A/N: Amber's outfit, story inspiration & aesthetics are avaliable to view on my polyvore: onmydeathbed - the collection's name is 'the infected youth', obviously.

Thanks for reading, enjoy this super quick chapter!

Chapter 3

The first thing Amber noted was how quiet it was. Everything was hushed to a whisper, and when her eyes opened everything was indistinct, colors were bleeding against each other, and shapes were merely shadows. She didn't know what to expect. It was cold, too, nothing quite like her once in a fortnight shower on the Ark. The water filled her ears muting all sound further, her feet tried to reach the ground but they failed to brush up against a surface. She unknowingly jumped where it was deeper, and she couldn't swim. Her arms pushed and her legs kicked her up to the surface almost instinctively, gasping for the air she forgot she needed once she met the brusque breeze. She screamed, not to save her own life but to save Octavia's.

"Over here!" She called as if the beast could hear her, thrashing around to get the beast's attention, and to keep herself afloat. While she spoke water filled her mouth, in which she spat out hastily.

"I got you!" Jasper called, Amber had recognized that the beast had in fact let Octavia go much thanks to Amber's presence in the water, and now the girl was rushing to the shore with Jasper's help.

Amber's legs began to cramp from trying to keep her afloat, and she fell under the surface once again, exhausted. Under the water was much louder now, there was a harsh and unusual sound, getting louder and louder. Her eyes shot open, and though it was blurry, she understood what she saw. And she was ready for it.

The beast took her left arm first, spinning her as it kept swimming with her body in its grip. She mistakenly gasped at the sudden jerk of her body, the dirty water filled her mouth and her lungs; she hadn't even realized the red of her blood, which tainted the water she inhaled too.

The beast seemed to not be satisfied with the efficiency of using her arm to drag her body, so its jaw loosened for a second, and clammed down shut on her lower left abdomen, in the brief moment when it's grip was no longer, it allowed Amber to catch her breath as her body was lifted slightly out of the body of water, and grip the knife that she grabbed last minute before she jumped tighter.

Amber remembered reading in the same book she read about deer's that when humans were victims of a shark attack, they described feeling only an uncomfortable pinch, a short and immediate uncomfortable feeling at the point of injury. No excruciating pain. Amber, at this moment, felt exactly that, no pain at all. The creature was, in Amber's mind, gentle with her. Though her body thrashed and her flight-fight system kicked in, leaving her gasping for air, she felt in no way scared or panicked.

She waited for the opportune moment, when her body was hoisted slightly out of the water once more, to bring her knife down on the center of the beast's textured head.

The next thing Amber could feel was the way her body dropped back into the water with force. Suddenly, she was hyperaware of all things in and around her. She was aware of the water in her lungs and burning in her throat that kept her from breathing, the stinging at her forearm and waist where she was bitten, and the intense, crippling cramping of her legs. She was aware that she was no longer in the vice grip of the creature, so she flayed her beaten body once more. The cold, and fiery shockwave of the air once she surfaced herself astonished Amber. She heard herself gasp, taking in oxygen before she fell helplessly underneath the water again.

Again, she had two choices. Drown, or swim.

John's face when he saw her for the first time in years flashed in front of her. She only just got him back, though she was not intimidated by death she did not want to put her brother through the pain of losing yet another person he loves.

She swam. Or tried to, at least. Her body flopped and snatched at the water, her eyes were set on a rock that two figures laid on.

She wasn't sure how much time went by, her lungs ached and she almost gave up. Almost.

Then she felt the firm surface of another human body, in the water beside her. He kicked and thrashed and managed to pull Amber's lethargic body out of the water and onto the rocks where the group waited, urgently aiding to Amber. She recognized her rescuer who lay beside her as Jasper.

Lying there, she felt like she was still underwater. Her vision was still blurred and she felt as though no air could enter her lungs. Her eyes began to roll back as she let them close, her gasping getting less frequent.

Suddenly, there was a pressure on her chest, and a mouth meeting hers. Amber's chest pumped a countless amount of times, and almost impressively, her cracked lips jolted open, water spat from her mouth and her eyes fluttered open. She wheezed, as her body was turned sideways by hands belonging to Clarke, which then put pressure on her shredded skin. She was alive. And she didn't know whether to be thankful or not to the girl with blonde hair who allowed her to breathe again. So, as she lay there saying nothing, her eyes were able to open again.

She looked around her, as her vision focused, bodies surrounded her.

"Why did you do that?" Monty was the first to speak; he was almost as breathless as she was. Amber didn't really know what to say, she had no definite reason why she did what she did.

Amber attempted to speak, her voice croaked, coughing once to clear her throat, she began again, "the water looked nice—"Amber let out an involuntary cough, " I wanted to go for a bit of a swim." She rasped. Clarke was firmly wrapping a torn piece of fabric around her bleeding forearm, and urged Amber to put a great amount pressure on her stinging waist. She was bleeding a lot, but she didn't seem to mind, which concerned most, if not all, of her companions. Her thick strapped tank top finished just before her waist, the crop not enough to keep it from the bottom being stained red. Amber's hands pushed into her flesh, attempting to stop the flow of blood by the orders of Clarke. Her petite and calloused fingers were drenched in the red liquid, and she began to feel nostalgic, shaking her head to rid of the thoughts, a body inched closer to hers.

"Thankyou." Octavia whispered sincerely. Amber was once again unsure of how to respond. And awfully, she was starting to regret doing the right thing. People were supposed to be afraid of her, they were supposed to hate her. They were going to think she wanted to redeem herself, make it all right. But Amber didn't want that. She loathed herself just as much as they should've. Remembering that she actually had to respond, she opted for a mechanical and abrupt nod, looking away immediately after.

She was a murderer, she deserved no praise.

When Jasper swung across the lake, Amber only stared. She hadn't spoken a word since the day prior when she was bleeding profusely without a care.

She had that nightmare again last night sleeping in the woods. That same one that had kept her from contentedly sleeping every night for two years. Her skin was paler; her eyes were sunken in and swollen. Her wounds had stopped bleeding, the one on her waist now covered by her high-rise baggy jeans, and the one on her wrist covered by a makeshift bandage. She didn't bother putting her grey shirt back on over the stained tank top she wore, she used the grey fabric as a blanket when she slept, now it was tucked into the back of her jeans hanging like a rag. Her bare arms felt and enjoyed the heat of the sun as she watched Jasper land, tumbling over some logs. She observed that everyone else was wearing jackets, and came to the realization that she was never even given a jacket.

Everyone was screaming in excitement, something about apogee, it was Clarke's turn now.

Amber watched as Jasper held a sign that read 'Mount Weather', with a smile on his face he yelled in triumph. Octavia released a breath, hanging her head back, Monty kept repeating variations of the word yes, and finally when Finn yelled the goggle boy's name in excitement one more time, an object—a spear—flew from the trees, piercing the boy instantly. His body flew back, lifeless.

Everyone, for a moment, didn't know how to react. Amber stood, her mouth hanging only slightly open.

When she stopped one person from dying in front of her, another one would take that persons place.

She was cursed from birth. Amber would never win.

End of chapter 3

A/N: Few of you asked why when i posted the last chapter you got a notification saying it was chapter 3 that was uploaded! That's because if you've been here since when only chapter 1 was uploaded way way back in time, i had a author's note on as chapter 2, saying that even though i had disappeared off the internet i hadn't given up on this story. But that note's now deleted since i'm back and writing again!

If you want more, please review.

Thanks!