chapter four:
Bear down

     The cabin was an awkward squeeze, sure it was big enough for everyone but ideally Corey heard the whispers. The looks he'd get made him crawl back into his own skin, being a guy is a buzzkill. These girls were like rapid animals ready to pounce if he flipped his hair a certain way. After sleeping on his back, the worst sleep of his life. He sat outside, his back pressed against the cabin walls.

It was sunny out and aside from his arm aching, he felt better for once. Which was rare for him, maybe being stuck out here wasn't that bad. "Hey! You don't know what the hell you're doing with that!".

Travis decided using the gun was smart, not that Corey really cared since it wasn't pointing at him. He chuckled under his breath "aim for the bird's man" he spoke as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. He grumbled when he remembered he didn't have any, being stuck out here was the worst.

"No, what's stupid is the fact that we have a gun, and we're not fucking using it!" The loud bang made Corey flinch. He could hear the others shouting at Travis as the boy angrily set the gun down. "Hey! Give me that" coaches nagging voice made Corey snicker beneath his breath.

Had it not been for the almost matching wounds, he would've likely taken the gun himself. Shot himself in the face and ended the bickering around himself. "Travis, give me the gun" the coach snatched it like a madman. The shells hit the ground with awkward clanks.

Corey snickers even more, this was all so stupid and he'd rather starve to death than deal with another person complaining about food. It's not like he could make a random ass pack of food show up, I mean he did pack snacks in his lost bag. He searched for days and hours and still hasn't found it, maybe it truly was gone forever. All his cigarettes and memories are lost at the bottom of the ocean or something.

"This is a dangerous weapon, and we will
handle it as such. Does everyone understand?" Everyone nodded like helpless children and Corey shrugged. "Perfect, that said, Travis is right. We're out of food. We're all feeling it". Corey was half tempted to crack an arm joke but he stopped himself.

"The good news is my father used to take me
deer hunting every year as a kid. The bad news...." He looked down at his leg and sighed. "Yeah, I am 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. So we can find food".

Corey looked at his arm and sighed as he stood up and walked off into the woods. He was helpless, he wouldn't be able to shoot a bird let alone anything in front of him. He'd probably drop the gun and accidentally shoot someone and then people would be pissed off all over again.

"You alright?" He turned at the sudden voice, Lottie smiled weakly as she held onto herself. Her hair was slightly damp, which explained where she was all morning. "Yeah, I can't exactly shoot a gun with just one hand, so figured no point watching everyone else fail miserably. My dad used to take me hunting when I was little, the first time we went Jackie cried for hours begging to go with us. So my dad decided to take her with us". He scoffed as he sat down on the ground, "she cried the entire ride home after we killed a deer, and the only thing that calmed her down was me. She didn't go with us on any more trips after that. My mom had a bitch fit, and said it's not ladylike. But when I'd come home, I would sit in her room for hours just telling her these stories about what I saw. How dad was teaching me all these cool things and I wish she could too. My parents are religious assholes, they think Jackie's job is getting some perfect husband and marrying off to keep making more of us. While they wanna send me to the army and let me fight for some reason. So crashing was the best part".

Lottie sat down beside him "sounds like you should just tell them how you feel" he sighed "they don't listen, they're the most stubborn people I know. Jackie keeps kissing their asses, but when I graduate I'm outta there, shit at this rate if we even graduate". He looked at his arm "at least now I don't have to be the perfect son anymore. No more stupid hunting trips, no more army bullshit, just whatever I want".

He let out a breath of relief, one he desperately needed gone. "My parents are the same way, only they think I'm crazy" he looked at her and frowned. "Crazy?" she nodded almost as if she was used to that word. "I see and hear things. So they would send me off to be fixed, they put me on all these meds, so the things I saw would go away. I'm almost out, and I'm scared that I'll start seeing things again out here".

Corey looked at Lottie, the way she almost looked like she was afraid of herself. "I wouldn't let that happen, I mean if we're gonna be stuck out here together. Besides, I doubt anyone is truly crazy, everyone's a little fucked up in their own way".

Lottie chuckled almost and he was at least glad he could lighten the mood "yeah, no one else is gonna think that when they see what I'm like unstable". Corey stood up "we can be unstable together then, me without the arm and you without the mind".

He started to walk "where are you going?" he turned slightly "I wanna see how badly everyone's doing at the whole gun thing. I can bet Jackie's already losing miserably, she'll likely do it on purpose". Lottie frowned "on purpose? Why would she do that?".

Corey shrugged "I never really finished the whole bullshit story, I technically taught her some tricks, nothing major. Just enough to defend herself, so she should know how to at least use the thing. She's lazy, she's not gonna wanna hunt because she sorta knows how to use a gun, she'll make someone else do it".

"You must really doubt her then, shouldn't you be like defending her, she's your sister?". Corey could hear the others in the distance "yeah, but sometimes being hard on her, helps her do better with things she hates".

He walked off, he could see Natalie holding the gun. She looked tense and scared of it almost as the coin fell off onto the ground. Travis laughed "now, you know what, next time we can just stick to something you're actually good at, like folding laundry, or sucking...". His words got cut off by Corey's sudden appearance "I'll suck your dick man, if that's your thing". He picked the coin up off the ground holding onto it for a second, "I'll give it a try".

Travis snickered "yeah with what fucking arm" Corey glared at him as he grabbed the gun. Misty put the coin on and Corey lifted the gun, it was majorly awkward since he didn't have a good hold.

The gun wobbled like a lot but after a few seconds it steadied and the coin stayed on as he clicked the trigger. He felt himself relax, because for once he wasn't useless, he was still Corey.

—

Corey leaned against a tree as he adjusted his makeshift bandage around his arm. "Hey Corey, isn't this your bag" he looked up at the sound of Jackie's voice. They wandered off ahead of the group to search for anything useful, not that they would find anything in these woods. He moved forward "holy shit" he practically threw himself down as he quickly ripped open his bag. "Oh thank god!" He grabbed the box of cigarettes he hid and pushed one into his mouth.

"Are you serious right now, that's your main priority?" He rolled his eyes as he lit the cigarette and pushed his bag shut. "I'm sure I'll have a lovely bath later in the lake". She huffed "you're a real dick".

He stood up grabbing hold of his bag "Jackie, why did you let the coin fall off earlier? I practically heard the girls laughing about it at camp". She glared at him and he moved back "what, don't get all pissed at me, we both know you can use a gun. Even if it's not the best, it's still better than nothing. I can't do it anymore, but you could".

"Why would I do that? These people have been nothing but awful to us. They think I'm some scared little girl half the time, so they don't take me seriously". He chuckled "Jack, you are a scared little girl though. I mean you used to be terrified of the woods when we were kids. I had to practically hold your hand the entire time we'd go play in them. Besides, we're gonna need food and maybe we just cut ties with these assholes and it's you and me out here".

"What, you're saying we just leave? But the cabins here and everything we need is here. Why the hell would we just leave, sure they're assholes but they're also keeping us alive". Corey rolled his eyes "yeah for how long? They have no clue what they're doing, I can't shoot but you can. I can just teach you how to track animals, we can catch fish for all I care. I know how to make a fire and all you have to do is just make the food that we catch. Don't you think we'd survive longer if it's just the two of us?".

"I'm not leaving Shauna" Corey groaned in annoyance "Shauna! Are you kidding me, she's practically already against you. Besides I don't think she'd wanna come with us". Jackie sighed "like you wouldn't try to bring Lottie, you've been staring at her ever since we crashed".

"Hey, not cool. It's not even like that. We just talk and that's it. Besides we're literally in the middle of nowhere, girls are the least of my worries". Jackie grabbed at Corey's arm and he frowned, he looked up "holy shit" the plane was small and very old looking.

"Uh, guys!" Corey looked around at the plane, he didn't see anything inside but he couldn't really open the door that well. "Jackie, what?" Corey tugged at the door and yelped when it cut at his hand.

He moved back, cringing as he looked at the small cut on his palm. "I'm gonna go take that bath now" he mumbled at Jackie and she frowned. "What, you don't wanna stay and see if this thing works" he grabbed his bag off the ground. He ignored the sting of it hitting the cut on his hand "I'm sure the girls will figure it out, besides I just want out of these clothes. I'll meet you back at the cabin anyways".

She nodded "just be careful" he walked off, he kept his pace quick since his hand was burning like crazy. The cigarette in his mouth had started to taste very bitter so he spit it out and let it hit the ground. He smashed it with his foot before he walked further into the woods. The lake would be a decent little trip but at least with the girls distracted he wouldn't have to worry about them looking at him.

—

"There you are" he turned and looked at Lottie, she held onto a makeshift bowl and he felt his stomach growling when he smelled the food. "Did you walk all the way here with that in your hand". She sat down and handed him the bowl "Natalie and Travis caught a deer. I didn't see you and I didn't want you going without your share. I asked Jackie where you were but she sorta just looked at me".

Corey chuckled "she does that sometimes, besides she probably didn't want any of you girls finding me since I came here alone. The amount of times they've looked at me, you'd think sex is the least of their worries. It's whatever though, they'll get over it". He ate the food and his nose crinkled with slight disgust, Lottie chuckled "what, it's bad?".

"You'd think the wilderness would have some flavor or something. That's the one thing I'll miss out here" Lottie looked down at her bowl. "I can agree with that, but it's not like we can be picky. We're lucky we even have food, the others probably already ate the rest. So I gave you extra".

He smiled "so you do steal more than shitty T.J Maxx clothes, who would've known you're a troublemaker". Her cheeks reddened almost immediately "oh god, they told you about that?". He laughed as she pushed her hands into her face "Jackie told me, I mean I thought stealing cartons of cigarettes was bad, but that really takes the bag".

She smiled and he looked at her, she grabbed at his face and kissed him. His eyes widened in surprise but then he let himself relax as he deepened the kiss. She moved back and he smiled softly.

—
authors notes: mentally I'm big bird.

It's Yellowjacket day! Which means another beautiful update for this story in which we get literal crumbs for Corey and Lottie. I haven't watched the new episode yet but I will later tonight when I eat my dinner (god that makes me sound old lol). I've decided I will be updating this story every Friday in honor of Yellowjacket day, but knowing me I'll likely update it a few times prior lol. Im also working on like two more Yellowjacket fics (tehe) ones a Misty one because she deserves some love and the other might either be Natalie or Travis. Likely Travis since he rarely has fics on here, but idk let me know your opinions. Until then I might keep writing for this for the weekend, because why not. I also worked at T.J Maxx at one point in my life (never again).