𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍, hunting 101

september 17th, 𝟐𝟏𝟒𝟗

      𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐄𝐒. She really, really does. She never thought she'd be saying this, but she wants to go back to being a personal assistant. She really does. Because now, Bellamy's teaching her how to use a knife as a weapon. Teaching her. Bellamy Blake, the camp's resident king of the camp, is being nice, somehow, and is giving her helpful information that may benefit her in the future.

      Maybe it's because he feels like he owes her for pulling him out of the panther's path of destruction. That's the only reason she can think of, because does she really look like someone who can wield a weapon? Not exactly.

      And, this goes against almost everything she stands for. Wielding a weapon to kill something goes against her whole 'Earth should be a utopia' mindset. But she knows she probably has to learn how to use a weapon, because who knows when she'll interact with a Grounder. Who knows if she'll need it to defend herself.

      She finds that Bellamy is being helpful to be very weird. Nothing about him screams 'Teacher'. Pretty much everything about him screams 'Leader'. But here he is, teaching Makayla Donnelly how to use a knife as a weapon.

      "You can't hold onto the handle too tightly, or else it'll mess up your throw. But the hold on it has to be firm" He explains, and Makayla nods along. She doesn't really get it, but she's trying not to focus on how she never got that cup of water she wanted (and still wants). She bites the inside of her cheek as Bellamy hands her a knife.

      "You already want me to try it?" She hesitantly questions, but Bellamy shakes his head. Now she's really lost. Another reason why she regrets saying yes.

      He twirls the knife in his hands. "Can I at least see your stance? You don't have to throw it, but you've got to have gotten something out of this!". She rolls her eyes at his comment, and goes into the stance he had shown her earlier. Before she decided that she regretted saying yes, that is. She can already tell that her stance is sloppy, based on his watchful expression. She does the same movements he showed her earlier too — putting all her weight on her dominant leg, with the other in front, and bending her arm back where the knife isn't too far above her head.

      She can already tell she's doing something wrong.

      "Your arm needs to be lower" He commands, taking his knife and copying the stance. She lowers her arms, and goes back to how she was standing earlier as she watches him go through the motions. "It shouldn't be above your head, it should be perpendicular to the top of it".

      She nods and assumes the same stance, right as he lets his knife fly, and it sinks itself into the trunk of the tree. She loses her stance, and stares at the piece of metal hanging out of the trunk, and she swears she can see sap seeping out of the bark. She doesn't know how to feel about it. The fact that someone can wield a weapon in such way makes her feel fearful, but also, the Grounders are trained to wield such weapons.

      Bellamy watches as she stares at the weapon lodged in the bark of the tree, and how her expression seems fearful and dazed. "Your only line of defense can't be to dodge things. Do you think you'd be able to dodge the spear that was thrown at Jasper?".

      Makayla gives him a look. "No, I just —".

      "Just what? You don't want to kill?" He says, interrupting her weakly formed excuse. It's like he read her mind, because that was what she was about to say. She runs her free hand through her hair, feeling it get caught on the knots that have formed over the past couple days since there's not a single hairbrush in sight.

     "I don't. I don't want to be a murderer" She says, her voice quieting down at the end as if saying 'Murderer' is forbidden — which makes Bellamy give her a look. She bites the inside of her cheek as her eyes drop their gaze down to the metal knife, and how her hand is weakly holding onto the shitty handle that it's been given.

      "Then don't be" The man suddenly states, which makes Makayla point her attention back to him. She's confused, truthfully, on how she wouldn't be a murderer if she wields a weapon like that. She asks him what he means, which makes a smile tug at his lips.

      "Throwing a knife at a Grounder can be to harm, not to kill. Let someone else make the final blow, but at least you can defend yourself" He says, which makes Makayla nod along. To harm, not to kill. That makes her feel a lot better about the whole situation — she wouldn't become a murderer just because she throws a knife at a living person. Sure, she might have to make a killing blow to someone at some point in her life, but that can be shoved to the back of her mind. She doesn't need to think about that.

      Bellamy tells her to assume the stance he showed her only moments before, and she does so, with a little less reluctance than before. The words keep repeating over and over again in her head; to harm, not to kill. That's what she continues to tell herself as she raises her arm, placing her hand a couple inches away from the top of her skull, parallel to it. 

      And then the knife goes flying towards the tree.

      It hits the bark and almost immediately hits the ground. Her lips form a frown as she walks over and grabs it, looking at the now slightly bent piece of metal in her hands. "I don't get it" She says, looking over at Bellamy with an immense amount of disappointment in her eyes. "I did everything you showed me, why did it not work?".

      Bellamy smiles. "Practice makes perfect" He says with a shrug, which makes Makayla roll her eyes. She understands what he's trying to say, but also, why can't she just do it already? She wishes she could snap her fingers, and everything will work out for her.

      "Waiting to have practice make perfect won't help against the Grounders" She mumbles, seeing Bellamy give her a look from the corner of her eye. She doesn't know if he's annoyed with her — maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But what she does know is that this hunting lesson, or whatever it's called, isn't going well in terms of progress.

      She sees Bellamy fiddle with the knife in his hands out of the corner of her eye. "I know, but you also can't get better without practice" Makayla shoots him a look of annoyance, tired of his half-assed pep talks. "Try it again".

      Makayla assumes the same stance as earlier, putting all of her weight on her back leg instead of her front, raising her arm up to the perfect height, and focusses on her target. She swears she can see the small indent the knife made during it's first impact, but maybe she just can't see. She takes a deep breath and lets the weapon fly once more, only for it to crash into the bark again.

      She lets out a sigh as it crashes to the ground, now hidden in between long strands of grass. She runs her hands through her hair as Bellamy commands her to try it again, and she does so even more reluctantly than before.

      The process is repetitive — same stance, same arm placement, same amount of weight on her back leg. Bellamy isn't making comments on her stance anymore, so she assumes that she has the proper stance, but also, she could be totally, utterly wrong. Maybe he's not commenting because he thinks she's a lost cause in this department. Maybe knife throwing isn't her thing, and she should use another weapon. Or maybe, she has the right stance, just not the right grip on the handle of the weapon. She thinks about that, but doesn't know how she would change it.

      She continues doing the same thing for a while, Bellamy taking short breaks from watching her from time to time — she assumes he's getting water, or giving commands to someone who listens to him — but who knows. She barely even notices when he leaves and when he's actually there anymore, since he seems to have stopped commenting on her stance or her movements.

      She feels like she's in the zone, when a voice interrupts her concentration. "I think I figured out what's wrong" The voice says, and Makayla turns to find that it's Bellamy, who's standing with his arms crossed, watching her carefully.

      Makayla lets out a sigh. "What is it?".

      "Your grip on the handle. I think it's not firm enough" He explains, and Makayla nods along. He walks up to her, and takes his knife out of the pocket of his pants and places it in his dominant hand. Makayla watches his hand placement on the handle, and then realizes that he's right.

      But does she want to admit that? Not exactly, because again, it's Bellamy Blake. 

      She gives him a hum in response and goes back to what she was doing, assuming the same stance as before but changing her grip on the handle of the knife. She lets out a breath she didn't really know she was holding in and lets the knife fly once more.

      And to her surprise, it stays in the bark.

      "Holy shit!" She exclaims, excited that she was actually able to do it. She immediately goes over to the trunk of the tree and takes the knife out of the bark. She finds it a little too easy to take the piece of metal out of the tree, and assumes it's because of her probably weak throw. But hey, at least it was better than the last hundred or so!

      Bellamy cracks a smile. "You ready for the real thing now?".

      Makayla shakes her head, but as Bellamy starts walking away in the other direction, she feels like her only option is following him. What's she going to do at camp anyway? Be an assistant? She doesn't necessarily want to do that, so going with Bellamy seems like the better option. At least she'll be able to do something, right?

—————————————————————————————

      𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒, once again. She feels like she brings nothing to the table to the group she's with — it's a group of boys, who all have more of an idea of what they're doing than she does. She's hung back the whole time, scanning the trees for Grounder-shaped shadows and animals that they probably can't beat. Maybe that's what she's meant to do — track the trees for enemies, and let the others do the killing.

      They've been walking for a while, and she can feel her feet getting tired. She still doesn't really know why she's here — if it was just because they figured they needed a girl in the group, she knows damn well that there's a better candidate somewhere in the camp. From what Bellamy has told her, it's because she saved his life — but she's getting tired of the whole 'Savior' thing. Really tired.

      The boys at the front of the group stop walking, and Makayla assumes it's because there's an animal up ahead. She stops her movement, and finds herself standing next to one of the boys in the group — Atom. Atom talked to her for a couple minutes at the start of the hunt, and from what she learned, he's nice. He's not a total asshole, and he seems to have good intentions with his actions.

      She hears Bellamy command the rest of the group to stay back, and Makayla's happy to do so. She finds no joy in attempting to capture the animal — and she definitely doesn't want to be the one to kill it.

      Bellamy is able to move a couple steps before a branch cracks behind them — and it seems like there's a general consensus in the group that it's probably a Grounder. Makayla spins around almost instantly, muttering curse words under her breath because she didn't look hard enough for Grounders hidden in the plant life or at the tops of the trees — but she sees what she last expects. There's a girl, probably five or six years younger than her, standing there.

      An axe goes flying into the tree next to her, but the young girl just stares at it. She doesn't exactly seem fazed by the action — even though she does jump back slightly at the sound. The sound of the axe digging itself into the tree makes the animal that they were hunting oink and run away, and the other boys in the group start yelling to go get it. But she stays back, and to her surprise, Atom and Bellamy do too.

      "Who the hell are you?" Bellamy questions, and Makayla nods. She doesn't recognize this girl, but she looks like she's come from the camp. She doesn't want to press on the matter.

      The girl gives the group of three a look. "Charlotte" She says, her voice monotone. Makayla stares at her sloppy double braids, and how frizzy they've gotten from the few days they've been on the ground. The style of the girl's hair makes her believe that she can't be any older than thirteen — and the braids look like they've been in for a while.

      Bellamy tells the girl that he almost killed her, and Makayla can't help but agree. She didn't realize it at first, but the axe that sunk itself into the bark of the tree only a couple feet away from her is in fact Bellamy's — which he has yet to grab out of the bark. He also questions why the girl isn't back at camp, which is also another reasonable question to ask the young girl.

      "Well, with that guy who was dying, I just — I couldn't listen anymore" She explains, and Makayla gives her a soft smile as they make eye contact. She feels bad, knowing that there's a girl as young as her here with them. She should be up on the Ark — well, maybe being on the Ark isn't such a great idea, since the Ark's kind of going to shit right now. But also, a girl as young as her shouldn't have to worry about being skewered if she steps outside of the camp's boundaries!

      She can see Atom give the girl a look out of the corner of her eye. "There's Grounders out here. It's too dangerous for a little girl". Makayla bites the inside of her cheek, because she knows that Atom's right. It's dangerous outside of the camp's walls, with Grounders roaming around wherever they please. This is the Grounders' home turf — not the delinquents. It's reasonable to think that the Grounders don't exactly appreciate having a random group of a hundred criminals from the sky taking up part of their land.

      Charlotte snaps back that she's not little, but also, she's probably the youngest person in the camp. So, at least to Makayla's standards, she's a little girl. Makayla sees Bellamy crack a smile, and she doesn't understand why — she's a little girl, out in the woods, when there's Grounders on the loose.

      "You can't hunt without a weapon. Ever killed something before?" The man questions, and Charlotte shakes her head in response. Makayla can sense what Bellamy's planning — he's going to have the girl hunt with them. At least Makayla won't be the only girl, right?

      "Who knows? Maybe you're good at it" He says, making Charlotte smile slightly. What Makayla doesn't catch is Bellamy looking over at the teen as he finishes his statement. She's too hung up on getting out of there — she wants to finish this excursion as soon as possible. And she doesn't exactly feel okay with having a little girl hunt with them, especially since it's dangerous. But the smile on the young girl's face makes her uneasy, but she pushes the thought to the back of her mind.

      The group of four starts walking in the direction the rest of the group went — they don't know how far they went, or if they turned back after a certain point, but nobody wants to leave them out there. The walk is quiet, the boys on the lookout for the group that got separated and any other animals, with Charlotte copying them, but Makayla has her head pointed upwards, scanning the trees for Grounder shaped shadows.

      And then she hears something new.

      It's a horn, bellowing loudly so it echoes through the forest. It rings in Makayla's ears, but she doesn't know what it's for. The other three have stopped, and are turning around in circles trying to figure out where it came from. Makayla's mind is spiraling, saying it could be a war cry, or a warning from the Grounders to get the fuck away from their forests.

      But the wind doesn't sound the same in her ears anymore. It almost sounds like acids, boiling over in a pot at five thousand degrees. She spins her body around, seeing the thick cloud of yellow smoke following after them. 

      Holy shit. 

      "What the fuck —" She mutters as she feels someone tug on her arm. It's Atom. The group is running in the opposite direction, and she can hear Bellamy say that there's caves in that direction. How he knows that, she doesn't question. But Atom lets go of her arm as the ground starts moving downwards, signaling to them that they're on a downward incline. Makayla runs down it, spotting Bellamy grab onto Charlotte and pulls her suddenly in another direction. She can almost feel the fog seeping into her skin, but maybe it's her mind playing tricks on her. Hopefully it's her mind playing tricks on her.

      As she reaches the bottom of the incline, she hears a thud behind her, but she tries not to pay attention to it. She almost crashes into Bellamy as she sprints for the opening — since he's hanging out in the entrance, waiting for the rest of them to arrive. 

      A scream comes from somewhere behind her, and she spins around almost instantly, finding that Atom isn't behind her. It echoes through the forest once more, their names bouncing off of the trees as they stare into the fog. But the fog's getting too close now, and if they don't get in the cave, they're dead. Makayla almost shoves him inside as the fog almost hits her, and the two work together to shove what looks like a giant boulder in front of the opening.

      With beads of sweat littered on her forehead, she almost collapses onto the ground from exhaustion. She never, ever, wants to run away from certain death ever again. 

      But it's almost like she still hears Atom's voice calling for Bellamy and herself, his screams of pain echoing throughout her brain as she collapses against a wall. The fog is probably dangerous, a substance that will probably kill them if they touch it. 

      So all she can do is assume that Atom's dead, but she can't help but think it's her fault.

      𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 —

i think the scene where makayla's learning to throw a knife is somewhat sloppy, but i didn't want to throw her into the hunting party without some sort of background in hunting, because that wouldn't make any sense?? why would she be in the hunting party without any sort of background in wielding a weapon? anyways, any feedback is feedback i'd love to hear!

𝟑𝟑𝟒𝟗 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒