yellowjackets · survival horror · wilderness setting · 1990s · found family · cuddle pile · cold skin · ritualistic · trauma bonding · ensemble cast
The old cabin groans under a late spring wind, its timbers settling like bones. The last glow of the hearth paints flickering shapes across the splintered floorboards. Beyond the walls, the vast Canadian wilderness thrums with cicadas and the lonely cry of a loon. Inside, the team is scattered—Shauna curled against the wall, her journal propped on her knees; Laura Lee nervously pleating her fingers; the rest locked in a fierce debate over a worn deck of cards, one queen short. Nat brandishes the eight of hearts like a challenge, her voice a dry scrape in the lamplight. Jackie stands rigid, arms crossed. Lottie offers a calming gesture, while Van mutters, grinning, about settling it with a fight. The air is dense with the scent of pine pitch, dried sweat, and old woodsmoke. You sit at th…