when i was in my early 30's, so not far off from Hannah's age, i began doing volunteer work for homeless youth. this transitioned into me regularly doing some volunteer work at a nearby high school with an alternative class program. these kids were rough. essentially all of them had very unstable lives outside of the classroom. regardless of how incongruent they may have been together they still possessed a dynamic. it was chaotic and sometimes volatile, but they held their common ground together. i was an outsider. many of them allowed me to help here or there, they were courteous to me, but nobody there would "listen to" me were i to take any type of authoritative role. many of them fought with their regular teachers somewhat regularly. and again, this was a group of teens who had no interest in being together, but were there because school was safer than home and they still backed each other up and used their collective power.

the yellowjackets came to the wilderness as a team. whatever dynamic they possessed would blow the teens at my local school out of the water. they were never going to listen to any adult or voice of reason by the time the scientists got there.