(I do not own the rights to these characters, this is a personal fanfiction story and I receive no payment for it)
Clarke had been gone for two days now. Her heart ached for Camp Jaha. She missed Raven's spunk, and the way Monty and Jasper always seemed to know what the other was going to say next. She missed her mom. She even missed Kane. Most of all, she missed Bellamy Blake.
Damn that boy and the way he always tried to protect her. That's the only reason he put his hand on that level at Mount Weather. After all this time, he still looked at her the way he looked at Octavia – like she was his little sister who constantly needed saving. She doubted he had any idea how much she didn't want him to look at her like a sister…
That's part of why she needed to leave. Bellamy had enough to worry about without having to worry about her. If he couldn't trust her to shoulder her own burdens, she couldn't stay there and let him try to help. If she was really being honest with herself, she'd admit that there was more to it than that. She couldn't stand another night of his eyes gazing at her knowing that he would never see her as more than a little girl for him to take care of. Not when she so desperately wanted more from him.
Bellamy wasn't the main reason she left. It was true what she told him: she needed time to come to terms with what had happened at Mount Weather. She was responsible for the murder of more than 300 people. And she was supposed to be a healer…
Clarke was brought out of her reverie as she tripped and fell face-first into the sand. This time of the day – just after dawn – the sand was still cool. She spat specks of sand out of her mouth as she sat up and dusted herself off.
She could see nothing. Absolutely nothing. Jaha had told her about this place. He called it the Dead Zone. It was a fitting name, she thought. Sand dunes sprang up on every side of her, blocking her view, but if they weren't there, Clarke guessed she would be able to see for miles.
She decided to set up camp there for the day. She would walk again once night fell, when it was cooler out and she wouldn't sweat out so much water.
"Setting up camp" consisted of putting up the makeshift tent of a blanket and two sticks. She pulled a ration of deer out of her bag. She'd caught it just a few hours before she hit the dead zone, and packaged most of it up neatly in her bag to carry with her. She ate in silence before slipping off her jacket and rolling it into a makeshift pillow.
The last thing Clarke thought about as she fell asleep was the taste of Bellamy's cheek when she'd kissed him goodbye.