Disclaimer: I do not own the 100 or any of its characters. I have not read the books, so this story is based on the show.
They walked for about a mile before Bellamy told them all to be quiet to keep from alarming any potential prey. At a steady pace, the group walked through the trees, fanned out in formation to cover the most ground. Anora found herself walking at the edge of the formation, branching out a little to cover more ground.
"Anora," Bellamy whispered at one point, getting her attention. She turned to him, and saw him beckon her over. "Keep close."
She did keep close after that, walking only a few feet away from him. The others were spread much further apart, but they were more armed than she was. Both Nathan and Jones carried long spears, made from wood and dropship metal, in addition to their knives. Anora's borrowed knife had a blunt blade and a loose handle. She highly doubted she would be killing anything anytime soon.
A few seconds later, Bellamy held up his hand to his mouth, placing his index finger on his lips. He raised his other hand in the air, clenching the handle of his ax in his fist. The others stopped and looked to Bellamy. The woods fell silent for a second, before they heard a low grunting sound coming from behind some of the trees.
Carefully, Bellamy motioned for the others to start moving again. With a pace slower than before, the group walked towards the trees. Trying to keep as silent as possible, Anora kept her gaze to the ground, watching her steps. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bellamy move forward, and she followed him closely.
After walking about thirty feet, Bellamy held out his arm to stop her, his hand hitting her in her chest. Turning to him, she saw him smirking a little. He had a mischievous look in his eyes, as he motioned her to look ahead.
Perhaps only fifty feet away from them was a four legged, dark furred animal sniffing the ground with its flat snout. It made the same grunting sound they had heard earlier. Or was that an oink? She had read about how grounders had domesticated pigs in school. Was this a pig? The description fit perfectly. It had the corkscrew tail, the distinguished snout and the cloven hoofs. Wild pigs were called boars by grounders. How had it survived the radioactivity?
Her question went unanswered. Bellamy motioned for Jones to follow him ahead, and together, the two walked ahead of the rest. Looking over at Nathan, who shrugged, Anora fell inn behind Bellamy. She watched him as he crept up on the animal, focusing on his movement.
"Shh, shh, shh," he told Jones, holding his hand out to signal a stop. He twirled the ax in his hand. "She's mine."
He brought up his arm, preparing to throw the ax at the animal, when a twig snapping was heard right behind Anora. She jumped at the sound, turning halfway toward the shape of a small person. In the nick of time, she noticed Bellamy's ax flying toward them. She ducked, and heard a sharp thud above her.
"Anora!" called Nathan, and she heard the sound of leaves rustling as he rushed towards her. Looking up, with her heart beating in her chest, she saw the ax lodged in a tree right behind where she had been standing. Far away, she heard the boar shriek in panic, as some of the others ran after it. And then Bellamy was there, crouching down right in front of her. His hand touched her arm, which she had brought up to protect her face. Gently, he pulled it away from her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Are you okay?"
Another hand grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet. A little wobbly, she grabbed a hold of it to steady herself. She could feel adrenaline still rushing through her body. Looking up at the owner of the arm she was holding, Nathan's worried frown came into her line of sight.
"I'm fine," she said between heavy breaths. Next to them, Bellamy also got to his feet. His brows were also furrowed in worry. She gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'm just glad you have terrible aim."
Nathan relaxed next to her, and let out a breathy chuckle. Bellamy tensed up even more as he turned to Anora's right.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked the little girl that had appeared behind her. The girl's shoulder were up around her ears as she replied.
"Charlotte."
"I almost killed her," said Bellamy, pointing at Anora. He walked around her, grabbed the ax that had was lodged into the tree, and turned back to Charlotte. "Why aren't you back at camp?"
Charlotte kept her eyes towards the ground as she explained, "well, with the guy who was dying, I just... I couldn't listen anymore."
Anora felt another pang in her chest. The girl was probably one of the youngest out of all the kids that were sent down, probably not even a teenager yet. She wore her hair in braided pigtails, and her narrow frame didn't even reach Anora's shoulders. And here she was, forced to listen to another kid dying from a stab wound.
"There's grounders out here. It's not safe for a little girl," said Atom, who had given up chasing the boar, and returned.
"I'm not little," Charlotte countered, but her frame and meek expression told Anora otherwise. But she had brought her eyes up to meet Atom's, and was looking Bellamy in the eye when he spoke to her.
"Okay, then," he said, a small smile gracing his lips. "But you can't hunt without a weapon."
He pulled a knife from one of his pockets, and Anora watched with wide eyes as he handed it to Charlotte. She took it from him, gave it a quick look, before studying Bellamy. As if checking to see if he was serious.
"Ever killed something before?" he asked. Charlotte shook her head. "Who knows? Maybe you're good at it," he assured her. She gave him a small smile in return.
"You know, Bellamy, your extensive weapons collection is starting to make me nervous," said Anora. She threw him a cheeky grin. His frown was long gone.
"Not to mention his habit of giving out his knives to girls," said Nathan with a smirk. "Let's hope the grounder girls aren't as pretty as you two, or we'll all be doomed."
Charlotte giggled a little, and Nathan picked up his spear from the ground, taking off after Atom and the others. Bellamy motioned for Charlotte to follow him, before giving Anora a pointed look between her and Charlotte. She nodded, hurrying after the girl.
They hadn't been following the boar for more than ten minutes when the sound of a horn bellowing echoed through the woods. The others looked around to find the source of the sound.
"Grounders?" asked Jones, holding up his spear. Behind him, something yellow filtered through the trees like a fog or gas.
"What's that?" said Nathan, taking a few steps back to avoid it.
Anora walked over to the yellow substance, trying to figure out what it was. She had never seen something like it. It looked exactly like smoke, only yellow. Reaching out her right hand, she touched it. A sharp, burning pain shot through her hand, and she quickly pulled back with a yelp. She stepped back, and looked down at her hand. Searing, red boils and welts covered the back of her hand and fingers.
"Get back!" she called out, and felt an arm pull her away from the fog.
"Run!" shouted Bellamy, and the others started running. Anora turned around to follow them, only she bumped into Charlotte, who had not moved an inch.
"Go, Charlotte!" she yelled, pushing her into a run after the others. The two girls trailed behind the boys, but kept them in sight. After a short while, Charlotte started to slow down, breathing heavily. Anora grabbed her hand with her hurt one, and pulled her ahead. She was only running on adrenaline.
"Come on! There are caves this way!" called Bellamy up ahead. He and Atom slowed a little to let the girls catch up to them, Bellamy taking Charlotte's arm from Anora. Anora passed Atom, who ran after her. She followed Bellamy and Charlotte up a hill, around a few trees. Bellamy pushed the younger girl inside, and waited a moment to make sure Anora got in safely as well.
"Keep going," Anora said. Charlotte kept walking until she reached the inner cave wall. Anora looked back to the entrance, seeing Bellamy looking out into the forest.
"Bellamy," she called softly. He turned and looked back at her with wide eyes. "Where's Atom?"
Bellamy shook his head in reply.
Hours passed, and the sky grew dark. Charlotte had found a nice place to lie down to sleep, keeping Bellamy and Anora awake with her soft snores. Bellamy kept careful watch over the younger girl, whereas Anora stared out into darkness, trying to keep her mind off the pain in her hand. The red welts across her knuckles had started to burst, and a clear liquid were oozing from them. She touched it carefully with a single fingered, and winced as she felt a stab of pain.
"Let me see," said Bellamy, scooting over to her and holding out his hand. She carefully placed her hand in his, and he gently lifted it up to his face to get a closer look.
"The fog did this?" he asked, his voice thick with worry, as his eyes gazed on the burns.
"Maybe he caught up with the others. Maybe they're all okay."
Bellamy brought his eyes up to meet hers.
"Maybe," he said softly. With his other hand, he grabbed a hold of his water skin. Giving Anora a warning glance, he said, "this might sting."
It did sting, but the cool, soothing water helped ease the pulsing, burning sensation that had kept her attention for hours. She gave him a small smile in thanks, and he nodded, but did not return the smile. For a while, all was silent. He was still sitting close by, and had a hold on her hand. Realizing this, Anora pulled it away from his grasp, not looking at him.
"You must be worried about Miller," he said, his voice gruff. "He's a good kid."
She felt a wave of nausea roll over her. Not one thought on her part had been spared on Nathan since they found the cave. He, Jones and the other kid had been running far ahead of them. According to Bellamy, there were several caves in the terrain. But she hadn't seen them since they started running. She had just assumed that they were okay. What if they hadn't made it to a cave? What if they were outside in the fog, all of their skin burning like her hand?
"Yeah," she said.
"Known him for a long time?"
"Yeah."
Bellamy gave her a pointed look. "What? No story? Miller doesn't exactly come off as a privileged Alpha Station kid."
"You would be surprised," she said, smirking slightly. "His father is David Miller."
"The Chief Guard?" said a shocked Bellamy.
"We met our first year in school. Clarke and I were the only girls on Alpha in our year. I was desperately trying to be her friend, but she wanted nothing to do with me. I remember her always telling me, 'Sorry, Wells needs me,' or 'I have to go find Wells,' whenever I asked her to play with me. They already knew each other because their fathers were best friends."
"What a bitch."
Anora gave a low chuckle, and threw a worried look over at Charlotte. The girl was still fast asleep.
"She was just a kid. I probably came off too strong. Sometimes I did that," Anora smiled at the memory.
"But one day, while Clarke was wobbling across the room over to Wells, leaving me all by myself at the crafts table, another kid showed up. Nate used to have crazy, curly hair all over the place, and I could barely see his face behind it all. He asked me why I was always alone, and I told him no one wanted to be friends with me. I remember his he made this scrunched up face, because he couldn't understand why. And so he told me he'd be my friend. Then he shouted to the other kids 'Anora is my friend now! You can't have her!' The teacher scolded him for it, threatening to make him leave class. I protested, telling her she would have to make both of us leave. So of course, she made both of us leave the room and wait in the hall until class was over. We've been best friends ever since."
"So when did you get together?"
"Together?" she asked, sitting up straight in surprise at the notion. She looked over at Bellamy, who was resting his elbows on his knees, staring straight ahead.
"We're not together. He's like a brother to me," she said, a bemused smile playing on her lips. Bellamy sat up as well, looking at her with confusion written across his face.
"You're sharing a tent, though."
"Yeah, we're sleeping together..." Anora felt her face flush, realizing what he meant. "No! We're not sleeping together, we're sleeping! God, is that what people think?"
Bellamy chuckled. "If it makes you feel better, he's telling people who ask about it to mind their own business."
"Sure, that probably shuts them right up," she whispered, her voice laced with sarcasm. The two fell into a short silence, before Bellamy spoke up again.
"Maybe he's trying to protect you. If people think you're together, they might leave you alone."
"You think so?" she asked.
"I know a few things about brotherly protection," he said darkly. "He's probably been chasing boys away from you for years."
"Not all of them," she said absentmindedly, her mind picturing a pair of clear, blue eyes with short hair and a guards uniform.
Bellamy had moved himself back to his original place against the cave wall, where he fell asleep. Anora tried to do the same, but her hand was still aching in pain, and no sleep came to her.
"No!"
Charlotte's shriek was loud and piercing. Anora jumped in her seat, her hurt hand hitting a rock, and she hissed in pain. Bellamy woke immediately and moved towards Charlotte to wake her, placing a hand on her leg.
"Charlotte, wake up!"
"I'm sorry," was her immediate reaction to disturbing them. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were downcast.
"Don't be," said Anora softly, giving her a warm smile, but Charlotte didn't listen.
"Does it happen often?" asked Bellamy. Charlotte sat up a little, and sighed deeply.
"What are you scared of?"
Charlotte gave him no answer, afraid to look him in the eye.
"It's okay," said Anora. "You can tell us."
Charlotte still didn't answer, and Bellamy shook his head a little.
"You know what?" he said. "It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you do about it."
"But... I'm asleep?"
"Fears are fears. Slay your demons when you're awake, they won't be there to get you when you're asleep."
"Yeah, but... how?" asked Charlotte, intrigued by Bellamy's words.
"You can't afford to be weak. Down here, weakness is death. Fear is death."
Charlotte had brought up her eyes to meet Bellamy's, and was gazing intently at him.
"Let me see that knife I gave you."
Charlotte brought out the knife and gave it to him.
"Now, when you feel afraid, you hold tight to that knife and you say 'screw you, I'm not afraid'."
Bellamy turned the knife back towards Charlotte, and she gently grasped the handle again. She held it with both hands and closed her eyes.
"Screw you, I'm not afraid."
She opened her eyes at Bellamy, who gave her a pointed look. Tightening her grip on the knife, she closed her eyes again, but opened them as she spoke.
"Screw you," she said with more force. "I'm not afraid."
Bellamy smiled. "Slay your demons, kid. Then you'll be able to sleep."
He slid back into the spot by the wall, lying back down to go to sleep. Anora gave him a warm smile. He did know a thing or two about brotherly protection. She turned back to Charlotte who still looked scared.
"It's okay, Charlotte. You can go to sleep. Nothing is gonna happen to you while we're here, I promise."
Charlotte gave a little nod, and went back to sleep.
She must have dozed off, because before she knew it, Bellamy shook her shoulder and she jumped to. Rays of streaming sunlight were coming from the entrance of the cave, exposing the shimmering dust dancing in the air.
"The fog's cleared. Let's go."
Bellamy led Charlotte over to the entrance, and Anora followed them out into the wood. The grass around them was almost completely dry, and the sun was pretty high in the in the sky. It had to be almost midday already. The woods were eerie, completely silent, save for a few bird croaking in the distance.
"Anybody out here?" called Bellamy. "Jones?"
For a long second, there was no reply, until somewhere behind them came a call. "We're here!"
Hurrying towards the voice, they walked down the slope to find the others walking towards them. Bellamy let out a chuckle in relief, and Anora couldn't help but grin as she saw the smiley face of her best friend. Nathan jogged up to her, wrapping his arms around her in a short, but tight, squeeze. He let her go, messing up her hair a little, smirking as he did so. She gave him a playful shove, not being able to find it in herself to be annoyed with him.
"Lost you in the stew," said Bellamy. "Where'd you go?"
"Made it to a cave down there. What the hell was that?" replied Jones, looking over between Nathan and Bellamy.
"I don't know," said Bellamy. "Where's Atom?"
Jones shrugged, and the group fell silent.
"We thought he was with you guys," said Nathan, stepping closer to Bellamy.
"He should have been. He was right behind me," Anora whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to will the negative thoughts away.
"We could split up. Start a search," suggested Nathan, looking to Bellamy to make the decision. Bellamy nodded.
"We'll go in groups of two and three. Spread out. We'll start by tracking back."
Anora felt Nathan pull her away from the others, grabbing her uninjured hand as they walked. She gave him a sad smile. When they were younger, they held hands everywhere they went. 'So we won't lose each other,' they had told their parents, who had only laughed. He rarely held her hand anymore, but when he did, she felt better.
They hadn't been searching long when they heard a high pitched scream through the woods. It's source wasn't far away, and Anora recognized it immediately.
"Charlotte," she whispered, dragging Nathan with her into a run in her direction. Charlotte kept screaming as they neared her. Quickly, Anora realized what had caused her screams.
Atom lay on the ground a few feet away from her. He was alive, gasping for breath, and giving low painful moans. Bellamy appeared next to Charlotte, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. He couldn't keep the shock from his face, his jaw slack and his eyes wide.
Anora brought a hand up to her mouth, as she felt bile rise in her throat. All over Atom's skin were red welts, and yellow boils. His skin was completely covered, and looked much worse than her own burned hand. Nathan looked turned around, not able to look at him.
"Son of a bitch," said Bellamy. "Atom!"
He hurried over, sinking down to his knees next to his friend. Anora found herself walking slowly towards them. As she got closer, she saw Atom's eyes were like clear glass. She sat down on the opposite side of him, taking his hand in hers as gently as he could, her burnt flesh touching his. Atom looked over at her for a short second, before turning back to Bellamy.
"Kill me," he whispered, barely able to utter the necessary syllables. Bellamy stood up, in shock or in refusal to abide his wish, Anora didn't know.
"Shh," she cooed, leaning in closer. Atom turned his head slightly, once again looking at her. She couldn't tell if he could actually see her properly, yet she still forced herself to give him a comforting smile. "It's okay. We'll find a way to help you."
"I... can't... breathe..."
He coughed up a substance that looked like blood, and Anora used her sleeve to wipe his chin and lips, staining her sweater in the process.
"Don't be afraid," said Charlotte, bringing Anora's attention to her. Charlotte had walked up to Bellamy, and was looking expectantly at him. He squared his shoulders, looking over to where Nathan and the others were standing.
"Miller, take them back to camp."
Nathan nodded, a flash of relief crossing his face, as he and the other three walked away.
"Charlotte, you too."
Bellamy sat back down as Charlotte followed the others through the woods. Anora noticed the knife in his hand.
"Bellamy," she pleaded. There had to be something they could do to save him. If they could get him to Clarke, perhaps, or the river. They could ease the pain somehow. But Bellamy just shook his head.
"Kill me," said Atom once again. He turned his head, exposing his neck, yet Bellamy hesitated. His hand was unsteady, and his breathing almost as heavy as Atom's.
"Bellamy, please..."
Anora found she couldn't watch, bile once again rising in her throat. She let go of Atom's hand and got to her feet, looking up and seeing Clarke watching them from between the trees. She hurried over to them, taking a seat next to Atom, where Anora had been sitting before.
"I heard screams," she said as she studied Atom's burns.
"Charlotte found him. I sent her back to camp."
"Can you help him?" Anora whispered pleadingly at Clarke. Clarke gave him a once over, but shook her head shortly at Bellamy. Feeling tears press behind her eyes, Anora turned away, not able to watch what they were about to do. She shut her eyes tight, but could not shut out Clarke's voice.
"Okay," she said softly. "I'm gonna help you, all right?"
She started humming a tune, and it was all Anora heard other than the sound of Atom's coughs and breathing. And then, after a short moment, Atom fell silent, and Clarke kept humming.
:( bye bye atom
Thanks so much for the reviews, and the favs and follows! You guys are really sweet! I've had a few PM's asking me what the plan for the story is, and I know at least one review, so I thought I'd clarify a little.
I'm sticking to canon as best as I can. That being said, obviously this story, though written in 3rd person, is told from Anora's point of view. She's not always going to be present for the action on the show. I'm trying my best to show her experiences on the ground, rather than Clarke's or Bellamy's experiences. Anora isn't a fighter, so she won't be doing much running around the woods with a gun, which frankly, is a big part of the show. So there will be more original content as we go along. I've started writing the next chapter, and I've got about 3000 words down and I haven't even started on the action in the next episode. After all, there are days between the Earth Kills and Murphy's Law. Loads of stuff happened during that time :)
