Athena tore the black shirt around the hem; it no longer smelled of Bellamy, but of a mixture of her own sweat, smoke from the fires, and like the Earth itself. However, the strongest smell was the blood that had stained it. A combination of hers and various others. The smells didn’t bother her, the cocktail of natural scents was something she was used to; though usually she would have been able to change her clothes. For now, her focus was finding Bellamy; if he was in Mount Weather she would need more than just herself.
She wrapped the cleanest tears of the fabric around her bicep, binding the wound she had gotten from the Reaper. She still had enough gauze around her ribs, though Aslan had cauterized them again and left her skin sticking to the fabric; she dreaded having to peel it off later. However, if she made it to later, she would be content. Lacking the weapons she desired, but having her spear and her blade, Athena began to dangerous trek back to the drop ship; if anyone hadn’t been taken, they would probably remain where they knew how to live.
In the last seventy-two hours Athena had walked away from the same person twice, and been walked away from twice. Each time it seemed to be harder to do. When she first left Aslan and all the other of the clans, she had no idea how far she would make it. Being on her own was not the issue, but she had walked right into enemy territory with the hope that they would not see her as that; enemy. She had forced Bellamy to walk away from her, to go to a place where she would never follow. In the moments that he returned, he had to watch her leave. Both of them could have died in that battle and that would have been the last that they had seen each other. She left Aslan again, split into different directions and essentially different worlds as he went back to the mountain, and Athena dove blind into the woods which she hated.
Now, she was walking alone, searching for Bellamy. With no idea if he was dead, alive, captured, hanging on for dear life, she was completely blind. She didn’t know Bellamy well enough to know how he thought; keeping his friends safe was his main goal, she had seen that in the few days that she had been staying with him. If he was still alive, he’d be searching for them, but Athena couldn’t go to the Mountain Men, simply knock on their door and ask them for Bellamy. She feared little, but her strongest fear was the Mountain Men.
Staying off of the paths carved by years of feet and hooves, Athena lingered in the forests edge as she made her way back towards the drop ship location. Aslan had brought her a long ways away from the drop ship, nearly half a days walk, and more for her because she was moving slower than she would have liked. However, if she hadn’t been slowed down and set back, she would never have run into Tristan.
She heard Finn first; his pleas. “I can’t… I can’t go on. Please.”
She perked up when she heard the voice, recognizing it as Finn, and darting towards the sound of his voice. Not all of them had been taken by the Mountain men, and that meant Bellamy might have been one of the ones spared. Edging into the edge of the path, Athena spotted Finn, and beside him was another kid, who stumbled to the ground. Her eyes trailed up towards where Tristan sat upon his horse; the back of his skull was burned and charred, but he was alive and burning with rage. She saw it in his eyes as he got off of the horse, pulling his blade from his sheath.
Athena watched carefully; she was not strong enough to interfere now. Finn and the other kid were tied up, and Tristan looked well off aside from his burns. Her eyes stayed on the kid as Tristan pulled him to his knees, holding his head as he pulled the blade over his throat. The kid didn’t even get to scream, he was too tired and broken down. He fell to the Earth, bleeding out quickly.
“That’s one!” Tristan shouted at Finn. “You killed three hundred.”
Three hundred warriors. Dead. It didn’t sit well with Athena, but Tristan was a bad person. She shuffled into a crouched position, leaning on her spear slightly as he moved towards Finn. She didn’t know him, Finn, very well but she didn’t want him dead. He might have some idea of where everyone else was, if there was anyone else not taken by the Mountain Men. As she prepared to attack, she realized that Tristan was giving Finn water; he was keeping him alive to bring him to the commander.
Athena continued to study the scene, and Tristan began to continue dragging Finn along. And gripped her spear and wondered how far she could throw it with her wounded arm, or how accurate she could throw it with her left arm. Throwing it was out of the question; she needed to take him by surprise, so she began to run along the outside of the path, using the trees as her shelter. That is, until she ran into two others.
“You two!” She said in a shout-whisper.
“Grounder!” The boy shuffled backwards.
The red head met eyes with Athena. She recognized her. Was it Monroe? “Wait, that’s Athena!”
“We need to save Finn.” Athena said, though she wanted to ask if they knew where Bellamy was.
“Bellamy has a plan.” Monroe replied.
Athena gasped, “Bellamy.”
Shouts from Tristan and Bellamy reached her ears and she disappeared in a second, darting out into the pathway where Tristan was pummeling Bellamy. She assessed the situation at lightning speed and charged in, silently. Tristan saw her coming, his fist meeting with Bellamy’s jaw. He stood over Bellamy, but Bellamy remained on the ground, and Tristan aimed towards Athena, swinging at her. She ducked down, wincing in pain, and lunged, grabbing Tristan’s waist and pushed him to the ground. Her spear tumbled to the ground and began to roll away. Tristan kicked her off, and she rolled onto her back, reaching around and grabbing her spear. Monroe and the other kid had joined in, but only a few seconds afterwards gunfire sounded and Tristan tumbled to the ground.
Athena panted, waiting on the ground as she ensured that Tristan was dead. Bellamy rose, dirt and blood caked on his skin and clothes. She rolled onto her stomach and pulled herself up to her knees. Her eyes found unfamiliar faces; adults. The reinforcements that had come down the night of the battle, she concluded. It was then that she realized that she was not safe. The people upon the Ark knew that Athena and all the others from the ground were unjust killing machines. She swallowed nervously, wondering what was waiting for her.
So, this story has over 10K reads! That makes me so so happy! I rarely get a story that is this popular this early on in the writing process. Thank you to everyone who is commenting regularly, you're the reason I get up early and write! To those who vote and don't comment, thank you as well, and dedications will slowly be handed out, but are granted to people who comment before those who just vote. I am looking in to making my own trailer, but I have no skill in that area and wouldn't even know where to start, so if anyone has any ideas, please message me :)