HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER SIXTY !

ALMOST EVERYONE WAS BOUNCING with elation at the prospect of finally going home, this both saddened and relieved Nola. She hated how much they suddenly wished to return home to the boring lives they lived before instead of being grateful and enjoying what the Wilderness had provided them, but she was glad they seemed happy enough to not notice her lack of a bag.

With no intention on heading back to a life she fucking hated, to parents who treated her like shit and to a life where her love for Shauna had to be hidden, Nola hadn't even bothered to pack a bag. Plus she was still limping like crazy and was in no shape to trek miles into the forest just because that prick said he knew where he was going.

They had all gathered together in the centre of the village once their bags had been packed and supplies had been gathered, their excited giggles ringing in the air.

            Nola would pretend to go along, lull around at the back of the line until they were all too distracted by going home that she could halt her movements altogether until they were so far ahead that her missing presence would go completely unnoticed. She couldn't go back.

            "Alright. Everybody, listen up." Natalie began to call out, her voice carrying over the group and causing them to fall into attentive silence. She turned to face the scientists who now only had their hands tied. The rifle in Natalie's hands was aimed at the two as she stared down the barrel. "We're trusting you to get us there safely and I think you know that we will kill you if you try anything stupid shit."

            The man nodded only once. A deliberate move to convey he wasn't scared, which was total bullshit. "Yeah, it's very clear." He almost sarcastically replied.

            "We won't try anything." Hannah was much more compliant. She couldn't nod her head hard enough, couldn't look more scared if she tried. "We want to go home too."

            There was a beat as Natalie contemplated their words, judged whether or not they spoke truthfully before allowing the gun to sink back down to her side. "Good. Let's fucking do this!" She yelled cheerfully, her eyes brighter than they had been in a long time. Perhaps even before they ended up out here.

            Excited whoops and celebratory whistles carried in the breeze, reverberating off the trees and circling back to them as the group of teenagers basked in the glory that was finally getting to go home, back to civilisation and normalcy. That joy wouldn't last long however as mere footsteps had been taken towards the path forward before a voice could be heard.

            "I'm staying."

            For a moment, Nola thought the words came from her own mouth. Tumbled from her lips before she could stop herself from revealing her true intentions but no. It hadn't been her but instead Lottie. The Matthews girl stood still, her gaze low and bag now set on the ground beside her feet.

            "What?" Someone's voice echoed, their tone a mix of confusion and disbelief. As though they couldn't understand or didn't want to believe what they were hearing.

            Van scoffed in forced amusement. "Yeah, cute joke, Lot."

             Lottie's voice remained quiet. "I'm not joking." She clarified to the group, washing away any hope they still had that Lottie was simply messing with them.

             Annoyed huffs from the group came in droves as Gen snapped, "Are you fucking crazy?"

            "She actually might be crazy." Melissa uttered incredulously. This earned her a glare from Nola, who very much didn't appreciate her friend being called crazy because if Lottie was crazy, so was she.

            "Why?" Misty questioned desperately.

            The Matthews girl stayed silent. Distress replaced the delight once etched to Natalie's face. "Lottie." She began as she trudged forward to the girl, determined to speak to her, to talk her down from this foolish idea of staying behind. "Lottie...I know it's a lot. It's fucking scary going back."

            Natalie swallowed down the lump threatening to form. "I think we all kinda gave up on it happening but...this is very real. This is rescue. This is home."

            Tears swarmed Lottie's eyes. "That's not home, Nat. What home do you have to go back to?" She asked honestly. She knew Natalie's home life wasn't amazing, knew that at least out here Natalie had people who genuinely cared about her.

            "I can't go back." Lottie continued. Her bottom lip trembled as she fought back the urge to sob. "If I go back, nothing will be...well. I won't—I won't be well. I won't be me. The me that was made out here."

            "And that unwellness that I feel, I feel it so deeply in my bones. We're safer here."

            For a split second Natalie looked prepared to carry on pleading with her friend, but only for a second. "Fine. You know what, you stay then." Her face was stoic, stripped of emotion. She wouldn't allow Lottie to keep her here. "Everyone else, let's go."

            As Natalie tried to turn on her heel and lead the group once more, Nola decided she simply couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Don't." She begged as she stepped forward, the leaves crunching under her foot.

"What now?" Someone groaned.

"This isn't right." The brunette croaked out her plea. Every atom that formed her very being was on fire now, screeching at her, demanding she kept them from leaving. She gulped away her fear and uttered, "I heard the whispering of the Wilderness and...I felt impressed upon. That we must do whatever it takes to keep all of us together."

Travis took a single step forward, mirroring his friend. "Nola, what are you doing?" He implored of the girl, his face warped with rising anger. "We can home and you actually want to fucking stay?"

"I'm trying to keep us all safe and we're safer together. Please, I am begging you all, just trust me on this. You're my friends and I love you all so much. I'd never want to hurt you." Her eyes were wet but the tears didn't escape. She blinked them away before they could slip down her cheeks.

She sounded so honest, so earnest. It actually scared some of them how intensely she spoke, how much she believed in the words that jumped from her tongue. Her devotion in the Wilderness, in what they had built out there came seeping from every pour, shining in every unshed tear.

            The pure, raw, unadulterated emotion her girlfriend exuded seemed to be enough to convince Shauna, who had already been teetering on the edge of staying. "I'm staying too." She declared to the group, slipping her bag from her shoulder and sending it thumping to the ground. The faintest of tugs began at the corners of Nola's lips.

            That really was it for Natalie. She had had it. Before Shauna's bag could even disturb the leaves, Natalie's head spun around to face her, eyes wide and teeth snarling. "Oh, for fuck sake, Shauna, come on!"

            "Wait, you feel it too?" Lottie almost hesitantly inquired from the Shipman girl, staring over at her with the doe-ist of eyes. This was perhaps the first time Shauna had ever agreed with something Lottie or Nola said in regard to the Wilderness.

Right away Shauna looked down her nose at the Matthews girl. "I'm not staying because of It." She explained with bite as she spoke of It. The roll of her eyes at even the idea of that being her reason for staying spoke volumes.

"Then why the fuck would you stay at all?" Natalie growled.

Shauna stalled for a moment. Her mind appeared to be racing, thoughts drumming into her brain faster than she could catch up. "I don't know. Something just...something just doesn't feel right." She finally and weakly explained. She was hiding something. The real reason why she wanted to stay.

            The group looked totally fed up. They were, of course, in two minds. Fight to force them to join them in returning back home or saving themselves and leaving them behind.

            "No. Tai, no." Van suddenly began to utter, her head shaking with aggression as she tried to shut down even the notion of Taissa staying behind, something the Turner girl seemed more than willing to do as she too dropped her bag to the ground and stepped in line with the others.

            The redhead pointed firmly down at the bag. "Pick it up. No way, you're not staying, you're coming with us." She instructed, the girl not willing to take no for an answer.

            She wouldn't leave Taissa behind but she sure as fuck wasn't staying there any longer which meant only one thing; Taissa would be picking up that bag and going back home even if Van had to drag her kicking and screaming.

            Taissa barely even acknowledged Van's demands, instead the girl doled out the very reasons for why she had to stay. "Whatever the fuck Shauna and Lottie and Nola have been feeling, I've been feeling too." She gravely uttered. Then with a jut of her chin, she pointed at the tied up man and woman. "Since those two arrived."

"Who cares? God, since when has that ever mattered to you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. In Van's mind, Taissa had been ignoring her connection to the Wilderness from the start but now all of a sudden, that connection was strong enough to keep her from leaving? "Please, please, Tai, look at me. You are not staying here."

"I have to."

"Why?"

Though she didn't have the best answer, Taissa gave the only answer she had. "I'm telling you. It's what Shauna said, something doesn't feel right."

A deep, frustrated growl rumbled from within Natalie's chest as she bellowed, "Has everyone gone fucking insane?"

            And with that response, Travis was quick to mirror exactly that. "What doesn't feel right is staying and ignoring rescue." He was glaring hard at the girls, his gaze consumed by rage as he pointed out the stupidity in their actions.

            Nola's softened smile faltered. Hurt bloomed within her chest, the ache fizzling across her whole torso. "Travis, please." She grimaced at the pain as she pleaded with a whisper.

             Natalie threw up her hands. "Okay, fuck it. Stay then." She relented with a sneer. "You've all most lost your fucking minds."

     There was a small pause as Natalie took a small breath, her pulse rushing a mile a minute in her throat before she made her announcement. "The rest of us, we're going." She then proceeded to spin on her heel and began walking away, with those determined to go home electing to follow.

            Before the group had taken even ten steps, Shauna suddenly uttered one single, biting "No."

            "You're not." She then said. Her eyes were narrow, her nose curled up and her face bore a glower.

            The Scatorccio girl had to force back the absolute, gut wrenching hatred that soared through her veins as she turned to look back at Shauna. It killed her to hold back the rage, to uncurl her fists. "You don't get to tell everyone what to do, Shauna."

            "Yeah?" Shauna smugly asked. "Well, I already did and they're gonna do it, so."

            "You're all gonna see this is the right decision." Lottie claimed with the gentlest of nods, the corners of her lips slowly rising into a pleased smile as some of the group were already beginning to give on up fighting them.

            Travis scoffed. His grip on the crossbow tightened as he smothered the urge to aim it at the girls. Instead he pointed his finger at them, at Nola and Lottie in particular, the two he had been closest with, the boy looking at them now as if they were strangers. "We've literally been in hell. You've no fucking right to keep us in it." He snapped at the pair.

            "It's not us. It's what It wants." Nola tried to reason with him. With them all, really.

            Taissa took over the role of convincing the group. She sounded smart, her voice powerful as she explained, "No one is saying we have to stay here forever. But leaving right now when there's so many things left to clean up, it's not the smart move either."

            As the stragglers of the group began humming and hawing with the logical reasoning that Taissa had presented, understanding that perhaps returning home so soon maybe wasn't the best idea with everything, all the blood and darkness attached to them, the man, Kodi chose to speak up.

           His voice was snide as he voiced, "Well, it sounds like you guys have a lot to discuss so have fun braiding each other's hair and partaking in some light cannibalism. I'm fucking out of here." He then turned around, his hands still bound together and attempted to journey into the woods alone.

            "And how do you plan on doing that?" Nola called out, the girl slowly shuffling forward to avoid damaging her healing leg. Kodi paused in his movements as she continued, "We caught you once, remember?"

            He looked back at her over his shoulder. With a gesture towards his head with his rope bound hands, he smirked. "I have all I need right up here."

            "I'm sure." The Rilke girl sarcastically quipped with a tilt of her left brow. She kept walking until she stood next to Travis, who, like everyone else, was eying her with caution.

            She motioned towards the weapon in Travis's hands with false curiosity. "This is your weapon? Crossbow, right?" She rhetorically inquired, the girl already knowing the answer.

            Kodi remained smug. With her fucked up leg, all in thanks to his handiwork, she was no more a threat than the animals locked up in the nearby pen. He gave her a single nod. "That's right."

            Nola was quiet for a moment. She stared up at him, taking in his superior expression and male bravado stance, before glancing over towards Travis. "Can I see it for a second?" She asked, holding out her hands for the weapon. When Travis looked hesitant, she was quick to assure him. "Don't worry, I'll give it back."

            With the belief that Nola knew little about the weapon and that she had never handled anything bigger than a knife or one of the spears Shauna had fashioned out of wood, Travis relented his hold on the crossbow and handed it over, praying she wouldn't notice it was loaded. Nola took it with a soft smile. Her eyes scanned the weapon, taking in its every mechanism with intrigue.

     "As you can see I'm limping really bad right now. Almost fucking died cause of you. Isn't that right, Melissa?" She abruptly called over her shoulder. Melissa looked taken aback at having been called upon as she met Nola's gaze. "You were nearly on deaths door too."

            Then Nola's fingers slid down to the trigger when she realised that an arrow was already locked and loaded, curtesy of Travis having aimed it at the scientist and her guide when Natalie threatened them. Gasps rang out through the village as Nola lifted the weapon up and aimed it at their only chance of getting out of the forest and back to civilisation.

            Her brown eyes took on a dark glare as she stared down the flight groove at the man, who suddenly didn't look as smug. "You might know how to get out of here but we know these woods like the back of our hands now. You run, we find you. You try to run again, I kill you where you stand." She coldly uttered, her voice calm and lacking in emotion.

            Then the weapon dropped away and the threat on his life had been lifted. This calmed the others briefly as Nola ordered, "Put them back in with the animals. Now."

            As Britt and Robin sauntered quickly forward to take hold of the two, Shauna quickly added, "Take their shoes."

            "You can have this back now." Nola uttered as she held out the weapon towards Travis, the coldness in her voice a distant memory. After the boy practically snatched it from her hands, Nola frowned. "Travis, come on. Please don't be mad at me. This is for the best, I swear. You'll see eventually."

"Everybody head on back to their huts and unpack." She called out her command with an unnerving grin. She didn't even see how unhinged she looked now.

While everyone moved to heed her command and unpack their belongings, Nola found herself not finished with making decisions, the streak of leadership still going strong within her. "Natalie. A word." She gestured towards the tree line, far away enough that they couldn't be heard.

Natalie followed silently. Reluctantly. There wasn't much she could do and she wasn't about to use the gun on a girl she still considered a friend despite everything.

As the pair settled along one of the trees, their arms pressing lightly against the thick trunk, Nola shot Natalie a look of understanding. "Look, I know how much you want to go back and I get it, okay? But this isn't the way. Not right now. It isn't time."

"I don't want to keep you here forever. Someday you can leave and I won't get in your way. But until It says otherwise, we have to remain here." She proclaimed as if she was stating fact.

"Right, whatever you say." Natalie gruffly responded, her voice low and her hope faded.

There was a beat. Neither girl spoke. All that could be heard was the distant rustling of footsteps atop the fallen leaves in the camp and the faint breaths that each girl exhaled. Then Nola broke the silence.

"I'd like to carry the gun from now on."

The former blondes brows furrowed. She stared incredulously at the Rilke girl. "You can't even shoot. Your hands shook like crazy back when coach was teaching everyone." She tried to argue. In her eyes, what good would someone incapable of even holding a gun steady be in a time of crisis, of danger?

A chuckle emitted into the air. "My hands were actually remarkably steady back then. I dropped the coin to the ground on purpose because I didn't understand what was happening at the time. Now I do." The brunette explained as she thought back to the sounds she hadn't understood and the stillness she had experienced.

Natalie looked ready to take a step back, to walk away and just ignore what Nola had asked of her. Giving her the gun was essentially signing that guides death certificate. If he said one wrong thing or attempted to flee, Nola had already declared him dead.

"Please give me the gun, Nat." Nola held out her hand patiently, awaiting the weight of the weapon and the press of metal into her palm.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

            NOLA LAY LEANING HER head against her pillow, gazing up at Shauna who was in the midst of unpacking both of their stuff, the tips of her fingers gliding blinding over the gun she had succeeded in retrieving from Natalie after reminding her who had been put in charge. Shauna had simply smiled proudly at her when she hobbled into the hut before continuing to silently unpack.

            "You're staying cause of the baby, aren't you?" Nola asked quietly, her question causing Shauna's hands to falter in their movements. "And Jackie."

            The Shipman girl peered meekly over her shoulder, the expression etched to her face one Nola hadn't seen in so long. Guilt. "And you." She tried to explain but Nola needed no explanation.

            She knew that Shauna wasn't the biggest believer in the Wilderness. She knew that the biggest reason for her girlfriend choosing to stay wasn't for the Wilderness but for what she had lost in the woods. The baby. Jackie. Nola knew and understood because they were contributing factors for her also. Despite the anger she had felt towards Jackie, that was her best friend, the girl who had stuck by her and never made her feel like a burden. And the baby...while not her child by birth, he had been Shauna's which meant that in her eyes, he was hers. And though he hadn't taken a single breath, she still loved him. The weight of his little body against her own still lingered.

            Nola sat up, her gaze imploring. "You know why we have to stay, right? Why leaving, especially with them is a bad idea?" She was almost pleading that Shauna understood why she fought so hard to keep them here. "You feel it too, don't you? That awful, clawing feeling at your gut that's screaming to stay."

            Shauna fell into a kneel beside the brunette. Soon Nola's face was cupped into the palms of Shauna's hands, cradled with a gentleness Shauna so rarely allowed to be seen. Shauna nodded. "I do."

            "I don't need to go home. You're my home, Shauna." Nola professed with a sigh before leaning herself forward and pressing her lips to Shauna's, her own hands falling to the girls hips while Shauna's began to slither into Nola's hair, gripping sharply at the nape. That earned her a hiss from Nola who took to nipping at Shauna's bottom lip to force her mouth open so as to plunge her tongue in deep.

            A thud filled the little hut as Nola's back connected with the ground and Shauna swiftly saddled herself atop her lap, their lips never parting. Gasps and pants released into the air as more and more their actions became aggressive, desperate, hungry for more. The familiar taste of iron began to creep along the curve of Nola's tongue and down the back of her throat as Shauna's lip began to slowly split open. A growl rumbles from deep within Shauna's chest as her hips began to move, the girl eagerly seeking that sweet relief of friction to soothe the ache festering at her core.

            Temperatures began to rise and soon articles of clothing were being stripped and tossed aside. The fading sun was streaking into the hut like golden ribbons, cascading over the pair as Shauna's hands began circling the flesh of Nola's neck while Nola's slid along the expanse of Shauna's toned stomach, inching closer and closer to the pulsing heat that lingered between Shauna's bare legs.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"THEY'RE UP TO SOMETHING." A few days had passed since the decision to stay had been made and since then, the weather had become more unfavourable. The air was now biting, the sun no longer beating down warmth. Winter was coming.

Shauna had covertly managed to arrange a secret meeting amongst those who wanted to stay and those closest to them. She was now surrounded by everyone seemingly trustworthy. Something was off. The others were acting weird. Giving weird looks, whispering under their breaths but going quiet anytime Shauna seemed to pass by. Something she took notice of.

Taissa's brows furrowed at her declaration. "Who?"

            Shauna's voice was low as she relayed the information she had gathered. "The others." She replied, glancing about her surroundings in attempt to keep an eye out for anyone trying to eavesdrop.

            "Like what?" Melissa asked as she carefully readjusted her arm that hung limply against her chest, bundled up in the makeshift sling.

Her question earned her the nastiest of glares from Shauna, who immediately sniped back. "If I knew that, I would have handled it already."

Taissa's face was swiftly buried into her hands. A groan rumbled and vibrated against her palms before they fell back to her sides. "Okay, well we have the gun. They'd be dumb to try anything without it." She uttered with a frown.

Misty stood tall suddenly as she was overcome with a potentially good idea. She looked almost proud as she offered up her plan. "Well, everyone knows you guys kick me out of the meetings because you think I'm annoying. What if we use that? Get some intel from it."

Nola's brows furrowed at this. Sure, Misty was a little odd at times but they had all become one out there, a collective. If she was annoying, they all were. "You're not annoying, Misty." She retorted with a faint shake of her head.

The faint smile that had begun creeping itself upon Misty's face quickly washed away when the stench of sarcasm oozed into the small gathering. "Okay, double O-Quigley." Van quipped with an amused smirk.

Instead of siding with her girlfriend, Taissa was actually quick to shut down the laughs that emerged from the redhead. "No, that's...that's actually a good idea." She complimented the curly-haired blonde. She almost sounded astonished that a good idea could actually form within Misty's brain.

Shauna nodded. She contemplated the idea for a moment, weighing the pros and cons before her eyes met Nola's. Their brief conversation went unspoken but soon Shauna was turning to face Misty. "Do it."

Once the plan was put into effect, Nola soon found herself back at her hut, the rifle tossed over her shoulder while she packed the few remaining gaps with wet mud and leaves. Though the cabin was gone, as long as they wisely used the animal furs that had been begun being collected during the summer with most of the red fox pelts being given to Nola, they would be fine. They would survive. Perhaps even thrive. No one who wasn't chosen would die.

She had just closed up another gap, packing it tightly to cut off the chance of air flow sneaking in during the winter months, when the crunch of footsteps heading in her direction caused her to glance over her shoulder.

There stood Travis, his hands buried deep into the pockets of the cabin guys coat. He looked at her for a beat, taking in her the bizarre sparkle in her eye and the limp of her leg before he asked, "Can I talk to you?"

Right away, Nola nodded. "Of course you can." She replied with a smile. She moved to drench her hands in her nearby bowl of water to rid her skin of the gravelly mud. Once they are clean, she dabbed them against the fabric of her coat before mirroring Travis and placing them into her pockets.

The boy motioned for her to follow him which she did without hesitation. The two walked in silence until they were a little ways into the trees. Travis kept his head down, like he knew where he was going, where he was leading her. Once satisfied that they were far away enough from everyone else, Travis came to a stop. This caused Nola to halt and look at him curiously.

There was pause, a faltering breath that caught in his throat. "I was just out in the woods. I-I don't know, I...I felt this rush through my body. I've never felt that before when I wasn't tripping but I—" his head hurt as he spoke. His mouth resembled a desert. He didn't want to do this but it had to be done. "I think It was trying to talk to me."

Though she was unable to hear the rapid thumping of his heart that no doubt was crashing into his ribs, her eyes quickly landed upon the protruding pulse in his neck. He was lying to her, she was sure of it, by why? Why lie about the Wilderness? If It hadn't spoken to him, why say it had?

Her mouth morphed into a frown. "If you want to lie to someone, Travis, then go and find Lottie." She uttered with genuine upset, not even really aware she had rightly called out his previous lies to Lottie about the Wilderness choosing Akilah. "But if you want to talk to me like I'm your friend, then please, talk away."

Realising that allowing false words to jump from his tongue wouldn't work with her. Perhaps now, speaking to her one on one, away from the convincing words of Lottie and the others, perhaps now Nola could be reasoned with.

Though he eyed the gun she held tightly to her person, Travis spoke quietly, honestly. "You can't keep us here."

"I'm not. It is and It is trying to keep you fucking safe!" Nola exclaimed roughly with wild, widened eyes. Why couldn't he understand? Why was he being so obtuse?

His frustration escaped him before he could truly stop it. "Safe? From fucking what? From going home?" He snapped back. He hadn't looked this angry with her since he found she had known Javi was alive and had knowingly lied to him.

Nola rolled her eyes with a deep groan that resonated far within her chest, escaping her throat in an anger filled growl that resembled that of an animal cornered. She couldn't believe she had to explain it all again. That was it. She had had enough. "You know what, if you and the others want to leave so badly, then go! Frankly, be my guest—"

She jutted her finger out until it jabbed sharply into Travis's chest, the collision managing to fight past the padding of the jacket. "but do not stand there and try to make me feel guilty for trying to save you."

The birds overhead fluttered away in the quiet that settled after she finished speaking.

The anger she felt melted away at the idea of them actually trying to leave, leaving her with fear blooming dangerously in her heart. Her voice was now quiet, sadness laced within. "I thought you would understand me. After Lottie, I thought you were my closest friend out here. I thought you got this all of this cause It chose you, Travis."

Her hands trembled slightly as she reached up and gripped onto his coat. "Please, Travis. You heard it once, you can hear it again." She pleaded with him.

Travis just stared at her. It was as he was seeing her in completely new light, one that shone brightly upon her flaws, her shortcomings, her instability and he didn't like what he saw. This wasn't his friend any longer but someone wearing her skin, bearing her face and using her voice but not her mind.

That had been lost to woods.

He shook off her hold with a shrug, sending her hands tumbled back down her sides with a faint cry that fought to escape her throat. He ignored the tears beginning to brim, both in his eyes and hers, shook his head and uttered, "Forget it. You're too far gone." before walking away, back in the direction of the village and leaving her behind.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

author's thoughts.
chapter sixty, not proofread
so I switched some of the plot up a little cause it wouldn't make sense for Shauna to be doing everything when she isn't in charge. also I'm not sure what possessed me to write that low effort smut but I was caught up in the vibes of my music. Anyway I hope you enjoyed :)