk about how Peter Ditzler dumped you for his own cousin.” She walked away to search for more things to eat.

“They’re only second cousins,” Olivia said as she walked off. “That’s legal. I think.”

Arasha kept walking, intent on getting out of earshot of Olivia. She looked up from the forest floor and abruptly stopped. Standing in a sunny clearing was a deer. Its antlers were drenched in blood, leaves and vines hanging from them. The deer only stared at her, munching on blades of grass sticking out of its mouth.

She shut her eyes and turned around, shaking herself from what she was sure was just a hallucination. When she opened her eyes again, Courtney was walking up to her.

“Hey, look, ignore Olivia," Courtney said “I don’t think she’s taken a shit in like weeks.”

Arasha huffed a laugh, still mostly focused on the bloody deer. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” Courtney asked her, a concerned look on her face. Arasha turned around and the deer was gone. She looked back to Courtney. “What’s wrong?” 

Forcing a smile on her face, Arasha replied, “Nothing!”

Courtney smiled back and walked back to the group. Arasha began to follow but took one last glance over her shoulder. The deer was standing there again. She closed her eyes tightly and kept following Courtney.

~

Ian was sweating. He was very warm and he was breathing heavily. He was lying down on the attic floor, Anthony kneeling on his left.

He recognized very quickly that this was one of his recurring nightmares: different scenarios in which he gives birth out in the woods. All of these nightmares tended to involve Anthony, playing his role as the father– check– and Angela, playing her terrifyingly likely role of resident OB-GYN. Ian looked down and confirmed that Angela was there. 

Although he could feel none of the pain since it was just a dream, Ian could feel the heightened anxiety that he usually felt whenever he thought about the impending arrival of this baby. Try as he might, Ian could not force himself out of these nightmares. He endured the repetitive dream until Angela declared that the baby had been born. 

Anthony cut the umbilical cord and Angela handed Ian a fully cooked rotisserie chicken. As she put the chicken in his hands, his mouth began to water. He tore the leg off of the chicken and bit into it.

~

Ian gasped as he woke up, trying to catch his breath from the dream. No matter how many times he had it, it was still horrifying. Once he had calmed down a bit, Ian finally noticed that he was alone in the attic.

Usually, when Ian woke up from these nightmares, it would wake Shayne up as well. Shayne would end up calming Ian down and talking about his dreams with him until they went back to sleep.

He had probably just gone to go to the bathroom or to get water. Ian laid back down and closed his eyes. Images of the rotisserie chicken-baby flashed behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes again, staring at the ceiling of the attic.

It was going to be a long night. Ian tried to get comfortable and waited for Shayne to come back.

~

In the creek near the cabin, Shayne and Courtney were skinny dipping. The group usually bathed in pairs down at the lake, but since they had been sleeping in separate areas of the house, the two of them had started sneaking out at night and going to the creek. It had become the only time that Courtney and Shayne really had to hang out away from the team.

Though it was closer to the cabin, there was no chance of them being seen because of how late it was. Also because they didn't sleep in the same place, neither Ian up in the attic or anyone downstairs would notice that they were missing together. It was perfect.

Courtney began to write a word on Shayne’s back. When she finished, Shayne turned around to look at her.

“‘Boob’?” he laughed. “Are you five?”

Courtney grinned. “Hey, I write what I know!” She turned around.

Shayne swiped Courtney’s hair off of her back and on to her shoulder.

“Is that even a word or are you just feeling me up?” she joked.

He put both hands on her shoulders and steadied her. “Concentrate,” he said, exaggerating the word.

Courtney giggled. “You always win anyways.” She turned back around, facing Shayne again.

“Why do you think I like to play?” Shayne smiled.

Courtney pulled him into a kiss, intertwining their hands in the water. She broke the kiss a moment later and smiled back at him. She looked down at their hands, and then pulled his hand closer to her.

“Jesus, Shayne,” Courtney said. “Treat me like a lady!” She laughed, but Shayne took a closer look at his hand. His fingernails were caked with dirt. What had he been doing that they got that disgusting? And why hadn't he noticed until just now?

“I don't know how they got so dirty,” he said honestly. He looked back up at Courtney.

“Well,” she said. “You're forgiven. If I get another turn.”

Compliant, Shayne turned around. He waited for Courtney to start drawing another word on his back, but instead she poked him in the side. He jumped and Courtney laughed, loud and high-pitched.

Shayne quickly whipped around to cover her mouth. “Shh!” he warned, but he was laughing too. He let his hand go, slinging his arms around Courtney’s shoulders.

Courtney giggled quieter. “Scared? Of what other people think?” she teased. 

“Nope,” Shayne replied. “Just not interested in the drama.”

“Right,” Courtney said. “Like the tension between Ian and Anthony can't be cut with a knife. Actually, I think their tension is so thick it can't be cut with a knife.”

Shayne laughed at that, but Courtney continued, “You know they're going to find out eventually.”

“Not if we get out of here,” said Shayne.

Courtney paused, untangling herself from Shayne’s hold. “What?”

“I want to go look for help.” 

She sputtered. “Shayne. We are in the middle of nowhere. We are surrounded by hundreds of miles of wilderness–”

“How do we know that?” Shayne asked. “What if there’s like a town or something closer than we think? It's not like we’re on an island! If we head south long enough, eventually–”

“If you go tearing off into the woods, how the fuck are you going to survive?” 

Now, it was Shayne that paused. “I don't know,” he finally admitted. “But I know what'll happen if we stay.”

They stayed quiet for a while, holding each other in the water. Eventually, when the water began to prune their fingers, Courtney and Shayne climbed out of the water and dried off. 

The walk back to the cabin was quick, Shayne and Courtney holding hands on the way there. When they opened the door to a cabin full of people sleeping, they hugged and kissed good night in the warmth of the house before Shayne climbed upstairs.

As Shayne climbed up into the attic, Ian sat up. Damn it. He had been hoping that Ian would have been asleep by the time he got back. 

“Where were you?” Ian asked.

“Oh,” Shayne stalled, trying to come up with an excuse. He didn’t know how long Ian had been awake for. “I just had to pee. Why are you up?”

Ian rubbed his eyes. “Bad dream.”

“Let me guess,” said Shayne. “Was it a cheeseburger-baby this time?”

Ian gave a wry smile. “I never should have told you about that.” 

Shayne laughed, but eventually Ian’s smile fell. He looked up at Shayne.

“What am I gonna do?” he asked, worry clear in his voice. Shayne sat down but didn’t say anything. “I heard Po from Teletubbies did it with the underwire of her bra last year.”

“Are you fucking crazy?” Shayne whisper-yelled at him. “You’ll die!” 

“I’ll probably die either way!” Ian countered. “I’m in the middle of nowhere and the OB-GYN on call is Angela fucking Giarratana. At least this way I won't have to die having my best friend’s–” Ian cut himself off, hand coming up to his mouth.

“What was that?” Shayne questioned. “Ian?”

Ian sighed. “At least I won’t have to die having my best friend’s baby,” he finished. In the dim light, Shayne could still somehow see the glisten of tears forming in Ian’s eyes.

“It’s Anthony’s?” Shayne breathed. He wasn’t really sure what to say. “Woah. That’s… wow. But it’s not worth dying over to stop him from finding out.” He sat up further. “I have a plan. To head south and find help. So just wait. You don’t have to do this out here.”

Ian nodded, but didn’t reply. He curled his arms around his knees, staring off at the beam of moonlight that lit part of the attic. 

Shayne stood up and began to get ready for bed, layering with a sweater and an extra pair of socks. It wasn’t fall just yet, but the temperature had started to drop at night. If it was that cold already, what the hell would winter be like?

~

The next morning, Ian had volunteered to go check the traps they had set up in the area. Anthony had quickly tagged along, probably to get away from the group. The traps near the cabin were empty, and the further they got from the house, the more likely it seemed that all of the traps the team had set were also empty.

“I’d never thought I’d be desperate enough to want to eat a rabbit,” Anthony mused. He kicked one of the empty traps. “I mean, what even is a rabbit? A squirrel with soft ears and a pom pom on its ass? What the fuck is that?”

Ian closed his eyes. He was exceptionally dizzy that morning, and Anthony’s rambling wasn’t making the dull headache the dizziness caused any better. “It’s a rabbit,” he said. “What is this question?”

Anthony kept walking. “I don’t know, I’m just hungry. I’m so hungry, I think I’d sell my firstborn for a cheesesteak.”

“Maybe stop talking about food?” Ian suggested. His stomach was rumbling. He wished there was a way to sell his firstborn for a cheesesteak.

“I think I miss cheesesteaks more than I miss Kimmy,” Anthony said. “Is that possible? No. I miss Kimmy more.”

Anthony stopped, leaning up against a tree. Ian continued walking past him. In the chaos that their situation out in the woods had been, Ian had genuinely forgotten about Kimmy. He tuned Anthony out as he listed all the things he missed about her.

“She must be losing her mind right now,” Anthony continued. Ian bent down to check another trap, really not interested in the conversation. “Did I tell you she said she loved me the day before we left?”

That caught Ian’s attention. He stood up and faced Anthony. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, well…” Anthony said, folding his arms. “I didn’t say it back.” He looked down at the ground.

“I’m sure she knows how you feel,” Ian replied automatically. He turned back around and began walking again before stopping a few steps later. “Wait. Do you?” Ian faced Anthony again. “Love her? I just thought…”

Ian didn't really know what he thought. Was he so naive to think that being stuck out in the woods would be enough for Anthony to finally forget his girlfriend and focus on him for once? 

“I don’t know.” Anthony finally met his eyes. “I… I just should have said it back. And I shouldn't have made her wait. I got so caught up in making everything perfect.”

Anthony began rambling about how he was such a terrible boyfriend and how he should have told Kimmy he loved her. Ian turned away. He didn’t have energy left in him to listen to Anthony talk about his girlfriend anymore.

Ian took a few steps forward before he became even more dizzy. Stumbling, he caught himself on a nearby tree. His stomach was burning from hunger, even though he had definitely been eating every bit of food he could get. Damn baby taking half of his calories.

“Woah,” said Anthony. He came running over to Ian. “Are you okay?”

Ian steadied himself and stood up. “Yeah. I’m just hungry.”

Anthony reached into his back pocket. “Here.” He handed him his napkin of leftovers from breakfast.

It took Ian a moment to register the offer, but when he finally did, he pushed the napkin back at Anthony. “No,” he said. “You need to eat.”

“You need it more.” Anthony forced the napkin into Ian’s hands. 

Unfortunately, Ian couldn’t disagree with that. Objectively, he did need it more, even if Anthony didn’t know the real reason why. He took a piece of meat out of the napkin and bit into it. They started walking back to the cabin, Anthony supporting Ian as they went.

~

Back at the plane wreckage, Spencer and Alex were making out. Spencer snaked his arms around Alex’s neck and pulled him in closer. He was letting Alex lead for once, much to his dismay. 

It was clear Spencer was probably one of the first people Alex had ever kissed, which Spencer didn’t care about, but he could practically feel the vibration of anxiety coming off of Alex whenever they made out. Alex was moving way faster than Spencer could keep up with, so he broke the kiss and pulled back a few inches from Alex’s face. 

An unwanted laugh bubbled up out of Spencer’s throat as he smiled at Alex. “Slow down.”

Alex swallowed, giving Spencer a sheepish smile in return before closing the gap between them again. He trailed his hand from where it had been sitting on the waistband of Spencer’s ripped jeans to the exposed skin just above his hip.

Again, Spencer pulled back, laughing. Alex looked at him worriedly until he finally calmed down. “Sorry. That just tickles.”

This time it was Spencer who closed the distance in between them. Alex’s hands wandered up his back, supporting him as he laid him down onto the floor of the aisle. Spencer’s head bumped a stray plane part and Alex broke the kiss. He sat up and shuffled away from Spencer a bit.

“I’m obviously gonna keep screwing this up, so whatever,” Alex said, trying not to make eye contact. “Maybe we should just head back.”

Spencer sat up as well. “Come on,” he teased, smiling. “Who hasn’t rolled over a broken tray table while making out in a blood stained death trap?”

Alex laughed at that but still didn’t look at him. Spencer scooted closer to him.

“You are a good kisser,” he said. Now Alex looked at him. “I don’t wanna go back yet. Do you?”

Slowly, Alex shook his head no. Spencer pulled him into yet another kiss. 

~

About an hour or so later, Spencer and Alex finally made their way back to the cabin, their hands interlocked for most of the walk back. Just as they came up to the clearing around the cabin, they dropped each other’s hands. It didn’t do anything to stop the teasing once the group caught sight of them though.

“Spencer and Alex, sitting in a tree,” Trevor Lee sang.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” the group finished with him.

Arasha giggled. “Well, I think they were doing more than kissing.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Trevor Lee, who made a face in return.

“Hey, Spencer, what are you and Flex even hunting for out there anyway?” Olivia asked him, grinning. 

Spencer rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Sit and spin, assholes.” He flipped them off with both hands, turning in a circle to make sure everyone saw it. The team laughed at him, still teasing the pair. 

“Is this why we don’t have any food?” Anthony asked from the porch. His arms were crossed and he was frowning at Spencer. The group went quiet. “Cause you’ve been too busy running for mayor of pound town?”

Alex face-palmed. Next to him, Spencer bristled and adjusted the rifle on his shoulder. “Uh, go fuck yourself?” he said to Anthony.

Anthony laughed coldly. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.” He stepped off the porch. “Spence’s always down for a good time, right?”

“I can’t magically conjure a deer, Anthony,” said Spencer. “But keep talking shit, I’ll find something to shoot,” he spat.

“Oh, you’re so tough,” Anthony mocked him. “I’m not scared of you, burnout.”

Spencer cocked his head. “No, you’re jealous! Cause you’re just an uptight, prudish little bitch!”

Within seconds of the words coming out of Spencer’s mouth, Anthony’s hands were on him. They began cat-fighting until Alex and Shayne rushed to separate them. As Shayne dragged him back into the cabin, Anthony wriggled in his hold and turned around to flip Spencer off.

Alex tried to comfort Spencer, but he shrugged him off. He was staring off into the distance when Angela came up to him.

“I know how you feel, Spencer,” she said. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I have a secret boyfriend too.” Angela gave him a very secretive smile and brought her finger up to her lips. “Shh!” She giggled.

Spencer had no idea what the fuck she was talking about and he didn’t really care. He walked away from Angela and sat down by the fire. 

~

Sitting on the bench by the window, Arasha could almost feel the chill of the air outside. Everyone had gone to sleep long before, but she hadn't been able to stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time. She stared out the window, legs curled up into her chest.

She had been sitting there for a few minutes when she heard a weird noise coming from outside the cabin. If it weren't for the still air and tree branches she was staring at, Arasha would have thought it was the wind whistling. Carefully, she stood up and tiptoed over the sleeping bodies around her to get to the door. She grabbed the oil lantern from where it hung on a deer’s skull on the wall.

Arasha quietly slipped outside, turning the lantern on once she shut the door. She followed the source of the noise into the woods. In the darkness, Arasha could only see a few feet in front of her. 

She was walking for what had to have been at least five minutes before she stumbled across anything. She had caught sight of something moving on the forest floor and moved closer to see it better in the light of her lantern. 

It was Shayne. He looked up at her, eyes wide but almost nothing behind them. Dirt was covering his face and he shoveled a handful of more dirt into his mouth.

“Shayne?” Arasha asked. “What are you doing?”

The blond boy didn't respond, he just ate another fistful of dirt and made a growling noise at her.

Arasha shut her eyes tightly. This was a dream or a hallucination or something. She knew this wasn't real. Without another glance at the boy eating dirt at her feet, Arasha turned and went back to the cabin.

~

Shayne woke slowly. He sat up and stretched before opening his eyes. Turning to his right, he expected Ian to be asleep next to him. Instead, a black bra with one of its underwires taken out was on Ian’s pillow. Fuck. 

He slipped on his sneakers and ran out. Scrambling down the ladder and out the door, Shayne tried his best not to wake anyone still sleeping downstairs. He closed the door behind him and found Arasha outside on the porch.

“Arasha!” He walked up to her. “Have you seen Ian this morning?”

Arasha was looking at him weird, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes scanning his face. “Um. I– Uh–”

“Arasha! Have you?” He did not have time for this.

She blinked a few times before responding. “Yes. Yeah. He um, he went that way,” Arasha pointed off into the woods to Shayne’s left. “I think.”

Immediately, Shayne turned and began running in the direction Arasha had pointed out to him. 

“Wait!” Arasha stopped him. Shayne paused and looked back at her. “Were you… Were you outside eating dirt last night?”

“What the actual fuck? No,” said Shayne, already moving to run after Ian. “I can’t do crazy right now, Arasha.” He left Arasha standing on the porch, sprinting off to go find Ian, wherever he had gone.

~

After Shayne had rushed out of the cabin to find Ian, Arasha went back inside. The rest of the team had started to wake up and begin their chores, but she made a beeline for the kitchen, uninterested in anything other than finding Trevor Lee. 

Luckily for Arasha, Trevor Lee was sweeping the kitchen floor. He looked up as Arasha stormed in the back door of the cabin. 

“Oh! Cheese and rice,” he said, pausing his sweeping. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Arasha replied. She looked down at her feet awkwardly.

“Did you… need something?” Trevor Lee asked.

Hesitantly, Arasha stepped closer. “I just wanted to ask you something. I think it’s about God.”

Trevor Lee propped the broom he was using up against the kitchen table.

“I think I’m seeing things,” Arasha continued. “In the Bible, people had visions, right? Like prophets and whatever?”

“I was taught that visions are God’s way of communicating,” said Trevor Lee. “They could either be a warning or a revelation. ” 

Arasha sat down on the bench below the window. “How did they know they weren’t just crazy?”

“I think because God gave them faith.” Trevor Lee smiled at her softly. “It’s the substance of things that are hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. They knew it because they believed it.”

Now, it was Trevor Lee who stepped closer. “Jesus wants us to do the right thing. Like, he wants to help us do it. If you accept Him into your heart, He’ll help you distinguish between the true and the false.”

“But…” Arasha turned her gaze down to her feet again. “How do I accept Him into my heart?” She looked back up at Trevor Lee.

He nodded lightly. “I have an idea.”

~

Shayne was sprinting over leaves and branches, his momentum being the only thing preventing him from tripping and falling flat on his face.

“Ian!” He called out. Where could he have gone? “Ian!”

He kept running at full speed, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Shayne wasn’t sure how long he had been running for, but he knew he had to find Ian before he did anything drastic. Luckily for him, he finally caught sight of the brunette a moment later.

“Ian!” Shayne stopped abruptly and turned, now jogging towards where Ian was sitting on a towel, bra wire in hand. A million questions were running through Shayne’s head, namely who Ian had stolen that bra from, but he didn’t have time to ask.

Shayne stood over him. “You’re not gonna do this alone okay?” He knelt down on the towel. “I’m gonna help you, if you’ll let me.”

Shakily, Ian nodded and handed him the wire. He didn’t say anything, but laid down and shut his eyes, a silent agreement.

Carefully as he could, Shayne pierced him with the wire, eliciting a gasp from Ian. He shifted his gaze up to his face.

“Keep going,” Ian rasped. 

Shayne pushed the wire deeper, and he watched as Ian’s eyes flickered shut. It was obvious he was trying to push through the pain. Tears began to fall from his eyes.

“No,” Ian said, voice wet. “Stop! Stop!” Shayne immediately pulled the wire back out. “I can’t– I can’t do it.” 

Shayne dropped the wire and pulled Ian into his arms. Sobs wracked his body as he wrapped his arms around Shayne.

“I don’t wanna die,” Ian cried. Shayne hugged him tighter. “I don't wanna die,” he repeated.

“It's okay,” Shayne whispered. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

~

Trevor Lee and Arasha walked down to the lake together. Once they made it to the beach, Trevor Lee pulled a white dress that he had borrowed from one of the girls out of his backpack.

Arasha took off her jean shorts and T-shirt and let Trevor Lee help her get the dress on. He grabbed her hand and led her into the water until they were both about knee-deep.

After unhooking his cross necklace from his own neck, Trevor Lee clasped it around Arasha’s. He adjusted it until it sat in the middle of her chest. Her hand came up to hold the cross and Trevor Lee placed his hand on hers.

“Dear Heavenly Father,” he started. “Please accept Arasha into Your loving embrace so that she may recognize Your Holy Spirit, be cleansed of her sins, and welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. In Your name we pray. Amen.”

“Amen,” Arasha repeated.

With his hand supporting her back, Trevor Lee guided Arasha backwards into the water. Shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath, Arasha let herself be submerged in the lake.

She felt Trevor Lee’s hands fall away and she could feel herself drift deeper into the water until suddenly, she was no longer in the water at all.

Arasha opened her eyes. She was in some kind of underground tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling and from her hair onto her collarbone. She stood up.

It seemed like she was in a never ending labyrinth of tunnels. A few hallways over, there was a moose. She tilted her head and s she did the moose copied her movement. The moose walked down the hallway, away from her.

Arasha kept moving through the tunnels. She kept walking until she found a hallway with a staircase at the end of it. She gathered her dress in her hands and made her way up the stairs.

At the top of the staircase was a collection of candles. All of them were lit except for one sitting in the middle. Taking a match from a jar on the side of the candle altar, Arasha lit it with one of the burning candles. Carefully, she used the match to light the middle candle.

She put the match out and watched as the light of the middle candle grew. And grew. And–

Arasha’s eyes opened. Through the water, she could see Trevor Lee’s smile. She smiled back before a light took over her vision, covering Trevor Lee’s face. A bright ball of fire flared over her. She screamed, and came up from underwater, gasping for air.

“What?” Trevor Lee asked, concern washing over his face. “What is it?”

“I saw–” Arasha took another hasty breath. “I saw light. And fire.”

A beam broke out on Trever Lee’s face. “It’s the Holy Spirit! You’ve been blessed!”

He hugged Arasha tightly. The Holy Spirit. Blessed. Arasha belatedly wrapped her arms around Trevor Lee. 

~

Alex ran into the cabin to grab more bullets from one of the many jars filled with them. Just as he was about to leave, Coach Chanse cornered him.

“Hey,” Coach Chanse called to him, hobbling over from the kitchen. “Alex. Do you have a minute?” 

Alex turned back to look at him and shoved the bullets in the pocket of his cargo pants. “Uh, sure.” 

Coach Chanse adjusted himself on his crutches. “So. Teenagers like to talk. I’ve heard a few things, and I don’t care what you and Spencer are doing, but as your teacher I need to make sure you’re being safe.” Alex’s face quickly became flushed and he shifted on his feet. “I can’t have anyone getting AIDS or some other disease out here. Or god forbid someone getting pregnant, but I don’t have to worry about that with you.”

Alex waved his hands up, trying to stop the conversation. “I got it covered, Coach.” He made to walk out of the cabin and leave with Spencer.

“Do you?” Chanse asked. “I mean, literally?” Alex cringed and turned back around. Coach reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of condoms.

“Woah.” Alex laughed. “We were only gonna be in New Jersey for like, a week. Who are you?”

“I’m not asking about you and Spencer.” Coach Chanse sighed. “All I ask in return is that you don’t ask any questions about this.” 

Alex nodded and hurried out of the cabin, putting the condoms that Coach Chanse had given him in his other pocket.

~

Almost immediately upon arrival at the plane wreckage, Spencer and Alex dropped their things and quickly closed the gap between them. With less and less game coming across their path, it was probably a bad idea that they spent all their hunting time making out, but neither of them could really care less.

Alex pulled just an inch away, staring into Spencer’s eyes. Spencer laughed softly, covering his mouth with his hand. Alex rolled his eyes and pulled further away.

“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, dropping his hand and schooling his face into a neutral expression. “Your face was just… so serious.”

Alex stood up and grabbed his shirt from where it had been thrown in the aisle of the plane when the condoms Coach had given him fell out of his pocket. He immediately whipped around and snatched them up, muttering some kind of apology, but Spencer wasn’t listening.

Still in the middle of processing the fact that condoms had just fallen out of Alex’s pocket (where did he even get those?), Spencer looked up at Alex and said the first thing that came to his mind. 

Unfortunately for him, it was something along the lines of, “I mean… You want to?” So tactful.

“No,” Alex rushed to say before he shook his head, realizing that he had said something wrong. “Wait, I mean. Yeah, but I didn’t meant to–”

“It’s okay,” Spencer cut him off. He pulled Alex back down to the floor and into another kiss. 

Alex pulled back again. “Wait. What, um.” He swallowed. “What number would I be?”

“Why?” Spencer crossed his arms. “You wanna know if I'm a slut? Joven has slept with basically everyone in our grade and you’re okay with him so why the fuck am I any different?”

Scoffing, Alex said, “Because he’s not the one with his hand on my–” He cut himself off, gaze turning to the ground.

“Are you gonna tell me how many people you’ve slept with?” Spencer retaliated.

“No.” Alex’s hand came up to the back of his neck, still looking pointedly at the floor.

Spencer almost laughed again. “Are you serious? Why the fuck not?” 

“Because it’s none!” Alex snapped, finally looking up at him.

“Oh.”

It was very silent in the plane for a moment. Eventually, it was Spencer who broke the silence. He crawled closer to Alex.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” he said, forcing Alex to meet his gaze. “I’ve only been with two people. And trust me, they don’t matter. You do.”

Alex smiled. They went back to make out until Alex pulled away again. He looked over Spencer’s shoulder.

“Spencer,” he whispered. “Look.”

Quietly, Spencer turned to see a large deer standing in the clearing of the plane wreckage. Its antlers were bloody and something was covering them. It honestly looked terrifying.

“Get the gun,” Alex whispered to him. 

~

The group sat around the fire yet again. They were waiting for Spencer and Alex to return, their other chores already mostly completed. By the time the sun had begun to set, Spencer and Alex were back, carrying a deer.

“Oh my god, meat!” Courtney shot up excitedly. “Fuck yeah!”

Next to her, Trevor Lee’s hands immediately folded in prayer. Those who weren't directly around the fire came closer, cheering in excitement at the idea of finally having real food again.

Spencer and Alex walked further into the clearing, giving the group a better look at the deer. They laid it on the ground, resulting in most of the group gagging at the deer’s mangled antlers.

“Woah, that thing is gnarly,” Courtney said. There were various mutters of agreements.

Amanda made a face. “It’s like… if Bazonka and Bambi had a baby.” 

“I’m not eating that,” Selina chimed in, crossing her arms.

“This is normal, guys.” Coach Chanse crutched over to where the deer was on the ground. “Deer shed their antlers every season,” he told them. “Relax. Ian? Want to do the honors?”

Ian stepped up, taking his trusty knife out of his back pocket and pulling it out of its sheath. He knelt down in front of the deer, puncturing its neck and cutting it open. The skin and fur fell back, revealing maggots crawling inside.

Now, the gags coming from the group increased. Many of them groaned in disgust, and a few people had to walk away. Ian reached into the deer and scooped up some of the maggots, frowning. He shook the worms off his hand and stood up.

“That's normal too, Coach?” Anthony asked.

Amanda handed Ian a washcloth to clean the blood off his hand with. Sitting on the log next to him, Arasha was staring at the maggot-infested deer.

“I’m not crazy,” she whispered to no one in particular.

Trevor Lee, who was sitting on her right, turned his head towards her. “No. You have a gift.” He put his hand on her shoulder.

Shayne began pacing, his hands on his head. “We cannot keep fucking doing this, you guys!” He turned to face all of them. “What happens when winter gets here?” Shayne yelled at them. “We fucking starve to death or freeze?”

No one responded. They all stared at Shayne, jawdropped.

“We can’t count on getting rescued anymore,” Shayne continued. “All of us know that’s not gonna happen! We have to save us.” He paused, taking a sharp breath. “That’s why I’m going to go find help. I’m leaving in the morning. Come with me if you want to get out of this fucking hellhole.”

Olivia clicked the CD into place in Spencer’s CD player and put it down into a metal bucket flipped on its side. She pressed play before standing up and taking position with the rest of the group. 

Pon de Replay by Rhianna started playing out of the CD player’s small speaker, amplified a bit by the bucket. 

“One, two, one, two, three, four!” Olivia said to the beat.

Everyone burst into a choreographed dance!  Sitting on the floor in front of the dancing group, Coach Chanse laughed. Alex rolled his eyes, but soon was also laughing. On the side, Angela was copying the movements from her spot against the wall.

“And Selina!” Courtney said. The group parted and Selina joined the dance.

The entire cabin was laughing and freestyling random dance moves until the song began to glitch. The CD player stopped. Everyone gathered around it and Courtney picked it up from inside the bucket. She smacked it a few times and pressed play, but it didn’t work.

“Has hitting something ever made it work?” Courtney asked. 

“Maybe try blowing on it,” Olivia suggested over her shoulder.

Courtney tried blowing on the CD player’s speaker and taking out the CD and blowing on it before putting it back in again, but none of it worked. People chimed in with more ideas, but a loud creaking noise from the ceiling interrupted them.

“What the fuck was that?” Anthony asked. They all stared at the ceiling warily.

Shayne sighed. “It was probably just a branch.”

Olivia glared at him. “Inside on the floor?” She crossed her arms. “What if it was… him?”

“What?” Ian asked. “You mean the dead guy?”

“Um, yeah,” Olivia said matter-of-factly. 

Spencer interjected. “You know it probably was?” When he had everyone’s attention, he continued, “The dead guy’s missing fingers trying to find their way home.” 

Next to him, Amanda hit his arm. “Ew, Spencer.” The rest of the group booed Spencer.

“You really have to encourage them?” Shayne asked him.

“You’ve gotta admit,” Amanda said to Shayne. “That didn’t sound like it was on the roof.”

“Fine,” said Anthony, done with the ghost debate that had plagued the cabin ever since they found the skeleton in the attic. “Then it was a rat or a squirrel or something. I don’t know, it could—”

Suddenly, Arasha shushed him. She was looking up at the ceiling with that same ominous look she had on her face when they found the plane. Shayne groaned quietly and tilted his head back in annoyance as everyone watched Arasha.

“Listen,” she said. And so they listened.

After a good moment of silence, Olivia huffed. “Well I don’t hear it now.”

“See?” Shayne gestured at her, like she had just proved his point.

Olivia looked like she was ready to full-on debate Shayne about whether or not the sound was real or not, but Coach Chanse jumped in.

“All right, all right,” he said. “I think the ghost decided to get some sleep. Maybe we should do the same.”

Quieting down, the group began to set up their cots for the night. A few people had gathered with Courtney as she tried to fix the CD player again. 

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Courtney said to the group around her. She gave the CD player back to Spencer and went to grab her things for bed.

~

Early the next morning, before everyone else had woke up, Angela quietly stepped over a few of her sleeping teammates. She changed into her day clothes and brought her pajamas outside to the laundry pile. There wasn’t much she could do before anyone woke up without waking them or requiring help.

She was making her way to the kitchen when she thought of a better idea. Angela made her way over more sleeping bodies and, as silently as she could, opened the door to Coach Chanse’s room. 

Like expected, Chanse was still sleeping. She looked behind her just to make sure no one had woken up and slipped into the room, shutting the door behind her. Angela tiptoed on the hardwood floor until she was standing over the bed.

Reaching her hand out, Angela got inches away from Coach Chanse’s hair before he woke up. He jolted awake, almost like he had sensed Angela standing over him in his sleep. 

Blearily, he seemed to realize that she was trying to touch his hair and looked at her confusedly. 

Angela pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Sorry, I just–”

As Coach Chanse woke up further, he moved further up the bed, away from her. He pointed a finger at her, panting. “Do not fucking touch me, Angela,” Chanse said sternly. “Do you understand?”

Frantically nodding, Angela smiled and apologized under her breath. She left quickly and closed the door behind her again. She had been so close.

~

The first thing Anthony felt when he woke up was a soft kick to the back, followed by a harder one when he didn’t respond. He groaned into his pillow and curled up tighter.

“Anthony,” Spencer chided. “Up and at ‘em or something.”

He groaned again, but flipped over to look at Spencer this time. “I’m cold,” he whined, wrapping the blankets tighter around him.

“Tough,” was all Spencer replied with. He kicked him again. “Come on.” Spencer walked outside, leaving Anthony alone in the cabin. 

Anthony soaked in his last few seconds in bed before extracting himself from the covers and getting up. He quickly got changed and tried to fix his hair in the reflection of the grimy mirror next to the door, but soon gave up on it.

He made his way outside and was met with the smell of cooking meat and the bustle of the group already in full swing. Shayne was chopping wood yet again, Amanda was watching over breakfast cooking, Courtney and Trevor Lee were hanging up laundry, and it seemed like every chore possible had been taken already. Even Ian was sharpening a knife or something. 

When Amanda noticed him walking towards the fire, she waved a good morning. “Bloody soldiers on the left, breakfast on the right,” she said. “Don’t mess it up like Alex did.” 

Alex rolled his eyes and got up to finish his breakfast elsewhere, Amanda laughing at him as he left. Anthony went to grab a plate and some of the deer meat, but Olivia stopped him. She shoved the empty water bucket into his hands.

“Why don’t you get us some water?” Olivia asked, but it wasn’t really a question. “Breakfast isn’t going anywhere.”

Olivia left Anthony with the water bucket. He gave Ian a look like what was that? but started the trek down to the lake anyways. 

Once Anthony got to the beach and had a clear view of the lake’s shore, he saw someone standing waist-deep in the water. He got closer and realized that it was Arasha.

“Arasha?” Anthony asked from the sand. “Aren’t you cold?”

The girl turned around, but looked confused at the question. “Yeah, actually. I thought it’d be warmer.” Arasha turned back around, staring at the mountains that surrounded the lake.

Instead of getting any more involved in Arasha’s weird behavior than he already was, Anthony crouched down and collected water in the bucket. As soon as he was done, he headed back to the cabin, not sparing another glance at the girl in the water. 

Hauling the full water bucket up the hill to the cabin was not an easy feat. Although Anthony was sure he could have managed it under normal circumstances, he was noticiably weaker due to lack of food. He made it back to the house and almost immediately put the bucket down once he was in front of the fire. A bit of the water splashed out, but Anthony didn’t really care. He rubbed his palm, soothing it from the pain of the thin metal handle boring into his hand.

“Hey,” Ian said as he walked up to him. “Need any help?” The boy smiled, but he looked pale.

“No, it’s fine.” Anthony waved him off. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, um.” Ian scratched the back of his neck. “I just threw up, I don’t know. I’m sure it’s nothing. Just, uh, morning… sickness.” He visibly cringed at his choice of words.

“Well, thank god you can’t get pregnant,” Anthony joked.

Ian shifted on his feet. “Yeah.” He laughed, but it didn’t sound like a real laugh. Anthony chose not to comment on it.

~

“Fucking cocksucker!” Anthony hit the CD player a few times and then took the CD out again. He had been trying to troubleshoot the player for what had to have been over half an hour.

Everyone gathered near the fire exchanged looks as Anthony kept trying to fix the CD player, rolling their eyes at his lackluster attempts to help out with chores. Ian’s stomach turned. He hated seeing everyone judge Anthony like that when they had respected him as a captain only a few weeks prior.

Ian stood up from the tree stump he was sitting on and walked over to Anthony, standing above him until he noticed his presence. When he eventually looked up, Anthony took the earbuds connected to the CD player out of his ears. 

“Come on,” Ian said. He took the CD player out of Anthony’s hands and put it on the log next to them. Ian held his hand out to him.

Instead of taking his hand and letting Ian drag him out of the circle of watching eyes, Anthony was confused. “What?” Ian grabbed his hand anyway and pulled him up and away from the group. “Okay, okay!” Anthony said as Ian forcefully led him to the side of the cabin.

Ian cut some of the meat off of the hanging deer in the meat shed and set it up on the worktable he brought Anthony to. With the knife Coach Chanse had given to him, he demonstrated how to debone the deer meat to Anthony. Ian handed him the knife to try it himself.

With only one hand, Anthony tried to pop the bone out of the meat. His other hand was braced near his face in disgust. “Ew, ew, ew.”

“You have to–” Ian wrapped his hands around Anthony’s on the knife. “Pop it.” He popped the end of the bone out of the meat and let go of the knife. 

Anthony instantly took his hand off of the knife and wiped it on his shorts, despite having not gotten anything on it. “That’s gross, I’m not doing that.”

“Well, I don’t know how to help you, but you can’t keep not pitching in,” Ian said, dipping his hands in the water bucket and shaking them off. He wasn’t looking at Anthony, but he could feel the other boy’s energy shift. He looked up at him. “People are noticing, Anthony.”

“Sorry, I’m the only one not getting off on this Little House on the Prairie shit,” Anthony replied coolly. “I’m not made for this, Ian! I don’t belong here, and I really don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this.”

Ian looked away, now feeling bad for having brought anything up in the first place. “Remember when Ericka Bozeman broke her arm right before we were supposed to go to Hurricane Harbor? And you told her that if she shared her Percocet, we’d all crash Game Changer at Dropout instead?”

“Yeah,” Anthony said fondly, looking down at the ground. A second later, he looked back up. “Wait, is this a pep talk?” Ian shrugged sheepishly. Anthony laughed. “Wowza, Hecox. That is so not your style.”

“I know, it’s yours,” Ian said. “I’m better at…” He struggled to come up with something.

Anthony completed his sentence for him though. “Making people feel judged? Ooh! Cutting up dead things.”

Ian sighed. “Wow, thanks.” He turned back to the work table.

Shoving him playfully, Anthony stopped him from going back to cutting up the meat. “I’m kidding. You’re kinda turning into a badass out here,” he said, smiling.

“You know,” Ian said after a moment. “You taught me how to be like this. You make people feel like everything’s going to be okay just by showing up and being your dumb hot awesome self.”

They were quiet for a second before Anthony said, “I’m still not putting a fucking knife through deer meat.”

“Fine,” Ian relented, laughing. “But we need you, Anthony.” He reached around the back of his neck and unclipped Anthony’s necklace that been there since they got on the plane. Ian carefully clipped the necklace around Anthony’s neck again. “I mean, you’re our captain, remember?”

Anthony smiled, bringing his hand up to the necklace at his collarbone. “Yeah,” he agreed. He pulled Ian into a hug. 

~

Spencer watched as Alex crouched down against a fallen tree, propping the rifle up against it and taking aim. He looked around for something to shoot for a second before lowering the gun.

“There’s nothing,” Alex complained.

“Giving up is probably the right choice,” said Spencer. “You’re too far behind to ever catch up anyway.”

Alex scoffed. “Its not my fault your loser aura is scaring all the animals away.”

“Right.” Spencer squinted at him. “Sure.”

Alex aimed again. From his place behind him, Spencer could see the bird as Alex spotted it. The bird flew up and Alex shot it right out of the air. He ejected the bullet casing and handed the gun to Spencer.

“What was that about not catching up?” Alex took the pencil and tally sheet they had been keeping from him. He ticked off another tally on the side of the paper labelled ‘A’ and handed it back to Spencer.

~

Leaning up against one of the many trees that were behind the cabin, Shayne was laughing at something Courtney had said, when she brought a finger up to his lips, shushing him. She was looking off towards the sliver of porch that they could see, and he followed her gaze to see Amanda and Keith taking the last of the laundry off the clothesline and walking back to the front of the cabin.

“Finally,” Courtney sighed, smiling before pulling him into a kiss. She pushed Shayne back against the tree and they separated for a second. As Courtney went to kiss him again, a shrill scream that sounded an awful lot like Olivia interrupted them.

Shayne dropped his head on Courtney’s shoulder in exasperation. “What now?” Courtney laughed, and they walked around to the front porch hand in hand until they were in eyesight of the rest of the group.

In front of the porch steps, Olivia was panicking, screaming about something being on her. Ian and Amanda were searching for the supposed bug on her as she was checking her hair and wringing out the ends of her shirt.

She was on the verge of tears when Ian steadied her by the shoulders. “Olivia. There’s nothing there.”

Olivia looked back at Amanda and then at Ian again. “What– No. Something crawled up my shirt when I was standing under the attic door.” She looked around at the group that had gathered. “I saw it! I think it was a butterfly. I swear.” She continued to search her shirt for the bug.

“Must have been the ghost,” Shayne said dryly. He was fed up with everybody going all psycho out in the wilderness. Arasha kept having these weird space-out moments and Olivia, along with most of the others, were convinced that the cabin was haunted. It was getting annoying. They had more important things to be dealing with. Courtney lightly hit his arm.

“Don’t say that!” Olivia turned on Shayne. 

The group was quiet for a beat.

“Oh!” Anthony hopped up from his seat by the fire. “Guys! I just had a great idea.” Everyone turned their attention to Anthony. “We should have a seance!”

Shayne laughed. “A seance? You know that’s not real, Anthony.” He crossed his arms. “And we’re not in middle school.”

“Okay,” Anthony said. “But remember how fun that shit was?” Rolling his eyes and looking away, Shayne didn’t respond to Anthony. “Maybe if we can laugh about this whole situation, it’ll help us move past it.”

“The occult is not a laughing matter,” Trevor Lee stated. He also crossed his arms.  

“Its not the occult, Trevor Lee. It’s a game,” Anthony replied. “Come on, Ian, tell them. It’ll be fun, right?”

The group turned its attention to Ian. “Um,” he stalled. “I mean, we don’t have anything better to do. Maybe the dead guy can give us life advice or something.”

Shayne and Courtney laughed, followed by a few others agreeing with the idea. Trevor Lee still thought it was a bad idea.

“So, it’s settled,” Anthony declared. “Tonight, the attic. We make contact.”

Laughing, the team agreed. Trevor Lee shook his head and walked away from the circle. Shayne told Anthony it was still kinda dumb, but Anthony just told him he could stay downstairs with Trevor Lee and read the Bible. Shayne looked to Courtney for backup, but she was all for the idea. Was he the only person in the cabin other than Trevor Lee that hadn’t absolutely lost their mind? 

~

Setting a bucket of water on the fire, Angela brought it to a boil and then poured some of it into a mug she found in the kitchen. She brought it inside and filled it with some of the plants they had found. She put a few of the normal leaves in the mug, and then some from her own stash. 

After the group had brought all the plants Amanda had identified as non-poisonous back to the cabin, Angela had gone back out to grab the ones she had been told to put down. She let the plants simmer in the still-boiling water and then carefully strained the tea she had made with a spoon.

Once she made sure no one else was in the cabin, Angela made her way over to Coach Chanse, who was sitting on a chair in the living room. She held the metal mug out to him with a smile on her face.

“Tea,” she said. He stared at her. “To help with the swelling. Uh, in your leg.” Coach Chanse took the mug from her, but looked at her with suspicion. She quickly walked back to the kitchen but caught him sniffing the tea before sipping it. He glanced her way, and she hoped she had managed to make herself look busy quickly enough. She looked back at him to see disgust on his face after he sipped it.

Angela made sure he took another sip from the mug, and then she went back outside with the rest of the group.

~

Soon after Anthony made the seance suggestion, he was dragging Ian up to the attic to help set up. Ian wasn’t really sure what they had to set up, but he went anyway. Anthony brought a box of candles, a rope, and a bowl of some mixture that Ian did not need to know the ingredients of. 

Anthony began setting up candles in a circle formation around the attic. Ian began to follow suit, but Anthony stopped him. 

“No, wait.” He pointed at a marking on the attic floor. “Put it on the symbols that are here. They’re totally seance-y.”

They put the candles on the symbols on the floor, forming a perfect circle shape around the attic. It was almost like someone had done this exact same thing before.

“Isn’t this, like, a waste of candles?” Ian asked as he placed his last candle. 

Anthony stood up. “Not if we’re getting rid of a ghost.”

~

Spencer lowered himself to the ground, stomach flat on the dirt, and his head just barely peaking over a log. He aimed at a groundhog that was only a few feet away from the tip of the barrel. He clicked the safety off and pulled the trigger, only to find that nothing shot out. He whipped his head to look at Alex, who was holding the bullet up, grinning like an idiot.

“You cheater!” Spencer yelled at him.

Alex only laughed. Then, he did some kind of magic trick, making the bullet disappear with his other hand. 

Laughing at him, Spencer said, “Dude, you do know no one’s gonna be into you if you keep doing that.”

“Oh, so you’re saying that when I wasn’t doing magic, you were into it?”

Spencer snatched the bullet out of Alex’s hand and ran. He had made it maybe five feet when Alex caught up to him, wrapping his arms around him and trying to get the bullet out of Spencer’s palm. 

He somehow managed to get out of Alex’s hold, but was caught again a second later, now with Alex’s arms bracketing him up against a tree.

Instead of stealing the bullet back like Spencer would have expected him to, Alex leaned in to kiss him. And instead of pulling away like he would have expected himself to, Spencer kissed him back.

~

Once the sun had set, Anthony had brought everyone up to the attic and lit the candles that he and Ian had set up. He instructed them to sit around the candles. Ian stood near the window, holding a rope with his knife tied at the end of it. A blindfold sat around his neck.

Everyone took their places around the candles’ circle and awaited more instructions. Anthony took the bowl of unknown liquid and painted an ‘X’ on Ian’s forehead and then his own. Then, Ian slipped the blindfold on.

“O keeper of this wild and hidden place,” Anthony said. “We anoint ourselves with blood and earth.”

Anthony brought the bowl over to Alex, who hesitated to accept it. “It’s just dirt and deer blood. Relax.” Alex took the bowl, painted a cross on his forehead, and handed it to Spencer next to him. 

Anthony sat down in the circle and began the seance. “O spirit, we offer our brother as your instrument. Come to us and speak your peace.”

“It is I, Jacques,” said Ian. He wasn’t fully on board with this whole thing, and it had taken a lot of begging for Anthony to convince him to participate this much, but this was the most vibrant and alive Anthony had been in weeks. Ian felt like he kind of needed to be there for him. The team laughed, but Anthony instructed them to ask questions. 

As Courtney finished painting her own ‘X’ on her forehead and passed the bowl to Arasha, she closed her eyes and asked a question. “Have Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie gotten together yet?” The group broke into laughter again. 

Ian lifted the blindfold to look at Anthony before swinging the knife in any direction. 

“Come on, guys,” said Anthony. “Serious questions.”

“Is Miss P’s husband actually gay?” Olivia asked. Ian tilted his grasp on the rope to make the knife do a circular movement, meaning yes. “I knew it.”

There were a few more giggles, and then Amanda spoke up. “Dead cabin guy, if we hadn’t crashed, would we have won nationals?”

Hesitating, Ian made a face before guiding the knife into a side-to-side movement that meant no. He was almost instantly met with disagreements and booing. Soon, the group kept firing off question after question, each followed by bouts of laughter.

~

Downstairs was a much quieter affair. Shayne was sharpening the axe he had been using to chop firewood for two weeks, Trevor Lee was trying to read the Bible, Coach Chanse looked like he was constipated, and Selina had been banned from attending the seance by Alex. No one was speaking. 

Laughter from upstairs filtered into the room easily, but they couldn’t hear any clear words. Every few minutes, it would go quiet, and then there would be a burst of giggles that lasted a while. 

Unable to pay attention to the words he was reading, Trevor Lee shut the Bible and put it down on the table. From the edge of the table, he grabbed the flight manual that he had found in the pantry that morning. 

As Trevor Lee flipped the manual open, Shayne glanced up at him. He tried to focus on the manual, but he could see him shake his head. 

“If you’re thinking about flying that thing, you’re crazier than those idiots upstairs,” was all Shayne said. He continued to sharpen the axe.

Trevor Lee sighed, turning a few pages to get past the table of contents. “My grandpa flew this type of plan,e and he could barely write his own name. It can’t possibly be that hard.”

Shayne stopped sharpening. He looked at him, silently asking, ‘Are you serious?’ 

“Okay,” Trevor Lee conceded. “Maybe it is that hard, but there’s nothing dangerous about reading the manual.”

Shayne made a noise somewhere in between a laugh and a scoff. He turned to the living room where Coach Chanse was sitting. “Coach, are you listening to this?”

Lethargically, Coach Chanse turned his head to look at the two of them. “No.”

Giving up, Shayne went back to sharpening the axe. Trevor Lee continued flipping through the flight manual. Another loud bout of laughter came from the attic.

“That’s it,” Selina said. “I’m going to see what’s so funny.” She climbed up into the attic without any pushback from the others. 

~

“Of course they’re fake!” Spencer argued. “You really need a ghost to tell you that?”

“But who would have paid for them? Her parents?” Olivia countered. 

Before Spencer could respond, Selina came upstairs and sat down between him and Alex. Courtney chimed in, backing Spencer up. He and Alex moved over to make room for her. Alex tried to scold her for coming upstairs, but Selina didn’t seem to be budging.

“I heard her parents are getting divorced,” Courtney said to Olivia, still on the topic of whether or not Brianna Boho had gotten a boob job. “Maybe it was guilt money.”

Olivia agreed with that point, and they laughed. 

“Next question!” Anthony called. Angela’s hand shot up. “Go ahead, Angela.”

She closed her eyes in concentration. “Spirit. I need to know the truth. Does my crush like me back?”

The knife swung in a circle. Yes. The group ‘ooh’-ed and giggled.

“Okay!” Courtney cheered.

Next to Angela, Olivia laughed. “Yes, Angela!”

Angela beamed, flushing at the reactions.

Anthony kept the momentum going. “Who’s next?” Selina raised her hand and so he called on her.

“Are we all gonna die out here?”

Any chatter or laughter that had been going on abruptly stopped at Selina’s question. The knife swung in a figure eight motion.

“An eight?” Courtney asked. “What does that mean?”

Olivia scoffed. “It’s not an eight, it’s an infinity.”

“Yeah, okay, Aristotle,” replied Courtney.

Before anyone else could figure out what the motion meant, Arasha whipped her head to the window, screaming. Seconds later, the window was pushed open by the wind, which subsequently blew all of the candles out.

“Where are the matches?” Olivia asked. Someone handed them to her and she immediately began to light the candles again once Amanda had shut the window.

Arasha was on the floor, sobbing. Ian had taken the blindfold off, put the knife and rope down to the side. He was trying to comfort Arasha, but she was thrashing and screaming. 

“It wants,” she cried. “It wants!” Arasha continued wailing. Amanda tried to help Ian comfort her, but it wasn’t doing much.

“Angela.” Courtney turned to her. “What do we do?” 

Angela shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her!”

Suddenly, Shayne burst into the attic. Arasha was still screaming and she was rocking back and forth as Amanda and Ian shushed her.

“ARASHA, I SWEAR TO GOD,” Olivia yelled. “IF YOU’RE FUCKING WITH US!”

Amanda shook her head in disbelief, not taking her eyes off of Arasha. “I think she’s possessed or something.”

“Arasha,” Ian said. “What is ‘It’?”

“We should be asking about what ‘It’ wants,” Amanda replied.

“Hungry,” Arasha whispered. She said it again, quieter. Then, she began cackling. She shushed Ian. “‘It’ is in you already.” 

“Arasha,” Shayne warned, now standing over her. “Knock it off!”

Arasha began speaking in a foreign language. It took all of them a second to process what it was.

“Is she speaking French?” Shayne guessed.

Arasha kept chanting the same words over and over. “Il veut toujours du sang.”

Ian looked to Anthony. “Wasn’t she in your French class?”

“Yeah, but she sucks at French,” Anthony said. 

“What is she saying?” Olivia asked him.

“I don’t know, I suck at French, too!”

“WELL, DAMN IT, ANTHONY, TRY NOT TO!” Courtney yelled at him.

The group quieted so that Anthony could try to translate what Arasha was saying. 

“Uh, he,” Anthony paused to listen to Arasha. “No, It. It… It wants… blood?”

Olivia began hyperventilating. “Not the word I want to be hearing right now!!”

Arasha got up, moving closer to the window. She put her hand on the glass. She said something else in French and everyone looked toward Anthony.

“Something else about blood,” he said, struggling to translate. Since when did Arasha speak French this well?

“Ici. Ici.” Arasha tapped the glass.

“Here?” Anthony said, uncertain. “Yeah, here!”

“Blood where, Arasha?” Courtney asked her.

Next to her, Shayne folded his arms. “You really have to be encouraging her, Courtney?”

Courtney glared at him but didn't respond. She turned back to Arasha. “Is the blood in here or out there?” 

~

Trevor Lee shut the flight manual he had been trying to read. The noise from upstairs had turned from laughter to screams. Shayne had gone up to the attic a few minutes prior to see what was going on, leaving Trevor Lee alone with Coach Chanse.

“Coach!” Trevor Lee said. He stood up from the table. “Tell them to stop!”

Coach Chanse didn’t respond, didn’t even look at him, actually. His face was twisted in pain, sweat glistening on his forehead.

“Coach?” asked Trevor Lee. “Are you okay?”

The noise from the attic abruptly stopped, followed by the sound of glass breaking and more screams. Then, Coach Chanse began projectile vomiting onto the cabin floor. Trevor Lee decided he didn’t have time to deal with that and grabbed his Bible from the table before climbing upstairs.

As he entered the attic, Trevor Lee saw Arasha, crying on the floor with blood dripping down her forehead, Amanda and Ian surrounding her. They were seemingly trying to comfort her while she screamed. He raised the Bible in front of him.

“BEGONE, SATAN!” Trevor Lee yelled at Arasha. She didn’t have any reaction, just continued to wail. “THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!”

Arasha kept crying, repeating something in French over and over. 

“Arasha!” Trevor Lee was still wielding the Bible in her face. “Arasha, stop!” Finally, in a last-ditch effort to stop Arasha’s screaming, he threw the Bible at her, and she instantly snapped out of it.

“Ow!” Arasha complained. She looked up at Trevor Lee. “What the hell, Trevor Lee?” She lifted her hand to her head where the Bible had hit her, finding the blood that was trailing its way down her nose.

Everyone looked extremely confused.

“Seriously?” Olivia asked. “What the motherfuck just happened?”

Ian and Amanda ushered Arasha downstairs to clean up her cuts while everyone else began to clean up the seance. The group was quiet as they put the candles and things away. Once everything had been put away, they vacated the attic.

Trevor Lee stayed upstairs, determined to scrub any remaining satanic energy out of the markings on the attic floor.

~

While Trevor Lee was still cleansing the attic, the rest of the group began to set up for bed. Angela stepped outside for a moment, getting some fresh air. She was straightening up the area by the fire when Coach Chanse crutched over to her.

“Angela,” he said. “Why did you poison me?”

“I–” Angela looked away, trying to see if anyone was outside so that she could escape the conversation.

“No,” Coach Chanse warned. “Don’t look for them. Look at me. Why did you poison me, Angela?”

“That’s a very strong word, I would n–”

“Angela,” he stopped her, not wanting the excuses. “Why?”

Eventually, Angela relented. “I…” she sighed. “I have these feelings for you. And I just don’t know what to do with myself.” She went on rambling, but Coach Chanse stopped her again.

“I…” he hesitated. “I feel the same way. I can’t be near you because… I’m scared of what I’ll do.” He shut his eyes, looking pained.

“Oh,” Angela said, smiling. “It’s okay! I like you too and–”

“No, Angela,” Coach Chanse said. “We can’t be together. You’re not even eighteen. And I’m your teacher. Think about how bad that would look.”

Angela was disappointed, but agreed. What would people think when they got rescued?

“I have feelings for you,” Coach Chanse continued. “But the others will only be jealous. So, we have to keep this between us. Please, Angela. My sweet…” he paused. “Angela.”

She nodded, pulling him into a hug. “Of course.”

~

The cabin was quiet as everybody got ready for bed; only the crackling of the fire and shuffling of feet could be heard.

“Do you guys think It’s still up there?” Amanda asked, glancing at the ceiling.

Shayne groaned. “Oh my god, you guys need to stop. There’s nothing up there!” he insisted. “Arasha’s been acting weird for weeks.”

No one said anything to that. Shayne seemed to be the only person who truly believed that there wasn’t a ghost or evil spirit haunting their attic.

“Fine,” Shayne said. He began rolling his blankets up. “I’ll prove it.” He picked up his pillow and made his way to the attic’s entrance.

“You’re gonna sleep up there?” Amanda looked at him like he was the one who had lost his mind.

“Yep,” he replied. “Who’s with me?”

There were no volunteers. Shayne looked over to Courtney, who lightly shook her head. With that, Shayne climbed up into the attic. 

The group continued to get ready for bed, most of them already tucked into their sheets for the night. Ian turned onto his side to face Anthony.

“We should go up there with him,” Ian suggested.

Anthony only laughed. “No fucking way. I am not sleeping up there.”

“Well, he shouldn’t be up there by himself!” Ian argued. “If it hadn’t been for us–”

“No, Ian,” Anthony cut him off. “Whatever happened today was not because of the seance, but if you wanna stay up there, fine. Be my guest.” He rolled over, back facing Ian.

Lying back down on his blankets, Ian still had a bad feeling about Shayne sleeping alone in the attic. Even if it wasn’t haunted, it felt wrong to let him stay up there by himself. He listened as a few others got into their beds and the fire began to die down.

After a bit more thinking, Ian stood up. He grabbed his blanket and pillow and made his way to the attic’s ladder, stepping around Anthony as he did so. Quietly, Ian climbed upstairs. Once his head poked through the entrance, Shayne sat up.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I was just gonna keep you company,” Ian whispered, fully coming into the attic. “If that’s okay.” Shayne nodded and let him set his blankets and pillow down next to his own.

They both lay there, staring at the ceiling in silence for a few minutes. It was much more comfortable than the silence Ian had been sharing with Anthony lately.

Ian turned his head to look at Shayne. “I’m pregnant.”

Slowly, Shayne turned to look back at Ian. “What?”

Ian didn’t respond to the question. Instead, he just kept talking. “And I don’t know what to do, and I really don’t want to die out here.” Shayne still looked shocked. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he added.

“Well, I mean…” Shayne said eventually. “If we’re out here long enough, people are gonna find out at some point.”

Spencer woke up with a jolt. From a nightmare, he was sure, but he couldn’t quite remember what it was about. It was still dark outside, and he could hear soft snoring around him. He looked to his left, finding Arasha sitting straight up and staring at the door to the attic.

“Arasha?” he whispered. When she didn’t respond, he crawled over to her cot. “It’s okay. We buried him, remember? He’s okay now.”

Arasha shook her head. “Bad things happened here.” She laid back down on her blankets and fell asleep. Spencer, thoroughly creeped out, went back to his blankets, choosing to ignore Arasha’s weird antics.

~

The next morning, Spencer woke up to sunlight in his eyes. Mostly everyone was awake, so he made his way outside where the team had gathered. 

Shayne had begun chopping wood and someone had brought a bucket of water back. They had placed a few logs around the campfire to sit on and Spencer took a seat next to Tommy on one of them. 

“Where’s Angela?” he asked. It was the first time in at least a few days that Spencer hadn’t woken up to the sound of Angela giving out instructions or cooing at Coach Chanse.

The group around the fire laughed. “Coach had to go to the bathroom, and she practically jumped at the chance to be his chaperone,” said Courtney. 

Olivia agreed, “Yeah she’s actually in l–” A loud gunshot interrupted the conversation. The sound echoed in Spencer’s head.

They all turned to see Alex, leaning up against one of the porch pillars, holding the shot gun they found in the cabin.

“What the fuck, Alex?” Shayne asked. 

“You don’t even know what you’re doing with that!” Courtney tried to take the gun out of Alex’s hand.

“He’s being stupid,” Anthony supplied helpfully from a chair on the porch. 

Alex tugged the gun out of Courtney’s grasp, aiming again. “No, what’s stupid is we have a gun and we’re not fucking using it.” 

“HEY!” Coach Chanse yelled. Limping through the doorway with a makeshift crutch, he came out onto the porch. “Give me that.” Alex didn’t hand it over. “Alex. So help me God, give me the gun.”

Chanse snatched the gun out of Alex’s hands as he handed it to him. He ejected the shells from the shotgun and readjusted his position on the crutch. 

“This is a dangerous weapon,” he said. “And we will handle it as such. Understood?” Everyone nodded. “That being said, we’re starving. Good news is I used to go deer hunting when I was a kid. Bad news— yeah, I am down to one fucking leg. Which means I’m gonna have to teach one of you to use this gun.” 

Spencer felt a pit begin to form in his stomach.

~

2000

Spencer had been 13 the first time his dad brought him hunting. Within two minutes of the rifle being pressed into his palms, he knew he hated it. His dad had coerced him into coming on the trip because he knew Spencer was good at those shooter games he downloaded on the family computer. 

Unfortunately, Spencer didn’t put up might more of a fight when his dad told him it would be just like the video games. Which was a total lie, as he realized pretty early on.

That first trip Spencer went on, he had stuck to the targets and his dad helped adjust his aim. Trying to impress his father, Spencer had put all his effort into hitting the target’s bullseye as many times as he good. The next time after that, they had gone straight into the woods.

Spencer held the rifle shakily as his dad’s arms laid over his own to stabilize his aim. A deer was grazing on a patch of grass not ten feet from the pair. Instead of nailing the shot like he had done multiple times on the first trip, Spencer tilted the barrel ever so slightly once his dad let go of the rifle and fired. The bullet whizzed past the deer, embedding itself somewhere in the forest floor.

Startled from the loud gundshot, the deer ran. Spencer’s dad took the gun from his hands, ejecting the shell and reloading it before giving it back.

“It’s okay, Spence,” his dad said. “First time off the target’s always hard.”

A few more tries later, Spencer’s dad was less gracious about his countless missed shots. With every miss, it was another ‘What happened, you were doing so good last time!’ or ‘Come on, Spencer don’t be a baby, it’s just a deer. It wasn’t even moving!’

Finally, Spencer was fed up. His father was mumbling something over his shoulder as he clicked the bullet into place. There was a doe not too far away, and as precisely as he could, Spencer aimed at it’s chest. He said a silent apology to the doe, not wanting to kill it, but wanting this godawful day to be over with. He pulled the trigger, hitting the deer dead on.

Lowering the rifle, Spencer was shaking. His dad clapped him on the shoulder, proud that his son had the balls to kill a deer. The doe collapsed, blood running down its chest and pooling in the soil. From that day on, Spencer vowed never to kill such an innocent animal again.

~

Coach Chanse was giving directions to Shayne as Angela placed a quarter on the barrel of the empty gun in Shayne’s hand. Behind him, the team sat on the steps of the porch. When instructed, he pulled the trigger and the coin tumbled off the rifle.

“That’s alright,” said Chanse. “It’s not a competition.”

Anthony came up beside Shayne, ready to take the gun from his hands. “But there’s gonna be a winner, right?”

Coach sighed. “Okay, Anthony you’re up next.”

Angela placed the coin back on the barrel. Chanse recited the same instructions to Anthony that he did to Shayne, but before Anthony could even pull the trigger, the quarter fell. A few people snickered, but he handed the rifle over to Alex without a fight.

“Hey, Selina.” Alex turned back to his sister, who was sitting on the porch. “Come try this.”

Selina got up and walked past Alex. “Fuck you,” she said, disappearing somewhere in the brush that surrounded the cabin. 

“Nice going, Flex,” Trevor Lee said as the rest of the team “ooh”-ed at the interaction. Alex brushed it off and aimed the gun.

He pulled on the trigger, the gun clicked, and the coin stayed balanced on the barrel. The group clapped, and Alex let the coin fall into his palm before handing it back to Angela and the rifle to Spencer. 

“Don’t choke,” Alex muttered as he swapped places with him.

Shakily, Spencer raised the gun and tried his best to stabilize himself before Angela placed the coin back on the barrel. He took a deep breath, and began pulling the trigger, but before the gun clicked, the quarter fell to the ground. Instantly, Spencer handed the gun off to Courtney, not wanting to dwell on the moment longer than he had to.

As Courtney readied herself to shoot, Alex turned to Spencer. “Yeah, maybe you should stick to things you're good at,” he jabbed. “Like drinking Kickstart and doing nothing with your life. Or sucking—”

Immediately, Spencer shot up. “I'm going again.” He reached out to Courtney for the gun. She had just cocked it, but handed it over to him without a second glance.

“Can he do that?” Alex asked Coach Chanse.

Coach Chanse slid his gaze between Spencer and Alex before giving a nod. “I'll allow it.”

“This is bullshit!” Alex protested.

“That’s enough!” Coach said. He nodded at Spencer.

Spencer took his place again, raising the gun up. Angela balanced the quarter on the tip of it again. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears. This time, when he pulled the trigger, the coin stayed on the barrel of the gun. He heard the cheers from the team before he processed what happened. 

Angela took the coin back off the gun as someone— Courtney—clapped him on the back. 

“Yeah, Spencer!” Court said with a laugh. 

Spencer handed the rifle back to her and sat down on the edge of the porch. Alex crossed his arms, clearly avoiding looking at him. Tucking his knees into his chest, Spencer decided to ignore Alex.

~

Water burbled under Ian’s dangling legs as he wrote. He had found a creek not too far from the cabin with a thick branch that had fallen across it. It was the perfect place to journal, away from the chaos that was the cabin.

Footsteps coming from behind him brought Ian out of his focus. Quickly, he shut the journal and looked up. There, standing on the bank of the creek was Selina. 

The young girl stared at him for a moment, clearly too shy to say anything. Ian smiled. “Hey. You didn't wanna try shooting with everyone else?”

Selina shook her head. “No,” she said simply. She shoved her hands into her pockets.

“Me either,” Ian confided. “I don't think I’m meant to handle firearms.” He had meant it as a joke, but Selina didn’t laugh.

“What are you writing?” She gestured to the journal in his lap.

“Oh,” he said. “It's my journal.”

“Like, a diary?” 

“Yeah, kinda,” Ian said. He would never personally call it a diary, but whatever. “It’s just how I try to make sense of what's going on, and how I feel about it.” He paused. “Well, that probably sounds pretentious, but hey, when I'm famous, they can go into the archives, right?” Again, Selina didn't react.

After a beat of rather uncomfortable silence, Ian asked, “Would you wanna try?”

Selina nodded, and so Ian ripped a few pages of his journal out and handed them to her along with his pen. “Here. There’s no wrong way to do it.”

“Thank you,” Selina said. She smiled before leaving him alone again.

~

Several empty tin cans were lined up on a log about 20 feet in front of the group. Amanda and Courtney stepped off to the side of the shooting range the group had set up, far enough away to not be hit even by a stray bullet, but still close enough for the sound of gunshots to be almost deafening. They both covered their ears as Olivia aimed.

Olivia fired, missing the first can. She ejected the bullet and quickly aimed at the second, but missed again. As she was going for the third, Alex spoke up.

“The cans,” he said sarcastically. “You’re aiming for the cans.”

“Shut up!” Olivia retorted.

Spencer, standing right behind Alex, said over his shoulder, “Do you like being this way?” Alex didn’t respond.

The last few cans were knocked down by Olivia before she gave the rifle over to Alex. 

After reloading the gun, Alex shot and knocked down the first can. He released the casing and fired at the second one. This one, he missed.

“So close, Flex,” Spencer joked. 

Instead of shooting at the next can, Alex turned around, gun still aimed. “Don’t fucking call me that!”

Immediatley, Coach Chanse yelled, “PUT THE FUCKING GUN DOWN ALEX.” Seconds later, Alex lowered the rifle and turned back to the cans.

As fast as he could, he knocked down the rest of the cans and passed the gun to Spencer.

“Good job, Alex,” Coach said. “But don’t ever do that again.”

Shakily, Spencer reloaded the bullets. The gun felt heavier than it did earlier, more serious. He took a deep breath and lined up for the first can. Pulling the trigger, Spencer resisted the urge to shut his eyes tight.

The first can went down. Then the second. Then the third. By the time he was done, Spencer had knocked down all of the cans. 

“Fuck yeah, Spence!” Someone mused.

“Holy shit,” drawled Coach Chanse.

He lowered the gun and faced the cheering group. A few of them came up to give him high fives and pats on the shoulder, but Alex stared at him with his arms crossed.

The boy rolled his eyes as the team congratulated Spencer and walked off quickly once their coach told them to start making their way back to the house. 

~

Back at the cabin, most of the others had made themselves busy with chores. Amanda had suggested the idea of going out into the woods to find any edible berries or plants, so many of them were finding things to use as bags to carry things back.

Coach Chanse had held Alex and Spencer out on the porch, giving them a pep talk before they went off hunting.

“You guys have to trust each other, okay?” They nodded. “Don’t split up. Good luck.”

He handed the gun to them, and Alex went to grab it. Coach Chanse shook his head.

“No. Spencer,” he said. Alex huffed and passed the gun to Spencer before storming off. Coach Chanse gave Spencer a knowing look and let him go after Alex.

Alex had already made a good distance when Spencer started to catch up to him.

“Alex!” He yelled. The other boy ignored him. “Coach said we should be looking for tree marks or hoof prints or something.” Alex ignored him again. “Alex! Wait up!”

“You can follow me or not,” Alex shouted back, not bothering to turn around. “Just don’t slow me down.” He kept walking, speeding up to get away from Spencer.

Spencer rolled his eyes before adjusting the rifle on the shoulder and following him.

~

In the absence of Alex and Spencer, the rest of the team went out to forage for any plants that they could potentially eat without dying. Their chances weren’t looking too great.

“Are any of these like, maple syrup trees?” asked Trevor Lee, looking up at the canopy of leaves above them.

Shayne gave him a questioning look. “What?”

Trevor Lee shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

Wherever the hell they were clearly wasn’t a great place for anything safe for human consumption to grow. Amanda had quickly volunteered her Girl Scout knowledge to help determine what was and wasn’t poisonous. Mostly, everything was poisonous.

“Don’t eat that!” Amanda yelled. Shayne turned to see her knocking a mushroom out of Angela’s hand. “It’s poisonous!”

“Like, kill you poisonous,” Courtney asked. “Or trip your balls off poisonous?”

“I don’t know! My Girl Scouts leader didn’t cover that.”

Not satisfied with the answer, Courtney just shrugged and went back to searching.

“Amanda?” asked Shayne. “What about this one?” He pointed to a leafy, lettuce-looking plant sprouting near the edge of a patch of dirt.

She came closer to inspect it and shook her head. “Okay, that one will definitely make you puke. Don’t touch it.”

Angela groaned. “Well, can you show us something that is edible so we can get going?”

“Why?” Courtney crossed her arms, coming up next to Shayne. “Coach need a sponge bath?”

Sputtering, Angela adjusted her glasses. “No–”

Shayne started laughing. “That’s mean!” He said to Courtney, only half meaning it. She began laughing too.

Angela scoffed and walked off. 

Eventually, Shayne and Courtney’s giggles subsided and they continue with the rest of the group looking for food. They passed by Arasha, who was standing eerily still and bringing her hand up to a tree. Before he could ask her what she was doing or see what she was looking at, a shout in the distance caught Shayne’s attention.

“Guys!” Anthony yelled. He wasn’t visible from where most of the group was standing. They all began to move towards his voice.

“What?” Courtney shouted back.

“Guys!”

Courtney rolled her eyes. 

“What, Anthony?” Shayne asked as they got closer.

“Come here!”

The team came into a small clearing, finding Anthony and an old-fashioned plane covered in vines.

“Look!” He gestured at the plane.

Trevor Lee ran up to the plane, brushing some of the dirt and vine off. “Woah.”

“What is this doing here?” Shayne wondered aloud.

“It must’ve belonged to the dead guy,” said Anthony. 

“I wonder if it still works.” Trevor Lee began to pry the door open.

Courtney stood in front of the plane and manually spun the propeller. Trevor Lee had managed to open the rusted door and hopped inside the plane. Then, the plane began to move. Frozen in shock, Courtney didn’t move.

“Turn it off!” Shayne called to Trevor Lee.

“I can’t!”

Suddenly, Anthony pushed Courtney out of the plane’s way from behind her. Instead of getting himself out of the way though, he froze just like she had, standing almost inches away from the propeller. Miraculously, the plane’s engine stuttered and stopped just before plowing right into Anthony. His breath was shaky, and he kept looking back and forth from the blades of the plane to Courtney, still on the ground and just as out of breath as he was.

“It didn’t want him to leave,” Arasha said ominously. She pointed at the vines stuck in the wheels of the plane, but didn’t give any more information. Quietly, Trevor Lee got out of the plane and the team moved away from the rusted aircraft. Shayne helped Courtney up and Amanda ushered Anthony away from the plane.

No one asked Arasha what she meant, but Shayne had a feeling everyone had the same bad vibe about it that he had.

~

They had been walking for miles when Spencer finally recognized where they were. Plane parts and discarded bags littered the ground. Alex had brought them to the crash site.

He stood speechless at the edges of the plane rubble. “Are you fucking serious?” Spencer asked. “You brought us here?”

“It appears so,” Alex mused.

“Why?” Why the hell would he want to come back here?

Alex huffed. He bent down, searching for something in a pile of scraps. “It doesn’t concern you.”

Spencer almost laughed. “Jesus Christ. I know you’re all messed up right now, but it doesn’t give you a free pass to be a dick all the time, Alex!”

Alex didn’t respond. He found what he was looking for and pulled out some metal thing from the scraps, a panel bent near the end.

“We’re supposed to be a team.” Spencer slung the gun off his shoulder. He was fed up with Alex’s bullshit, so he decided to give up fighting him and sat on one of the crushed turbines.

Laughing wryly, Alex said, “Yeah right. A team.” Spencer ignored him. “Do you even know why people call me Flex?” Alex turned to face him. “Hm?”

He looked away, feeling awkward under Alex’s gaze.

Alex went on, “In seventh grade, I had surgery on my back. Spinal fusion or something, I don’t know but it fucking sucked.”

Spencer didn’t say anything. Alex was doing something that sounded a lot like digging, but he refused to look up.

“When I got back to school, Lasercorn, he saw my scar in the locker room,” Alex continued. He was still making that scraping noise with the metal panel. “He told everyone that I got one of my ribs removed so that I could be flexible enough to y’know…” he trailed off, pausing whatever he was doing. 

Finally, Spencer looked up. Alex had turned around and was looking at him.

“Suck my own dick.”

Alex began digging again, and Spencer was sure of that now that he was looking at him. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was digging for a moment until it clicked. Alex was trying to dig up his dad’s grave.

“Oh, my god,” he said. Spencer stood up. “What are you doing? Are you fucking psycho!?” Spencer rushed over to Alex, tackling him and straddling him on the ground to stop him from digging.

“There’s a ring, okay!” Alex yelled at him, catching his wrists. He pushed Spencer off. “I didn’t think about it when we, like, buried him but it was my great grandfather’s.”

Alex picked the panel back up and continued digging. For once, Spencer didn’t even feel like fighting him on it. He sat down up against a rock next to where Alex was digging.

Eventually, Alex got deep enough into the grave where he could see parts of his father’s probably decaying body. Or at least Spencer assumed so because Alex had suddenly tossed the metal scrap aside and threw up.

“I can’t do it. Fuck.”

“So don’t,” Spencer said. 

“I can’t,” Alex muttered.

“Jesus,” Spencer said, louder than before. “It’s just a ring. Let it go.”

“I can’t!” he spat out. “You don’t get it!” Alex sat up, facing Spencer. “I have to bring something back.”

Instantly, Spencer realized why Alex was so hell bent on getting this ring. “For Selina.”

Alex didn’t respond, didn’t even nod. Spencer got up from his spot up against the rock. He looked into the grave, seeing pieces of skin poking out of the soil. He tried his best not to throw up like Alex had.

“Which hand?”

Alex shook his head, thinking. “Uh, right,” he said.

Reaching in, Spencer started digging on Coach Defy’s right side, finding his fingers and a thick, gold ring on one of them. He managed to pry his coach’s hand out of the dirt and began yanking on the ring, hoping it would just slide off his finger. Of course, it didn’t.

Spencer grabbed his switch blade out of his jacket pocket and flipped it open. Carefully, just below the ring, he sliced Coach’s finger. He tried to be as quiet as possible when cracking the bone so as not to disturb Alex, but he seemed to hear it anyway.

He popped the ring off of Coach Defy’s amputated finger and handed it to Alex. They quickly filled in the grave and walked away, not wanting to be anywhere near the grave site that they had just dug up.

As he stood up, Spencer pointed at a part of the plane that hadn’t been entirely destroyed. The open emergency exit gave them a cool place to sit before going back to the cabin.

They sat down in the exit and Spencer put the gun down in between them. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. Lighting it, Spencer took two drags from the cigarette before handing it to Alex.

“So,” Spencer started. He watched as Alex brought the cigarette to his mouth and hit it. “Can you suck your own dick?”

Smoke came out of Alex’s mouth as he laughed. “I wish.”

Laughing, Spencer took the cigarette back from Alex.

“Y’know,” Alex said. “He was such a shit dad.”

He nodded. “It doesn’t matter how shitty they are. It still fucks you up when they’re gone.”

They traded the cigarette again, and didn’t say much until they got up to leave. Alex began to lead them back to the cabin as Spencer had been much more focused on following Alex on the way there than he had been on recognizing where they were.

They were about halfway back to camp when Spencer saw a deer. He stopped, looking at Alex standing right next to him. As silently as he could, Spencer took the rifle off of his shoulder and gave it to Alex, but the other boy pushed it back, shaking his head.

Spencer turned, getting into position and aiming the barrel at the deer. Alex put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. 

Clicking the safety off, Spencer thought about the first and last deer he had shot. He had never wanted to kill another animal like that again. 

“Just breathe,” said Alex. They were starving. Everyone was counting on them to bring something back.

Spencer took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, shutting his eyes as he did so. He heard the deer collapse before he opened his eyes again.

~

Sitting outside on the porch and near the campfire, the rest of the team sorted and cleaned the small gathering of leaves and berries they had found in the woods that Amanda had deemed safe.

Courtney turned from her spot on the porch step to take some of the leaves Anthony had cleaned off to boil. As he dropped them into the bowl she held out, he opened his mouth to say something. 

“So…” he started. “Just for the record. We’re even now, right?”

She doesn’t dignify him with a response. Instead, Courtney got up to bring those leaves over to the fire, when she saw Spencer and Alex coming into the clearing. Carrying a deer.

“Holy shit!” she said excitedly. Courtney put the bowl down and ran over to help them. The team applauded the two of them and dropped what they were doing to come surround the deer as they put it on the ground.

“Nice job, you two,” Coach Chanse said, crutching into the circle they had formed. 

“Nah,” said Alex. “It was all Spencer.”

A few more compliments were exchanged before the conversation died down.

“So,” Keith started. “What now?” 

“Now,” said Coach Chanse. He adjusted on his crutches and pulled a covered knife out of his pocket. “We have to bleed it out. Anyone wanna give it a shot?”

Gags and mutters of discomfort came from most of the group. Except for Ian.

“I’ll do it,” he said. He stepped forward and accepted the knife from Coach Chanse. Ian kneeled down before the deer.

“Just one clean cut to the neck should do,” their coach said. Steadily and quickly, Ian slit the deer’s neck, resulting in various groans and gasps from the group in disgust. 

Coach Chanse instructed them on how to hang the deer to bleed it out and they did so over a bucket in the small meat shed next to the cabin. Some of the team began to set up the fire to cook the deer, boiling buckets of water and preparing some of the leaves to eat with it. With Coach’s help, Ian cut part of the deer off and began to make small bites for the group to eat.

As he moved some of the meat to a bowl to be cooked, Ian noticed a drop of blood from the deer making its way down his thumb. He brought it closer to his face and almost licked it, but Amanda stopped him.

“Don’t do that,” she said. “It’ll make you sick.”

Ian wiped his hand off and continued butchering the meat.

~

By the time the sun had set, everyone had ate. Ian was still cutting up some of the meat in preparation for breakfast the next morning, but the rest of the team was mostly finishing up their seconds and chatting around the fire.

Alex and Selina sat next to each other on one of the logs. After Alex had finished his food, he cleaned off his hands and reached into his pocket for his dad's ring. 

“Hey,” he said, nudging Selina with his elbow to get her attention. “I forgot I had this, but…” He handed her the ring. 

Luckily, Selina recognized it immediately and pulled him into a hug without him having to say anything. Alex looked over to Spencer to find him already staring. 

Spencer smiled at him and so he smiled back before Selina pulled away and she made a show of putting it on her thumb.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Alex messed Selina’s hair up playfully before she swatted his hand away. He was about to respond when they heard something falling. Alex looked up to see Coach Chanse on the ground, Angela standing over him.

“Oh no!” she said. “Are you okay?”

Coach Chanse looked like he was trying to get away from Angela, but she reached out to help him up. 

“You have to be more careful!” Angela scolded him in a sickeningly sweet voice. Once Chanse got back on his crutches, he stumbled away from her and went back into the cabin.

The group was kind of quiet after that and went inside soon after finishing dinner. No one saw Coach Chanse for the rest of the night.

~

Hours after everyone had fallen asleep, Spencer quietly snuck out the front door to sit on the cabin’s front porch. He hadn’t been able to sleep, flashes of the deer he had killed earlier kept playing in his mind everytime he shut his eyes. 

For the first time in over a week, the team wasn’t starving. He knew he had no other choice but to kill that deer, but something deep inside of him still felt immensely guilty about it. Spencer let his head rest in his hands, the cool night air calming him down.

“Hey,” a voice said from behind him. Spencer jumped, nearly falling off the edge of the porch. He turned to see Alex standing over him.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Alex,” he breathed. “Give a guy some warning.”

Laughing, Alex sat down next to him. “Sorry. I thought you would have heard the door.”

Spencer ran a hand through his hair. “I thought everyone was asleep.”

“Nah,” Alex said. “Can’t sleep.”

Spencer hummed in response. The pair went quiet for a bit, staring out into the darkness of the forest. 

“Thank you.” The words were so quiet, Spencer almost thought he imagined them. He turned to look at Alex, who was giving him this weird, almost sentimental look.

“For what?” Spencer asked. His voice came out raspier than he would have liked it to.

“For getting that ring. It meant a lot to Selina,” the other boy said. “And to me.”

Unsure how to respond, Spencer nodded awkwardly. “No problem.”

Alex smiled before getting up. “I’m gonna try to get some sleep. Don’t stay out here too long.”

Alex tossed a final shovel-full of dirt over the makeshift graves the team had made. Two pilots, a teammate, a coach, and Coach Chanse's leg, marked only by scraps of metal with their names written in red lipstick. The rest of the group was circled around the overturned soil. Courtney shoved the last metal headstone into the soft soil of their coach’s grave before standing up and returning to her spot next to Shayne.

“Let’s hold hands. We’ll pray for them,” said Trevor Lee, outstretching his arms to those on either side of him. 

Shayne laced his fingers through Courtney’s the moment he had the chance. She squeezed his hand, seemingly sensing his discomfort. He joined hands with Anthony on his other side less enthusiastically as the rest of the circle did the same.

Before he began leading the group in prayer, Trevor Lee asked if anyone had anything they wanted to say, but no one responded. Sarah, who had just moved up to varsity from JV, hadn’t been super close with any of the other teammates, and as a result, no one knew enough about her to say something meaningful. Neither of Coach Defy’s children looked like they wanted to say anything about their dad, so Trevor Lee continued.

He started with a verse Shayne didn’t recognize, but it caused an unsettling feeling to pool in his stomach nonetheless. It reminded him of his grandma, sick and staring at the ceiling on her deathbed, whispering prayers under her breath. Trevor Lee’s words became muffled to his ears, and his hands began to feel cold and clammy. Shayne quickly dropped Courtney and Anthony’s hands.

When Courtney gave him a concerned look, he said, “I just need some air. I’ll be back.” He walked off without raising much attention from the rest of the team.

He couldn’t shake the vision of his dying grandmother. Once he was far enough away from the group, Shayne sat down, trying to control his breathing. The beeps and whistles of the machines that surrounded her headboard echoed in his mind. He kept hearing the hiss of her oxygen pump in his own breath. 

After a while, Shayne pushed himself to his feet and began walking, deciding to explore the surrounding area as a way to get his mind off the memory of his grandma. 

~

The fire crackled and popped as Courtney fed more sticks into it. Most of the group had sat around the fire again, besides Shayne–who hadn’t returned after leaving prayer–Alex, and Selina. Angela was a few feet away, tending to Coach Chanse again, despite his protests. A few people in the circle snacked on a small portion of their leftover rations. The pile of snacks that they had pooled together from their personal bags and whatever was in the plane had been getting smaller, and their water rations were almost completely out. Ian was in the process of cutting a Twinkie into fourths.

Spencer sipped on his bottle of Mtn. Dew Kickstart. It was the last bit he had, and he was trying not to waste it. He wasn’t really paying attention to whatever the hell the group was talking about. Out of nowhere, Alex stepped into the circle and swiped one of the pretzel packets in the food pile next to the fire.

Amanda swatted his hand away from the pile unsuccessfully. “Hey!”

“Dude!” Courtney yelled at him. “Alex, what are you doing?”

He continued to step over Anthony and Ian to get out of the circle, his boot barely missing the Twinkie Ian was chopping. 

“Uh,” Arasha started. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re kind of in a situation here, Flex.”

Alex turned around at that, glaring at Arasha. 

Spencer turned to Arasha. “Don’t,” he warned. Alex walked off. 

“Who died and made him king of snacks?” Arasha scoffed.

“His dad, Arasha!” Spencer shouted. “Literally, his fucking dad.”

Surprisingly, Anthony agreed with him. “Spence’s right,” he said. “We should cut him a little slack.”

Not really knowing what to do with himself while Anthony was looking at him and actively agreeing with him, Spencer refocused on his Mtn. Dew Kickstart.

Olivia laughed dryly. “I guess it’s fine if we all starve to death as long as Alex doesn’t get his feelings hurt.”

“We’re not going to starve to death!” Anthony immediately responded. He was the only one with any hope left, although it was obviously fake. “When the rescue team finds us–”

“If they find us,” quipped Courtney, still tending to the fire. 

Spencer looked up in time to see Anthony give Courtney a death glare. “Don’t say that,” he responded. Even in the middle of the worst situation, Anthony was still trying to be their captain, still trying to rally them. Spencer kind of admired it.

“I mean,” Ian spoke up. “It has been three days.”

Looking up at Ian, Anthony smiled and glanced at the rest of the group. “They’re coming.” Anthony was sounding less convincing by the second, anxiety and doubt clearly seeping into his voice. Spencer rolled his eyes, and the rest of the team didn’t dignify a response.

~

Alex brought the bag of pretzels he had taken over to Selina, who was sitting on the other side of the plane from everyone else. She was twiddling with some sticks, absent-mindedly tapping them together. 

“Hey,” he said, tossing her the pretzels. “Eat.”

Selina looked at Alex warily before taking an empty gum wrapper out of her pocket and putting the gum in her mouth into it. She opened the bag and began to snack on it after putting the gum back in her pocket. She had been chewing the same gum their dad had given to her on the plane for three days.

It was gross, but Alex was trying to be gentle because Selina was still shaken up about their whole dad-dying situation. Key word: trying.

“Can you spit that out? It’s been three days, Selina.” 

Selina didn’t make eye contact with Alex. “Dad gave it to me so my ears wouldn’t pop.”

Instead of replying, Alex sighed, deciding it was better to give up than to upset his sister more. Coach Defy hadn’t been the best dad. He was worse to Alex than he was to Selina, but he still hadn’t been great to her either. After getting over the shock of seeing his father’s dead body, Alex had kind of gotten over his death. Selina, though, was a few years younger than him, and she didn’t know the same dad Alex knew.

Unsure what to do with himself, Alex stood back up and gave Selina a (hopefully comforting) pat on the shoulder before leaving her alone. He had never been close to Selina, and he definitely wouldn’t consider himself a good brother, but sue him—he was trying, okay? Alex returned to the team.

~

Tipping his head back in the sun, Chanse was trying to take his mind off the searing pain in his right thigh. Angela had cauterized and tied a make-shift tourniquet around his leg, but it was still throbbing despite the lack of bleeding.

Chanse closed his eyes, trying to relax at least a little when the all too familiar presence of Angela appeared at his side. He groaned internally, which might have actually been out loud, but he didn’t care enough.

“Open up,” she said. Chanse opened his eyes just a sliver to see Angela leaning over him with a granola bar in hand. 

This time, he was sure he groaned aloud. “Angela, I told you I’m not hungry.” He turned his head, trying to avoid Angela.

“I know, but,” she paused. “You haven’t eaten in three days, and I can’t give you any more drugs until you eat.” Chanse heard a rattle and looked back at Angela, holding a bottle of aspirin, smiling at him like a little angel. If having your leg amputated in the middle of the woods was bad, going through it with the only person trained in First Aid being Angela Giarratana was worse.

Reluctantly, Chanse let Angela put the granola bar in his mouth, and he scarfed it down. When he was done, she shook out two pills into his awaiting palm and handed him a plastic cup from the bar cart with a sip of water in it. He took the pills like a shot, already feeling relief even if it was only a placebo. 

~

After splitting the stash of Twinkies that was on the plane into fourths, Ian whipped out his journal and began writing. Anthony was sitting next to him, clearly trying not to ask Ian what he was writing about. 

At the sound of someone rummaging through their bag, Ian turned his head to see Arasha behind him, frantically searching her suitcase. She pulled out an orange bottle and took a pill without water before putting it back in her bag. Ian didn’t dwell on it much because he heard Shayne, somewhere in the distance, yelling.

“Guys!” he called, slowing down to a jog as he got closer. “There’s a lake,” he said, only a little out of breath. If any of the team didn’t have their heads turned already, that got their attention. “I saw it from that hill.” He pointed in a general direction. “It doesn’t look far.”

“Do you think we could hike it?” Ian asked.

Without hesitation, Shayne nodded. “It might be rocky, but we can make it.” Ian could practically see the gears turning in Shayne’s head as he planned how to get the team to the lake.

“Uh,” Anthony started. “We can’t– We can’t just leave.” He stood up.

Shayne shifted his focus to Anthony. “We’ve got two days of water, tops. Then what are we gonna do, just sit around and die?”

“What if the rescue team comes?” was Anthony’s immediate reply. Ian cringed at the words, having heard them many times over the past three days. Anthony was looking at the team–mostly Ian–for backup, but none came.

“Do you think they’re taking their time on purpose?” Shayne asked. Anthony snapped his head back to the blond. “If they knew where we were, they would be here already.”

Ever the optimist, Anthony said, “You don’t know that.” 

Shayne squinted at him. He turned to Coach Chanse. “What do you think, Coach?”

The surrounding group turned to their coach, who was sitting on an airplane seat they had saved from the wreckage. He looked barely conscious. “Um, you guys would have to leave me behind, I guess.” Angela shook her head, already prepared to fight anyone who suggested leaving Coach Chanse behind. 

“We can make you a stretcher!” Shayne suggested. This seemed to satisfy Angela, but Anthony was still adamantly against the whole idea.

“No!” Anthony said. “No way! This is bullshit.” Again, he looked around for support and found none. “I say no.”

Shayne leveled a glare at him. “Let’s put it to a vote.” Without waiting for anyone else, he continued, “All those in favor of staying here?”

A few people raised their hands, including Anthony. He looked at Ian and then at Ian’s unraised hand, silently encouraging him to raise it. Ian kept his arms crossed.

“All those in favor of the lake?” Shayne asked. The rest of the team raised their hands, including Ian. It was a clear majority. “Alright, lake it is. Pack your shit.”

Anthony didn’t say anything and didn’t really even look at Ian besides a few annoyed glances. Everyone started packing their things. Olivia used her lipstick to write “SOS GONE TO LAKE” on the side of the plane, in case rescue ever did come and could only find the abandoned ruins of the aircraft. Courtney broke the hanging compass out of the cockpit, and everyone carried as many seat cushions as they could. Shayne and Angela managed to make Coach Chanse a stretcher using fallen branches and sweatshirts. 

Soon after they had voted, the team was on its way to the lake. The air was warm and thick, but the forest provided a shade that made the hike bearable. Anthony walked just in front of Ian, dead set on giving him the silent treatment. 

Trying to apologize, Ian caught up to Anthony. “You want some?” Tilting his water bottle towards him.

Anthony scoffed. “Your backwash? No thanks.” He kept walking ahead of Ian.

Still reeling from the comment, Ian didn’t try to fall in step with Anthony again. Shayne came up beside him. 

“Hey, I wanted to thank you for having my back during the vote,” he said.

Ian didn’t look at him. “I didn’t have your back, it’s just what I thought.”

“Well,” Shayne replied. “It was the right call.”

Now, Ian turned to him. “You don’t know that. We don’t know anything. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, Shayne.” He sped up, getting away from the blond boy.

~

The group had been walking for over five miles when Spencer finally voiced everyone’s thoughts. “This is way more than ‘a few’ miles, Shayne.”

“It looked just left of due north from the hill,” said Shayne.

“Oh, great,” Anthony complained. “Because ‘left’ is so specific.”

Shayne turned around to give Anthony a look. “Whatever, I’m not a fucking cartographer.”

Anthony rolled his eyes. The group kept walking. 

Another half mile into the journey, everyone began covering their noses with the collars of their shirts. There was a sour smell in the air, and many of them were looking around for a source. Then, they stumbled upon it. The carcass of a bear, mauled and half-eaten. A majority of the team gagged and turned away. 

“Oh my god,” Anthony said, horrified. 

“What could have done that?” Ian asked.

“A wolf,” Coach Chanse said, sitting up on his stretcher. 

Spencer stopped in his tracks. “They can kill a fucking bear?”

Coach Chanse nodded weakly, looking like he regretted answering. “Yeah, wolves can kill anything if the pack is big enough.”

A lot of the team slowed down, both disgusted and intrigued by the bear. 

“Let’s keep moving!” Spencer said, taking the lead of the group.

They kept walking for what felt like at least another mile, until Courtney, who was holding the stolen compass, started jumping up and down excitedly. She hit Shayne’s arm a few times in excitement before sprinting off down the hill. “HELL YEAH BITCHES!”

The team quickly followed her. They had made it to the lake. As everyone else ran out onto the rocky beach, Courtney was already taking off her T-shirt and jean shorts and diving into the pool in a sports bra and boxers. A few others did the same, but many stayed on dry land or stuck their feet into the water and nothing more.

Spencer was standing next to Olivia and Anthony with his ankles in the water, wearing nothing but shorts and a red bra. It was freezing, but it was refreshing.

Anthony was clearly brooding about Ian not agreeing with him about staying at the plane, but Olivia had an odd look on her face, so Spencer followed her gaze to Alex.

“Is it just me, or is Alex… kinda hot?” she asked, tilting her head.

Anthony half laughed, half scoffed. “You cannot be serious. It’s been three days. We’re not that desperate yet.”

Spencer tilted his head as well, trying to see what Olivia was talking about. Maybe she had a point.  

~

While most of the team was splashing around or relaxing in the water, Shayne stayed to the side, not wanting to get his hair wet. He sat not too far from where the small tide rose to with Amanda, braiding her hair. 

Behind them, Angela was doting on Coach Chanse. They couldn’t catch the whole conversation but their coach’s protests were obvious, and Shayne heard Angela say, “Here, take your shirt off, I’ll squirt you!” which was enough for him to stop paying attention to the conversation. Amanda looked over her shoulder to see Angela pouring water on Coach Chanse’s head. She faced forward again.

“If that girl poured water on my head, Coach wouldn’t be the only one missing a limb,” Amanda said. Shayne laughed.

His attention was brought to lake at the sound of splashing, and he turned to see Courtney and some of their other teammates laughing and splashing each other. Shayne smiled. 

“You know, you’ve got the JV team fooled,” Amanda said.

Shayne turned back to braiding Amanda’s hair. “What?”

She looked back at him. “Well, you’re not that much of a bitch.”

He laughed again, and looked back out at the lake. This time, his focus landed on Ian, frown set on his face, clearly staring at something–or someone. Shayne followed his gaze and found Anthony, sitting on the beach with Olivia not too far from him and Amanda. Olivia was babbling on about something Shayne couldn’t hear, but Anthony didn’t look invested. That is, until he seemed to notice Ian’s staring. He quickly shifted his body so that he looked completely focused on Olivia, joining in on the conversation she had been having with him. Shayne looked back to Ian, who’s frown deepened before he leaned back into the water.

Although Ian had agreed with Shayne on going to the lake, Shayne really didn’t see why it had been such an issue for Anthony. They had been catty with each other ever since the vote, and Shayne couldn’t help but feel like it was kind of his fault. He chose not to dwell on it, Ian and Anthony always made up. They would be back to normal in no time.

~

The next few hours were spent lounging by or in the water, a few people choosing to not get wet at all while others played chicken in the lake. Arasha was doing calm strokes through the cold water. When she heard a splash, she looked up to see that Courtney and Tommy had won the game of chicken against Keith and Alex.

She turned away as the group dispersed, facing the beautiful view of the mountains that loomed over the lake. In the middle of a patch of green, Arasha saw a gap in the trees and what looked like a house. She stood in the shallow water to get a better look.

“Guys!” she called. “Do you see that?” She had to make sure her eyes weren’t getting the best of her. The team clambered around her, all trying to see what she was looking at. 

“There’s something up there!” Courtney said. “Let’s go!” Everyone started wading back to shore to grab their things. 

Within five minutes, the group was hiking again. This hike wasn't nearly as long as the first one had been, and about a mile into it, they had arrived at the cabin they had seen on the mountain. Many of them ran ahead, peering into the windows and knocking at the door. 

Arasha paused at the entrance to the clearing that surrounded the house. She didn’t like this place. Something felt off. 

Courtney had managed to open the door, and the team spilled into the cabin. Shayne looked over his shoulder at Arasha before walking inside. Arasha shifted on her feet. Reluctantly, she followed the team inside. It smelled like mildew and dirt, but it looked like it hadn’t been inhabited in years. 

Shayne was already calling out orders, instructing people to check cabinets and look for any supplies. Anthony was already looking through the pantry for food and water with Olivia, and the rest of the group dispersed around the messy cabin. Arasha looked around the room. A deer skull loomed over the fireplace. A shiver went down her spine.

“Food!” Anthony said, opening a can. “Finally.”

“What the hell, Anthony! That’s not you’re personal buffet!” Shayne yelled.

Seconds after opening the can, Anthony dropped it to the floor, a sickly green liquid oozing out of it when it landed. Various groans were heard from around the cabin and a few people gagged.

“This is why we should have stayed by the plane!” Anthony shouted at Shayne. 

“Well,” said Courtney. “We didn’t. So this is helping how?”

Huffing, Anthony stormed out of the cabin. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

The team resumed their search of the house soon after he had stormed off. Arasha followed Courtney and Olivia into the kitchen area. She was still feeling weird about the place, and her mind was feeling cloudy, so she stayed put instead of rifling through cabinets like the others.

“Don’t worry, guys!” Courtney called, coming out from the kitchen pantry with a stack of magazines. “We might not have food, but at least we have porn!”

Olivia leaned over Court’s shoulder as they flipped through the pages. A few of the other girls came over to look at them, all picking up a few of the copies and gawking at the insane poses some of the models were in. 

“Do guys like, actually jerk off to this?” Amanda asked.

Alex, the only guy with them in the kitchen, sputtered. “Uh, no. No, it’s totally unrealistic.” No one was convinced. 

“Uh huh, right,” Courtney teased. The girls laughed, almost immediately turning their attention back to the magazines.

“Fuck this shit,” Alex said, walking off with a suspiciously porn-magazine-shaped lump in his throat. 

The girls continued to sift through the magazines, but Arasha didn’t pay much attention. She really didn’t like this place. After a loud bout of laughter from Amanda and Olivia, Trevor Lee came into the room.

“What are you guys laughing about?” he asked.

“SHUT UP TREVOR LEE!!” they yelled. Arasha left the kitchen, needing some fresh air.

~

Outside on the porch, Spencer was looking for anything that could be useful. Alex walked out of the cabin, startling him but not acknowledging him at all. He rushed off and sat on a log not to far away from the house, where Spencer could still see him. He whipped out a magazine and started flipping through it.

Spencer watched as Selina walked up to her older brother. He quickly tossed the magazine behind him. 

“What is that?” she asked.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Alex replied. His expression quickly changed from worry to annoyance. “Oh my God, Selina please spit that gum out.”

Selina shook her head. “No.”

He stood up. “Selina. Spit it out.”

Selina refused again. Spencer started to feel uncomfortable watching, but he was scared any movement he made to the door would reveal that he was watching to Alex. 

“Dad was a fucking dick, Selina! He’s the whole reason we’re here in this mess!” Alex screamed.

Angrily, Selina spat the gum into her hand and chucked it into the woods. She stormed off into the shrubbery without another word. Alex watched as she walked away and looked like he was going to go after her, but decided against it. He turned back to the house, catching Spencer watching the whole interaction. He walked back into the cabin, not saying anything to Spencer as he passed him.

~

An hour or so after the group had arrived at the cabin, Anthony still hadn’t come back inside. Ian finished distributing the blankets they had found with Shayne and caught a glimpse of Anthony out the window, drearily leaning his head against the one of the porch pillars. 

Sighing, Ian walked outside, taking one of the blankets with him. He stood right behind Anthony on the porch, waiting for him to acknowledge him before saying anything. After a beat, Anthony looked up at him.

“Hey,” Ian said softly. “We found some blankets. Here.” He handed the blanket to Anthony. Ian sat down on the ledge of the porch next to him.

Neither of them said anything for a bit, Anthony still seemingly giving Ian the silent treatment, and Ian not really knowing what to say. He stared at his feet, kicking around the pebbles and dirt beneath him. 

“Um, I don’t know about you,” Ian started. “But I’m really scared. I don’t know what’s right or wrong out here. I just…” He looked back up at Anthony, finding that he was already looking at him. “I really need my best friend right now.”

Smiling, Anthony brought Ian into a hug. “It’s okay.” He pulled back. “We survived a fucking plane crash. I mean, I think we can survive anything after that.”

Ian smiled back, but before he could say anything in response, a scream interrupted them. They scrambled to the front of the cabin, where the sound had came from, and found Coach Chanse, writhing on the ground in front of the steps. He was pounding at the ground, curled around his injured leg.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK! WHY GOD DAMNIT,” he yelled. “FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!”

The team had all gathered around their coach, watching without really knowing what to do.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?” Coach Chanse asked the team. Angela bent over him, trying to comfort him, but Chanse immediately backhanded her as he flipped over onto his side from his stomach. “GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, ANGELA.”

Angela stumbled back, hand shaking over mouth. She quickly recovered and wrapped her arms around Coach Chanse again, quietly shushing him and softly rocking back and forth. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered, stroking his hair.

Coach Chanse sniffed. “I can’t just be like this now. Why couldn’t I have died?”

“Because we needed you,” Angela said simply. “And I’m here for you, Chanse. I’m here for you.”

Their coach continued to cry as the group dispersed, no one feeling comfortable as Angela serenaded Coach Chanse. 

~

As everyone moved away from their sobbing coach, Shayne’s feet felt glued to the ground. Again, he was struck with the memory of his grandmother. He couldn’t stop replaying her death in his mind. 

Shayne had been visiting his grandma, talking with her like normal, when an unfamiliar beeping began going off. 

“Grandma?”

His grandma was staring at the mirror in the corner of her room, shaking her head. “No.”

“Grandma, what is it?” Shayne asked worriedly. He tried to see what she was looking at in the mirror, but he didn’t see anything. “Is it one of the angels?”

“No. It’s him. It’s the killer.” She shook her head again. “You stay away!”

Shayne screamed, ducking under the bed. Seconds later, the beeping stopped. Slowly, he stood back up. His grandma was gone. 

~

Night had fallen not an hour after Coach Chanse’s tantrum. While everyone else had decided it was time for bed, Arasha lingered outside. She was becoming increasingly paranoid about the cabin, and she didn’t want to go to sleep, worried that something would happen to her. 

Her medication had run out this morning, and there was only a matter of time before her brain started playing tricks on her. She stared out into the dark woods, trying to discern whether this weird feeling was real or something conjured up by her mind.

“Hey,” said Shayne from behind her. “Come inside.” He came up beside Arasha. 

Arasha just shrugged, not looking at him. She didn’t want to talk about it. Shayne crossed his arms in her peripheral. 

“I’m not letting you sleep out here,” he said. “Not after that bear we saw earlier.”

Finally, Arasha turned to Shayne. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Kindly, Shayne smiled. “Yeah, that’s cause it stinks. But we lit a fire and it’s making the smell bearable. Come on.”

She shook her head. 

“A bad feeling? Are you serious?” Shayne asked. “Arasha, it’s fine. It’s shelter, and I’m not letting you sleep outside tonight. Let’s go.”

Shayne started walking back into the house, expecting Arasha to follow, which she did. Quietly, she curled up in her designated pile of blankets in between Spencer and Ian. Though she tried, Arasha didn’t get much sleep that night.

~

Plagued with nightmares of his grandma’s death, Shayne woke up in the middle of the night, heart pounding. He hadn’t been able to get the memories surrounding her death and her funeral out of his head since they had buried Coach Defy, Sarah, and the pilots.

He tried to calm himself down and go back to sleep, but just as his eyelids fell shut, he heard the familiar creak of footsteps coming from the attic upstairs. They hadn’t searched the attic yet, having spent most of the day scavenging the first floor of the cabin and the porch outside. Shayne tried to chalk the sound up to the old wood, but there was another footstep. And another. And another.

Cautiously, Shayne extracted himself from his blankets and tiptoed over the sleeping bodies on the floor. He climbed the ladder to the attic, feeling his heartbeat get stronger with every rung. 

As his head popped into the attic, he noticed a soft glow of light coming from behind the ladder’s hatch. Shayne turned, seeing Arasha, curled into a ball, rocking back and forth.

When she finally saw Shayne, her arm raised like it had been possessed, pointing at the opposite side of the room. “I told you this place had a bad vibe.”

Coach Defy tugged an oxygen mask onto Ian’s face. People around them were screaming. Ian could hear the pilot’s shouting. He was jolted back in his seat as the plane finally made contact with the ground. The pilots were silent now, the lights had gone out, and everyone was yelling.

People were rushing out of the emergency exits, grabbing whatever luggage they could, but Ian felt frozen. The fire was creeping up the aisle of the plane, coming from the back. Anthony was pulling him to his feet and pushing him into the aisle. Turning, he saw Courtney at the back of the plane, desperately trying to free herself from between two seats. He rushed to help her, yanking the seat that was keeping her legs pinned. It wouldn’t budge.

Courtney was frantically pulling at her legs. Her eyes were wide, and Ian could hear her anxious breaths. Suddenly, Anthony was behind him, tugging his arm.

“Ian, we have to go,” he said.

“But Courtney–”

“We don’t have time!” He cast a pitiful glance at Courtney before dragging Ian out of the wrecked plane. Their teammates were outside, trying to get all of their stuff together. Angela was already popping open a first aid kit.

Ian took in the scene around him. Branches and plane parts still ablaze, his teammates all in various states of injury, Coach Chanse with a wing of the plane crushing his leg. If the miles of tall trees were any indication, they were in the middle of nowhere. Anthony stayed pressed to his side like Ian would burst into flame if he left him for just a second.

The back of the plane exploded, orange sparks flying out from the cracks. Courtney, Ian thought. He felt a pang in his heart as he heard Shayne asking anyone if they knew where Courtney was.

Ian and Anthony moved away from the plane with the rest of the team, stopping when they caught sight of their coach lying on the ground, presumably just having had a plane wing taken off his leg. 

~

Fire was beginning to lick at Courtney’s arm as she struggled to free herself. Why wouldn’t this seat move? It had to have been minutes since Anthony had dragged Ian away. She had managed to get her left leg free, but her right stayed stubbornly stuck. Using her free leg, she tried to kick the seat in front of her, but it didn’t do anything to loosen its grip. 

Courtney began to think she wouldn’t be leaving the plane when a burst of sparks flew past her, and an explosion rocked her chair. Her sweatshirt and bits of her hair had caught fire, but the blast had moved the seat that was keeping her stuck. With a tug that almost took her shoe, her leg was free. 

Before she could be entirely consumed by the flames, Courtney ran out of the nearest exit, falling to her knees from momentum when she got outside. She hit her sleeves and pant legs until the fire went out. She was free. Pulling herself up, Courtney made her way over to where the rest of her team was standing.

Her first priority was finding Shayne. She scanned the small crowd for blond hair, but instead, she saw Anthony and Ian looking at her like they had seen a ghost.

“Surprise!” she said sarcastically. Anthony opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, someone pulled her into a tight hug from behind.

“Courtney!” Shayne exclaimed. She turned around, slinging her arms around his neck. They were safe. They were going to be okay. 

Shayne pulled away sooner than Courtney would have liked, searching her hands, arms, and face for any severe burns or cuts. When he was satisfied, he breathed a sigh of relief. Courtney did her own assessment of him, finding that, aside from a bit of ash and tangles in his hair, Shayne was fine. Better off than her, at least. 

“I thought you might have been dead.” The words were quiet, and Shayne didn’t meet her eyes as he said it. His attention was on her hand as he wiped some of the ash off of her skin, but Courtney could see the tears that welled up in his eyes.

She placed her other hand on his cheek, gently forcing his attention to her face. “Well, I’m not,” she said, smiling softly. “I’m right here.”

A groan drew their attention to their coach. His leg was completely crushed. Chanse was trying to sit up, and Angela was trying to keep him still. A hatchet lay next to her. She shushed him calmly and managed to get him to lie back down.

Angela grabbed the hatchet, pulled back, and swung it at Coach Chanse’s thigh, right above where the plane had been covering him. Blood spattered all over her face. With a few more swings, she had chopped his leg off.

Their coach screamed. Angela took her glasses out of her pocket and slipped them over her bloody face. She pulled her belt out of its loops and used it as a tourniquet to stop blood flow. 

“What the fuck, Angela?” Spencer murmured.

Once she was done, Angela whipped around to look at the team. “Help me move him!”

~

The team had moved Coach Chanse to a better location and placed him on some shirts further away from the still partially on-fire plane.

“Does anyone see any rubbing alcohol?” Angela asked the group. Everyone checked the few bags that were around them and shook their heads. 

“I have some Kickstart,” Spencer offered, holding up a bottle.

“Good enough,” she replied, taking the bottle from Spencer’s hand.

Quickly, Angela poured almost half of the Kickstart on his leg, which quickly turned Coach’s groans of discomfort into screams. Eventually, he settled down after Angela bandaged his wound.

“What happened?” he asked groggily.

Angela began to say something, but Shayne quickly cut her off, telling their coach everything was fine. Coach Chanse laid back down. Blood was already seeping through the gauze bandages Angela had taken from the plane’s first aid kit. Shayne pulled Angela away from the group surrounding Coach. 

When their coach was out of earshot, Shayne dropped Angela’s arm. He huffed. “You can’t just tell him you chopped his fucking leg off, Angela.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “He’s gonna find out eventually!”

Shayne pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you tell him, he’s going to freak out. Just–” he sighed. “I don’t know Angela! But Coach is in a lot of pain right now, and he doesn’t need any more stress, okay? He just needs you to take care of him.”

Need. Coach needed her. She could do that. Angela smiled, nodding vaguely in response to what Shayne had said. She returned to the group, and continued to rifle through the first aid kit she had found, and got to work. 

~

Shayne finished wrapping the last loop of the makeshift bandage he was tying around Courtney’s hand. They had moved to a less busy area, near the rest of the group, but out of the way. The two of them were sitting on a log, and Shayne was focused on taking care of as many of Courtney’s injuries as he could.

“Let’s go back to the others,” he said, standing up. Courtney took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. “Angela can help with your other burns.”

They walked back over to where their team had set up camp. Angela was showing Amanda and Trevor Lee how to bandage Coach Chanse’s leg, Alex was trying his best to start a fire, and everyone else was rummaging through the bar cart or charred bags for their things. Courtney looked up at the sky. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, but she could see that sunset would be soon.

“We need something flammable!” Angela shouted to the group. She was now helping Alex with the fire. The wood they had collected looked wet, like it had rained a day or two before they had crashed. 

Courtney bent down and looked through the open bags surrounding her and Shayne. She picked up a bottle of hair gel with a yellow label that said “FLAMMABLE” on the front. 

“What about this?” She showed the bottle to Angela.

Anthony looked up. “Oh, actually that’s m–” Courtney glared at him. “A great idea, Court!” he finished, a smile plastered on his face. 

Angela took the bottle from Courtney and poured half its contents on the fire. This time, when Alex flicked on the lighter they were using, the bundle of sticks lit up. A smattering of applause came from the team. Alex handed the lighter to Spencer, who pocketed it.

Courtney walked closer to the fire, and a feeling of nervousness bubbled up in her chest. She was scared to get too close, so she stood only a few feet away. Angela had an open first aid kit and a bottle of rubbing alcohol that someone had found sitting on a log by the fire. Coach Chanse was lying beside the log on a pile of shirts. She waited, carefully watching the flames dance, as Angela tended to some of their other teammates. 

Eventually, Angela sat down in front of Courtney. She could feel Shayne’s gaze trained on her back as Angela cleaned the cuts on her face and wrapped the severe burns on her arm. They were running out of gauze fast, but Angela managed to finish wrapping Courtney’s injuries before the roll was done. She thanked Angela, but the girl was already kneeling over Coach Chanse.

Court walked towards Shayne, who happened to be standing with Ian and Anthony. She swallowed a scowl and glued herself to the blond boy’s side. She and Shayne had been best friends since elementary school. Courtney thanked whatever higher being out there that had let them both survive this crash. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if she had to do this without him.

She caught the middle of their conversation as Ian and Shayne suggested ideas for how they were going to get out of the woods. 

“We should just wait. Someone will find us eventually,” Ian said.

There was a silence. No one wanted to say it, but everyone was wondering what would happen if no one came looking for them.

Before anyone could respond, a scream drew everyone’s attention. Selina was pointing up at one of the trees. There, dangling from a thick branch, was Coach Defy. Alex quickly grabbed his little sister, turning her away from their father’s lifeless body. Everyone crowded underneath the tree, trying to see.

“What should we do?” Arasha asked no one in particular.

“What do you mean ‘what should we do?’” Spencer shot back. “He’s–” he glanced at Alex and Selina. “He’s dead. We can’t do anything.”

“Okay, who has the best arm?” Anthony asked the group.

Confused murmurs came from most of the team, except for Olivia, who raised her hand immediately. “I do, Anthony!”

Shayne gave him an incredulous look, so Anthony elaborated. “Maybe we could throw something at him to knock him out of the tree.”

“We’re not throwing rocks at our dead fucking coach!” Shayne retorted.

Anthony scoffed. “I didn’t say rocks! Maybe like a shoe or something. I don't know!”

“Wow, you’re on fire today, Anthony,” said Courtney. “Oh, wait, that was supposed to be me, wasn’t it?”

Shayne bristled next to her. “What?”

Anthony looked guilty, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Maybe there was a rope on the plane?” suggested Trevor Lee. When no one responded, he sighed. “Vines?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Alex grimaced. “I- I could climb up and get him.”

“No.” Spencer said. “That’s way too dangerous.”

“You got any better ideas?” Alex shot back.

Spencer huffed. “These are all ridiculous ideas! We might as well just cut the fucking tree down!”

No one said anything for a beat. Courtney could hear the fire start to die down.

“I’m climbing up there,” Alex announced, already making for the tree.

“No!” Spencer put his hand on Alex’s chest, stopping him. “Shayne’s right, it’s too dangerous.”

Alex’s nostrils flared. “I’m not leaving my dead fucking dad in a tree! I’ll be fine.” He shifted his gaze to Selina and dropped his voice to a whisper that Courtney could barely hear. “Just make sure she’s not watching.”

Spencer nodded, and Alex started climbing the tree. When he reached the branch, he warned everyone below to watch out. The group watching him climb all took a few steps back. Alex pushed Coach Defy off the branch, and the man landed with a sickening crunch.

The team stared at their coach’s body. Spencer and Trevor Lee were wrapped around Selina, trying to keep her from looking while Alex nimbly climbed back down. He rushed over to his sister, pulling her into a hug. 

No one spoke, but people slowly moved away from Coach Defy’s body. 

~

Angela was sitting in her bedroom, playing aimlessly with the corner of her duvet cover when her phone rang. She hopped up and snatched the landline she had begged her parents for out of it’s hook switch. 

She listened careful as the line connected. She coiled the phone’s cord around her finger. “Hello?”

Someone giggled on the other line. “Hi, Angela!”

“Lauren?”

“Can I just say one think? One fucking thing?” Lauren’s tone didn’t make it sound like much of a question.

“One think?” Angela replied, now nervously untwirling and retwirling the phone cord around her finger. If Lauren heard her, she didn’t show it.

“Don’t go and tell Kandy every fucking detail of what we say and do to each other,” Lauren said. “Okay?”

Angela swallowed. “Excuse me. Don’t ever call Kandy a bitch again.”

Lauren laughed, but it was barely audible as it seemed like she had moved the receiver away from her mouth. Angela heard clicks on the other end and then a faint ringing. A second later, Kandy answered.

“Hello?” asked Kandy, clearly unaware of who had called her.

“Bitch,” Lauren started. “BITCH. Bitch.”

“Wow,” said Kandy after a beat. “You need to get over it.”

“B-I-T-C-H. BITCH.” Angela had to pull the phone away from her ear.

When she brought the phone back to her ear after Lauren stopped screaming, Kandy had disconnected from the call.

“Tell her that too,” scoffed Lauren.

“She is YOUR FRIEND,” Angela screamed back at Lauren. “SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE KIDNEPAPPED.”

Lauren took a deep breath. “It’s. KIDNAPPED!”

“OH MY GODDDDDD!!!”

“Look, Angela,” Lauren said, voice thick with pity. “Just because Kandy’s your only real friend doesn’t mean you can tell her everything I say and do.”

Angela slammed her phone back down onto the hook switch. No one understood her. She curled back up in bed, wondering what the rest of the soccer team was doing while she was stuck in her room with nothing to do.

~

Angela deftly wrapped a ripped t-shirt around Olivia’s scrapes. They were out of the gauze bandages the plane had been stocked with. She tied the makeshift bandage tightly. Olivia inspected the knot and thanked Angela.

“How did you learn how to do all this?” Amanda asked, reaching down to grab more ripped clothes to give Angela for bandages.

“I took the Red Cross babysitter training class. Twice.” She handed some supplies to Amanda and moved on to help some of the others.

Apparently, Angela was the only person with any knowledge of first aid, so while many of her teammates were asking how to help, she had to redo most of their bandages and teach them what to do. She felt important. With Coach Chanse bleeding out and delirious, and Coach Defy dead, the team was turning to Angela. 

She left Amanda to her own devices with the first aid kit, rushing over to where Spencer was incorrectly bandaging Alex’s arm. She adjusted it, showing Spencer the right way. 

“Like this,” she said. “Got it?”

Spencer did not look like he got it. “Yeah.”

Angela gave him a curt smile before walking away. She wandered through the group to see if anyone else needed assistance. When she was satisfied, she sat down against a tree, taking a minute to herself while nobody needed her. 

She heard Amanda talking to someone on the other side of the tree. “Angela’s awesome, it’s a miracle she knows what she’s doing.”

She listened carefully as the other girls Amanda was talking to agreed, not letting her breath out until they had left. She smiled to herself. This was the first time she had ever felt truly appreciated by her team. They relied on her. It felt awesome.

~

“Hey,” Ian said, coming up behind Anthony, who was sifting through his backpack. Anthony moved the bag, allowing Ian to sit beside him. He hugged his knees into his chest as Anthony brought his attention back to his backpack.

A rustle of leaves behind them drew both boys’ attention as Angela rushed over to redress Coach Chanse’s leg. Anthony gasped quietly at the sight of the wound uncovered and quickly turned his head. Ian brought a hand up to his shoulder, trying and probably failing to be comforting.  When Angela was done, he dropped his hand from Anthony’s shoulder. 

Though he physically relaxed, Anthony still didn’t turn his head back to Coach. The only thing that made his head turn was the sound of chatter as Courtney and Shayne walked by Angela’s first aid station. Courtney paused when she made eye contact with Anthony, giving him some kind of look that Ian couldn’t decipher, but that definitely wasn’t good. She quickly dragged Shayne away from the pair. 

Once they were far enough away, Anthony scoffed. “She totally hates me now,” he said, turning to look at Ian. He sighed. “For the record, I was trying to save you.”

Ian didn’t really know what to say, so he just smiled. Anthony returned the smile and went back to his bag, pulling out a packet of M&Ms. He ripped it open, poured half of it into his hand, and handed the packet to Ian and they ate the M&Ms in silence.

~

Eventually, the fire became the group’s only light source. They all sat around it on airplane seat cushions, not so much for warmth as it was for protection. Coach had his own fire, not too far away from the rest of the group, but enough that he would be able to fall asleep without their noise level waking him.

No one was speaking, quiet had settled over the team like a layer of snow long before and true optimism had worn out hours prior.

Sick of the silence and the thoughts it was bringing on, Ian spoke up. “There has to be some kind of transmitter sending out our GPS location or something. A rescue team will come and save us.”

There wasn’t a response. 

Trevor Lee, who was sitting diagonally across from Ian, was rocking back and forth with his teddy bear clutched to his chest. It looked like he was trying not to cry. There was a silent encounter between Shayne and Courtney, who were sitting to the left of Trevor Lee, before Shayne tentatively put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. 

“Are you okay, Trevor Lee?” asked Shayne.

The boy looked up at Shayne, tears in his eyes, and shook his head. “This is all my fault. I did something bad. Really bad.” He looked back at the fire.

A ripple of confusion spread through the circle, no one daring to say anything, but all giving each other questioning looks. Before anyone could ask him what he did, Trevor Lee continued.

“I kept screwing up in my piano lessons two days before we left.” He shook his head again. “My teacher was so mad, she kept yelling at me, over and over.” Glances passed through the audience. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I called her a bad word.”

Next to Ian, Anthony cocked his head, clearly interested in what Trevor Lee could possibly consider a bad word. The boy in question sniffled.

“It was just in my head, but–” he sighed. “God heard me. And now we’re all being punished.”

“What did you call her?” Shayne asked.

Trevor Lee looked back up at the blond. “Cunt,” he whispered.

Although Shayne managed to hold eye contact for a moment and not laugh, knowing that Trevor Lee was being serious, Courtney was not able to do the same. She snorted, resulting in Shayne elbowing her, before he himself began to laugh.

Soon, the entire team was laughing, exhausted from a long and insane day, and amazed at the fact that Trevor Lee wholeheartedly believed that him calling his piano teacher a cunt was the reason they crashed.

“I lied,” Arasha said, causing a ripple of silence. “I don’t have a BBL. I just have a fat ass.” 

Laughter quickly bubbled back up, and various people around the circle started confessing random secrets.

“There was one time,” Anthony started, “when Ian was on vacation, that I forgot to feed his lizard. And–”

“I knew it!” Ian punched his arm lightly. “You promised you fed him!”

Angela got up and left the circle in the corner of Ian's vision, but he didn’t really pay attention to it.

“What about you, Ian?” Shayne probed. “Got any secrets big enough to crash a fucking plane?”

Ian froze, his gaze landing on Anthony. A strangled scream cut off whatever he was going to say as the entire group shot up to go to the source of the screaming. Writhing on the floor not too far away was Coach Chanse, with smoke and the smell of burnt skin coming from his leg, shouting curses at Angela, who was holding the axe that was still orange from heat.

“What the fuck, Angela?” asked Spencer. 

She dropped the axe and turned to the group. “I had to stop the bleeding for good.”

~

There were various groans and mumbles as the group returned to the other fire after witnessing what Angela had done, clearly ready to go to sleep and end the nightmare of a day they had been having. Olivia paused before going back with everyone, catching Shayne’s attention.

“You good, Olivia?”

She nodded, turning to face him. “I think you might have done Noah a favor.”

Shayne swallowed. Olivia just walked off. He kept staring at where she had been, his brain trying to catch up. Yesterday, Noah having a broken leg seemed like the end of the world. Now, here they were in the middle of absolutely nowhere, several teammates and a coach down. Who knew if rescue would ever come?

A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. Turning, he found it was Courtney, who looked worried.

“Is everything okay?”

He nodded. “Of course.” He smiled.

Courtney didn’t look convinced, but they smiled anyway and led Shayne back to the group.

~

Crickets chirping and the sound of the crackling fire were the only things Angela could hear. Everyone had gone to sleep long before, and she had volunteered herself to be the first watch so they didn’t get eaten by a bear or something.

An hour into her watch, she slipped away from the group to relieve herself. Just as she found a spot not too far away where there was more brush, Angela heard a voice behind her and the crunch of leaves.

Looking up, she found that it was just Courtney and Trevor Lee walking on the nearby path. As they came closer, she could make out what they were saying.

“I mean, it’s fucking amazing Angela knows half the stuff she does,” said Court. “Thank God we have her here with us.” She paused, glancing at Trevor Lee. “Sorry.”

The pair kept walking past Angela until she eventually couldn’t hear them. She finished her business, but before returning to camp, a red glow caught her eye. She zipped her jeans up as she climbed over a log.

Behind a rock was the source of the glow. The flight recorder. Angela leaned down and picked up the metal box, balancing it on the rock. She looked back to where Courtney and Trevor Lee had walked past her. For the first time since she had been the team’s manager, she felt useful. Wanted. Needed. This was her time to shine.

She looked back at the flight recorder in her arms. It was ashy, covered in dirt, and warped at the edges from the heat of the fire. But it was still recording. She didn’t know much about black boxes, but if there was any chance that this box was sending out a location signal, she couldn’t have that. Angela lifted it in the air and smashed it on the rock. After a few attempts, Angela picked up a smaller rock and began hitting the metal box with it. 

She kept banging and banging and banging until there was a big enough hole in the metal for her to fit her hand in. Angela stuck her hand in the flight recorder, fiddling around for wires. When she found them, she yanked them out, killing the light.

Ian watched as Anthony ran down the field after Shayne, trying to get the ball out from under him. Shayne took a quick turn to the left in an attempt to fake Anthony out, but he was already waiting for him, kicking the soccer ball away from Shayne and turning to bring it back across the field. 

Once he had gotten down most of the field, Anthony passed the ball to Ian, who was quick to turn and shoot it right over Courtney’s open arms. Ian’s hands shot up in celebration, and he turned to Anthony, who was already running over to him for a hug. 

He could hear the cheers from their other teammates who were on their side for the practice scrimmage, but Ian didn’t care. Anthony pulled him into a hug, and his cologne consumed all of Ian’s thoughts. He buried his head in the crook of Anthony’s shoulder for just a second before the taller boy pulled back.

“That was a good shot, Hecox,” Anthony smiled. Ian’s stomach did a backflip.

“It was a good pass, Anthony,” Ian replied. 

Anthony only put a hand on Ian’s shoulder and gave him a light squeeze before walking off to grab his water bottle from the bench on the side of the field. Taking a swig from the bottle, Anthony walked over to Shayne, laughing and smiling, probably congratulating him on the almost-win. Ian felt a short pang of jealousy before he shoved it back down.

He walked towards the bench past Courtney, who was also staring at Shayne and Anthony’s interaction from afar. Ian grabbed his water bottle and copied Anthony, tipping his head back to get as much water as he could. When he moved the bottle away from his mouth and looked back at Anthony, the other boy was staring at him. It was only a split second of eye contact as Anthony immediately returned to conversation with Shayne, but Ian caught it. 

Soon, Coach Chanse had them running drills. Ian tried to keep his focus on practice but every time they had a quick break while their coach was explaining their next drill, he found his gaze drifting over to Anthony. He had to stop this. 

An hour of sprints later, Ian was gathering his stuff from his locker and walking out to the parking lot next to Anthony, most of their teammates in front of them.

“Hey,” Ian started. “Do you want a ride home? If you’re not doing anything, you could come over to my house and we could get some homework done.”

Anthony sighed. “I wish I could, but Kimmy’s picking me up and we’re going to her house.” Just as he said that, Kimmy’s blue Corolla pulled up next to them. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, though.”

“Oh,” Ian said, trying not to sound as pathetic as he felt. “Yeah, I’ll pick you up at 7.”

“Perfect,” Anthony smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Hecox.” And with that, Anthony hopped into the side of Kimmy’s car. Ian watched through the car’s windows as Kimmy gave Anthony a kiss on the cheek before starting to drive away. Ian fucking hated Kimmy. 

~

The next morning, Ian pulled up outside of Anthony’s house five minutes before 7. Waiting for Anthony to come outside, he flipped through his cassette collection that was in his center console before popping an *NSYNC tape in. Just as he slid the tape in, movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention.

Looking up, Ian saw Kimmy, in an oversized T-shirt that definitely belonged to Anthony, climbing down from Anthony’s window and running off behind his house to where Ian, unfortunately, knew she lived. Seconds later, Anthony walked out the front door. His hair was curled, and he wore a denim jacket over a band shirt and black jeans. He climbed into Ian’s passenger seat and tossed his book bag in the backseat.

Ian started driving off while Anthony buckled his seat belt. “How did you sleep?”

Anthony only snorted in response. He flipped the sun visor down and began fixing his hair in the mirror. “Are you seriously listening to *NSYNC on purpose?”

“No, the cassette floated into the tape deck and started playing on its own.” Ian frowned.

Half of their ride to school was silent until Anthony turned to him at a stoplight, rambling on about decorating their dorm room that they would share at UCLA that fall. 

“--And my half of the room will be blue, and then yours can be all green.” According to Anthony, green was Ian’s favorite color. It wasn’t. 

“Or my side could be red,” said Ian.

Anthony laughed. “Blue and red don’t go together.”

Ian didn’t protest. He didn’t care. Did it really matter anyways, given Ian was planning on going to Stanford? The acceptance letter had been lying in his nightstand drawer since November. Big envelope, crisp red lettering, complete with an early decision welcome packet. Signed, sealed, and delivered. 

Of course, Anthony didn’t know that. It’s not like Anthony even asked Ian if he wanted to go to UCLA with him– just assumed he would. And Ian would tell him that’s not the case… eventually. Why shake him up before nationals? 

Yeah, it’s better I put it off, he thought. For the both of us. 

Ian tuned Anthony out for the rest of the ride to school, nodding along whenever he paused to ask for Ian’s input, even though Anthony’s idea of input was just asking if Ian liked his ideas.

~

“Anthony, I wanted to talk to you about a few things today,” Coach Defy said. Anthony had been called to his head coach’s office for the last 10 minutes of his eighth-period class. “I’m sure you're wondering why I gave you the captain position this year.” Coach Defy’s legs were propped up on the desk.

He nodded politely, even though he wasn’t wondering. 

“You’re not the best player we have.” Anthony managed to keep the offense off his face. “But, you are a natural leader. Anthony,” Coach Defy took his feet off the corner of his desk and folded his hands in front of him instead. “I believed that if anyone could get that group of people to like each other, it would be you.”

Well, at least it was kind of a compliment. Coach was right, Anthony had always been a natural leader. 

“Tomorrow,” his coach said. “We are going to nationals. I need you to bring the team together so we can come back in a week with that trophy. Can you do that?”

Anthony smiled. “Yes, Coach. I can do that.”

~

“Everyone make some noise for our Smoshjackets soccer team!” The announcer’s voice came over the loudspeakers in the gymnasium. Angela could hear the assembly of high schoolers on the other side of the wall, waiting as the rest of her team jogged out into the middle of the gym. 

When the rest of her teammates lined up in front of the bleachers, Angela filed out with her two coaches, standing on the side of the basketball court painted on the wood floors. She loved her team. She loved helping. But on days like these, when their entire school celebrated their accomplishments, her heart ached with jealousy—jealousy that she couldn’t be lined up with the rest of them.

Since her freshman year, Angela had tried out for the soccer team every fall. She had been cut every single time. So, she became the team’s manager. It just meant she was closer with Coach Chanse than the other players, and she didn’t mind that at all. Cheering her team on and being there for them was good enough for her if they didn’t want her as a player. Sure, she may have sat on the sidelines, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t as good as the rest of them. She would prove it to them someday.

Later that afternoon, at practice, she got an opportunity. During another scrimmage that Coach Chanse was having the team run, Shayne tripped Noah, whether it was on accident or not, Angela didn’t know, but she did know there had been a lot of blood. Coach Chanse had turned to her for help. As she ran to the supply room to grab whatever first aid supplies they had, she thought of how her coach would thank her. God, she loved him. 

Noah ended up having to go to the hospital– Angela’s high school first aid skills were not enough to mend his broken leg. The team filed wordlessly into the locker room, eerily quiet as they got their things to leave. 

“Nice job, Shayne,” Spencer was the first to break the silence.

“I didn’t mean to break his leg–” Shayne said, trying to defend himself.

Spencer laughed wryly. “Right, because that was a total accident. Face it, Shayne. You were jealous of Noah and–” Spencer had started to step closer to Shayne when Courtney got between them.

“Calm down, Spencer. Shayne didn’t do anything on purpose,” she said, trying to diffuse the situation. This only served to rile the team up.

Some team members jumped to Shayne’s defense while others backed Spencer up. When the group began to raise their voices, Anthony stood on one of the benches, drawing the team’s attention. Angela didn’t miss Ian’s eyeroll as their captain raised one hand to get them to quiet down like they were in kindergarten. 

“Guys, we are going to nationals tomorrow.” Everyone shifted at Anthony’s words. Suddenly, the fight seemed a little silly. “Can we last at least one more week before we lose it on each other?” There were sheepish nods and murmurs around the quiet locker room. Anthony hopped down from the bench.

The team was silent as they all packed up to leave. Angela mindlessly sorted through her locker, staying only to catch whispers and tail ends of conversations about everything that happened. She watched particularly carefully as Courtney slipped her hand in Shayne’s to give him a quick squeeze,

She grabbed her book bag and walked out of the locker room, back towards the field to make sure she hadn’t left anything. There, cleaning up some plastic cones, was Coach Chase. Turning, he jumped when he noticed Angela. 

“Oh!” he exclaimed, hand on his chest like he was trying to calm his breathing. “Angela. You scared me.”

She adjusted her grip on her bag. “Sorry, Coach, I just wanted to make sure I had all my things.”

Coach Chanse nodded, stacking the last plastic cone on the others. Angela started to walk away, heading to the parking lot where her mom was waiting, but her coach stopped her. “You did good today, Angela. Thank you for helping with Noah.” He smiled politely.

Angela felt like a supernova was bursting in her chest. She beamed back at him. “No problem, Coach. I’m always happy to help.”

With that, Angela practically skipped her way to her mom’s car. She might not be important to her team on the field, but her coach appreciated her, and that was all she really needed.

~

The last thing Ian wanted to do was go to this stupid party and act like everything was normal. Like he didn’t see Noah’s femur go through his leg hours earlier. No one else seemed to agree with Ian about that though, especially not Anthony who was sifting through Ian’s closet to find clothes for him to wear.

“What if I don't wanna go?” Ian mused from his bed.

“You’re going.”

Ian sighed. 

Anthony was already ready, he had been since he got to Ian’s. Dark blue jeans and another band t-shirt. 

“I don't even know what to wear,” Ian said. He flopped backwards onto the bed.

“That's what I’m here for.” Anthony pulled out a plain t-shirt and a dark blue flannel, setting it on the bed next to Ian. “Not going to this party isn’t going to unfuck Noah’s leg,” he said in what Ian assumed was an attempt at comfort, “so you might as well just go.”

Sitting up, Ian barely restrained an eye roll. “Fine.”

Anthony was looking through Ian’s pants options. “You should wear these,” he held up a pair of grey sweatpants. “

“No,” Ian said. “I'm not wearing those to a party.”

The sound of Anthony's laugh echoed off the floorboards. “Come on, Ian, you know they make your dick look amazing.”

Ian’s face flushed. “What?”

“Wear the dick sweatpants Ian!”

“What if I don't wanna wear the fucking dick sweatpants?”

Anthony sighed. “Jackie's gonna be there and…” he paused. “Kimmy said she might have a thing for you. We thought maybe…”

“Maybe I’d make out with Jackie? So you and Kimmy can go do whatever the fuck at the party and you won't feel bad about leaving me alone?” Ian crossed his arms.

Anthony's face shifted to an emotion that Ian couldn't completely read. Guilt, maybe? 

“No, it's not like that,” Anthony insists. “We just thought you would be cute together!”

Ian frowned. “I don't wanna date Jackie Uweh. Besides, I don't need to be your little pity project.”

Anthony’s eyes turned sad. “Ian. You know that's not what I meant. Jackie likes you and I… I don't know, I guess the idea of going on a double date with you made me kinda excited.”

Well, now Ian felt like a dick. “Oh.”

It was quiet for a second. Anthony dropped the sweatpants on Ian’s bed.

“I’m sorry,” Ian said. “I'm just not having a great day, I didn't mean to take it out on you.”

A smile spread across Anthony’s lips. “It's okay.”

Sighing, Ian grabbed the clothes off of his bed and walked into the closet to get ready.

~

“Hey Spencer!” Kiana called from down the block. Spencer had told her to meet him at their local 7-Eleven. Kiana walked up to him with another kid Spencer didn't know at her side.

“Do you have it?” Spencer asked, reaching into his pocket for the 20 dollars he owed Kiana.

“Of course I do.” She took off her backpack and unzipped the biggest pocket, pulling out two bottles of Mtn Dew Kickstart.

Spencer grinned. “Fucking awesome Kiana, thanks.” He handed her the $20.

“No problem,” she said. “Aren't you going to the Olympics or something tomorrow?”

He wasn't listening, though. He had already uncapped one of the bottles and taken a sip. It tasted amazing. “Or something.”

An hour later, Spencer was on his way to the party in the back of Kiana’s car. He had already drank half of one bottle of the Kickstart and he was starting to feel fuzzy. The bonfire was lit in the middle of an abandoned parking lot and Spencer saw Anthony sitting at the edge of the fire, sharing a seat with Kimmy. 

Kiana wandered off to talk to some of her artsy friends and Spencer walked towards Ian and Arasha, who were sitting opposite Anthony and Kimmy.  He pulled out the half-empty bottle of Kickstart and downed another quarter of it. 

He was vaguely listening to his teammates talk when he saw Shayne walk into the lot and sit down with Courtney on one of the crates further away from the fire. 

Spencer shifted. How could he be at a party when he broke Noah's leg just earlier that day? 

Without thinking, Spencer started walking over to where Shayne was sitting. He crossed his arms, careful not to spill the Kickstart in his red solo cup. “Surprised to see you here.”

Shayne looked up at Spencer. His expression didn't give any of his emotions away.

“Must be difficult after you sent Noah to the hospital earlier.” 

“It was an accident,” the blond boy muttered.

Spencer clicked his tongue. “I don't think it was.”

Shayne scoffed and stood up. “Don't you have a Kickstart to chug or a video game to lose or a gentleman to play or a video to direct or a Jurassic Park movie to watch or a johnson to suck or a misogynistic joke to make or–”

“Don't talk to him like that!” Ian cut in, shutting Shayne up.

“Shut the fuck up, Ian. I don't need you defending me. Last time I checked, you didn't even care about Noah.” Spencer said coolly.

“Who even gives a fuck, Spencer?” Shayne retorted, stepping closer to him. 

In his half-aware state, anger flooded Spencer. “Fuck off, Shayne!” He pushed Shayne away, resulting in a cat fight between the two, Ian and Arasha trying to pull them apart. Trevor Lee and Courtney watched worriedly from the sidelines. 

“Smoshjackets!” Anthony’s voice clipped through the tension of the fight. “With me. Now.” He turned and started walking to a secluded area behind some trees. 

When they were away from the rest of the party, Anthony started pacing in front of them. “Okay. Line up.” The team lined up. “I want everyone to go down this line and say one nice thing about each other.”

“What is this fucking Smosh Summer Games?” Shayne muttered. Spencer rolled his eyes.

“Who wants to go first?” asked Anthony.

Trevor Lee raised his hand. “I'll go.”

Anthony stepped out of the way, letting Trevor Lee take the lead.

Trevor Lee started with Shayne, who had been standing next to him. “Shayne, you are beautiful in the eyes of our Lord.”

He moved to Courtney next. “Court. You are beautiful in-”

“Oh my god,” Arasha groaned. The rest of the team snickered.

“Okay. Never mind. I'll go first.” Anthony walked over to Shayne. “Shayne Topp, I am inspired by your determination.” Shayne grinned.

He moved to Courtney. “Courtney Miller.” Courtney made small jazz hands. “You are the spirit of this team. Your enthusiasm is infectious.” She smiled sheepishly.

“Trevor Lee, I admire your faith.” Trevor Lee gave a polite smile.

Anthony shifted to Spencer. “Spencer. You are so unapologetically yourself and I love that you don’t care what anybody thinks.”

“And he’s fucking great at Resident Evil!” Courtney chimed in.

Everyone laughed, murmuring agreements. 

“Okay, so tell him that!” Anthony exclaimed. “I want you guys to pair up and compliment each other.” When no one moved, Anthony waved his hands. “I'm serious! Pair up!” The team quickly shuffled into pairs.

Spencer was facing Arasha, who said something about his “no-nonsense attitude.”

“Arasha,” Spencer slurred. “You never talk shit unless you really mean it.” Arasha smiled, looking proud. “And… I really like your pilgrim hat.” He laughed. Arasha gave him a confused look, but Spencer was already walking away.

Spencer started drifting back towards the party when he caught eyes with Shayne. He turned back and walked up to the blond boy. “I’m sorry,” he said. “For what I said earlier.” 

Shayne didn’t say anything for a minute. Courtney stood behind him worriedly looking between the two of them. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, you know.”

Spencer didn’t respond, just nodded vaguely before walking off.

He made his way over to where Kiana was sitting at the fire and downed the rest of the Kickstart in his cup and drank half of his second bottle. His face was burning but he couldn't tell if it was from the fire or the Kickstart in his bloodstream. Spencer closed his eyes for a second, tilting his head back. When he opened them again and looked back at the fire, something caught his attention over by the chainlink fence that surrounded the lot.

It was Angela, in a bright pink and blue windbreaker, staring at her. What was she doing there? “Angela?” Spencer asked aloud, but he found that his voice was a whisper. 

Angela didn't make any indication that she heard him, just continued to stare. Spencer shut his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, Angela was gone.

~

Anthony had his hand on Kimmy’s knee the whole way home. Ian would know because his eyes were glued to the point where their skin made contact. 

A few minutes into the drive, Kimmy pointed at a road sign. “Turn here, it's easier to get to my house that way.” Anthony flicked his blinker on.

“Isn't my house closer?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, but my parents are strict about curfew,” Kimmy replied. 

“I have a curfew too, you know,” Ian mumbled under his breath. If Kimmy heard him, she didn't show it.

Soon enough, they were parked outside of Kimmy’s house. She opened the door and Ian opened his, waiting until she left so he could take the passenger seat.

Kimmy leaned across the console to give Anthony a kiss and said something Ian didn't care to listen to. She grabbed her bag and stepped out of the car. She smiled kindly at Ian. “Bye, Ian! Good luck at nationals!”

“Bye, Kimmy,” he replied dryly.

Kimmy walked off to her front door and Ian got into the passenger side of the car. 

The drive to Ian’s house was silent. Until Ian had an idea. “Pull over.”

“What?” Anthony looked at him like he was crazy.

“Pull over,” Ian repeated. “Right here.” He pointed to a small gravel parking lot on the side of the road. 

Anthony put his blinker on again and pulled over. He put the car in park and clicked his seat belt off. Almost a second later, Ian unbuckled his own belt. Both of them were facing the windshield.

Ian turned to glance at Anthony, finding that he was already staring at him. The air in Anthony’s Honda CRV was thick, and they were quiet for a moment.

In the blink of an eye, they had both jumped across the seats, meeting each other in the middle with a desperate clash of lips against lips. Ian’s hands grasped the collar of Anthony’s t-shirt as Anthony’s pulled at Ian’s hair, tangling in the tresses.

“Ian—” Anthony spoke, trying to take a pause, but it's hard to stop when the lips he’d been watching all night were so close to his. Ian’s hands wrapped around Anthony's neck, and the warm contact both snapped him back to reality but made his own pull harder at Ian’s locks.

“I thought we weren't doing this again,” Anthony finally got out, voice breathy. Ian tilts his head back, looking at Anthony's guilt-swirled eyes.

“We’re not,” Ian mumbled, his hand gently caressing Anthony’s cheek. “Again.”

They met again as if they’d never separated at all.

Ian pulled away, his breath already staggered as Anthony climbed atop him. “If you come inside of me, I will raise the baby to become a killing machine and hunt you down.”

Blinking, Anthony slowly processed the words. “Okay,” he said softly, hand slipping into the waistband of the grey sweatpants he'd picked out.

~

Ian hated flying; planes had freaked him out his entire life. Unfortunately for him, their entire soccer team had to go to nationals across the country and there was no avoiding flying for Ian.

He walked on to the plane behind Anthony, trying to suppress the anxiety he was feeling. They sat down somewhere near the back, the entire team spaced out on the private plane Arasha’s dad got for the trip. 

Anthony took the window seat because of course he did, and Ian took the aisle seat, leaving the middle seat open for their bags. He plugged his headphones into his iPod and was about to put them over his ears when Anthony turned to him. 

“Hey, I know you get kinda freaked out on planes,” Anthony started. “But I have something for you.” He pulled out a tissue with a pink frosted sprinkle donut sitting in the middle. “My mom has like a lifetime supply. It'll knock you right out.”

Ian took the donut out of the tissue. He smiled. “Thank you.”

“And,” Anthony continued. “I want to give you this.” He unchained the necklace he was wearing and clipped it around Ian’s neck. “For good luck. For this plane ride and for nationals.”

For a second, despite his earlier annoyance, Ian was reminded why he loved Anthony. He was a good friend. He would always be there for him. Some sad feeling washed over Ian when he remembered that he still had to tell Anthony he wasn’t going to UCLA.

Ian smiled at Anthony again. The boy next to him relaxed in his seat, so he did the same. He ate the pink frosted sprinkle donut and drifted off to sleep as they took off.

…

The world was white. 

Snow covered every inch of it. The grass, the trees, every branch, every leaf; buried in a pure white frost. She could smell it in the air. She’d never smelt snow until she came out here. 

The ground was so powdery with it, she may have mistaken it for feathers as she ran. Or powdered sugar, like a jelly donut. God, what she would do for a jelly donut right now. 

Beg, steal, fight, hunt. Kill. Nothing she hadn’t done before, right? 

If she closed her eyes for a second, she could see it. A 7-Eleven rack of plastic packaged jelly donuts. Cheeseburgers in the grills. Slurpee machines. 

I’ll make it, she told herself as she turned a corner, ignoring a new cut on her foot from a jutting rock. I can make it. 

Trees soared past her as she ran. Every once in a while, when she would slow down, she would catch those symbols carved into the bark. What appeared to be a fast-forward button with an “s” in the middle had haunted their group the entire time they had been out there. 

In the distance, she heard a screech. A mangled caw of a sound, too guttural to be from any animal out there. The sound made her stomach lurch, with no vision of food in her mind. They’re getting closer. 

She couldn’t stop running, yet she was frozen in place. Knees trembling, cheeks red, heart numb. 7-Eleven, she thought to herself, closing her icy lashes, trying to ground herself. Jelly donuts. Cheeseburgers. Slurpees. 

Another scream reached her ears, this time one of her own. Twisted in fear, it tore through her throat worse than any badly bitten chip ever had. It can’t end like this, her mind screamed at her. Not here. 

With a renewed fervor, her eyes shot open wide. She steadied her knees, breathed shaky breaths, and collected what was left of her thoughts. She gave herself a few more moments of stilled fear before she took off again, running faster than she ever had on those green soccer fields. 

Then the ground collapsed. 

In the blink of an eye what was once powdery snow became twisted spikes, and what was once a promising future striker was a girl on spikes in a pit. 

I was so close, she thought. One of the last ones she’d ever have. Her finger twitched. 

7-Eleven. Jelly donuts. Cheeseburgers. Slurpees… 

In the distance, a hunter approaches. 

… 

Day: ??? 

God I fucking hate them. Like, sorry I’m not psyched to hear some bullshit story about our adventures in the woods. My best friend is dead. How’s this story for you? Once upon a time, Smosh got stranded in the wilderness and they went completely fucking nuts. They worshipped evil spirits, they hunted their friends and they feasted on their flesh and they fucking LIKED IT. So they told themselves stupid fairytales and pretended they were brave and strong. Because the reality was that even if rescue came, they could never go home again because of what they’d done. Because of what they’d become. That’s the truth and hearing anything else makes me just want to FUCKING—