Howdy people! This chapter is a bit longer and full of mistakes (I have no beta reader) I'm sorry, I hope it's not too hard to read and that you like it :)
They knew it was only a matter of time before war set loose, the only question would be who would attack first.
The camp had made a great effort securing the wall, building more weapons from the scrap metal of the ships and making sure all bullets were ready to shoot. However, biological warfare took them by surprise when they found Murphy in the woods ,and by taking him into camp they had all been exposed to a debilitating virus that would have kept the remaining criminals unable to defend themselves long enough for the grounders to kill them all, had it not been for the idea to blow up the bridge connecting both sides of the river before they could cross it would have been a massacre.
Clarke had helped prepare the new five graves and the bodies that would occupy them. They had cleaned the blood with Monty's Moonshine and burned wichever clothes were too soaked on blood to be recovered.
The last body was Milles. Bellamy's close second since Athom's death had died that same morning and Clarke headed over to the Clinic to make sure they were taking the necessary precautions, after all virus die shortly after their host but getting a cut or even a scratch with an infected tool was too much of a risk to take it lightly.
Once she climbed up stairs a small smile crept on her lips when she saw the bed where Raven had been. Clarke had asked her to stay a little longer so that she would get fully recovered but the Mechanic was having none of that, saying she would rather pass down working than to stay laying down doing nothing. She couldn't blame her.
"Hey!" Gabe saluted her, he was one of the people she had had a drink with during unity day. "Should we strapp him to a gurney or just carry him down? Cuz I don't know how we can pass through the door." The boy spoke surprisingly calm considering the sweat that was running down his face. Despite his nervousness he looked way better than his friends, who appeared to be dealing with an angry grounder instead of a corpse; they would steal glances every now and then but quickly look away standing as far as they could without hitting the wall.
"We'll have to carry him down, the gurney doesn't fit." And it was very unpractical. She checked the place, it had been cleaned apparently, there were no traces of blood on the floor and Milles' mouth looked like it had been wiped with a wet cloth. "Ok, first things first, what did you do with the things you used to clean this up?"
"Uh, we were supposed to clean it? We, I.. we didn't know."
Hum, weird.
"Do you know who did it?"
He shrugged and shook his head.
Clarke took note on his position, sitting with his back against the wall. He could have drown in his blood without spilling it out, which meant they had to get rid of it before carrying him downstairs, unless they wanted cold blood dripping on their backs and necks. She asked Gabe for help and put Milles' body down, grabbing him by the shoulders so that the blood would fall into a can. But nothing happened. She stood up and shook him a bit but still no blood.
Then how had he died? Sevral options came to her mind, internal bleeding, or a late reaction to the virus that didn't result in hemorrige but there was really no way to know with the equipment they had there, unless... She quickly shook the thought off, her curiosity was always stronger than her but truth was
"God, can I let him go now?" Gabe's tone was pleading.
"Yeah, you can take him down now if you want. They are still digging the hole though."
"That's ok," Said one of the tallest boys walking forward. "We'll leave it there so they dig faster." He smiled at her and pulled the body up by the arms.
The sun was up in the sky, its shape covered by the clouds that treatened to unleash a rain that never came, when the fire finally stopped.
All the meat, their best chance at survival had been burnt in that fire leaving nothing ashes. The few supplies that they had on the ship would be enough for a week, two at most, then they would starve. Their only option was to find more meat, fast and with the grounders on the loose it was a dangerous task.
Bellamy and a few others would stay in camp in case of an attack, the rest would go out hunting.
Clarke was planning to tag along one of the small hunting groups to not go alone but when Finn found out he chose to go with her.
"Hey, I'm the best tracker, you're decent enough with the spear. We would make a great team." He had said smiling. The risk was big, he was still delicate from his surgery and wouldn't be able to run very well in case of grounders but, desperate times took desperate means and he was right, they made a good team.
"Mind if I tag along too?" Murphy joined the conversation. "I'm the best with a knife."
"No." Finn stepped in front of Clarke in a way that was protective but that annoyed her. "You would slow us down."
"Don't get too fooled, I can run pretty fast unlike you, and you guys can be my eye." He pointed to the purple bult that used to be his eye.
"Why us?" Clarke took a step away from Finn to look at him.
"We need food, can you really blame for wanting to go with the only medic in camp?" He shrugged, she had to admit that he had a point, and his ability with the knife would be useful and he was still weak, if he wanted to take them down she could easily knock him.
"Ok, you've got your stuff? Good, let's go."
They left with the other groups and after twenty minutes or so of search Murphy found an animal sign on the muddy ground. Both Clarke and Finn kept an eye on the ex-banished but he was as concentrated in the search as them.
"Wait, I think there is more than one." Finn traced a finger across the grass, it appeared two wild boars had crossed path and went in different directions. The prints were well marked, which meant the animal was heavy.
"That's a lot of meat." Murphy said.
"Yeah but we can only hunt one at a time, shame."
"We could split." Murphy suggested.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Finn scoffed.
"Well it would make sense, we need all the food we can get and two wild boars would give us at least two more weeks of food."
"If we get caught by the grounders there won't be any boar, we have to stick together."
"The grounders can take us three together, it won't matter if we are alone or not."
Clarke stood still, watching the two arguing. She didn't want to split the group but two animals would buy them so much time... And Murphy was right, unfortunately, they could be killed together or alone, a couple of arrows and knifes won't matter.
"We need the food, we'll split." Clarke spoke to the two. "Murphy and I will go chase that one and you'll go after the other one, its tracks are heading back to camp so if you have to run, you won't have to do it long."
"Clarke," Finn walked towards her. "You can't trust him, don't you remember what he was like?" He spoke low so that Murphy won't hear.
"I know but it's our best shot. I can defend myself but you are too weak, if he wants he can kill you without bliking. I'll be safe, ok?" She gave him a little smile and looked back at Murphy. "You go ahead, c'mon."
He did as she said and she started to follow him, making sure to stick to the tracks when Finn grabbed her hand.
"It's ok," She said. "Go or you'll loose it." She let go and continued, after a few breaths she heard him walking away as well.
They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached muddy ground again but this time she noticed something strange. Crutching down Clarke examined the tracks closer, they were even and neat, too even and neat.
"What's wrong?" Murphy asked getting closer, she could still remember how his knife felt against her throat she remembered how fast he could be, so she pulled away as much as she could without looking afraid.
"This tracks, they are.."
The sound of boots against the ground made her jump, she lifted her gun at it but someone took it away from her and she once again felt the cold metal against her neck.
"Don't move." Murphy had her grabbed by the hair, her head pulled back at an angle that her neck well exposed.
There were five grounders around them, two were pointing arrows at them, another two had long machetes at their sides and the fifth had nothing at plain sight but Clarke remembered that figure, just as she remembered the knifes she held under her sleeves.
Anya stepped closer and Clarke tried to fight, to move but Murphy's grip kept her still.
"Clarke, Murphy," Her eyes watched her carefully as they always did, her deep voice dangerously calm. "It's nice to see you again."
As you can see I changed a few, few things here. Any thoughts? love it, hate it, don't care?