Chapter 35
Three days had passed since Clarke had followed Taylor out of Arkadia and weirdly enough, they were starting to get along rather well.
Taylor had to admit that being alone in the wild would have been horrible and she was not certain that she would have survived even the past three days without the other girl's help. Clarke's presence also forced her to keep things somewhat together and right now, Taylor regarded that as a good thing.
What Taylor also noticed after only this short amount of time was, how extremely different a day was for now. In Polis, Taylor had not been needed to do anything, she had had no obligations. Now, Clarke and she had several things they needed to do during the day if they wanted to see another one.
Hunting and scavenging for food, looking for clean water, keeping away from predators and villages, and lastly, seeking shelter for the night turned into essential things which needed to be done so that they would survive.
Another positive thing was that all of these tasks allowed them to talk and interact. Clarke had not asked again about Taylor's origin, so, she guessed that they had a silent agreement to not speak about the subject any longer.
Clarke silently tried to comfort Taylor when the blonde doctor woke from a nightmare, but she did not try to make her speak about them.
On the fourth morning, the sun came out very early and the sky was void of any clouds. It seemed warmer than it had been the last days and Taylor wondered if this would be one of the last late summer days.
"We should go back to the stream" Clarke proposed after she had divided the remnants of the rabbit, they had roasted the night before.
Taylor chewed on the cold meat with a slight frown. They still had enough water which would last them for a few more hours. "Why?" she asked between a few mouthfuls of meat "Do you wanna try and show me that you can fish as well?" she added with a slight eyeroll. So far it seemed to her as if there was not much Clarke could not do. She was rather sure though that Anya and Lexa would both have been able to teach her better ways to hunt and such, but thankfully Clarke's techniques worked.
"No" Clarke shook her head "but we stink" she deadpanned with a slight grimace, making a gesture as if she was sniffing at herself.
Taylor snorted under her breath at Clarke's antics. She nodded her head though. She truthfully had not even thought about the need to keep their hygiene's somewhat acceptable.
The way back to the stream was thankfully not far. Taylor doubted that she would have found it easily, but Clarke seemed to have a better memory in such things.
Taylor looked around the stream with a slight frown. She highly doubted that the water was warm. Now that she thought of it, she did not think that she really needed a bath already.
Clarke had already walked closer to the water and unlaced her boots. She dropped her jacket and stripped off her shirt, before she noticed that Taylor had not followed her. She balled the shirt together and threw it right at Taylor's face.
Taylor had spaced out and was hit directly by the shirt and startled, catching it on instinct as it fell down.
"Come on" Clarke motioned, starting to unbuckle her belt and push down her pants.
"Don't we need to hunt as well?" Taylor asked with another frown. She highly doubted that drying their clothes would go soon and she could imagine how uncomfortable it would be to hunt in damp clothes.
Clarke rolled her eyes "Don't you like water?" she asked.
Taylor raised a brow at the other girl before she shook her head "Not particularly and definitely not water this cold".
Clarke tilted her head slightly sideways "I highly doubt that any grounder would grumble over cold water to bath with" she remarked, but her expression remained friendly.
Taylor gave her an unimpressed look "I thought you had already deducted that I am not a grounder" she retorted, before she also laid down her coat, folding it neatly.
Clarke nodded her head. She had wadded into the water and it reached to her upper thighs already "Indeed" she agreed, before she seemed to suddenly kneel down and push herself away from the shallow water, swimming out farer into the river.
For a moment, Taylor wondered if there would also be such a large river snake as had attacked Octavia in the beginning of the show. There would be nothing they could do if they were to be attacked in the water.
Taylor waited a moment longer before she also took off her boots and her dark trousers. Her skin broke out into goosebumps already just by being exposed to the slight breeze wafting around her. She pulled her arms around her upper body, rubbing at her upper arms to warm them a little by the friction.
Taylor sighed. For a moment, she imagined how different it could be right now, if she had taken up Anya on her offer to accompany her. When she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend within her mind that the lean general was standing right behind her.
But Taylor shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She would return to Polis in a while. If she was lucky, then the rumours about the one who had killed the Mountain Men would have died down at least a little by then.
She took a deep breath, before she waded right into the water as well. Taylor hissed. The water was even colder than she had expected.
"Damn, this is freaking cold!" she exclaimed sputtering. She had tried to do it just as Clarke had and plunged herself into the water quickly, even going so far as to dip her head under.
Clarke turned around the water and the blonde laughed "You are so obviously not a grounder" she chuckled with a shake of her head "Just move around, it is not so bad".
Taylor glared at the other blonde, brushing her wet hair out of her face, but indeed swimming back and forth while she tried not to let her teeth chatter from the crispiness of the river.
After a few minutes, she was still feeling way too cold though and decided that she would be clean enough and waded back to the shore.
She deeply regretted not having packed any kind of towels now.
Clarke did not seem ready to get out of the water yet and Taylor sat down on a large stone right at the shore. Thankfully, the sun had warmed up the stone comfortably on which she was sitting and Taylor stopped shivering soon.
She wrung out as much water from her hair as she could, shaking it out as well and finally untangling it with her fingers.
The stone was large enough, that Taylor could lay flat on it and she looked up into the sky. A few clouds had started to form. Not the clouds which forecasted a thunderstorm, but the fluffy white clouds.
As a child, Taylor had loved to sit outside and watch the clouds, trying to recognize any specific shapes or animals.
She did the same now, keeping her mind busy with the senseless task of searching for animals in the clouds.
Taylor did not even realize it, when she dozed off right there lying on the hard stone but being comfortable under the warming sun.
Taylor was woken up by Clarke suddenly standing above her, casting a shadow and also dripping water from her hair right into her face.
"Time to wake up, sleepy-head" the blonde Skykru girl said playfully.
"Ugh, Clarke!" Taylor sat up abruptly, wiping the water from her face and glaring at the other blonde with a frown. The short nap had weirdly felt even more refreshing than her nights did these days and Taylor would definitely have preferred to sleep somewhat longer. "Did you really have to wake me up already?" she grumbled.
"I am certainly not going to wash your clothes for you" Clarke retorted, rolling her blue eyes at the blonde doctor.
Taylor sighed "It is not as if we have any soap to wash them with" she pointed out with a raised brow. She highly doubted that rinsing the clothes in the water of the river without any kind of detergent would do any good.
"You have a point there" Clarke agreed and her expression became thoughtful "I doubt that you want to return to Arkadia to get a few things…".
Taylor looked up at the other girl with a frown "Take a guess" she said.
"Thought so" Clarke said with a slight nod "I also doubt that my mum would actually let me leave again" she seemed to wince a little.
"You did not tell anyone that you left Arkadia?" Taylor asked. She had left Arkadia quickly and she had not paid too much attention to who might have seen her leave.
Clarke shook her head "So, it is rather safe to say that my mum won't be amused when she finds me".
Taylor remembered how search parties had continued to look for Clarke in the show even weeks after she had left.
"Maybe it would be better if you returned to Arkadia, Clarke, your mother and your friends will be searching for you" she said, but she looked down again. Honestly, she did not want the other girl to leave.
Clarke immediately shook her head though "No, I am staying" her tone was firm and her expression also showed that she had already thought about this and made a conscious decision.
"Alright" Taylor agreed and her tone was underlined with relief. She noted how Clarke gave her a reassuring smile.
"We should seek for a trading post then" Clarke changed the subject "There is a number of things we need, including soap".
Taylor nodded, before she frowned.
"What is it?" Clarke asked "You also don't wanna be seen by the grounders?" she questioned.
Taylor shook her head "Not particularly, but more important, you realize that a trading post means that you need to have something to trade with…" she asked with a brow raised in question "… and I highly doubt that we get much for a few rabbits" she added. She wondered if she could whip together some healing ointment, but she honestly did not recognize enough plants just yet to be able to safely do that.
"You are right" Clarke agreed and she sat down next to Taylor on the large stone, scratching at her chin as if she was thinking deeply. "Well, we will need larger prey" she finally concluded.
"Larger prey?" Taylor echoed and she really did not like the sound of this at all.
"Uh-huh" Clarke agreed and the smirk which settled onto her lips made Taylor realize that this was indeed a very, very bad idea.
"Clarke, really, this idea is hideous" Taylor tried to dissuade the blonde Skykru girl from her plan.
"Oh, shush" Clarke shook her head with another eyeroll. She was tying a strip she had ripped from her shirt around the leg of one of the bunnies their traps had caught. The small animal was still very much alive and it was trying to get out of her grip. "I am sorry Thumper but you will need to be the bait" she said to the small rabbit.
"Clarke, seriously, why can't we just try to catch more rabbits?" Taylor continued to try and dissuade Clarke, but the other girl did not even listen to what she was saying.
She continued to prepare for her plan. "It can't be that hard" Clarke reasoned "the plan is sound. The rabbit should be enough bait and there should be panthers around here. I am sure that for one panther we can get whatever we need from the trading post."
"Clarke, being able to hunt a bunny with a trap is one thing, but a panther is crazy" Taylor retorted and her tone was slowly edging higher.
Clarke rolled her eyes again "With the hunting knife you have, it should only be a matter of getting close to the panther".
"Haha, you are really funny" Taylor gave up. It was obvious that there was no way she could talk Clarke out of her crazy plan. She only wondered if Clarke would kill herself or both of them with it accidentally.
Taylor felt even more stupid when Clarke convinced her to climb up the tree in front of which Clarke had fastened the young rabbit, armed with a large stone she was supposed to throw down at the panther and hopefully divert its attention if Clarke needed help.
Taylor had never really liked heights and being up in a tree was definitely not an experience she liked.
Clarke had positioned herself a few branches lower on the tree, holding Lexa's hunting knife between her fingers and looking out for a predator to come and take their bait.
Internally Taylor hoped that there simply would not be a panther or such at all, but alas her luck ran out.
It did not take long after dusk was starting to fall around them for the rabbit to suddenly pull at the string binding it to the tree. Beneath herself, Taylor could hear the branch Clarke was cowering on giving a slight crunch as the other girl got into the right position to be able to jump.
Taylor bit the inside of her cheeks and she felt her heart beating faster. She knew that Clarke had done something similar in the show. But within her mind, this Clarke sitting on the branch right now was not the same one from the show.
Before Taylor could make up her mind if she should try and call out to Clarke to stop her, she could make out a dark form coming closer to their rabbit. The small fluffy thing was pulling stronger at the string now and Taylor even felt sorry for it.
She leaned forward to be able to look down better, just in case she indeed needed to help Clarke. Taylor had miscalculated though how much the stone she was trying to hold with one hand was affecting her balance and before she knew it, she had lost her footing completely.
It happened so fast that she had not even brought out a scream before she felt the hard impact on the ground. Somehow, she had still held onto the stone but actually clashed it against her own head and things went hazy.
Taylor only faintly heard someone calling her name in a panicked tone and what sounded to be a loud angry roar. She tried to move, but blackness took up her mind.
When Taylor slightly came back to herself, it was to Clarke shaking her shoulders and calling out her name.
"Taylor, come one, wake up" Clarke said, looking down at the doctor's pale face, alarmed at the red trickle of blood where the other girl had hit her head "You have to be alright, Taylor" she said.
Taylor forced her eyes open for a moment. Her head was hurting strongly and it felt if someone was hammering against her forehead. "What about the panther?" she rasped out.
Clarke's blue eyes widened for a moment before her expression showed great relief "It got away" she commented with a shrug "Can you sit up?".
Taylor tried sitting up, but she immediately groaned and had to lie back down. Blackness took over once more.
Clarke constructed a small fire. Darkness was falling around them fully now and she wanted to fend off other possible predators. She was a little upset that the panther had gotten away, but she hoped that she would get another chance to kill it.
She was worried that Taylor seemed to have lost her consciousness once again. She took one of the furs out of the other girl's bag and put it over her form to keep her warm.
She sighed. She was upset about something else. She grumbled "Here I am, following you out into the wild so that you are not alone. And you do not trust me. I tried being a friend to you Taylor while you were in Arkadia. You are so brave, but you are hiding something". She sighed under her breath and her features pulled into a frown "I saved you without thinking twice and yet, you do not trust me at all".
Unbeknownst to Clarke, Taylor had heard her every word. The blonde doctor was in fact not unconscious, but her mind was hazy, her body felt heavy and she had no control over her body. She did hear the other girl's words though and a part of her felt touched by them.
