Bittersweet ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝟬𝟭. still waters run deep

CHAPTER ONE
i had no chance to prepare

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     𝐀 mop of snowy hair hidden in the evergreens swayed ever so slightly with the strong warm breeze that washed over the trees. There she perched upon a sturdy branch up on a tall tree, near an opening where a dead tree sat in the middle, with a young boy attached to the tree for display. He was wounded, but she didn't know who he was. The girl has no position to do something about it unless she knows them.

     First rule of the apocalypse.

     The thick brown vines held him tight on the tree, and from what she could gather━someone took him to act as bait or maybe worse. Knowing the other Grounders around the area, she already expected a lot of unexpected and dangerous plans from them. Their minds work almost the same.

     Almost. Elliot had noticed the surrounding traps hidden in plain sight earlier. Hence, she decided it would be better not to intrude or do something about it. Besides, she didn't know him. It was a huge risk. He could be the enemy. Or he could see her as the enemy.

     But then again, how did she end up there if he was the enemy? She found herself straying around longer than she'd liked. His pained cries probably drew her towards him, and now she watched in silence for what was about to come.

     Elliot had always been the curious one since she was young, and sometimes she just couldn't help but help someone even when her guts told her otherwise. And maybe one day, that would be her greatest downfall. Hopefully, not.

     All of sudden, the sound of gruff voices and feet hustling over the grasses made her cautious.

     She shifted with her nimble feet upon a branch of A tree, turning to face where the sound had come from. Her red hood covered most of her unusually light hair although a few strands still peeked out on the front. A red-brown mask covered half of her face. The sunlight that escaped between the leaves of the tree she was on made her blue eye look icier. Cold even.

     Elliot watched with a lack of reaction when the blond girl almost fell on the pit trap with spikes underneath. Luckily for her, one of them caught her wrist. She couldn't help but notice how the first guy who caught the girl seemed to hesitate for a second. Like he was contemplating whether to drop her or not.

     If the others didn't hoist her up, he probably would've let her go. Probably. She would never know. But she was sure he definitely thought about it but then decided it was a little too cruel for him to do.

     They all helped to bring her up to safety, and for a moment, the group just breathed in silence, realizing how dangerous the ground really was. It didn't faze her. They should have expected that already. It was too obvious even from how far she was from the sight of their friend tied up around the tree.

     Or maybe not. Because they didn't seem to know what the hell they just got themselves into.

     The blond girl seemed to have forgotten about her near-death experience as she ordered two of her companions to start cutting and tearing off the vines to free their friend on the dead tree. She and the other two stayed around to guard without truly knowing what kind of danger lurks around them.

     The Grounder pursed her lips, feeling the scar on the left corner of her lips squish each other almost uncomfortably. Her face contorted into a tight grimace. But as always, she merely ignored it like it wasn't there. Averting her attention elsewhere, a large black animal with hungry green eyes and a sharp set of teeth suddenly appeared around the wilting shrub near the tall one with olive skin. Her eye narrowed.