Alone {The Wilds}

Chapter Seven

By late afternoon, the girls had all unanimously agreed that staying on the beach was their best shot at getting through the night. Nora had already found a few dry sticks to act as kindling for a fire and they were currently busying themselves with dragging their belongings to the makeshift camp. Sophie herself was attempting to haul a log twice her size of her in the hopes of using it as something to sit on, but the combination of dehydration and fatigue wore her down and meant she wasn't exactly making much progress.

"Hey you're Sophia, right?" Her efforts were interrupted by Dot standing awkwardly behind her, arms crossed and staring at the floor.

"Sophie," She nodded, "That's what everyone calls me."

"Cool. Noted. Hey, I saw you found something for Martha's leg out there."

"The bandage? Oh yeah, that was in the forest- must've blown out of the plane as it..." The words died in her throat, the trauma replaying through her mind like a sick, twisted movie.

"Yeah," Dot nodded sympathetically, "Listen, do you think you could take me there? There might be some other stuff we could use."

"Sure," She nodded, wiping the sweat off her brow, "But on one condition."

"Name your price."

"You help me to shift this bloody log."

"Hah," Dot chuckled, walking to the other side with an amused expression, "Now that, I can do."

~~~~~~

"It was there, on that tree." Sophie pointed out a few minutes later, "I didn't see anything else."

"Did you look around?"

"Uhm, no?"

"It would be a sure as hell good idea to, now. We don't know what'll be blown away or taken by animals tomorrow."

"Fine," Sophie nodded in understanding, seeing sense in Dot's words, "You go right and I'll go left."

"Sounds like a good strategy- meet back at camp in half an hour pronto. I don't want to go searching for your ass and find you picking fucking flowers somewhere, okay?"

"What if they're really pretty, Dot?" She deadpanned, laughing as the Texan shot her a glowering look, "Fine, I'll see what I can find."

"You do that, dumbass." The girl shook her head and turned away, but Sophie swore she saw the ghost of a smile on her lips. It felt good, being able to lighten the mood. And god, did they need some relief from the heaviness of dread hanging over them.

Whilst Dot ventured into the undergrowth, Sophie made her way into the tall grasses seeming to traverse the landscape for miles on end. The sun beat down on her back, burning her skin and sweat trickled down her face, mixing with the grime accumulating on her body from hours of exertion. Every-time she thought she saw something other than the seemingly infinite vegetation, her heart leapt in her chest but it always turned out to be bits of plastic from the plane wreckage or scraps of animal detritus. If she were in any other situation, she would've actually found the search rather fun; her father used to set up Easter egg hunts for her and her brother when they were younger, even going as far as hiring a field for his children to explore one year. Matt always let her win, sneaking some of his candy into her basket which he denied whenever she caught him. Those memories brought a smile to her face yet a sad tug inside her chest; he was sure to know about the plane crash by now. God, he'd be worried sick.

Even after half an hour, she hadn't found anything of value and decided to call it a day. It would be nightfall before she knew it and once the darkness descended upon her, navigating back to camp would be almost impossible in such an unfamiliar environment. She turned with the intention of starting the short journey but was quickly distracted by two distant figures clambering up a large hill who she instantly recognized as Shelby and Toni.

Although too far away for her to hear what they were saying, she could instantly tell they were arguing. Well, that whatever Shelby said Toni seemed to dismiss instantly coupled with a death-glare even Sophie felt the heat from. She knew the pair wouldn't get along in the slightest with Shelby's outgoing nature rivalling Toni's pessimistic sarcasm, though there was something oddly amusing in watching the one-sided interaction. Maybe it was the way Shelby seemed capable of making conversation with a brick wall, or that Toni was determined to be as blunt as possible but whatever it was, it brought a smile to her face.

Her grin dropped like a stone as soon as it formed however, her jaw hanging open with shock as the basketball player finally reached her limit and swung a branch back so it hit Shelby square in the face. The blonde's yelp echoed in Sophie's ears as she lost her balance and tumbled down the hill until her body was swallowed by the tall grass and Toni swore loudly and swiftly ran to where she disappeared to, almost tripping herself up in the process.

By the time Sophie reached them, Toni was standing alone with her brown eyes fixated on a spot in the undergrowth she guessed Shelby had left from. Her gaze slowly shifted to where the actress was stood, her voice still hostile but laced with a worried undertone, "You shouldn't sneak up on people, Ryder. It's rude."

"So is hitting someone in the face with a branch." Sophie replied coldly, noting the regret which briefly clouded the basketballer's expression, "Look I don't know what she did to you, Toni, but you could have really hurt her."

"I know."

"So, why did you do it then?"

"I- I wasn't thinking."

"That's not good enough." Sophie shook her head and scoffed, "If we're going to survive this, you need to stop acting like a spoiled brat and actually start helping instead of causing problems."

"I-" Toni seemed at a loss for words, gnawing at her lower lip and looking everywhere but at the actress, "I'm not going to say sorry, if that's what you're getting at."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, anyways. Where did she go?"

"She said she was going back to camp."

"Right." Sophie turned and was about to leave but stopped when she felt a hand grip her arm, "What, Toni?"

"Do you think she'll tell the others? Tell Martha?"

"No." She replied after a brief pause, "Shelby's not like that."

"You scarcely know her." Toni scoffed, sounding somewhat bitter, "I bet she will to get back at me."

"See, I don't really know you either but can tell you always assume the worst in everyone. It's not right."

"Yeah, but if you've been through half the shit I've been through then maybe you'd understand."

"You know nothing about me, Shalifoe."

"Are we really going to pretend your life isn't always fucking trending on the internet?"

"That's what they want you to see."

"Whose 'they'?" Sophie swallowed and glanced away, heat rising to her cheeks as she realized Toni was still holding her arm and had unconsciously pulled her closer in the midst of their argument. Her grip wasn't strong, but rather gentle in-fact which was surprising given the ferocity of their conversation. She'd seen what Toni was capable of doing, so why was she so comfortable being held by her? No, this had to stop.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care what you think of me." With that, she wrenched herself free and stormed off into the forest, trying to ignore the light tingling on her arm where their bare skin had touched. Toni Shalifoe was bad news.

She had to be careful of her.