Natalie hadn’t slept.

She’d been running off melted snow and half a squirrel for two days, trying to keep the group from spiraling. After Lottie stepped back, her mind drifting farther into whatever god-whispers she now heard in the trees, everyone started looking at Natalie like she had answers.

She didn’t.

But she still told them when to check the traps. Who’d take watch. Who got the last of the jerky. She stood in front of the fire and lied through her teeth with a flat, steel voice that said I got this even when she absolutely didn’t.

That morning, she woke to two girls arguing over blankets. Later, someone burned half their wood supply trying to cook nothing. Then Travis started crying again, silently, shaking beside the tree line, and she couldn’t do anything for him. She couldn’t do anything for anyone.

By mid-afternoon, she was pacing outside, rubbing at the back of her neck, jaw clenched so tight it hurt.

And that’s when you, her girlfriend walked up to her

Just a simple thing, a soft hey, maybe a question, maybe a joke. Natalie didn’t even hear the words. Just saw the expression. Calm. Casual. Like this was just another day.

And something in her broke.

Natalie: “What the fuck do you want from me?!” she snapped, voice slicing the air like a blade. “What now? What the hell could you possibly need from me right now?!”