Into The Darkness ↠ Ryan Clarke

17

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄𝐃
i care. i always care. that is my problem

SUDDENLY, OUT OF nowhere, while Clarke was finally falling asleep, something jumped down from the trees, making them all three jump up from the loud thump that was heard.

Hope flung out her arm, ready to shout a spell at the lizard human like creature, but a tail wrapped around her arm, and flung her against the tree. She was quick to jump up to her feet again, and ran towards it, only for it to jump over her, and swipe her across the back of her neck. She froze all of a sudden and fell backwards, paralyzed.

"No!" Clarke shouted and jumped towards the lizard like person which had golden eyes. He went to kick it, but it's tail wrapped around his leg, and flung him backwards towards Hope. There was a scratch on his leg and he couldn't move anymore.

Sighing, Hope realized their heads are right beside each other, hands almost touching, and cheeks inches from each other.

Malia let out a roar, canines, claws, and blue eyes all out on display before running after the monster that decided to make a run for it.

"Are you paralyzed, too?" Hope whispered to Clarke who mumbled a 'yeah', in return. She sighed and closed her eyes. "This is just fucking great!" She exclaimed lightly, rolling her eyes. "Do you know what it was?"

Clarke sighed and answered, "a kanima."

"And what is that?" She asked in a snarky tone, trying to move at least a finger, but it wasn't working. She grunted and let out a frustrated sound.

Clarke re-sited, "The Kanima, a weapon of vengeance, is used to carry out the bidding of its master. The Kanima was once used by a South American priest who took it upon himself to rid his village of all murderers. The bond between master and servant grew stronger until the will of the master became that of the Kanima's and whomever the priest deemed unworthy, the Kanima served his vengeance."

"Who the hell is its master?"

Clarke clenched his jaw as best as he could. "Who the hell knows, Hope." He then sighed and said, "It night not have no master and that's why it's acting like it is."

Hope narrowed her eyes, though, she was having a hard time just doing that simple move. "Malivore?" She asked softly, and if it was possible, she thought she saw Clarke tense up a little.

"There is no way." He would've shook his head if it was possible, but all he did was look up into the night sky.

"This is ridiculous," Hope grunted out and was straining herself, trying to move at least a finger, and eyebrow, or anything. But, all she was doing was making her ears pop and get heated up for nothing.

"Just calm down," Clarke told her and closed his eyes heavily as he felt her breath on his cheek. He was more than frustrated at this point. He didn't get any sleep due to thinking about her and his stupid feelings that he definitely doesn't have for her, and now he's literally stuck in her presence.

"How am I suppose to calm down?!" She basically shouted which resulted in him shushing her. "Malia is out there fighting that stupid lizard creat—"

"Kanima," he interrupted her in a snarky tone.

"Who the hell cares what it is?!" She snapped and strained herself even more, picturing Malia being eaten alive. "She is only sixteen and she is going against something that took us down — took me down. Do you honestly think—"

"I think she can take care of herself!" Clarke snapped, rolling his eyes. "She's survives long enough without anyone else. I'd be more worried about us."

Hope huffed. "It doesn't mean she knows how to fight against everything! Hell, we wouldn't be able to survive without one another."

"Who says?" He asked and she froze, confused with his question. "Maybe we'll both be better off without each other."

Hope was confused as she said, "Oh, what? Now you're going to abandon us?"

He sighed. "No... that's not—" He let out an aggravated noise and clenched his jaw. "Why do you always have to be like this?"

"Like what?!" She asked angrily, getting offended.

"Like that!" He snapped. "You are just so annoying and... and you're just—"

"Just, what?!" She snapped, sweat building up on her forehead. "Why the hell are you acting like this all of a sudden? You were just fine yesterday!"

"No, I wasn't!" He yelled, his voice echoing. "You've been too far up Malia's ass since the moment we ran into her!"

"No, I—" She scoffed. "What the hell is your problem, Clarke? Huh?!"

"I can't help what I'm feeling, Hope!" He had shouted, his voice carrying through out the dark forest, and bouncing back to them almost in an echo. Everything went silent and he silently cursed himself when he saw her eyes widen. "I—"

"I — I think.... I feel my fingers," was her reply which broke his heart in two. Her hand twitched and he sucked in a breath as he felt her fingers touch his palm. His moved his eyes so that she could see her slowly sitting up. "Can you—?"

"Yeah," he interrupted as he felt the feeling come back, and sat up as well, facing away from her.

"Clarke..." She trailed off and laid her hand on his shoulder, that familiar warmth spreading throughout him, making his thoughts more jumbled than they already were.

"No." He stood up abruptly, and almost fell over, but Hope was quick to hold onto his waist. "Leave me alone, Hope."

"Clarke... I—" Hope was cut off as Malia appeared in front of them, covered in blood. "Oh, my god! Are you okay?"

Malia couldn't help herself but smile. "Yes! I'm good. It just had a run in with the end of my claws."

"Glad that's over," Clarke snarked and pushed past them. "Let's get moving!"

"Clarke," Hope sighed out before looking down.

"What did I miss?" Malia asked with furrowed brows. Her frown deepened when Hope simply shook her head, and followed after Clarke.