Sky Full of Song
Lottie led the group through the forest, her feet weaving precisely through the trees, doing her best not to make any noise.
It made Lottie slightly angry, but she bit her tongue. Flashes of visions came through her memory every once in a while. The scene of her coach's mutilation was thick in her head.
She had seen it two weeks ago, before it even happened. She didn’t exactly know what to make of it in the moment, she just assumed it was another of her dumb... Visions that clouded her mind occasionally.
Lottie didn’t understand what was happening to her. It was impossible that she could see the future. Sure, she got some feelings about things from time to time, but it was nothing to talk about... Was it?
She had made the decision to just be quiet. A slip up, telling the wrong person, or saying anything weird would just make people laugh. She didn’t need that again. She didn’t want to be weird.
Lottie had enough things to worry about.
Thats all in the past. Now, she’s trekking through some forest in Vancouver, stepping lightly to avoid attracting zombies, and leading the Yellowjackets behind her. Why was she leading them again?
“Hey, Lot, where we heading?” She heard a soft whisper from behind. The sweet voice and smell of Laura Lee drifted through the air.
“I’m not too sure yet, but if we keep going in this direction, I’m sure we’ll find a small town or house somewhere.” She hummed quietly, smiling kindly at the blonde, “Any shelter that can fit us all is good. As long as we make it by sunset, all’s good.” Lottie ran a hand on the girl’s shoulder, nodding as she focused back in on the path ahead.
Lottie always liked Laura Lee. She was the kindest on the team, always a smile and a sweet thing to say whenever someone showed up. She was the purest. Laura Lee had never done no wrong, Lottie was almost sure it was impossible for her.
She glanced back again for a moment, past Laura Lee, past Jackie and Shauna—who were chatting away obnoxiously—and to the familiar bleach blonde girl.
Natalie looked as though she was lost in the clouds, looking around everywhere but in front of her. The girl was gracefully clumsy.
She looked nice in her leather jacket. Lottie saw her in it a lot. She often wore it to practice even when it was hot out. She never understood why.
The forest began to clear, Lottie had finally regained focus after tripping over a tangle of leaves while looking—maybe staring—at Natalie.
“Hey, Lot, look!” Laura Lee chimed, pointing over her shoulder. Lotties eyes narrowed, peering out into the distance before spotting the tip of a roof poking out just over the hill. She turned to Laura Lee with a grin, nodding as she turned around.
“I think we found something.” She announced, turning her head around to take another look at the roof before turning back. Lottie felt a sharp pain in her stomach at the movement, causing her to make a soft grunt in the pain.
She reached down where the pain was, feeling something hard in her pocket. Right, that. Lottie had completely forgot about it.
Before she left for the plane, she stole a hunting knife from the garage, where her dad had kept his old hunting tools. That was forever ago, Mr. Matthews would neeever do something that dirty nowadays. She rolled her eyes at the thought.
She was able to sneak it onto the plane, placing it in a discreet pocket inside of her sweater. Lottie didn’t exactly know why she felt she needed to take it, but she did.
With a huff, she reached for the knife, taking it out of its place and eying the group in front of her. “Does anyone else have... Anything? In case it’s bad over there.”
Murmurs of rejection and brief headshakes filled the group. Until—
“I have this?” The raspy voice of one Natalie Scatorccio filled the silence. Lottie peered over to what the girl was holding, cocking an eyebrow as she spotted the lighter in her hand.
“It’s something.” She shrugged, giving the girl a curt nod before continuing forwards, the rest of them following.
Coach Ben was weirdly quiet. She thought this was weird. He was usually the one to try and take the adult role in this kind of scenario. Maybe he was just scared. They all were. Lottie was just... More prepared, maybe.
As they made it over the hill, the building had revealed to be a house. It looked like a cabin, some kind of vacation home maybe. It wasn’t the most well-kept from the outside, but it wasn’t bad. They could definitely stay there—for now, at least.
Lottie signaled them to pause, turning around once more. “Natalie, come with me. We should make sure nobody’s in there before we all go in.”
Lottie didn’t know why she picked Natalie, and it was clear the girl didn’t expect it either. The look on her face proved this; a mix of shock, confusion, and curiosity washed over her expression.
“I’ll go with you. You should have an adult with you.” Coach Ben chimed in, standing up straight as if to assert authority. Where was he, like, ten minutes ago? Lottie rolled her eyes.
“Oh yes, because we clearly need a man to save us from any danger.” Lottie narrowed her eyes, but sighed, gesturing for him and Natalie to follow her.
There were no more arguments, the rest of the girls waited where she left them.
“Remember, the head is the weakest part!” Called out Travis from behind them. Is he some kind of zombie expert? Jeez.
They quietly made their way through a back door, sliding silently through the shadowy cabin. Lottie’s breath was loud in her ears, mixed with the breaths of Natalie, which she found herself focusing on too much.
She shook her head before pressing on, the three of them making their way through each room silently, like spies sent on an undercover mission.
Kitchen, filled with messy dishes and unfinished canned foods sat on a table. Room clear.
Bathroom, completely emptied out, clear.
Living room, a complete mess, but clear.
The first bedroom they came upon was a child’s room. The wallpaper was blue with soft clouds hand-painted on top. Lottie was filled with a strange sadness. There was a family here. A small bed laid in the corner of the room, pink sheets with dark blue comforters on top filled up with various kinds of pillows. She scanned the whole room, taking in every detail she possibly could before feeling a lump in the back of her throat.
This was such a dumb thing to get emotional about. With a deep breath she nodded, “Clear.” She croaked, coughing as she left the room, closing the door after Natalie, eyes glowing with concern, left the room.
They proceeded into another bedroom, the master bedroom, but she let coach lead this one. Lottie needed a minute to decompress. A reassuring hand brushed her arm, making her twitch slightly. She swiveled her head to look at Natalie, who was giving her a kind, encouraging smile.
Lottie smiled back, but the silence that was formerly filled with the steps from coach Ben’s shoes was now taken over by screaming—and ripping flesh.
Lottie jumped, gasping as she stopped watching Natalie. Her face turned to immediate fear as she saw what was happening ahead of her.
Coach was screaming in pain as a zombie tore through his leg. It had been laying underneath the bed. She ran towards him, the knife pointed downwards in her fist, kneeling down to the ground and plunging the blade right into the creature’s head.
She kept stabbing, yelling with each one, a good fifteen times at least until the groaning stopped and Natalie pulled her away.
“Hey—hey, Lottie, stop, it’s dead, settle down.” Natalie whispered into her ear before softly getting back up, walking away from her and over towards coach.
Lottie stumbled to her feet. “I’ll... I’ll get help.” She stuttered as she started making her way towards the door. She was interrupted when Misty came bursting through the door with an axe, Taissa and Van close behind her.
“Misty what the—” Natalie started before she was shoved to the side, her face turning to anger as she stared down Misty who was now urgently standing over their coach who was now a weak pile on the floor.
She lifted her axe to his leg. “WAIT—MISTY WHAT THE FUCK?” Taissa yelled before the axe was brought down in one, hard swing. Blood splattered against the walls and both the blondes with a loud squelch that made Lottie recoil.
An audible shudder sounded from Natalie as her jaw dropped. Fucking hell Misty. “What. Was that.” Van deadpanned, stood still in shock as the group stared down at their bleeding out, fainted coach.
“Get me a first aid kit. Or a towel. Anything! Now!” Misty ordered, receiving judgy expressions in response. “Do you want him to die? Get me something to cut off the circulation!” With a grunt, Taissa ran off.
“You gonna tell us what the fuck that was even for?” Lottie asked, eyes flickering over to Misty for just a second before concerned eyes found their way back to the still frozen Natalie.
She didn’t know why she felt so protective over the girl. She didn’t understand why the only reason she asked her to come with her is so Lottie could keep her in her sights to make sure she was okay. She didn’t know what she was feeling. Lottie had hardly talked to the girl, but she’d felt this strange connection to her. Some feeling that Lottie couldn’t put her finger on. Some electricity between them that made her buzz every time she was around Natalie.
Lottie didn’t know about the raging crush she had on the girl.
She’ll figure it out eventually.
Maybe.
“Well, it’s common zombie knowledge that when you get a bite on a limb, you got to cut it off before it spreads, y’know? God, you guys can be so uncultured sometimes.” Misty rolled her eyes.
“You see, that’s fictional zombies, Misty. Fuck—we don’t even know how these ones behave! Or work!” Lottie shouted, talking more with her hands than anything. She let out an exasperated sigh before Taissa walked in, kneeling by Misty and preoccupying her. Lottie ran a hand through her hair as she watched Van leave, hearing the back door swing open and then shut quickly.
Natalie was still in the same position.
Lottie made her way over as quick as she could without looking weird. “Natalie? Natalie are you okay?” Her eyebrows furrowed in concern as she lifted a hand up to her face, about to rub the blood off, before pausing for a moment first. “Can I...?” She asked as she stared at the splatter of blood. It looked pretty cool, if Lottie was being honest. Natalie looked badass.
“I—yeah... Go—go ahead.” Natalie managed, wide, fearful eyes piercing through Lottie’s heart like a sword.
She lifted a careful hand to Natalie’s face, gently caressing the places with blood, wiping it onto the cuff of Lottie’s sweater. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Just a bit of blood, you’re alright.” Lottie spoke in a hushed whisper.
“Yeah—yeah, I’m okay. It’s okay. Sorry—just shock, that’s all Lottie. Don’t worry.” Her sentences were coming out less staggered, and far more concise.
“Okay, Natalie.” She hummed, continuing with her cleaning quietly, forcing herself not to let her eyes stray onto Natalie’s. That would be weird.
Wait. Why would that be weird?
Once there was none left on the girl’s face, she nodded, getting up and turning to see what was going on. Lottie was so absorbed in her moment with Natalie that she didn’t even realize they’d moved coach onto the bed, his leg wrapped up in at least two full rolls of bandages.
“Yo, Lottie? You gonna help me out here?” Taissa hissed, halfway across the room with the zombie’s wrists held by the girl.
“Yeah—my bad.” She muttered before making her way over, grabbing the feet and helping guide a backwards-walking Taissa out the bedroom door and to the front door. They laid the body down on the grass, deciding to leave it there for now and get rid of it in the morning.
They made their way back inside, where the rest of the group was all sat on a couch in the living room, deep in conversation. Lottie found a place on the very edge of the couch, next to Mari who was sat beside Natalie.
Jackie was stood at the front of the room, leaning against a fireplace as she spoke with a thick commanding tone. She was going on about room distributions, what to do if the owners came, defense, all of that. Shauna sat on her left, elbow resting on the knee that was pushed against her chest. Shauna had a killer poker-face. Lottie could never read her.
“Okay... But what if the owners come back and they wanna... Like... Kill us, or something?” Mari scoffed, raising her eyebrows.
“Then we’ll kill them?” Natalie interjected, giving Mari a noticeable sideye. Lottie snorted at the action.
“What if they have guns? Then what, Scatorccio?” Mari replied with a pointed stare.
“You really think somebody is going to come in here and shoot a bunch of teenage girls?” Natalie huffed, voice turning into a mix of annoyance and disbelief. Lottie could feel the drop of amusement in her expression, nonetheless.
“Well maybe they’ll think we’re zombies? Or murderers.”
“My god—Mari we’re not going to get killed by some strangers. They probably don’t even live here anymore, you dumbass.” Natalie shot back, narrowing her eyes.
“What did you just call me, burnout?” Mari snapped back, scowling. Lottie watched as her knuckles whitened.
“Hey fuck you, Mari!” Natalie snarled, jumping to her feet in a flash before everyone erupted in protests. Lottie jumped in between the two faster than she could realize what she was doing.
“Hey.” She warned, staring at Natalie with eyes that pierced through her skin. “Cool it.”
Natalie threw her hands up in retreat, dipping her head and sighing as she stomped away, slamming one of the bedroom doors. Lottie’s gaze made its way over to Mari. “You too. Learn how to stop talking once in a while, goddamn.” Lottie grumbled, exhaling as she sat back down.
She liked the power she had over the girls. They seemed to want to listen to her now. They never did before. Lottie hoped it would continue. She silently wished that if this thing continued, she’d be able to be some kind of mediator. There was enough tension between everyone; she could be the person to fix that. She could stop the Jackie-Natalie arguments, the Shauna-Taissa arguments, all of them. Lottie was set on it.
She hoped nothing would get in the way of that.
Jackie continued on talking about where people would be sleeping tonight. She decided to leave Natalie in the room she was in, but added Lottie, Laura Lee, and Gen to her room. In the kid’s bedroom, Van, Taissa, Mari, and Akilah. Jackie offered to sleep on the couch and Shauna immediately jumped in to join her. Ben took a one-seat recliner, and Travis gave Javi one of the other couches, deciding to sleep on a pile of blankets on the floor.
Lottie grabbed a few pillows from a closet, still neatly packet in some plastic. She threw them at the couch people before saying a brief goodnight before walking towards the room that was still only filled with Natalie.
The others were off changing into some of the clothes in Jackie’s bag and in the drawers. Lottie decided she would just sleep in what she had on, minus the sweater. It was awfully warm inside of the house despite the fact that there was no heat.
She opened the door, turning the doorknob silently and slowly, letting the door open just a crack so she didn’t scare Natalie. “Hey... We’re all getting ready to sleep now. You’re in this room with me, Laura Lee, and Gen.” Lottie smiled softly, voice sweet but hushed.
“Oh, okay. Sounds good.” Natalie replied shortly, giving Lottie a half-assed smile as she finished removing her boots, taking a side of the bed and turning onto her side, facing the wall.
Lottie sighed. The girl was so stubborn. The other two hung nervously outside the door-frame. She beckoned them inside, watching them kick off their shoes quickly. Lottie slipped into the bed without a word, sliding in beside Natalie, leaving just a few centimeters between the two.
Lottie held her breath. She didn’t want Natalie to feel it.
Little did she know, Natalie’s eyes were wide open with nerves, she could sense Lottie’s closeness.
Lottie turned onto her back, staring up at the roof. She could feel both the blondes on either side of her, it was cramped. She closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep.
After a few minutes, she was snoring away.
Lottie got out of bed, Natalie’s presence clearly missing. She turned to see Laura Lee and Gen still cozy in the bed. She felt a strange need to look for the missing girl, she was probably just in the living room or something.
When she stepped out, it was silent. The couch-dwellers were still sleeping comfortably in their places. Where was she? Lottie searched each of the rooms with no luck. It made her nervous.
Lottie rushed around the quiet house, feet light and short. Shadows moved in the corners of her eyes; Lottie flinched at every one. Panic began to consume her.
Why did she care this much?
She ran out the door, staring into the harsh darkness that greeted her. “Natalie?!” She called out, no answer. “Natalie!” She repeated herself.
A growling sounded from in the forest ahead of her. Lottie charged towards it, ignoring all of her instincts telling her to run away. A familiar voice sounded from ahead. “Help!”
Natalie.
Lottie sprinted towards the voice, it felt like she ran for hours. When she got to the source of the noise, she saw two of the zombies crowded around something, eating. A flash of blonde hair shone through.
She jumped towards them, kicking the living corpses away from the girl, terror in her face as they ran away from her.
That was weird. Lottie didn’t question it; she was too focused on Natalie.
The girl was laying lifeless on the ground, blood pooling around her out of bites all over her stomach. She was torn apart.
“NATALIE!” She screamed, dropping to her knees beside the girl as she ran her hands over the marks.
She sat crying for a good five minutes until something moved. Natalie moved. Lottie opened her eyes and looked down at the girl, but before she knew it, she was lunging at her, Lottie felt the flesh of her neck tear—
“Lottie?!”
“Fucking hell—Lot get up! Please!”
The desperate voice shocked Lottie, causing her to jump up with a small scream. She was sweating, her heart was racing, and her throat was dry.
“Lottie what the fuck was that?” Natalie’s voice rang sweetly through her ears, gentle hands rested on her shoulders as green eyes met her wide, brown, terrified eyes.
Lottie breathed shakily, looking around the room as Laura Lee and Gen stood beside the bed, and a crowd began forming around the doorway. “I—what?”
“You started screaming in your sleep. You yelled my name at one point.” Natalie’s face was washed over with worry. “Lottie, you were crying. You were sleeping and crying.” She emphasized, eyes running over Lottie as if she was checking for wounds.
“Sorry... I—uh... Bad dream.” Lottie stammered, taking deep breaths.
“That was one hell of a dream.” Natalie laughed humorlessly.
Lottie nodded urgently, wiping off her face.
Was that just a dream?
Lottie’s whole protectiveness over Natalie just got a whole lot more consuming.