WHITE DWARF • THE 100

05

"It doesn't matter." They carried on in silence for a few moments when Jasper spoke up again. "Are the rumours true?"

Cassie realised that his gaze was fixed on her. He was asking her. Confusion instantly brewed within her. "What?"

Jasper didn't look at her directly in the eyes, shuffling on the ground. When he spoke up, his voice was small and it took a minute for the words to make sense. "Did you fight for medicine?"

She was taken aback for a moment. No one had ever asked her a question that direct before. Cassie wanted to sass him, or make him regret asking. She found she had no energy for either of the two options. She only quoted something someone she used to know was said, which had been a famous movie quote. "The first rule of fight club - don't talk about fight club."

Monty opened his mouth to ask something else, then closed it after thinking it over. She was grateful that he did - she wasn't a big fan of talking about her past. She ignored their prying eyes and hurried on, moving closer to Clarke. She was bent down behind a tree trunk, frozen in admiration. Cassie frowned, following the line of her gaze.

It was a deer.

She'd read about them. They were just as majestic as the books said. Being in their very presence was enough to make her speechless. The others filed in behind her, watching it with the same emotion.

"No animals, huh?" Finn smartly retorted. It was quiet - not quiet enough.

The deer spun around. A second head sprouted from the first, attached by bubbles of flesh. Everyone fell backwards, as though they'd been physically hit by the animal. Cassie felt bile rise up her throat, and allowing it to be released she turned to the side, throwing up all of the contents of her stomach. "That wasn't in the books," she breathlessly muttered, spitting the sour taste out of her mouth.

Monty awkwardly patted her back while staying as far back as possible. She sent a grateful smile, rubbing her hand across her chin to wipe the rest of it up. He offered her a hand to get up, and after debating it she took it, taking in a deep breath. "This is turning out to be a very eventful day."

"I have a feeling that there's more to come," Monty added, the two lapsing into silence. "What did you mean before? What you said, what does it mean?"

She knew what he was talking about without him having to clarify. Her legs felt like lead and her throat burned - she had no effort to evade the question. "I would fight people for rations, which is why I have these." She displayed her scarred knuckles in front of him, and then pointed to a tiny scar above her eyebrow. "I got that in my first fight, I lost terribly. But she was proud of me, and honestly, I was proud of me too."

"I guess that's where the nickname 'Callous Cassie' comes from?"

"Yeah, I did get pretty good at fighting. So good I would win every match. It still wasn't enough though," she sighed, looking up at the group a distance away. "Come on, we should catch up."

Monty appeared to have more questions; he understood what she said as a way of showing that she wasn't going to answer any more. As they reached them, Finn inquired, "What I don't understand is why send us down to Earth after ninety seven years? Why now?"

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." Octavia swung herself around a tree, tilting her head so her hair would tumble. The flirtatious smile decorated on her lips fell when Finn walked past without a second glance.

Monty piped up, giving a logical explanation. "Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite."