gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 18

Day Twenty

Hunter + Toni

Toni groaned as she slumped back on to the bed, the scrunched up paper balls lying scattered around the room from the failed attempts at getting them into the little basketball hoop the agents had brought her to keep her occupied.

It kept her physically busy, but her mind was constantly racing. She couldn't even remember how many days she'd been in that room for, how many days since she had seen the rest of the girls and Hunter too. She just wanted to see them. She just wanted to see anybody.

Almost as if her prayers were answered, the soft buzz of the door being unlocked caused her to sit up in surprise. She hadn't really been getting visits from anyone but the nurses delivering food three times a day but she's already had her lunch and it wasn't time for her dinner yet.

Dr Faber stepped into the room with a soft smile, allowing it to click shut behind him as he leaned against it. Toni was very aware he was likely putting distance between them on purpose but she was too drained to even question it. The man gave her strange vibes and she would have been lying if she said she wouldn't have preferred Agent Young to visit instead.

"Toni, how are you holding up?"

"When can I see the others?" Toni asked, not bothering to answer his question but instead providing one of her own.

Faber hesitated for a second, not having expected her to get to her point that quickly. She had been a lot less tense during their initial investigation and it was clear she was losing the plot by now.

"The quarantine order is still in place," Faber reminded her as she groaned loudly, clearly agitated. "But I assure you, as soon as it's lifted you'll be able to see Hunter and the others. Until then, I just have a few questions I wanted to ask you of the record - about day twenty."

"I don't have anything to say," Toni said, immediately putting up a front that gave away that she had a lot to say about day twenty but she just didn't trust the man sitting in front of him. He knew that would be the issue with himself approaching Toni while Agent Young handled Hunter that afternoon, but he was drastically aware that no part of Hunter Boyd liked him. Toni however wasn't about liking people, she was about respecting them enough to answer them.

"We spoke to Hunter, Toni. She told us a lot but we wanted to hear it from your point of view," Faber lied through his teeth, knowing fine well Agent Young was yet to even arrive at the other girls room.

Toni studied him for a moment before pulling her knees to her chest as she shrugged from where she sat on the bed. Her point of view likely wasn't that different from Hunter's but she had no reason not to trust the man sitting in front of her. Yet there was a nagging at the back of her head that Hunter wouldn't have willingly shared what happened on Day Twenty with the man.

"I can tell you what I remember," Toni said, her fist clutched a little. "But I don't think it was as eventful as you seem to think."

Toni knew fine well that day twenty had been eventful - but she didn't trust the man after telling her that Hunter had told them all about the day. She might not have known Hunter for years but she knew her girlfriend well enough to know she wouldn't have just told anybody. Not about all of that.
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"Wait, so you gave up lacrosse for cheer?" Toni asked Hunter as they sat on the ground, Hunter laying down with her head on Fatin's legs as the girl plucked her eyebrows with her tweezers. The blonde flinched a little as Fatin tugged a little harder than expected on one of her eyebrow hairs, but shrugged as she addressed Toni.