Earth Skills

Shadow POV

We're running back to camp but something tells me that this is wrong, we should be helping Jasper. I stopped "Shadow! Come on" Finn grabbed my arm, yanking me with them as we begin to run again. My heart pounds in my chest and it feels like my lungs are on fire. Monty trips falling onto the ground. "Monty come on," Octavia says, helping him up off the ground. I gasped when I see the bones in the dirt and grass. "Who are they?" Finn asked as I bend down and picked up what looks like a really deformed skull. "What are they?" I corrected him. "We are so screwed" Octavia sighed. "AHHHHHH!" The scream in the distance causes me to shoot my head up, dropping the skull. "Jasper..." I whispered. Clarke and I take off where we had come from at the same time. "He's alive!" Clarke announced. The rest of them follow us."Clarke, Shadow! Wait!" Finn called out. We get back to the river when Finn pulled us down "Wait! Stay out of the trees!" he hissed, pulling us both down. I looked across the river to see the Mount Weather sign but there's no Jasper. "He was right there," I tell her, pointing towards where the sign sits across the river. "Where is he?" Clarke asked. Then it hit me, my stomach-turning. The idea only caused more sickness to settle in. "They took him..." I sighed, closing my eyes as my heart pounded in my chest.

We get closer to camp when Octavia had stopped, leaning over. "I can't run anymore," She tells us. "Monty grab one side, Finn grab the other" I instructed. They both looked at me weirdly "Well Carry her you fools" I ordered, beginning to start running again. I then hear the shouting from the camp making me run faster. Wells is holding a knife to the guy's throat that tried hurting him the other day. "Wells! Let him go!" Clarke yelled, causing everyone to stop. Wells shoved him forward and hit the ground hard. The guy shot up, about to run at Wells when Bellamy stepped in. "Whoa! Enough, Murphy" He shouted, calming him down. He looked over to see Finn and Monty bringing Octavia in. "Octavia, are you alright?" Bellamy asked, rushing over to her. "yeah..." he winced as he picked her up and placed her on the ground. "Where's the food?" Bellamy asked as he looked around. "We didn't make it to Mount Weather" Finn announced. "What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy asked. "We were attacked" I informed them. "Attacked? By what?" Wells asked. "Not by what but whom" I corrected them. "It turns out the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last grounder" Finn explained. "It's true" I stated. "Everything we knew about the ground is wrong" I stated. "She's right, there are people down here, survivors" Clarke explained, causing people to whisper and mummer around us. "The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us" Clarke explained to everyone. "Yeah, bad new is. The grounders will" Finn pointed out. Wells looked around, seeing we were one short. "Where's the kid with goggles?" He asked. "Jasper was hit..they took him" I lowered my head, seeing Wells no longer had a wristband on. "Hey! where's your wristband" I asked, grabbing his hand. He jerked away from me, looking at Bellamy. "Ask him" He accused. It then hit me, causing anger to burn in my stomach and pumping into my blood. I slowly approached him, glaring hard up at him. "how many?" I clench my jaw. "Twenty-four and counting" Murphy smirked, chuckling. I then glared at him, the anger getting more harder to control. "You idiots!" I shouted at them. "Life support on the Ark is failing!" I blurted out to all of them. "That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again and we need their help against whoever is out there!" I shouted so everyone could hear me. "If you take off your wristbands you're not just killing them. You killing us" Clarke then explained to them. "We're stronger than you think" Bellamy spoke, only causing my anger to turn into rage. "Don't listen to them. Their part of the privileged" He added. "If they come down, they'll have it good. How many of you could say the same?" He asked them all. "We can take care of ourselves!" He shouted loudly. "That wristband on your arm makes you a prisoner. We're not prisoners anymore!" Bellamy shouted. "They say they'll forgive your crimes, I say you're not criminals!" he shouted, causing the crowd to cheer with him. "You're all fighters, survivors! The grounders should worry about us!" he screamed, causing everyone to cheer louder. There was no use now, Bellamy ruined it. I shake my head as Clarke and I begin to walk towards the dropship. "What now?" Monty asked, coming to Clarke's other side. "Now...We save Jasper" I informed him.

I make a bow, arrows to go along with it. My father taught me how to make them really well. He taught me how to aim and shoot. Wells had explained to me everything Bellamy had done while we were away. It only made me hate Bellamy more now. I climbed up the latter to the second floor to the dropship, seeing Clarke shoving things into a small bag she had made. "Clarke..." I whispered, causing her to sniffle and wipe her face. I went next to her, kneeling down and placing my hand on her shoulder. "We're going to get Jasper, I swear," I say to her. She turned her head to me, looking at me before knitting her brows together she looked like she was going to say something but a voice interrupted her. "When my father said they didn't leave us anything, he really meant it," Wells's voice says, causing me to look over my shoulder to see him coming up the latter. Clarke stood up, walking over to the table someone had put together. "Here, take this" Clarke handed me a bag. Wells walked between us and I knit my brows together when I see his open wound. Clarke grabbed a hold of it, causing him to jerk away. "It's just a scratch" He informed Clarke. "I see you're making friends fast" I joked, displaying a forced smile. "Keep it covered. It could get infected" Clarke advised him. I knit my brows together again when I see the pack on his back. "Hey...Nice pack" I say, poking at his good arm. "Yeah, seat belts and insulation" he explained. "Hm, guess our prince knows a few things" I joked at the name I had given him, causing him to chuckle. "I also packed part of the parachute, I figured we could take it to carry Jasper--" Clarke cut him off. "Good, give it to Shadow," Clarke says, Wells looked a bit hurt as I followed Clarke over to the latter. "You're not coming with us" Clarke informed him. "My ankle's fine" He stated. We begin climbing down the latter "It's not your ankle Wells. It's you" She simply tells him as we get down to the first floor. Wells begins to climb down now "You came back for reinforcements. I'm gonna help" Wells says. "Clarke, he's right. We need him" Monty chimed in as he walked over to us. "So far, no one else has volunteered," he tells her. "I'm sorry Monty, but you're not going either" Clarke informed him. He stepped closer to us "Like hell I'm not. Jasper's my best friend." Clarke shakes her head "You're too important. You were raised on Farm station and recruited by engineering" She pointed out. "So?" Monty shrugged. "So? Food and communication" She tells him. "She's right Monty..." I finally spoke. I leaned forward "What's up here...Is gonna save us all" I informed him. "Let us worry about Jasper?" I suggested, taking a step backward. He sighed but nodded in agreement. "You figure out how to contact the Ark? Alright?" I suggested to him. We turned around, almost hitting right into Finn who doesn't look ready at all. "hey, you ready?" Clarke asked him. "I'm not going anywhere and neither should any of you," Finn says to us. "That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet" Finn added. "So what, we let Jasper die?" Monty asked. |I darted my head to him "That's not going to happen" I almost hissed. "Spacewalker?" Clarke scoffed. "What a joke." If Finn isn't coming I know we need backup. I'm going to regret this majorly but the only person here who has a weapon is one person I don't trust in this whole camp. "You think you're such an adventurer? but you're really just a coward" Clarke says to him. "That, not an adventure Clarke, it's a suicide mission" He pointed out. I walked out of the drop ship, Clarke following. "Come on, we got to stop one more place" I informed her. I walked over to Bellamy. "You could've been killed," He tells Octavia, helping her clean her wound. "She would've been if Jasper didn't jump in and save her" I stated, causing him to stand up. "You guys leaving? I'm coming too" Octavia tries to stand. "No, no no way not again" Bellamy made her sit again. "He's right. Your leg will just slow us down" Clarke says. "I'm here for you" I blurted out to Bellamy. "Shadow? What are you doing?" Wells asked me. "I hear you have a gun?" I asked, ignoring Wells. Bellamy arched a brow at me as he raised his shirt a little to reveal a black handgun. "Good, follow us," I say, about to take a step forward. "And why would I do that?" He asked, causing me to turn around. I have to claw into his ego. "because you want them to follow you" I pointed out. "And right now..." I lower my voice to a whisper, looking up at him. "They're thinking only one of us is scared" I whispered. He stared at me for a moment before I shrugged and wiggled a brow. We all begin to walk away. "What the hell are you thinking Shadow? Those guys aren't just bullies" He informed me. "They're dangerous criminals" he added. "That's what she's counting on," Clarke tells Wells. "Since when are we in the rescuing business, huh?" Murphy asked Bellamy. I could hear them from here, perfectly fine. "The Ark thinks the prince is dead. Once they think the princess is too they'll never come down" Bellamy explained. My heart sank, knowing he was going to either force Clarke to take off her wristband or worse, kill her. I looked over my shoulder at Bellamy, glaring at him hard. "I'm getting that wristband, even if I have to cut off her hand to do it" Bellamy threatened, causing me to keep my bow close to my side.

"Hey, hold up" Bellamy called out as we walked further into the forest. "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart" He pointed out. "Put the gun away, Bellamy!" Wells hissed out. Murphy shoved him back "Why don't you do something about it?" He asked Wells. I grabbed onto my bow "Jasper screamed when they moved him, If the spear struck his heart he'd have died instantly" Clarke pointed out. "Doesn't mean we have to waste" she added. He grabbed her wrist tightly and it caused me to quickly grab my bow and arrow. placing it just right. "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go" He stated. "Let her go..." I ordered, stepping closer to him. He looked over at me, smirking at me. "Put that away, before you hurt yourself" Bellamy warned. I pulled the arrow further back. "Take your hands off her, or I swear I'll put this arrow between your eyes" I hissed out. "You even know how to work that?" Bellamy chuckled. "You wanna find out?" I asked. "Enough! Put the bow down Shadow" Clarke ordered me. I didn't listen, keeping my weapon aimed at him. "The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm actually dead" Clarke hissed at him. "Got it?" She asked him. "Brave princess and her warrior" Bellamy smirked at Clarke and me. "Hey, why don't you find your own nicknames?" Finn's voice asked. He walked over to us "You call this a rescue party? Got to split up and cover more ground" Finn explained. "Clarke come with me, Doe you stay with Wells" Finn suggested. I knit my brows together at his nickname for me, only my sister ever called me Doe. Clarke and Finn walked away with one another. I slowly lowered my bow as Bellamy put his gun away. Wells and I begin walking together "So, where did you learn archery?" Wells asked me. "My father...His father taught him and so forth" I simply explained. Murphy walked a little ahead of us, Wells staring at Clarke and Finn for a while. "Guess we got more in common than meets the eyes huh?" Bellamy asked, walking next to me but speaking to Wells. "We have nothing in common" Well stated. "No? Both came down here to protect someone we love" Bellamy pointed out. I arched my brow to Wells as he stayed quiet. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me" Bellamy says."Course, for you it's worse. With Finn around, Clarke doesn't even see you" Bellamy taunted him. "It's like you're not even here" Bellamy added with a smirk. "Hey, Bellamy? Do us all a favor and shut the hell up?" I suggested. "Give us all a break from your annoying voice" I stated. He grabbed my wrist roughly, causing me to stop. "Let her go Bellamy" Wells ordered. I glared at Bellamy, rage setting in. "Wells, Murphy why don't you two go ahead?" Bellamy suggested. "Shadow?" Wells asked me. I looked Bellamy up and down "Go ahead, don't worry about me...Bellamy won't do anything" I say, causing Bellamy to scoff. "Seriously, we'll cover more ground" I looked over my shoulder. He nodded, walking faster to meet Murphy. I then jerked my hand out of Bellamy's grip before beginning to walk forward. "Why are you hanging around the Chancellor's son?" Bellamy asked me. "Why are you protecting him from getting the beating that's coming to him?" He asked me. "Because unlike all of you...I don't blame Wells for what his father did to me" I pointed out. "What did Wells father do to you?" he asked. "What?" I knit my brows together. "I mean, nobody knows who you are let alone where you come from" He pointed out. I grunted a little "Nobody would, I was kept secret...locked up" I explained to him. "Why?" He asked. I huffed, not really wanting to have this conversation with him. What did you do? Kill someone?" He asked. I stayed quiet "Oh...wow you killed someone" He chuckled. My anger rose as I clench my fist hard. "Who was it?" He asked me. "Was it your father?" He asked. "Or...how about mom?" He taunted. I couldn't control my anger, before I knew it I swung around and my fist flew at his face, connecting with his nose. "Fuck!" He shouted, holding his now bloody nose. "Oh...my god" I whispered, my mouth slightly falling open."Fuck..." he said again with a hiss with time. "Shadow? You okay?" Wells asked, walking back over to me and standing between Bellamy and me. "Yeah, let's go and try to find Jasper" I started shaking the pain from my hand, still shocked I had punched Bellamy in the nose.

Finn and Clarke had found Jasper's goggles. Though it didn't make sense, why would Jasper goggles be by a random river? "Hey, how do we know this is the way?" Murphy asked. "We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker" Bellamy says. "It's called cutting sign, Fourth-year Earth skills. He's good" Wells informed Bellamy. "You three want to keep it down? Or should I paint a target on your back?" I hissed in annoyance. Murphy scoffed behind me as Finn walked over to a plant and kneeled down with Clarke to see the blood. "See? You're invisible" Bellamy whispered to Wells. I looked over my shoulder at Bellamy "How's the nose?" I asked in a sarcastic tone, causing Wells to grunt out a laugh. Wailing in the distance makes my head shoot over to the sound. "What the hell was that?" Murphy asked. "Now would be a great time to take out that gun" I answered them. "Come on, this way," I said, beginning to walk in front of them. We got closer to the moaning sounds and my heart dropped to the ground to see Jasper strung up on a tree. "Jasper!" I can't control my body as my feet move against the ground. "Shadow! Wait!" I hear Bellamy call out. Suddenly the ground collapsed underneath my feet. "Ah!" I screamed, waiting for the impact but it doesn't come. I then lifted my head to connect with Bellamy's brown eyes. His hand as a firm ground around my small wrist. "Shadow! Get her up!" I hear Finn call out. "Bellamy?" I begged, regretting punching him in the woods now. With me out of the way, he had perfect chance to kill Clarke. "Pull her up!" Clarke screamed. Suddenly Wells, Murphy, Clarke, and Finn ran over, grabbing ahold of Bellamy and pulling me up. I landed on the ground, quickly standing up and brushing myself off. "You okay?" Clarke asked me. "Y-yeah..." I breathed out, turning to where Jasper is. "We need to get him down" I stated. My heart still pounding hard in my chest. "I'll climb up there and cut the vines down," Finn says. "Yeah, I'm with you" Wells tried to go with him. "No, you stay with Shadow and Clarke and watch him" Finn nodded to Bellamy. "You. Let's go" He tells Murphy. "There's a poultice on his wound" Clarke mentioned. "Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells asked. "Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing?" Bellamy suggested, standing next to me. "Maybe what they're trying to catch is us?" I suggested my thoughts as Finn and Murphy climbed the tree. "Hurry up Murphy" FInn rushes him. "Be careful!" Clarke called out as we all heard a low growl. "What the hell was that?" Murphy asked. I squint my eyes to see something in the distance, it moves quickly. "Grounders?" Bellamy asked. The black thing moves low to the ground before charging towards Bellamy and me. "Bellamy! Gun!" Clarke shouted. Bellamy went reaching for it but came up empty. BANG! BANG! The huge leopard comes to view, yelping as Wells shoots the thing. Suddenly as it rushed closer to Bellamy and me. He shoves me behind him, holding his arms out to protect me. Bellamy looked around in the tall grass for a moment as I stood behind him. ROAR! I jumped, spinning around on my heel to see the thing in mid-air at me. BANG! I breathe heavily Click, Click, Click. I turn my head to Wells who just saved my life. Wells dropped the gun as the huge black leopard dies right in front of me. "Now she sees you..." Bellamy tells Wells, causing me to roll my eyes.

It's dark when we returned back to camp, Wells and Finn carried Jasper as Bellamy and Murphy carried the leopard back for food. Monty comes out, mouth falling open "He's alive," I say to him. "I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage" Clarke informed him. "Shadow, in here with me" Clarke ordered as she opened the curtain to the dropship for Finn and Wells. I stepped inside, following them as the they take him to the second floor. Monty comes back with everything we need and I take the cloth, dipping it into the hot water and beginning to wipe Jasper's face. Finn walked over, handing something to Clarke. I didn't pay much attention as I cleaned the blood of Jasper. When we're done I follow Clarke out of the dropship, approaching where Finn stands. "He's stable for now but without medicine..." She paused as she looked over to where Bellamy is cooking the food. "They're taking off their wristbands for food?" Clarke asked. I whipped my head to the group, watching Murphy pry off a wristband. "No way...We won't do it" Clarke says. "You guys don't have to" Finn informed us. Clarke and I watched as Finn walked over to the group, picking up three peices of cooked meat. "Oh, wait wait" Murphy tried to stop him. "What, you think you play by different rules?" He asked Finn. I walked over, placing my hand on my hip. "I thought they were no rules huh?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Murphy. He stared at me and I glanced over to see Bellamy glaring daggers into me. I giggled, taring a piece of the meat and popping it into my mouth as I walked back over to the dropship, handing Wells one before Finn had handed me one as well. "Thank you," I say to Finn. "Don't mention it" He chuckled before walking away with Clarke. "So, how long have you been in love with Clarke?" I asked him. He knit his brows together "What?" He asked. "Come on, Bellamy isn't the only one who sees it Wells" I giggled. "No, it's not like that...Clarke and I grew up together, she's like my sister" he informed me. I nodded "Ah..." I say. "You into anyone?" Well suddenly blurted out. "Why? You want to be with me?" I teased him a little, causing him to laugh. "Not like that...No" He says. It wasn't hurtful, I could never look at Wells like that. Though I don't blame him for what his father has done, I could still never bring myself to ever look at him in anything other than a friend. "I meant it as I'm surprised you don't have boys falling at your feet" he pointed out. "No...I think I come off as not a people person" I joked. "What? You? no way!" Wells sarcastically says, causing us both to laugh. I lowered my head for a moment "What's wrong?" He asked me. I shake my head "Nothing...Just spending four years locked up, I never thought I would ever have any friends I pretty much thought I'd die in that cell" I explained to him. "If it's worth anything and I knew it may not be but...My father was wrong for locking you up" He pointed out. "What about floating my sister?" I asked him. He knit his brows together for a moment. "I..." I cut him off. "It's alright..." I smiled before walking away.