"…and that's why w-when scared a human's strength can reach full potential! While in all other cir-cir-cirumstances a human's strength in its dormant state is at b-best running at sixty five p-per cent" T was still shaking, her heart rattling around in her ribcage like a hummingbird hell-bent on freedom.
Bellamy was beside her. One hand rubbing her back gently, while the other was put to work securing them both to the branch that had become their saving grace.
"Hmm…" he grunted in acknowledgement. That was the seventeenth 'interesting fact' she had shared with him in the space of four minutes.
He didn't dare interrupt her though. Clearly this was how she calmed herself.
"A-also did you know, Bellamy, that b-babies from as early as six months can…" T continued on, rattling off whatever fact popped into her head, while Bellamy waited for that inevitable pause in her speech where she would wait for him to offer a sign that he was indeed, not just listening, but still beside her.
Although he would rather figure out a way to get T and himself far away from the poison stream that bubbled below them, he owed her this time to collect herself.
After all…she had just saved them both.
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It was like she was flying…
…until she wasn't.
"oof" T grunted as the tree branch she had been aiming for slammed into her chest. Her pale, slender arms clawing frantically at the bark of the tree, digging her nails into anything and everything available to her as her body was pulled down with Bellamy's weight.
Her legs were tightly wrapped around his waist, making them useless to her as she searched desperately for something to grip.
Only when she found that did she dare glance down at Bellamy.
His eyes were firmly welded shut.
His whole body tense with anticipation.
He no doubt believed he was about to die.
Not if she could help it though. With great difficulty she nudged him in the side. Although she held her grip, she wasn't going to be able to hold them for long. Bellamy was just as heavy as he looked. Six-foot-two of solid muscle.
'You just HAD to have that second helping of boar before we left didn't you, Bellamy!' she grumbled inwardly trying, to no avail, to lift herself up onto her elbows. The bark was painfully grazing her chest as their combined weight, under gravity, slowly anchored them down.
T wanted to cry out at the pain, and let her face crumple, as the bark nipped and tore at the top layer of her skin- bring blood to the surface.
But she couldn't. Bellamy had managed to open his eyes and he was looking at her.
The struggle between worry for her and panic for him battling in his dark eyes.
'Com'on T!' she said to herself 'He needs you to be strong!'
She had convinced herself. She was determined.
She was strong.
So despite their predicament she still managed to summon a goofy, unsure grin to her lips "H-hows it h-hanging down there, b-bud?"
"T! Can you pull us up?!" he said stonily, ignoring her jab at humour. His doubtful tone conveyed he already knew the answer.
"N-no…I'm sorry Bellamy! But I can h-hold on until you find a way to get u-up" T nodded her head assertively at him despite the obvious strain on her body cracking through her voice. "Can I get you anything while you're down there?" she joked trying to distract herself with small quips. "Coffee? Tea? Maybe a new pair of boots?"
Bellamy glanced down at his shoes and saw that the fumes from the risen tide were eating away at the steel-caps of his boots.
He swore loudly.
"I'm going to have to climb up you. The only way I can do that is if you let go of me."
"Oh n-no" T stuttered, fatigue was definitely getting to her, she was sure you could probably roast an egg on her cheeks they were so hot! B-but what if when I let go he just…falls … she shook her head sharply, dashing the thought, she didn't even want to think about that. "M-maybe I should just hold on till this stuff goes down. I-I m-mean, I can hold us! Y-you may not have noticed but I've been h-helping to lift some logs around c-camp and I really think i-it's starting to pay o-"
"T! You're not going to drop me, okay" he reassured her, as if he had no trouble reading every thought as it dashed haphazardly throughout the endless caverns of her mind.
"No! B-but what if-"
"EVERYTHING is going to be fine" she notices he even tries a smile of some sort to accompany his words, but the tenseness of his face wins residency and the smile disappears quickly. "This is the only way we're going to make it!"
She nods meekly, her heart was beating a million miles a minute but she knew deep down, this was plan A through Z.
Their only option.
Well that… or death.
But the determined mask cloaking Bellamy's strong features told her that wasn't an option either. They were going to do this. He was going to make sure they survived.
His large hands gripped her calves as he readied for them to loosen around him. "On three you let go, okay!
She nodded, licking her lips which had suddenly become all too dry.
"One"
She couldn't really let him go could she?! She felt any courage drain from her. What if he fell! Into that-that STUFF! Oh my goodness! He'd be lost forever! I can't I've got to tell him this is a bad idea! We've got to figure out another wa-
"Two"
His dark brown orbs meet her own speckled ones and suddenly she had faith again. She would let him go. Let the fear go.
So they both could live.
"Three!"
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"..and I can't believe we actually made it! I heard that sports weren't allowed to be played on the Arc because it takes up too much air unnecessarily but I read about this sport, right, called 'Long jump' and I think you'd be really good at it! Basically, from what I can recall, it's pretty much what it sounds like! People jump as far as they are able and the one who jumps the furthest wins! Like, there are some other rules but-"
"T" Bellamy says in as soft a voice as he can muster. He didn't know how long they had been up in that tree, but she had not looked at him once in that whole time.
She just kept talking.
Every few minutes she'd wait for him to respond to her. But she still refused to look at him.
The cloak she made from the parachute still tightly wrapped around her, hiding most of her face from him, though the redness of her cheeks could be used a beacon to those lost at sea. He wondered if this was the longest time she had been out in the sun since they arrived on the ground.
"Yes? Sorry! I'm annoying you aren't I?! I know I've not stopped talking since we got here! Sorry! I just can't help it! When im nervous I just seem to-"
"T" he tries again, more forcefully this time.
She stops talking when he says her name. But still doesn't look at him.
"Yes?"
"The poison tide. It's gone."
Now she looked at him.
A watery film had spread over her large brown eyes, the gold in them glittering as her unshed tears were caught by the light, she looked as if she were about to break down. Her nerves at an end. And then…
She smiled.
"Oh my god! We did it! We made it! Oh my goodness! We can go back to camp!" she grinned like a child, smacking him in the arm in her uncontainable delight. To his surprise he found his skin stung slightly when she hit him as if it had been administered by someone his own size and not her. But in her obvious excitement he decided he wouldn't hold that small assault against her, though he thought it curious.
He noticed a look of worry suddenly caught her eye.
"Wait, how do we get down!" T looked frantically around for a route down before her neck craned back to the slowly darkening sky. "Oh my god and how long have we been up here! Jasper! He needs medicine! We've got to go!"
And then she jumped.
Her arms flailing and surprisingly managing to grab the branches as she dropped. As soon as she hit the ground she broke out into a dash….
…in the opposite direction to camp.
"T, WAIT!" Bellamy called out to her, only to get the reply, "I CAN'T! I NEED TO GET TO JASPER!"
Bellamy swore ferociously as he leapt from the trees as well, in an attempt to follow, scratching himself on several branches as he fell. "Idiot!" he grumbled, taking off after her as soon as his slightly rotted boots hit the muddy ground, the slight stench in the air the only sign that the acid lake had passed through here at all.
"You're going the wrong way!"
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*Pops head up from behind lounge to see if it's safe to come out*
*Awkward cough* Hello guys…so…it's been a while…
Firstly I'd like to apologise for it being several centuries since ive last posted. It seems hell has almost frozen over so hence I have returned!
Although I knew where this story was heading…I was lacking inspiration, that feeling where you just want to write! And after randomly logging back on to this site and seeing that this story now at 70 followers! I just had to write another chapter. For you guys! TO begin again!
And I know this chapter is short, and could have been much better but I just need to get back into the swing of things and I promise things will get far more exciting! I still remember where I wanted to take this story as well!
So if you don't hate me completely drop me a review or something, otherwise Ill start to think im the last remaining human ;)
You're support of this story even though its just in its roots is so touching! and I hope you stick around!
Happy reading guys!
Xoxo
Wisteria Clove