Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Clarke Griffin neared the campsite of The Hundred, with a sword strapped to her right side. The sun kissed the eastern horizon, but Clarke was not surprised to hear the campsite well before she saw it. The kids were dancing around a dwindling fire, shoving each other and laughing. Some were dozing on another’s shoulders. They were happy.
When the first of her people noticed her presence, they cheered. She had given them the best meal of their lives. They came up to her one by one, slapping her on the back and thanking her; some of them relayed her shots like it was an epic battle. Others commented on the Sword at her hip, but they didn’t seem to realise what it meant. Eventually, Wells broke through the crowd. He looked like he’d just woken up, but he held out a large piece of cold meat to her. "Had to fight tooth and nail to keep that safe."
She accepted it gratefully and the others cheered again, making her crack a smile through her weary features. They settled down soon after, and went back to their dozing, or dancing.
She peeled pieces of the meat off in strips, and nibbled on them while Wells’ stare burned at her side. “So, you find what you were after?” He nodded to the sword at her hip, and she clutched at it possessively.
“There’s a river of fresh water, about four miles that way. Don’t get in it though, there’s a crazy river snake thing that tried to eat me.” Wells just frowned at her; she knew that wasn’t what he was asking. She only swallowed her words and told him to follow her. She went to find Bellamy. As they walked she asked him how things went here at camp. Murphy and Mbege had approached him angrily, but Bellamy had diffused them. He'd gotten them to coordinate the tent construction, and they were given first pick as prize. No one had taken off their wrist bands yet. Clarke had been right when she'd thought to delay Bellamy's plans. Wells also said that he and Bellamy had talked some; that the unofficial leader of the Hundred's more rowdy members, listened to what he had to say and yelled at a few kids that tried to get aggressive at him because of his father. She nodded thoughtfully at this news.
They’d started making tents out of the scraps from the drop ship and the parachutes. Upon request, the young Jaha directed her to Bellamy’s.
She called out at the entrance, knowing he had started off the type to have company. She heard him call for her to wait, and two girls exited the tent, getting dressed as they went. Clarke watched them leave before turning back to the tent.
Bellamy did not look pleased to be disturbed, and she couldn’t blame him. Roma and Amanda were both lovely girls.
But down to business, she thought to herself. She unstrapped the sword from her waist and held it out to him. He grabbed for it, but she didn’t let go. “That one’s mine, for now. You got that?” She released the blade and he inspected it. He looked a mix of fear and confusion.
“Where’d you get this?”
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that there are other people on the ground, and they know how to use weapons. We need to tell everyone; and our first instinct can’t be to attack them.”
He shoved the sword back towards her roughly “And why the hell wouldn’t we attack the armed savages?”
She didn’t answer for a moment. She spent a few seconds re-strapping the blade to her waist and trying to calm down. “You don’t know that they’re savages. And they probably assume the same of us. Unless you want a war on your hands Bellamy, we need to talk to these people.” He was thinking it over, trying to be reasonable. But Bellamy Blake was unimpressed at how much Clarke was ordering him around. She saw this and tried to think of something to diffuse the situation. She pulled out the gun and handed it to him. “Thanks for letting me borrow this, by the way. We’d all be hungry if you hadn’t.” He only shook his head as he took the gun.
“Tell your people, that if they see someone, not to engage. Please.”She asked it sincerely.
Wells stood by her looking tense and uncomfortable. He backed her up anyway. “There’s no reason we need to fight these grounders. I’m betting they have a lot more people than we do, and it’ll only hurt us in the long run.”
Because the grounders hadn’t attacked them maybe, Bellamy actually looked to be thinking of this as an option. The tense knot in Clarke’s shoulders started loosening, relaxing just a bit. On to the next problem then.
“We need to contact the Ark.” She pulled out a piece of paper with a list of names on them. “Gather these people and meet us in the drop ship, I’ll need Monty too, I didn’t write him down. I’ll give you the plan once we’re all there.” There were nine names on the list. Wells was one of them, but he clearly didn’t need to be rounded up. He held his tongue this time though; content to wait until everyone was gathered.
She needed to sleep, but this needed to be taken care of first. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long. They moved to the top level of the ship to wait.
“We should not, wake up before the sun, guys.” Monty blearily commented as he climbed the ladder a little later. Jasper was following behind him, as expected.
Clarke was still trying to sort through the myriad of emotions flowing through her, about the people around her, but she delayed them once again, in favour of getting the job done. There’d be time for a break down later. “Sorry Monty, but we need to do something, now. The comm.'s are down and we need to let them know we're okay."
As the other's started filing in she talked with Monty about his part of the plan. Wells sat, listening and trying to figure out the big picture.
Finally the last of them entered the room, and Bellamy shut the hatch behind him. Inside were Clarke, Wells, Monty, Jasper, Bellamy, Finn, Sterling and Atom; She'd also gathered a few people she didn't really know, Elizabeth Grace, Amanda Amour, Ellie Sheppard, Robert Stanhope and Eddie Lafont were there as well. They all looked confused as to why they were present, but Amanda looked particularly displeased; this being the second time Clarke had interrupted her tonight.
The young Griffin looked at Bellamy, inviting him to start. He hadn't been told why they were here, but he was smart enough to guess. Clarke had been right to assume that he'd figure things out, just by looking at the list of names she'd given him. She was curious to see how much he'd tell them though.
"The Ark is gonna run out of air." He started. Clarke wasn't expecting that.
"There's nothing they can do, except come to the ground. That's why they sent us. But comm.'s are down, and we need to let them know we're okay. You, lucky kids have been gifted with first names starting with letters we need.
"Wells, Ellie. Amanda, Robert, Elizabeth. Sterling, Atom, Finn, Eddie." He said, looking pointedly at each of them in turn.
"We are safe..." Jasper spelled it out for them.
"I think they got that part genius." Monty nudged him in a friendly manner.
Bellamy nodded to Clarke, who had been encouraging him, confirming his suspicions as he talked, so he wouldn't look the fool if she'd planned something else. She took the reins from here though.
“Those bracelets on your wrists are recording and sending your vital signs to the Ark. If we take them off, they’ll most likely think that we’re dying. That said, this is the only way to communicate with them for now. As you take them off, Monty’s going to try and reverse engineer them to talk to the Ark properly. If that doesn’t work, at least they know we’re safe. Any questions?”
Everyone just shook their heads. Looking around the room though, she could see that some people were uncertain.
“You- Do you really think this will work? Or are they just going to think we’re dead?” It was Robert asking the question. Clarke remembered that he’d gotten caught in the vents without jurisdiction. He was retrieving his two year old neighbour, who had run off scared. They put him in the skybox for helping a little girl.
“There’s no way to know for certain.” It was Bellamy again. With a bit of luck, she was cementing his place as leader here, and they could bypass all that nonsense about being abandoned and taking things on alone. “There’s a whole bunch of genius minds on the ark, someone’s going to figure it out eventually.”
The faces in the circle looked a little more at ease, and Clarke was reminded of the Bellamy that volunteered to go into the mountain to save their people. He was a better man than anyone gave him credit for.
***
The next few days passed quickly, and things started down a better path. Monty had fried the first two bracelets, but he sent the ‘We’ of their message up successfully. Clarke kept an eye on him, it was unlikely he’d succeed this time, when everything had gotten fried the last. Nothing had changed on his end. She tried to prompt him, tried to get him to ask more questions about how they worked and if they were networked together somehow; but Clarke just didn’t have the knowledge.
Clarke went and got some more rest while the young engineer worked.
He successfully took the fifth bracelet off ‘alive’ and someone sent for Clarke. Before trying anything with that one, she asked him to remove the rest, so their message could be completed.
He had five ‘live’ wrist bands to do with as he pleased, and Clarke waited with baited breath to see if he could turn it into a working communication device. When nothing new was forthcoming she went about business in the camp.
Several hours later, the bracelets hadn’t died, but neither had Monty Green been able to do much with them. She knew it didn’t matter that much, Raven would come down in a week or so, and she could wait at the landing zone for her. But she did wondered what she could do if she were able to talk to them now. She could tell them that the Exodus ship would be taken over, that they could get to the ground in the Ark, that and a dozen other little things that could help them up there.
The rest of the day was spent organising people with Bellamy. They started to get a rhythm going. They recognised together, who would respond better to whom. Bellamy ordered his militia about, and Clarke directed the others, that didn’t approve of his more aggressive nature.
She still worried about him though. He wasn’t convinced that Jaha was alive. She was almost certain that the only reason he hadn’t started taking off everyone’s wrist bands, was because he hoped Monty would be successful in making a two way communication with the space station above. Then, he could prove Clarke wrong, and use his loyal militia to do whatever he wanted, and take the camp into his own hands.
Small hunting parties were sent out, with crudely made spears and knives. She directed them to areas she knew wouldn’t be as likely to be watched by Trikru, and no one was to go too far away from camp. Everyone that went out, was under strict orders to retreat, exactly the way they’d come, if contact was made. No one was to engage. She showed them the sword she’d found, told them that no weapon would be crafted like this, if the people making them didn’t know how to use them. They were out gunned, so to speak.
But no one was successful with the use of such rudimentary weapons.
Then Clarke ‘stumbled’ upon a pair of working rifles. It was their fourth day on the ground now and she gave one gun, with one spare magazine to Bellamy Blake. She kept the other. The conditions for his use of the rifle were that it was never to be raised against another human being. Not grounder and not someone of the Ark.
They got more food that day. All morning was spent hunting. A couple others had gathered some berries and nuts; they’d taken down another, smaller deer, a rabbit and a bird. They made a smoke house and started stocking things up, counting resources and rationing.
She was standing next to Bellamy and he was bragging that he’d shot a rabbit and the deer, while she assured him that her deer, on the first day, was much larger than his, and she’d taken it down with a handgun. This banter reminded her of the quick bursts of calm that they’d experienced last time round. She was reflecting that it was much quieter so far.
Atom jogged up to them, he nodded to her, and then addressed Bellamy. “Pascal and Trina are missing.” And that was it. Nothing else was said, but Clarke’s illusions of a peaceful world were shattered. Last time, Pascal and Trina had died in the acid fog.
She stood frozen, thinking of everything else that could go wrong, everything else she could have overlooked. Bellamy ordered a search party and headed out, taking his rifle with him. He gave Clarke nothing more than a passing glance before he set out.
“I’ve got it!” Monty yelled excitedly from inside the drop ship. She gathered her thoughts for a moment and approached where he stood, dancing from foot to foot at the ship’s entrance. “I figured out how to bypass the networking between the life sign monitors and tap into the Ark’s radio frequencies. We’ll only be able to send Morse code messages for now, but I think, with enough time, and a little bit of direction, I can rig it up with the drop ship mainframe and get us audio.”
She needed this good news. “So you’ve made contact then?”
“No, I was waiting for you.” He ran over to his work bench and gestured. “All I’ve gotta do is connect those two wires to make a circuit, and then we have a dot and or dash.”
He was grinning like an idiot. She couldn’t help but reflect this sentiment. They could talk to the Ark, then she’d go out on her own and get Trina and Pascal, she remembered where their bodies were found last time, she’d be able to follow their trail to some degree. “Well go on then.”
Monty grasped the two wires and touched their ends together. There was a spark and a sharp pop, and he flinched back. Clarke flinched at a pain in her wrist and looked down to find her own bracelet un-coupling.
Monty’s own fell off and they looked at each other, horrified. She shook her head sharply and ran outside. All she found was dozens of teenagers rubbing sore wrists and an equal number of bracelets lying forgotten on the ground.
No, this can’t be happening, was all she thought before running off into the woods.
***
She was gasping when she finally came to a stop and sank to her knees. Last time they'd fried the bracelets nine days in, not four. This wasn't enough time for Raven to fix up the escape pod, the ark would think that they were all dead. It was all her fault because she'd tried to change things.
Her hands had been clutching either side of her head but she dropped them to her sides when tears started to fall. Her right hand came into contact with the sword's hilt, still strapped at her waist.
Lexa's Sword she thought She's out there somewhere. She let her thoughts wander now. Had she done something horrible in taking Lexa's sword? Was that- that- The Glade, was it a sacred site? Had she desecrated something by being there? She could certainly understand why anyone could be lead to assume it was a special place. Clarke herself was very much certain that it wasn't ordinary.
In fact, she thought, it was The Glade that had sent her here. She knew that now. It was a sudden light in the horrible darkness that this day had become. The three hundred people on the Ark, that will get floated to save them air. That was on her this time. But she knew now what had sent her back.
She clutched the sword hilt tighter in her hands. Focus. What did she need to take care of? What needed to be done? Her people were becoming self sufficient very quickly. The opportunity for her to go about her own business would arise soon enough. She had to find Lexa and convince her once again that she could heal the Reapers. The jammers on The Mountain needed to be taken out before exodus arrived, but it needed to look like Skaikru had nothing to do with it. Pascal and Trina needed to be saved. The acid fog would come around soon. Charlotte- That little girl was scared, and Clarke was trying desperately to figure out a way to help her. So far, nothing had been forthcoming.
She needed an escape. Desperately.
Wiping the tears from her face, she set off to the Art Supply Store.
She wasn't sure when Finn had found it last time. She didn't know if he'd found it yet, but she'd grabbed a few sheets of paper and a pencil to give to Monty in case he needed to plan anything out. The sheet with the nine 'we are safe' names had been taken from there as well. But now, she just needed to draw.
Finding the bunker, she lit some candles, got out a set of drawing tools and put pencil to paper. She wasn't sure what she was drawing at first, but she slowly recognised the lines she'd been unconsciously forming, and quickened the pace just a little. It was the Pauna. The giant gorilla was mid leap, and a defiant form stood, sword ready, before it.
The defiant form turned into the Commander, part way through. She was in the full coat and armour, red sash draping from her shoulders. The angle of the drawing looked as though the beast was about to leap right atop her sword. The sword hanging off her hip right now. She became lost in the drawing, but felt much better at its completion.
After that she dragged shelves as far out of the way as she could, and ran through some fighting sequences. The space was confined, in a way the skybox wasn't, but Lexa had commented to her once that if you can move, then you have enough room to fight in. You just need to set your feet differently. Rather than step into the kick, rapidly switch stances, and use the movement as a chamber back for a powerful kick; all the while remaining in one place.
She smiled wistfully at the memory. The Commander hadn't had much time to teach Clarke these things, rather leaving it to her subordinates, but this was a rare time she'd returned mid lesson and put Clarke's makeshift tutors on the ground . They'd proclaimed their stances were what she needed to replicate, though they weren't quite right. Lexa instructed her to widen the stance, rather than deepen it, cementing her centre of gravity.
That was the first time her breath had hitched from the closeness of her. Another was the lesson on horse riding; and again when the stoic Commander cracked a smile at the face she made eating their food, with all the flavour the sky people's cuisine had been lacking.
She restarted the sequence she'd gotten lost in. On the next repetition she tried to implement the sword. The moves were slow, and each strike or block with the weapon was purposefully placed. She started getting the hang of it after a few more goes.
Entirely adrift inside the pleasant ache of well used muscles, and the hypnotizing motions of the sword, she didn't notice the hatch to the bunker open. She was faced away from the hatch and continued working, oblivious to her observer. One slow sweeping strike brought head around and she stumbled, noticing the form that that was frozen at the bottom of the ladder.
"Nice moves, Princess." Finn was looking at her too intently. His eyes were sad, and he shifted from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do.
Clarke was in the same boat. "Finn. What are you doing here?"
He walked closer, as she sheathed the sword. "I found this place yesterday, I just-"he trailed off.
"I get that." She smiled gently. "I'll leave you to it." She tried to pass him, to leave him to his thoughts. He grabbed her arm to stop her going.
"You don't have to go." She looked from his hand on her arm, up to solemn eyes; eyes that were hurting. "They think we're dead, don't they?" She stepped out of his reach, but didn't move to leave again.
"We got our message off before hand, with a bit of luck someone up there'll figure out that they were fried accidentally." He was angry now. Shaking his head and clenching his fists.
"So that's it then? The only hope we have is 'with a bit of luck?!'" He shoved a shelf over. He moved towards another, before she intervened.
She grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back stiffly "Stop it."
"We're dead to them! Don't you get that?!"
This conversation was not going to end like it had last time. That was certain. But maybe she could use the same argument. She gave him the 'still hope' line and he retorted just like he had last time.
"We're not alone! There's a hundred other people on the ground here. Sure some of them may be assholes, but we're here together." She punctuated this with a shove to his chest. He stumbled back a step and his face soured at her words.
"You think Bellamy's gonna keep everyone in check, now that no one's coming to save us? You think they'll just play along with your plans? You said that there are other people out there Clarke! Yet somehow, nobody but you has had any inclination that they exist!" He was trying to find someone to blame. "You're the one that told Monty to take those wrist bands off. This is your fault." He'd been yelling before, but his voice had dropped to a furious whisper.
Time to lie, then. She thought to herself that this might be cruel, but it was all she had at the moment. "You know, I met your girlfriend once. Raven, right?" All the anger in him just bled away. "She seemed a stubborn type," He scoffed, "But the way Sinclair raved about her, she must've been a bloody genius." He was looking at his feet with a face coated in anguish. "I don't think she'd be the type to live and let go. Not without an answer. Do you?"
He swallowed once, and rubbed is hands at his eyes. "She'd rather blow up the Ark than take something like that lying down."
"Don't tell me I don't believe in hope." She put a hand on his shoulder and he gave her a guilty smirk "You got that Space Walker?" Half a laugh followed. She gave his shoulder a squeeze and moved to leave.
"Yeah, whatever Princess." He rebuffed.
"Now, I'm gonna check back at camp, then I'll go find Trina and Pascal. I won't tell anyone about this place if you don't." She climbed the ladder and made her escape.
***
When she got back to the drop ship, everything was eerily quiet. Heads turned her way and looked expectantly at her. Other's nodded to the drop ship. When she got close enough, Murphy tapped Mbege on the shoulder and he ran inside. Shortly after, Bellamy Blake exited, looked her way, and then turned back inside. He'd had a thunderous expression on his face. Clarke just rested her hand on the sword hilt at her side, trying to draw strength from it.
She steeled herself, and followed after him.
Inside to room on the top floor, Monty was looking weary, still working on the dead bracelets. Jasper sat beside him, looking glum. Octavia was against a wall, trying to make Bellamy forget she was there.
"You wanna tell me what's going on Clarke?" Bellamy spread his arms out, gesturing to everything. "You traipse around like you own the place, but everything you touch seems to break."
"Bellamy, I didn't fry the bracelets." Monty stiffened in the corner of her eye at her words. "Neither did he, it was an accident."
"An accident huh? Just like you accidently found that sword; how you accidently found these rifles." She clenched her jaw. The rifle strapped to her back seemed to become heavier, and the pistol hidden at her back felt cold. No one knew she'd found a pistol, she would keep that secret for as long as she could. When she didn't answer right away, Bellamy continued. "Where'd you get the guns Princess? These aren't the only ones, are they?"
She raised her chin defiantly. "No, they weren't; but I'm not giving any one else a gun unless they prove themselves."
"Prove what? That their working for the council? You knew where those guns were, you know I-" Caught himself quickly. "Your councillor mother told you everything you'd need to know, and you've kept all that information to yourself. You're here to spy on us, to keep us as good little pets." Everyone in the room waited, scared to breathe. "What else aren't you telling us?"
It was a dare. He was trying to get a rise out of her. Maybe looking for an excuse to take her out of the picture. Though she hoped he'd be beyond that last part, she wasn't ignorant enough to think it hadn't crossed his mind. "Give us a minute, would you guys? O?" She looked at the boys and then Octavia in turn.
They shuffled away from them like they were toxic, and shut the hatch behind them. "You know, my mother killed my father. She's the reason he got floated." Time again for the lies that hurt because they were so close to the truth "You think I'd do anything she wanted me to? You think I'd spy on these people, my people, for her?
"No, Bellamy. I know a lot of things. The people up there, they didn't teach me shit. I know you shot Jaha, I know he's alive, I know Shumway told you to do it, so you could get on this ship, and look after O; and I know that Diana Sydney is the one that put Shumway up to it in the first place."
Bellamy's eyes flickered through, shock, confusion, anger and fear, in quick succession before finally settling on some mix of all four. He opened his mouth to ask her how, but she cut him off.
"It doesn't matter. Pascal and Trina are missing, and in a few hours, Mount Weather is going to send down a cloud of acid fog that will kill them, unless we can get them back here in time." His expression didn't change. "I told you before Bellamy, the only thing I want here, is to keep everyone alive. Is that a problem for you?"
He shifted his gaze to the gun on her back, the sword at her hip and then back to cold blue eyes. He shook his head once, just slightly.
"You're not a murderer Bellamy, and the people of the Ark will forgive you, if they make it to the ground. For now though, we've got to make do with what we have."
He shrank back a little. "What do you want me to do?"
"Lead them. Sooner or later, things down here will go south. When they do, they'll need someone here that can make the best decision for the group."
He looked scared now, and unsure. "I thought you wanted to do that?"
She gave a bitter laugh. "No. I don't want to lead anyone. I will if I have to though. But there are grounders out there. Someone needs to find out who they are. We can't keep ignoring them, hoping they'll go away."
"So you're leaving then?"
"Not yet. There's still a few things that need to be taken care of. But eventually, yes. I will leave." A heavy silence fell between them, each searching the other for something they wouldn't quite find. Not yet. "Take care of them for me; when I do go, that is."
He nodded "Okay. But that isn't everything, is it? I've seen the way you look at some of them Clarke, like you know them, like- I don't know, like you've lost them already, or something. Just- You don't have to tell me what it is, just tell me I'm missing something?" The air felt heavy in the silence that followed.
"You are." She finally said. "Everyone is. I'm just, not sure if anyone will ever get it back." He looked more confused now than before he'd asked. She supposed she wasn't supposed to use his metaphor literally, but in this case it was quite apt. "I'm gonna take O with me to find the others, just so you know.”
He nodded begrudgingly. Clarke had managed to repel his overprotective nature towards his sister a number of times. Octavia was growing faster this way, without openly having to rebel against him. She hadn't pursued anything with Atom, but instead went out in hunting parties. From what Clarke had heard, O was the only one that had come even close to catching anything with a spear. She kept the thing nearby whenever she was outside the drop ship, and had vowed not to miss next time.
As she went to find Octavia, Clarke wondered just how many times she's be forced in to conversations like that, with her older brother. She had a feeling she'd need to convince him again and again. Nothing would stick until Bellamy made his own mistake.
***
The two women hiked through the woods, chatting about the small luxuries on the ground. They spoke of the sweetness of the air and the space. Octavia had found Clarke to be a kindred spirit for her love of the ground so far. All she wanted to do was explore, to run until she reached the edge of the earth, to bask in her freedom. Clarke too had felt chained on the Ark, she couldn't compare to Octavia's situation of course, but O could see the other girl loved it here as much as she did. It was the way they both look outwards, looking as far as they could, like the ground held all the answers they could ever need.
They talked about the food, though there had been rations here just as much as on the Ark, that slop up there, it couldn't compare to the juicy meat of that deer on the first night; and the sweet nuts, roots and berries they'd collected since held their own luxury.
O seemed to know that Clarke was troubled, most days. She'd try and distract her, and when that didn't work, invite her to talk. Clarke found herself learning more about the little things in Octavia's life than she had last time. The Sky Princess told the little warrior about her life on the Ark, it seemed an age ago, about she told about her father, and playing Chess with Wells. Clarke never told O why she was troubled though.
"You didn't sleep last night did you?" She asked the blonde. As the older girl looked pointedly at her boots, avoiding the question, Octavia prompted "What do you dream of that makes you pass up sleep altogether?"
Clarke immediately saw a series of faces, all belonging to innocents inside the mountain. They burned at the back of her eyes. She took a deep breath and told O that it didn't matter. She didn't look pleased at being shut out.
"I hope you and my brother didn't kill each other." She gave Clarke a hesitant smirk. It was a smile Clarke new well, and it generally meant O was up to no good. She chuckled at the memories.
"No, not quite. Sorry, it was a bit tense there."
"He's an idiot for thinking you're working for the Ark. You were the one who protested loudest about to going to Mount Weather." They both nodded, and O left the floor open for Clarke to talk, but she silently declined. O sighed "I don't know why you know all the shit that you do Clarke, but I know you want to do what's best for us."
Clarke nodded to herself "Thanks," was all she said out loud. Octavia’s words felt sweet inside her bitter soul.
"No, thank you." Clarke looked up, eyebrow cocked in query, "Thanks for keeping Bell off my back. I know he's been a pain, but you've handled his special kind of stubbornness well. Thanks; for having my back." The blonde had a stupid grin on her face now. "What?" Octavia asked with suspicion.
"Are you sure it's not a Blake kind of stubbornness, rather than a Bellamy one?" She gave the question half a second to be processed before sprinting off. O dropped her spear and ran after Clarke's quickly retreating form. They laughed and ran, and it ended with the both of them calling a stale mate as they weaved through a series of trees and the both of them were clutching their stomachs, laughing, and trying to catch their breaths. O went back and got her spear. Then the two of them continued on their way.
Clarke caught a pair of clumsy tracks some several miles from camp. She followed them about, carefully; while Octavia kept her head up and an eye out for danger. At the sound of voices, Clarke gestured her friend to silence and they proceeded through the trees carefully, heading towards the voices until they recognised them as the missing Pascal and Trina. She called out their names, and a series of lout footsteps and breaking branches brought the lost two into view.
Trina was almost hysterical at the sight of them. She flew forward and latched Octavia in a hug, quickly swapping to do the same to Clarke. She jabbered on for a while, saying they'd saved their lives. Pascal shook his head and claimed that he knew they'd be fine, but asked them if they had any water or food. Clarke handed them a makeshift water skin and some smoked meat.
The four of them headed out, back towards camp. They mostly kept to themselves this trip. The two rescue-ees were clearly tired and seemed glad just to head home.
Then a deep bellowing horn echoed through the air. The war horn that announced the arrival of the acid fog.
Clarke stopped in her tracks. They were still nearly five miles from camp. The Art Supply Store was a mile in the wrong direction. She didn't know where to go.
"Clarke? What does that mean? You look like you know what that means." Octavia was trying to get her attention. But her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was just trying to think. Her hand went to her hip, gripping the sword there.
There was only one place that they could run. It was absolutely not a good idea. But it was the only one she had. "Run!" she said and took off, "Follow me, don't fall behind." She heard three sets of feet follow after her, as she ran towards the mines. As she ran towards the Reaper tunnels.
One foot stumbled after the other, over tree roots and fallen leaves. "Don't stop, we're almost there." She called behind her to the others.
"Clarke!" Octavia yelled, and she turned her head to see the great yellow cloud rolling towards them, she turned back and quickened her pace. "Look there!" Octavia called again, but they didn't have enough time.
"Just keep going!" and she kept running. Finally the entrance to the mines came into view. "There." She pointed. She didn't stop until she got to the entry way.
She turned around, gasping. Trina was dragging Pascal, limping towards her. A colder kind of panic rose to her chest, as she searched the trees, looking for the other member of their party. "Octavia!" She yelled, but couldn't spot her. "Octavia! Over here! Where are you?!?!" Trina and Pascal had made it to the cave mouth. They started hobbling further in as Clarke stayed at the entrance. "OCTAVIA!" she was screaming now. This couldn't happen! She'd done so well so far. O had been right behind her. "OCTAVIA!!!!" The fog was just feet away from where she stood. She took reluctant steps backward, retreating. "OCTAVIA!!!" She couldn't hear any screams, did that mean she was safe? All she could hear was her rapid heartbeat in her ears.
The fog was closing in, and she continued retreating into the cave. She was struggling to breathe, her eyes stung, she couldn't hear anything. "OCTAVIA!"
"Clarke, COME ON!" Trina yelled for her. All she could do was turn, and run further into the mines.
They ran around several corners, until they were far enough in that they thought the fog wouldn't seep in any further. When they stopped, Clarke buckled over onto her hands and knees. O was gone. Octavia was gone. 'This didn't happen last time.' It was the thought that repeated a thousand times inside her head, as if to console her. She gave one racking sob, before catching herself. They weren't out of danger yet. She spent the next several minutes trying to be silent, and then trying to control herself.
Pascal was sitting with his back against the wall, Trina was curled up beside him, head buried at his neck. She lifted her head slightly, when Clarke stood. Clarke took note of one teary eye and the way she clutched at Pascal's shirt. Did they know Octavia at all? Or was she scared, of how Clarke had reacted?
Clarke didn't know. She looked around. The only light source was coming from the small hand torch, beside Pascal. He must have had it on him all this time. Clarke picked it up and studied the walls around them.
They were bubbled, eroded in a curious fashion. "We need to keep moving." She said with a horse whisper. "Stay quiet." At a guess, the bubbling on the walls meant that the fog could seep in this far. She had no idea how far they'd have to go, to stay safe.
As they walked further in, Clarke saw an unlit torch in a bracket in the wall, she paused, and lit it with the flint in her pack. The flickering red light guided them onwards for another couple minutes, until the walls of the cave became smoother, and untouched by acid. There they waited.
After a time, Pascal clearly became bored. He started throwing pebbles at the wall across from him, and each one echoed. Clarke had been spaced out, thinking of what she'd tell Bellamy, as such she didn't notice his actions until he'd been doing it for a while. When she did realise, she jumped up from the floor and grabbed his wrist, whispering that they needed to be quiet, or he was going to get them killed.
Maybe she had a crazy look in her eyes, or maybe he realised that they might not be the only ones hiding from the acid fog; either way, he listened. She was glad of that.
But she'd told him off too late.
A wailing started off in the distance, and they could see torch light there as well. Clarke snuffed the fire on her torch out, and then snatched up Pascals little hand held light. "Get up, start moving back the way we came. Stay behind me."
They slowly made their way backwards, trying to be as silent as possible, until Trina gasped and yelped, quietly.
"Go back, ow, the fog." She spoke as quietly as she could, but Clarke looked over shoulder at the lights. They were getting closer. They had no choice but to head closer to the Reapers. Either that, or be burnt alive by acid fog. She remembered Atoms gasping, blinded form and opted for something she could fight, head on.
She lead the other two slightly further in and told them once again, to stay behind her. She couldn't use a gun here. If she did, every Reaper in the Mountain would come running at the noise; and she didn't have enough bullets for all of them. She took the rifle off though, leaving it, and her pack, with Pascal. She made absolutely sure that he wasn't to fire it, unless she either went down, or one got passed her. If that happened, they were to run and hide as soon as they got a moment.
She put her back to them. Pascal had a sprained ankle, and Trina was sporting acid burns. Clarke drew the sword from its sheath, wishing desperately that its owner was beside her. She set her feet, in the strong stance Lexa had shown her.
The Reapers came closer. She felt the adrenaline running through her veins. She gripped the sword tighter. When the first Reaper came into view, he stopped and squinted at her form in the shadows, trying to see. It took him only a moment for him recognise her as a person, and then he screamed. It was a horrible, shrieking war cry as he started to charge towards her. She would not go down without a fight. She would not loose anyone else today.