Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review my story! They make me wish I could write faster for all of you! Thank you to all my guest reviewers as well, especially Fangirling007, who always takes the time to leave such kind and thoughtful reviews. I always send a thank you PM to reviewers with accounts, but I guess I'll just answer yours on here so you know I appreciate you! When writing this story I usually have an easy time planting her into the story – with some twists, of course! Thank you again!
Special thanks to Dannylionthe1st for being an awesome beta!
Hope everyone enjoys this chapter!
Chapter 3: Plans Gone Awry
Bellamy's POV
Bellamy was losing his patience. Fast. Between Murphy's constant sarcastic comments, Monroe and Sterling's near silence and Finn's obsessive, slightly unhinged behavior, Bellamy was going to end up punching one of them in the face.
They had been walking for hours – the sun was now shining through the trees so Bellamy would say it was late morning. As it always did, his mind drifted to Kat. Was she locked up somewhere that she could see the sunshine? Smell the fresh air? Somehow he highly doubted that. A thought suddenly struck him and he nearly stumbled at the realization. Kat had a grounder contact, or friend or whatever. Was she with him and his people? Did he betray her or did he go against his people to try and protect her from the torture?
"So I think it's about time we get rid of these things," Murphy drawled, holding his hands up. Bellamy ground his teeth, scowling. "Whaddya say?"
"I say no. Again," he answered shortly, grabbing Murphy's arm roughly and pulling him forward. "Which way to the camp?"
An annoyed look crossed Murphy's face. "Hey, if I get attacked out here, I have nothing to defend myself with."
Bellamy glared at him. "I don't care." Bellamy looked around as Finn knocked his shoulder as he brushed by him. He watched with a mixture of disbelief and surprise as Finn took out his knife and cut the ties around Murphy's wrists. Murphy gave Bellamy a smug look as Finn walked away again. "Hey!" Bellamy called, jogging after him. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"It was your idea to bring him," Finn answered, an undercurrent of anger in his voice.
"Yeah, because like I told you already, he's the only one who knows where the grounders keep the prisoners – "
"Then we probably shouldn't let him be defenseless out here!" Finn argued, keeping his gaze straight ahead and picking up the pace. "We can handle Murphy," he said gruffly, the tone of his voice indicating the end of their conversation.
"You better hope so," Bellamy said uselessly, watching his back with a frown as he stalked away. Something seemed different about Finn. Like he was unhinged somehow, and Bellamy was just waiting for it to blow up in his face. Could this change of personality all be because of Clarke?
He swore under his breath. Now he had to keep an eye on both him and Murphy all while trying to find Kat and the rest of their people.
"So do I get a gun now?" Murphy asked with a smirk on his face. Bellamy rolled his eyes, shoving Murphy in front of him and feeling satisfied when it caused him to stumble. Murphy sent him a glare over his shoulder but didn't say anything else, just changed directions slightly and led the way.
He better know where he's going, Bellamy thought savagely. If he leads us into a trap, then I'm finally going to kill the little prick. He thought back to when they first landed on the ground, when Kat wanted nothing to do with him and Murphy was his right hand man. What had he been thinking?
They walked for another hour. The hot sun was beaming down on them through the trees and making them sweat, but they didn't stop for a break. Bellamy had just switched places with Finn and was leading them through the forest when Murphy suddenly grabbed him and pulled him down behind a large log, hissing, "Get down!"
Bellamy crouched down, surveying the scene in front of him as the others joined them. "Told you I could find it," Murphy said smugly. Bellamy ignored him. It was a big structure, crudely made by the grounders from the surrounding trees. He shifted his gun higher so he could look through the scope and viewing the area with his heart pounding in anticipation. He didn't know what he would find – Kat strung up on a whipping post, Jasper and the rest of their people on the ground around her – but a curious sense of both relief and disappointment washed through him.
"I don't see anything but grounders," he observed. Part of him didn't want her to be captured here and tortured by the grounders, but the other part wanted her to be here because he didn't know where else she could be. "Our people aren't here."
Finn snatched the other gun from Sterling and brought it up so he could see. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly. "They've got stuff from our dropship."
Bellamy checked again and sure enough he was right. There were a few grounders holding what looked the seat belt straps that they had in the dropship. "So maybe they know where our friends are."
"Yeah, or maybe they killed them already," Murphy drawled. Bellamy didn't look his way, but his words made Bellamy's heart sink in his chest. The briefest realization that Kat might be dead slipped through Bellamy's brain and he momentarily lost his breath as a sharp pain in his chest made him tighten his grip on his gun. No, he denied, shying away from the thought. She's alive… somewhere.
"Son of a bitch," Finn spat, breaking Bellamy away from his dark thoughts.
"What is it?" He asked quickly, looking through the gun again.
"The guy with the one eye," Finn whispered in a hushed voice, his teeth gritted. Bellamy spotted him easily. A thick red scar ran across his forehead, down where his right eye would be to he cheek. "Around his neck." Bellamy looked a little lower and paused, confused.
"What am I looking at?" He asked, throwing a glance in Finn's direction.
"He's got Clarke's watch! It was her father's."
The full impact of what Finn was saying slammed into Bellamy. Clarke had never told him the full story of what happened between her father and her mother, but Bellamy had heard bits and pieces from other people and he knew how much she loved her father. "She wouldn't have given that up without a fight," he said in a low voice.
A determined look crossed Finn's face. "And neither will we," he promised.
"Okay," Bellamy said after a moment, a plan beginning to form in his mind. "Finn, you're with me. You two stay here, make sure you stay out of sight. If this thing goes south, take out the other grounders but not the one with the watch. Copy?"
"Copy," Monroe and Sterling repeated. Monroe glanced at Murphy with disdain. "What about Murphy?"
"Do I get a gun now?" He asked, sounding as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Something like that," Bellamy answered, grabbing Murphy's arm again and hauling him to his feet.
The plan worked perfectly. Murphy was given two large rocks and positioned himself close to where the grounder with the one eye was standing watch. He knocked the rocks together and when the grounder came to investigate the noise, Bellamy approached him from behind, swinging a thick branch at his head and knocking him unconscious with a satisfying thunk.
"We need to bring him somewhere quiet," he said to Finn as he approached.
"I know just the place," Finn answered. "Grab him and the others then follow me." With a giant effort, both Bellamy and Murphy picked up the grounder and staggered after Finn. Anticipation zipped through Bellamy's veins, his face hard and determined. He wanted to find out where his people were and he was finally one step closer in doing so.
Kat's POV
"We need to hurry," Clarke muttered, tearing her eyes away from the door, running back over to Anya's cage and began struggling to break open the lock. Kat still couldn't quite believe her eyes as she frantically looked around for a weapon or something else to use to help these people out of their cages. She kept her eyes averted – she felt sick and guilty every time she looked one of those poor starving people in the eye, just waiting in terror to see if they were going to be next to be drained of their blood. Nobody should have this kind of fate.
Kat froze when she heard the sound of a door being opened, throwing a wild, panicked glance in Clarke's direction. There was no time to think of a plan, not time to do anything really. Clarke had just helped Anya out of the cage and were unable to move or hide. They could do nothing but stand there as heels clicked across the floor and a female doctor appeared, carrying a clipboard. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asked in a loud, angry voice as she spotted Clarke and Anya. Kat hovered out of sight, brain racing as she tried to come up with a plan.
"What are you doing?" Clarke shot back, just as angry. She gestured to the cages surrounding them. "These are people, humans, and you're treating them like animals, draining their blood so could help heal your people – "
"Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same thing?" The doctor asked, tilting her head to the side and surveying her critically.
Clarke caught sight of Kat sneaking up behind the doctor and Kat brought a finger to her lips, gesturing her to keep the doctor talking. "No, I wouldn't – "
"You killed three hundred grounders, burning them in a terrible, painful death, to save your people," the doctor countered in a soft voice. "I'm just helping my people, same as you."
Clarke changed the subject. "If you are hiding something like this from us, then maybe my gut feeling is right." Her voice grew excited. "You doctored that bullet wound on your soldier to make it look like an arrow wound. Our people are still alive out there – "
"Wait a minute," the doctor interrupted, stiffening suspiciously. "Weren't you brought in with another girl? Katerina?"
"Present," Kat announced, making her move. She quickly stepped up behind the doctor, wrapping her right arm around her throat and making sure her bicep was on one side of her neck and her forearm on the other. Her free arm reached behind the doctor's head to grab her right bicep as she began to squeeze. "And I prefer Kat," she whispered in her ear, applying pressure to both sides of her neck and pressing the doctors head forward into Kat's elbow. The doctor's nails scrabbled against Kat's arms, leaving gouges but Kat didn't let up until, after a few seconds, the doctor went limp.
"Is she dead?" Clarke asked quietly.
"Just unconscious," Anya answered, watching Kat closely.
"We should hide her," Kat said. She looked up at them with a cruel look in her eyes. "I say we put her in the cage. Any objections?" They both shook their heads and together the three of them pushed and shoved the doctor's body inside, not being careful in the slightest. "Well," Kat announced, closing the cage door and standing back up and brushing her hands off. "I don't know about you guys, but that made me feel marginally better."
Anya was still pretty weak from lack of food and water and leaned heavily on Clarke for support. "Come on, help me with her!" Clarke ordered, ignoring Kat completely. "We need to get out of here before someone notices she's missing."
"What?" Kat asked in shock. "But Clarke, what about all the others? We can't just leave them here to die – "
"We can't help them if we get captured again!" Clarke snapped impatiently, blue eyes flashing. "That's Doctor Tsing and I'm guessing that she's in charge of this whole, fucked up thing. We need to escape from here, Kat, we have no choice if we want to find our friends." Kat was torn. Logically, she knew that they had to leave – they had gotten lucky this far but their luck wouldn't hold out for long. And she wanted to get out of this mountain so damn badly, but her conscious was struggling with the fact that if she didn't help these people when she could have, their blood was on her hands. "There's no time for this Kat," Clarke whispered quickly, actually taking a threatening step towards her. "I will drag you out by your hair again if I have to."
Kat threw her a glare at that comment, but eventually listened, throwing Anya's other arm over her shoulder and helping Clarke support her weight as they hurried towards the door. They struggled a little, grunting, but eventually got it open. Kat let Clarke and Anya go ahead of her as she turned one last time to look at the room. "We'll find a way to free you," she whispered to them even though they couldn't hear her. "I promise."
Then she shut the door behind them. She quickly jogged after Clarke, through another room with a pair of grounders hanging upside down. She wished more than anything that she could cut them down, but all it would do was raise suspicion with the Mountain Men. Clarke led them through to the end, which had a square, rusted door on the floor. As they paused in confusion, there was a sharp click through the small area and they whirled around to see that they had just been locked inside the room.
Clarke rushed forward to pry the doors open with her fingers and Kat had to struggled not to roll her eyes. "You aren't going to open those heavy metal doors with nothing but your hands, Blondie." Kat told her sarcastically.
"Well do you have any better ideas?" Clarke snapped over her shoulder.
Kat opened her mouth to answer but was cut off as the sound of a loud, alarm suddenly blared through the room, a yellow light suddenly flashing as if in warning.
"What is that?" Anya whispered, looking around as Clarke slowly backed away from the door. They all shared a wide-eyed bewildered look, then screamed with surprise as the floor suddenly dropped open and they freefell in the darkness. Their bodies slammed together as they landed on a long slide that shot them into something very painful.
Kat lost her breath as she landed hard on her back, and it took her a moment as she gasped, struggling to breathe. She heard one of the other girls grunt next to her and struggled to move, wincing as she turned her head to the side to see whom it was. A strangled yell escaped her throat as she was realized she was face to face with a barely clothed man who was staring back at her with wide, lifeless eyes. Her yell made the others look around as she clambered over more dead bodies and threw herself up and over the edge of the cart, stumbling as she landed on the ground, brushing off the medical gown she was wearing and feeling extremely grossed out.
There was whimpering coming from inside the metal cart and Kat peered back in to see Anya with a distraught look on her face as she went from one body to the other, grabbing their faces so she could see them. Kat's heart hurt for her. She had just landed in a pile of corpses of people that she used to know – Kat didn't want to ever know what that must have felt like. "Anya!" Clarke cried, halfway over the edge of the cart. "Grab my hand!"
Anya stared at her in a daze before slowly reaching out and allowing Clarke and Kat to help her out. Kat looked around, walking a short distance away. They were in some dark, creepy underground mining tunnel with two ways that they could go. Which one was the way to the exit? And where did the other lead?
"Hey, there are clothes over here!" Clarke called from a short distance away. "Come get dressed, we can't cover any ground like this."
Kat headed over immediately, gratefully taking the clothes and desperately trying not to think about where they came from. The medical clothes were extremely uncomfortable and left her feeling very exposed – not exactly the best escape outfit.
"I won't leave my people behind," Anya murmured softly.
Kat and Clarke shared a quick look filled with frustration and panic. Kat gave a shrug, making a 'what do you expect me to do about it' face and Clarke sighed, getting up and hurrying over to Anya. "Anya, listen to me," she implored. "My people are still stuck inside this place too. But they have guards, they have weapons. Once we get out of here we can find help, we can come back – "
"There is no we," Anya interrupted hotly, a little bit of her old fierceness returning.
"Hey if it hadn't been for Clarke you would still be stuck in that cage," Kat snapped back impatiently. "How about a little gratitude and respect, you stupid – "
Kat broke off, stiffening in alarm as sounds echoed from the other end of the tunnel. "Someone's coming," Anya whispered.
"Not just someone," Clarke said, her eyes wide. "Reapers."
"Shit," Kat swore. She still saw the reaper's deformed faces from the battle at the dropship and she had no desire to come face to face with them again.
Anya, the stubborn idiot, actually straightened on shaky legs and took a few steps towards the reapers. "You can hardly stand," Clarke chastised, waving at Kat to help her take some of Anya's weight. "Come on, I have a better idea. Over here, help me lift her." Together Kat and Clarke pushed and shoved Anya into an empty cart then jumped in themselves, Clarke carrying the bundle of clothes that she had found. They huddled at the bottom and hardly dared to breathe.
They watched the light from their torches as they approached. There was a low grunt and then something heavy was thrown into the cart. Kat's hand reached up to cover her mouth, swallowing a scream as she realized the heavy thing was a body. It reeked terribly, and it only got worse as they threw in three more bodies. One of them landed on top of her and Kat felt it move slightly, realizing with horror that these people weren't dead. Just on the edge of it.
Kat fervently hoped that the reapers would leave right after, but their situation only got worse from there. One of the reapers started pushing the cart along the tracks. Kat couldn't imagine where they were going. Where did they dump the dead grounder bodies?
Her fists clenched, her entire body tense as the adrenaline rushing through her body made her heart race. When the reapers realized they were alive it was going to be a fight to the death. They had no weapons, one of them was so weak she was basically half dead and the other had no fighting experience at all. The odds were not in their favor.
A couple minutes later they came to an abrupt stop. Kat forced herself to lie perfectly still as two disgusting reapers appeared over the edge of the cart, grabbing one of the bodies they threw in and lifting it out. There was the mumbled, incoherent sound of the reapers talking, the telltale sound of a blade sliding across skin and the gurgling, terrified screaming of the person whose throat was just slit.
Kat looked around as Clarke slowly sat up so that she could peer over the edge of the cart. "Oh god," she blanched, paling.
Kat gently pushed the body off of her. "What is it?" She whispered urgently.
"They're…. they're feeding on him," Clarke answered in a shocked voice full of disgust and disbelief.
Kat swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "They're distracted, we should go now. Here." She handed Clarke the pile of clothes and pushed her slightly so she would hop out of the cart. Kat looked over her shoulder to see Anya crouched over the body of the man that was on top of Kat, her hands cradling his face. "Anya I swear to whatever god is out there, if you don't move it – "
Anya sent her a glare filled with such fury that Kat shut up. She looked back down at the man, a tender expression on her face. "Yu gonplei st odon."
Kat didn't know what the words meant, but they must have held some significance because Anya snapped the man's neck with a solemn look on her face. She heard Clarke gasp from behind her, but Kat didn't flinch. She could understand the reasoning behind Anya's actions. Better to die by the kind hand of his leader than a painful death when the reapers fed on him.
Anya finally took Kat's offered hand and clambered out of the cart, running in the opposite direction of the reapers and only stopping when they felt it was far enough. "Here," Clarke panted, handing clothes to Kat and Anya. "Get dressed, quickly." Kat quickly slipped on the black pants and boots, black faded t-shirt and dark gray jacket and when they were all ready, they started running again.
They hadn't gone very far when Clarke stopped once more. "Damn it, this place is a maze!" She hissed in frustration, looking at all the paths that they could take.
Anya wasn't listening. "When you were talking to that woman before, what did you mean? What are they doing to us?"
"They use your blood," Clarke told her, bending over slightly to catch her breath. "I saw a soldier come in with radiation burns – hours later he was fine. It's like your blood is healing them, somehow. I've never seen anything like it."
"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt this moment," Kat interjected, glancing warily back in the direction they came. "But we really need to keep moving."
"You're right," Clarke nodded, turning to go. "Come on."
Kat moved to follow her, turning to glance back at Anya and gritting her teeth in frustration. "Seriously? Where are you going?" She asked in exasperation.
"Hey, that's the way back to the reapers!" Clarke told her quickly as she saw Anya heading back the way they came.
"You go your way, I'll go mine," Anya murmured.
"We need to stick together – "
"I told you there is no we – "
"I saved your life – "
"You saved my life because you need me," Anya spat. "I know the way back to your people, I know where the traps are hidden." Kat blinked. Had Clarke thought of all that before saving Anya? Because it hadn't even crossed Kat's mind until Anya pointed it out. "You'll never make it out there on your own," Anya taunted, bringing Kat back to the present.
"We don't have time for this," Clarke snapped, backing away and turning to go. "Our best chance of making it out of here alive is – "
"Uh, Clarke," Kat interrupted, calling her back. "She's gone."
"Fuck!" Clarke trilled, looking torn. "Forget her, we need to keep moving." And move they did. They ran through the tunnels, sweat pouring down their faces, breaths coming in pants and stitches in their sides.
"How do we know we're even going the right way?" Kat asked, her breathing harsh.
"We don't but we need – "
They both stopped short, skidding to a halt on the rocks of the tunnel. They had just rounded a corner and saw the light from the reaper's torches reflecting off the walls, their guttural voices echoing back to them. Kat grabbed Clarke's arm, spinning to run in the opposite direction only to stop once more, as their way was blocked by another reaper. "Oh no," Clarke moaned as the last direction they tried was also blocked. "Oh god."
They backed into a wall as the reapers closed in on them, growling and moaning, their grotesque faces making the experience that much more frightening. "I really wish I had my knife right now," Kat grunted under her breath as she raised her fists, preparing for a fight. Once again she wished Octavia were here instead. "How many do you think you can take?" She asked Clarke.
"Take?" Clarke repeated in a high pitch confused voice.
"Right," Kat nodded, trying to keep an eye on all the reapers. "Four on one it is, then."
Miller's POV
Worry gnawed on Miller's insides, the bad feeling only getting worse as the day went on. He had looked everywhere that he could without raising suspicion and there was still no sign of her. Finally, he admitted defeat and headed back toward the dining hall. He spotted Monty and Jasper sitting at one of the tables, solemn looks on their faces and made a beeline toward them. "Hey," he greeted in a low voice, sitting down next to Monty and leaning close so they wouldn't be overhead. "Have you guys seen Kat?"
"Kat's missing too?" Monty asked in alarm.
"Too?" Miller repeated, frowning. "Who else is missing?"
"Clarke," Jasper answered, his brown eyes worried. "We haven't seen her and we don't think she slept in her bed last night."
"Neither did Kat," Miller confirmed grimly.
"What do we do?" Monty asked softly.
Jasper sighed, his eyes on something over Monty's shoulder. "Maya has access to everything through her job. Maybe she can snoop around. If Clarke and Kat are in trouble maybe she can find out."
Miller was all for the idea but Monty looked hesitant, shaking his head. "I don't know. Clarke didn't trust them. What if she's right?"
"We can trust Maya," Jasper disagreed immediately before a slightly uncertain look crossed his face. "At least I think we can."
Miller looked over his shoulder to see Maya smiling at Jasper from the other side of the room. "What choice do we have if we want to find out what happened to Kat and Clarke?"
"I'll talk to her right now," Jasper told them, standing up and going over to join Maya. They watched them talk, their faces serious, before Maya nodded and left the room.
After that it was just a waiting game. They did their best to act normal, talking with their friends, eating lunch and playing games. It was another hour or two before Maya returned. Miller could tell by the look on her face that the news was not good.
"Did you find something?" Jasper asked as she joined them.
"Apparently," Maya began, hesitating. "Clarke and Kat had some sort of mental breakdown. They got into a screaming match earlier and guards had to pry them off each other. They wouldn't stop until both of them were sedated."
"And where are they now?" Miller asked.
"Psych ward. It's just like when Kat was in there before. They're being closely monitored but a friend that works there said it could be a few days before they let anyone see them." She took in their distraught faces and sighed. "I'm sorry."
Jasper shook his head, looking dejected. "Last time I saw her I called her crazy."
"Last time I saw Kat I accused her of being the one to get us all thrown out of here," Miller joined in morosely.
"They'll be okay," Maya told them, trying to cheer them up.
"You don't know that," Miller said in a hard voice. "What if they had been right about this place the whole time?"
He promised he would protect her. Now she was missing once again and he had failed.
Bellamy's POV
"We're going to do this again, and this time you're going to stop screwing with us!" Bellamy snapped in anger as he approached the one eyed grounder. His hands were tied behind his back and he was kneeling on the floor of the underground bunker that Finn had lead them to. "Where did you get this watch?" He waved it in the other man's face.
"I told you," the grounder drawled, gazing up at them with a bored expression. "I found it outside your camp."
"He's lying!" Finn exploded, fire in his eyes as he glared at the grounder. "Clarke would never take this off voluntarily."
"I know – " Bellamy tried to say, but Finn snatched the watch from him and shoved in the grounders face.
"Where is the girl," he snarled, his voice rising sharply. "Who was wearing this watch?!"
"I never saw a girl," the grounder responded calmly.
"Another lie," Murphy proclaimed. "Maybe you should stop asking him nicely – "
"Shut up Murphy!" Bellamy snapped, trying to regain some control of the situation. "Where are our friends? You took them, I know you did, just tell us where!"
The grounder actually had the audacity to roll his eye. "Murphy's right," Finn stated, pulling out his gun. "We're wasting time!" He brought the butt of the gun across the grounder's face before Bellamy could pull him back. "Answer the question!" Finn yelled, struggling. "Where is the girl that was wearing this watch?"
"Finn stop!" Bellamy roared, finally succeeding in shutting him up. "Trust me. There are some lines you can't uncross!"
A harsh look crossed Finn's face as he shoved Bellamy off him. "What is wrong with you? Kat is missing too – aren't you supposed to love her? Why aren't you doing everything you can to find her? This asshole knows where she is and you're just standing there asking him politely – "
Bellamy swallowed the rage that threatened to overwhelm him and desperately tried not to punch Finn in the face. "Don't you dare suggest that I'm not doing everything I possibly can to find Kat and the rest of our people. I've been through this before and I remember how she looked at me back then. I disappointed her with my actions and I want her to be able to recognize me when I do find her!"
Finn stopped for a second and Bellamy clenched his teeth turning away as flashbacks of himself torturing Lincoln crossed his mind. He was doing everything he could while trying to still be the person that Kat had helped him become. But what if it wasn't enough to find Kat?
"Where is Clarke?" Finn screamed, once again rushing forward to start punching the grounder again. Bellamy swore under his breath, pulling Finn off him once more. "Back off!" Finn shouted, pointing the gun at Bellamy, a murderous look on his face.
"Put down the gun, Finn," Bellamy asked in a slightly shaking voice, in complete disbelief at how unhinged Finn was.
Glaring at Bellamy, he swung the gun around and pressed it against the grounders temple. "Three seconds!" Finn shouted. "Two! One!"
"Okay!" the grounder gasped, shocking Bellamy into silence. Was this grounder actually going to tell the truth? He thought grounders were supposed to me more hardcore than that. "I'll tell you. Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war."
"East where?" Finn growled, his hair falling down into his face. "How do we get to them?"
"I can draw you a map!" The grounder said quickly as Finn pressed the gun harder into his temple. "But you should hurry. Soon they'll outlive their usefulness."
"Somebody get him something for him to draw a map," Finn ordered, finally lowering the gun. Monroe hurried forward, giving a piece of paper and a pencil to the grounder.
"And you thought I was crazy," Murphy sarcastically murmured to Bellamy, brushing past him. Bellamy glanced at Finn, shaken by his actions. The Finn he remembered fought for peace with the grounders and didn't want to learn how to use a gun. This Finn was turning out to be the complete opposite.
The grounder was done with the map fifteen minutes later. Sterling grabbed the paper and brought it over to the light on the table so they could all study it. It was easy enough to follow. "Grab your gear," Bellamy ordered. "We're leaving."
"What about him?" Sterling asked, throwing a nervous glance at the grounder.
"We leave him."
"And what if he escapes?" Murphy asked, raising his eyebrows. "He knows exactly where we're going – "
"We're not killing him," Bellamy said firmly, narrowing his eyes.
"I don't really see another option here," Murphy countered hotly. "If we don't take care of this now it's going to blow back on us and you know that."
"He's unarmed, Murphy – "
"He's a grounder," Murphy said as if he were stating the obvious. "Really?" He asked in disbelief, looking around at the rest of them. "Tell him!"
"I don't know," Monroe said uncertainly, shaking her head.
"You don't know what?" Murphy repeated in frustration. "He's going to tell his people everything, we're as good as dead. Our friends too," he added with a significant look at Bellamy. He knew what he was saying. Kat would die if this guy escaped.
"We're not doing this," Bellamy growled, pushing Kat out of his mind. "End of discussion. If you want him you'll have to go through me."
"What's happened to you, you're talking like you've never killed a grounder before – "
"That was in battle! This would be an execut-"
The sound of a gunshot rang through the small space making them flinch in surprise. They turned just in time to see the grounder drop to the floor, blood spreading from the bullet wound in his temple. Finn was standing over him with a blank expression on his face, one without remorse or regret, one that frightened Bellamy more than anything else.
Finn lowered the gun and stalked over to the table snatching the map and ignoring their looks of stupefied surprise. "Let's get moving," he ordered, climbing the ladder to leave the bunker.
Nobody seemed to know what to say. One by one, they shook off their shock and followed Finn. Murphy was the first, sending Bellamy a look of satisfaction. Sterling took a shaky breath and Monroe handed Bellamy his gun, giving him a troubled shrug.
Bellamy glanced back at the body, a terrible feeling of foreboding washing over him. He needed to keep a closer eye on Finn. He had a bad feeling this was not the end.
The feeling followed him back up to the ground and all along the next mile as they walked in silence, Bellamy taking up the rear. The back of his neck prickled almost as if someone was watching him. He started out glancing around out of the corner of his eye, but when he thought he saw a dark figure between the trees, he raised his gun, pausing.
He opened his mouth to shout to the others, but thought better of it. He didn't want a trigger happy Finn shooting first and asking questions later. Gun in the ready position, he made a note of where his group was before following the dark figure. Bellamy squinted through the scope as he jogged, catching sight of what looked like a young man with a long ponytail and a strange, loping run. Bellamy sped up as he lost sight of him through the trees, slowing when he came to a clearing.
He spun in a quick circle, breathing heavily, but the man was gone. Swearing under his breath, Bellamy heard the sounds of the others running after him. He frowned as a flash of light caught his eye. Walking over to a nearby log, Bellamy slowly bent over and picked up a small, black switchblade. He had to lock his legs so he wouldn't fall to his knees, his breathing ragged.
He would recognize this blade anywhere. It was Kat's.
Kat's POV
Before the reapers could make a move, a loud, high pitch screeching noise suddenly sounded and the reapers howled in pain, bending over and covering their ears. Kat and Clarke looked around wildly to see two Mountain Men in full radiation uniform approaching them, holding up a strange device. "Get away from them!" One of them shouted, waving a weapon threateningly and causing the reapers to scatter. "Clarke Griffin. Katerina Hale. You're coming with us," the other said in a hard voice.
Kat stayed quiet as they grabbed her and Clarke's arms, waiting for the right moment as they were guided back to Mount Weather. There was no way she was going back there without a fight. Clarke, apparently, was feeling the same way.
"I know everything," she proclaimed in a harsh voice. "I know what you're doing to them!"
"That's why you're going in the harvest chamber with them," Clarke's guard said, handing Clarke over to the other man as he went up to the intercom. His announcement shocked Clarke into a terrified silence. "Alpha Delta Two. We've reached the intake. Two prisoners in custody."
"Your mission was to bring back all three of them," the voice snapped angrily. "The outsider cannot be allowed to leave this mountain. Alpha Delta One is coming out now."
A loud, wild scream sounded from above them as Anya jumped down from out of nowhere, knocking the guard away from the intercom. It was exactly what Kat had been waiting for. She pivoted out of the other guard's grasp, kicking him in the chest and knocking him back several steps. Clarke gave a strangled yell, going for his mask and ripping it off making him scream as the radiation hit him. "His mask!" Clarke shouted to Anya who was fighting against the other one. "Take off his mask!"
Anya successfully did so and shouted over the man's screams, "I found a way out. This way!" Clarke paused to pick up the guns that they dropped, tossing one to Kat who caught it and sprinted after the others as the metal doors opened and another team streamed in.
They ran, listening to the shouts of the man behind him until Kat noticed that the tunnel was slowly growing lighter. Kat gave a yelp, skidding to a stop as they came to the edge of the tunnel, looking out into the clear blue sky. She glanced downward, swallowing harshly when she saw what looked like a waterfall dropping hundreds of feet down into what she guessed was a lake or a stream – the mist was completely covering the ground – that's how hard the water was falling.
"Wait!" Clarke cried, looking scared as she shouted over the sound of the water falling. "There has to be another way!"
"There isn't!" Anya shouted back.
"Drop your weapons!" The men shouted as the caught up to them, their own guns pointed at them. "There's no place left to go."
The three of them shared a panicked look and then Anya jumped. "Anya!" Clarke screamed, watching as her body disappeared into the mist.
"You don't have to do this! Do you hear me? It doesn't have to end like this!" Kat gritted her teeth, shifting her grip on the gun. They thought a fall from this height would kill them. But Kat didn't know if she could take on three armed men by herself.
Her brain raced. "I'm not going to back there to be treated like some animal, Clarke!" Kat told her, backing towards the edge as Clarke dropped her gun and put up her hands. "I will pull you by your hair if I have to – "
"Drop your weapon, Katerina!" He shouted again.
Clarke turned to her. "Trust me," she whispered, slowly prying the gun from Kat's hands. "I've got a plan." She echoed the words Kat had said to her before their fake-turned-real fight and Kat nodded, releasing the gun. Clarke took a preparatory breath and took a few steps towards the guards. "Alright," she said in a calm voice. "We give up. Don't shoot."
"Drop the gun, Clarke."
"Whatever you say. Catch," she cried, tossing Kat's gun in the air. While the guards were distracted with the gun flying towards them, Clarke spun on her heel, sprinting back towards Kat and grabbing her arm to pull her over the edge. The sound of a gun being fired resounded throughout the tunnel and Kat felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. The force of Clarke's pull sent her spiraling through the air, free falling as it ripped her arm out of Clarke's grip. Kat didn't have time to scream in fear before she was slammed into the water, the breath knocked from her lungs. She fought to stay conscious as she was tossed and pulled around underwater, but her vision must have gone dark for a few seconds.
When she opened her eyes again, she was still underwater, the cold seeping through her clothes and keeping her awake. Chest burning for air, Kat winced as she struggled to kick, feeling clumsy and uncoordinated as she quickly began to panic.
Too late, she remembered that she couldn't swim.
She had no idea where the surface was, but she could feel something solid underneath her feet so she used that to push herself up, kicking desperately. She breaks the surface and takes a large gasp of air only to be pulled back under. Water entered into her mouth, making her choke and lose even more oxygen. Her lungs burned for air, her eyes wide with fear and she struggled to break the surface again to take one more quick breath.
She slipped under again almost immediately, flailing in panic. She saw the blue sky disappear as the stream carried her away. Her chest wanted to expand, she wanted so badly to take a breath and the fear of knowing that she couldn't made her want to sob. I'm going to die, her brain thought at some point and the panic slowly began to ebb away. A strange feeling of calm began to spread through her as she broke through the surface one last time. You're a fighter Kat, I refuse to let you give up. Clarke's words echoed through her head and she gritted her teeth, trying to fight even though she felt so tired.
She caught sight of a brown object floating ahead of her and used her remaining strength to swim towards it. She realized it was a floating log and Kat draped her upper body across it. Retching and coughing up water, Kat gasped for air, her entire body trembling. She didn't want to be in this water for a moment longer but all she could do was reach up to her shoulder and pull something out of it.
It was a tranquilizer dart. Slurring a curse under her breath, Kat lost the battle to stay conscious.
When Kat blearily opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was that her entire body felt stiff and she was trembling from the cold. Her upper body was still wrapped around the log, which had drifted ashore, her legs and waist still in the water. Grimacing, Kat pulled herself out of the water and stood on shaky legs, looking around. Never again was she going in the water. That terrible feeling of suffocation, of the water in her lungs as she drowned – she shuddered just thinking about it.
She had no idea where she was and there was no sign of Clarke or Anya anywhere. By the light in the sky, multiple hours had passed and it was now early evening. Even before she had been locked up on the Ark, Kat had been lousy at Earth skills and had no idea which direction to go.
Unfortunately, the choice was made for her. A twig snapped on her right and she whipped her head around to see a group of three reapers emerging from the trees. They stared at each other in surprise for a moment before the reapers growled low in their throats, pulling out their weapons and letting out loud war cries as they advanced towards her.
Kat stood there, defenseless, her eyes wide and her brain still not working properly, unable to process what was happening. Bellamy's ghost flickered to the left of the grounders, a complete look of panic and horror on his face as he took in the scene. "What are you doing?" He shouted, waving his arms to get her attention. "Run, Kat! Run!"
Kat stumbled backwards in the other direction as the reapers drew closer and ran for her life.
Author's Note: Ahhhh another cliffhanger! You guys should know by now that I'm a big fan of writing them. Any opinions about what's going to happen next?
Shout out to those reviewers that keep calling Octavia Kat's sister-in-law! It makes me smile every time :)
Just out of curiosity, does anybody have any quality Bellamy/OC stories that they've read and could recommend to me? Not AU's, just stories based on the show – I know there aren't many out there, but I would love to give them a read!
Sorry for the random comments! Please leave me a review to let me know what you thought! :)
