FROZEN STARS
SEVEN
❝ it's sad to see a child whose innocence has been stolen by misery. ❞

"AND YOU, what are you doing out here? I almost killed you," Bellamy asked, crossing his arms over his large chest. "Why aren't you both back at camp?"

"Well, with that guy who was dying, I just- I couldn't listen anymore," Charlotte answered quietly.

Bellamy looked to Marley for an answer - she had hoped she would blend into the tree line and that none of the hunting group had noticed her. Clearly, that hadn't happened and she bit her dry lip harshly before replying. "Clarke told me to look out for her, I panicked and..." She trailed off, sensing that the two boys staring her down - Bellamy and Atom - had got the idea.

"There's Grounders out here. It's too dangerous for a little girl and someone who doesn't know how to shoot." Atom crossed his arms over his chest.

"She can shoot," Bellamy interjected. He glanced slightly at Marley who looked quickly down at her feet. She thought everyone had agreed not to mention the gun situation.

"I'm not little," Charlotte retorted.

"Okay, then. But you can't hunt without a weapon." Bellamy nodded, "Ever killed something before? Who knows, maybe you're good at it?"

He was glancing at Marley again. Her face had turned a bright red colour; she probably looked like a beetroot as she stared down at the leafy floor with a mixture of slight anger, embarrassment and worry.

"I-I'm going back to camp," Marley squeaked, "look after her."

The brunette turned on her heels away from the hunting party. Her breathing was erratic as she made her way back into the trees.

"Lonely Girl!" Bellamy yelled after her, but she ignored his taunting nickname, "Marley!" He called when she didn't reply or make any move to turn back towards him.

The brunette felt a large hand grasp at her wrist softly, tugging her back towards where she'd come from. She turned to see that it was Bellamy who'd caught at her arm.

She couldn't quite read his expression - he had a smirk playing on his pink lips, but his eyes spoke of concern and something far deeper than shallow disregard for anyone else's feelings.

"Do you even know your way back to camp?"

Marley glanced down at her hand, which was still held loosely within the older boy's grasp, and then back up to meet his brown-eyed gaze. She slowly pulled her arm back from him.

She swallowed thickly and - after a brief pause - she replied, "Um, I'm sure I can find my way."

"Help us hunt." Bellamy held out the gun Marley had used the day before. She flinched away as the black metal glinted in the sunlight that peaked through the leafy trees. "Come on, it's only a gun."

"But it can kill things... and people."

Bellamy raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner but pressed no further, tucking the gun back into the waistband of his trousers.

Then he - along with the rest of the hunting party, including Charlotte - turned away from Marley and began to stalk through the forest in search of food.

Marley wanted to turn away, to run back through the forest towards the sanctuary of camp, but she knew she'd end up lost. And she definitely did not have the survival skills to last more than a few hours alone in a forest filled with people or things that were trying to kill her.

Instead, she tip-toed as nimbly as she possibly could behind the hunting group with cautious intrigue. The group ahead of her were poised for attack; they were ready to spring out at anything they saw fit to eat. But she knew she wasn't making it easy for them.

She seemed to keep standing on the twigs which made the loudest snapping sound. The cracks echoed through the eerily quiet forest as Marley cringed at every footfall. Part of her thought she could see Bellamy smirking at her inability to keep quiet, part of her thought he was grimacing in annoyance, wishing he'd let her traipse back to camp alone rather than following behind them like a lost puppy.

It was when the party had spotted a deer through the clearing in the trees that they heard it. The harsh tone of an alarm - no, not an alarm, a horn - sounding through the forest with a sudden urgency. It sounded like a warning siren and Marley's body tensed as soon as it began to resonate through the dense gathering of greenery surrounding them.

A myriad of confused glances were shot in all directions; Bellamy's brows were furrowed and his body was tense as he scanned the forest for any sign of an oncoming attack. Marley half-expected a masked figure to come speeding through the trees and knocking her to the ground in one swift movement.

But, instead, there came a thick yellowish fog. It was swirling and spitting and it stunk of sulphur, just strong enough that Marley scrunched her nose up in disgust. Her first instinct wasn't to run, it was to stare at the foreboding threat creeping her way. It was like a cat - it prowled through the trees in search of its prey, ready to attack and kill.

She was being pulled away from the mist before she, herself, could react and run from the threat. Someone had gripped onto her wrist and had yanked her forwards through the trees. Her shoulder began to throb in light of the harsh movement but Marley's adrenaline had kicked in - her legs were now carrying her through the dense greenery in a frantic and panicked attempt to save herself from the certain death that the dirty fog was sure to bring.

"Come on, there are caves this way." Bellamy was yelling over the whirring and cracking of the force behind them.

Bellamy was just up ahead of Marley, hurrying along after a wild-eyed Charlotte who was navigating the forest floor under her feet with agile precision.

"Bellamy!" Atom screamed, but he seemed far away. Too far away from Marley herself to be safe from the rolling threat behind them.

She had to resist the urge to glance over her shoulder - she couldn't deal with that image, especially since it was bound to be seared into her brain for the rest of her life. The bloodcurdling scream emitted from Atom's lips was enough to leave her tossing and turning for months afterwards.

Bellamy had stopped just a few yards in front of Marley; he was ushering Charlotte into a large cave in the faded grey, moss-covered rocks. The young girl disappeared into the jagged structure. Bellamy stayed outside the entrance of the cave, intent to make sure that Marley made it to the shelter safely.

She ducked into the cave. She'd refused to cease her frantic pace out of fear that, if she did, the fog would catch her up. She kept running until she lay eyes on Charlotte, who was now perched on the edge of some smoother rocks at what appeared to be a tiny cavern with a splattering of smooth rocks. The light within the cave was tinged ever so slightly blue - it was beautiful in its own strange, imperfect way.

Bellamy had followed straight behind Marley, managing to escape being caught in the fog by mere seconds.

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence after that - and it wasn't long before Charlotte fell asleep, enveloping Marley and Bellamy in a blanket of nothing but the soft noises of the wind and trees outside their hiding spot.

‣ ‣ ‣

Bellamy was restless. Marley had noticed that, after about thirty minutes, he'd become uncomfortable with the encompassing silence and was searching deep in his mind for something to say to diffuse the tension between the pair.

"Why were you so freaked about killing that jaguar yesterday?" He finally managed to say, crossing his arms over his large chest, "It's only an animal."

Marley shot him a gaze; it was half in anger and annoyance, half in pleading innocence for him not to bring the events of yesterday up in such an unbearably awkward situation, "Bellamy, please... leave it." She tried not to sound like she was begging but her voice left her mouth all high-pitched and squeaky.

"I don't understand. You're so nervous and shy around everyone yet you picked up that gun without a second thought."

"Bellamy!" The brunette yelled, cringing instantly once she realised what she had done. Glancing over Bellamy's shoulder at Charlotte - who was thankfully still asleep - she shot a half-heartedly exasperated look at the freckled brunette sat beside her. "I said just leave it."

Before he had time to reply, she shuffled onto her side, facing away from the person who she was trying to not let get to her. In resigned silence, Bellamy shut up. He left Marley alone to her own thoughts with nothing but a sigh of acknowledgement.

She was sure he thought her stupid for being so distraught over killing an animal - which happened to be the very thing that fed an entire camp, and kept them all alive for at least one day - and she, herself, couldn't quite put a finger on why she was so unsteady about the whole situation.

Perhaps killing the animal now meant that she was a murderer. The very thing she'd sworn she would never become.