CHAPTER NINE - SHE CHEATED DEATH

            THE SUN WAS WELL PAST set by the time the sounds of wild teenagers from the camp could be heard from Dakota's ears. She was at the rear of the hunting group, watching the gurney that held Atom's body sway back and forth as the boys carried it between the two of them. The pulsing in her back had increased as the time went by and her adrenaline died down, she tried to ignore it but with the heat radiating off of her back that made her sweat was pretty hard to not notice.

"Hey everyone, they're back!" Someone shouted from inside the wall, catching everyone's attention and the murmurs quickly erupted into louder talking. Clarke and Finn quickly pushed through the larger crowd at the sound and glanced over at Dakota and Bellamy.

 Only a few individuals had paid any mind to them, but everyone's focus was on Bellamy, who was helping to carry Atom's body back into the camp. "Get Clarke whatever she needs." Bellamy ordered one of the girls who just happened to be passing by him. 

"I'd better get this grave dug." He said quietly, glancing back at Dakota briefly before turning and walking away.

"It's about time!" Octavia yelled through the crowd as she shoved her way towards the front to make her way towards her big brother. As soon as she reached the opening, her eyes narrowed down at the body bag that held Atom and her brows furrowed.

"Octavia." Bellamy said as his sister approached, stepping forward to block her path. "Just stay there." He tried to order her, but she wasn't listening.

"Why?" She grumbled, fighting to get her arms from his grip.

"Please, just stay back." He practically begged. Octavia sent a hard smack to his side, glaring up at him.

"Bell- stop!" Octavia complained with annoyance as she crouched down, her worried gaze connecting with Dakota's own. She cautiously reached for the coat and pulled it off of Atom's face. "Atom..." she breathed in despair, her face contorted into a forlorn expression as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

"There was nothing I could do-" Bellamy began, but was immediately shot down by Octavia.

-Dont!" She hissed while her tear filled eyes took in Atom's appearance and Dakota took a step towards the younger Blake sibling to couch down next to her. "I'm so sorry." She whispered while putting a comforting hand over her back. Octavia's head turned to look over at her, tears trailing down her cheeks while she gave the girl a small nod and returning the jacket over Atom's face. 

 Octavia stood back up but her brother tried again, "O, O wait-" He yelled after her, his own voice cracking but Octavia shoved him pack, growling out another don't before practically running off.

 "Did we lose anyone here?" Bellamy asked in an authoritative stone, but still sounding somewhat distant. 

"None." 

"Jasper?"

"He's still breathing-barely. I was going to take him out but your psycho little sister an-"

Murphy was abruptly cut off as Bellamy shoved him forcefully, before grabbing a fistful of Murphy's collar and bringing him closer. "My what? My what!?" Bellamy bellowed in rush a rage that Dakota's eyes had widened.

"Your little sister." Murphy corrected, stumbling over his words.

"Yeah, that's right, my little sister," Bellamy released Murphy's collar and took a step back, his voice was low and almost calm but his demeanor said anything otherwise. "You got anything else you wanna say about her?"

Murphy gritted his teeth and stared Bellamy dead in the eye. "Nothing. Sorry." He apologized begrudging while a tiny hand reached out to wrap itself around the bone of Bellamy's shoulder.

"Hey," Dakota interrupted their stare-off, looking up at both men who were tense. Bellamy turned to look down at her, his face still flooded with negative emotions. "It's been a long day, okay?" She said as her voice lowered down a tad as she spoke, "You haven't gotten any sleep recently, so how about you go get some, hm?" She suggested.

Murphy let out a tiny scoff as she watched the scene play out before him. "You take orders from her now, huh?" He taunted and Dakota turned towards Murphy to shoot him a dirty glare. 

Just as Dakota was about to shoot out a witty comeback, Bellamy had opened his mouth before she could. "I don't take orders from anyone." He snapped while glaring down towards the brunette who turned to meet his heated gaze. He took hold of her wrist, his grip tight enough to leave bruises on her flesh and then he shoved her off.  "Get him out of here." Bellamy demanded everyone around them and then stormed off, leaving Dakota and Murphy behind. 

"Looks like you're not as important to him as you thought you were, huh, short-stack?" He laughed, emphasizing the nickname Bellamy had given her. 

Dakota narrowed her eyes down at Murphy, "Yeah but at least I didn't piss him off with a stupid comment about his sister." She shot back, "watch yourself Murphy." She snapped before turning and heading towards the opening in the forest.

She should have exprected that response from Bellamy but due to what happened last night, for some reason she thought he would've treated her differently. But in the end, he was still that selfish prick that she knew since coming down here. Dakota walked only a couple meters away from the opened gate, and she found herself sitting down on a rock, enjoying the sounds of the leaves rustling with the soft gust of wind blowing through the trees.

 It was only until she heard leaves crunching up behind her that her peaceful state of mind that been interrupted, she turned around as she pulled out the knife from her pocket. "Oh my god... You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that Charlotte." Dakota sighed with relief as she faced the little blonde girl. "What are you doing out here?" She asked while placing the knife back into her coat pocket.

"I saw you walk out of camp." She said as she walked towards the older brunette and took a seat next to her on the rock. 

 "It's dangerous out here." She pestered the little girl, knowing that there was Grounders out there somewhere.

"Then why are you out here?" She asked, looking up at her curiously.

 Dakota shot her down a quick smile. "Good point, but I actually have something to defend myself with." She replied as she rolled the knife between her fingers in her pocket.

"Bellamy taught me how to hold my knife." She brought up while taking the knife from her own pocket. 

  Dakota managed to smile about how brave the little girl was and how confidence overtook her tone. She was growing into a different person from before, especially from that night that she woke up screaming. "At least he's teaching you something correctly," she replied. "keep it close, okay?" She smiled down at her while draping a warm arm over her shoulder and squeezing her into her side.

"Did you slay your demons, You killed Atom." She questioned which made Dakota raise her brows.

"No, that's different. I did what I needed too, he was dying. I helped him." She tried to explain that she took away his suffering but she knew at that age that something like that was hard to understand.

 The two sat in silence before Dakota got up from the rock and offered to walk her back to Camp. Dakota started walking towards the Drop ship after leaving Charlotte beside her tent and then walked up the ladder to find several eyes looking towards the hatch. 

"Hey," She commented out while lifting herself up to the top floor of the drop ship, her eyes training on Jasper who was still out cold but he was looking so much better than he was a few days ago. "How is he?" She questioned as she brought down the hatch and walked over to sit next to Octavia.

"He was up and talking a minute ago, the medicine worked." Monty said as he finally put a smile on his face. Dakota returned the smile. "I'm sad I missed it." She looked down at the young boys face, knowing that there was now hope for him surviving. 

 Dakota's eyes flickered towards Clarke who was sitting down beside Finn. "I have something that needs your attention," She told her as her back had crossed her mind and Clarke turned her head and raised her eyebrows questionably. She began taking off her jacket and gestured Clarke to come forward to help her with the rest of it. "i need help lifting this up." She told her. 

"Alright, let's take a look then," Clarke looked over at her with a encouraging smile as she scooted over towards her. But her smile had faltered as soon as she lifted the maroon shirt from her back. "how did you get this?" 

"Got caught in the acid fog." Dakota explained. "How bad is it?"

 Clarke shook her head. "It's no more than a second degree burn," Clarke informed her before putting her shirt back down and then advanced towards the medical supplies. Dakota took a seat next to Finn, noticing the bottle of Alcohol that was beside him and the smell of alcohol on his breath. "You're drunk" She commented while her eyes narrowed over at him, to which he smirked over at her. "Not yet." He replied. 

 "I could use some of that." Dakota huffed a nervous breath as she knew what was coming next and Finn nodded and passed her the bottle of the liquid. Clarke made her way towards her with her hands full of cotton bandages and sticky wrap. "This is going to hurt," She warned as her eyes were glued down onto the moonshine in Dakota's hand. 

  "Great." Dakota replied sarcastically and then downed a gulp full of moonshine. She cringed as the liquid began to burn as it made it's way down her throat, and then she passed the bottle to Clarke who sat behind her.

 It hit her like a tank, the burning sensation of her back grew into hot fire as Clarke poured the alcohol on her back. Dakota let out a muffled scream as she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket as Clarke's fingers worked on dressing the now clean wound.

 'I'll re-change the gauze tomorrow and we will see if it grows infected or not." She said as her blue eyes looked back up from her work. 

  Silence soon came over the drop ship, everyone had started to drift off. Octavia and Dakota were the only two that remained still awake while everyone had passed out from the amount of alcohol they consumed or the sleep derivation had caught up with them. "This is disgusting," Dakota slurred. "Underage drinking, heh.. wait until Bellamy finds out." She joked while downing a bit more of the moonshine. 

"Screw Bellamy." She rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother, obviously still angry with him. "He's an ass."

 "That I can agree upon." Dakota smirked over at her while letting her grab the bottle from her hands. 

 "What about you? Aren't you underage?" She questioned while tipping the bottle to her lips. 

 Dakota never thought about her birthday when she arrived down here. In all honesty, it hadn't crossed her mind. "I don't know, I should be turning eighteen in a few days." 

  Octavia strained her voice as the alcohol burned her senses, and then she smirked over towards the older girl. "Looks you cheated death."

 Dakota was leaning against the wall and she shrugged. "Nah, I just got really lucky."

    EVERYONE AROUND HER fell asleep but she couldn't because her back had started pulsing as the alcohol had started to loose it's effects on her mind. Eventually, Octavia began to drift off, not being able to stay up much longer which left Dakota alone in her own thoughts, her brown eyes were training on Jasper's sleeping body while her chin was in her hands.

Bellamy hadn't come out of his tent since they arrived back at the camp, and that had started to worry Dakota even though he was a total asshole to her. Octavia had thrown such a scene upon his arrival with Atom's wrapped up body and then Murphy had pushed his buttons even more. But that didn't come to much surprise, Murphy had a way with pushing everyone's buttons. The only good news that came from the camp was that Jasper's constant moaning had finally stopped and Clarke managed to get some peaceful sleep now that she had one less thing to worry about.

Thank god things were finally looking up for the delinquents.

Dakota sighed and decided that she couldn't stay up here much longer and without a second thought, she climbed down the hatch and started advancing towards Bellamy's tent.

Bellamy had just been lying in his tent idly, staring up at the top with his hand over his forehead trying to relax. When the flap of his tent opened, he wasn't in the best moods to be bothered. "What?"

Bellamy looked over his feet to see Dakota at the door of his tent. She smiled slightly. "Mind if I join you?"

Bellamy shifted so that he was sitting with his knees to his chest. Who would've thought? He said to himself. "You need something?" He asked her as she stepped inside and sat down by his feet.

"Nope. I actually came to give something to you." As he watched her with confused eyes, she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out the knife he had given her earlier in the morning before they set off in the woods. She pointed the top of the blade at him for a moment, then smiled and flipped it around so that the handle was extended to him. "Go on, take it."

"You can keep it." Bellamy shook his head. "I've got plenty."

"Oh, I think you're gonna want this one." He knotted his eyebrows and she frowned. "I don't have all night, Blake. Just go with me on this one."

Hesitantly, still unsure of what she wanted him to do with the knife or why she was so persistent upon him taking it, he ended up grabbing the handle in his hand and wielding the weapon as she intended for him. He shrugged. "Okay. Now what?"

Dakota extended her wrist to him so that her wristband was right for the taking. He looked down at it, still confused, and she sighed. "Alright. I see I'm gonna have to spell this out for you. I want it off. The wristband, of course."

Bellamy laughed. "This has got to be a test."

She shook her head. "Nope. No test. I'm serious." Bellamy waited for her to explain to why she wanted it off, but she pursed her lips and sighed. "Let's just say...I've realized that I've been putting my hope in the wrong places. It's time to accept that, if I want Kane to change, he's gonna have to do it on his own. You...had a point earlier. I'm tired of holding out hope for a dad that's never going to live up to the expectation."

Bellamy looked at me and scowled. "If you're looking for someone to change your mind, I'm not him."

She couldn't resist smiling, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Trust me I know."

He studied her eyes, trying to search for some hidden truth in them, but found nothing but what she was asking for him to do

He studied her eyes, trying to search for some hidden truth in them, but found nothing but what she was asking for him to do. So, without further delay, he reached forward and grabbed her wrist and tucked the knife beneath the band. Bellamy tried not to make it hurt, but she inevitably hissed to herself as he thrust up the blade to get the band to break. A few drops of blood emerged from the inside of her wrist where the blade was handling pressure, but at last, the band popped off and the glow of the needles that had been in her skin faded away, leaving her with a few needle holes and a small, unimportant battle scar.

Bellamy looked down at the wristband, and waved it in her face in a teasing matter as he smiled over at her. "You still threatening to murder me, Short-stack?" he asked lightly.

Dakota let a smirk slip onto her pink lips. "Not just yet." She rose from her knees and moved to step out of the tent, but Bellamy whistled to get get attention back.

"You forgot something," He told her with the wristband in hand. She peered into his tent from the outside and shook her head.

"Keep it," Dakota told him. "As a trophy. I trust this won't add to your inflating ego, either..."

He didn't respond to her, but rather laughed a she gave him one last smile and left his tent.

***

Dakota opened up a tent flap that belonged to none other than John Murphy, who was currently cuddled up into a blanket, and his tent partner was no where to be seen. She wasn't sure what the hell she was doing in here but she knew that she needed some-sort of comfort, and long ago, she found that comfort in Murphy.

"John." Dakota's voice came out as a whisper, hoping that he would catch her voice so she wouldn't have to shake him awake.

Murphy started to stir in his sleep at the sound of someone's voice flooding in his ears and seconds later, his blue eyes fluttered open and his head turned towards the tent flap to see a girl standing there with a questionable look on her face. "Dakota?" He murmured through a sleepy tone, rubbing at his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Dakota bit down on her bottom lip as she began zipping the tent flap back closed and turned to face him. "I couldn't sleep, and I don't know.." Her voice wavered which caught Murphy's attention as she took a seat next to him. His head turned to face her as his features flooded with worry.

Dakota shook her head. "I killed Atom," she confessed, which was still eating her alive. "he was begging and I killed him." She didn't even realize the tears that were falling and running down her cold cheeks until Murphy had pulled her into his side. "I'm sorry, i didn't mean to come here but I just felt like i could.."

Murphy looked down at her. He wasn't sure why she felt like she could still come to him with her troubles, he thought she hated him after everything had happened and played out between them. "Why?"

Dakota smiled softly, "I guess it's because you know I'd be there for you too, even though you're a complete ass."

Murphy smiled and then together they laid back down in his tiny sleeping bag, huddled against one another. His arm was touching her hand as they looked up at the ceiling. "I never thought I would see you again after I got caught.. I thought I was just going to get floated and that was it." She whispered through the silence and Murphy turned his body to face her.

"That makes two of us." Murphy replied as she shifted as well, facing him as he grabbed hold of her cheek and pulled her lips into his. He grabbed hold of her waist with his left hand and pulled her into him.

***

The next morning, she awoken before Murphy had and started dressing herself before anyone could open up the flap and see her inside with Murphy shirtless. She looked back at his sleeping frame before opening up the flap and walking outside into the sun. There was a small gathering near the front of the gates that caught her attention, and she started picking up her pace towards the crowd. "What's going on?" She asked loudly, looking through the small group.

"We were going out to gather more water from the spring when Jacob tripped over the roots, and we found him." Her eyes soon followed where his hand was pointing down towards the ground and as soon as her eyes landed upon a tanned body of a boy that she knew, her eyes widened.

Wells was slouched against a tree, his lifeless body staring out into nothing and she could see the dried blood crusted against his neck and the dark stains on his clothes where the blood pooled on the ground. He was dead, she knew that. "Go back to camp, and no one tell anyone." She commanded as her brown eyes swiped over the small group. "and someone go get Bellamy, just Bellamy."

Several minutes later, Bellamy was rounding the corner with a confused look on his face but looking slightly irritated that she had interrupted his sleep. "What was so urgent that you had to send someone-" His voice had cut off when his eyes glanced upon the body of Wells Jaha. "Is that Wells?" He questioned and she nodded. "Does Clarke know?"

Dakota shook her head, "No, I figured it would be best if we moved him first, make it look not so gruesome before we get her." She explained to him while he gave her a curt nod.

***

Bellamy, along with Murphy ended up bringing Wells' body to the area where some of the hundred had already been buried, Bellamy had already begun to dig a grave for him and Dakota was left with telling the horrible news to Clarke. After telling Clarke she ran out towards the graves, and Dakota watched as she broke out into a fit of hurt but surprised filled sobs, Finn on the other side of her to comfort in anyway that he could.

After telling Clarke she ran out towards the graves, and Dakota watched as she broke out into a fit of hurt but surprised filled sobs, Finn on the other side of her to comfort in anyway that he could

Dakota knew it was best to leave the scene and give the blonde her own space so she could grieve without having all these eyes on her frame. She started walking up towards the bigger tent that Bellamy usually held his important discussions with his small group.

"Sure what happened, but-" Jones was speaking when Dakota had walked into the tent, but had stopped talking as soon as her frame entered his sight. Dakota's brown eyes looked at the four men who were gathered around a small table.

"Keep going Jones." Bellamy said, glancing at the dark-skinned boy before looking back over at her. Dakota gave him an appreciated smile, her way of thanking him that he didn't just kick her out of the tent but included her in what they were discussing.

"But I don't think we should rule out the possibility that it was the Grounders." Jones finished. Bellamy nodded, his gaze finally leaving Dakota's face as she came up to stand between him and Miller.

"I think you're right. He was stabbed in the neck, right in the jugular. It was a precise hit." He agreed.

"If the Grounders are killing us, we need a better defense than that flimsy little gate out there." Dakota spoke up and all heads turned to look towards her as she continued to speak. "They can kill with precision aiming from several yards away. A fence made out of a single layer of sticks isn't going to stop them if they plan to attack us."

'And what do you suggest we do then, Kota? Learn to fight like they do?" Murphy asked his blue eyes searching her face.

"No, I'm saying we need a better wall, one that isn't going to get knocked down by just one kick. I helped fix the drop-ship before they sent us all down here, I know what I'm talking about."

Bellamy's eyes locked onto hers when she had mentioned the drop-ship. "Dakota is right, we need a better wall to keep them out." He said to them, backing up her idea as she crossed his arms over his chest. "Murphy, Jones, get a group together and start gathering wood to use, Miller you too."

"What are you going to do?" Dakota asked him as he turned towards her, his lips going into a thin line.

"We are going to tell the rest of the group what's going on." He emphasized the word 'we'. But said nothing else before passing her and exiting the tent. Dakota followed closely behind him, and then Bellamy's voice boomed throughout the camp.

"Everyone, listen up!" He began which caught everyone's attention, and quickly they started to gather around them. "We were attacked last night, Grounders killed Wells just outside the wall and left his body there for us to find. Now, I take that as a warning that they will keep on killing each and every one of us unless we do something to protect ourselves!"

Dakota looked through the group of teenagers who looked on and talked among themselves when they heard the gruesome news about Wells, and some had striked fear in their eyes. Dakota walked up closer to Bellamy's side and glanced up at him before speaking herself.

"We can protect ourselves, but we need to strengthen our walls. The walls that we have now won't hold if Grounders decide to attack. We need to make it bigger, stronger but first we need supplies. Logs, branches, metal and rocks. Anything that can strengthen the wall to keep our enemies out." She said, raising her voice so that everyone could hear what she was saying.

"Nobody leaves this camp alone, and never go past the walls after dark. Murphy, Dakota, and I will tell you what needs to be done. If you don't know what to do, find one of us and we will direct you." Bellamy yelled out, and then the teenagers began to scatter while Dakota grabbed a stick and started carving a picture into the dirt.

Bellamy looked over her shoulder in interest of what she was drawing. Seeing the picture of a sturdy wall. "What are you doing?"

"Doing what I do best," She told him as her eyes glanced up, "Making all of us survive. I'm going to need some vines of some sort."