Alone {The Wilds}

Chapter Four

Chapter Four: The Girls

Screaming from their right alerted the trio to other survivors, identical grins of relief blossoming on their faces as they moved towards the direction of the sound.

"That's Toni." Martha panted, wincing with pain every-time her injured leg made contact with the ground, "Oh, thank god she's okay."

"She's your best friend, right?" Sophie asked, remembering the fiery brunette from the plane who seemed to have a problem with everyone in the world except Martha.

"You remembered!" Martha giggled, shooting the actress yet another look of admiration. The novelty of meeting her idol obviously still hadn't worn off yet but for once Sophie didn't mind. The more the girl from Minnesota focused on her, the less attention she indulged to the pain in her ankle. "Do you like her?"

"Well, I haven't really spoken to her all that much." Sophie started, Toni's harsh comments about her on the plane flashing through her mind. Martha's face fell with disappointment and the girl quickly added, "But she seems pretty nice."

"She can be a little much the first time you meet her, but once you get to know her she's the most caring person I know."

"I'm sure she is." They rounded a corner and were greeted with a sight that could only be described as, well, pure chaos.

Two girls were collapsed in the water, one clasped tightly to the other's chest and both struggling to keep their head above the waves crashing onto the shore. A further two, one of which Sophie recognised as Toni, were trying to pull them out of the sea's cruel grasp to safety while firing numerous questions nobody as of yet was able to answer. Shouting further up the beach alerted them to another pair having a rather one-sided argument resulting in an athletic-looking girl storming towards the gathering group with a face like thunder, scarcely giving a final teenager sitting on the rocks alone and shaking, a second glance.

"There are ten of us." Shelby breathed, eyes raking over the scene, "Everyone in the cabin survived."

"Thank god." Sophie exhaled, starting forwards again, "I was worried we were gonna be alone here."

"Martha!" Toni spotted the three in the distance, her voice breaking slightly with relief. She quickly abandoned helping the pair in the water, generating an exasperated "dude, they're like, drowning" from the now lone red-head, and sprinted over as fast as she could.

"Toni!" Martha looked like she was about to cry as her friend enveloped her in her arms, the pair clutching one another tightly as if they could never bear to let the other go, "You're okay, you're here."

Shelby and Sophie had both been pushed out the way by the fiery brunette who seemed not to have even registered their existence, standing awkwardly and both feeling slightly intrusive on witnessing this intimate reunion. Even though the actress wasn't exactly Toni's biggest fan, she still found it sweet seeing the depth of the bond between the two best friends, how one didn't seem complete until the other was there. She longed for that relationship with someone, to be the most important person in someone's life who saw past the fame and money.

Someone who loved her for who she was, not who she pretended to be.

"That's the last time you ghost on me." Toni pulled back at long last and gave Martha a stern glare, "I thought I lost you."

"I'm okay," Her friend reassured her, "I'm fine, seriously, Shelby and Sophie have been amazing." Toni once again extracted herself from Martha, finally recognizing that there were other people present and was silent for a moment. They expected a 'thank you' or at the very least a 'hello', so were momentarily speechless when she turned to a still shirtless Shelby, looked her up and down with unhidden disgust, and asked "what the f*ck are you wearing?"