A Wolf's Heart

Chapter 2

It took them several hours to catch up to the group led by Clarke. They came up to them just as they discovered a deer, but Dani and Murphy were on the opposite side of it. With the need to feed the hundred, Dani took one of the spears and threw it as hard as she could. The spear landed true, embedding itself behind the deer's shoulder joint and straight into the heart. It let out a terrifying sound as it died. Murphy grinned at Dani in congratulations, and they walked into the clearing. There were sounds of shock from the other side, and then the group was entering the clearing too.

"What did you do that for," a teen with a boyish face and floppy hair whined.

"Spacewalker or Finn Collins," Murphy whispered in Dani's ear as he helped her pull the spear out.

She subtly nodded and took her gear and outer layers off, leaving her only in her pants, boots, and tank. It exposed numerous dark bruises and burn scars from shock batons. Dani heard the gasps but ignored them as she rolled everything up and shoved it in her ruck.

"Hey, I asked you a question," the teen demanded.

Dani dispassionately looked at him as she pulled out her gutting knife, "We need to eat. The fish we caught won't be enough to feed everyone. This will."

"Hey, I know you," a boy with goggles on his head chirped. "You're the Alpha –"

"Don't you dare finish that," Dani growled, twirling the knife dangerously. "I no longer have to worry about Ark guards locking me up."

The boy visibly gulped and furiously nodded his head, "My bad."

Dani turned and knelt by the deer's rear end and started cutting into the flesh. The group watched silently as she and Murphy worked together.

Clarke stepped forward, and her eyes latched onto Dani's bruises, "Dani, what, what happened?"

Dani closed her eyes at the sound of Clarke's husky voice. A sound she had missed hearing for two years. Murphy saw the tenseness in the brunette's body and leaned over to whisper, "You don't have to answer her, Dani. You don't owe her anything."

Dani opened her eyes, momentarily feeling lost, but Murphy's presence grounded her. She took a deep breath, inhaling the coppery scent of blood, and looked over her shoulder at the blonde, "It doesn't matter, Griffin. What matters is that if you continue trying to get to Mount Weather, you're going to get someone killed."

Clarke frowned, straightening at Dani's tone, "We need those supplies."

"As I am proving, no, we don't," Dani answered, turning back to the task at hand. "And since you seem hyper-focused on Mount Weather, let's play twenty questions. Answer me this, before the bombs, was Mount Weather operational?"

The group looked at one another, but Clarke answered, "You know it was."

Dani absently nodded, "What does that mean?"

The Asian kid spoke up, "It means that people were working there."

"And at the time of the bombs, was it still operational," Dani asked.

"Yes," Clarke glared at the back of Dani's head as she answered.

"When the bombs were launched, was it an immediate strike, or was there some time," she continued to ask.

"Oh, I know this one," the petite brunette girl said. "There was anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour or so of warning."

"Was Mount Weather one of those places that the world considered a hard target like New York City," Dani asked.

"No, which is why the council designated it a landing zone," Clarke bit out.

"Right," Dani smirked at Murphy. "What is the average lifespan of foods that have been freeze dried, dehydrated, powdered, or preserved?"