Chapter 5
It took several minutes for Clarke to adjust to the pandemonium around her. She was too busy opening her sand encrusted eyes and struggling to avoid visibly cringing as her teeth crunched down on stray granules of salt and sand in her mouth. But after running through the events of the previous day, she finally found herself capable of comprehending what was happening.
Four people were rolling in the sand, throwing punches and bleeding into the sand, others were standing about shouting. Ranging from yelling to stop the fighting, panicking about the lack of helicopters, or simply challenging the authority Lexa had claimed the moment she took charge during the crash yesterday, the entire group of survivors were quickly descending into mania.
Lexa stood silently, arms crossed, eyes glaring at the building mob before her, without a hint of fear or anger. Clarke thought she had to be made of stone to look back at the group without letting any emotion show. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and weaved her way through the chaos towards Lexa, if anyone were qualified to be in charge, she supposed it’d be the person who was able to keep a level head during panic situations.
“Lexa, what the hell is going on?” Clarke hissed as she stepped into her personal space, pushing back an angry man she didn’t entirely remember.
“Panic,” Lexa answered levelly. “I’m evidently an unqualified leader, a liar, and hellbent on keeping power rather than helping.”
Clarke knit her eyebrows together. “What happened?”
“Bellamy wants to lead a group to search for help. Monroe returned with information, there’s a cliff face to our west, impossible to pass without going through the forest. The rest of the plane is on the other side. She couldn’t get to the wreckage. Murphy and Jasper are fighting for some reason, and that brought Monty and Miller into it.”
“Okay, but why are they angry with you?”
“I’m not a Fed.” Lexa shrugged, looking away from the angry group before her. “We shouldn’t split up. It’ll make it all the more difficult for help to find all of us if we’re separated, and even worse if we’re away from the wreckage, the thing they’re looking for. But we’re going to run out of water today. We don’t have enough for everybody, which is something we have to fix today.”
“Maybe there’s a river in the forest-“
“Out of the question.” Lexa cut her off.
When she didn’t offer a reason, Clarke rolled her eyes. “And why is that?”
Lexa sighed. “We don’t know how thick the forest gets. It can get nearly impossible to navigate, especially for inexperienced hikers, we run the risk of getting ourselves lost and killed.”
Clarke opened her mouth to protest when the sounds of gunshots cut her off, Lexa dragged her to the ground as they both looked to the source. Bellamy stood, a gun in hand pointed to the sky just over the forest. Flocks of birds took to the air and silence fell over the group. “That is enough. Monty, Miller, Jasper, get up. Murphy, clean yourself off, you’re a mess.”
Murphy could barely get himself to his feet on his own. Clarke dared to step forward and offer her help, but Murphy shrugged her off, pushing past Aden and his mother to stand in the shade away from everyone else. Mopping at his swollen and bloody face with his t-shirt.
Bellamy looked to the group surrounding Lexa. “Back off from her. No more fighting. We’re going to discuss this civilly, understand?”
Lexa glared holes into Bellamy, but Clarke was relieved when the group backed away, making a semicircle around him and his gun. Bellamy finally lowered his gun and tucked it away. “Now, help hasn’t come yet, so I’ll be leading a group to go search for-“
“Where are you going to look, Blake?” Anya coughed from her spot in the sand, just far enough away from them to be safe from the fights. “Lexa is right.”
“I said enough!” Bellamy boomed, his voice echoing into the forest behind them, but lost to the wind and the waves of the water.
Anya practically growled from her spot in the sand but Lexa stepped forward. “You said we’ll discuss this civilly.” She quipped. “If we leave, how is help supposed to find us?”
“Only a few would leave-“
“And they should find those of you who’ve left… how?” She countered.
“Look, it’s been nearly twenty four hours, they should be here by now. They’re not going to come while we’re gone.” Bellamy growled at the younger girl.
Clarke watched as Lexa’s jaw tensed. She imagined she could hear the grinding of her teeth, but then the uproar began again.
“What do you mean help isn’t coming?”
“How are we supposed to survive out here without help?”
“There has to be a way to get off this damn beach!”
Lexa rolled her eyes. “Du ste branwada.” She muttered under her breath. “Joka na frag oso op.” Clarke gave her a strange look, and Lexa shook her head in answer. “Never mind. That is enough!” Lexa snapped at the panicking survivors. Quiet fell once more as they looked to the three leaders.
“Help has to be on its way.” Clarke reasoned to the group. “Planes don’t just crash without anyone noticing.”
That seemed to calm the crowd for a moment, and Lexa took the opportunity to step forward. “If we leave the site, help, when it comes, won’t be able to find us. We’re sore, injured, and hungry, we are in no shape to be hiking along the shore, or through the forest, or doing anything but sitting and waiting.” She reasoned.
“We’re going to run out of water today.” Bellamy argued. “Those of us in better shape should at the very least go through the forest looking for fresh water.”
Clarke stepped in, Lexa’s glare told her that anything she had to say to Bellamy wouldn’t be friendly. “Bellamy, that’s really dangerous. We could get lost in the forest, and we don’t know if there are poisonous creatures or plants or anything, I can’t treat that here without medication.”
“We can’t sit on this beach and ensure our deaths just because there might be poison ivy.” Bellamy snapped.
Clarke opened her mouth to argue before Lexa cut in. “We compromise. I lead the search group. I have more experience in hiking and survival training, I know what to look for. I take a small group. No more than six or seven to go searching for water, we won’t go far. No one eats anything unless we know for absolute certainty what it is. Those are the rules. Everyone else stays here. We’ll be back by midafternoon. Understood?” Lexa was sharp, demanding, and she refused to back down. After a small standoff with Bellamy, he gave a small nod and stepped back.
“I can help build a water tank, maybe even a filtering system.” Monty stepped forward, giving Clarke and Lexa a shy half smile.
Clarke smiled in return. “That’d be wonderful. We need volunteers for the search, people who are able to walk long distances?” She called to the group watching the three argue.
Several of Lexa’s teammates stepped forward, nodding towards their captain. Lexa nodded back, a couple of mute hand gestures and the four girls separated into pairs and jogged towards their things to prepare for their hike. Clarke looked back towards the group when Bellamy spoke up. “I’m going.”
Clarke didn’t have to look at Lexa to know she didn’t approve. “Someone needs to stay here to make sure everything runs smoothly. You can help Monty with his water filter, maybe find a way to make traps and weapons so that we can go hunting. Maybe catch some fish. There’s a lot that needs to be done here, we can’t have all of our leaders off in the forest.”
“You don’t believe you’re coming either?” Lexa levelled her with an incredulous glare. “You can hardly walk.”
Clarke scoffed. “I’m fine, it’s a sprain, not a big deal.”
“Which will only get worse with strain-“ Bellamy began.
“And you’re our only doctor-“ Lexa finished.
“Not a doctor.” Clarke glared at Lexa. “Besides didn’t you say Monroe was a nursing student? She can handle this just fine, I’m sure.”
Lexa rolled her eyes and turned away. “You’ll only slow us down.”
“I’m going.” Clarke crossed her arms. “That’s final. Bellamy can take care of things here. I want to be there if we come across the wreckage.”
Lexa looked ready to fight, but instead backed down and walked to her cousin’s side, having a quietly muttered conversation in the same language Clarke had heard Lexa speaking earlier. Clarke made a mental note to ask about it later, she had never heard a language like it before.
Bellamy chose to send out Jasper and Miller with them, giving them a total of eight hikers. Lexa lead them several yards into the forest before stopping the group, glaring at Clarke. “I have a few makeshift knives. Each of you is to stay with your partner, as you walk, use the knife to mark the trees you pass so that you can find your way back. Travel in a sweeping motion, each of you will have a different direction to go into. If you find water, collect as much as possible, and meet back at camp. If not, meet at camp midafternoon.” Lexa proceeded to show each of them how to tell time by the positioning of the sun, holding up their fists parallel with the horizon. “Understood? If you come across any nuts or berries, do not eat them. Collect a few and we’ll see if anyone else recognizes them. But I cannot stress enough not eating anything you don’t recognize.”
“We’re not dumb.” Jasper sneered.
“Could’ve fooled me.” She snapped back. “That performance with Murphy back there doesn’t help your argument.”
Clarke bit back a smile, Lexa wasn’t wrong, after all. “Let’s just get going, we’re wasting time bickering.”
Lexa nodded and sent them off in their directions, reminding them which direction camp is before she turned back to Clarke. “Last chance to turn back. It’s not easy hiking through a forest, let alone with a sprained ankle.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
Lexa tsked and turned in their own direction, taking the northeastern direction. Clarke assumed this was because Lexa was confident in her ability to find her way back.
As they moved forward, Clarke noticed the way Lexa moved, like she was at home in the woods, she slashed at the waxy bark of the trees around her, muttering under her breath in that language Clarke didn’t know. Her footsteps were light and nearly silent, if it weren’t for the rustling of the broad leaves she had to push out of the way. “What is it with you and Bellamy anyway?” Clarke spoke up as she limped after her.
“I don’t trust him.” Lexa grunted, stabbing the trunk of a tree viciously. “You saw him, his gun is his power.” Lexa shoved past a curtain of vines angrily. “What idiot tells his whole group of scared, injured survivors that help isn’t coming? Was he trying to start a panic?”
Clarke nodded her agreement. “I don’t exactly trust him either, but if anyone knows what to do, it’s him.” Lexa pushed forward into a small clearing in the trees, and then pulled up short. Clarke managed to twist to the side before she ran straight into her back, but she didn’t pay much mind to Lexa. “I think Bellamy was right about the water, but you’re right about the forest. I don’t know, maybe the two of you should work together. He’s able to keep everyone in line, but you keep a level head.”
Lexa gave her a strange look before she grabbed her arm with considerable force, bringing her closer, and before Clarke could say anything she squatted down into the foliage. “And what about you Clarke?” Lexa spoke slowly. “Aren’t you considered a leader among the group? They trust you to take care of them.” She said each word deliberately, but Clarke was distracted by Lexa’s forefinger dragging over her skin.
Clarke opened her mouth to question her but Lexa cut in before she could say anything. “But perhaps you’re right. He was able to break up the fights between Murphy and Jasper better than I would have.” It was like she was drawing on Clarke’s arm. A circle, and then a line through it. A hook. A U? “The problem is that we don’t know our surroundings very well, or the people around us.” An I. “We need to know what’s going on.” E. “Why help hasn’t come along.” T. “But until then we need to focus on just surviving and staying calm.” Quiet. “Understood?”
Clarke gaped at her for a moment before she nodded, shutting her mouth with a click and straining to listen to their surroundings. Lexa was silent and still for a moment, hand groping beneath the foliage for a moment. “We’ve been travelling downhill, we should feel the soil getting wetter as we get closer-“ Lexa didn’t finish her thought before she lunged forward like a panther, and twisted, flinging whatever she had grabbed rapidly into the foliage behind them.
Clarke shot to her feet when she heard the unnatural sound of metal clinging and the quiet buzzing of insects turning to whirring and humming of helicopter blades. The thing Lexa hit crashed past a broadleaf into the clearing and turned in circles, struggling to jump back into the air. Lexa was quick to jump forward and slam her heel into the center of the drone, the blades stopped and it sat harmlessly in the center of the forest.
“What the fuck!” Clarke yelped, rushing forward as Lexa dropped to her knees to inspect the drone silently.
“Somebody knows we’re here, and they want to stay concealed.” Lexa muttered as she lifted a shattered camera lens.
“How did you even know that was there?”
Lexa shrugged a shoulder. “Insects don’t have that constant hum from so far away. Usually it flits about your head, you can only really hear them when you’re a foot or so away, not several yards. I may not have grown up in the tropics, but I know what a forest is supposed to sound like.”
“It’s probably not a stealth drone then.”
“Still not a good sign. Why are they not coming to us?”
Clarke stopped. “Maybe they can’t get to us?”
“Nowhere a helicopter can’t get to.” Lexa looked up at Clarke, eyebrows knit together. “Who does this belong to? Evidently they were following us, what are they trying to learn? They should already know that we’re as vulnerable as it gets.”
“Should we tell camp about this?” Clarke squatted next to Lexa to ghost her fingertips across the busted drone.
“Yes, we need to be careful about who goes out here and what is said in the open now that we know we’re being watched.”
“Bellamy will want to go find them.” Clarke warned. “But maybe Monty can rig something useful out of these parts.”
Lexa fell silent, lips pursed in thought. “Maybe we should let him. Let him take a couple of people to scout out. We get rid of our Bellamy problem, and some of the problem people, the ones most loyal to him.”
“We should stick together, Lexa.” Clarke hissed. “They could get hurt out there, what if these people are hostile? You’re willing to let Bellamy lead people to their deaths?”
“If he stays and continues to divide our crew we could all end up dead.”
Clarke shrugged a shoulder uncomfortably. “We should at least try to stop him. Maybe we should send a larger group to the other half of the plane. Make sure that there aren’t any survivors left.”
Lexa shook her head. “The other wreckage could be closer to the people flying this.” She held up the drone. “I don’t know how far the reach of these things goes to, but that plane could have crashed right into their territory, and if they’re hostile, then we’d be walking right into the enemy.”
“But we don’t know if they’re hostile.”
“They’re obviously not overly friendly.” Lexa grumbled, looking away from the blonde.
Clarke nodded. “Best to assume they’re hostile.”
“Agreed.” Lexa stood, holding the drone. “Let’s get back to camp, we’ll decide what to do from there. Monty could probably give us more information about this drone.”
The march back to camp seemed to take forever. Clarke hadn’t realized how far they’d managed to walk, but she supposed anxiety over being watched may have distorted time a bit. Lexa was mostly silent as they walked, and Clarke noticed the change in the buzzing life around her that Lexa told her about. The buzzing of insects and birds was nowhere near as consistent in texture and volume as it had been before when the drone had been following them. Lexa was back to muttering in that language again.
“What language are you speaking?” Clarke couldn’t hold back the question.
Lexa turned her face, raising an eyebrow. “Trigedasleng,”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
Lexa chuckled humorlessly. “My people are a group of natives that live on a small reserve in Pennsylvania. They were nearly wiped out by the genocide Andrew Jackson committed on my people and the other clans of the area. There were only a few bloodlines left in the Trikru Clan during his presidency. Now there are a few hundred descendants, but only a dozen or so are full blooded. My cousins and I are a few examples.” She stopped a moment. “I wouldn’t be surprised you hadn’t heard of us. My people are isolated. They can be… volatile. It took many years for Anya, Tris, and I to convince our clansmen to allow us to go to college among the people whose ancestors tore our people apart for sport.”
Clarke felt a stab of guilt, logically she knew what happened to Lexa’s ancestors wasn’t her fault, but she still felt awful for taking advantage of the privileges handed to her because of the actions of her own ancestors. “So you grew up on a reserve?”
Lexa nodded. “We were taught the language of our people, before we even learned English, and how to live on our own in the forests. Nothing like this kind of forest though.” She gestured to the vines surrounding them. “That’s why I’m so concerned. It’s unfamiliar.”
Clarke let the conversation die as she struggled to keep up with Lexa. She was a woman on a mission and it took everything Clarke had to limp along at her quick pace. She could feel her ankle throbbing and pain shot through her leg every time she stepped over a root or through particularly thick vines.
“We’re almost there.” Lexa assured her as she helped her past some thicker broadleaves. “Can’t you hear the water?”
Lexa slowed a bit as they brushed through the last few trees of the forest and onto the beach. Bellamy was crouched next to Aden, holding a makeshift knife, telling him how to use it, or at least how not to cut off his own hand. Lexa marched forward, barking out his name as she approached.
Bellamy whipped around and Lexa threw the broken drone into the sand at his feet. “We’re not alone.”
Bellamy gaped down at it before looking back up at Lexa. A crowd quickly formed around them as everyone noticed their return. Monty fell to his knees when he reached the drone and immediately went to tinkering with the wiring and blades of the drone, ignoring everything around him.
“There’s a camera on it.” Clarke explained, a hand on her hip. “The drone was following us as we were looking for water. There’s probably more following the other groups. In fact there’s probably a couple watching us right now in the tree line.”
Bellamy opened his mouth to argue. “It was trying to remain hidden. It’s a scout of some sort, but Clarke and I agree that it’s likely unfriendly.” Lexa cut in with a glare.
“And how would you know that?” Aden’s mother called from the crowd. Aden gave a sheepish, apologetic smile to Lexa.
“Why would they send out drones instead of come straight to us?” Murphy countered. “These bastards are probably waiting for us to starve to death or something.”
“Lexa,” Anya called from her spot off to the side. “They think we’re a threat.”
Lexa shook her head. “Why would they think that? We’re at our most vulnerable right now. Disorganized, hungry, thirsty, injured, now’s the time to cut us down.”
Clarke shrugged, crouching to run her fingers along the twisted metal in Monty’s hands. “Obviously they think we’re capable of something. Why would they have watched us so closely all night if we didn’t pose a threat?”
“What would be threatening to someone who’s obviously in a better position than us?” Bellamy crossed his arms, furrowing his brows and glaring at the sand.
The group fell silent, the air thick with nervous tension. Finally Aden stepped forward slowly, shoving off his mother’s arm to come level with Lexa. “When I was bullied by Nathan at school, he used to hit me and stuff a lot, but I got him to stop when I found out that he didn’t know how to ride a bike. He still watches me all the time to make sure I don’t tell anyone, but maybe they’re doing the same thing. Maybe we know something, or will know something, about them that they don’t want anyone to know about. Knowledge is power right?” Aden blushed a little and looked down at his feet.
Lexa looked to Clarke in stunned silence. “That would make sense.”
Clarke smiled at Aden. “Maybe you’re right.”
“What do we even know about them that could possibly pose a threat?” Bellamy complained. “All we know is that they’re here and they have drones.”
“These drones don’t have much more than an eight mile control radius. The pilot is at maximum eight miles away from here.” Monty spoke from the sand at their feet.
“You think you can make a radio or something out of that?” Clarke asked hopefully.
“Probably not.” Monty gave a sad half smile. “Maybe if you nabbed a couple more, but honestly I doubt I could make anything like that. But these parts could probably still be salvaged to make something useful. I’ll add it to the pile of phones and computers we’ve got going on over there.”
Clarke nodded and stood up again, crossing her arms and looking to Lexa. “We need to figure out what to do next.”
Lexa nodded. “We’ll figure it out when the other groups come back. If we’re lucky they’ll have found water.”