Scars to Your Beautiful (the 100 fanfic)

Chapter 1 - Lost

My foot connecting with a tree root forced me out of my thoughts as I stumbled, nearly falling. I clutched my chest at the unexpected adrenaline rush and righted myself. For the first time in a while I looked around the forest I had walked out into early that morning. I made a slow turn, every tree and rock identical making me feel like I was in a room full of mirrors.

"Fuck," I muttered. "Ain't this par for the course. Rook, my girl, you've gone and gotten yourself lost."

I sighed and scratched the back of my head, grimacing at the fact that it had been nearly a month since I'd bathed properly. I looked back at the direction I thought I'd come, but the forest was too fucking similar. I wasn't sure I had even come that way.

"Oh, fuck me," I sat against the tree who nearly tripped me before.

The sky still had plenty of daylight left to find my way back to the dropship. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the direction I had headed out this morning, if I had circled around the camp, but was coming up blank. I hit the back of my head on the tree in consternation and glared outward. My hands twitched with the sudden need to do something, but there was nothing for me to mess with. To fix. To hit. I sighed and thunked my head against the tree again. I could find my way through the most complex schematic on the Ark but ask me for directions and I'd always come up empty. Especially, when my mind was occupied by some design or image of a certain blonde or brunette. I growled and pushed myself off the ground, looking up at the sky once more and wondered if the brunette was still alive up there. If she was struggling to breathe. Worried since we still had no way of letting them know the Earth was survivable or that there were people here trying to kill us.

My mind then traveled to the blonde. She had come down with the rest of us. She had curves that I wanted to trace with my fingertips, taste with my lips. I took a deep breath pushing those thoughts away. She'd never notice me or think of me in that way. I was nobody. Just some mechanic with a penchant for brawling. That's what got me thrown into Lockup. I fought some asshole when he called me names I never wanted repeated, even to myself. I nearly killed him without realizing before I was dragged away by several guards. Wasn't even a howdy-do before they tossed me in a cell and left me. I can't even remember how many times I got sent into solitary for beating up a fellow inmate. They honestly considered just leaving me in solitary until my eighteenth birthday. They probably wish they had.

I shoved those memories back into the recesses of my mind, and tried to  focus on how to get myself back to the dropship before dark. So, I picked a direction and started walking, knowing I wouldn't recognize anything since I hadn't even been paying the slightest attention. I don't know how long I walked, but suddenly a prickling sensation ran down my back. I stopped in my tracks, my body tensed. I was being watched.

I slowly reached behind me and withdrew my axe. I had a knife in my boot, but I wasn't sure I wanted to risk bending down to retrieve it. I shifted the axe until it was gripped firmly in my hand. The sensation was coming from my left. I was sure of it. I couldn't make out anything but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there. I just couldn't see it yet.

I took a deep breath and cautiously walked forward, my eyes glancing wildly around me in anticipation. I could feel sweat starting to slide down my spine and face. One drip descended over my eye and I reached up to wipe it away. The next thing I knew there was a growl and the sound of twigs snapping. I turned in time to see a giant wolf launch itself at me. Its giant maw aimed for my throat. I threw up my arm instinctively and its jaw latched onto my arm. Teeth pierced into my skin, deep enough to embed itself in the bones. I screamed and the weight made me fall, pinning me to the ground as it tore at my arm. In a panic, I swung my axe and felt the jarring connection as it met flesh and muscle. The wolf relinquished it's hold, howling in pain and bounded away from me. It nearly pulled the axe out of my hand, but I held on with a death grip. I scrambled to my feet and held my bloody arm tight against my chest as I backed further away from the injured wolf.

It was as white as pictures of snow that I'd seen. With the bluest eyes, muchlike the blonde's that I nearly lost myself in them before it came at me again.I knew I couldn't outrun it, so I crouched low and waited. It launched itself again but I slipped sideways swinging the axe again, biting it in its side. I backed out of its reach, breathing hard as I felt blood soak my shirt The wolf became my sole focus. Blood streamed down its side and somewhere along its shoulder, but it still had the strength to get up, growling. When it faced me, it let out such a horrifying howl that I wanted to cover my ears to block out the sound. The message was clear. It wanted me dead.  I swallowed the bile creeping up my throat and as it neared, I launched myself at it. We met and I felt claws dig into me, its jaw clamp down on my shoulder. I screamed again asI swung my axe repeatedly as we tumbled to the ground. This time, the impact knocked the axe out of my hand, sending it flying. Black tinged around my vision but before I lost consciousness, I felt its jaws relax its death grip.