Chapter 3
Taylor had to try hard to keep up with Anya's fast pace, although she did not really have a choice in the matter any way. The general was holding on to her wrist with a vice-like grip which honestly was already hurting. Taylor knew just how quickly her fair skin bruised and she was certain that she would be having a colourful bracelet of bruises around her wrist tomorrow.
"I won't try to …" Taylor tried to convince the older woman in a feeble tone to soften her grip around her wrist.
"Quiet!" the other woman hissed back, not even turning around to look in Taylor's direction and not slowing her fast pace down even a little either.
Taylor understood of course why Anya wanted her to remain silent. She knew that the Mountain Men must still be roaming around, probably even close to them, searching for Clarke and the escaped grounder. Taylor wondered for a moment if she might somehow even be able to change the fate of the Mountain Men. She was not sure though if it would be possible and she was even less convinced that it actually was a good idea to try and safe the Mountain Men. Sure, the Mountain surely entailed innocent people, but the earth was fated to be destroyed soon enough anyway if this reality played out like the show and it would only bring another group of people into the mix when the ALIE thing happened.
Taylor continued to stumble helplessly behind Anya, doing her best to follow the older woman without falling down. She had always been rather clumsy and she knew without a doubt that without the general steading me from time to time, Taylor would have managed to make them both topple to the ground.
Taylor noticed though how Anya's expression darkened just a tad bit more each time she stumbled again and she could only hope that the general would not fully lose her patience with her.
While following behind Anya, Taylor wondered if the fight between the general and Clarke needed to happen, but the show had made it appear as if Anya only had respected Clarke afterwards. Clarke had neither fought really fairly, nor had she just given up and she had earned Anya's support for a cease fire that way.
Would Anya even speak for the Sky people in front of Lexa without the fight? Taylor also had no idea how slim her chances were to first see Lexa and second convince the commander of her knowledge.
"Are you searching for Clarke?" Taylor spoke up after a while, trying hard to keep her tone low.
She was completely unexperienced in navigating through a forest and had no idea if the Mountain Men could still be in earshot or not. She remembered from the show that Finn and Murphy would soon attack the village and how negatively this influenced the grounder's view of the Sky people. Would it somehow be possible to intercept them on their way? On the one hand Taylor knew that watching Finn being executed must be what truly made the Sky people respect the grounders, on the other hand she felt drawn to somehow keep as many people alive as possible. Unfortunately, the show had switched points of view too often without specifying on a clear time frame to really know for sure that Finn and Murphy had not already left Skykru.
"She and her people have killed 300 hundred of my warriors. I need a price to show when I return to my people" Anya answered back after what felt like an eternity to Taylor.
Taylor had already been certain that the general would remain silent and ignore her question altogether. She nodded in acknowledgement, even though she knew that Anya could not have seen her inclining her head. Taylor was not surprised by Anya's answer though, the general had given almost the exact same wording to Clarke for a reason as to why she was dragging her with her through the forest and not bringing the girl back to Skykru.
Taylor knew that it would be foolish to think that Anya was truly trusting her yet. There were so many questions coursing through her mind about what she should best be doing. The show had not shown really much of the grounders and she was honestly so curious to find out if what she had envisioned was even close to the truth or completely false. For a while Taylor wondered if she should try and tell Anya all that she knew of the possible future, but she was afraid that the general would just think that she had lost her mind.
Taylor was still deep within her mind, wondering how to formulate her questions about the grounders, when Anya abruptly stopped in her fast pace.
Taylor was so taken by surprise at the stop without any warning, that she directly crashed into the general's back, nearly falling to the ground again at the unexpected impact.
Anya glared daggers at Taylor and her grip on the other woman's wrist tightened even more "Watch out! You are unobservant" she chided her, voice dripping with disdain.
Taylor let her gaze drop to the ground, nodding her head mutely. She knew that she had a habit of getting lost within her thoughts, indeed making her unobservant at times.
Taylor knew herself to be observant in another way though, namely to the moods of others, but she had never been very observant of her surroundings. She had often walked by other people without even noticing, bumping into things or stumbling because she had not been watching where she had been going; she had always lived more within her head than in the world around her.
Anya suddenly began to walk again, pulling Taylor along relentlessly and prompting her to stumble again.
Internally, Taylor cussed her own clumsiness. She had always joked that she would probably die by breaking her neck in a stupid clumsy accident and the people who knew her closer, knew that the joke carried enough truth to become reality at one point.
Taylor remained standing almost dumbly, when Anya suddenly let go of her wrist unexpectedly, launching into a sprint without even saying a single word. Taylor tried to make out where the general had just disappeared between the trees. She found it illogical that the general would leave her behind after dragging her through the woods for what felt like several hours now. Taylor felt panic rise again though with every second that passed. What if the general did not return?
Taylor still had no real clue where she was within the woods. Only the fact that she had encountered Anya and Clarke proved that she was somewhere between the Mountain, the camp of the Ark and several grounder villages. For all she knew though, she could easily walk right into the arms of the Mountain Men if she moved in the wrong direction.
Taylor had unexpectedly been able to stop Anya from killing her on sight, but to the other grounders she would surely appear like one of the Sky people and Taylor did not know what their exact orders were currently concerning outsides. She still could just be killed on sight for all that she knew. She may be able to recognize Indra, Nyko and Gustus, but not enough other grounders were introduced with their names in the show, to buy her enough time to explain who she was and why they should not just kill her immediately.
Taylor remained standing between the trees indecisively. Should she try to locate Anya and Clarke? Would Anya come searching for her again after the general had found Clarke? Taylor could guess that the woman must be puzzled by her appearance, but would she be important enough for the general to seek for her? The question really narrowed down to the fact if Anya had understood the potential value of the information Taylor held or not.
Taylor did not know for how long she had remained there, gazing blindly ahead of herself, but she was almost relieved when she heard steps coming closer to her again. For a fleeting moment Taylor feared that it may be the Mountain Men, but she quickly recognized that it indeed was Anya, dragging behind a clearly struggling Clarke.
The older woman was obviously surprised by the slight smile on Taylor's features when their gazes connect for a short moment.
"Come!" Anya ordered in a harsh tone, letting her gaze roam around us for a moment, probably looking out for Mountain Men "I will bring both of you to the commander now". Her tone did not leave any room for discussion.
Taylor could almost see the general debating with herself if she needed to bind Taylor as well.
So, Taylor quickly nodded in agreement, stepping in the general's direction and waiting for the older woman to go ahead.
Not soon after, Clarke began to try and convince Anya to let her go again, but the general reacted in the same way she did in the show.
Taylor wondered if it would be wise to tell both of them what would most likely happen, but she still feared if she may change the future too much, so she kept her mouth shut, letting them debate between themselves. Instead, she turned her attention to the nature around them, trying to blend out their argument altogether. For a brief moment, Taylor truly appreciated the beauty of the forest around them. She had never seen such untouched and wild nature before.
Nothing had changed about the denseness of the forest, but somehow within Anya's proximity, who Taylor knew to be skilled on how to survive here, she felt safer.
Taylor momentarily was taken by surprise when Anya suddenly stumbled.
She had no idea when Clarke had gotten hold of the dart of the Mountain which now visibly stuck out of Anya's neck. Taylor's brows furrowed together. For some reason, the image of Anya's limp body disturbed her.
"Are you going to help me or what?" Clarke turned to Taylor now, holding out her hands towards Taylor in a clear plea to free them of their bindings.
Taylor slightly shrugged her shoulders. She had wondered before how Clarke actually had managed to pull Anya through the forest on her own. Although Anya was thin, she was tall and muscular, so she undoubtedly was heavy as well.
In the end, Taylor indeed helped Clarke. She knew that the blonde girl would not leave Anya behind, she wanted to use her after all to get into contact with Lexa. Taylor just somehow needed to get Anya away from the camp of the Ark, before she would be, shot like she was in the show, dying before getting back to her own people. Taylor had subconsciously already decided that she would try with all her might to save Anya, something instinctively urged her to save the general.
Taylor's breath staggered when she finally laid her eyes on the surroundings of the drop ship. They had both been dragging Anya's unconscious body through the wood for a long while now and Taylor had not noticed that they had reached the drop ship.
The air here still smelled horridly and although the show had shown that the warriors Anya and Tristan had led against the 100 all had burned alive, Taylor had not really been prepared for the sight of all these burned bones and how the whole ground was covered in a thick layer of ashes.
Taylor turned back to Clarke and Anya, when the general suddenly rose from the make-shift stretcher they had used and although Taylor knew that the two of them would be fighting now, watching it with her own eyes, was weird and disturbing.
Taylor did not know what she was supposed to do when Clarke and Anya finally began to fight. She knew that they both would survive this fight. For some reason Taylor is more worried about Anya than about Clarke and she winced in sympathy each time, the younger woman managed to land a blow against the general.
Although Taylor had watched this particular fighting scene more than once on the show, seeing it now was another matter altogether. The fight looked so much more brutal. As a doctor, Taylor knew just how incredibly much physical damage a human body could take, but she could also imagine just how many bruises Clarke and Anya would have in the following days.
Anya stepped over to Taylor once the fight was over. "You knew that this was going to happen" she said in a tone telling that this was more of an assessment than a question.
Taylor nodded her head "I knew that you both would survive. Your wounds need medical attention though" she tries to caution the general, glancing at the bleeding wound on her arm, in which Clarke had just stuck a finger, opening it again. Taylor had no idea how the general still managed to stand upright. She was worried that Anya would collapse of physical exhaustion or fall into a state of shock, but the general's brown eyes were surprisingly focused and clear. Distinctly, Taylor registered how even covered in soot and dirt, bruised and battered, Anya's features still held a silent pride and edgy beauty.
Because of the show, Taylor already knew that Anya would agree to bring Clarke to the Sky people. For a moment, Taylor felt urged to convince Anya otherwise, enhancing the general's chance of survival, but she worried that Clarke would not make it to her own people alone. Taylor had judged the way between the dropship and the camp of the Ark to be shorter.
Darkness had already begun to fall around them when the Ark loomed ahead of them and Taylor felt the hairs on her neck rise at the sight. She had no idea how far their guards actually were keeping watch of the forest.
Impulsively, Taylor reached out, touching both other women softly, stopping them, still hidden between the trees.
"You need to separate here" Taylor said to both of them, voice shaking slightly, feeling how important this moment was now. She was looking at Anya with urgency within her eyes, hoping to mutely convince the general to trust her once more.
Anya's brows visibly furrowed and Clarke seemed confused as well.
"Your guards will begin to shoot when we get in sight" Taylor explained quickly in a clear tone. She hesitated for the briefest moment, before turning her full attention to Anya "You will die here if you step closer". She hoped with all her might that what she was doing now, would prevent the general's death as Anya's brown eyes widen in surprise. Taylor cannot interpret her expression well enough though to judge if she believed her words or not.
A shot suddenly rang around them and Clarke let out a surprised pained shout "Go!" she screamed at them. The bullet had grazed her arm, just as it did in the show and Taylor immediately felt the adrenaline rush loudly through her ears, as Anya pulled her away and back deeper into the forest. With every step they cover away from the Ark, Taylor felt a little more relived, sensing that Anya was out of danger for now.
