Warriors | The 100 | Season 1

0 2 0. S1 E11 Part 1

"The first watch is over. Go relieve Monroe on the south wall. Keep your eyes open." Bellamy said as he walked through the gate and made his way over to me. I stood on a mound outside of camp looking out into the forest, watching for any movement, any sign of the Grounder's inevitable attack.
The virus was gone and those that were sick had recovered. Our main concern now was food. Winter was coming and food sources would soon become scarce in the cold weather as animals migrated to warmer climates and plants stopped bearing fruit.
"It's been two days," I said as he approached me. "Maybe the bomb at the bridge scared them off for good," I said hopefully.
"Do you believe that?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow.
I sighed heavily. I wish I could believe my own lie, but I couldn't live life like that. "No. They're coming." I said apprehensively. "But I can dream, right?" I added, trying to lighten the mood.
He let out a soft chuckle and smiled at me.
We stood there for a moment in silence, foreboding the moment the calm was over.
As we turned to head back in through the gates Bellamy spoke up again. "Jasper thinks he can cook up some more gunpowder if he gets some sulphur, and Raven says she can turn that into landmines. So be careful where you step."
I let out a short huff of laughter and let a grin stretch across my lips. "That's really funny," I said mockingly, trying to keep my mood animated.
"What I really need is a thousand more of her tin can bombs I can roll into their village and blow those Grounders to hell."
I stopped mid-stride and looked up at him aghast.
"That's what they want to do to us." He added defensively.
I looked up at him guardedly, curious to know what he was thinking about to make him want to slaughter the remainder of the human race.
"Can't believe we survived a hundred years just so we could slaughter each other. There has to be another way." I shook my head slowly as we continued walking. "Any word from the Ark?"
"Radio silence. Finally ran out of air." He said dismally.
"Maybe my Dad was lucky being on the Exodus ship. At least it was quick." I said with a slightly hopefully tone. But it was short-lived. "No one is coming to save us."
The silence between us began to grow awkward. I couldn't figure out why he was still by my side, I couldn't have been such good company that he wanted to walk by my side in silence. I wish I could read his mind and figure out what he really thought of me.
After another few minutes of silent sauntering, I finally spoke up. "I'm -- I'm gonna go help Octavia in the smokehouse."
"Okay." He said, with what sounded like disappointment in his voice.
As I entered the Smokehouse Octavia turned to greet me. I began to pick up slices of meat and hung them up over branches to let them dry out to preserve them.
"You doing okay?" Octavia asked me.
"What do you mean?"
"You've had this weird vibe ever since you walked in here." She said with a curious tone. "So, what's going on?"
I took a moment to figure out my response, not sure myself if I was acing or even feeling weird. "I don't know, really. I think I might be into your brother." I admitted.
"What do you mean 'You think'? You either know or you don't."
"To be fair, half of my life was spent in Lock-Up. I don't know how to interpret emotions that well. I'm not antisocial, I'm just— socially inexperienced." It was then that I realised she wasn't at all shocked at my confession. "And why are you taking this so well? I just told you that I like your brother and you're incredibly cool about it."
She scoffed a little and then said "Are you kidding? I'd love for you and Bell to get together. My brother and my best friend? It's kinda perfect."
"Yeah, well, I don't think he's into me. So I don't think anything will come of it." I sighed calmly. It wasn't a major concern for me to be dating anyone at the moment. We needed to survive the coming winter and prepare to defend ourselves against any coming grounder attack.
I continued to silently hang strips of meat with Octavia, and at some point, Murphy joined us. The three of us worked in silence for about five minutes until Del came in, his arms stacked high with firewood.
"Let's get this party smoking." He said enthusiastically, dropping the entirety of the wood onto the small smouldering fire.
The sudden impact sent sparks and soot flying into the air near me and into my face. I coughed a few times trying to get the smoke out of my throat. "Hey, watch it." I spat as I waved the smoke out of my face.
"You don't want the fire too big. So maybe just try to knock it down with some wet leaves." Octavia instructed him.
Del turned to her and with a venomous voice said: "You get that from your boyfriend, Grounder pounder?"
"Hey!" I snapped at him, immediately jumping to her defence. "If it weren't for Lincoln we never would have been able to stop the grounder attack and we would end up starving. You owe Lincoln and Octavia more respect." I said jabbing my finger at him.
"You can't take the heat, get out of the smokehouse." Del retorted with sass as he shoved me away.
"She's right," Murphy added. "A hot fire is not gonna preserve the meat as well."
Del scoffed and shook his head at Murphy, "You should be kissing our asses for being allowed back in this camp." He left us without another word but didn't return to dampen the fire down.
"Just ignore him. Let's keep working," I muttered, sick of exhausting myself with people like Del.
I moved around to the back of the room to fill as much empty space as I could.
"Your brother couldn't get you a better job? Would think anything would be better than working in the meat furnace." Murphy asked Octavia.
"Oh, probably. That just means someone else would have to do it."
It was almost instantaneous, the fire erupted into huge flames, engulfing the hut in smoke and heat. I crouched down into a ball to avoid the flames oscillating above my head. There were screams and panicked cries coming from outside.
The smoke quickly replaced any clear air and reduced my visibility to almost zero. I was trapped in the smokehouse with the fire between the exit and myself. I stayed close to the ground and tried to find a way out, but I couldn't see anything for the smoke.
"Help!" I cried in desperation squinting my eyes to keep the ash out.
The smoke was beginning to seep into my lungs. I began coughing uncontrollably and my eyes began to water from the smog.
"Annie!" I heard a voice call out.
"Help me!" I bellowed loudly.
I felt a strong hand grab my upper arm and another wrap around my waist. I was pulled from the floor and quickly led out into the clear. I kept coughing trying to clear my lungs of the inhaled soot. I was sat on the ground and I tried to open my eyes. My vision was blurry from the soot and tears in my eyes. My chest heaved with every bark that left my throat.
"Annie, are you ok?" I couldn't see clearly but I knew that voice. It was Bellamy. I tried to answer him but my throat was too constricted so I just nodded my head. He turned around and called out to Nate "Go get her some water!" Nate rushed off following Bellamy's order. "Okay, just try and breathe," Bellamy said as he cleared my loose hair from my face.
After a moment I was able to see better. My lungs and throat stung from the respired embers.
Murphy charged at Del yelling at him. "This is all your fault! We told you it was too much wood."
"Get the hell away from me!" Del roared, shoving Murphy off of himself.
"Hey! Hey! Hey, stop! Save it for the Grounders." Bellamy demanded as he stood from my side.
"Now what the hell are we gonna do? That was all the food." Octavia exclaimed in despondence.

The fire was extinguished, leaving nothing but a smouldering heap of charcoal. Bellamy didn't leave my side until he was sure that I was going to be alright. Clarke came over to check me out and make sure that the few burns I had were nothing too major.
"What happened?" She asked me as she checked my eyes for debris.
"Del kept feeding the fire, mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea," I explained, my voice was slightly hoarse. "It happened so quickly."
As she finished her examination she stood and said "You'll be ok. You've got a few first-degree burns, I can't do much for the smoke inhalation, but you'll be fine with some rest." She then stood and turned to Bellamy who was walking around trying to salvage anything from the fire. "We have some wild onions and nuts in the dropship. It's only enough to last us maybe one or two weeks. What's left here?"
"Nothing. It all burned." He explained with frustration
"Then we have to hunt," I spoke up croakily. "Anyone we can spare goes out."
Clarke looked at me with concern. "With the whole Grounder army out there?"
"Look. We can't defend ourselves if we're starving. What other option do we have?"
Clarke and Bellamy exchanged an apprehensive look. They knew I was right, but they also knew it would be incredibly risky. Grounders could be anywhere, waiting to strike.
It didn't take long to organise hunting parties. Weapons were dispersed among everyone that was going out. "Each group takes someone with a gun, and they're for killing Grounders, not food. We don't have the ammo. Use the spears for hunting. Get what you can. Be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark." Bellamy spoke with deliberation and surety. If it was dangerous going beyond the wall in broad daylight, it was suicide in the dark.
I stood next to Bellamy watching as the groups made their way out the gate. Apprehension filled my gut. I swallowed hard and breathed a sigh of uneasiness.
"We do what we have to do to survive, right?" I said, recalling a different time when Bellamy had said those words to me.
"But does that mean risking the safety of everyone in camp to make it through to tomorrow?" He asked, looking down at me with fear woven into his furrowed eyebrows.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."