Commander's Redemption | Clexa

Chapter 2

Clarke tried to wait it out again, just like she did in the car, but she was shivering standing in the water, and she already couldn't feel her feet anymore. It was just a matter of time before it would get worse, and she would need her limbs working if she wanted to stand any chance against the large cat.

She crouched down again, looking for another rock in the creek. Once she grabbed one that seemed smooth enough to be thrown without straying from its intended course, she pulled her arm back in a slow, steady arch. Then she flung the pebble with all her might. It went reeling towards the cat, just as she intended, hitting the large animal right between its yellow eyes.

Clarke couldn't help but feel a bit proud of her own accuracy, but that small surge of pride quickly changed into fear when the animal snarled at her angrily. Instead of having its intended effect and knocking the animal out, or at least dazing it long enough for Clarke to make her getaway, all she had done was anger the animal further. It was now inching closer to the water, its toes touching the cold surface. It looked like it was ready to get over its fear of water, just so it could hurt the thing that hurt it right back.

Clarke felt something whoosh right by her ear, then the animal let out a yelp of pain. A long, black arrow shaft was sticking out of its shoulder. She heard yelling come from behind her, and she quickly turned around, covering herself up as best as she could with her arms, trying to preserve her modesty. A boy, he couldn't be more than twelve years old, was waving his arms vigorously, trying to scare off the predator.

The loud sounds, probably in combination with the pain of the arrow sticking out of its body, turned the big cat around. The animal disappeared into the trees.

Clarke ran towards her clothes as fast as her numb legs would allow her to. She threw on her clothes, not caring that her skin was still wet, and now so were her clothes. She sighed in relief when she felt the comforting handle of the knife in her hand, back within reach.

She then turned around towards the Grounder boy. "What is your name? Ai laik Klark kom Skaikru." The boy looked at her with big eyes, ignoring her question. Clarke took a step towards the boy. The boy yelled "Wanheda!" before sprinting away, bow in hand, not looking back at a very confused Clarke.

The whole interaction had left Clarke wondering what the boy had meant when he yelled Wanheda at her, but she was grateful, nonetheless. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to get herself out of that situation without any help.

--

Clarke started walking downstream again, pulling the jacket tighter around her. She was hungry and she was tired after the adrenaline had worn off, but most of all, she was so cold. She didn't think she had ever been this cold. She picked berries off bushes she came across, and she searched the ground for edible roots, none of the foods she found completely satisfying her. And worst of all, she just wasn't able to get her body temperature back up after standing in the freezing stream for so long. She looked down at her hands and noticed her fingers were blue.

Clarke hadn't walked very far that day after being held up in that car for hours, waiting for the black cat to leave, and she was still much closer to Arkadia than she would have liked, but she would have to find shelter as soon as possible and start a fire. She could not risk getting hypothermia if she hadn't gotten it already.

Luckily, there were plenty of shelters next to the stream. The small huts she had come across were too withered to provide her any real safety and wouldn't survive a campfire inside of them, but it seemed like people before her liked the convenience of being near a running stream and having drinkable water easily available, so there were also a few caves that clearly had someone living in them at some point.