gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 20

Day Twenty-Two

Nora's Notebook

"No one came for us. Days here: 22. Days since the plane flew over: 6. Days without food: 2. No one's cried for a while. No one even seems that afraid anymore, not because we're strong or brave but because when you're this starving, you can't feel anything else. Hunger is a force of nature and it's taking out the best of us."

Nora looked up from her notepad as she looked around at the rest of the group, an overwhelming sense on guilt continuing to feed off her entire soul as she looked at their starving frames. Toni was sitting directly beside her, resting against the washed up driftwood as her head lolled back and forth as she tried to keep up energy to stay awake.

Hunter's legs were draped over her own, her head lying against Dot's arm who was also struggling to stay awake. The latter girl was similar to Nora in the sense that she had an overwhelming sense of guilt, but hers was for a completely different reason than that of the quieter Reid twin.

"I let us eat all of the food," Dot grunted out, almost feeling her stomach rumble with the very energy she used to speak outloud. "Such a fucking idiot."

Hunter shifted a little as Dot sat up, Shelby leaning forward from the girl's other side instantly to comfort her friend. While Shelby had been very distant from them all during and after the hair cutting incident, she was starting to act like a normal person again - Hunter and Dot both agreed she was acting more natural than she had in their entire years of knowing her.

"Still, it's been healing for some."

"Hey," Shelby said reassuringly as she scooted a little closer to the girl. "Don't talk about my friend like that, all right? You keep being nasty to her and I'll have to take you."

"Some people remember who they are in a crisis."

"Bar fight, 2015," Shelby told Dot with a smile as she reached into her mouth and unhooked her false teeth. Hunter opened an eye from where her head was now lying in the sand, a small twitch of her lips showing that she found Shelby's attempt at humour funny. "You should have seen the other guy."

"But there are others who return to their darkest places."

"Maybe he's in on it," Leah said, everyone holding back sighs as they realised she was back to conspiracy theories and delusions. Hunter would later kick herself for not taking Leah 100% seriously, and she would wish that she had listened to her own suspicions too.

"Who?"

"That fucking pilot. What kind of a person sees an island full of lost girls and doesn't send help?"

"Leah, what would he be in on?" Shelby asked, attempting to sooth the girl but also curious as to what she was thinking about. She had to admit, a lot of things didn't make sense on the island but she hardly believed there was some greater conspiracy at play.

"I don't know."

"Take it easy alright, we're gonna be okay," Shelby said as she moved from the ground to sit beside Leah, pulling the girl in for a small comforting hug.

Hunter shuffled on the ground, grunting a little as she turned so that her head was resting on Toni's legs instead of the sand. Toni smiled barely, her eyes shut as she tried to stay awake but still showing her appreciation for her girlfriend. Their love language was definitely touch, or constant reassurance.

"And then there's Martha the Pure, who has too much blind faith to lose hope."

"There's no way that he didn't call it in," Martha told Leah, her naiveness sending a slight chill down Hunter's spine. She didn't know how to break it to the girl that no-one was coming back for them if they hadn't by now. "People love to help out, you know?"