"You say that you have a whole hell of problems, but you underestimate the hell I've been through," I murmur, as he tilts his head downwards towards mine.
He glances back in forth between my eyes for a moment before taking my cheek in his hand. He b...
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song: burning pile by mother mother
My eyes dance over the forest floor, keeping an eye out for anything that moves. My hand sits on the hilt of my sword at my hip and my eyebrows are screwed together.
"First watch is over!" Bellamy yells up at me, but I don't move. I'll go crazy if I sit and do nothing. "Hailey." He says with an edge to his voice. I roll my eyes, but keep them glued to the forest beyond our walls.
I hear him climb up the ladder and sigh when he reaches the top. Without missing a beat, I say, "Tell whoever is next that I'll take their watch."
"You need to sleep, Hailey." He says, putting his hand on my arm to get my attention. My eyes flit to his brown ones and the memory of our kiss fills my mind.
I blink rapidly, trying to clear my mind.
I clear my throat and focus back on the dark forest. After a moment, I say, "It's been two days." I sigh, shaking my head.
"Maybe the bomb scared them off for good." He says half-heartedly.
I turn to face him. "You believe that?"
"Nope." He says, eyeing my frown. "What did Jasper say?"
"He thinks he can cook up some more gunpowder if he gets some sulfur, and Raven says she can turn that into landmines," I say when a small smile comes onto my face. "So be careful where you step." I chuckle, bumping him with my hip.
I see a small smile break out on his face. "Yeah, careful there, hotshot." He sighs, effectively wiping the smile from his face. "What I really need is a thousand more of her tin can bombs I can roll into their village and blow those Grounders to hell." He shakes his head and looks at me. He shrugs when he notices my glare. "That's what they want to do to us, Hails."
I clench my jaw and look back out to the forest. "Can't believe we survived a hundred years just so we could slaughter each other." I sigh, reaching up to set my hand on the wood wall. "There has to be another way," I say absentmindedly. I glance over at Bellamy with a pained smile. "Any word from the Ark?" I ask and I see him grimace.
"Radio silence." He says after a moment. "Finally ran out of air."
I sigh, tapping my finger on the hilt of my sword, thinking. "Maybe my dad was lucky," I whisper. "At least it was quick." I look up at him and see a disapproving stare on his face. "I'm fine, Bell. Quit worrying about me." I sigh and turn around to look at the people below. "Instead," I motion to the kids below. "Be worried about them." I shake my head. "No one is coming to save them."
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I cross my arms, watching Del feed the fire in the smokehouse.
"Woo!" He cheers, throwing another log onto the fire. "Let's get this party smoking."
My eyebrows furrow when I make eye contact with Octavia. We both have worried expressions on our faces.
"Quit feeding the fire, Del." I grit, hanging up a slab of meat.
I hear him scoff. "Oh yeah? And why should I take orders from you, Miss Grounder Princess." He says with disgust lacing his words. His gaze slides to Octavia. "Same with you, Grounder Pounder." The smirk on his face widens with glee when he sees my angered expression.
My fists clench as I prepare to punch him square in the face, but Murphy steps in front of me.
"They're right." He says, eyeing me and my fists. He turns back around to face Del. "A hot fire is not gonna preserve the meat as well."
I see Del shake his head. "You can't take the heat, get out of the smokehouse." He says with a smirk. "Should be kissing our asses for being allowed back in this camp." My eyes narrow at him, but I keep silent. "Just keep working." He orders and my blood boils.
I force my fists to unclench and turn around to continue stripping the meat from the bone of a boar.
"Bellamy couldn't get either of you better jobs?" Murphy asks, eyeing Octavia and me.
She sighs. "Probably." She makes eye contact with me. "That would just mean someone else would have to do it." I nod, agreeing with her.
"Yeah," I say agreeing.
My eyebrows furrow when I look down at my boot, noticing a burning pile of leaves next to it. I jump back, surprised, but my expression drops when I look up. The entire ceiling of the smokehouse is on fire.
"Finn, Octavia!" I shout. "Go!" I scream, shoving them out of the smokehouse.
Octavia protests at first, but I shove her forward. I need to try to put out the fire. I look around for anything, but my vision gets cloudy. My lungs fill with smoke and my coughing fills the air.
"Hailey!" I hear someone shout, but it seems far away.
I force my eyes to stay open as I crouch-run towards the exit. I feel arms envelop me as I escape the burning shack.
"You're okay," Elliot murmurs into my ear.
He guides me over to a log while I cough up a lung.
"What were you thinking?" He asks, confused and angry.
My stinging eyes meet his angry ones. "That was all of our food, El," I say, pressing my lips together.
I stand up without giving him the chance to speak. I walk over to Octavia but stop when I notice Murphy yelling at Del.
"This is all your fault!" He screams, pointing at him. "We told you it was too much wood." I run to his side and set my hand on his arm.
He looks down at me with an angry expression. I raise an eyebrow, silently asking him if he really wants to test me. He nods after a moment, backing off. We begin to walk off when Del speaks.
"Yeah, well, maybe if the grounder sluts weren't slacking off, the fire wouldn't have even happened!" He yells out and this time I don't stop myself.
I purse my lips and nod before whirling around and slamming my fist into his jaw. Hard.
Pain explodes into my knuckles, but I don't stop. I slam my left fist into his nose and then my right into his cheek. I knock him to the ground and grab his shirt in my hands. I feel everyone's eyes on me, but no one dares to stop me.
"What did you say about me and Octavia?" I shake him. "Huh?" I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's what I thought," I say before dropping him to the ground. I stand over him for a moment before spitting on him.
I turn around to meet everyone's eyes. Some hold surprise, others hold admiration.
Without missing a beat, I bow to the crowd. "Thank you for your consideration."
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A/N
Ummmmm did any of you see the reference?
If you get it, lmk in the comments :)
I felt like we hadn't seen Hailey fight someone in a while, so I only felt it was necessary to document her fighting skills again >:)
