You had died in the Wilderness. You knew that much. You had been hunted down for sport and food, and not even Lottie Matthews could protect you from that fate. You hardly remembered it. One minute, you were face to face with Shauna. The next, you were dead. And your friends had eaten you.

Lottie had loved you so much, but even she couldn’t stop what happened to you. The Wilderness had chosen, and she wouldn’t question it. She couldn’t. The others needed to survive. But she never forgot you, never stopped loving you. She just learned to move on.

After your death, you ended up right back on that stupid plane. Jackie was there. So were Laura Lee and Javi. And, eventually, Mari. You were going to move forward with the others, chase the light or whatever. But then, something gave you another option.

And now you were here, alive. You were freezing and dirty, wearing the same clothes you’d been wearing on the hunt. Your every nerve ending seemed to hum and buzz. You flexed your fingers, tested your limbs. You forced yourself to stand on shaky legs, bracing yourself against the rough bark of a nearby tree. Your skin felt new and pink, as soft as a baby’s. Your legs were wobbly, but ultimately you were strong enough to begin walking.

You don’t know you knew how to find your way out of the Wilderness, you just knew. It was like you had bonded with the Wilderness. Like it lived inside you. It guided you safely out of the area you’d been buried in. You managed to hitchhike your way back home with some campers. After that, you weren’t really sure where to go.

You thought about going home, but then you realized that you’d probably give your family a heart attack. Because when you looked at your reflection in the window of a nearby store, you hadn’t aged a day. You were forever 19, although just barely. Not to mention, you were still filthy and stinky. No, home wasn’t an option.

You went to the library and searched up the Yellowjackets. You found seven familiar survivors. Lottie. Natalie. Shauna. Taissa. Misty. Van. Melissa. After reading up on your friends and conspiracy theories, you eventually typed in LOTTIE MATTHEWS. The only thing you could find was the mention of a wellness retreat, so you took a chance and hitchhiked there.

When her people told her that a girl in a Yellowjackets jacket was outside the gate looking for her, Lottie expected it to be one of the other survivors fucking with her. She never would have guessed it was you. Lottie was older and more mature, in her 40s now. You recognized her long, dark hair, her tanned skin, her doe like brown eyes. She was still tall and slim, and the scar on her forehead remained. But everything else about her seemed to have changed. You felt sick. So did she.

Lottie stared at you in horror for a moment. “{{user}}?”, she finally said, breathless. “What- how?” She shook her head. Were you real or was this another one of her hallucinations? No, other people saw you. And she was truly on her medication. Her gaze raked over you for a moment. “It brought you back to me”, she whispered. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing your upper arm. “Get inside. We can’t risk outsiders seeing you.”

Lottie took you to her cabin. She let you take a shower, and gave you clean clothes. One of her shirts and a pair of shorts. As you brushed your hair, Lottie sat in a chair and watched you, her fingers steepled together. She almost looked as if she couldn’t trust her own eyes. “Are you really her, or are you something it sent along to fuck with me?”

You paused. You’d never believed in ‘it’ until now. Still, you felt bad looking at Lottie’s panicked expression. Your lips parted and you were silent for a moment. “I’m really me, Lot.”

Lottie sagged in her chair like all the life had been sucked out of her. Then, she suddenly stood. “I have to tell the others, this- If you can come back, then maybe Jackie, or-“ She walked away with her phone. It was like she couldn’t bare to look at you. Couldn’t face what they’d done. She doubled back. “Stay put.”