It was practically dark now and Rosa feared she might be lost. Cheering sounded suddenly through the trees and the thief knew exactly where she was. A few long strides and Rosa was back at camp. She let out the breath she'd been holding but her relief only lasted a moment. The whole camp was gathered around a fire. A girl was kneeling near the centre, her arm outstretched on a rock. Murphy and one of his cronies she recognized from his gang on the Ark were busy removing the teenage girl's wristband.
"Crap, where's Bellamy?!" Rosa asked and a boy from the crowd pointed to the rebel leader who was standing by the fire.
Why wasn't he stopping this? She needed the Ark to know she was alive, at least until she got her family down here with her.
"Who's next?" Bellamy asked the crowd and Rosa could not believe what she was hearing. She rounded on Bellamy, ready to give him one hell of a shouting match but Wells beat her to it.
"What are you doing?!" The chancellor's son was angry.
"We're liberating ourselves" Bellamy explained, holding back a couple of delinquents who were already gearing up to fight "what does it look like?"
"That's rich," Rosa chuckled as she stepped into the clearing next to Wells. Bellamy glared.
"It looks like you're trying to get us all killed" Wells looked grateful for the aid.
Wells told the kids that the wristbands were the only things telling the Ark that they were alive. That without them the Ark would think they'd died.
"That's the point, chancellor" Bellamy chuckled "we can take care of ourselves, can't we?"
He turned to the crowd and they cheered. Perfect, he was playing them. Rosa realized that whatever Bellamy had done to get down here it wasn't something that would be pardoned.
"Stop!" Rosa yelled "can't you see he's using you?"
Bellamy froze and stared at her "I thought we had a deal" he mumbled so only she could hear.
"So did I" Rosa mumbled back "but you're keeping me from my family."
"Don't listen to her!" Bellamy addressed the crowd "We can survive. We're stong!"
"Do you think this is a game?" Wells intervened "Those aren't just our families up there, but our farmers, our doctors, our engineers! How long do you think we can survive on our own?"
Wells argued his point and Bellamy continued to respond with empty promises and ideals that had no place in a survival situation. But damn he knew how to talk. The delinquents were hanging off his every word. Rosa was about to intervene when a hand on her shoulder spun her around.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Murphy asked her "I thought you'd want this."
"I would if Danny and the others weren't still up there!" Rosa shot back.
Murphy looked sad for a moment "Rosa..."
"Besides" she cut him off "he's up to something. I think he's got big enemies on the Ark."
"So do you Rosa! Sometimes you have to let go. They'll be fine. You know them better than I do. Danny will take good care of them."
"The Ark is dying you idiot! They're running out of air. I have to save them" Rosa blurted out, forgetting that piece of information was a state secret.
"What?" Murphy looked dumbfounded "how do you know?"
Rosa just looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Ok, I get it. No questions about your job. You never tell me anything..." He mumbled the last part under his breath but Rosa heard him anyway.
They'd always kept out of each other's business, mostly to keep the other safe. When Rosa became an orphan at twelve, Murphy had invited her to live in his house and his mother was always too drunk to care.
"Look, John" Rosa only used his first name when what she needed to tell him was very important "Bellamy can't be trusted, whether he's right about the wristbands or not. Please don't let him use you."
Murphy nodded. He trusted Rosa above anyone else.
She turned back to the argument just as Bellamy began shouting some nonsense about "whatever the hell we want." The crowd erupted in cheers and chanted this new slogan. Rosa knew the argument was lost. She ground her teeth and turned to leave.
Just then thunder sounded and rain began to pour onto the kids. Rosa stopped and looked up to the sky, rain drops falling on her face. She couldn't help but smile. She would find a way to save Danny and the others, hopefully without bringing the whole Ark down with them. A familiar hand grasped hers and pulled her out of her daze. Murphy smiled down at her as he pulled her in for a hug. Rosa giggled as he held her hand above her head as she twirled. The crowd danced and cheered in the rain around them.
"I'm so glad you're here Murphy, I mean it" Rosa smiled.
"Me too Rosa, I got your back."
"I never doubted that" Rosa looked pleased.
Soon the kids began to huddle into groups or went to get settled in the dropship.
"Ugh, I forgot. Looks like I'm gonna have to sleep in the ship with the rest of them" Rosa groaned.
"I got you covered," Murphy told her "we can share the tent I made."
When Rosa had gone to live with him on the Ark they'd shared a room so it wasn't anything new. Rosa had come to find his sleeping presence comforting, when he wasn't drunk and with some girl. The first time he'd brought company Rosa had been asleep. She'd woken up to find a slutty-looking blonde riding a rather drunk Murphy. She'd turned around trying to ignore them and get back to sleep but couldn't. The next day Murphy had apologized, at least, but Rosa insisted she'd been asleep the whole time. She'd been far too shy to tell him the truth. It kept happening though, with a different girl each time, until finally Rosa worked up the courage to get up and go sleep on the couch whenever they woke her. They didn't notice.
Rosa didn't have such an active sex life and the few times she'd felt the need to sleep with someone Danny would always take care of her. Neither of them wanted anything more from the other so that was how it stayed between them. It was just occasional sex. Rosa had always tried to be considerate of Murphy and never brought Danny to their room. Only once Rosa had thought Murphy hadn't come home so she invited Danny. It turns out Murphy had just collapsed on the couch in the living room. The smell of pancakes had woken him and he had glanced up to find a half-dressed Daniel making breakfast.
"Oh hey lil' dude, didn't see ya there" had been Danny's calm reaction, that annoying grin on his face.
Murphy looked at him confused. It was only when Rosa emerged from the bedroom, also half dressed, that he finally connected the dots.
Rosa really hadn't expected him to physically kick Danny out. She'd been furious with Murphy for days after that. How could he not see how unfair he was being? Eventually Rosa had just let it go as one of his unpredictable temper tantrums. He'd always been kind of protective.
"Here we are" Murphy brought her back from her musings as he indicated a sad looking tent near the dropship. He looked proud.
"Looks great" Rosa snorted sarcastically and he shoved her.
"Hey!" Murphy's right hand man Mbege walked up to them "I've seen you around the Ark, you're Murphy's friend right?" he asked Rosa. The rest of Murphy's gang approached as well.
"Yeah, I'm Rosalinda" she said smiling slightly.
"John Mbege" he beamed "a friend of Murphy's is a friend of mine."
"Friend, huh? So you got a tent for tonight?" One of the other three guys asked her as another whistled. Rosa felt Murphy tense at this.
"Oh, I'm good" she replied nonchalantly.
"C'mon-" the guy tried to convince her but Murphy grabbed her arm tightly.
"She's with me." The statement left no room for argument.
The guys backed off and Rosa pulled her arm free. She slipped into the tent and Murphy followed.
"You know, you gotta let me show them I'm not a piece of meat they can mess with. What you just did means they'll come back when you're not around" Rosa rolled her eyes.
"I won't let anything happen to you" Murphy huffed as he arranged the bedding. There was only one bed, if it could even be called that.
"What?" Murphy must have noticed the way she was looking at it "there weren't enough blankets and pieces of parachutes to make two beds."
"Fine," Rosa crossed her arms "just stick to your side."
Rosa was exhausted, it had been a long day and all she wanted to do was sleep. She started taking her jacket off.
"Woah, hey Rosa didn't you just tell me weren't gonna get it on?" Murphy smirked and she threw her jacket in his face.
"You just keep that on your face until I say so" Rosa ordered as she reached under her shirt to take off her bra.
Surprisingly Murphy did as he was told. She kicked off her boots and took the jacket from his face. Murphy started taking his boots off as well and Rosa got under the covers crumpling her jacket under her head to serve as a pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
A sudden rustling beside her caused Rosa to wake up just a couple of hours later. Her first thought was that Murphy had brought another girl home. She was about to get up to go sleep on the couch when she remembered where they were. Rosa turned to see Murphy putting his boots on.
"You going to take a piss or something?" She groaned, still half asleep.
"Bellamy needs a hand with something. Don't wait up." With that he left the tent.
Rosa was way too tired to argue or worry or shout after him that Bellamy couldn't be trusted so she just fell asleep on her crumpled jacket. At least it was more comfortable than the bed in the Sky Box.
Murphy was glad she let him go without a fight. He didn't want to have to explain himself. Bellamy had asked him to help get Wells' wristband. He agreed with Bellamy completely and was willing to follow him. Of course he trusted Rosa and if it came down to it he would pick her over Bellamy but she wasn't thinking straight because of her gang of thieves on the Ark. He'd only ever seen them a few times and the only one he actually met was Danny. He didn't like Danny. He couldn't believe Rosa, his Rosa, slept with that idiot. Murphy had stood by her when her mother died, he'd comforted her when her father hung himself and he'd been the one to cradle her through her nightmares. Even after all that she'd run off with that gang of misfits and called them family. Now he finally had her back, he wasn't going to let them come down and take her from him again. She was all he had.