Chapter 3
I took in a deep breath of the forest air. The smell of pines and furs mixing with the smoke from the cooking fires a few metres from where I sat, with Clarke beside me. In front of me on a cicular plate of metal, cut from the hull of the dropship, was a small piece of charred meat, roasted nuts and a few forest berries. Overall, not my favorite meal, but i wolfed it down all the same. Every now and then i would look up, seeing people quickly looking away from me, turning to talk to their companions. The story of my fight was still fresh in everyones minds, and Clarke was still glaring daggers at me every so often. I did my best to ignore her. I considered my position once more. How on earth was i supposed to get back home? Could i get back home? Perhaps I am stuck here, unable to return to my life in LA. Though it hadn't really been much, with my brother living in Britain, refusing to talk to me, and my parents god knows where, i would still miss it. Especially Jonsey and the gang. They had basically become my brothers, my new family, and now I wouldn't get to see them again. Though I was saddened by the thought, i felt it would be better to focus on the task at hand, helping the 100 against the Grounder forces and then looking for a way home.
I was finished off the last of my food and gave the plate back to the girl in the hut. I turned to leave before she caught me by the arm. "Wait!" she said quickly. She looked a little embarassed. She continued "I just wanted to say...that... I wanted to thank you. For what you did." She must have seen the confusion on my face, so she explained, "For standing up to those guys. They have always been dicks to people, especially me and a few of my friends. They thought they were more important because they were with Murphey and Bellamy. But now you've showed them that they aren't untouchable" I nodded, "It's no problem. I have never liked guys like them. They just really piss me off. Glad to have helped" I smiled, which she returned, holding out her hand. "I'm Harper", "Adam" I shook her hand. I then stepped out of the stuffy hut into the cleaner air. Clarke, who had been talking to someone, glanced up at me, her eyes still cold and unforgiving. I really wasn't doing a good job of keeping on her good side. I began to make my way out of the little clearing where people were eating when Clarke stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I took a step back, looking at her with an "oh come on" type of face. She put her hands on her hips, "where do you think you are going?" She demanded. The ever so familiar eyes were once again upon me. I ignored them. "I was going to walk around camp, maybe look at the shooting range Bellamy was talking about." I stated. "You aren't going anywhere with out a guard. After what you did to those guys, I don't want you out of sight of anyone with a gun." Clarke was staring at me, hard, making her point. I raised my hands, sighing. "If it makes you feel better" I relented. Clarke called to one of the guards eating her meal. "Hey, Monroe, come here a second" Monroe looked down at her food longingly, before putting the plate aside and coming over to us. "You are to keep Adam in sight at all times and to stop anything suspicious, understand?" Clarke ordered. "Understood" Monroe said in a montone voice. "Oh, and let Bellamy know that I want a guard in sight of him at all times" Clarke added, to which Monroe nodded.
I turned my back on the food huts, retracing my steps through the camp. It wasn't hard to get back to the dropship, from which i could easily find my way to the shooting range, the sounds of gun shots easily audiable despite the din created by people around the camp. I caught a glipse of tatoo guy, laying down on a metal bed in the drop ship. When he spotted me through the tarp his eyes burned with a passionate anger, before he winced in pain. I smirked and continued on towards the shooting range. Monroe followed easily, never once taking her eyes off me the entire way through the camp.
The shooting range was veiled slightly by some trees that hadn't been moved, low branches covering the range from immediate view of the dropship. It was maybe 15 or so metres, stopping just shy of the wall, with a line of wooden dummies at one end, and posts at the other, creating booth type areas for the shooter to stand in. I saw Bellamy observing three guys shooting. One of them was hitting the target, albiet only just, whilst the other two were shaking so much that they might as well have been leaves in the wind. Bellamy could see this, and did next to nothing to hide his anger. "Come on Guys! What on Earth are you playing at!? The grounders are out there, and they're not going to wait for you to stand there and put 30 shots into them before you kill them. They are going to run up, and cut your dumbass heads off!" Bellamy's voice booming acoss the range. Bellamy glanced in my direction as I walked towards him. "Ok guys, try again" I stopped behind them, Monroe just behind me. Once again, only the one glanced the targets, and Bellamy put his head into his hands. I was about to take a step forwards when Monroe's gun was pressed into my back. "Hey!" I excaimed, drawing the attention of the 3 gunners and Bellamy. "I just want to give some hints, if you trust me enough with a gun" Monroe's gun stayed in place. Bellamy looked confused, "What are you doing?" he asked Monroe. "Clarke said to keep an eye on him, and if he did anything suspicious, stop him." Monroe explained, her gun still pressing into my spine. Bellamy looked from Monroe to me, and back to Monroe."It's ok, Adam isn't going to do anything stupid like try to kill us" He said simply. "Lower the gun" Monroe lowered it, and I stretched my back out, glanceing back to Monroe, who seemed to not notice my cold look. Bellamy looked at me, "What was it you wanted to point out?" I took a step forward and gently took a gun from one of the failing novices. "I know how to fire a gun" I explained, "But it is obvious you guys haven't the faintest clue, no offense" They just looked at me blankly, so I went on. "You guys are facing the target head on, try to turn your body slightly, so you have more stability behind the gun", I raised the rifle to my shoulder, as I had a thousand times before at the range back home. I looked down the sights, talking as I did so, "You look down the barrel of the gun, through the sights" I spied the target at the other end of the range, aiming dead centre, "You breath in carefully, then release slowly before pulling the trigger". I followed my own instructions, the barrel barely moving more than a centimetre. "and fire" I pulled the trigger, the kick hitting my shoulder, the pain nullified by the adreneline surge that I got from firing the gun. The bullet flew straight, hitting the target dead centre, making a perfect hole where it had passed through, before emmbedding itself in the wall behind.
I lowered the gun, handing it back to an awestruck novice before turning to see even more amazed faces. I began to move towards the dropship, the others barely able to react to me as I passed them by. I was a few steps away when Bellamy caught up, followed by Monroe. Bellamy spun me round, staring straight into my eyes. "How do you know how to use a gun?" Bellamy shook me, "How?" I pushed his arms off me. " I learnt from a friend who owns a firing range, Back in Los Angeles." Bellamy shook his head. "No way, you must have been taught by the grounders, how else would you know how to fight like that" He grabbed me again. Monroe looked confused, but I ignored her, focusing on Bellamy. "Are you being stupid, Bellamy? Have you ever seen a Grounder use a gun?" Bellamy threw me against the perimeter wall. "No, but we don't know much about them. Though you seem to know a lot about them. And I am not buying into the fact that you could have been transported here by some magic orb". "I wouldn't believe it myself if i hadn't seen it" I shot back, "Yes i know it's crazy but you've got to believe me". Bellamy just pressed me closer to the wall, our faces almost touching. "And what if i don't?" I had no choice. I grabbed Bellamy's arms, using his weight pressing towards the wall against him. He smacked into the wall, losing his grip on me. Lighting fast, i pulled out my pistol and pressed it to the back of his head, presing him against the wall. "I am not the enemy. If you try to kill me, the grounders will kill you. I have no reason to lie to you. The grounders don't know who i am or what i am doing here, same as you." My mouth was right next to his ear. He was struggling beneath me, so i kept up the pressure. I heard Monroe take a step forwards, so I turned my head to face her, not letting up on Bellamy. "Stand down, Monroe." My ice cold stare freezing her in her tracks. She looked conflicted. I turned my attention back to Bellamy. "Come on, Bell", I used his nickname that only Octavia or those close to him ever used before whispering, "What would emperor Augustus do?" I felt Bellamy freeze agaisnt the wall, processing what i just said. I lowered my gun, and took a step back. Bellamy slowly turned to face me, as if in a trance. His eye locked with mine, "You aren't a grounder, but you aren't from the Ark. Who are you then?" His voice was weak, but got stronger as he spoke. "I am a lost traveller in an unknown world" I replied, "and I, like you have for generations just want to get home." Bellamy's mind was working over time, trying to decide his best option. His desicion was clear with his next move, where he gestured for me to keep the gun, and told Monroe, "Stay with him, for Clarke's sake, but he isn't a threat. Make sure people know that." He turned to me, "You may have my trust, but now you have to earn it from the rest of us, and most importantly, from Clarke". He gestured for me to follow him as we returned to the firing range. "Now, why don't you show us again, how to properly fire a gun."
The next few weeks were a blur, one day melting into the next. I spent my time training mostly, on the firing range, still the best shot in the 100, but jasper was getting better each day, and also in the new hand-to-hand fighting area. Bellamy had said we should set it up after the beating i gave his guards. I saw them around a bit still, but more often than not they made a hasty retreat when i came near. None of them had made any sort of apperance near the trainging grounds behind the drop ship. Over this time i manged to earn the trust of pretty much all the members of the 100, even Clarke was feeling less tense around me. However, i became particularly good friends with Octavia, Raven and Bellamy. I had shown that i knew the secrets of the Blake siblings, but had not shared them with anyone but the two of them so they knew i could be trusted, that was my reasoning anyway. I became friends with Raven after i asked her to show me how she was splitting the gun powder for the bullets. After a couple days of trying, i was able to give her and Jasper a hand with them.
Finn, however, didn't trust me, despite his pushes for peace with the grounders. I was wondering when he would come forward with the peace proposal from Lincoln. He always seemed to be glaring at me whenever he saw me around camp. I had followed him a couple times, wondering where he went all the time when he was out in the forest, but i had lost him after about half an hour. I guessed he had realised and back tracked a bit to throw me off or something.
After the first 2 weeks i was here, the food hut burned down. This led to a whole host of other problems, and the most improtant one, lack of food and therefore, the need to hunt. So, hunt we did. During this time i learnt a bit about using a spear, how to throw, where to aim, best way to disarm your opponent, that kind of thing. In the first couple days, we caught next to nothing, only a couple rabbits that was no where near enough food for the 100, but then my team (Myself, Octavia and Diggs, one of the guards and a friend of Bellamy's) managed to kill a pair of deer, thanks to a well placed spear throw from me and a thrown knife from Octavia (who had clearly been training with Lincoln). Clarke and Finn's team (Clarke had looked less than happy about him joining her) also caught a deer, so we were OK for a time, with extra supplies from the berries and nuts gathered fro the forest around us.
Late in the Fourth week since my arrival in this world, i asked Octavia if i could meet Lincoln. At first she seemed a bit skeptical of the idea, thinking that it wouldn't be wise, but when i told her that i knew who he was, and that i needed to ask him something important, she relented and took me to see him.
We walked carfully through the forest, careful not to step on any twigs or dry leaves. Octavia was about 2 metres in front of me, low to the ground moving slowly. She had her knife held in her hand, as if she was sneaking up on someone to slit their throat. i mimiced her movements, stepping where she stepped, keeping to her height. This was not the easiest of feats, due to me having legs alot longer than Oc tavia's, but i made do. We came to a small crevice in a rock face, just large enough to admit a person my size. Octavia, with practised ease, slid into the crevice, proceeding on her stomach, pushing herself forward with her elbows and knees. i followed suit, carefully slipping in behind Octavia. The crevice became a passage, meeting at a right angle, leading both to the left and the right. Octavia slipped down into the passage, gently placing her feet onto the rock floor. She glanced back to check that i was following. When she saw that i was reaching the opening she started down the passaged heading to the left, once more low to the ground, placing her feet down with timely precision. I dropped to the floor, being carfuly not to make a sound as my feet hit it, before following the retreating figure of Octavia. The passage was longer than i had expected, being almost 50 metres or so before we could see light at the end. By the time we could see the light, we had turned left or right at least twice, perhapse even 3 times. Octavia turned to me in the gloomy half light and put a finger to her lips. i nodded,showing my undertanding. I held my breath as we made our way down the final part of the passage, before what i guessed was the main room. As we entered the cave, i saw over Octavia's shoulder that it was very much like in the show. A fire was on the oppisite side of the room to the entrance, over which Lincoln was now bent. In a corner i could see the furs of a bed. On the wall just above the bed were two swords on a rack. Looking back at the fire i saw another sword and a bow with a quiver full of arrows laying next to Lincoln. I only hoped he didn't turn them on me.
Octavia was making her way across the room, so i slipped in quietly and waited by the entrance. Octavia rose to her full height behind Lincoln, putting the blade to the skin at hit throat, he hadn't heard her come in, but he laughed as the steel touched his neck. He turned round, embracing Octavia and giving her a passionate kiss, lasting several seconds. When they rose for air, he noticed me standing next to the entrance. Lighting quick Octavia was behind him, his sword in his hand and he was about to stalk twoards me when Octavia caught him "it's ok, he's with me" She said soothingly. "Why did he come here?" Lincoln demanded, neither taking his eyes off me nor lowering his sword. "He's the one i was telling you about, the one who knew who you were and about your people" Octavia explained. "Why didn't you tell me you were bringing him?" Lincoln's stance had dropped slightly, but he was still alert. "Because i knew you would say no." Octavia said simply. I took a step forwards, thinking of the best way i could convince him i meant no harm. I had an idea but it was a long shot. I had always wondered whether me learning a bit ofTrigedasleng would come in handy, so i licked my lips and said as best i could "My name is Adam, I mean you no harm, Lincoln". I must have startled both of them, because they just stood there, stunned. Lincoln recovered first, "Where did you learn our tongue?" i think he said, though i couldn't be sure. However it was promising that the hostility was gone from his voice. I did my best to reply "I learnt a bit from where i came from, though i am not too good at it." He must have understood because he spoke next in english, "Your accent is good, and you aren't the worst at speaking it, but you have a lot to learn." Octavia had just watched the entire exchange in stunned silence, looking from Lincoln to me and back to Lincoln. "I learnt a bit from where i come from" i said in English, filling Octavia in on what was happening. She nodded, still stunned. Lincoln crossed the cave and shook my hand, the warrior's handshake, wrist to wrist. Apparently that had held on all this time. "Would you two like something to eat?" Lincoln offered, "i would love some, thanks" i replied, in Trigedasleng, though Lincoln corrected me, so i repeated the correct sentence. Lincoln turned to Octavia, who nodded in agreement, only just now recovering from her stupor. She pointed at me, "You, sir, have got some explaining to do". She stated firmly. And so we sat down to eat.