CHAPTER SEVEN - TOXIC MIST

DAKOTA KNEW THAT THE rest of the teenagers were apprehensive about her coming along with them, especially side they all knew that she was part of the opposing side- Clarke's side. But soon, they were roaming the outskirts of their camp with the intent to kill whatever living animal that crossed their path. Eventually, they came across a wild boar, but Bellamy was the first to jump at the chance.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh," Bellamy hushed the rest of the group. "She's mine."

He pulled back the axe in his hand so that he could thrust it towards the boar, but when he heard a sound behind him-the cracking sounds of leaves beneath a person's feet-he went on high alert and spun around, throwing the axe in his hand without blinking. As the axe hit a tree and startled the boar in front of them, Dakota noticed the boar get spooked and she acted quickly. She threw her own knife at the boar, hitting it right in the throat. It wasn't the most painless death she could give the animal, but with the weird timing and angle, it would have to do.  The rest of the men jumped at the chance to bag the boar, but Dakota turned her head and watched as Bellamy moved towards his axe in the tree and noticed a young girl from the camp that had been following them.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"Charlotte."

"I almost killed you."

Dakota stepped forward as Bellamy yanked his axe from the wood of the tree. She looked down at the little girl apologetically. "What he meant to say was, he's sorry for throwing an axe at your head."  She shot a disgusted look at Bellamy and watched as he sighed and looked back at Charlotte.

"Why aren't you back at camp?" he asked.

"Well...what with that guy who was dying, I just-I couldn't listen anymore," Charlotte defended herself. Atom, another one of Bellamy's followers, stepped up beside Dakota and shook his head.

"There are Grounders out here. It's too dangerous for a little girl."

"I'm not little," the girl snapped.

"Okay, then. But you can't hunt without a weapon." Dakota turned her head to look over at him in surpise as he ignored her glaring. Again, he pulled out another knife and extended it to the girl, who took it hesitantly. Atom turned to move back with the rest of the group as Dakota stared at Bellamy incredulously.

"What is it, free knife day?" I hissed.

"It can be." He smiled at her, causing her to scoff at him with a sickening glance. He turned back at the girl. "Ever killed something before?" Charlotte shook her head. "Who knows? Maybe you're good at it."

Dakota and Bellamy both turned to follow the rest of the party with Charlotte tagging along right behind them. She shook her head. "I can't believe you're doing this."

Bellamy shrugged. "You turned out all right, didn't you?" He stared forward as she glanced over at him with narrowed eyes. He caught her cold stare. "Daughter of the man who controls all the law enforcement on the Ark and all that? I bet you had one hell of a charmed life."

"You don't know anything about me," she snapped.

She could tell he was starting to grow irritated with her, and she was growing just as pissed at the thought that he thought her life was filled with luxury just because she grown up with the privilege of being Marcus Kane's daughter.

Bellamy squared his jaw at her and caught her attention again with two single words. "Wanna bet?"

 Dakota scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, walking in front of the older man as annoyance flooded her expression until her brown eyes caught onto a flock of birds erupting from the trees like something had startled them.  She stared at the sky, puzzled. Over the past few days, she learned that birds were rather quiet, hopping from tree to tree instead of flying. A moment later, a loud noise roared through her ears, reminding her of a horn or a siren. 

 Dakota froze up in her spot as a yellowish cloud of smoke started to descend upon them, almost spreading across the forest like a moving force. Dakota felt for the little blonde girl with her arm, feeling something small beneath her touch, she hung on and stood in-front of Charlotte with a protective stance. "Uh, Bellamy.." Dakota's voice wavered as her eyes went wide at the sight of something she had never seen in her entire life. "what the fuck is that?"

"Run," Bellamy snapped, turning towards her. "Run!" Turning on her heel, she broke out in a run while dragging Charlotte behind her. Dakota made sure that Bellamy had grabbed hold of Charlotte's hand, putting the small child in-front of them as they all ran as fast as they possibly could.

"Come on!" Bellamy shouted. "There are caves this way!"

Fear started making itself known as Dakota picked up her pace, but the thought of tripping on a twig or a rock invaded her mind. The fog was hot on their tails, and Dakota doubted that Bellamy would risk himself if Dakota decided to fall right about now. 

Her boots slipped on a pile of stones and she screamed when her body fell forwards and at the sound of her scream, Bellamy's head shot to the side. Dakota turned her head to look behind her, seeing the fog starting to catch up with her. She could already see the air around her turn faintly yellow, and the next breath she sucked in burned. She coughed, her eyes going blurry as she tried to get back up, but pain electrified in her ankle sending her back down.

Dakota!" Bellamy shouted, watching as the yellow fog began to catch up with her fallen body. Dakota took another breath, screaming out in pain as the yellow tinted fog licked at her bare skin. She shook her head and forced herself up onto her two feet, ignoring the pain that was soaring through her body like an electrical current. "Bellamy-" She heaved through oxygen deprived lungs as her hand shot out for anything, and when she felt something grab onto her wrist, she was shoved forward and inside a cave.

It wasn't until they both found Charlotte leaning against the rocky wall that the pain finally registered in her brain. Dakota hissed through clenched teeth, looking at the burns on her hand while her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. Bellamy was comforting Charlotte, telling her to go to sleep and placing his jacket over her. Charlotte nodded silently, obviously fearful of whatever had gone on outside with the mysterious fog. Bellamy realized, himself, obviously impatient and restless about his merry little band of followers and the fact that his hunting party had been so rudely interrupted by impending doom. Dakota and Bellamy sat in silence until they heard the sounds of Charlotte's even breathing while the wind still whipped rapidly outside. 

 Dakota winced as she moved her body upwards to take her boot off and have a look at her ankle. Bellamy watched her slowly, but didn't say anything. His eyes inevitably roamed over her wristband and stared for a few extra moments, causing her to sigh softly. 

"Don't even think about it, Blake," she whispered low enough to not disturb Charlotte. She brought her eyes to meet with Bellamy's, who shrugged. 

"Think about what?"

"You know what. Until I say so, this wristband isn't coming off." He turned his head and refused to answer her, irritated with her stubbornness. Dakota hesitantly brought her knees to her chest, wincing softly at the pain from her skin. "Why do you want me to take it off so badly?"

Bellamy stared back tauntingly. "Depends on what I want you to take off."

She scoffed. "Does that line usually work?" He shrugged, giving her an obvious answer. Dakota laughed, finding the situation more amusing than offensive. "Wow. And here I thought you just wanted the wristband."

"I know girls like you," Bellamy began accusingly, moving on. "Girls who can't get enough adventure. Girls who just want along for the ride. But at the end of the day, when the real consequences come back to bite you in the ass, all they do is run to daddy to get them out of their mess."

Her amused expression quickly turned upside down. "You think I'm some poor little rich girl looking for an adrenaline rush?"

"Aren't you?"

"Screw you!" She hissed at him, desperately wanting to scream but also aware that there was a sleeping child present. "Where do you get the audacity to pretend like you know me, Bellamy? You know nothing about who I really am! If you did, you wouldn't be working your ass off to get me to trust you enough to take off this wristband."

Bellamy took a moment, processing her words with her expressions and quickly realized how sincere she was. He leaned forward slowly and whispered cautiously, "So why don't you tell me who you really are?"

 She looked at him with sharp eyes that started to soften over the moments that she spent looking at him in the dim, close to dark lighting of the cave. "All I've ever been since I was born was a disappointment to Kane." Dakota began through her teeth. "He always wanted a son, and I spent most of my childhood desperate to make him happy. I let him teach me how to hunt, how to fight, how to kill." She paused. "I got caught trading illegal substances to help Murphy, he was terribly sick, and so was his mother. I was about to trade when I got caught. Everything was red, I ended up killing the three guards, and when I noticed William was among them.."

"Who was William?" Bellamy questioned.

 Dakota looked up at him, her eyes growing glossy at the mention of the name she had disgusted. He clearly noticed her emotional state and realized that he had hit a soft spot. "He- he was the man who took advantage of me when I was just eleven. His men watched him as I was vulnerable, as he done his deed.. I ended up killing all of them and when I told my dad about it, he told me that was just an excuse to get out of being arrested.  Since William was dead, I had no proof about it, I guess my words weren't good enough for him. He locked me away until my revision where I'm positive he'd vote to have me executed. He sent me here to die instead."

Bellamy swallowed thickly and carefully waited, watching her as she ended with nothing more to say.  "So why do you keep the wristband on?" he asked her, immediately earning her to scoff. 

Instead of dwelling on her disapproval of him, he continued. "Seems to me like taking it off would be the perfect revenge." He leaned closer and whispered, "Unless, of course, you're still holding out some hope that he actually cares whether or not you live or die."

"What daughter doesn't?"