The Weight Of Deafness In Love And Survival

Chapter 17 - Toxic Fog

We'd caught up to and been walking with the rest of the group for a bit when Bellamy suddenly stopped and raised a hand for us to stop as well as they all look in one direction like they were hearing something. My heart pounded in my chest as they clearly discussed something but I had no idea what, with all of them facing away from me. Suddenly a yellow fog appeared in front of us, moving quickly through the trees towards us. And something told me we had to run but my body wouldn't move.

Then things were moving quickly. They all turned and started to run, one ramming right into my shoulder and nearly sending me to the ground but I'm grabbed by Atom and he quickly steadies me before forcing me to turn around, in the direction the others were running, and then urges me to run in front of him with a gentle push.

He didn't have to do it twice as I was then off. Soon finding myself right behind Charlotte and Bellamy, who had a hold on Charlotte making sure she kept up with him. We make it to a hill and I help Charlotte up from behind, pushing the girl up, as Bellamy pulls the girl up with him. But as I go to get up the hill myself my foot slips, eliciting a shocked, but small, cry to escape from my mouth and I hit the ground hard, nearly knocking the wind out of me. Experience of getting knocked to the ground kicked in though and I'm quickly scrambling up the hill on all fours ignoring the burning sensation I was feeling on a spot of skin on my leg.

The second I'm up top two pairs of hands grab my arms and haul me up before quickly pulling me with them. Soon we make it to a big rock and a moment after we round it Bellamy lets go of my hand before pushing Charlotte and I into the cave first. When Charlotte lets go of my hand, I turn around and instantly notice Bellamy is still standing at the entrance to the cave, the fog getting dangerously close to him.

"Bellamy!" I can't help but call out as I rush forward. I grab his hand and try to pull him back with me, but he doesn't budge. Soon the fog starts to surround us, instantly making my exposed skin burn, eyes to burn making me snap them shut, my grip to tighten on his hand as I continue to tug, and me to start coughing as it slightly burned my throat when I breathed some in. I then feel Bellamy's hand tighten around mine before he lets me pull him back now.

When my skin stops burning and I no longer have to cough or keep my eyes closed I finally stop pulling Bellamy back with me, release his hand, and quickly turn to Charlotte, finding her looking at me with wide eyes, her back against the rock wall of the cave. "Are you okay?" I ask her quickly as I rush up to her, ignoring the pain on my leg, and eyes scanning her up and down. When my eyes meet her face again she nods quickly before her face scrunches as she says "You're hurt."

I blink at her confused before I look down at my injured leg and instantly go wide eyed, I must have knocked it against something either when running or when I fell as there as a tear in my pants now. But the skin didn't just have a scrape, it was an angry red and had the start of blisters. My eyebrows furrow as I then look at my exposed skin and find it slightly red. Oh that's not good. That fog wasn't just fog; it was toxic. Prolonged exposure could and probably would be deadly. I just hope everyone made it to some type of safety in time.

At that thought I quickly turn to Bellamy while quickly asking "Are you okay Bellamy? You were in the fog too." As I scan him up and down with my eyes, finding his olive skin was slightly red, but he didn't seem to have any start of blistering. When my eyes meet his face, he tells me a simple "I'm fine.", his face steady but concern was swimming in his eyes, before he turns to look at the entrance of the cave. I follow his gaze and see the fog was still strong outside, some of it spilling into the cave but not far enough that it could touch us.

I release a sigh of relief before looking back down at my injured leg. The best thing to do would be to clean it and wrap it up but I don't think there's going to be anything to do all that in the cave. So the best I could do would be to wrap it up and then have Clarke look at it when we get back to the dropship. The thought of the dropship shoved the sounds and images from my memories back into my head again. My face contorts but they don't stop me from pulling the knife from my pocket and using it to cut a nice piece of the bottom of my shirt off before putting it away and then tying the strip around my leg.

Once I was done and look back up I discover that Bellamy had turned back around and was currently watching me, that same look on his face but the concern was barely there anymore. "What?" I sign while giving him a 'What?' face. An eyebrow raises as he smirks, eyes sparking in amusement, and asks "So you're done actually talking now, Butterfly?" I blink at him confused before I go wide eyed just then realizing what I'd done and what he was talking about.

Bellamy's smirk widens, threatening to be that actual smile, and I'm instantly annoyed and do the only thing I knew he understood; flipping him off. That smile breaks on his face as he chuckles and steps forward, closing the distance between us so there was barely a step between us. I feel my face flush hot as his eyes hold mine while he just looks down at me a moment. But then he opens his mouth and says "My offer still stands, Butterfly. Take off the wristband and I'm all yours."

My face is instantly cooled as annoyance flares up in me again and I snap at him before I could stop myself "Go screw yourself Bellamy." "You talked again Butterfly. I like it." He tells me then, his face flickering with that indescribable one. I can just blink at him in surprise. The only person who'd ever told me that they liked hearing my voice had been Jona. Sure, Clarke and Wells and our parents told me nothing was wrong with it but they never actually said they liked hearing it.

But that's when I feel his fingers brush just below the metal wristband and I snap out of it, frown, and step back looking away from him mumbling "Please don't say that just to get it off." With that I turn away and notice that Charlotte had clearly been watching the interaction as her eyes were flicking between us. I just give her a small smile before it falls as I go and sit next to her, face forwards the wall, back toward Bellamy, indicating that I was done talking with him now. I'm so stupid. I can't believe I let myself think for half a second that he actually meant it. That he'd actually accepted me like Octavia had.