gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 29

The cheerleader watched as Dot carefully unwrapped the bandage, revealing the jagged wound. She knew it looked bad, but she had been trying to ignore it as much as possible, not wanting to face the reality of what had happened. As Dot began to clean the wound, Hunter couldn't help but wince at the stinging sensation, jumping a little as she felt herself start to get a little overwhelmed. Hunter bit her lip, trying to push away the memories of the shark attack that flooded her mind every time she saw her injury. It was almost as if the shark and Riley were combined into one, two separate entities that had been put on this planet to cause her irreversible damage. 

As Dot cleaned the wound, Hunter focused on the sound of her own breaths, trying to keep herself calm while the other girls continued their chatter around her. She was wary that Shelby and Fatin were keeping a close eye on both of the girls, just in case Hunter suddenly freaked out on Dot. Instead, Hunter let her eyes drift to Toni and Martha, who seemed to be in an intense conversation about something. Hunter hadn't seen Martha annoyed often, but it seemed that she had a lot of pent up frustration towards Toni for a change.

"Sorry," Dot murmured, noticing Hunter's discomfort and thinking it was her hands against her leg that was the cause. "I'll be more gentle."

"It's okay," Hunter mused, her lips in a tight line. "It's not you, it's me."

"Hey, what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" 

"It's like... any pain I have just reminds me of it all," Hunter muttered, not wanting to be pitied as she admitted to Dot what she had bene holding back from telling the rest of them. "I just feel like I make so much progress, and somehow he still manages to fuck things up for me. It's... like... pathetic."

"I don't think you're pathetic," Dot simply said, no pity in her voice as she continued to wrap the bandage around Hunter's leg. This was a dance they'd been doing a lot more often, and Dot would be lying if she said it wasn't easier now that Hunter was finally letting them gradually go back to touching her casually. "I just think healing isn't always linear, and you expect too much from yourself, that's all."

After a few minutes, Dot finished rebandaging her leg and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "All done," she said with a smile. "Just try to take it easy tonight, okay?"

"Whoop, whoop! Surprise!"

Hunter and Dot turned around in surprise as Leah and Rachel entered the camp, a complete 180 turn from how they had been all week. They both shared a confused look as everyone laughed at the two girls, noticing that they were carrying a large box between them.

"Yeah, surprise they didn't murder each other in cold blood," Fatin muttered to Shelby, loud enough for Dot and Hunter to also hear and smile at her words. She was right - this was an unexpected turn of events especially from Rachel and Leah.

Dot supported Hunter as they got to their feet, the self-appointed wilderness survival expert letting Hunter use her shoulder to steady herself as she gradually put weight back on to her injured leg. It was definitely getting better, but she had a long way to go before she was going to be back to doing cheer stunts, that was for sure.

"Where'd that come from?" Toni asked, her eyes immediately falling on to the box as she tried to figure out what the girls had brought them.

"Pulled it out of the water," Rachel said with a grin, causing everyone to smile at her in surprise. They hadn't expected her to go back into the water like it was nothing, but desperate times called for desperate measures - even if the box didn't appear to be a care package like Dot hoped.

"What the hell's in it?" Fatin asked, her arm brushing against Hunter's as the girls all moved to crowd around the box. Rachel grinned back at them, proud of her and Leah's recent discovery for a change.