The moaning was driving everyone insane. Well, everyone except for Clarke. She just look exhausted. I had left her on the top level of the dropship with Finn, Wells, and Octavia to help her look after Jasper, and was trying to catch some sleep on the lower level, but Jasper's groans were keeping everyone up.
"Kid's a goner." Bellamy said. "They have to know that. Keeping him alive is only prolonging his suffering."
"Hey." I snapped. "If Clarke says there's hope, then there's hope. Unless of course, you happen to have some medicinal background you forgot to share."
Bellamy glared, but didn't add anything to his previous comment. He went upstairs to check on everyone and I sighed. Secretly, I agreed with him. I didn't want Jasper to suffer, but it was a tough call to make, and it had to be Clarke's call. She was the one investing all the time and effort to look after him. If only I could get the communication systems up and running, maybe the ark could help.
"Eauuuggggghhhhh" Came Jaspar's cry from above. Unable to take it anyone, I kicked off my makeshift parachute blanket and went to the dropship door, only to see it being manned by one of Bellamy's followers. Some bloke named Atom.
"Let me outside." I said.
"No one leaves till the morning. Bellamy's orders." Atom responded, cradling his arms as though he were in pain. I glanced at his wrists and saw some serious rope burn and bruises and raised my eyebrows at him. His only response was to pull down his jacket sleeves.
"Well, I don't take orders from Bellamy so I suggest you let me pass." I replied, crossing my arms.
"It's not safe out there until we get a wall built. Besides, Bellamy isn't one to cross." Atom said.
"Whatever." I scoffed. "I'll be back." I maneuvered around sleeping bodies, careful not to disturb anyone's already fitful sleep. I found Bellamy climbing down the ladder from the top floor where Jasper was being kept.
"If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself." He shouted up to Clarke and everyone else on the top floor. Landing on the floor and seeing me, he raised an eyebrow. "And what could you possibly want at this hour."
"Let me outside of the dropship." I said.
"No. It's not safe."
"Okay, One, Just because I gave you my wristband does not mean I am part of your merry little band now, so I don't take orders from you, and Two, I think I might know a way to help Jasper, so I suggest you swallow your pride and do what I say."
"Sweetheart," Bellamy replied, "Everyone takes orders from me because I provide the food. What is your genius way to save Jasper that involves you putting your life at risk? Hmm?"
"If I can get the comms up and running, we can talk to the ark and maybe they can help us." I replied.
"Could you do that?" Bellamy asked, with a panic I didn't understand in his eyes.
"Possibly. I mean, I've been fixing the wires so we have electricity and heat so far, because, you know, priorities, but I need to look at the transmitters and see if they are at all fixable. The few I glanced at got fried when we entered the atmosphere, but the relays might be able to be pieced together enough to make a functional one. "
"Tara, I can't let you go up on the roof now. It's dark, it's raining. You'll fall and break your neck, ok? Wait until the dawn."
"I'll be fine. I always am. Jasper can't wait till dawn."
"I said No."
"I'm not asking for your permission, I'm asking for you to tell your goon guarding the door to let me out."
"The answer is still no."
I huffed and shoved him, spinning on a heel and turning away. "If Jasper dies and I could have saved him, this is on you."
I curled up in my corner again, wrapped in the thin parachute material and was just drifting off to sleep when I heard Murphy and Bellamy talking.
"Murphy, do you know what a transmitter looks like?" was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep, deep sleep.
I awoke to the sounds of voices chatting and the drop ship door opening. I quickly leaped up and shoved past Atom who was still lowering the door. I quickly scaled the slippery ladder up to the roof and looked around for the transmitters to see if I could piece them into a new one and contact the ark. What I saw nearly broke my heart. The transmitters were broken into fragments, and far more burned than they had been when I had initially seen them. It looked as though someone had sabotaged them. I groaned in frustration before throwing the useless pieces off the side of the ship.
"Um, ow?" came a voice. I looked over the edge of the ship to see Clarke, looking thoroughly exhausted. I quickly climbed down the ladder and apologized.
"Sorry. I thought I could rig these," I gestured to the broken transmitters" to contact the ark and get help for Jaspar, but they've been ruined. Either by the storm last night or by something else, I'm not sure. If Bellamy had let me out last night when I had the idea, maybe I could have."
"And there is no way to contact the ark with these?" Clarke asked.
"Not even if I had the world's largest roll of duct tape. These are beyond fixing. " I sighed. "How is he anyways?"
"Not good." Clarke said. "But I have a plan. You remember that poultice that was on his wound?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that weird plant?"
"I think it's some sort of antibiotic. If we could find it, we could brew it into a tea and maybe help him recover from the fever."
"Do you know what kind of plant it is? I hate to say I can't help, but I failed botany."
"Wells knows what it is. Me, him and Finn are going to go get it. But I have a favour to ask you." Clarke responded.
"You want me to watch Jasper while you're gone?" I guessed.
"No, Octavia and Monty have that under control, but can you keep Bellamy away? I don't want him doing anything drastic while we are gone."
"You mean like killing him. Gotcha. I'll do my best." I said.
"Thanks. I owe you. " Clarke smiled a relieved look.
"That you do. Now go save that poor kids life."
"Trust me, I'm doing my best." Clarke replied, heading off to meet Finn and Wells at the mouth of the forest. I glanced around looking for the person I was supposed to distract and noticed him over on the far side of camp showing Murphy and some others how to throw various weapons to hunt. I pulled my knife from my boot and flipped it in my palm, before heading over there and walking past them into the forest.
"Hey, hey, hey, where do you think you're going?" Murphy said, noticing me first.
"What are you, my keeper?" I said, continuing to walk towards the forest. "I'm hunting."
"You're hunting…" Bellamy chimed in, incredulous.
"Don't think I can do it?" I asked, flipping my knife, and hurling it towards their practice target. It stuck slightly off from the center, but it was still pretty good for the distance I threw it from. Atom let out a whistle.
"Does this have anything to do with last night?" Bellamy asked.
"I am not going to prove a point, I'm going because, let's face it, I'm one of the better hunters in this group." I said, standing hands on my hips.
"Well, in that case," Bellamy went and pulled my knife from the target and handed it back to me. "I suppose you're coming with us. Have you ever killed anything before?"
"Nope. But I suppose there is a first time for everything." I muttered, following Bellamy, Atom, and 2 others into the woods. Murphy, thankfully, stayed behind. I doubted I could have managed dealing with both of them today.
We were only about ten minutes out of camp when a branch snapped behind us and Bellamy turned around, hurling his axe. It embedded itself in a tree, not very far away from the face of a frightened young girl.
"Who are you? You need to go back to camp, it's not safe out here! I could have killed you!" Bellamy said to her, kneeling down so he was at her level.
"My name is Charlotte. I just didn't want to hear the boy screaming anymore." She said, looking at Bellamy with big, sad eyes. He glanced at her for a moment before shrugging and pulling out a knife from his jacket.
"You ever kill anything before, Charlotte?" He asked. She shook her head, no. "Who knows. Maybe you'll be good at it."
Charlotte smiled shyly and took the knife in her small hand. When Bellamy stood up, I pulled him aside.
"You cannot be serious." I said. "Giving a knife to a little girl?"
"You seem to handle your knives perfectly fine." Bellamy shrugged.
"I am not a little girl. Bellamy, what if she gets hurt?!"
"Well then, I guess that's on me too, isn't it." He stepped past me only to see an advancing cloud of yellow fog.
"What the hell?" He muttered.
"Charlotte," I shouted," Run!"
Atom and Bellamy turned to run as well, and the other two guys took off in the opposite direction in hopes of finding shelter closer.
"There are some caves up ahead. If we can make it there, we should be ok." Bellamy shouted, grabbing my hand, dragging me behind him. Charlotte had already headed my warning and taken off in front of us. We were just about at the cave entrance when Atom tripped on a root and got consumed by the cloud.
"Atom!" I called out, digging in my heels, so my arm wrenched out of Bellamy's grip. "We have to help him." I said to Bellamy, who had turned around. Charlotte was already safe in the mouth of the cave, but as the fog touched my outstretched hand, I screamed as it burned my skin.
Bellamy grabbed me and said, "There is nothing we can do for him now. C'mon." The two of us joined Charlotte in the cave and the acid yellow fog choked off the entrance. The three of us huddled near the back waiting for the fog to pass.
"Acid fog… What next?" Bellamy asked, incredulous.
I turned to Charlotte, who looked dead tired, and said, "We're probably gonna be stuck here a while. You want to sleep? You can have my jacket as a blanket or something."
Charlotte nodded, sticking her knife in her boot as she had seen me do, and took my offered coat. Bellamy shucked off his jacket and handed it to the little girl as well. She bunched the one coat up as a pillow and used the other as a blanket, before curling up and drifting off to sleep. I sat in the dark cave, trying not to shiver, but it didn't do much good. The rain last night had made everything damp and a chill clung in the air. Without my jacket, all I had was my thin, long sleeved shirt, to keep me warm. Bellamy didn't look much warmer.
"You know," Bellamy said eventually, "We'll be warmer if we sit together."
"Whaa-aaa-aa-t." I shivered, "You'ree co-co-cold?"
He laughed and put an arm around me. I tensed at his touch.
"Relax Kane, if I were going to pull moves on you, this is not how I would do it." He smirked.
"Please. " I grinned. "As if any of your so called "moves" would work on me. I've seen you womanizing the camp."
"Is that a challenge?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I blushed, and then hated myself for blushing. I was saved from have to answer by Charlotte letting out a blood curdling scream. Bellamy jumped up quickly and was by her side in an instant.
"Charlotte, what's the matter? What's wrong?"
Charlotte sat up in a frenzy but upon realizing where she was, she calmed down slightly.
"It's my parents." She cried. "They were floated. And everytime I sleep, I see it in my dreams. I'm afraid it's going to happen to me."
"Charlotte," I said softly, gently stroking the girls hair, "I'm so sorry about your parents. But they can't float you now. You're safe. You're on earth. You're safe." Her quiet sobs broke my heart, and apparently even softened Bellamy's stone heart, because he spoke up.
"You can't afford to be afraid down here kid. It's a weakness and it'll get you killed. You still have that knife I gave you?" He asked, and she nodded, pulling it from her boot. "Good. Now, whenever you feel scared you grip that knife and say 'Screw you, I'm not afraid.'"
Charlotte gripped the knife. "Screw you, I'm not afraid."
Bellamy grinned and ruffled her hair. "Atta girl. Slay your demons when you're awake kid, and they won't be there to get you when you're asleep."
Charlotte curled back up and went to sleep again, clutching her knife in a death grip, whispering over and over again, "Screw you, I'm not afraid." She seemed to sleep more peacefully.
"Interesting advice to give a 12 year old." I said.
"It'll be more helpful than false reassurances." He noted.
"Every kid wants to be told that they are safe. Even if it isn't true." I whispered back. Bellamy sat down beside me again, but didn't say anything about that comment. I decided to take that as acknowledgment that it was true. The fog cleared a while later, and I shook Charlotte awake, avoiding the knife in her hand.
"Charlotte," I said, "Fogs gone. Let's get back to camp, ok?" She rubbed her bleary eyes, but nodded, following Bellamy and I out of the cave. We had only made it a few steps when we heard an inhuman whimper coming from a couple meters away. Bellamy and I made eye contact before running in the direction of the sound, Charlotte close behind.
"Oh my god." I said, upon seeing the mangled face. "Atom. He's still alive."
"Tara, take Charlotte, go back to camp." Bellamy said, sounding rather empty. I ignored him, and walked towards the body.
"Oh my god." I repeated again.
"Kill me" Atom groaned, barely audible. "Please, kill me. Kill me. Kill me."
I turned and shouted, "Charlotte, get back to camp, okay, we'll be there soon." I sat, cradling the head of the poor boy who was in a world of pain, and Bellamy knelt beside me. Just as Charlotte disappeared over the ridge, Finn and Clarke appeared. Clarke rushed down to us. Upon seeing the situation, and looking at Bellamy, seeing his hesitation to kill the boy who had been his friend, she reached out and took the knife from him.
"Tara," she whispered, and I looked up at her through the tears forming in my eyes. "Go with Finn. Give Jasper the seaweed in a tea. We'll be there soon." I nodded and stood up woodenly, walking over to Finn. He grabbed my hand and lead me away from the gruesome scene, but the echoes of "Kill me, kill me, kill me," still plagued my mind.
Finn and I raced back to the camp and quickly brewed some of the seaweed into a tea. Monty administered the tea while I ground up the rest of the seaweed into a paste and applied it to the wound again. All that was left to do was wait.
About half an hour later Clarke came up the ladder and sat down on the floor next to Monty, Jasper, Finn and I. No one spoke. Finally, I couldn't take the silence anymore.
"So how is Jasper doing?" I asked, my voice cracking in the silence. Clarke looked at me and then over at Jasper.
"Well, he's stopped groaning, so I'm going to say that is a good sign." Clarke said, sounding relieved. I was glad too, not just for Jasper but for her as well. I didn't think she could handle 2 deaths in one day.
"Good thing too. I don't know if we could stop Murphy a second time." Monty said, looking exhausted.
"What?!" My voice snapped.
"You didn't hear?" Monty asked. "I thought Octavia would tell you. When you guys were out hunting, Murphy tried to come up here and put Jasper out of his misery."
"Well, tell him to hold off just yet." Came the muffled slur from Jasper. Everyone gasped in shock and rushed to his side.
"Got any more of the tea?" He groaned, and Clarke laughed, handing him another cup.
"He's gonna be ok." She smiled.
"I don't know if Murphy will be." I said, climbing over to the ladder. "He and I are gonna have some words."
I left the happy group, pausing briefly to tell the distraught Octavia that Jasper was going to be OK. Even though she was mourning Atom, she rushed up to see Jasper, relief present in her eyes. I found Murphy standing by some of the food we had brought back from our hunt, watching others do the hard work of skinning and cleaning the animals. Occasionally he would bark out orders, earning him dirty looks from all those hard at work.
"Ah, the rebel princess herself. What could you possibly want." Murphy said upon seeing me walk up to him.
"You listen to me very carefully John Murphy." I said, stepping up so I was toe to toe with him. "You try and hurt someone in this camp again without reason and you'll have me to answer to."
"Is that supposed to scare me." Murphy scoffed. "You're the one who should be watching their back, Kane."
"Is that a threat?" I replied evenly, narrowing my eyes. Murphy shrugged, taking out his knife and flipping it in his palm.
"Just stay out of my way." Murphy said, shoving me backwards and turning back to his supervising task.
"Self-entitled prick." I muttered as I walked back to the dropship to rejoin my friends. "Anyone seen Wells?" I asked a group of kids passing by.
"He was on guard duty last I heard." A girl called Munroe replied. "Bellamy set up shifts until we build a wall."
I nodded and headed up to see Jasper, where I stayed with the small group, falling asleep just before the sun rose.
