Oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
I followed Lincoln for what seemed to be hours, but was probably only 45 minutes. His strides were a lot longer than mine and I had to jog to keep up with him. He had slowed his pace for me and I appreciated it, but there seemed to be a real urgency in every step he took.
"Lincoln, what's wrong? Why are you walking so quickly?" He stopped walking, but didn't looked back at me. He kept his eyes forward and his back was straight and tense. He was obviously worried about something and I wanted to know what it was.
"The Mountain Men, they release an acid fog. It happens usually around now. I am cautious and hoping we can beat it, or have missed it." He looked over at me, over his broad shoulder and I felt my face flush. Lincoln was a very strong, handsome man and it made me feel squeamish every time he looked at me. There was something about him, something that would make almost any woman swoon.
"Oh. Do you think Finn and Clarke and Wells will be okay? Do you think they'll find shelter?" Lincoln looked at me for a moment and then turned away. He started to walk away, taking his long strides and I hesitated for a moment before following after him.
"Lincoln, please. I need to know. Finn's my brother. I love him. Please." I grabbed onto his arm and he stooped but did not turn around to look at me. His head turned and I saw his eyes on my hand on his arm and I retracted my hand.
"I do not know. We have to hurry. Gracelynn we must hurry to get the seaweed." I took a long breath and exhaled slowly. I was calming myself down even though my mind was racing. Finn had to be okay. He had to be because he was my brother and I could not and would not survive on my own.
"Okay. Are we close?" I picked up my pace, jogging behind Lincoln so I wouldn't get lost in this vast forest. I knew that if I did get lost, I would either get eaten by whatever creatures are out here, or I would die by this acid fog, or… My mind quickly wandered to what would happen if another grounder had found me. If I had gotten lost and another had found me, would I be tortured and killed?
"Just down this hill there is a river. Similar to the one that you had first went to when you had dropped your knife. This one holds no creatures that could kill you. The red seaweed is down by the shore." I nodded and Lincoln stepped down on the hill and turned my face me.
I took this opportunity to look him over. I didn't want to make it too obvious so I did a quick sweep of his frame and felt myself flushing all over again. Lincoln had a lot of muscle, almost stacked on top of each other, and his arms bulged out of his black t-shirt. He looked threatening and dangerous and if I didn't know any better, and if he wasn't helping me, I would've run for the hills.
"Watch your step. This hill can be steep and there can be unseen rocks." I nodded and even as he had warned me, I took a step and felt my foot slip.
I fell forward and reached out for anything to balance me; anything to grab on to. I could see rocks below my face and I closed my eyes waiting to make an impact with the hard stone.
Instead of falling forward, I was falling back and my butt made a hard impact with the ground below. I was a little dazed and closed my eyes tightly, feeling the world around me spinning. Once I felt normal again, I opened my eyes and saw Lincoln kneeling in front of me, his hands grabbing and twisting my foot. I looked from my foot to him, and if by instinct, I pulled my foot away and tucked it under my leg. I was fine and I was going to be careful from now on.
"Let's keep going. This time, walk slowly and keep your feet pointed out. Put your heel down first and then your toes. This will help." Lincoln waited for me to walk and with a slower pace, I placed on foot in front of the other and grabbed onto nearby trees for balance.
"I never was the most graceful child growing up. I was always either dropping things or tripping over things. I was always a klutz." I looked back at Lincoln briefly, deciding to tell him my life story, just to fill the empty spaces with anything but silence.
"I remember playing with the other kids on the Ark and they would kick this ball around and when it was passed to me, I tried to kick it but somehow my foot missed and I stepped on the ball. I flew up and over the ball and landed on my arm. It had gotten bent backwards and I broke my arm. Never screamed once. I just looked at the bone sticking out and wondered how it was going to get fixed." I stopped walking for a moment and wiped light sweat off of my forehead.
"You are brave when it comes to wounds but not graceful? You are a doctor in your village?" Lincoln stepped beside him and I craned my neck to look up at him.
"I am not a doctor. More of a nurse. An assistant to a doctor. And it's not a village. Our home is up there, in the sky. The Ark. Well it used to be until we got sent here because we broke some kind of law. I was punished because I stole rations and morphine to help my sick mother. I got charged and I was put in jail. Or the equivalent to it. I never got to say goodbye. She had died shortly after I was put in jail." Lincoln looked at me with a hidden emotion on his face and I tilted my head to get a better look at him.
Even though he had dark face paint on, his eyes were bright and stood out from all the paint on his face. His eyes were well guarded and they reminded me of Bellamy's eyes. The rare times I actually got to see them, they were always guarded. Always protected.
"They wouldn't let you see your mother before she died?" I shrugged and kept walking. I loved my mother, she was my best friend. But I was not going to relive this terrible moment, especially with someone I had just met.
"Let's focus on getting the seaweed for Jasper."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
I was not used to the way of the sky people and I was not sure whether it was normal for them to open up to strangers. This was not something we would ever do. We didn't want the enemy to find out our secrets and use them against us. We kept our secrets and our stories strictly to those we trusted.
"This is it?" Gracelynn bent down and reached her hand into the river and grasped the seaweed we needed. She had tried tugging on it, and with all her strength she could not budge it. She blew her hair out of her face and shoved her other hand in the water and tried pulling as well.
"You do not pull it from the roots. You cut it." I pulled one of my knives out from my belt and bent down beside her. I placed my hand along hers and she got the message to move her hands. I grabbed the plant with one hand and with the other I started cutting the plant from the root.
She gave me a bewildered look and crouched beside me, her leg brushing against mine. She watched fascinated as I wrapped the seaweed up and moved onto another batch. I continued to cut until there were more than enough to heal jasper, and once I was done, I stood up.
I put my knife back into my belt and held my hand out for her to grab. She looked from my hand to me and reluctantly put her hand in mine. In one quick yank, she was up on her feet and standing before me.
"Thank…" She was cut by a loud horn and I looked around, for any sign of the fog. Far off behind me, I could see the yellow fog making its way here. I grabbed her hand and tugged her behind me, running back up the hill.
"What's going on?" She was yelling at me as she was running and I felt her foot slip. She screamed and fell to the Earth below her. I groaned and picked her up and placed her back on her feet before grabbing her hand once more.
"The fog. The acid fog. We need to take shelter. Now." I ran for cover, trying not to run so fast that she would not be able to keep up.
"Where will we go?" She was yelling but her voice was quite compared to the horn that was still blowing. All around us it seemed life was running from the fog.
"Trust me. Just keep up." We were almost there. We were so close.
"What about Finn? Clarke? Wells? What about them?" I looked back at her and shot her a look to keep running. I would answer her questions when we were safe and away from the fog and right now we had to focus on that.
"It's just over here!" I ran behind a few trees and there was the entrance to the cave that I had stayed quite a bit. I could feel her hesitate when she pulled back on my hand and I turned. I saw her staring at the skulls that were hanging from the branches and I felt her take a step back.
"Gracelynn, inside. It's your only chance of surviving the fog." She nodded and, even though she was apprehensive, she followed me inside.
"Thank you for saving my life."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Okay so I apologize for the long wait for a new chapter. I had just moved about a month ago and I wasn't able to get internet until now. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks to the reviewers:
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