We are Grounders

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕨𝕠 - 𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

Two boys, one wearing the goggles and the other with long, black hair, stand side by side on top of a large boulder with a thick vine between them. The other three members of the group stand below, watching the two as they debate on how to swing across.

"If any of them cross our river, you shoot." Alok nods at Acacio, who tightens the grip on his spear. "We can't let them cross into our territory." Braeya, Acacio and Alok are crouching behind them, waiting inside the bushes.

Braeya doesn't want any of the group to be shot, they don't seem like a threat and starting an unnecessary war isn't a wise idea. The goggle boy grips the vine harder and swings across the river, letting go a little too early and stumbling to the ground. All three grounders tense, watching as the boy gets up and starts cheering, the other group members cheer with him. Alok gives the signal and Acacio raises his spear, drawing it back and aiming for the boy's chest. The goggle boy turns around and bends down, picking up a worn-out Mount Weather sign and raising it high above his head.

"Now!" Alok commands and Acacio throws the spear with a hard force at the boy with the sign. He is thrown backwards against the stump of a tree behind him, the others all gasp in horror, staring at his lifeless body.

The blonde girl calls out "Jasper!" which Braeya assumes is his name. The Asian boy also calls out and cries in horror. The boy with long black hair, pushes everyone behind the stack of rocks and they all crouch behind it and out of sight from the grounders.

"Braeya, you take that boy to the place where we hang up bait," Alok says whilst he nods his head in the direction of the speared boy. "Acacio, we're going to keep following this group of people." Braeya and Acacio both nod and the three split up, running in opposite directions. Braeya purposely brushes past a tree branch, sending up a flock of birds whilst Acacio does the same in the other direction. This scares the newcomers even more and they take off into the trees, back in the direction where they came from.

Braeya waits until she is sure they are gone and uses the same vine the boy had previously used to get across the river. She lands in front of Jasper and walks towards him, examining the spear wound. "Don't worry," She whispers, "You won't die just yet." Braeya grips the end of the spear and pulls it out, causing Jasper to scream in pain. There's a loud rustling sound from the trees, signalling that the was group coming back. Braeya drops the spear in a bush, hiding it from view and grabs a hold of his legs, pulling him away from the tree and back into the forest. She pulls him down a small hill and continues walking, out of sight from the other people. Jasper's eyes roll back and his arms trail lifelessly above his head, Braeya grunts softly from his heavy weight but continues to drag the boy to where she would hang him up.

Braeya takes out a long piece of cloth from her coat and presses it tightly against the boy's wound. "Just hang in there..." Braeya mumbles. After a long trek back through the woods she stops, her breath comes out in ragged gasps and her arms ache from hauling Jasper's heavy body. Ahead lied a gnarly tree with moss and lichen growing in random places along its thick branches.

A twig cracks behind Braeya and she whips her head back, she scans the trees to see nothing. She takes a few steps towards the sound to find Lincoln, a dark-skinned warrior of Trikru staring at her. His eyes examined her before tailing down towards the boy who lay still in the grass.

"I have orders," Braeya nervously explains to Lincoln. She had orders to take Jasper to this tree, but she didn't have orders to save his life.

"I know," Lincoln replies, his voice low to not attract any attention. "Em slip daun kom?" (He fell from the sky?) Lincoln asks.

"Sha," (Yes) Braeya replies, looking back to stare at the boy. "Do you have a poultice for his wound?" Lincoln blinks, taken aback by Braeya's question.