𝗛𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗘 dying. She woke up with her head on Grizz's shoulder, the cold tiles on the bathroom floor making her shiver.
Will's voice made her head weakly lift to look at him, "Allie and Erika are sick too."
"What?" Grizz asked.
Gordie rushed in on the phone with more news. "Marnie's puking."
Hunter whimpered, her body twitching as she leaned over the toilet and threw up a deep red color. She whimpered again at the sight of red coming up from her stomach.
Will looked over at Gordie with a concerned expression on his face.
"Tell them to get people to the clinic." Grizz said rubbing soft circles on her back. He used his other hand to pull her hair out of her face as she continued to puke. "Hunter, we're gonna take you to the clinic."
She nodded weekly allowing Grizz to pick her up and transferred her to the car, she continued to twitch and puke the whole drive to the hospital. Once there, Grizz set her down in a hospital bed as Bean ran around handing out bottles filled with pink liquids.
Helena and Luke came into building with their arms around and a girl who was puking into a bucket. more people filled the beds. Kelly and Bean ran around trying to keep people hydrated and awake.
Grizz attempted to give Hunter some of the liquid, unfortunately she continued to violently puke. "Kelly, she won't keep it down."
"I don't know what else to do." Kelly said in a panic.
"Can you put it in an IV?"
"Are you fucking kidding? of course, I can't!" Kelly ran to Gordie was sitting at the counter reading a book about IV's. "We are so not prepared for this."
Gordie was opening and slamming cabinet looking for supplies to put an IV in.
"Help! help!" Campbell yelled holding a passed-out Elle in his arms.
Hunter started to tremble in fear. Grizz noticed and pulled her hand into his own, rubbing soft soothing patterns over her knuckles. "I won't let anything happen to you; I promises."
She nodded, trusting him and relaxing slightly before the sounds of Elle screaming filled the room. Hunter tried to sit up but collapse to exhaustion.
She woke up some time later with an IV in her arm and Grizz sitting in the same spot as before. "Can I get you anything?"
She shook her head, her eyes not fully open yet. "I really thought I was gonna die."
. . .
"Grizz?" Hunter whispered later that evening. His bedroom door was cracked open slightly, enough for him to wake up to her soft voice calling him out.
"Are you okay?" He said making his way over to her, nothing but a loose pair of sweatpants on.
"Yes, I just I can't sleep." She looked up at him with sleep in her eyes, "I'm just overwhelmed. I don't know what I want."
"That's okay," He whispered softly, brushing her hair off her face. "Not everyone knows what you want."
"Do you know what you want?"
He nodded. "I knew for a long time."
"What was it?"
"I wanted to see you laugh the way you did in eight grades. It sounds stupid but I just remember Mr. Greenway making me read out Juliet's part English and you laughed so hard you fell out of your chair."
"You remember that?"
"I remember everything about you, Hunter." Grizz whispered, "I wanted you since that day. But I know it's not the right time to be together. But I want to forget that for a moment. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I wanted to make sure the first person who kissed you really loved you," Grizz continued, Hunter was softly crying. "But that didn't happen. But I can make sure the second person who kissed you really loves you."
She knew that technically they already kissed, but that didn't count.
"I want to make sure of that. Okay?"
"Okay."
She kissed him. It was that kind of kiss that neither of them could properly describe. It was the kind of kiss that made them feel happiness. He loved her against all odds, against peace, against all discouragement and anything to come.
. . .
Later that day, Elle stat across from Hunters and Allie.
"I know you've been trying to figure out what happened at Thanksgiving, and I'm here because I need to confess." Elle said not looking up from the ground until she finished her sentence.
"What?" Allie asked quietly.
"I'm responsible." she paused and looked at Allie. "I did it."
"Are you serious?" Hunter scowled. She had just recovered from whatever illness happened and was not feeling very understanding of the situation.
"Yes, you need to arrest me." Elle pleaded.
"Elle, this isn't what needs to happen." Allie whispered to Elle. She looked between the girls confused.
"You intentionally poisoned a dozen people at Thanksgiving?" Allie asked.
"Why." Hunter snapped.
"It was meant for Campbell."
Allie looked between the girls confused. After a few seconds of silence, she caught on. "Does Campbell hurt the both of you?"
Elle looked up. "I just needed him to stop."
"If I was home, I'd just get on a bus or a train and I'd go." Elle said between sobs. "I'd just go away, but there's not away. I didn't want to hurt anybody, just him."
Hunter narrowed her eyes at the girl. "You don't get to fucking be the victim here, Elle. You slept with my boyfriend when I was with him."
Allie looks at Hunter with apologetic eyes, "That wasn't fair of her to do. But no one deserves to be hurt anymore by him. 'll arrest him."
"You let him go, Allie. You did." Hunter continued to scowl.
"Arrest him for what? If you arrest him, he's just going to tell everybody what I've done. and what I've done is so much worse." Elle continued to cry.
Hunter sighed, she put her own feelings towards Elle aside and allowed herself to acknowledge that this girl was also a victim of abuse. "Arrest her, we just can't tell anyone why. It's the best move."
"Thank you." Elle said quietly as she looked up at Hunter, "and I'm sorry."
. . .
The following days were long and quiet. When Hunter announced Elle's arrest, no one questioned it as they all suspected something had happened between the two of them. Campbell lurked around but knew that he no longer had the power over Hunter as she was with Grizz who would die to keep her safe.
The tension in the town was high as the election was approaching quickly. The expedition was leaving today, and Hunter was growing more and more attached and dependent on Grizz.
The group of kids stood at the edge of the forest preparing to bid farewell. Allie was giving a speech and Hunter was searching for Grizz. Everyone was bundled up in hats and gloves. Five kids were holding a poster that had good luck painted on it. After Allie's speech, kids were started to say goodbye to each other and that's when Hunter's eyes landed on Grizz.
She ran forward and swung her arms around him, "Be safe please. I love you."
Grizz returned the hug, kissing her deeply on the lips before pulling away and placing his hands on her face, "I love you."