𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 | the 100

06 | Frolicking for Food

"Show yourself, coward!"

‧ ✩ ｡ ✭ ° ☆ ･ _______ ･ ☆ ° ✭ ｡ ✩ ‧

The first thing Amber felt the next day was anxiety, and the first thing she did was head to the river. Her promise to Murphy rested heavy on her mind. 'You will see,' she had said. 'I look forward to it,' he had answered. Idiot, she thinks to herself now. It was something about the shadows of the night that made her forget all the learned behavior she strictly followed during the day. When she sees Murphy again, she'll immediately walk the other direction.

After finding the snares empty, and angrily throwing a rock at a Bellamy-sized tree, she gathers as much berries as she can carry in her hands and pockets.

"Wow, you're like an old grandmother force-feeding her grandchild," Jules says when Amber pours half of the berries into her palms.

"Thanks!" Amber squints her eyes in an exaggeratedly flattered grin. "It's huckleberries."

"My favorite," Jules jokes. Berries were a privilege on the Ark, a privilege Jules didn't have by the tone of her voice.

"I'm glad," Amber responds, but she's gotten distracted by the sight of Murphy walking through camp. It's a sunny day, and he's left his usual jacket somewhere.

He catches her looking and she holds up her palm of berries for him to see. He shakes his head, either unimpressed or amused. Asshole. She'll work harder.

"Hey, Jules," she says hesitantly, the idea still not fully formed. "Do you have any plans today?"

"Other than being abandoned on a wild and hostile planet by the Ark? No."

They spend the day scavenging the forest, stuffing everything they can find into bags. Amber points out the characteristics of edible plants and how to tell them apart from each other to Jules, who admits she'd never been one to pay attention in school, least of all in Earth Skills.

As the sun dips below the horizon they return to camp, their bags brimming with the fruits of their labor. After eating some themselves, they lay the bags out in the middle of camp, revealing the small but still impressive piles to the other teens. In seconds, they have a pack of hungry eyes on them.

"Who here still has their wristband on?" Jules smugly asks, her smile widening when Bellamy turns to her with a hostile glare.

In the end, their food isn't enough to fully satisfy the bellies of everyone who lines up, but Amber makes sure to show everyone how to identify one or two berries or nuts, and their spirits are significantly higher than the day before.

"This is good." Clarke nods in appreciation when she gets her share. "Thank you."

Amber feels like she's at the butt-end of a big joke. Compared to her, Clarke is a saint, who should know better than to waste her praise on Amber. She glances behind Clarke in hopes of seeing Jules returning with the cups of water she promised, but there's nothing to save her from Clarke's impressed smile, and she wonders how soon she'll look at her with disappointment instead.

"You really know your stuff," Finn agrees beside Clarke.

"I was just a loser who had nothing better to do in my cell than read, and old Earth Skills textbooks were easy to get my hands on." She gives them a self-deprecating smile, impatient for them to leave and take the discomfort their words bring her with them. When they walk away to let the boy behind them forward, she sighs in relief, and holds up a hickory nut for him.