Wren Scatorccio | 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟱
Wiskayok, New Jersey

Wren sat in the armchair beside the couch, watching TV in the rare silence that filled the house. Her mom had fallen asleep on the couch hours ago, and her father and Natalie weren't home, leaving Wren alone with the quiet. It was a severe contrast to the usual chaos, where her father was always yelling about something and looking for someone to hit.

Wren and Natalie had become experts at hiding their bruises, either with makeup or by wearing long sleeves to school. But during soccer practice, when the sweat wiped away their makeup, their teammates would ask questions. The twins always had excuses ready. No one believed them, but no one said anything either.

The door opened softly, pulling Wren from her thoughts. Natalie peeked inside, checking the house before stepping in, followed closely by Kevyn Tan. Wren glanced at her sister but didn't say anything as the two quietly slipped into the bedroom she and Natalie shared. Relieved to have the house to herself again, Wren turned her attention back to the TV, savoring the rare moment of peace without their father's rage.

But then, her father's car pulled into the driveway, which made her stomach drop. If he found Kevyn in their room, he'd go batshit crazy. Wren jumped up, turned off the TV, and ran to the hallway to block him, hoping to buy them time.

The door flew open, startling their mom awake on the couch.

"Florence, get the hell out of the way," he shouted, grabbing Wren and shoving her aside. She stumbled and hit the floor face first.

He then stormed into the bedroom. "What the fuck? I don't think so, buddy," he growled, grabbing Kevyn and shoving him onto Natalie's bed.

"We weren't doing anything!" Natalie shouted.

"Oh, yeah?"

"We were just listening to music!" she yelled back.

Wren scrambled to her feet and ran into the bedroom as Kevyn darted past her and out the door.

"This what you do when I'm not around?" their father hissed, gripping Natalie's arm tightly. "Are you a little slut? Are you a little slut?"

"Dad, she wasn't doing—"

Before Wren could finish, his hand lashed out, striking her across the cheek.

"Don't start with me, Florence. I know you have Ryder over when I'm not around. I'm not fucking stupid."

Their mom appeared in the doorway, her voice hesitant. "Hey, what are you doing?"

He spun around and slapped her hard, sending her sprawling onto the floor. "You sleep all fucking day while they bring boys into the goddamn house?"

Wren and Natalie stood frozen in the doorway as he kicked their mom down the hallway, screaming obscenities.

Natalie suddenly disappeared into their parents bedroom and returned moments later with their dad's shotgun. She stepped in front of Wren and pointed it at their dad.

He stopped mid yell and turned around, panting. "What are you gonna do?" he sneered, stepping closer to her. "You gonna shoot your daddy in the head?"

Natalie's finger squeezed the trigger, but it only clicked.

"Looks like you've got the safety on," he said mockingly, snatching the shotgun from her hands. "Here, let me show you, okay, baby? Look. On, off. See, sweetie? On, off, baby girl. Just like that. On, off."

Wren and Natalie stood frozen, tears streaming down their faces.

"It's perfectly okay to keep a gun in the house if your kid's too stupid to know how to use it," he spat. "I never thought you could be more useless than your mother, but guess what, honey? You just won that fucking contest."

He stormed out of the trailer with the shotgun in hand. Natalie followed, standing in the doorway.

"You're the fucking useless one!" she screamed after him.

"What the fuck did you say—"

His words were cut off by the deafening blast of the shotgun.

Natalie stood frozen in the doorway, her eyes locked on their father's lifeless body sprawled on the ground. Their mom ran outside, sobbing over his corpse.

Wren stepped up beside Natalie, staring at the awful scene. She wanted to move, but her body wouldn't let her. She was rooted in place, unable to tear her eyes away.

———

Isa Martínez , Wren Scatorccio | 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟲
somewhere in the wilderness

Isa sat beside Mari on a log, both caught up in a conversation with Laura Lee. Across from them, Shauna and Van sat beside Laura Lee.

Van abruptly stood, her voice sharp as she shouted at Travis. "Hey!" She ran over to him, grabbing the barrel of the rifle he had aimed at a squirrel. "You don't know what the hell you're doing with that!"

"He's being fucking stupid," Jackie commented from the chair on the porch.

"No," Travis shot back. "What's stupid is the fact that we have a gun and we're not fucking using it."

He pushed Van aside and raised the gun, firing at the squirrel, but missing entirely.

"If you're gonna shoot something, at least hit it," Isa said, her tone tinged with irritation.

Travis flipped her off without a word.

The twins ran over, alarmed. "What the hell?" Natalie said.

"Hey!" Ben called out, his voice carrying from the porch as he struggled forward on his makeshift crutches. "Give me that."

Travis ignored him at first, sitting stubbornly with the gun in hand.

"Travis, give me the gun," Ben repeated firmly.

Travis rolled his eyes and finally handed over the rifle.

"This is a dangerous weapon, and we will handle it as such. We understand?" Ben asked, looking around at the group. A few of the girls nodded

"All right," Ben continued, his voice steady. "That said, Travis is right. We're out of food. We're all feeling it. The good news is my father used to take me deer hunting every year as a kid. The bad news, yeah, I'm down to one fucking leg. Which means that if we want to eat, one of you is gonna have to learn how to use this thing."

Isa and Mari exchanged excited grins at the thought of learning to shoot. But the Scatorccio twins weren't as enthusiastic. Their eyes widened, fixed on the rifle as unbidden memories surfaced, dragging them back to that god awful day.

One by one, the girls took turns with the rifle, attempting to keep a coin balanced on the barrel as they fired. Half of them didn't even get close. Alani knocked the coin off before pulling the trigger, and Parker couldn't bring herself to hold the gun at all.

When it was Taissa's turn, she steadied herself, lifting the rifle. Misty carefully placed the coin on the barrel and stepped back. Taissa fired, but the coin fell.

"Damn it," Taissa groaned.

"It's okay," Ben reassured her. "You guys, hey, it's not a competition."

"But there is gonna be a winner, right?" Jackie said smugly, taking the rifle from Taissa.

"All right, Jackie. You're up," Ben said.

"Yeah, Jackie," Mari clapped.

Misty replaced the coin on the barrel, but before Jackie could even aim, the coin tumbled to the ground.

The group erupted with laughter, with Taissa doubling over from it.

"Okay, this is literally impossible," Jackie whined.

"All right, come on," Ben said, trying to regain control. "Let's keep it moving. Martinez, let's go."

Travis and Isa looked to each other, confused. "Uh, Travis," he clarified quickly.

"Uh, yo, Javi, come try this," Travis said, holding the gun out to his brother in what seemed like a half hearted apology for their fight the other day.

Javi got up but brushed past Travis without a glance. "Fuck you."

Travis lifted the rifle and fired, keeping the coin steady on the barrel.

"See? And that, ladies, is how it's done," Travis said.

"Nice, Martinez," Ben acknowledged before turning to Isa. "Isa, you're up."

Travis handed the gun to Isa before taking a seat on the porch.

Isa stepped forward, but Natalie quickly intervened. "Are you sure your shoulder's okay?" she asked softly, concern lacing her voice.

Isa smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure."

She stepped into position, raising the rifle and steadying her breathing. Misty placed the coin on the barrel, and Isa fired. The coin stayed in place.

"See? And that's how it's done, Travis," Isa said, throwing his earlier words back at him.

"You got lucky," Travis muttered, rolling his eyes.

Isa smirked. "Mm, I think that's just called skill."

"Great, Isa," Ben said, his voice brighter now that some progress had been made. "Wren, you're up."

Isa turned and offered the gun to her, but Wren froze, staring at it.

"Um, I can't. I'm sorry," Wren said, her voice barely above a whisper.

She backed away and sat beside Van on the porch. Van draped an arm around her shoulders, offering silent comfort as Wren avoided looking at the gun again.

"Uh, Nat, you're up," Ben called.

Natalie took the gun from Isa and stepped into the middle of the group.

"Come on, nice and easy. Like the man said," Travis taunted.

Isa walked over and smacked Travis on the back of his head, earning an annoyed glare from him.

Natalie raised the rifle but deliberately tilted it so the coin slid off and fell to the ground.

"Here," Van said, standing and taking the gun from Natalie.

"That's a shame," Travis sneered. "Next time, we can just stick to something you're actually good at. Like folding laundry, or sucking—"

"Hey!" Isa shouted, shoving her brother hard away from Natalie. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Ignoring him, Natalie announced, "I'm going again," snatching the gun from Van's hands.

"Can she do that?" Jackie asked.

Ben sighed. "Yeah, I'll allow it."

Natalie raised the gun again and pulled the trigger. This time, the coin stayed balanced on the barrel. The girls erupted into cheers and applause, and Natalie couldn't help but smile.

"Now that we've narrowed down the field," Ben began, "here's how this is gonna go down. One final round for all the marbles. You've got five targets, five shots each. Mari, can you start us off?"

"Just a thought," Laura Lee interjected hesitantly. "Shouldn't we be saving the bullets?"

"Yeah, in theory," Ben admitted, "but lucky for us, the nut job who lived here before was apparently hoarding for the apocalypse."

Isa watched Mari glance back at Parker, their smiles lingering on each other. Isa had always thought their relationship seemed odd. They often disappeared into the woods for hours and came back with messy hair and flushed cheeks. Before the crash, Isa might not have thought much of their relationship. But now that she knew Parker was in a relationship, and that night Parker kept referring to her partner as "they." It was strange to Isa. If it were a boy, Parker wouldn't have done that.

Mari stepped up and fired the rifle, missing the first can entirely.

"The can," Travis said mockingly. "You're aiming for the cans."

"Shut up!" Mari snapped.

"Do you like being this way?" Natalie asked Travis, glaring at him.

"If you shit the bed again, are you gonna ask for another do-over?" Travis shot back.

Wren shoved him hard. "You have no idea what you're talking about. So I suggest you shut the fuck up before—"

"Before what? You shoot me?" Travis interrupted, his tone sharp. "You couldn't even hold the gun."

Mari fired again, this time hitting a few cans. She knocked down three out of five before stepping back.

"Alright, good job, Mari," Ben said.

Mari handed the gun off to Travis with more force than necessary, then walked over to Parker, who threw an arm over her girlfriend's shoulders.

Travis raised the rifle and aimed, hitting four cans. But the last one remained standing.

Wren chuckled. "So close, Flex."

Travis spun around, his face dark with anger, and aimed the rifle at Wren. "Don't fucking call me that!"

"Travis!" Isa yelled, stepping between him and Wren. "Are you fucking crazy? Put it down!"

But Travis didn't move, keeping the gun aimed.

"Are you gonna shoot your own sister?" Isa asked. "Make sure you don't miss this time."

"Travis!" Ben shouted from behind them. "Put the gun down!"

Slowly, Travis lowered the rifle.

Ben let out an exasperated sigh. "You're done. Give the gun to Isa."

Travis glared at Ben, then at Isa, before shoving the gun into her hands and storming off.

Isa took a deep breath, steadied herself, and raised the rifle. With each pull of the trigger, she hit every single can, one after the other.

The girls erupted into cheers as Isa lowered the gun. "Fuck yeah!" she shouted.

Isa handed the rifle to Natalie. She raised the rifle and hesitated for a moment before pulling the trigger. One by one, the cans fell. The group cheered even louder, and Natalie turned to find Isa grinning at her.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Ben said. "Isa and Nat are our hunters."

———

"The truth is, we might be out here a little longer than we expected," Ben admitted, though the girls already knew it. "So the rest of us are relying on you two, which means you need to rely on each other. You understand?"

They both nodded. Ben handed the gun to Isa, and the pair began walking into the woods, scanning for tracks or scratches on the trees. So far, they hadn't found anything.

"I need to tell you something," Isa said, breaking the silence. "But you can't tell anyone."

"I won't, I swear."

"I'm like eighty percent positive that Mari and Parker are together."

Natalie's face lit up with a smile, which quickly turned into laughter.

"What?"

"That's old news," Natalie said between chuckles. "The whole team knows. They're not exactly discreet. I think just you and Laura Lee were out of the loop."

"Why didn't anybody tell us? Why didn't Mari tell me?" Isa asked, confused.

"Nobody told each other anything. We just knew. We'd all give each other looks whenever Mari mentioned Parker or even looked at her," Natalie explained. "Plus you were the only Christians on the team. And some of them aren't so accepting."

Isa felt a pang of hurt but understood why Mari had kept it to herself. She glanced down at the cross hanging around her neck, then tore it off and tossed it into the woods.

"What was that about?" Natalie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want to believe in God," Isa sighed. "I can't. Not after everything I've been told. And definitely not after our fucking plane crashed."

"Better not throw out my necklace," Natalie teased.

"It's a gift from my insanely hot girlfriend. I wouldn't dream of it." Isa hadn't meant to say "girlfriend," but the word slipped out before she could stop herself.

"Girlfriend?" Natalie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Isa avoided eye contact. "Um—sorry, I meant—just forget it."

"No," Natalie said, her tone soft. "It's okay. I wouldn't mind being your girlfriend."

Isa turned to look at the blonde, her grin spreading ear to ear. "Really? You mean it?"

Natalie nodded. "Isa, I—I love you, and I want to be with you."

Isa couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her lips. "I love you too, Nat."

Back at the cabin, most of the group had gone foraging in case Isa and Natalie didn't bring anything back, but Wren had stayed behind. She was sitting on the porch, idly kicking at the dirt beneath her feet and lost in thought, when she noticed Travis walk out of the cabin and head into the woods. Intrigued, she decided to follow him.

"Wait," she called out. "Travis!"

Travis groaned but didn't stop walking. "What could you possibly want?"

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business," he retorted.

"It kind of is," Wren said. "You can't just be off in your own world out here."

Travis sighed, clearly annoyed. "Just don't slow me down."

"I'm a fast runner," Wren replied. "I don't slow anyone down, Flex."

Travis stopped abruptly and turned to her, his face a mix of frustration and anger. "Don't fucking call me that!"

Wren raised her hands in mock surrender. "Shit, okay. Jeez, I was just messing around."

Travis let out a long sigh. "Do you even know why people call me Flex?"

She shook her head, curious now.

"In seventh grade, I had surgery on my back. Spinal fusion or something—I don't know, it sucked," he began. "When I got back to school, Bobby Farleigh saw my scar in the locker room. He told everybody that I had to get one of my ribs removed so that I could be flexible enough to, you know..." His voice trailed off awkwardly. "Suck my own dick."

Wren's expression softened as she took in his words, her earlier teasing evaporating. "Oh, I had no idea. I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Travis muttered, brushing her off. He turned around and quickened his pace, clearly not wanting to dwell on the subject any longer.

Meanwhile, Natalie and Isa had stumbled upon the wreckage of the plane. They sat against its mangled walls, sitting face to face, passing a joint back and forth between them.

"He was such a shit dad," Isa said, exhaling smoke. "He hated me. The only one he liked was Javi, because he's the baby of the family or some shit. I don't blame him for any of it, though."

"It doesn't matter how shitty they are," Natalie said quietly, her eyes fixed on the ground. "It still fucks you up when they're gone."

Isa sighed and passed the joint to her girlfriend. "He would've hated me a lot more if he knew about us. 'Marry a man, mija,' he'd say, 'don't be like those disgusting lesbians.'"

Natalie stared at Isa, unsure how to respond, but Isa let out a dry laugh. "If only he could see me now."

The couple sat in silence for a moment before distant shouts interrupted their peace. The sounds seemed to be coming from just outside the wreckage. Alarmed, they stood and went to investigate.

Outside, they found Wren on top of Travis, pinning him to the ground.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Isa ran over to the pair, shoving Wren off her brother. "What's your deal?"

"She's psychotic," Travis spat, brushing dirt off himself.

"No, this idiot was trying to dig up your dad's grave!" Wren shot back, hoping Isa would talk some sense into him.

"You're doing what?!" Isa yelled, disbelief etched in her voice.

"You don't get it," Travis shouted, his tone defiant. "I need to get the ring."

Isa stared at him, her anger giving way to a resigned nod. "Okay." She stepped aside, as did Natalie and Wren.

Travis resumed digging, his hands moving frantically. But when he finally unearthed their father's body, he froze. His face turned pale, and he quickly turned to the side, vomiting beside the grave.

"Oh god," he stammered, his breaths shaky. "I can't. Fuck." He staggered backward, his body trembling.

"It's just a ring," Wren said firmly. "Let it go. You can live without it."

"I can't," Travis said, his voice breaking. "I need to bring something back."

"For Javi," Wren realized. She knelt down near the grave, looking to Travis. "Which hand?"

"Right," he answered weakly.

Wren dug into the dirt, uncovering the hand. She tried to slide the ring off, but it wouldn't budge. "I need to cut it off," she said.

Natalie approached her sister and handed her a knife. Without hesitation, Wren took it and began sawing through the finger. The sound of bones cracking made Isa shudder, and when she caught sight of her father's severed finger, she lurched forward and vomited.

"We should get back to hunting," Natalie said softly, guiding Isa away from the horrific scene.

The two of them walked further and further from the wreckage, the silence between them heavy with the weight of what they had just witnessed.

"Holy shit," Isa whispered, suddenly grabbing Natalie's arm and tapping her frantically. "Look. A deer."

Natalie froze, spotting the animal. She raised the gun, her movements tentative. Isa stepped behind her, reaching over to flip off the safety. Natalie's hands trembled as she aimed.

Isa placed a steadying hand on Natalie's shoulder and exhaled slowly, prompting Natalie to do the same.

Natalie inhaled, then exhaled slowly. Finally, she pulled the trigger.

———

Natalie and Isa had tied the deer to a branch using their sweaters and carried it back to the cabin. Their arms ached from the weight, but the sight of the deer gave them a renewed sense of purpose.

"Holy shit, they did it," Ben muttered under his breath as they approached. He stood, nodding in approval. "Nice work, you two."

"It was all Nat," Isa said, sharing a glance with the blonde, a proud smile on her lips.

"So," Natalie started, "what do we do with it now?"

"First thing we gotta do is bleed it out," Ben replied, holding up a knife. "Who wants to try?"

The group fell silent. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, their expressions a mix of horror and hesitation. But Shauna didn't look away. Her gaze remained fixed on the deer, something curious and resolute flickering in her eyes.

"I'll give it a try," Shauna said finally, stepping forward.

Ben handed her the knife, and she knelt down beside the animal. He guided her through the process, his voice steady as he explained what to do. Shauna gripped the knife tightly and slit the deer's throat. Blood gushed out immediately, pooling beneath its neck.

Alani turned away, gagging at the sight of the blood. Her face twisted in discomfort, but Shauna remained focused, her expression unreadable.

By the time night fell, the group was gathered around the fire, eating the cooked deer meat, careful not to let a single bite go to waste.

"Hey," Travis said suddenly, fishing something out of his pocket. He held up the ring Wren had helped him retrieve earlier. "I kind of forgot that I had this. Want to hold on to it?"

He extended the ring toward Javi, who didn't hesitate before taking it. He examined it quietly, his expression softening as he turned it over in his hand.

Wren, who had been watching the exchange from a distance, smiled faintly. She glanced at Travis, who caught her gaze and returned the smile. For the first time in what felt like ages, there was a sense of peace between them.