Day Three

Hunter lay in the sand, motionless as she half-listened to Fatin and Martha go through Leah's book and the hand-written annotations from the guy she had obviously been seeing that had also wrote it. She didn't want to really weigh in on something she knew nothing about, but her warped opinion of love was truly not lining up with what the book was saying.

"God, there is nothing grosser than couples and their inside jokes," Fatin said, flipping through the pages in boredom as Martha watched on with slight envy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Martha admitted, never having been in a relationship with a boy. Hunter hummed from her spot on the ground, the other two looking at her and waiting for her to speak but moving on once it became apparent her hum seemingly had no words attached to it.

"Do you want some solid relationship advice?" Fatin asked suddenly, looking at Martha with a little more seriousness as she noticed the hope and look of naivety in her eyes when it came to relationships. "Okay, there's only three things that you have to remember; skip the handy, dry humping is underrated and always carry a stash of Uqora."

"What's Uqora?"

"It's for UTIs," Fatin and Hunter said at the same time, the other two looking down as they remembered the blonde was actually aware of their conversation and seemingly was ready to begin to join in with Fatin's advice giving for Martha.

"Its for like, after you have a lot of sex," Fatin explained simply, while Hunter shrugged a little knowing that it was for more situations that just that but not wanting to go into it all when she barely knew much herself.

"Um, what about something more basic?" Martha asked, uncomfortable with Fatin throwing her directly into the deep end. She didn't know anything about even having someone fancy her, let alone how to have someone have sex with her. "You know, like, how do I even get a guy to like me?"

"Oh that's easy! You just stop paying attention to them, and then they just like appear out of nowhere."

Almost like there was some weird sense of irony in how the world worked, as soon as those words left Fatin's lips Toni had arrived back from her sulk and was slamming the upper torso of a male mannequin into the ground in front of them. 

"So this guy washed up, is he good for anything?" Toni asked, a small smile playing on her lips as she looked at the trio who were staring at her in utter disbelief.

There was a moment of silence before Hunter eventually scoffed, leaning back down on to her back again and shutting her eyes. Martha, Toni and Fatin all shared looks of confusion at her behaviour before holding their breath as she opened her mouth without opening her eyes.

"The one bit of advice I'll give you is this Martha: men aren't good for anything but ruining things, lying and destroying any happiness us women have created for ourselves."

The three all stared at her with open mouths, not expecting her to sudden have gotten all bitter about the male species, but Fatin and Toni couldn't say they blamed her. They'd had their fair share of dickheads in their life and knew that men were often disrespectful to women.

Toni could't help but wonder if Hunter was explicitly meaning her ex.

_____

"Do you think he has a hot, cheerleader girlfriend back home?" Fatin joked as they studied the mannequin, now wearing a pilot shirt that that had found in the pilot's supply kit that had washed up the day prior. "Dumb, blonde, annoying... no offence Hunter."

Hunter rolled her eyes slightly, a laugh leaving her lips to show the others that she was offended by the stereotype - she had been receiving it all her life and it didn't help that she tried to typically hide that she had a 4.0 GPA cause she didn't want Riley to get jealous since he struggled with school. Not that she cared how he felt after what he had done to her, but it was subconsciously wired into her now anyway.

"Yeah, see, he doesn't really read as straight to me," Toni joked, looking between the three as they all joked about it. It was a little strange and none of them would have done it had they not been a little delirious due to the fact they were literally plane-wrecked on an island with no way off, but it was providing them with some entertainment while Dot and Shelby searched for shelter and Nora, Rachel and Leah swam out to the plane. "I mean, look at those abs - straight boys don't rock an eight-pack that hard."

"He could also be a straight gym-rat fuck boy, you know? Hunter knows the type, I'm sure," Fatin said, not really thinking about her words before saying them. Martha and Toni shared a quick glance as Fatin said it, wondering if it was going to make Hunter mention her ex-boyfriend from their relationship that seemed to carry a lot of baggage. "All about his gram channel, sprays Acqua di Gio on his balls, and he will always leave you on read."

"Oh I definitely know the type," Hunter laughed, a slight bitterness to her voice as she rolled her eyes hard. "My ex definitely fit the bill. Dickheads, the lot of them."

"Mmm, Marcus here will break your fucking heart," Fatin agreed, slapping the chest of their pilot mannequin slightly as she tied a necktie around the cut off head. Hunter couldn't help but smile then, thinking about how unexpected this situation was. Toni seemed to linger her gaze on Hunter for a second, trying to figure the girl out. She would be lying if she said she didn't find the blonde hugely attractive and while she knew it was ridiculously likely that the girl was straight, her mind couldn't help but wander to their first night on the island when she had admitted to having a threesome with another girl which was only causing a slight internalised gay hope to form in Toni's mind.

"Marcus?" Martha asked, snapping Toni away from staring at Hunter and back into the conversation they had been having.

"Yeah, where did Marcus come from?" Toni asked, noticing how Hunter was giggling away at the sudden name that Fatin had whipped out of thin air to name the pilot.

"It's a vibe."

"I mean... it's kinda close to my name," Martha joked, titling her head as she pretended to gaze longingly at the mannequin. They all chuckled at that, Hunter letting herself smile the brightest smile she had in weeks.

"Honesty, I feel the chemistry," Fatin joked, causing Toni and Hunter to both share a glance before bursting into laughter as Martha carried the joke on, just trying to have some fun before they have to face reality again.

"Yeah, Marty, get it," Toni said, causing Hunter to fully let go and burst into fits of laughter. They all joined in, surprised that the girl was properly laughing for the first time in the three days they had all known each other. Toni swore she wasn't a simp, but as soon as she heard the girl's fits of laughter, she knew that she would do anything to be the reason behind that laugh again.

Just before anyone else could say anything, Shelby and Dot rocked back up to the four girls. Their eyes widened slightly at the sight of them all laughing widely surrounding a mannequin, but chose not to ruin the moment at all.

"We are back, unscathed!" Shelby announced, causing their laughter to die down for a second as they all turned around to look at the duo. Hunter smiled softly at them both, knowing that they had good news with how they were walking towards them.

"And we found a cave," Dot added, causing everyone to smile again at the good news. It looked like after their rainstorm experience from the night before, that they were being blessed with some rather good luck. "So if rescue doesn't show in the next couple of hours, I suggest we get a move on."

"Thank god," Fatin exclaimed as Toni and Hunter watched Martha use lipstick to draw a dick on to the mannequin. Hunter rolled her eyes while her and Toni both shared a glance, playfully teasing the other girl. "I cannot take another night with wet sand in my crack."

"Who is this?" Dot asked as Fatin turned the mannequin around, not wanting to break whatever piece of happiness they had all found while her and Shelby had been out scouting for shelter. She hadn't see the head cheerleader laugh like that in a while, not that she often went to school but rather when she would see her accompany Riley and his friends when he came to pick up 'supplies' from Dot.

"That's Marcus," Martha explained as she smiled at the two Texans who were looking slightly perplexed. "Toni found him."

"I don't have a ton of experience, but doesn't that seem especially large?" Shelby asked, looking at the drawn on penis uncomfortably. Hunter had to hold in a laugh as Fatin and her shared a quick look, not really knowing what to say to that without sounding extra.

"Martha likes them hung."

They all shared a small laugh, before Rachel shouting from the shore line caused them all to stop their joking around and turn to watch the three drenched teenagers rushing towards them all. And just like that, Hunter found her moment of blissful joy shattered once more.

____

"So, have you started playing favourites?"

"Oh come on, that's not praxis," Gretchen said as she looked across the table at the man, a slight smile breaking through her lips. "Okay, there are two. The first one is shrewd, skeptical, almost to the point of paranoid. Even though I'm sure she's gonna be a major pain in my ass, I am still drawn to her."

"Is she already raising suspicions?" The man asked, not knowing anything about Leah other than what Gretchen had just told him in the sentence.

"A few, but you know what milestone eight entails. I'm sure it'll kill any doubts."

"And the other favourite?"

"Yes, called Hunter. She's a lot more interesting than I expected, has a lot more damage and emotional baggage than we realised but its one of the things that's making her all the more fascinating. Her brother is taking part in the other focus group but she's fully unaware of this, of course, but it's interesting how they're so similar yet so different. She's a dark horse for sure, and she's maybe the only one I'm never sure how she's going to react to something. Again, major pain in the ass but I really think she's going to make this experiment work for us. She just needs to figure out how to let the others in."

___

"So what do we do with it?" Martha asked as they all sat in a circle around the orange box that contained the flight recorder. It had all the information about what happened to them three days ago, and all they had to do was open it and hope it worked.

"What are you looking at me for?" Dot asked, noticing how they had all turned to look at her to see what she thought. She had become the non-appointed almost leader of the group, as much as she didn't want to accept that mantle. "I don't know dick about planes, two days ago was the first time I'd ever been in one."

"We should open it," Leah said from across the circle, her eyes barely having left it since Rachel had dumped it in the wet sand. Hunter looked over at here from where she sat in between Shelby and Toni, unsure on what was the best situation for them to head into.

"But it says right on the thing..."

"Martha I know, but if we were to get inside you might find the actual recording like... like the actual tape of what happened to us up there," Leah explained, causing everyone to have a feeling of dread but anticipation to course through their bodies. None of them actually remembered much about the crash but it wasn't something they had spoken about to realise that they all shared the same experience.

"Don't we kind of already know what happened?"

"Do we?" Leah asked, looking around at them all again as she tried to prove her point. "Can somebody tell me the full account?"

"Leah has a point," Hunter said, everyone turning to look at where the blonde was sitting (albeit slightly closer to Toni than she was to Shelby, something that Fatin seemed to be interested by since the girl hated usually sitting near anyone). "I can't remember a thing between the turbulence and waking up to Toni's face above mine."

The heavy silence answered Leah's question.

"Besides, look at how big and loud the 'do not open' is. Part of me feels like it's telling us to do the opposite, like it's being ironic," Leah continued, tilting her head as she studied the orange box. Just as Hunter thought everyone was going to agree with the girl to open the box, Rachel interrupted the moment of silence.

"Fuck no, we aren't opening it!" She exclaimed, looking at Leah as if she had grown an extra head.

"You said there was maybe like, a transmitter in here, beaming out our location?" Dot asked, her hands now resting on the box as everyone looked between her and Nora. The other girl nodded, looking almost comical in Fatin's furry pink coat.

"Yeah, it's called a beacon, I think. It's like a nautical term?"

"Okay, but if they haven't found us yet, can't we assume that this beacon thing is busted?" Shelby asked, a valid point that both Toni and Hunter seemed to agree with since they nodded their heads slightly in sync at her question. "I mean, maybe if we just try..."

"DO NOT OPEN! What part of that is unclear?" Rachel yelled suddenly, both Toni and Leah noticing how Hunter jumped slightly at her suddenly angrier tone of voice. Hunter seemed to return to normal almost immediately, but Toni and Leah both noticed the way her hand flew to the hair tie on her wrist and began to fiddle with it anxiously. "What if we open and break a completely functional beacon? That would wipe us off the grid entirely. Is that what you want? Cause if it is what you all want, you're fucking damaged."

"There's a bulb inside, but it's out," Dot interrupted Rachel's rant, having peered into the orange box despite the other girl's wishes.

"Okay, so that means it's definitely broken, right?"

"If someone suggests opening it one more time, I swear to God."

"What do you think Dorothy?" Fatin asked, turning the question back to the girl who seemed to be their best bet at survival. There was complete silence as the weight of the choice seemed to weigh on Dot, before Shelby was the first to speak up.

"Okay, y'all, what we choose to do right now should not be in the hands of just one person. Not that Dottie couldn't handle it, but we shouldn't put that much responsibility on her."

____

"So, how did you resolve it?"

"That was the first time we voted."

____

"All those in favour, raise your hands," Shelby said, instantly raising her own hand into the air as she looked around at the rest of the survivors. Leah, Fatin, Dot, Toni, Martha and Hunter all raised their hands at the same time, while Nora and Rachel found themselves hugely outvoted. "Alright then, majority rules."

As they all watched Dot fiddle around with the master board, Hunter couldn't help but wonder if they had made the right choice. She knew that it was unlikely it worked since no-one had reduced them yet, but there was the chance that they were so far away that it was just taking a rescue team longer - but deep down Hunter had the feeling no-one was coming for them anytime soon.

"Holy shit," Dot said as the device made a loud beeping noise. "Do you think that means it's working?"

"I mean, I don't know but we have to assume yes."

"So it's on? Now they're going to find us?"

"Yeah boy! Fuck to the yes!" Toni cheered as she grabbed on to Martha, Shelby smiling at the friends while Hunter couldn't bring herself to get her hopes up. She wasn't sure how much more losing hope she could handle without Hudson by her side to keep her sane.

"Wait a second," Dot said as she pulled out a silver box that looked like some sort of media player. "I think this is it... the recording from the flight."

As soon as Leah hit play, Hunter wished she hadn't voted for them to open the capsule at all.

"This is November Delta 294, are we cleared for departure?"

"November Delta 294 you are..."

"294 out of range, engaging distress signal. We've gone off course, Mayday, Mayday, May... Lost thrust in both engines. We're off course... Cabin pressure is gone Captain. The girls are unconscious. We got complete engine failure, I'm gonna have to put this down in the water. Unlatch the exits, make sure the girls have flotation devices! 294, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! We've lost thrust in both engines, and are attempting a water landing. Hold on for the attempt - oh, shit! Mayday, Mayday, May..."

"We should have died," Leah said, breaking the silence of all the girls as she ended the recording. Everyone nodded silently, even Hunter who had backed out of the circle slightly.

"But we didn't," Dot pointed out, looking upwards for a second. "We're alive."

Hunter moved away from the circle again, looking back over her shoulder as she moved away from the group. The rest watched her go, not knowing what to say after what they had just listened to.

"I'm not feeling fucking lucky regardless," Hunter snapped, storming off as her trainers crunched against the wet sand. They all shared looks, everyone hating to admit it but also feeling the exact same way that Hunter was.

___

"Hey," Toni murmured as she approached where Hunter was sitting facing the water on one of the rocks outside of the cave. The blonde hadn't spoken a word to the rest of them all since they had listened to the recording of the plane, and was yet to actually step foot into the cave where the rest were all starting to lay down for the night.

Hunter looked up slightly as Toni sat on the rock beside hers, making sure that she didn't touch the girl as she looked out along the sea line too. There was a slight silence before Toni tried to figure out what she was about to say, but Hunter beat her to it.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Hunter finally asked, not turning to look at her but letting the setting sun illuminate the tears that were pooling in her eyes. "I've been nothing but rude to you since we got here. You've done nothing but help me and I've fought you off every time."

Toni shrugged, aware that while the girl wasn't watching her, she would have caught the gesture. She was good at noticing everything that was going on around her, and Toni guessed it was a side effect of whatever baggage she had been burdened with.

"Cause I don't think you're a bad person, Hunter. I know you think you are, and I know you sometimes do things that might make it seem like you don't care about anything but I see you. I see you for what you are; broken, and I'm not going to argue how you try to fix yourself. I just figured that if we're gonna be stuck on this fucking island together, we might as well stick together."

Hunter wasn't sure how to reply to that. She had never been further away from Hudson but the words that had just came from Toni's mouth felt just like something that he would have told her. She didn't know whether to smile, or cry. She did both. Toni rose to her feet as they remained in silence for a second, looking down at the blonde as she cast a look back into the cave where the others seemed to be waiting on them both before allowing themselves to sleep.

"Once your ready, please come and sleep in the cave with us tonight," Toni spoke, her voice much softer than Hunter was used to. "I've set you up a little makeshift bed like the rest of us, but I've made sure there's enough space for you to not be touching any of us."

Toni turned away, beginning to walk back to the cave when she felt a hand grasp around her wrist and stop her in her tracks. She turned around in surprise, looking down at where Hunter had willingly latched on to her wrist and stopped her. The blonde girl didn't let go the way she had for Fatin and Dot the day prior; but rather held on as she sent Toni a soft smile.

"Thank you, Toni. For everything."