It'd been 2 and 1/2 days. Not that Taya could tell.
She'd spent the days slipping in and out of consciousness but at this point she'd been conscious enough to know that enough time had passed.
Someone should have found her by now. So that left only one logical reason, there was no one left to find her. She had to assume the worst if she wanted to survive.
That's why she had to get up.
She started slow, first wiggling her fingers. The burns were painful, but not impossible to move with. She felt the dirt, got a grip and swallowed her fear. Based on how much it hurt just laying there, she knew this was gonna hurt like a bitch.
So she decided to go in steps. She let out a choked cry as she sat up, everything in her body protesting. The sword in her body hurt the most. She leaned against the tree trunk and closed her eyes, debating just dying there.
She could barely sit up, she didn't know how much more she could do.
But she had to. She had to keep surviving, because last she'd seen, Bellamy was alive and okay.
"You can do this." Taya whispered quietly to herself before pulling her legs closer to her and using her good arm to help herself up. She swayed dangerously at the pain and braced against a tree, focusing on breathing through the pain.
Suddenly yelling came from the dropship, causing Taya to turn. A small ridge was blocking her view as she debated investigating. Maybe she was wrong, maybe they were alive.
Or maybe it was grounders, finishing off any survivors like herself.
Taya took the dumb move and started moving towards the dropship, praying it was someone who could help her as her vision began to swim and her steps became more and more stumbled.
She'd almost made it to the top when she slipped, hitting the ground and letting out a gasp as the sword was jostled. She clenched her eyes tight in pain as it radiated over her. She slowly lowered herself onto the ground, her eyes fluttering to the back of her head as she passed out, unaware Bellamy was just over that ridge.
•••
When Taya opened her eyes, it was dark. She groaned and licked her lips only to find it useless. She could tell she was hours from death, if not from her wounds then dehydration. It was move now or die.
So Taya went through it again, eventually reaching her feet as she moved to the dropship. It was dead silent inside.
Taya forced herself not to dwell on it as she searched for water, eventually finding some and drinking it greedily. She need more.
She also realized that dark was probably her best shot to get to water undetected.
Taya clenched her jaw and tucked the bottle into her waistband, also searching for a weapon before heading out.
In the dark, Taya missed the big white letters directing her to survival.
•••
Taya was on the brink of death by the time she reached the river, and she knew it.
But the best she could do was collapse at the river bank, bending down and using one hand to cup water into her mouth.
She drank greedily until eventually the pain of moving her burnt arm outweighed her thirst. Taya sunk back onto her heels and looked up at the sky. It was beautiful out.
Taya wanted to keep looking at it.
So, Taya slowly lowered herself into the shallow end of the water, liking the cold on her burning up skin.
Taya forced herself to stare at the clouds instead of watching the water around her turn red.
•••
"Taya? Oh my god..." Taya forced her heavy eyes open. She hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep. Taya recognizes that Clarke was peering over her. Relief washed over her. "Is that really you?"
"Clarke..." Taya managed to whisper. It was alarming how much effort it took for her to speak.
"I—I'm going to help you, okay? I'm going to get you to our people." Clarke promised. Taya saw someone else creeping up behind Clarke but Clarke mistook it as Taya fading away.
"Hey, hey, stay with me, okay? Just stay with me for a little bit longer." Clarke tried to persuade Taya.
But Taya's eyes closed before she had the chance to warn Clarke that Anya was behind her.
•••
"I think something is happening!" Someone called, but it seemed very far away from Taya.
"She's waking up." Someone responded, this time a female. Taya still didn't have the energy or motivation to react. "I will have to do some tests, but i'll give you two a few minutes." The woman's voice became a little clearer, enough to ring some distant bell.
"Thank you."
Taya knew that voice.
Taya let out a groan in pain as she started to wake up more, suddenly recognizing the pain in her body. Taya's eyes remained closed for a few moments as she rolled her head towards the voice she knew all to well.
After a moment she managed to flutter her eyes open.
"Hi." Bellamy's worried eyes were the first thing Taya noticed, or more particularly just his eyes. She wasn't sure what was going on, or even if it was real, so she took a moment just to look into them.
"How?" Taya said softly after a moment, sleep still making her drowsy. That and probably a shit ton of drugs.
"Clarke found you? Do you remember that?" Bellamy said softly, that's when Taya realized someone was holding her hand and rubbing their thumb softly across it.
"Yeah." Taya nodded.
"Then Clarke came her and got people to come get you. They took the sword out. Can you feel my hand?" Bellamy asked the last question nervously.
"Yes." Taya confirmed and Bellamy looked relived. But Taya was to preoccupied by her own thought to question why. "Is this real?" She asked, not wanting it to be fake.
"Yes, you're okay." Bellamy smiled.
"No, are you really here?" Taya corrected, looking deeply at Bellamy.
"No where else I'd rather be." Bellamy smiled reassuringly.
Tears pricked to Taya's eyes, and she wasn't sure why. Taya slowly lifted her good arm and reached out, touching the side of Bellamy's face.
"I thought I'd never see you again." Taya admitted.
"No, we're both to stubborn to die." Bellamy shook his head, his smile yet to waver.
"I nearly did though, didn't I?" Taya questioned as she seemed to wake up more and realize Bellamy's cuts were healed and basically gone.
"I—Yeah. For three nights, Abby wasn't sure if you'd make it through them, but you held on." Bellamy's face became somber at the memories. "We all thought you were gonna die."
"I did too." Taya admitted, recalling the river. That had been the giving up point for her.
"It's a miracle you survived as long as you did. It was another miracle that you kept surviving however." Abby called, walking in at the two turned to her.
"It was smart to let the river cool you down. If you hadn't done that I'm positive you would have been dead long before we got to you." Abby said. "Do you mind if I run some tests?"
"No, of course not." Taya shook her head with a small smile. "Thank you."
"Oh, you did all the hard work." Abby shook her thanks off and began to poke and prod Taya with things for the next half an hour before finally allowing Bellamy and Taya some alone time again.
"So, I really nearly lost my arm?" Taya asked Bellamy.
"Yeah, Abby wasn't sure which was going to be worse, leaving the sword in or taking it out. Amputating it off was really on the table." Bellamy sighed. "But I told them to make it the absolute last option. I didn't want to see your face when you woke up and found your arm gone."
"I'm sorry you went through that." Taya said sincerely, realizing the last week or so must have been hell.
"I'd go through worse to save you, although I'd rather it be me on the operation table next time. I felt so goddamn helpless." Bellamy admitted and Taya noted how tired he looked.
"How about we both stay away from any operating tables for a while huh?" Taya said softly.
"Yeah." Bellamy agreed with a nod. "I could get used to that. Anyway, do you want to hear about how everything else besides you has been going?" Bellamy asked.
And Taya wanted to know, she really did. But she was exhausted.
"Not right now." She shook her head before carefully moving over to the other side of the narrow bed, patting next to her.
Bellamy did as she wanted and slowly got into the bed as Taya maneuvered herself in a way where she wasn't in to much pain but could also be held by Bellamy.
"déjà vu." Taya commented.