AN: Chapter 6 was giving me some difficulty, so I had to put off posting this chapter until I had 6 settled (I rewrote a scene several times and I'm still not happy with it but it's getting there). I've loved all the reviews I got for last chapter, so I give a sincere and hearty thanks to Uppity Bitch, Redhead17x, Athenyx, mysterious anonymous reviewer, MarvelGeekGirl and Darkangel-Luv! I wanted to give a special acknowledgement to you guys because your reviews made me so happy and I just HAD TO TELL YOU! :D
In advance (for this and future chapters), I apologise for inconsistencies or irregularities in regards to American things like the measurement system. I am only used to the metric system but I know the the show follows the American model so I tried to be true to that i.e. yards and miles even though I barely have an idea of what they would look like (I did Google to check roughly though!). Just in case you felt the need to bring that up in a review. The writing itself will not be Americanised though coz I'd get far too confused trying to manage that when I'm Australian :)
Happy reading, and I'd love to hear what you enjoyed/didn't enjoy, your reactions and/or any speculations you have for future chapters!
The horde of hundreds or thousands of angry wasps flew after them like a thick black storm cloud. But instead of thunder, they were accompanied by a buzzing that droned into the ears of all in the vicinity, and instead of lightning, they flashed glimpses of their wicked stingers.
"WHY ARE THEY SO BIG?" Clarke cried out between pants of exertion moments after they'd all bolted.
"Butterflies glow and animals have two heads here but you're wondering why they're big?" Finn yelled back as he jumped over tree roots and ducked a low hanging branch.
"Just shut up and keep moving," Bellamy growled.
They continued to run for what seemed like an eternity but was surely only minutes, when Clarke felt a stab of fear. "I can't run much longer," she gasped through the stitch in her side.
"Me either," Raven panted from somewhere to her left.
"We need to split up," Finn called from Raven's other side. "They've got pack mentality. Split up and find water."
"We're not splitting up!" Clarke managed while holding her side with the hand that wasn't gripping the med kit. As it already stood, they were spread out several yards apart from each other and were just barely within shouting distance.
"Ow!"
Clarke whipped her head in Raven's direction before surprising herself with her own cry of pain. She'd been stung. Similar sounds of pain from the boys accompanied hers and Raven's.
A sob escaped Clarke's lips. It felt so hopeless. In less than a minute's time, she'd be keeling over from exhaustion and –
"There!" Bellamy was pointing straight ahead to a point halfway between himself and Clarke.
"Water," Raven croaked.
"Come on," Finn encouraged as they all put on one last burst of speed. Their lagging from exhaustion had slowed them down considerably. It was no wonder the wasps had caught up.
Clarke was the first to jump feet first into the pool. While under, she heard the crashing sounds of three other bodies breaking the surface. Bubbles kissed her exposed arms, neck and face, and she felt her hair swirl around in a messy halo that blocked her vision and tickled her nose.
She held herself underwater as long as her limited breath would allow her before she found herself bursting forth and gasping for air. The wasps remained but were now only a fraction of those that had given chase. Clarke found Bellamy's familiar warm brown eyes and held his gaze. Both were panting heavily. Before Clarke could say something, a hand forced her head back under the water. She struggled until another hand parted her hair away from her face and she could see it was Bellamy. He removed the hand from her crown, trusting her to remain under again for as long as she could. Even through the water, they could hear the humming of the wings, beating faster than Clarke's heart was capable of, despite how terrified she was. Bellamy was now removing his jacket. His attention in taking it off was allowing him to float up now that he wasn't focusing on treading water to remain below the surface. Clarke grabbed his shirt and held him in place until he managed to throw off his jacket. With a pointed glance up, he held the jacket over their heads as they slowly emerged from the water.
Their faces were now extremely close. As close as two people could manage without kissing. But Clarke couldn't bring herself to care. She was breathing. If she'd had to spend another moment underwater, she'd have passed out. Her lungs had never had such a workout in all her life, as they had in the past 10 minutes.
"Let's hope Finn and Raven think to do the same," was all Bellamy said, his breath warm on her lips.
"Uh huh," Clarke agreed, still too breathless to manage anything else.
The buzzing was definitely dying down now. The wasps had given up. To be certain, Clarke and Bellamy remained in place for another full minute before peeking out from under the thick material of the jacket.
"They're gone," Finn's voice came from nearby. Clarke and Bellamy stood and found the water was only at chest height.
"You guys alright?" Raven asked from a few feet away as she wrung the water out from her hair.
Bellamy nodded before turning to look down at Clarke. "Are you?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"Uh huh," Clarke said just as quietly. It was then she realised why he'd asked. She was still clinging to him. It took more control than she'd thought it would take to remove her hand from where it gripped Bellamy's shirt. One by one her fingers released the fabric until it was free from her clutches. She tugged the shirt down by the bottom hem to unbunch it. "Sorry 'bout that," she said with her eyes glued to the grey shirt.
"No problem, Princess," Bellamy said with a grin in his voice.
"So does anyone have any idea of where we are?" Raven asked as she waded out of the water. They all followed suit and had a look around.
"I think we're east of camp," Bellamy said with a glance to the afternoon sun for confirmation. "We shouldn't be too far off. Probably an hour or two."
"I lost my bearings when we were running," Finn admitted. "But I agree, I think we ran parallel to our route this morning. So long as we head directly east, we should be fine."
Clarke returned from picking up the medical kit where she'd dropped it some yards back.
"Sounds good to me," she said tiredly. "Let's stop for food first."
They all took seats on the rocks surrounding the large pond and pulled their rations from their packs. Clarke handed her spare one to Bellamy, who hadn't had time to pack provisions for himself due to his impromptu decision to accompany them.
"Gross," Raven muttered as she squeezed the water from her rationbag.
"I'd rather waterlogged berries and nuts than being stung again by those wasps," Finn said before dropping a handful into his mouth.
Clarke picked through her berries until she found some tolerable ones. "At least it wasn't salt water."
Once they'd finished eating, they picked up their backpacks again and headed east. It took a few minutes, but eventually Clarke noticed what was wrong.
"Heeey," she said so slowly she may as well have slurred. "I'm guessing those wasp stings had some pretty potent venom in them," she said almost incoherently. Her movements felt slow and sluggish. That had been the first indicator.
"Whaydyousaythat?" Raven slurred back before her face comically showed her alarm at her own speech. "Whatha?"
"Isfine," Finn slurred. "SolongasthaGroundersdoncomeout." He was holding his gun upside down and Clarke wanted to giggle.
"This is just like those berries we had at camp," Bellamy said with only a slight slur. Clarke could only see one visible sting. An angry red welt on the back of his neck. Clarke counted hers. She had at least three. "Come on, guys. Keep up." His arm stretched out like he'd started to reach for Clarke before he thought better of it.
When Clarke stumbled for a third time in as many minutes, he did it anyway.
"Here," he said as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. The other hand held the grip of the gun.
"I'm guessing those wasps were territorial," Clarke said louder than she was able to control. "I wonder if those flowers were like their jams, if you know what I mean."
"I don't," Bellamy said with a smirk. "But feel free to continue the theory."
"No thanks," Clarke said with a thunderous frown when she realised he was making fun of her. "Wish you'd been stung more," she muttered darkly under her breath.
"What was that?" Bellamy asked.
"Nothing," she told him.
After an estimated half an hour, Clarke's brain had cleared of the venom induced fog enough to think clearly again. Unfortunately, her limbs were still as of yet to catch up.
"We're being too noisy," Clarke hissed as loudly as she dared to the group. "If we're getting close to camp, that means we're bound to run near the Grounders' camps too."
"Let's pick up the pace," Bellamy suggested, regretting it immediately when the other three took to making even more noise than they had before.
"Stupid limbs," Raven grumbled to herself. She ducked to massage her calves to boost circulation. "Work, damn you!"
An arrow thudded into a tree above her. Had she remained standing, there was no doubt it would have pierced her head and potentially come out the other side.
"Grounders!" Finn called. "Run!"
Once again they found themselves being chased. The venom still circulating their systems made their movements slow and sluggish, and they were making such a cacophony of noise that they didn't doubt their escape efforts were only drawing more attention to themselves. Bellamy had one hand on Clarke's upper arm and was half dragging her in his quest to keep her pace up to his. Raven's hand had sought Finn's and they too ran as one.
"Drop the kit," Bellamy ordered Clarke when he heard the metal bash against her knee for the fourth time. "It's slowing us down." Behind them, they could hear the Grounders gaining on them.
"No!" Clarke's eyes flashed and her grip tightened on the handle.
"You're going to get us killed," he told her, but she just ignored him.
An upcoming tree parted them and they continued running, steadily growing further apart the more ground they covered.
"Clarke!" Bellamy craned his neck this way and that to find her as he kept on eye on where he was going.
"Raven!?" Finn's voice called over the din.
Bellamy spotted Raven and called "Over here!" to Finn. Finn had just dodged a spear and changed directions to head for Raven when they heard it.
"Clarke!" Bellamy bellowed again as he followed the sounds of a fight. Emerging from a thick cluster of trees, Bellamy was able to see two people scuffling ahead. At the flash of golden blonde hair, he charged. A feminine scream from the other direction had him almost pause. When he saw Finn also going for Clarke, he growled and grabbed the back of the boy's jacket, throwing him in Raven's direction.
Ducking instinctively and weaving between the trees, Bellamy avoided two more arrows headed for his back as he finally broke through the trees to where Clarke grappled with a Grounder. To be fair, while she wasn't exactly holding her own, she was at least strong enough to hold him off so he couldn't do more than roll them around in the dirt. With a roar, Bellamy grabbed the Grounder by the clothing on his back and hauled him off of the blonde. Clarke immediately rolled to the side and staggered to her feet.
Bellamy aimed two well-placed blows to the Grounder's solar plexus before his opponent turned the tables by grabbing Bellamy's head and flipping him over. The wind was knocked out of Bellamy with a painful "Oof!"
The Grounder managed a kick to Bellamy's kidneys before a heavy metal box was brought crashing down onto his head. He dropped to his knees, revealing a panting Clarke holding the med kit above her head. Not as dazed as he appeared, the Grounder lunged in a half turn and tackled Clarke by her knees. She fell to her back with a similar "Oof!" and her weapon flew from her hands, creating a ruckus as it bounced on the rocky outcrop and slid to a stop in the dirt. Bellamy was still struggling to breathe when he shoulder charged the Grounder, forcing him off of Clarke.
All three managed to get to their feet and circled each other liked caged animals, poised to see who would attack first. A barrage of arrows rained down from the trees, and the Grounder took hold of Bellamy's split second of distraction and charged. The pair grappled back and forth in an even match, forcing Clarke to inch backwards step by step. It was when she stumbled into the med kit and it disappeared, clanking with each rock it hit, that she realised why the trees had thinned out and there remained nothing but dust and dirt. They were on a cliff.
Windmilling to regain her balance, she opened her mouth to warn Bellamy when the armlocked pair swung sideways and knocked her off her feet. Her eyes bulged but she didn't have the breath to scream as she flew to the ground like a fallen angel.