R.I.P. 2 My Youth
The plane smelled strangely good. Natalie was surprised about how well kept the place was. Obviously, it was a private plane so it would be nicer than a normal one, but Natalie couldn’t help but be surprised.
She heard the other girls say something about Lottie’s dad as she was settling in. Natalie always wondered what her father did to get them so much money. Lottie never talked about it. Never talked about him.
Recently, Lottie didn’t talk about anything at all. Natalie felt crazy; nobody else even acknowledged the girl's recent silence. Usually, Lottie was the first one to join into one of their many karaoke sessions in the changerooms, or join into a conversation with the iconic Matthews sass to humble Mari or Jackie. It was weird.
It wasn’t like Natalie and her were friends, really. They spoke every once in a while, but she got the feeling that Lottie didn’t really care for her. It didn’t bother her, but Natalie did want to get to know her better.
Natalie spotted the girl sitting alone a few rows ahead of her, a rabbit-fur sweater occupying the seat beside her. The infamous ribbons in her hair always made Natalie smile. They suited her well, and were a cute addition to her outfits. Not like she noticed them, or anything.
Lottie caught Natalies eye for a moment when she turned around, the sight sent chills down her spine. The girl’s eyes were ominous. She looked as if she knew something would happen on this flight. Natalie wouldn’t be surprised; she was aware of Lottie’s weird sixth sense for these things. Van never let them forget about the one time that she had been right about the whole Mr. Jenkins thing.
Natalie agreed that it was strange, but she never really thought into it.
Until now.
Why was that look on her face? What was scaring her that bad?
It looked like she hadn’t slept in ages.
Natalie shook her head. Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe that was all it was, Lottie just not getting sleep. No big deal. She grabbed her headphones and Walkman out of her carry-on bag, sighing as she let the sounds of the team’s chatter be drowned out by The Cure’s “Lovesong”.
She closed her eyes, letting herself begin to fall asleep. The chairs were comfortable, and reclinable, which made it very easy to become drowsy.
Lottie’s eyes haunted her mind, the foreboding feeling lingering. Natalie felt safe enough—but not fully. It was just a look. Not anything more than that. Lottie is not a psychic. Natalie told herself before eventually slipping away into a comfortable unconsciousness.
Until she was disrupted by a hand on her shoulder.
“Natalie.” She heard muffled through her headphones as she blinked away sleep from her eyes, sitting up straight with a yawn, removing her headphones off her ears and onto her neck.
“Natalie!” The voice repeated as she turned her head, Taissa was standing in front of her, her eyes unsettlingly anxious.
“The fuck—what do you want, Tai?” She huffed, cracking her knuckles softly as she eyed the girl towering over her.
“Didn’t you hear? We’re making an emergency landing or something. They detoured a while back but we need to land now, we’re in Vancouver—I think.” Taissa groaned. “They said that something’s wrong.”
Natalie grumbled in annoyance. Of course something had to go wrong. Why wouldn’t it? She recalled the gaze that she shared with Lottie earlier.
She couldn’t have—
No.
That’s impossible.
Natalie shook her head. “That sucks. Will we have to turn around then? Or are we getting on another flight to Seattle after?” She asked, bunching up her headphones and stuffing them back into her bag.
Taissa shrugged. “They didn’t mention.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
Natalie and Taissa had more of an understanding than a friendship. They were similar in the sense that they both were nobodies. Taissa was just there, just like Natalie.
Van was popular around the school for doing the morning announcements, Jackie was popular because of Jeff and her whole “queen bee” thing, Shauna was by association to Jackie. Lottie was well known, and was the designated party-house even though she wasn’t exactly popular, Misty was the “weird girl”, Laura Lee was popular with the bible-thumpers, yadda yadda.
Taissa went back to her seat, and Natalie clicked in her seatbelt as the pilot announced they’d be landing soon. She felt the plane shake a bit, and then glide along the runway.
Natalie was the last of the girls to stand up, grabbing her things from the compartment above her and then beginning to follow behind Mari and Akhila who were deep in some dramatic conversation. Most likely gossip.
Natalie stepped off the plane and walked through the hallway down into the airport. The moment she made it into the crowd with her fellow Yellowjackets, instant chaos broke out in front of her.
People ran in all different directions, screaming and crying rang in her ears.
“What the fuck—” Natalie started before getting slammed into by some man, red in the face and breath heavy. He looked her in the eye for a moment, almost transferring his fear onto her before he got up and sprinted away again, feet pounding heavily on the terrazzo flooring.
A hand reached out in front of her, causing her to turn her head upwards. She locked eyes with Lottie. The brown doe-eyes staring kindly into hers. Natalie grabbed the hand, smiling as she helped her up.
“Thanks, Lottie.” She hummed with a nod, feeling the disarray around them disintegrate.
“Don’t mention it.” Lottie responded shortly, dropping her hand to her side and turning away from Natalie.
Moment over.
Her head swiveled quickly as she heard a squeak from beside her, a man had grabbed Jackie by the shoulders, yelling at her.
“You need to leave! They’re killing everyone!” He shouted, spit visibly flying from his mouth.
Poor Jackie.
Another quick head turn as she heard a familiar yell; coach Martinez had wandered off to find out what was going on, but in a flash, he was pinned onto the ground. Some of the girls screamed, others just stared.
It was this moment that their coach was being ripped apart.
His screams echoed.
Cries for help mixed with blood gurgling in his throat.
Then, it was quiet.
All Natalie could hear was the tearing of flesh.
Her first encounter with what was to come.
“What the actual FUCK is going on right now?!” Mari broke the girls shock and silence with a loud voice.
“We need to run, now!” Coach Scott yelled, sprinting away from their former coach. Almost everyone ran after him, fear triggering immediate fight or flight reflexes.
Natalie stood still.
Travis and Javi screamed for their father, but didn’t dare to get any closer.
Lottie breathed on Natalie’s neck, sending a shiver down her spine.
“We have to go, Natalia.”
Her voice was ominous, but it broke Natalie from her trance. Nobody used that name on her besides her mother. A hand tightened around her wrist as she felt herself being pulled in the direction the others went. She forced herself to follow, her legs slowly picking up pace to match Lottie’s speed. They left Travis and Javi behind. They’d catch up soon.
Hopefully.
Natalie was never the best runner. She was much better with ball control and technique on the field. She wasn’t out of shape, but she was definitely not as fast as some of the others like Shauna.
Lottie was fast. Natalie struggled to keep up, dragging behind by the tight grasp on her wrist; Lottie was strong too.
They ran for quite some time, the group sprinting as if they were warming up for scrimmages. Simpler times. Natalie and Lottie were farther behind. Streaking by people and cars. Blood and fire in every direction. It was a terrifying sight.
What scared her the most though, was the memory of Lottie before the plane.
She knew something.
Natalie didn’t know what it was exactly, but she knew Lottie knew something. She was acting so strangely for weeks, and then this happens? It can’t be a coincidence. Natalie had lots of questions. She needed to talk to Lottie once this was all over.
Her mistrust in the girl was still overshadowed by a strange electric sensation shooting up from her wrist. Lottie’s hand still held a firm grasp on Natalie. She slowed down her pace slowly as they joined with the group.
They had made it into a forest on the outmost of the town. Lottie loosened her grip slowly, but didn’t remove it. This action confused her, but she didn’t question it, nor did she pull her hand away.
A loud sob came from the mouth of Taissa. She was the last one Natalie had expected to break. Van ran over to her quickly, pulling her into a hug as she stroked the girl's hair.
They had a special connection, all the girls knew that. They were a notorious duo on the Yellowjackets, always with each other when they could be. Natalie always said they’d be unstoppable on the field if Van wasn’t goalie. They had an unspoken language. Like Jackie and Shauna.
They had settled into a spot on the ground, snacking on things that they’d had in their bags. Most of the girls left their suitcases behind. Jackie still had hers though, and had handed out sweaters to everyone who needed one.
Lottie had let go of Natalie’s wrist now, but kept a close presence. It felt protective. Natalie felt safe under the girls watch, but she didn’t understand why her.
“Hey, uh, thank you back there.” Natalie hummed in a hushed voice.
“No problem.” She replied shortly.
She was quiet as per usual. Natalie wondered why she was still being like this. This was a real situation and Lottie was silent. She’d get a word out of the brunette today one way or another. She was adamant on it.
A rustle in the bush broke the stillness. Coach Scott jumped to his feet, grabbing a long stick he found on the ground as if it were a sword. Natalie stifled a laugh; he looked pretty weak.
Instead of one of those things that they expected to emerge from the bushes, the familiar sight of the Martinez brothers. Their faces both beet red and sweat pouring off their faces mixed with tears.
“Travis! Javi!” Coach Scott sighed in relief, walking over to the boys and hugging them gently. This clearly made the both of them uncomfortable, so he backed off, coughing.
“Hey.” Travis huffed through clenched teeth; his eyes were wild. Redness and tears making him look as though he was high.
“Dad—he...” Javi choked, falling to the floor before he could get a word out. Shauna quickly ran over to him, dropping to her knees and wrapping an arm around the boy, whispering comforts into his ears.
“He became... Something. A monster, like... Like a zombie.” Travis’ voice was clearly strained. “You know? Like from the game... Resident Evil!” He huffed, looking around wildly.
Natalie had no clue what that game was, she wasn’t much of a video game player, but she was sure that either way it wasn’t a good thing. “Like... Brain eating, green, arms out zombie? Like the stories?” She raised an eyebrow.
“No—fuck! It’s not like that! It’s worse. They can run; they bite people. We were there too long. He... He almost got Javi.” Travis sighed, his voice softening as he looked over at his brother, eyes serious but filled with love. It was clear how much he cared for the younger boy, now sat with his legs pulled into his chest, Shauna standing behind him with a hand on his head.
Natalie wondered how well Shauna knew Javi. She didn’t think they had ever talked before, but Shauna seemed to care about him a lot too. Maybe she just has some kind of motherly instinct. Who knows?
“We need to find somewhere safer than this. If it’s how Travis is explaining, it’s not long until we’re all dead.” Lottie muttered, an assertive tone lacing her voice as she towered over the group. Where did that come from? Natalie wondered.
It was kinda hot.
Wait who said that?
“I agree. We should go find some... Abandoned place or something—” Jackie chimed, standing tall on her tippy-toes, as if to give off the same presence and authority as Lottie had just done.
“Well, time to go find a place, in Canada, to hide from zombies, who just killed our coach.” Mari said, sarcasm and unenthusiasm thick in her voice. God, Natalie was going to end up killing the girl herself if she kept being like this.