Day One - The Boys
"So, what's the deal with you and that other Texan?"
Hudson shrugged a little as he walked next to Kirin, the boys having all split off into groups after their plane had crashed. Kirin had originally tried to put Hudson and Riley in the same group, but the older Boyd twin wasn't having it and switched.
He wasn't entirely sure he liked Kirin - the boys mentality towards Josh crying had reminded him too much of Riley already. He was the stereotypical lacrosse bro that Hudson had done so much to avoid being like, and he was worried that if the boy was just like Riley then he would be driven insane. His obvious rivalry with Ivan uneased Hudson a little, wondering what Kirin had done to cause the other boy to hate him so much.
"It's a long story," Hudson muttered, before turning back around to look at the other boys in their group. There were the two boys from Florida - Bo and Scotty. He didn't know what to make of them, but he could tell from a mile away that they would do anything for each other. His heart pinged a little, almost seeing that sibling bond in them that Hunter and he had.
The other boy - Henry - was a bit of an emo. Hudson knew he would have barely given the boy the time of day had they been at the same school, but he was already learning from this experience that not everyone was as they seemed. He'd also came with his brother - or step-brother as he kept reminding them all - but Hudson didn't feel much love between them. Besides, something about Seth was making him feel on edge around the boy.
There was something about his mannerisms and how quickly he fell into banter with Riley that rang some warning bells in Hudson's head. But he knew he was being irrational as the boys on the island didn't know the truth about Riley's past the way he did. If they did, Hudson knew things wouldn't be playing out exactly as they were.
"You gave him that black eye?" Scotty asked, also listening in on the conversation the boys ahead were having. "Looks solid."
"How'd you figure that one out?" Hudson replied, not much interest in his voice. Kirin and Henry picked up on the boy's lack of care for Scotty's reasoning but the boy himself seemed to miss the lack of genuine curiosity.
"Overheard you telling Kirin that you'd kill him if given the chance," Scotty replied, causing Hudson to scoff a little.
"Great, so you lack a respect for privacy," Hudson nipped, causing the boy to freeze at the change in attitude. "Stay out of my business."
Kirin stomped his foot on the sand at that point, having already gotten bored with the bickering and back and forth between the other boys. He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared about their current situation, but he didn't want to show it in front of the rest. He didn't know what any of them really were like - including Hudson - and he wasn't about to let his guard down around them without reason.
"Oh, my God. Can you all just put a f*cking lip on it and start actually looking out for shit?"
"It's lid. Put a lid on it."
"Whatever! Let's just go back, then, losers," Kirin sighed, fed up of them already. Hudson nodded in agreement, turning on the spot as he rubbed at the leather band on his wrist. "After I take a piss, though."
Hudson stood with his backs to the four other boys as they all began relieving themselves, not personally needing to go at that moment in time. He heard one of the boys shuffle alongside Kirin, sighing to himself as he knew that was only going to piss off the lacrosse jock even more.
"Thanks, man. Thanks for the privacy. Extremely cool of you," Kirin snarked for a moment before looking back over his shoulder and noticing Hudson awkwardly kicking at the sand while he waited on them all to finish. He considered asking the other jock the question on his mind, but decided that it would be less embarassing to ask the other boy - Henry, Kirin thought his name was. "Question... is it sore when you piss?"
"No."
"Must have got bruised at some point. Or maybe I was just out in the water too long, and now I got, like, saltwater dick."
"Yeah, saltwater dick is basically a death sentence."
Hudson wanted to slam his head against a rock. He knew Kirin wasn't the smartest person on that plane, but he had originally had some hope that the boy was going to prove them all wrong and turn out to be a genius. This conversation was only showing him that his hopes were misplaced.
"You being serious?"
"He's having you on," Hudson replied, still not looking back at the boys to give them some more privacy than they were giving each other. "It's not a real thing."
"Life is, though," Henry replied almost instantly, causing Kirin to grunt to Hudson that he was safe to turn around now. The blonde boy turned his head, looking over his shoulder at where Kirin was looking at Henry in confusion.
"Life is what?"
There was a pause as Henry looked towards the forest line, between Hudson and Kirin and then finally out to the miles of an endless ocean. Kirin and Hudson shared a confused look, both not keen on the boy's theatrics.
"A death sentence."
There was a pause.
"Cheers, Henry," Hudson replied, rolling his eyes as he turned and started to walk away. "Really helpful stuff from you there."
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"So what do you think caused it?"
"Are you being serious?" Hudson asked, leaning back in the chair as he tugged lightly at the crewneck sweater that itched his torso uncomfortably. "What do I think caused it? Bro, he had his literal face eaten off - a shark, maybe? How the fuck am I supposed to know? When will Hunter get here?"
Faber looked at his partner before holding his hands up and smiling gently at the boy in front of him. He briefly cast a glance downwards at the scribbled notes on the page in front of him before looking back up at the boy.
"Apologies, Hudson. I'm sure you can understand we just need to hear everything from your point of view. Hunter is with your parents, we're working with all relevant authorities to get visas and other things you don't need to worry about sorted, but as soon as everything is cleared they'll be on the first flight here. There was an issue with Hunter's passport being too close to its expiry date but I believe that's been sorted now. The quarantine period will be lifting soon so you should be able to see the other boys too."
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Hudson stood at the shoreline as he stared out into the darkness of the water. The other boys were all crowded around the small fire they had made, most of them having passed out from the adrenaline finally wearing off. They had just sent off the tracksuit kid's body, and everyone had decided to call it a night.
His eyes stared unwavering into the darkness as the waves crashed against the shore, the slight breeze ruffling his hair as he subconsiously fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist. He was trying to ignore the presence of Riley Black at the bonfire behind him, knowing that if he did anything to harm the boy that the rest of the camp would instantly fail to see his side of things.
"That your girl's?"
Hudson turned a little to see Kirin standing next to him, the boy slightly taller than him as he mirrored Hudson's actions and stared out to sea. The lacrosse boy had no intentions of making friends since he was sure they'd be rescued the next day, but if he was going to have anyone to watch his back in the meantime he figured either Hudson or Riley would do the trick - but Hudson's earlier reactions to Riley had made him more interested in whatever went down between them.
"Not quite," Hudson replied, his eyes skimming over Riley for a moment as the thought of Hunter crossed his mind. Kirin followed his eyeline, noticing Riley and incorrectly putting the dots together.
"Or his?"
Hudson scowled instantly, feeling a little heat rise in him for a second as he gritted his teeth and turned back around to look at the waves before he did something he'd regret.
"She doesn't - didn't - belong to him," Hudson nipped before looking at Kirin and feeling a little guilty. "It's my sister's. Twin sister."
"Oh, dude," Kirin replied with an understanding, deciding to push the conversation once more. "He sleep with her behind your back?"
Hudson hummed, ending the conversation. "Something like that."
He turned and walked back to the campfire after patting Kirin's shoulder, making sure he was sitting the fursthest away from Riley as possible. He just hoped their rescue arrived quickly, for he was worried about what he might do if he was stranded here with Riley for too long. He didn't want to know who, or what, he might become.
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Day Thirty - The Girls
"Dot said earlier it's been a month since we crash landed on this stupid island," Toni breathed out as she slowly pressed her fingers across the space between Hunter's shoulder blades.
The blonde girl hummed in response, a tight lipped smile crossing her mouth for a moment before she titled her head around so Toni was just in her peripheral vision.
"I mean, I wouldn't say it's not had it's good moments," Hunter bounced back before huffing and leaning back against Toni's chest from where she was sitting in between the basketball players legs. "But it is pretty shit."
A scoff from across the fire caused Hunter to look up with a raised eyebrow at Fatin who was shaking her head at the duo.
"Look lovebirds, I know you've found some weird fairytale true love shit here but let's not start singing the praises of this island," Fatin replied, her eyes briefly darting over to where Rachel was sitting in the distance staring out at the sea. Hunter felt a slight pang of guilt cross her before nodding sombrely.
She ran her hands through the sand at either side of her, looking over to where Dot and Martha were trying to converse with Rachel with little success. Her eyes flickered over to Shelby who was approaching the couple sitting pressed together on the sand and Hunter instantly noticed the conflicted look in her eyes.
It was an interesting dynamic for Shelby and Hunter. Shelby was slowly coming to terms with her sexuality and all the repressed feelings and memories that came with it, and while Hunter was fully open with the girl and had been providing a strong support ground, it was hard to Shelby to confide in her due to their shared history of their judgemental home town. This had created another interesting dynamic between Toni and Shelby where the two polar opposites had formed an unlikely friendship. They'd often go on walks together when Martha wasn't paying attention (since Shelby didn't want Martha to think she was replacing her as Toni's friend) so that Shelby could discuss her thoughts about her beliefs with Toni who was always willing to remind the blonde that this way of life wasn't a sin.
Hunter didn't mind it at all - she just wished there would come a time when Shelby felt comfortable enough to confide in the younger Boyd twin too.
Toni lightly patted Hunter's shoulder as the blonde pushed herself off the sand to allow the Shalifoe girl to stand up. She knew this pattern well - Shelby wanted to go a walk with Toni and clear her mind of the negative thoughts that were swirling, which in turn meant Hunter would need to find something else to focus on or work towards to keep herself busy.
"Hunts, come a walk with me?" Fatin asked, smiling softly at her friend. Hunter nodded and snatched up Hudson's red jersey from where it was sitting on one of the logs. She was so thankful she hadn't been wearing it in the ocean a week prior when... the incident had happened.
They moved across the beach silently for a while. The breeze was gentler than usual and Hunter wondered if the island would have actually been a nice little retreat had it not been crashed into. The two of them kept the small talk to a minimum, Fatin appreciating that Hunter was still putting up a front for them all. The two girls both knew that Hunter had taken several steps backwards, but they also knew she just needed time.
"Do you think Rachel will be okay?" Fatin asked, causing Hunter to shrug.
"She's doing better than I would be if something happened to Hudson," Hunter answered truthfully. "But I've always viewed her as the Hudson and Nora as me, if I was to compare our twin relationships. She's a lot stronger than me, I think. I think if it happened to me, if I lost Hudson, I don't think I'd manage to even breathe without him."
"I think you're strong," Fatin replied almost instantly.
"Maybe," Hunter shrugged as she kicked a stone on the ground. "But no amount of strenght can prepare you for something like that. Having a twin... it's like having an extra limb. Rachel's lost her limb here."
There was a pause before Fatin held back a laugh. Hunter rolled her eyes, lightly pushing the girl's shoulder.
"Bad chioce of words, but you know what I mean."
Looking over their shoulder, Fatin scanned the beach for Leah. The girl was more delusional than ever, and she had witnessed her scrapping her hands until they bled in the dirt the other day. She had told Fatin of how Nora had trapped her in a pit, but there was no sign of a pit to be seen. Since Nora was most likely dead after being swept out to sea (and Fatin assumed probably eaten by the shark that took Rachel's arm), it seemed very unlikely that the girl would have been able to refill the hole - let alone dig that in the first place without them noticing.
"Don't think I don't notice it, Fatin," Hunter murmured after a moment, her eyes flickering over to where Fatin had been looking previously. "The way you look for her. You don't need to say it, if you don't want to, but I see it."
The taller girl looked at Hunter for a moment, trying to judge whether or not she wanted to say anything. There was a pause before Fatin smiled slightly, squeezing Hunter's hand then dropping it and motioning to where Dot was dragging large tree roots and branches across the beach.
"Think we should maybe go help Dorothy out."
"Yeah, I think that's wise."
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"I think Martha saw me and Shelby talking today," Toni admitted as she braided a strand of Hunter's hair. They'd just finished setting up the camp while the others were still completing their various assigned tasks. "I hugged Shelby, and I think I saw Martha take off through the trees."
"Yeah, she did," Hunter replied without hesitation, thinking about how the flustered girl had appeared and immediatley asked Hunter and Fatin about Shelby and Toni's relationship. Hunter had held back a laugh while Fatin exposed the friendship between the two that Martha hadn't noticed.
They sat in silence as Toni continued to braid Hunter's hair before realising the girl was being unnaturally quiet for once.
"What you thinking about?" Toni asked softly, Hunter turning in her arms to properly face her girlfriend as they sat on a large leaf, the golden glow of the setting sun peeking through the trees and casting a slight haze in the space between them. Hunter shrugged for a moment as she raised a hand, lightly moving it towards Toni's cheek.
Hunter paused, running a finger down Toni's jaw as she stared lovingly into the piercing eyes that were watching her every move and reaction. She smiled lightly, before leaning in and placing a soft kiss to the other girl's lips. Toni smiled, lightly placing her own hand on Hunter's shoulder as the blonde girl pulled back.
"I know it feels wrong, espeically since we just lost..." She trailed off before continuing the thought without saying the name. "But I just can't help but think how incredibly lucky I am to be stuck here with you, of all people."
Toni smiled, her eyes twinkling as she laughed slightly.
"God, you're so cheesy," Toni replied, causing Hunter to huff just as the rest arrived into the camp. Hunter grinned back at her for a second before moving away as Toni went to approach Martha to explain her sudden friendship with Shelby without giving away more than Shelby would be comfortable with.
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"Oh, God. I almost forgot," Martha told them all as they discussed how the vibes of the new camp just didn't match that of the pervious one. "It's that we're missing someone."
They all erutped into laughter as Martha pulled out the torso mannequinn, everyone cheering as they reuninted with what had essentially became the mascot of their time on the island. Hunter rolled her eyes but cheered along with the rest, rubbing her palms against Toni's shorts that she was wearing before wishing she had peed before it had gotten dark.
"Welcome home, Marcus."
"And that's my queue to leave," Hunter joked, standing up and squeezing Toni's shoulder as she headed towards the bush around their camp. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."
The laughter of the others joking about Marcus drifted into the background as Hunter moved away from the camp, going forward a little more to preserve what was left of her dignity as she tried to find the perfect spot to squat. Her eyes skimmed the trees to make sure she was out of sight of the girls, and just as she stilled to a halt Hunter stumbled forward.
Her hands gripped on to the side of the tree in front of her, causing her to hiss as she scraped her sore palms against the rough bark. The girl swore under her breath as she turned around to look at what she had tripped over. She rolled her eyes as she leaned down to pick up the orange plastic before realising exactly what was in her hands.
"What the fuck?" Hunter murmured, spinning on the spot as she squinted against the darkness. Her eyes finally landed on what she had been praying not to see, her heart dropping in her chest as she let out what sounded like a strangled cry as she darted forward without hesitation.
"Leah!" Hunter yelped as she scrambled down, ignoring the pain in her leg as it smacked against a tree branch. She lightly slapped her hands against the sides of Leah's face before noticing the dust of the white pills across her palms. Her breathing paused for a second, her heart dropping in her chest as she turned her head over her shoulder and screamed for the rest of the girls to hurry.
She heard Toni's voice yell back instantly, and the rustling of the bushes told her that they were hurrying to find her. She hoped they hurried up. She couldn't lose Leah, espeically after losing Nora. Not Leah.
"Fuck Leah, what have you done?"
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Hello! I've updated the face claims for Hunter and Hudson at the start of the book, so I'd advise checking that out if you can!
Has anyone else gotten hugely into TikTok edits at the moment? I can't edit to save my life but can't stop watching them and those POV videos!! If anyone has an account and wants to make a Toni x Hunter edit pls do feel welcome hahahaha.
Also, does Faber's words to Hudson feel like deja vu to you? Maybe time for a reread...