The trees blurred into one as you willed your legs to push harder, to run faster, to get away.

     You stupidly went out on a hunt alone and didn't tell anyone where you would be, which you regretted. You ended up getting lost at some point and you didn't know which direction you came from. You only had a machete but you had dropped it a while back.

     Which was once more, a big mistake. You could hear the Grounders chasing after you, their war cries and the leaves blowing in the wind as they ran passed. They were catching up to you. Which terrified you.

     You should have told someone where you were going or paid more attention to which directions you went, looking for familiar surroundings to help you on your way back. You should have waited to ask someone to go with you. But you didn't. In fact, you couldn't even remember leaving the camp.

     Which terrified you even more. You weren't paying attention to anything. You weren't sure how long it had been since you told Monty you'd be back to talk more after getting a drink from the water tent. You left him waiting.

     You, at some point, changed your mind about getting water and decided to go get fresh food for everyone instead. You heard someone mention how you were running out of meat and that the camp needed to go out on a hunt for more in the morning. You decided to surprise everyone and bring food back while they slept so they didn't have to leave.

     By now the Grounders were getting closer and closer. You could see them out of the corner of your eyes as they ran beside you, taunting you, almost as if it were a game to them. You could feel the tears rolling down your cheeks as you ran as fast as you could.

     Your lungs burnt and your heart pumped quickly. You tripped on something and fell. Trying to get up quickly to continue running was no longer an option as you saw boots in front of your face. You looked up to see a Grounder crouch down with a large rock, seeing it slam down onto your face before everything went black.

     You woke up with a gasp, sitting up in bed, clutching the blanket closer to your body as you looked around the tent in a panic, only to see Fox snoring away on her bed. Your body was covered in a cold sweat as you wiped your forehead, trying to get your pulse to slow down to normal.

     You got up slowly, making sure to not wake up Fox. You slipped your shoes on before poking your head out to an empty camp. Everyone was asleep. You walked out and wrapped your arms around your body and you quickly ran to Monty's tent, trying not to step on any twigs while you were at it.

     You slowed down as you got to the tent and opened the flap, silently tiptoeing inside as you kicked your shoes off and crawling over to Monty's bed. You lifted the blanket and got underneath, he opened one eye at you and saw the look on your face. How shaky you were and how paranoid you looked.

     He smiled lightly to himself and wrapped his arm around you as you laid your head on his chest. He placed a kiss on the top of your head before laying back down and closing his eyes to sleep. His hands running up and down your back soothingly as you closed your eyes and breathed deeply.

     Hoping that this time, you didn't dream of dying.

-

     The next morning you woke up to Jasper cackling, you furrow your eyebrows as he continued to laugh. Monty woke up and looked at you with a smile before turning his head to Jasper.

     "Shut up."

     "Look at the two of you." He laughed again, clutching his stomach.

     "It's not funny, Jasper."

     "It kinda is."

     "It's really not, we're trying to sleep."

     "Have fun last night?" Jasper tried not to laugh.

     You turned your head to face him with a scowl, his face automatically dropped, his laughing ceased and he noticed the dark bags under your eyes. You turned your head away and rested your head back on Monty's chest, trying to fall asleep once more.

     Jasper quickly sent a wink to Monty before leaving the tent, Monty turned his head back and closed his eyes, trying to get a little more sleep before his day started.

-

     Later on, that day, you woke up to Monty laying in front of you, his arms around your waist. He must have moved while you were sleeping. You moved to stretch, waking him up in the process, he smiled tiredly at you.

     "Morning."

     "Hey," you replied with a yawn.

     "Get ready for today, Jasper's going to mess with us, I just know it."

     "Great," you mumbled while sitting up.

     "You okay?"

     "Yeah, I'm fine."

     "Last night you seemed—"

     "It's nothing, it was stupid." You shook your head.

     "I doubt that you seemed pretty shook up about it, you looked like you were waiting for someone to get you."

     "It's nothing."

     "You and I both know that's not true..."

     "I don't want to talk about it right now, maybe later."

     "Okay, we don't have to talk about it."

-

     Both of you left the tent together, just waiting for Jasper to say something about last night, laughing. You looked around and saw him talking to Harper and Fox. Monty looked at you, causing you to look over to him, he raised his eyebrow.

     "That's surprising." He looked back up to Jasper and squinted his eyes. "What is he up to?"

     "I don't know, and I really don't want to find out," you told him as you both went to get some berries and nuts to eat for breakfast. While you were collecting some of the berries and nuts Octavia came over to you both with a sly smile. "No." You pointed at her.

     "You don't even know what I was going to say," she defended.

     "You spoke to Jasper."

     "How did you know?"

     "You have a tell."

     "Which is?"

     Monty looked over to her. "You know, if she tells you then you're not going to do it the next time, she's not going to give away that sort of information," Monty explained to her as he dragged you away with him to set up the camp fire.

-

     Throughout the day you had Octavia, Jasper, and Raven come up to you. Sometimes you were with Monty and other times you weren't. You were sure Monty was also cornered and teased. You knew your cheeks were red and you obviously were embarrassed by it all.

     But that didn't stop them.

     "Where's your knight in shining armour?"

     "What?"

     You turned your head to Raven who stood beside you in the meat hut, helping you cut some of the newer meat.

     "Where's Monty?"

     "I don't know?"

     "That sounds like you do..."

     "The last time I saw him was when Octavia and Jasper came over to us with Harper snickering and giggling, obviously knowing what happened as well. When they left Harper just kept teasing me about Monty."

     "Is there anything going on between you?"

     "Me and Harper?"

     "What?"

     "What?"

     "What?"

     "What?"

     "I meant Monty and yourself."

     "No. But that makes more sense."

     "Yeah, so is there? Anything going on?"

     "Not that I know of..."

     "Then why did Jasper tell us that you were wearing his clothes sleeping together with messy hair and—"

     "That was not what happened." You raised your arms in defense. "I had a nightmare, and I didn't want to be alone."

     "You share a tent with Fox, you're not alone."

     "She snores so loudly, I wouldn't have been able to sleep after that."

     "What about Jasp?"

     "He still likes Octavia, so it would be a bit weird. Harper already shares a tent with Monroe, so the only other person was Monty. I didn't mind that it was him, though."

     "Why's that?"

     "Because he wouldn't ask questions, he wouldn't make me talk about something I wouldn't want to," you told her with a sigh. "And I guess it's because I feel safer with him." You probably shouldn't have said that.

     "You feel safe with him?" She smirked.

     "Shut up."

     "No, I think it's cute." She gave your shoulder a nudge. "I mean, I know he likes you, so it's cute..."

     "He what?"

     "What?" She ignored you and acted like you didn't ask her anything.

     "What did you say?"

     "I said—"

     "Don't say what."

     "I said Monty likes you. It's obvious. Well, not to you. I'm guessing that's why Jasper had so much fun teasing the two of you. He knew that Monty likes you and that Monty wouldn't have minded you wanting to sleep in the same bed, cuddled up to him." You looked to her not really believing her.

     But it would make sense. At least you knew your feelings weren't just one sided. You put the meat down and left the tent, Raven muttering and asking where you were going but you didn't respond as you went to find Monty. You were going to tell him that you liked him back. Maybe then the teasing wouldn't be so bad.