Speak Up (TONI X OC) -The Wilds

Chapter 8

Parker's POV

"That's it!" Dot yells. "Pull up stakes!"

Leah, Fatin, and I got up and started to drag over the groups collective belongings. 

"We're fucking moving" Dot huffs. 

"Again?" asks Martha. 

"Take a real good look at this camp" Debris lay scattered everywhere and our shelter was destroyed and long forgotten. I worry that help will never come and we will keep moving spot to spot down the beaches until the only sign we were ever here will be the tattered camps that we left behind. "It's not a refurb job, it is fucking totaled."

I look over to where Toni sat next to Martha playing with the sand. The sight made me smile, I love seeing Toni with her walls down like that. I walk over and sit down next to her silently. 

"But I thought you said the cave was a bust?" Rachel asks. 

"No, not the cave. We move to Gold Cliff Beach around the bend. Doesn't seem like the tide's bitch, so, you know, maybe this tsunami horse shit won't hit us again". Dot instructs. 

"It's not as windy there either" Toni points out as I lean my head against her shoulder. 

"Hi" I smile weakly up at her, the past few days taking a toll on my energy levels. 

"Hey, P" Toni leans into my touch, resting her sandy hand on my knee. It felt like electricity whenever her skin met mine.

"Yeah," Dot continued. "Which will come in handy seeing as we no longer have a fucking fire to keep us warm." 

"Shit. I hadn't thought of that" Toni realizes. "Who was on fire duty last night?"

"Okay, technically, it was my turn but Shelby practically begged me to sub her in, so, who was I to deprive her of that pleasure?" admits Fatin. 

"Look, I know that Shelby has been trying so hard to get back in our good graces, but some of you have been a little too quick to take advantage of that."

"Yeah, sorry not sorry" Toni scoffs. 

"Who cares? She's a bigot!" Fatin adds on. 

"If the homophobe wants to do my work for me, why should I say no?" I half-joke with a laugh, trying to keep the tension light. 

"I'm gonna ask a question, and it may not be helpful." Leahs starts. 

Anxiety and annoyance flushes through me, all I ask is to avoid conflict, especially any involving my sister. "Leah-" I warn. 

"Okay, good. Yeah, definitely do that." Dot sarcastically remarks. 

"Why did this catch us so off guard? I mean, haven't you been keeping track of the tide?" Leah asks Nora. 

"What are you saying, Nora should've seen this coming?" Rachel fires. 

"No, Rachel, that's not what I'm saying if you listen to me at all-"

"That's exactly what you're saying-"

"What I'm saying-"

Martha stands up from the other side of Toni and walks toward the two, "Why are we pointing fingers? This wasn't anybody's fault."

I feel Toni rub my back reassuringly as I place my head in my hands out of frustration. 

"It's true..." Nora began, "It was bigger than a normal tide. Maybe from a storm or an offshore earthquake. It happened so fast, we all acted irrationally. Like Fatin, who jumped into a rip current to save her toothbrush-"