Children of the Ark

Bleeding Love

Chapter 2

The next day, our second on Earth, brought many new adventures. We rose with the sun, hoping to reach the mountain by nightfall. We weren't half way, so we had a lot of ground to cover by then. That meant a lot of walking which was a hastle with my leg since we rarely stopped. The pain got worse the futher we walked. It was constantly there, and it seemed to be the only thing on my mind. What made it worse was the bareness of my lower half. I couldn't wear my jeans because the tight fabric rubbed my tender leg, so I walked in my black boycuts. At points, my bareness was detrimental. I recieved small cuts and pricks from the grown up forest, but the blackberry bush Clarke made us go through was the worst. The briars scratched my legs, the thorns sticking in me. Those superficial wounds were forgotten when we found the blackberries. All the complaining even stopped when we found the ripe fruit, but when it was gone, the complaining started again. We were hot. We were tired, and, we were hurting, some more than others.

"Listen," Clarke said. "The animals probably made this path, so I think if we follow it, we will find water. When we do, we can rest for a little bit." I hoped she was right. My leg had been bad before but at that moment, the pain was almost unbearable. I wasn't made to deal with pain. That was for sure.

Thankfully, Clarke had been right. The path didn't lead us to a small body of water, it lead us to a river. It wasn't huge, but it was bigger than the creek we went through the day before. That terrified me. If a huge snake was in the creek, I could only imagine what swam in that river.

"How are we going to cross?" Monty asked. I was wondering the same thing. The water was too deep, and none of us could swim. Even if it wasn't deep, I didn't think I could force myself to get in. After what happened the previous day, I was done with water.

"Do you think a vine could hold us?" Octavia asked.

"It depends on how strong it is," I replied.

"What about that one?" She pointed up. Wrapped around a tree limb was a thick vine, hanging down enough for Finn to reach it. Jasper went with him up to the highest rock to retrieve the vine.

"Do you think it will hold us?" he asked, pulling on it.

"Well, it looks like it could. Even if it doesn't, do we have another option?" I said. He looked blankly at the vine, continuing to pull on it.

"Well I guess I'll go first." Finn said, continuing to pull on the vine. That went on for some time. Just the two of them on the rock, yanking a vine to "test its strength".

"Could you hurry up?" I ask, propping my hand on my hip. I was hungry and wanted to get this over with. If the map was correct, we were about half way to the mountain.

"Yeah, Finn. Quit stalling," Clarke added. He smiled down at her, pulling the vine again. He looked over to Jasper, who was telling him about the apogee.

"See you on the other side," Finn told us, walking back to the edge of the rock he was standing on. I looked over to Octavia, who was staring up Finn, admiring his bravery. Jasper noticed it too. That was the reason he stopped Finn before he jumped, I thought.

"Wait. Let me," Jasper said. Finn was shocked but handed him the vine anyways and backed up. I was proud of Jasper. He had gained everyone's respect and Octavia's attention.

"I knew there was a badass some where in there," Finn said, patting Jasper's back. He moved back again, making room for Jasper, but Jasper didn't just run and jump right away. He stood there, looking out over the river. It looked like he was regretting his decision. Finn looked down to us and then back up to Jasper. He walked over to him and whispered something in his ear. I squinted my eyes as they both looked down at all of us. No matter that, whatever he said clearly motivated Jasper. Jumping in place a few times, he inhaled deeply.