#cosecant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

star-girl69 · 11 months

Text

Ultraviolence

Natalie Scatorccio x Fem!Reader

—-

a/n: i hope you all enjoy!!

warnings: mentions of death, swearing, mentions of a knife, mentions of starvation, tell me if i missed anything!!

Chapter Six - Prayers

—-

1996-

Late last night, Misty had heated up the blade of the axe she used to cut Coach Ben’s leg off, and pressed it to his wound. He screamed for only a moment, before it tapered off- stopping abruptly.

When you got up to check if he was still alive, Misty was wrapping the new burned wound on his leg, and his breathing was harsh and heavy, but he was breathing.

With the silent forest, save the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the wilderness, you eventually fell asleep- telling yourself that morning will come, and so will rescue.

When you woke up, there was no rescue, and all of the girls whispered that it would simply come later in the day.

In the meantime, the grave digging started.

They weren’t finished until noon, using scrap bits of metal from the plane as shovels. Everyone stands around the small plot of graves, marked by pieces of metal with names drawn in marker.

You wonder faintly if that’s what they would have wanted.

Now, the earth is freshly scared with the imprint of the bodies, raising up the soil, but soon- the scars will fade. The ground will level out again. And besides for the metal marking the graves- no one would know they’re there.

“Before we took off,” Van starts, staring at the grave right in front of her, “I heard Rachel say that she was going to see Oasis at the Meadowlands next month. She was really excited. And she’s never gonna hear “Wonderwall” again.”

You can’t help but dig your feet into the ground, the tip of your Converse making a small indent in the soft soil. You thought back to what Shauna said to Javi. Is it really like sleeping? Does the dirt feel like a blanket? Are they warm? Cold?

“Come on,” Laura Lee says after a moment. “Let’s join hands.”

Squished between two freshmen, you hold out your hands, and the two girls on either side of you tenderly intwine their hands with yours.

“We’ll pray for them,” she says, and you almost smile- because what else would you expect from Laura Lee?

Slowly, all of the girls follow suit, grabbing hands, closing their eyes.

“Rachel,” Laura Lee starts, “You just moved up from JV, so we didn’t really know you. But, in Trig, you never confuses your secants and your cosecants. You seemed really smart. Anyone else?”

“I saw her carry a flute case once,” Van rushes out.

“Oh, Lord, please accept Rachel Goldman into your arms so that she may fill your kingdom with music.” She licks her lips, and blinks harshly. “Please accept Coach Martinez into your glory, too, and flight attendant Janet, pilot Robert, pilot Fred. Even thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

The world seems to fade out, and you faintly remember the funeral your mother had taken you too, the open casket, the eerie stillness of the body of a woman you never knew. But she knew you.

Your mother had told you not to be scared of death. But she had never been to the wilderness before.

“The Lord is my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is my strength. Whom shall I fear?”

“I’m going for a walk,” Tai announces suddenly, letting go of the others hands, walking towards the forest, away from the graves.

And soon, everyone followed suit, their hands dropping.

—-

“This is all we have?” one of the girls asks, a group gathered around the small collection of food and drinks the flight attendant was giving out.

“Yeah. We gotta ration,” Van says. She studies the small collection, before glancing at Shauna. “Okay. Cut them,” she says, leaving the knife next to the food. “Split this water,” she says to another girl, giving her a plastic water bottle.

“Well,” Jackie starts, looking at a small chocolate covered treat Shauna had given to her, “Maybe we can find something in the forest. I saw some berries-”

You perk up. “What did they look like?”

Jackie frowns. “Uh… they looked like little oranges.”

“Oh, no, you can’t eat those.” Everyone looks at you, confused and curious. You feel your cheeks warm up, but a suddenly realization comes to you. You are useful. You know the plants. “They’re probably Buckthorn berries, which are native around here. If you eat them, they cause swelling of uh, the nervous system, I think.” Another moment of silence. “My mother is a botanist, so…”

“Shit, really?” Van asks, looking around the woods. “You know what we can eat from here?”

You nod, feeling a little proud. “Um, elderberries should be around here too. If we cook those, then they’re not poisonous, but uncooked one’s are.”

“Okay,” Shauna nods, “we’ll have a little more to go off of.”

Akilah starts rationing out the water using the little plastic from the cart, everyone reminding her not to spill any.

Suddenly, Travis stands up and marches over to the pile of food, grabbing a bag of CornNuts.

“Dude!” Can shouted after him.

“Travis, what are you doing?” Jackie asks, and all of you watch as he marches off, not even looking back.

You stare at the small bag he has clutched in his fist, your stomach twisting angrily at the sight.

“Uh… Maybe you didn’t notice, but we’re kind of in a situation here, Flex.” Lottie says.

“Don’t.” Nat says.

Travis turns around for just a moment, leveling a sharp glare at Lottie, before continuing into the trees.

“Who died and made him king of snacks?” Lottie spits.

“His dad, Lottie. Literally… his fucking dad.”

“Nat’s right,” Jackie sighs. “We should cut him some slack.”

“I guess it’s fine if we all starve to death, as long as Travis’s feelings are okay…” Mari says.

“No one is starving to death. When the rescue team gets here, it’ll be fine, but for now-” Jackie starts.

“You mean if it gets here.”

“Don’t say that, Van.” Jackie says, looking slightly shocked.

“It… has been three days, Jackie.”

She smiles a bit, whether to cover up her true feelings, or if she really believes that they’ll come, you don’t know.

“They’re coming.”

—-

“Guys!” Tai shouted, returning finally from her long walk, panting. “Guys! There’s a lake! There’s a lake. I saw it from over that hill,” she points, “It looks about 4 or 5 miles away.”

You couldn’t help a small smile from winding its way onto your face. Elderberries would grow well in the soil by a lake, and other plants too. Maybe if you could just get there and recognize a few of them, you would remember more, and be able to help more-

“Do you think we can hike it?” Shauna asks.

“It’s pretty rocky,” Taissa breathes, “but yeah.”

“Uh, we, uh, we can’t… we can’t just leave,” Jackie stutters, standing up and gesturing from the plane to the direction Taissa came from.

You can tell she has no support.

“We have two days of water, tops.”

Jackie shakes her head slightly, as if to say “so?”

“And then what?” Tai continues. “Just sit around and die?” Your stomach twists.

Before all of this, you had things you wanted to do, a life you wanted to live.

“What of the rescue team comes?”

“Do you think they’re taking their time on purpose?” Taissa looks around, and while some people haven’t accepted it- you’re not a fool. If they were coming, they would have come by now. “If they knew where we were then they would be here already.”

“You don’t know that,” Jackie sneers, not unkindly, but she gets the point across.

“What do you think, Coach?”

Everyone turns to the man who you once thought wouldn’t make it through the night, now barely alive, sitting on a plane seat the girls had dragged outside. He relied on Misty for everything.

“I don’t- I don’t know,” he says, clutching his amputated leg. “Uh, I mean, you’d have to leave me behind. But, whatever.”

“We could make you a stretcher,” Tai declares, looking around. But at the first inkling that going to the lake would keep you all alive for longer- most of the girls were swayed.

“Oh, okay,” Jackie laughs.

“Seriously. If we take turns carrying it-”

“N-no! This-this is bullshit. I say no. Okay? No way.”

After Jackie’s outburst, no one speaks for a second. You look around the group of girls gathered, and most of them can’t even look at Jackie. They’ve already made their decision. You look at Nat, but her eyes are fixed to the floor.

“Let’s put it to a vote,” Tai says, staring at Jackie. “All in favor of waiting here?” Jackie raises her hand. Only a few other girls follow suit. “All in favor of the lake?” Tai raises her hand, and after a moment, you do as well.

Natalie raises her hand too.

Even Shauna raises her hand, which earns her a scorching glare from Jackie, but before anything else can happen, Tai speaks.

“Then it’s settled.”

—-

You stuffed all your clothes into your bag, a hairbrush, other toiletries- and finally, after a moment, you grabbed the small glass cube. Your mom had gifted it to you a few years ago, back when she was around more, before your dad had left, and she hadn’t thrown herself into your work and slowly stared to forget about you.

The rest of these girls probably all had people who cared for them. Who wanted them to come home. You wondered if your mother had even noticed your absence.

Inside the small glass cube was a preserved sample of deadly nightshade. A small stem with a few berries, one leaf. You wondered often if the poison still worked.

Slowly, everyone filed into a rough line, and you all began your descent to the lake.

You wondered faintly if Laura Lee should have lead you all in prayer before you started the hike.

—-

taglist:

@sweetdayme4427 @dreaming-for-an-escape @peachydoki

#yellowjackets #yellowjackets x reader #natalie scatorccio #natalie scatorccio x reader

85 notes · View notes