gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 10

Hudson didn't have the heart to tell Hunter, knowing that it would make it easier for his sister if she thought he at least was going to be able to be with their friends while she was alone on some retreat. So instead he gave her his leather band with his initials in, knowing she would need a reminder of him to keep her going.

Hudson and Hunter had never been lucky. They'd just had the good fortune of being by each others side for their whole lives.

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"Did you think there was some silver lining in getting to come to the retreat after what Hudson did? In getting stuck on the island?"

Hunter scoffed, looking up at the two adults as she sipped on the strawberry milkshake that she had further requested. She rolled her eyes, feeling a slight fire rise in her as she looked between them and tried to figure out if they were serious.

"That's such an adult thing to say," Hunter muttered, her fist tightening around her milkshake as she bitterly laughed. She'd never been the twin with the anger issues, but it seemed like a lot had changed since Hudson had fought Riley.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Hunter snarked, rolling her eyes heavily as she looked between the men. The Agent looked a little more uncomfortable with her obvious change in attitude while the ginger man didn't seem bothered that he was riling her up.

"Adults love to say shit like that. Something bad happens and its as if you just expect us to move on, or find something positive about whatever trauma has happened to us. Here's the thing though, sometimes moving on isn't the answer. Sometimes there isn't some magical, fucking silver lining in something. We don't need to be fixed or to move on, we just need to be able to sit and acknowledge the shit that happened to us in OUR terms. Some things can't be fucking fixed in life, they can only be carried."

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"Hey, I think we might need to get some more foliage for the top of the shelter," Dot told them all as she looked at it, aware that while it was warm that afternoon it likely would get colder at night. They'd been managing okay in the shelter the past few nights but even with all nine of them cramped together, it had been ridiculously cold. She knew that adding a little more protection would help them to not shiver as much.

Everyone nodded in agreement, no-one even having the energy to argue if they disagreed. It had pretty much become an unspoken rule that whatever Dot said about survival stuff like shelter building was to be taken as gospel unless anyone - usually Rachel or Leah - disagreed with her thoughts.

"Nora and myself can go," Rachel offered, wanting to keep herself busy since it was now starting to settle into her head that they might be stuck on this island for a while. Nora nodded enthusiastically, happy that Rachel wanted to involve her in something that was just the two of them.

Just as everyone started to nod, Hunter opened her mouth and shocked them all. They didn't expect the girl to speak on the matter in the slightest, but it seemed she had a lot of thoughts going around in her head. She'd had a lot of time to think that morning and early afternoon, and life was suddenly seeming a lot different to her now than it had weeks prior.

"It's alright, me and Toni will go," Hunter told them all, standing to her feet and wiping sand off of her shorts as everyone looked between Hunter and Toni in surprise. The raven haired girl shared the same confused expression as the rest of them, but she quickly shoved a smile on her face as Hunter turned to look at her expectedly.

"Yeah, we can go," Toni rushed out, Fatin trying to hide the slight snigger she made at how eager Toni was to go with Hunter. The basketball player moved her foot and lightly smacked Fatin, subtle enough so that only Fatin and Leah noticed the action, causing the other girl to smile too at what Fatin was insinuating.