Day Three

Dot

Being awoken to the loud crashes of thunder and rain pelting on her face wasn't how Hunter wished to be woken up, but she actually was considering the possibility to her preferring that over one of the girls shaking her awake since it freaked her out every time. 

Dot was frantically running around them all as they all jumped to their feet, the Texan grabbing all the Diet Coke cans in sight while Hunter tried to push her drenched hair away from her eyes so that she could see better. She was aware that if she didn't get to brush it soon, it was very likely that it was going to get knotted and constantly start to annoy her from hanging in her face, but that was a problem she would just have to find a solution to after the rainstorm was over.

A little known fact about Hunter Boyd was the fact that she utterly despised lightning storms. Rainstorms, she had always been fond of and usually found them calming (when she was inside in the warmth obviously), but any storms that contained lightning and thunder terrified the girl and had done since she was a little kid. Any time there was a thunderstorm, Hudson would always welcome her into his bed like they were little children again and they would put on a film or he would teach her how to play another one of his favourite playstation games in the hopes that it would take her mind off the lightning.

"Come here, I got you," Shelby said from just along from Hunter where she had taken off her own jacket to try and hold it above herself and Martha to keep them slightly more dry from the pelting rain. Hunter paid little to no attention to it, and silently prayed that no matter how bad this storm got that none of the girls would even try come near her. The only person she trusted during thunderstorms was likely thousands of miles away worried sick about her.

"I used to think thunderstorms were like, majestic," Leah yelled out to them all, clutching that stupid book in her hands like it was going to protect her from the storm. Hunter briefly looked up before going back to where she was rocking back and forth slightly, her arms wrapped around her knees as she pulled them to her chest and kept her eyes jammed shut. Toni sent her a concerned look before she noticed where Shelby and Martha were sitting together, trying to hold her anger in at the blonde potentially replacing her.

"That still your take?" Rachel yelled back, instantly being cut off by a loud crash of thunder as the girls all flinched at the noise and how close it seemed to their position.

"No."

Dot sprung back up to her feet, her eyes catching the darkened yellow of the emergency slide that she had dragged back the day before. She had an idea for a temporary shelter and while they wouldn't be able to sleep with it, they'd at least be able to stay a little more dry and hopefully not catch a cold from the rain.

"All right, come on!" Dot yelled out to them all, dragging the slide over to the group of shivering girls. "Everybody grab an end, get under!"

All of the girls hurried to their feet - minus Hunter - as Dot appeared with the slide, rushing to find some shelter from the harsh winds and rain. They all grabbed a section of the slide, throwing it up above as they all slipped under without any haste. They all seemed more relaxed as soon as they got under the slide, before everyone realised that the Texan cheerleader was still sitting in the wet sand, her eyes shut as she muttered under her breath to herself.

Once they all realised that yelling her name wasn't doing anything, it seemed like a lose-lose situation for them all. No-one wanted to say it, but they had to. This was survival, and at the end of the day they all had reasons they wanted to make it home for.

"Look, if she wants to stay out there then that's on her," Rachel snapped as they all started to get frustrated with her yelling. "If she wants to get a chill then so be it, but we can't just force her to come in here. She can just stay there and we can keep an eye on her from here."

Toni shook her head, her angry risen from Martha and Shelby having small talk under the shelter as she looked out at where a clearly broken Hunter was now burying her face into her hands as she rocked back and forth. She had already began to shiver slightly, and Toni wasn't willing to watch someone else die even if she barely knew the girl.

"Like hell she is," Toni scoffed, everyone shouting the basketball player's name as she lunged out of the shelter, squinting against the rain that was smacking against her face. They all knew that this wasn't going to go well, since it was clear the only way to get Hunter under the slide was physically and it was already clear that the girl had extreme issues with that.

Hunter thrashed as Toni grabbed on to her, gently but firmly tugging her to her feet and pulling the girl towards the rest of the girls while attempting to ignore the way Hunter pulled and thrashed against her. The other girls seemed somewhat sympathetic towards her as they saw the state she had worked herself up into, even moving to make sure that there was more space at the end of the space underneath the slide so that once Toni got her in she wouldn't be touching as many of them.

As Toni managed to get her under the slide, Hunter continued to thrash against her as she kept her arms wrapped around the girl on the ground. Fatin and Dot shared concerned looks while Nora couldn't figure out what to do other than scoot closer to Rachel to try and give the girl more space.

"Stop fighting me!" Toni exclaimed, pulling Hunter so that she was sitting with her back against Toni's chest and Toni's arms wrapped around her shoulders to stop her from rushing back out of the shelter like she was instinctively trying to do. She lowered her voice to hushed whispers, cooing almost into Hunter's ear as she tried to get the blonde to calm down. "Hunter, its okay, please, you're safe..."

While Toni refused to release her grip on the girl, they all watched as she gradually started to stop struggling and eventually almost lean against Toni's chest in defeat. The rest might not have been able to notice it, but their contact meant that Toni was able to feel the way the girl trembled against her from not just the cold but utter terror too.

"Sand fleas. Well they're not really like fleas, they're more like tiny little shrimp. They're not lethal! They're just annoying," Dot announced as the rest of them began to complain that they were itchy, but Hunter was too zoned out of their words to care that she might have fleas. "Once the rain stops we can just go scrub them off, you know, before they get a chance to burrow."

At her words, it was Fatin's turn to step out of the shelter and scream in anguish at the sky to let out her anger at this godforsaken situation they had found themselves in.

"FUCK MY LIFE!"

_____

 "So this, uh, this rainstorm, this was day three then?"

"Yup, and you know it kind of sunk in at that point that our food situation was for shit, just crap from the plane... tiny little sandwiches, lots of bags of nuts. It didn't help Hunter was seemingly taking three steps backwards while the rest of us were trying to just move on with our lives on the island."

"That must've been discouraging."

"Yeah, morale was low. Well, maybe not low but more like hangry. Can I get another one of those? And if it's not too much trouble, some of those little blue crab..."

_____

"...blue crab sushi from Hinata drizzled in ponzu sauce, with just the lightest touch - just a kiss - of wasabi," Fatin sighed as her, Martha and Shelby lay with their heads touching on the sand, jackets keeping them from getting the backs of their heads wet from the rainstorm's effects.

"I just want some Indian tacos, the way mom makes them with black beens and Velveeta," Martha sighed, before Toni nodded from where she was sitting crossed legged just beside the three, her eyes briefly glancing to Hunter who was also sitting with them but next to Toni. 

They had all noticed that she was sitting a little closer to the girl than she usually would have, but they all pegged it down to her finding comfort from when Toni had held her in the shelter despite Hunter wanting nothing more than to be far aware from human contact. She hadn't said a single word all day, but they knew she was grateful for the decision even if she didn't like it at the time.

"Oh I would destroy some Velveeta right now," Toni agreed with Martha, a small smile resting on her lips for the briefest of moments. "Like I would just house it straight from the packet."

"I'm thinking Cheesecake Factory," Shelby mused, everyone furrowing their eyebrows at her suggestion. It was such a basic thing to have left her mouth and Toni wasn't surprised in the slightest - although she truthfully had expected it to be Hunter who said something like that. "Four cheese pasta, fresh brown bread."

"Okay the Cheesecake factory is grotesque," Fatin said, judging the girl immensely. "It's a mall restaurant for mall people. No judgement."

Shelby sat up suddenly, the movement causing Hunter's eyes to flicker to her as the fellow Texan looked around at them all in confusion.

"What is a mall person? And why do you say it all derogatory like?" She questioned, feeling singled out at the fact her chosen meal was the only one to receive judgement. They all sat in silence for a moment before a new voice entered the conversation.

"Hudson makes these chicken enchiladas but he puts crushed up Doritos in them," Hunter spoke up, everyone sharing a surprised glance before looking over at where the girl had willingly spoken for the first time all day. "Or R-Riley's mom's chicken nachos."

There was a moment as everyone pondered upon what she had said, trying to ignore the way she had stuttered on saying her ex-boyfriends name. They knew now that something bad had obviously happened between them after Shelby and Dot had shared the story the previous night about Hudson beating him almost into a coma, but no-one wanted to make any assumptions or accusations.

"Dottie, what is that?" Shelby asked suddenly, everyone sitting up and looking at where the survival girl was sitting dwindling sticks of wood into a pile of other sticks.

"Wet wood gets us black smoke, gets us a signal fire," Dot explained, flapping her hands as she tried to give the fire more oxygen so that it could get burning better. "Probably a good idea to keep it going during the day. And guys, you know, I was pretty slack on this yesterday and it cost us. We have got to get real about shelter. If we all pitch in, grab the materials... Yes, lady in the leopard?"

Everyone looked up at this, their own opinions and feelings about the idea resting on the tips of their tongues. Toni knew that they needed shelter, but she was also very aware that if they were going to attempt to find permanent shelter that it would have to be slightly big enough for Hunter to willingly share it with the others and not fear having any accidental contact. She couldn't drag the girl kicking and screaming into shelter every night, even if she did think she was kinda pretty.

"That sounds really unappealing, and I'm exhausted," Fatin said, shaking her head and immediately shooting down the idea. "And there's rescue coming. So for those reasons, I'm out."

"Just because you shot me down Shark Tank style, doesn't make me any less annoyed," Dot started, rolling her eyes as Rachel, Nora and Leah in the background planned their escape from the situation by planning on swimming out to see if they could find anything.

"I think it's a good idea," Hunter spoke, causing the entire camp to stop what they were doing and turn to look at her in complete surprise. They were the last person she expected to be advocating for shelter when she had completely gone ballistic yesterday when having to actually use it.

"So we make a shelter and what? You refuse to go in it and Toni has to drag you kicking and screaming into it every night?" Leah asked, not meaning to sound snappy but trying to understand why the girl was suddenly all for shelter after giving them a heart attack that night.

Toni looked at how Hunter deflated slightly, no longer looking up at the rest of the camp and furrowed her eyebrows at the way the girl looked saddened. She shook her head as she looked at Leah, Rachel and Nora who were getting ready to head off.

"Not cool Leah," Toni muttered to the girl, making Martha and Fatin share a look of confusion at the girl defending the Texan who had literally almost given her an elbow to the face. It was surprising Toni "hothead" Shalifoe hadn't tried to scrap with her yet.

As everyone seemed mostly opposed to her shelter idea, Dot huffed before grabbing her backpack, hat and other supplies and rising to her feet. Shelby turned to look at the girl she had known from childhood with a questioning look over her features.

"Dot, where are you going?"

"If we're not building shelter, I'm at least going to look for a cave or some kind of big rock that we can duck under..." Dot explained as she grabbed a large stick and started to head off. "...because believe it or not, the elements don't fuck around and neither should we!"

As Dot stormed away, Shelby hesitated for a moment before composing herself and turning around to focus on Hunter who was trying to make herself seem invisible like always. She found this so strange, since the Hunter Boyd she'd gone to school with all her life was the extroverted popular girl, not the quiet and withdrawn girl.

"What do you say, Hunter," Shelby asked, her voice too cheery for their situation. "Shall us Texans pair up and go after one of our own?"

There was a heavy pause before Hunter rubbed the back of her neck and looked up at Shelby sheepishly, not wanting to be in a situation where she might have to talk about the differences in the lives of the three girls from the same town.

"I think I'll stay here, help keep the signal fire going," Hunter said, causing Shelby's smile to falter slightly as she tightened her ponytail and dashed off in the direction that Dot had headed in, not wanting to waste time and potentially lose the girl.

___

Hunter was sitting fanning the fire while Fatin flicked through Leah's book that she had left behind - something that surprised Hunter since the girl seems to literally sleep with it and had refused to let anyone else touch it once. She was sure that this was maybe rude of them, but at the same time she was still a bit upset from what the girl had said earlier when she had tried to defend Dot's shelter idea.

"Oh, fuck!" Toni suddenly growled, dropping her body into the wet sand beside Fatin. Hunter looked up with a fright, her eyes widened for a second before she realised that there was no real danger apparent here, but rather just an irritated Toni Shalifoe again.

"How's your BFF?" Fatin asked, knowing that Toni was clearly seeking out someone to rant to by the fact she had made such a dramatic entrance. Fatin shot Hunter a quick look who shrugged in return, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she watched what felt like normality take place before her.

"You mean Martha?"

"Obviously," Hunter muttered, causing Fatin to snigger slightly while Toni playfully narrowed her eyes at the girl before motioning over her shoulder to where the other girl had fallen fast asleep on the sand and jackets.

"She's over there sleeping off her pill bender," Toni snarked, causing Hunter to look across and wonder if Martha was feeling any better since she had hurt her ankle. "BFF, that's rich."

Hunter sighed at that, knowing that Toni was in a bad mood while Fatin simply continued to flick through Leah's book as she searched for more hidden messages that had been scribbled across the pages. She didn't understand most of it, but it was rather interesting to her nevertheless.

"Oh no, did you guys have a domestic?" Fatin asked, no concern whatsoever present in her voice. Hunter couldn't lie and say she was particularly worried about their friendship either since they'd made it to the island without having killed each other in the past.

"I don't want to talk about it," Toni immediately said, causing Fatin and Hunter to both roll their eyes at how obvious it was that she was in fact itching to talk about it. "I could be bleeding right, like my guts spilling out into the streets but if Shelby came along with a smile and some fucking muffins then Martha would just walk right by me."

"Oh my God," Fatin and Hunter both breathed out at the same time, feeling just like they were back in the high school corridors and not stuck on this stupid island. Hunter was almost grateful, if it wasn't for the fact Toni was being completely overdramatic about Shelby and Martha's newfound friendship. "See this is why I don't get tight with girls. The drama, jealously, the petty revenge schemes. It's so cringey and small."

"Martha's getting taken for a ride," Toni said, ignoring everything Fatin had just said. "All Shelby wants to do is hang out with her long enough to put 'Saved a little res girl' on her college apps, so yeah I'm not out here being petty. I'm just trying to protect my best friend."

Hunter's heart almost snapped a little for Toni there, knowing that while that wasn't exactly the case between Shelby and Martha, she would hate if it was herself and Hudson in this situation. Yeah he was her twin, but he was also her closest friend as she was his.

"I get you," Hunter said, the other two girls looking at her in anticipation for what she was going to say. "If I was you and Martha was Hudson, I'd be feeling pretty angsty too."

"Are you an Aries?" Fatin interrupted, looking at Toni with a tilt of her head. The girl turned to look at the cellist in complete irritation, her anger rising at the thought of the girl not having paid any attention to a word she had just said.

"What? Who the fuck cares? GOD!" Toni snapped, standing up and stomping away from both of the girls in anger. Fatin rolled her eyes slightly before shooting a playful smile to Hunter who chuckled back, knowing that the girl was just trying to get under her skin and had clearly succeeded.

They sat there for a moment, Fatin flipping through the book while Hunter closed her eyes and let the minimal heat from the sunlight hit her. She smiled gently as she listened to the waves before feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise and giving her the feeling she was being watched.

Opening one eye, Hunter squinted slightly as Fatin stared at her intently for a moment before snapping her fingers and pointing at the girl with a grin on her face as she seemingly answered whatever question she had been contemplating in her mind.

"Cancer?"

"Gemini," Hunter mused, without missing a beat. She smiled at Fatin's sigh of disappointment before the girl laughed slightly as Hunter smiled back.

"Twins born in Gemini, how ironic," Fatin joked before closing the book and placing it down on the sand beside her. She wanted to know more about Hunter even if the others had warned each other that the girl was ridiculously closed off and that they'd need to take baby steps with her, but after Hunter willingly touching her the day prior, Fatin knew they would be able to help her if she just let them.

"So why did your parents name you Hunter? Did they want you to get bullied?" Fatin added the last part as a joke, but also in the hopes that it would provide enough conversation starting to let Hunter actually answer her question without shying away from it.

The blonde shrugged, a sudden ease overtaking her body as she leaned back against her hands and looked over at Fatin with a straight lipped grin on her mouth.

"My parents wanted two boys when they found out they were having twins. They didn't care to consider the alternative, including names suitable for girls," Hunter told her with a laugh before her tone turned slightly bitter. "They don't care about much when it comes to us."

She mumbled the last bit, not fully intended for Fatin to hear it but also knowing that somewhere deep down, she was enjoying getting to open up to someone who hadn't heard any of the rumours about her or knew Riley or knew her brother. It was something she never knew she needed, but already she was feeling a weight lifting off her shoulders.

"So are you and Hudson close?" Fatin asked, genuinely curious now. She had always wondered what it was like to have a sibling closer to her age, let alone a twin to do things with. "Just since you mention him a lot."

"Yeah, we're pretty much inseparable," Hunter admitted with a ghost of a smile on her mouth. "We're all each other really has to be honest, our parents are out of town for work a lot. I owe him my life, if I'm opening up. I really don't think I'd be alive to this day if it wasn't for him."

"I need to ask you something, and I'm calling twin response on it," Hudson told Hunter as they sat on the fence, watching as the sun started to set in the horizon. Hunter tensed slightly, knowing that Hudson calling twin response was serious - it was a promise they had made when they were 11 that if either one called twin response then you had to tell the truth: no matter what.

"Hudson..."

"How long has this been going on?" Hudson asked, his voice icy and low. Hunter hadn't heard it from him in a long time, but she knew immediately what he was talking about. If he hadn't called twin response, she'd have feigned confusion - gaslighting him into thinking he was being crazy - but he had. And as much as it hurt her to admit what she was about to, she knew deep down that she needed to do this.

"Two weeks after we started dating," she whispered, so quietly that Hudson almost thought he had imagined it. He looked down at the bandage wrapped around her leg, his face rush red as he found himself stuck between wanting to cry for his twin and wanting to rip Riley to shreds. "He told me it was an accident, and I really believed him. And I believed him the next thirty-four times. How could I have been so stupid?"

Hunter burst into tears, her brother immediately pulling her into his chest and tucking her into his shoulder like they had done pretty much since birth. His henley was dripping with her tears, but he didn't care. Hunter had been hurting for a while now and he had been too engrossed in his own matters to notice, but that was going to change now.

The next time he saw Riley Black, he beat him almost into a coma in front of their friends, family and entire hometown. He didn't regret it. 

"I'm going to go check on Martha, maybe get some sleep myself," Hunter said, closed off again as she jumped out of her memory. Fatin smiled gently, having realised the girl was thinking about something and not wanting to push her.

Hunter would open up to them when she was ready; and until then, they'd have her back regardless of what she was capable of telling them about her past.