[009] the world against courtney

                            Courtney holds onto Suki's hand as they walk to... well, they had no idea where they were walking exactly.

                            They were following exactly where Lottie had pointed, hoping to find something. It could be their way out or just help them to survive. Either way, it was the only reason they were even taking the risk in the first place. If it wasn't for the fact that Lottie saw it, they'd probably still be by the lake. And the way that Suki felt led towards the area, she had a feeling that it was meant for them to be going on this path.

                            Suki could sense that they were getting closer to something. She could feel it in the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There was a faint ringing in her ears too but Suki was doing her best to ignore it.

                            "How long have we been walking for?" Courtney grumbled, making Suki snap out of it.

                            "Um, I'm not sure," Suki admits.

                            "This is taking forever! And my feet are killing me! What if there's nothing here and we're wasting all our time for nothing?" Courtney began to complain.

                            Van whirled around, glaring at the blonde in irritation. "Can you stop complaining?"

                            "Eat me, Vanessa," Courtney immediately retorts.

                            Van scoffs at the use of her full name before she keeps walking ahead.

                            "Besides, I have every fucking right to complain. I should be in a hotel and sneaking champagne into my room so I could get mildly tipsy after winning nationals, not stranded in the middle of the woods because our fucking plane crashed," Courtney continued.

                            "We'll be able to sit down now," Suki remarked.

                            Courtney raised a brow. "And how do you possibly know that?"

                            "Guys, it's here. It's here!" Shauna exclaimed before running ahead.

                            Courtney briefly looks over at Suki in amazement before she rushed ahead along with the others towards the cabin. Everyone followed after Shauna towards the cabin which looked old and decrepit. Like no living, intelligent species had been in there since God was a little boy. Courtney was feeling even more hopeless than before.

                            "Well, you're not exactly gonna see this on the cover of Cabins Digest, but it's something," Courtney remarked. 

                            "I don't see anybody," Akilah declared shortly after.

                            The other girls started banging on the front door and shouted for help to hopefully get the attention of whoever was inside. Suki, however, stood off to the side and stared up at the cabin. The ringing in her ears had begun to get worse. The cabin felt familiar to Suki for a reason, although she couldn't place it just yet.

                            Quickly, it became obvious from the lack of response that followed that they were alone in the woods. But they did manage to get the door opened and they all filed inside to see what they could find. If no one was there, they could scavenge for things to keep and survive off.

                            Lottie lingered behind with Suki, glancing over at her with a frown. "You feel it too, don't you?"

                            "Feel what?"

                            "It."

                            Suki nods. "Yeah, I... I guess I do."

                            Reluctantly, Lottie walks inside and that's when Suki realizes exactly why the cabin felt so familiar to her. She had dreamed about this very cabin. The realization was followed by horror. It looked exactly the same as it had in her dream and it made Suki wonder what the fuck was going on.

                            And what did it all mean?

                            "Maybe they just went on a hike?" Akilah suggested as Suki practically forced herself inside, exploring the inside.

                            "Yeah, like a decade ago," Jackie scoffed. "It reeks in here."

                            "Maybe he's dead," Courtney morbidly suggests.

                            "Okay, you're not helping," Taissa frowned.

                            Courtney raised a brow. "I'm just trying to be realistic since no one else wants to state the obvious."

                            Suki wordlessly approached the deer skull mounted above the fireplace. Its antlers were really long and sharp at the end. As Suki got closer to it, the ringing in her ears increased until it blocked out every other sound around her. She's transfixed, unaware that her nose was now bleeding profusely. It's only when Courtney walks towards her that she sees it.

                            "Suki? Jesus Christ," Courtney gasped.

                            Suki snaps out of it and she glances down to see drops of blood staining her shirt. She licks her upper lip and tastes warm metal, realizing that her nose was bleeding. She wipes the blood off with her shirt, glancing around and seeing everyone else looking at her with a mixture of confusion and concern.

                            "I'm fine," she quickly says.

                            "Everyone else, look around for stuff we can use. First aid, flashlights, tools," Taissa adds, eager to steer the focus back onto the task at hand.

                            "Good luck with that. The only thing we'll be able to find here is dust," Courtney rolls her eyes.

                            Jackie went straight into the kitchen and grabbed the first can of beans she could find, hurriedly tearing it open so she could have it all to herself. "Food. Oh, yeah."

                            "What the hell? Jackie, that's not your personal buffet," Taissa complained.

                            Jackie frowned when she opened it, seeing the food rotting inside the can and dropping it in disgust which spilled the rotten beans everywhere. "Ugh, fuck. Gross."

                            Courtney couldn't help but giggle, even at the fucked up situation.

                            "This isn't funny," Jackie snapped.

                            "No, you're right, it's hilarious! We're so fucked!" Courtney continues to laugh and everyone could see that the blonde was beginning to lose it. "We are so fucking fucked!"

                            "See, this is why we should've stayed in the plane!" Jackie remarked. 

                            "Yeah, well, we didn't. So this is helping how exactly?" Van retorted.

                            "This is a fucking nightmare," Jackie huffed before storming out of the cabin altogether.

                            "You know, you can help instead of laughing like a maniac," Taissa retorts.

                            "I have a better alternative. You could all go and fuck yourselves because I was right about this whole thing. This is a shit show and we should've stayed by the plane so the team could find us there," Courtney argued.

                            "Watch it," Taissa warned.

                            "Why? You're gonna break my legs like you did Allie's? I'm so terrified," Courtney spat, reveling in the way Taissa's face falls from guilt.

                            "Fuck you," Taissa responds before storming off.

                            "You're such a bitch," Van shakes her head before she followed after Taissa.

                            Courtney pouts, pretending to wipe off a tear with her middle finger. When Van had stormed off to go and comfort Taissa, Courtney walked back over to where Suki stood. She was still staring up at the skull like she was in a trance. Courtney snapped her fingers in Suki's face and just like that, Suki snapped out of it again.

                            "What's with you, Suki? Ever since we got here, you're acting like you jumped out of a Stephen King movie," Courtney replied.

                            "Would you believe me if I said I dreamed about this place?" Suki questioned.

                            "This isn't exactly a dream cabin -," Courtney began.

                            "I'm serious! I dreamed about this cabin and my mom was here too," Suki replied. She knew how insane she sounded but she needed someone to talk to. And the only person she could trust was Courtney.

                            "What'd she say?" Courtney asks, leaning in closer so only she could hear what Suki had to say.

                            "She said she knew this would happen. She knew we'd crash here and be stuck. She said it's why she tried to kill me with her that day," Suki explained.

                            "That's crazy. How could she have known?" Courtney shakes her head in disbelief. It was hard to wrap her mind around the possibility of her mom knowing anything about their plane crash when she had died years before it happened. In Courtney's mind, she figured that it was just a dream. It was all a mere coincidence.

                            "I - I don't know," Suki admits, shaking her head.

                            "Suki, it was just a nightmare," Courtney remarked.

                            "But how do you explain me dreaming about this place?" Suki questioned, brows raised. "That doesn't make any sense."

                            "I don't fucking know. But I'd keep this shit to myself if I were you. You don't want people to think -," Courtney answered.

                            "That I'm just as crazy as my mom?" Suki finished for her.

                            "Well... yeah," Courtney nods. "I obviously don't think you're crazy, but the other girls might so... I'd keep the dreams and shit to myself. The nosebleed is already freaky enough."

                            Suki frowned. She knew that people only tolerated her because of Courtney. But deep down, she could already tell that people were just waiting for her to crack and follow in her mother's footsteps. She thought back to what happened just now and the way people looked at her over a nosebleed. Suki worked hard to make sure that people didn't treat her the same way they treated her mother before she died.

                           "Well, hello!" Van announced, holding onto a bunch of a porn magazines, slamming them down onto the table with a grin. "Don't worry, guys. We might be stuck in the middle of nowhere but, hey, at least there's porn."

                          Laura Lee walked away since she didn't want to see any of it. The others walked over and even Suki joined them. She walked alongside Natalie who grabbed a magazine. She looks over at Suki, playfully waggling her brows as she held out the magazine for Suki to see.

                          "You wanna check it out?" Natalie offered.

                          Suki chuckles. "No way. I'm not interested in that."

                          "Come on, just take a peek," Natalie teased. "Nothing wrong with looking."

                          Suki chuckles before she finally decides to look, her eyes widening when she saw all of the naked women. "There's no way that's real, is it?"

                          "Uh-huh, definitely real. Well, the first one anyway. The second one might've gotten her boobs done though," Natalie nodded.

                          Suki continued to look, unable to really look away. She had to admit that she was fascinated by it, more than she cared to say out loud. Even when she noticed the naked guys, she was more disgusted by them than fascinated.

                          "That's disgusting," Suki shakes her head, making Natalie giggle.

                          "I don't know, you're blushing," Natalie playfully nudges the brunette beside her.

                          "From embarrassment," Suki corrects her with a laugh of her own.

                          "They're Nat's favorite thing," Courtney snarked, wrapping an arm around Natalie as she taunted her.

                          "Fuck off," Natalie shoves her away.

                          "This guy's way bigger than David. His dick looked more like a wiener," Courtney continues, taking the magazine from Suki and looking for herself.

                          Suki chuckles. "Now that's disgusting."

                          "Hey, this guy kind of looks like you, Flex," Mari teased, glancing over at him with a mischievous grin.

                          "If only any of you actually looked like her," he shot back.

                          "Okay. Yeah. Very funny," Van scoffed.

                          "Who knew Flex had bite?" Courtney teased, making Travis sarcastically smile in her direction.

                          "Do guys, like, actually jerk off to this stuff?" Akilah asked Travis suddenly.

                          Van stretched out the magazine to show off more of the model's body, looking very impressed with what she was looking at.

                        "Nah, we - we hate that shit. You know, you can't even tell what her favorite book is," Travis responded.

                        "Ha ha," Van deadpanned.

                        "Boring!" Courtney frowned.

                       Travis stormed off when the others obviously didn't find him funny. Mari stuck up the middle finger behind his back and the other girls laughed, finding that a lot funnier than Travis's stupid jokes. Natalie glanced over at the others before she followed after him, and Courtney was left alone with Suki. Just as she wanted. If she was going to be stuck in this hell hole of a cabin, she wanted to be with Suki in the process.

                             But much to Courtney's dismay, they were going to be staying at the cabin. They needed four walls, and they needed a roof over their head - and the cabin was their best bet. The plane wasn't a safe option anymore and so they had to choose the best option.

                            Akilah was one of the few actually cleaning the house while Courtney and Suki remained outside. Suki was feeling lightheaded the more she stayed inside of the cabin and needed to sit down for a bit. Courtney didn't want to clean so she sticked with the excuse that she had to look after Suki. No one was really in the mood to hear any more of Courtney's mouth so they went with it.

                           "Fuck! God!" Coach Scott exclaimed, interrupting the process.

                          Courtney and Suki remained seated while the others raced over to help, seeing that Coach Scott was on the ground and on his face. He wasn't adjusting well to his new crutches.

                        "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he continued to shout in frustration. "Why? Goddamn it. Fuck you. Fuck you! Fuck you! Goddamn it! What the fuck do you want?!"

                       Misty decided to step in and try to comfort the man who was obviously spiraling. He had lost his leg after all, that was traumatizing alone. "Hey, hey, hey, it's - it's -."

                       "What the -? Get the fuck away from me, Misty!" Coach Scott quickly turned around, back handing Misty and causing her to fall back onto the porch with a loud thud. 

                       Suki looked pretty horrified, while Courtney looked pretty satisfied. Misty had it coming anyway for being such a little creep. Suki had never seen Coach Scott look so upset and horrified before. It worried her a lot and she couldn't help but wonder if this place - this wilderness - had something to do with it. There was something about it - something sentient and alive that Suki couldn't ignore forever.

                       Whatever it was, Suki knew that she couldn't allow it to get inside of her.

(🌲🔪🦌)

word count: 2359
notes: here's chapter nine! i hope you enjoyed and there'll be plenty more craziness to follow! i also realized that i haven't written courtney as bitchy nearly enough yet so i had to turn up the notch. the c in courtney definitely stands for cunt lmao