At last

Chapter Twenty Six

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Clarke's point of view

It didn't take me long to find Madi.
Completely unharmed, she was crouched in front of the fern-like plant that the sweet berries grew on. Her brows were furrowed in concentration as she harvested the berries one by one, checking them before tossing them into a small pouch.
Relief swept over me.
"Madi, there you are! What are you doing out here alone?"
Madi jumped up, a hand instinctively flying to her pocket where she always kept a spare knife. She immediately relaxed when she saw that it was me, resuming her previous activity.
She shrugged casually, "Our food stores are empty, so I decided to pick the rest on these berries." She peered over at me as I crouched down beside her, searching my eyes, "I'm only out here to pick these, and I planned on coming straight back. I have my knife, and a gun that Raven told me to take. Why are you so worried?"
I sighed, "On the hunting trip last night, Bellamy and I saw a bear. A mutated one, and it was close to camp."
Madi's eyes widened. "Why didn't you shoot it?"
"Too risky. That bear was huge, and shooting it would have lead it straight to us."
Madi looked past me, a cloud of thought passing over her expression.
"The point is, you shouldn't go off into the woods alone anymore," I instructed firmly.
Madi sighed, "Yeah, yeah."
She picked off the last berry a few moments later. Looking inside her pouch, she frowned. "This isn't enough for another meal."
I let out a thoughtful hum. "This patch of trees is too small for animals to live in. Well, maybe a squirrel or two, but we have six more mouths to feed."
Madi looked at me, "We could do another raid."
"We need the rover for that. That would halt the progress of unburying the bunker."
"Only for a few hours," she argued. "Besides, we can't work on empty stomachs."
I thought that over for a few beats before smiling at her. "I suppose you're right. Looks like we're raiding, then."
Madi grinned excitedly. She had always loved raids, and getting to see all of the towns that had been inhabited before praimfaya. Along with food, we sometimes also found little trinkets that survived the death wave. Madi especially liked those.
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Bellamy's point of view

"So what do you want Echo?"
She grabs my hand and pulls me into the tree line. Thoughts rushed in my mind. What is Echo doing? She takes me over a large rock, jumping down until I see it. The large mutated bear, dead on the ground.
"Echo did you..."
She places a finger on my lips, shushing me. The Echo I knew six years wouldn't even look at me. Now this?
My lips move under her finger as I question her. "But how!?"
She smiled removing her finger.
"I shot it. From the trees," she point up. "Took a few bullets but it's worth it for that much meat. That's enough for a few weeks! I can't believe you didn't see that beast when you were out hunting," she laughed.
I look down at my boots, our fingers still interlocked. "I did," I whisper.
"And you didn't kill it?"
"Clarke said it wasn't safe," I sigh.
"Well I think it was brave of you to try. It's not your fault clarke doesn't know when to take risks for others."
I pull me hand away from hers and back away, looking her in the eye. "Clarke does. Let me remind you she risked her life to make sure that your life was saved and you went to space. She is the once who never stopped risking her life to others. You were the one who was about to kill yourself before we took off!"
Echo look at me a disgusted look on her face. Before I could comprehend what was happening her lips were on mine. I shoved her off, her back hitting a tree. I shake my head and storm off in the opposite direction. Anger growing inside me.
"Bellamy!"
I can hear Echo running after me, her boots hitting the leaves, making a crunching sound of the leaves under her feet. She grabs my arm, pulling me back.
"Get off!" I push her off and she falls onto her back, looking back up at me. Then I turn and walk back up the hill. When I come out into the clearing where the camp is, my eyes meet Clarke's. She steps over one of the logs around the fire and makes her way over.
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Clarke's point of view

As Madi begins to make her way over to the dig site at the base of the collapsed tower, Bellamy emerged from the tree line, a fiery irritation in his eyes. He softened once he meets my gaze.
"What was that?" I asked, making my way over to him.
Bellamy let out a huff of annoyance. "Echo thought it would be a good idea if she took out that bear."
My eyes widened. What had she been thinking? "Are you serious?"
"She managed to kill it, though. She showed me," he gestured to where he had just came from.
I released a surprised breath. While it had been reckless, Echo managed to save us from a possible attack as well as feed us for at least a week. "Wow, that's... impressive. Good for her. I have to catch up with Madi; I told her we were going to use the rover to go searching for food. I'll clean the bear as soon as possible, we can't have any animals being attracted to the smell."
I quickly began to jog to catch up with Madi. Bellamy caught up to me in a few easy strides.
He still looked a bit ruffled, probably from his encounter with Echo. Knowing how he got when he was mad, I knew better than to ask him what happened.
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Bellamy's point of view

"Wait up," I say, grabbing Clarke's arm too slow her down. She looks over at me, "Bellamy? You okay?"
I turn to see clarke with a worried look on her face.
"Yeah I'm fine," I lie.
Clarke frowns and looks forward once again.
"I know you... you don't seem okay," she sighs, looking toward me. I look down at my feet, watching where I step. "Really... I'm fine," I say forcing a smile. Clarke nods and look forward, smiling at Madi who is running toward the others. "Madi slow down," She laughs. I put on a fake laugh because what she doesn't know, is that I am not fine.