gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 14

Day Fifteen

Thankfully for them all, Dot, Hunter and Leah had managed to find the spilt pills and successfully give Martha the missing Halophen. It had been a ridiculously stressful night for all involved, but more so for Toni who had refused to leave Martha's side the entire time.

Dot and Fatin had tried to keep spirits high in Hunter, but after having her small argument with Toni the blonde wasn't exactly in the mood to joke around or have small talk with anyone. Instead of falling asleep on Toni's shoulder that night, Hunter found herself falling asleep with her head still in Fatin's lap from where her friend had been trying to comfort her.

A few days had passed since then and while Toni and Hunter had spoken to each other, there was still a lot of unaired words hanging in thick tension around the two girls. They hadn't had the chance to talk about their kiss, Toni's resentment for making her take the pill even though none of them knew Martha would have later needed it and Hunter's confession that she did care about Toni and that she needed her alive even if the girl didn't think anyone else did. There was a big conversation to be had, but both girls kept putting it off.

Just as Hunter was beginning to get hopeful that they'd finally overcame all of the natural disasters that could have happened to them, the morning of day fifteen came around and reminded her that this island was not some tropical getaway, but something that she had been relentlessly being punished on.

"Tide came in like a fucking beast, swallowed up the whole camp!" Dot yelled out to Martha who was woken by the waves of the sea splashing furiously over her as Hunter and Dot tried to gather up their supplies that were being battered with the waves too.

Hunter dived in, swimming over to where Fatin was trying to grab as much of her stuff from the suitcase that she could, screaming in anger as she realised that most of it was now long gone.

"Fucking ocean took all my shit!" Fatin yelled out to Hunter, who was very aware that her suitcase had thankfully somehow not been swept away from the waves. They'd at least have all of her remaining stuff if Fatin's wasn't salvageable. 

"LET IT GO!" Leah yelled as her and Hunter tried to pull Fatin away from the suitcase, knowing that they'd rather have their friend safe than have her clothes and suitcase. "It's not fucking important!"

Hunter felt a sense of calmness almost overwhelm her as they got back to shore, watching as Marcus the mannequin slowly drifted away through the water, into the distance. She felt her bones all lock in place as she dripped from head to toe, barely aware of the others all running around behind her. 

She almost wished she was Marcus.

____

Later on, they all gathered on the beach as everyone sat in silence thinking about that morning's chaos. Not much had been recovered from the tidal surge, but they'd managed to gather enough clothes that would keep them mostly going. Food however, that was a more concerning worry for them all.

"She looks tired," Leah noted to Hunter and Fatin as she sat down beside the duo. Hunter nodded slightly, her eyes briefly casting over to where Shelby was still collecting what she could. She wasn't exactly the homophobic girl's biggest fan but even she could admit that the girl looked tired for the first time.

"She should be," Fatin said, no ounce of concern in her voice. "She's been working her ass off for the last three days trying to make up for her Westboro Baptist moment as if that'll get her uncanceled."

Hunter snorted slightly, rolling her eyes at Fatin's choice of words before looking over her shoulder to sneak a quick glance at where Toni was before turning back around with a slight huff. Fatin and Leah both eyed the girl for a moment, very aware that she was huffing in self-pity at not having the confidence to talk to Toni about whatever it was they needed to talk about.