A Freak of Nature or A Beautiful Beast

You need to trust people

"His pulse is 380," Clarke commented worriedly as she took her hand away from his wrist. I was wiping his feverish brow with a damp cloth, trying to keep him cool and clean. 

"Clarke, trust me. He'll pull through. This kid is stubborn as hell, and he knows we care about him." I tried reassuring her, but some asshole from below shouted out.

"Can he just die already?" 

"Don't listen to them Jas, ok? You're gonna be ok, I promise." I kissed the top of his head reasurringly and stroked his hair one last time before getting up and handing Clarke the cloth. I climbed down to the lower deck, and immediately, some smart ass piped up. 

"So, like, can we just kill that stupid kid? He keeps us all up, and it's fucking annoying," he whined.

"To get to Jasper,  you're going to have to get through me, you little shit," I started forward on him, and he just laughed.

"What the hell could you - " I cut him off as I shoved him, knocking him backwards. He went in for a punch, but predictable as everyone was at fighting down here, I dodged it. Someone kicked me from behind, enraging me even further. Spinning round, I roundhouse kicked the goofy looking kid when his foot was still swinging mid air, and he flew backwards. The original dickhead was still trying, which was pathetically adorable that he thought he could win. With one swift motion, I swept his legs out from underneath him as slammed to the floor. 

"Hey, hey, stop, T! They aren't worth it, ok. Come on sis, let's go get water for Jasper," Tash instructed. She seemed to appear from nowhere, but her voice seemed to quiten the group down. Giving one last disdainful look at the pile on the floor, I pushed past the crowd, out into the fresh air.  "Sis, you gotta calm down. These people, they know how, I don't know, short-tempered you are. Please, for my sake, give it a break. All you've done, even when we were kids, is fight and be angry. Give it a rest, just for now," Tash pleaded, the torment clear in her eyes. 

"As much as Jas is probably one of the closest things I have to a friend right now, you can go get him the fucking water. Tash, we are all each other has, and I love you - you are my only family. But right now, I need to breathe for ten minutes. Please, just drop it. Tell Clarke I'll be up later." I knew my words probably hurt her, but at that particular moment, all I could do was walk away and hope she'd accept it. Turning towards the edge of camp, I noticed Finn staring. Ignoring him, I pushed past a group of people and left camp. Earth truly was breathtaking. The way the light shined off the droplets of water that magnified the green leaves was almost magical. The way the bugs lit up at night, and the way the ground felt, cool and soft. Just as I was about to venture further into what seemed like a dream, someone grabbed my arm. Spinning round, I prepared for a fight. 

"Holy shit, don't creep around. That's the sort of thing that's gonna get you killed, dude," I said agitatedly at Finn, though to be honest, I was pretty glad it was him and not whatever else probably lurked out here. 

"You ok, wildcat? I mean, you seemed pretty uptight, and your cuts have re-opened," he stated, looking down at the scars Murphy had put there. Most of them were fine, but a couple had split open completely, and I hadn't noticed the dark stream of blood dripping off my arm.

"I'm fine, ok? I've had worse, I can deal with a few cuts. Why can't people stop trying to be so nice all the time? I'm not a fucking child." I was practically shouting, and as much as I felt kinda bad for Finn, I meant it. 

"I'm only looking out for you! We all are - everyone needs each other down here. But you're too damn stubborn to realise that. And that thing with your eyes last night, that wasn't nothing. Everyone is stressed, everyone is scared, but we gotta deal, one step at a time!" Finn was getting louder, and I was getting more frustrated. I didn't need him to tell me that the eye thing wasn't normal. He didn't have the gene. 

"Finn, I know we all need each other. But I won't allow myself to become close to anyone right now, not while people can still die!" He looked down at me, being ever so slightly taller.

"You need to trust people, T. Some people here have no one -"

"I know! I am one of those people! Yeah, I have Tash, but the rest of my family, my friends. They are dead. You hear me right now. ALL MY FAMILY ARE FUCKING DEAD, AND SO SHOULD I BE, FINN!" I hadn't noticed how much I'd been shaking, from anger or from grief, until Finn embraced me in a hug.

"Woah, calm down, wildcat. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean it like that. I'm not asking you to trust everyone, only me. I'm not gonna hurt you, and I'm sorry if that's all you know." I said nothing, instead just trying to slow down the shaking. "Let's go back to camp. They'll be wondering where we've got to." We broke the embrace and headed back. As we got near to camp, my arm suddenly felt like someone was shooting electricity through it. I cried out, and looked at my arm. Long, thin tendrils, like veins were snaking up my arm, a deep purple colour. The pain intensified, and again the pain came out as a scream. "Fuck, Tasha, you ok?" Finn frantically tried to calm me down. Short gasps of pain escaped my mouth, just as the tendrils faded. "What the fuck was that? Tasha, did you see that?" All I could do was stare wide eyed at Finn. My worst nightmare was materializing, and no attempt could retain it.