"Monty, let's go," Bellamy ordered as he roughly shoved one of the Ark's guns into Monty's hands, who was just waking up from his light slumber.
"Woah Bellamy," Monty remarked, just noticing the gun that Bellamy had placed into his arms. "Slow down. Where are we going?"
"Clarke's missing. She went outside to collect some water, but I'm pretty sure she used that as an excuse to leave camp," Bellamy explained. "Where's Jasper?"
Monty's face changed at the mention of Jasper. Ever since the group had returned from Mount Weather, Jasper had become hysterical after Maya's death. "Bellamy, I think that Jasper's going to have to miss out on this one."
"Alright fine," Bellamy said as he and Monty strode out of the Ark with their guns in hand.
Monty struggled to keep up as Bellamy's quick pace increased when they were outside. It was clear that the weather had changed somewhat dramatically in the past couple of minutes, it looked like a storm was heading their way. A blanket of never ending dreariness and darkness covered the expanse of the forest that Bellamy and Monty were heading towards.
Except it wouldn't be as easy as simply opening the gate that closed everybody in. Two Arkers dressed in guard uniforms blocked the entrance (or in this case the exit), their stolid and dour expressions fixating on Bellamy and Monty as they approached.
"What's the plan?" Monty whispered as Bellamy's pace began slowing down.
"There is none," he stated as he silently went to brush past the guards, only he wasn't able to. One of the guards stood in front of Bellamy and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from advancing, eyeing the gun that Bellamy carried in his right hand.
"Where do you think you're going?" the guard demanded, looking at Bellamy with an icy glare, which Bellamy returned. Bellamy was not intimidated by this guard, nor was he intimidated by the other one. He was going to get past those walls, no matter what it took.
"Outside," Bellamy's powerful voice echoed.
"Do you have the chancellor's permission?" the guard asked.
"Yes," Bellamy said, his voice showing no indication that it was a lie. Bellamy could lie when he needed to. He could lie for Clarke.
The other guard laughed, "Sorry, but we're going to need the chancellor to be here to confirm that."
Monty looked at Bellamy, trying to predict his next move.
"Is that gun you're carrying authorized?" the guard blocking Bellamy from the gate asked.
"What, this?" Bellamy asked as he held up the gun that he was carrying, observing it as he repositioned his hands on it. He held it by the front portion so that the butt of the gun was free.
"Yes, the gun you are carr-," the guard started saying before the butt of Bellamy's gun impacted his temple and he fell to the ground. The other guard looked surprised and immediately reached for his gun, but was too late and was knocked down by another one of Bellamy's hits.
Before anything else could get in their way, Bellamy and Monty managed to open the gate and sprinted out, heading for the forest.
Monty felt a few cold raindrops drop onto his skin as he struggled to keep up with Bellamy's running pace. "Really, Bellamy?"
"Monty, you saw those guards. There was no way that they were going to let us past without Abby's approval," Bellamy responded as his breathing got slightly heavier.
They had reached the forest and slowed down slightly, trying to recall where the stream was located. After navigating around several trees, Monty and Bellamy had spotted the stream, only nobody appeared to be there. As they approached even closer, they noticed a lifeless Raven, submerged in the stream.
"Raven!" Bellamy's deep voice echoed as he and Monty dashed towards her.
"Help me carry her out," Bellamy directed Monty before they both lifted her out of the stream and placed her on the mud bank surrounding it.
"Raven, can you hear me?" Bellamy pleaded as he shook her shoulder slightly.
No response.
Monty placed his head on her chest and looked up at Bellamy with a horrified expression, "She's not breathing."
Shoot, Bellamy thought. As much as he tried to keep it out of his mind, he had a slight inclination to believe that she was dead.
"Bellamy, we need to bring her to medical," Monty urged, his expression showing intense pain as he saw one of his own lying motionlessly on the ground.
Bellamy forlornly shifted his gaze onto Raven and sighed when he knew he had no choice. He had to help Monty bring Raven back to camp since he knew that Monty wouldn't be able to lift Raven on his own, at least quickly enough for her to be even considered somewhat revivable.
His eyes wandered off of Raven and what had soon replaced his line of vision surprised him. A few pairs of fresh footprints were imbedded in the slick mud a few feet in front of him. Eyeing the giant gash on Raven's temple, he knew that somebody must have done this to Raven. Grounders.
But his mind wouldn't leave his one burning question alone: Where was Clarke? It was clear that whoever had done this to Raven had no use for her, since they had just left her to drown in the water. In the back of his mind, he knew that the grounders must have taken Clarke, but the reason as to why they would do this baffled him.
As Bellamy contemplated this, Monty became impatient, "Bellamy…"
Panic hadn't completely set in yet, however Bellamy could feel his heart rate and breathing increasing. Ultimately, he had to choose between Clarke or Raven. He cared about Raven, but Clarke… Words could not describe how he felt about her. He looked towards the pairs of footprints, one of which was most likely Clarke's, slowly disappating as the rain poured. It pained him deeply to know that Clarke was possibly out in the woods alone with grounders, but Bellamy didn't know if this was the case for sure. What he did know was that he might be able save Raven. He couldn't leave one of his own to die.
Having made up his mind, Bellamy picked up Raven in one swift motion. "Let's go," he said, with much less determination than before.
It had been a hard trek back to camp, especially when he sprinted through the forest as fast as he could carrying Raven, but at last he had made it to the front gates.
"Hey! We need medical!" Bellamy and Monty shouted as they approached the front gates.
Raven wasn't looking very good. Her face had gotten extremely pale and she still wasn't breathing, but all Bellamy had thought about was Clarke.
"Monty, make sure Abby takes care of Raven," Bellamy instructed. "I have to go find Clarke."
Earlier he thought that he had to choose between Clarke or Raven, but did he really have to?
xxx
Clarke slowly opened her eyes, taking a moment for her to register what had happened previously. She had remembered that rain was pouring down quite heavily, so that must have explained why she was currently in a type of shelter, but she hadn't been conscious long enough to know where she actually was. The grounders most likely wanted to keep the location of this dwelling a secret.
Taking in her surroundings, she could barely make out the shadows of her captors, huddled in the corner of the room while silently conversing in Trigedasleng. The room was quite dark except for the few things that the fire illuminated but to be quite honest, there wasn't much to see.
Clarke's hands were tied to some rigid material up above her head, but she wasn't exactly sure what is was. As she sat leaning against a wall, her whole entire body felt achy and bruised. All she could think about right now was Raven, who had innocently been hurt because the grounders had wanted her. Again, somebody got hurt because of me, Clarke thought. She barely had the energy to think about the rest of her people, wondering if they even would notice if she was missing. Maybe her having kept such a low profile for the past few weeks had done more harm than good.
Throughout all this pondering, Clarke hadn't noticed that the grounders were slowly approaching her until they were only a few feet away from her exhausted body. Their expressions were so nonchalant as they glanced up and down at her body, inspecting her like she was an animal in a zoo. She tried to conceal how much she was trembling under the thick jacket she was wearing, but it was too hard for her to do in this moment of peril.
After speaking in their native tongue, the grounders laughed at Clarke's timidness, even though she tried to put on a strong face. To show emotion was to be weak.
Speaking in English for the pure amusement of scaring their subject, one grounder growled as he ran his hand over Clarke's cheek, "We might as well have some fun with her before we hand her over to the queen."
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed it (or not), be sure to write a review. I feel that I could really use some constructive criticism! :)