Survive for Another Time

Chapter 33

This is my present for the new year!

PS: did you know this year was 1 second longer than the last? Something to do with the atomic clock and the sun...

Their way back to camp was slow as they checked every single trap they had laid. Only two had caught something and three had been triggered but their catch had managed to escape. Both successful catches were brown furred rabbits. They left the rest of the traps as they were for the next day and reset those that had been triggered.

When they came into view of the camp walls, Charlotte was carrying the two rabbits and Clarke dragging the panther. Her face was smeared with blood which she has to wipe every two minutes. The both of them were exhausted due to the effect of the adrenalin withdrawal, especially Clarke who was starting to feel her muscles burn from the sudden and constant overuse. The guards made a general whooping, welcoming tonight's dinner and honoring those that had brought it in their own way.

The guard's welcome attracted the attention and soon a crowd was surrounding them, touching the panther, whispering at the wound on Clarks eye and looking at the girl like she was their hero.

"I am gonna take a few minutes to look over my wounds then I am gonna teach my Apprentice how to maximize the food we got. Anyone willing to learn is welcome to join us."

After her impromptu speech Clarke led Charlotte to the drop ship, had Charlote rinse the wound, disinfect it with some moonshine Monty had given her for just this purpose and, using a hand held mirror someone had graciously landed to her, self-stitched the first of the three gashes that ran from the upper interior of her brow to the lower exterior of her cheekbone. After that she guided Charlotte's trembling hand on the second laceration, explaining why they had to sew in this way, and let her do the third on her own. All in all the girl was looking queasy but did not let her state affect her work and Clarke praised her for it, telling her how the first time she had seen that much blood she had fainted.

She knew when she saw the wounds that they would leave visible scars above and on her eyebrow but she didn't care as she knew that scars were a sign of resilience for grounders and right now, all that mattered was obtaining their aid.

After that she took of her shirt and, seeing Charlotte eye her shyly, chuckled.

"It's okay to be curious of someone else's body, just be polite about it. Plus, you might want to get used to seeing people less dressed than convention dictates as you might have to undress them to get to their wounds."

Seeing Charlotte's mortified eyes, she smiled at her evilly.

"Don't worry, you have years to get used to it before I force you to see someone naked."

Somehow that didn't seem to relax the girl at all. Once again Clarke had Charlotte rinse and disaffect her puncture wounds then told her to bandage her with bands of ripped cloth that had been boiled for sanitary reasons. She made her do then undo it seven times to make her remember how and then Clarke led Charlotte back to the gate near the constructing stables where their game was awaiting them and took everything away from the tents close to the building smoke house. Using a thick rope she hanged all three animals from a large branch and turned to Charlotte.

"Do you remember how I killed the panther?"

"You cut its neck."

"And what happened then?"

"It bled so much it died."

"Do you know why I did that?"

Charlotte shook her head and lowered her gaze as if ashamed not to know the answer.

"Hey, don't feel bad about not knowing. Look up"

She did.

"That's what you are here for, to learn. These lessons are your time to ask questions freely."

"So, why did you do that for?"

"I did it because we are gonna skin it then smoke its meat for later. It is easier to do smoke meat when it is dry therefore we let its blood flow out. Here look," she said turning to the panther whose neck wound still let blood flow out "even now there is still some coming out of it. It's okay to be disgusted, just remember: it wanted to eat us in the first place."

After that Clarke had Charlotte bleed the two rabbits dry and showed her how to separate the skin from the muscle without damaging the pelt. She did it on the panther, showing each area one at a time while the girl did the same on the rabbits. Charlotte's face was white and both of their hands were covered in grime, many of those that had come to watch and learn had left to empty their stomach somewhere else. Only Monroe, Harper and Octavia were still looking fine and the fact that it was five women that were showing the most strength out of them all made Clarke smile.

Her smile through disappeared when Octavia switched her gaze from the panther to her multiple times like she was trying to understand something extremely important. Clarke had no doubt that she had realized that she could not have learned all this in books or on tablets and was now pondering on the mystery that she was.

Clarke did not let that distract her and after all the skins were pulled off she showed Charlotte how to empty the entrails without spilling anything inside. It took more time as Charlotte made a mistake on the first rabbit and they had to clean it. They put the pelts to dry and Clarke showed Charlotte how to separate the different parts of the meat from the the fat and the bones on he panther and how to put the rabbits on the fire pit to cook.

An hour later the rabbits were cooked and went to those that had worked on the smoke house and the stables while half the panther's meat went to everyone else and the girls shared boiled wild onion and berries. After eating their dinner Clarke went to seat next to Octavia.

"I know your worried about your brother."

"I am." admitted the younger Blake. "I can't understand why he is so set in his ways."

"He is angry and frightened, things were sleeping out of his control and he didn't appreciate it. People do stupid thing for less than that" wisely explained Clarke in a sigh.

"True. But I don't think you would react like that. Somehow you would find a way to come on top of things" smiled the brunette.

"Sometimes the only thing you can do is fall as deep as possible and climb back to the light."

Clarke's statement did not go unnoticed by Octavia who remembered what Clarke had said about her mother having a decisive role in killing her father. She wondered how destroyed Clarke had been by the loss and how she came back from it so strong and independent.

"So what's your story?" she finally demanded the blonde only to be met by uncertainty. "Aw, come on, it's evident that your hiding something! You're too perfect! You know everything about surviving and can kill those giant catties with your bare hands!"

"First," laughed Clarke "it was one panther not several and I had my knifes, second, I am far from perfect, I just make sure to cover my weaknesses carefully and finally, I might be hiding something but that's only for my own safety and the wellbeing of everyone else."

"How cryptic." smirked Octavia. "Wanna know my story?"

"Don't need to hear it: your a second child, that's illegal your family hid you until they couldn't anymore or got caught. They probably got floated and your brother got kicked out of wherever he was ending up with a crappy job and you in a skybox. Then the rest is the same as everyone else here."

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you can be when you're right?"

Clarke let out a laugh and put her head on her folded knees.

"No one ever did, no."

"Then I'm telling you right now: you're really annoying when you're right."

The two of them sat next to each other in comfortable silence. Their stomach full and their bodies exhausted the two girls fell asleep and Clarke head fell in Octavia's shoulder.