gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 2

"What do you think happened to the flight attendant guy?" Martha interrupted, concern across her face as she thought about the man who had given them all chocolate cake just before their crash.

"We should be looking through suitcases, finding phones!" Rachel interrupted again, waving her hands about as she raised her voice. Hunter didn't bother to look up from her hands, knowing that while Rachel was trying to assert herself as a leader of the group, it wasn't going to work. She already knew from the environment on the plane that there were a lot of headstrong girls in this group and she was well aware that order taking wasn't something most of them were used to.

"Listen, y'all," Shelby started, causing a few of them to sigh in anticipation for whatever the deeply religious girl was about to say next. "It's the 21st century, okay? They will find us, but in the meantime we gotta keep track of our resources."

"Look Hunter, if we're gonna win this then we need to keep track of our resources!" Riley yelled across to the blonde, a wide grin on his face as he dived down into the water with a laugh. Hunter giggled as he reemerged centimetres away from her, grabbing her hips and pulling her towards him in a kiss.

"Lovebirds, do you mind? Some of us are playing here!" Her brother yelled out from a few metres away, splashing them with the water gun that rested in his hands. Hunter threw her head back and laughed as Riley lunged towards him playfully, throwing themselves backwards into the water with their friends all erupting into heavy laughter at the best friend's antics.

Hunter rolled her eyes at their playfulness before turning to some of the other girls and heading out of the water with them. Laughing at something one of the other cheerleaders had said, she smiled as she felt the warm sand move under her feet. She'd only been official with Riley for two weeks but everything in her life was finally starting to line up.

Allowing her friends to throw their arms around her shoulders as they all ran towards the barbecue that one of the other football players had been manning while they had been goofing off in the sea, Hunter knew that this was just the beginning of something huge for her.

"Hunter!"

The blonde jumped slightly as she snapped her head to look at where everyone else was staring at her, snapping her out of the memory that she had been reliving. Toni was staring at her with a slight scowl as she stood with her hand outstretched towards her.

"Are you coming with us or not?"

Hunter shrugged, confused about where she was supposed to be going. They were all aware she had spaced out but weren't sure what about. The girl stood to her own feet, ignoring the hand of help that Toni had reached out towards her and mumbled under her breath an affirmative that she was ready to go wherever it was that she had been nominated to go. She had been briefly aware that Dot had just found a phone in her pocket, but since Hunter didn't believe it was any use she didn't even consider getting her hopes up about it.

She tightened her laces before following after Shelby and Toni, unsure what they were even looking for. She guessed that the only reason she was willing to even go was because Shelby's presence somewhat made her feel slightly more at home since she was a familiar face - albeit knowing little about the girl other than her pageant hobby, cheating boyfriend and religious upbringing.

"Keep your ears peeled," she instructed the other two as they headed into an upward field of wheat. "You'll hear moving water before you see it."

Hunter muttered an okay before continuing on behind the duo. She was glad to now know what it was she was actually looking out for, but she was still a bit dazed from the reality of this all. She was just praying that she was going to wake up any moment in her bed, with Hudson blaring music from across the hall.