Heyo! Murphy's back. I just finished writing season one, and let me tell you. I have ideas for the next season, but we'll see. It'll be posted as a different story whenever we get to that point. Don't worry about it, though.
The next chapter will be out in 3 days, so on Monday night. Every review brings that day up by one day.
Keliza153 and apaperheart are the reason why this chapter is out earlier than planned. Plan your thank you notes accordingly.
I think the speed of my running finally surprised everyone. One moment I'm minding my own business by the fire, and the next moment I'm right next to Murphy, pushing Connor out of the way and letting Murphy lean against me as Derek and I helped him walk. Octavia was giving the stink eye to Connor, and seemed more at ease now that I was over there.
I didn't want to bring Murphy anywhere near the dropship, but considering I wasn't strong enough to hold him by myself, I let Derek lead us. For the most part, Derek was okay. He didn't help Murphy when he was getting killed, but he didn't really hurt him either.
Murphy looked like he had been dragged to hell and back. His face was bloody, bruised, and cut all over. It was his turn to get blood all over my clothes, and I was hesitant to even let him down on the dropship floor. He pushed himself in a corner, and I kneeled down in front of him.
I wasn't even sure he could tell it was me, he seemed so scared of everyone. I sighed, and was about to stand up as Reed made her way over, when his hand shot out and grabbed mine. His nails had been pried off, which caused my stomach and heart great unease. For the record, I can't deal with the idea nails or teeth being pulled.
He had been tortured far worse than I ever had been by the grounders.
"Reed, get water and a cloth." I whispered to her as she kneeled down beside me. I couldn't even take my eyes off of Murphy, I almost was worried that if I did, he would disappear. I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed mine back.
Derek and Connor left to get Bellamy and Clarke. Reed returned before any of them had, and I quickly started to try to clean him off, still holding his hand. Dirt and sand was in just about every cut he had. He closed his eyes as I took the cloth to his face, both of us wincing.
"I'm so sorry." I whispered, mainly apologizing for the pain I was bringing by cleaning out his wounds. But in all honesty, I wanted to apologize for anything I had ever done. I just wanted him to be okay again, to smile again. Hell, I'd would've even had taken a smirk at that point.
"Everyone but Connor and Derek out, now!" Bellamy yelled, and the crowd I hadn't noticed dispersed. I didn't even bother moving. Bellamy would've needed to carry me out if he wanted me gone. Reed squeezed my shoulder before leaving herself. I was glad Reed trusted me to take care of the situation myself. Whether or not that trust was rightfully placed was another story.
"He claims he was with the grounders." Derek stated, and I could feel my anger rising. Derek was starting to get on my bad side. If only he knew what I had done to Diggs when he got on my wrong side.
"We caught him trying to sneak back into camp." Connor said, and finally I whipped my head to look at them. Connor had been so lucky till this point to have stayed away from me since that day, but at that point he was about five minutes away from having wilting wolfsbane shoved down his throat. Or up his ass. Honesty, any hole would've worked.
"I wasn't sneaking." Murphy said, his voice cracking. I made a mental note to get him water to drink next. "I was running away from grounders." Murphy's grip on my hand tightened, and I squeezed even tighter to match him.
"Anyone see grounders?" Bellamy asked.
"Don't you fucking dare go there with me, Bellamy." I nearly screamed, and I wanted to look at Bellamy, to glare at him, but I still couldn't manage it. "His nails are torn off, he has the same slashes I had. He was tortured. Leave us alone."
"Why is it you still can't look at me, then?" Bellamy asked as he kneeled down beside me. I could feel his body heat, he was so close. Too close. Bad move, considering he was not on my 'allowed to touch me' list.
"Because, whenever I look at you," I whispered, finally letting myself look at Bellamy. "I see you kicking the crate out from under Murphy. And it makes me want to do the same to you." I could feel my eyes tear up. Bellamy's jaw dropped in awe, and he quickly stood up and stepped away from us.
By the time Bellamy stepped away, Clarke and Finn came into the dropship. They wasted no time going to the other side of the dropship and whispering in hushed tones to each other.
Ignoring them, I went back to cleaning off Murphy's face. He leaned into my touch every so often, bringing me closer to tears. What really did it for me however was what I found around his neck. Rubbing his neck, I continued to clean him off, lifting his shirt slightly to get the cuts on his collarbones.
Around his neck was a silver chain, and on that chain was my mother's ring. I hadn't realized until that point that he had kept it. I had assumed he trashed it. But instead, he kept it, and had been wearing it close to his heart. Or you know, where ever he could. My mom had small hands.
Murphy chuckled softly, a smile only barely touching his face for a moment as he said, "If you wanted to see me naked Rhy, you could've just asked."
The mother fucker was on death's door and was still making jokes. I almost cried, and carefully let his shirt rest back on his chest.
"Let's save the sexual innuendos until you can at least stand on your own, eh?" I whispered, smiling at him as I felt a tear fall down my cheek.
I was getting too damn emotional, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was worried they would kill him if I had moved, I probably would've retreated by now.
"Deal." Murphy whispered back, giving my hand one more tight squeeze before letting go.
I rang out the dirty rag in the bowl of water, and continued cleaning him as everyone conversed around me. Bellamy and Co. decided they would let Murphy heal, and find out what he knew about the grounders. Then, they would kick him out. In that moment, I had decided that if they kicked him out one more time, I would be going with him.
Murphy fell asleep with his head on my lap, with me leaning against the wall of the dropship. I'm not going to lie, the boy needed to clean his hair. But it was Murphy's hair, so I ran my hands through it anyways. (To the best of my ability, at least.) I somehow managed to doze off for a few hours, only to be woken by my own screaming.
When I woke up, Murphy was off of my lap and shaking me, trying to wake me. Worry was etched in his features until I blinked a few times and my hands flew to his shoulders.
"You were screaming in your sleep." Murphy said, letting his hands go from my shoulders to my cheeks. Which I assumed were probably quite flush. "Do you get nightmares about-?" He couldn't even finish his own sentence. He didn't need to though, and I nodded, wishing I could look away. He nodded, "Me too."
The moment was broken by him suddenly coughing. He let me go but I kept ahold of his shoulders, trying to steady him and lay him back on my lap. His head was inches away from my lap when he lifted it back up, and coughed up blood onto my right knee. Exactly what my pants had needed really, more blood.
As if like clockwork, Clarke and Bellamy stormed into the dropship. I didn't want them anywhere near either of us, and I could tell by the way Murphy's body tensed that he felt the same. He placed one hand on the ground and the other on my thigh.
"How did you escape the grounders?" Clarke asked, kneeling down in front of us. There was red smudged on her face, as if she had been crying red.
"Are you sick too?" I asked as Murphy let out another string of coughs, this time letting blood fall onto the floor right next to my knee. How chivalrous.
"They had forgotten to lock my cage." Murphy began, and when he said cage I couldn't help but lean in closer to him. He leaned back into me, his warmth enveloping me. "I got out as soon as possible and didn't stop running."
"Biological warfare. Riley, not as if you were going to move anyways," Clarke began as she stood up and took a step away from us, "But you're going to need to stay in the dropship. We'll quarantine the ones exposed." She quickly turned away from us and started demanding Bellamy to leave.
A few hours later, and many more bloody coughs, I found myself in a similar spot. I had moved only slightly, so Murphy could lay down and cough blood onto the floor. A blanket was found for him, and I stayed sat next to him wiping the blood off of his face every once in awhile, sometimes also cleaning the sweat away. Murphy was near unconsciousness, and for the most part was sleeping.
"I don't think I can do that again, Murphy." I whispered to Murphy as I brushed the fallen hair away from his face. "At first I thought maybe, I'd be okay. I was handling my problems. But I can't sleep anymore. I used to love sleeping." Murphy shifted in his sleep slightly, making me slightly jealous of his peaceful state.
"But now, I can't eat. All I do is lay in bed, your bed by the way, thanks. Anyways, all I do is lay in bed with a knife- Your knife too, thanks. All I do is lay there with that knife, running my fingers over J.M., and listen to the sounds of the night, waiting for one of the noises to be Connor, or Myles, or any of them." I could feel myself getting ready to cry, which in all honesty was pissing me off. I had never cried this much before, ever. "You should've seen me those first fews days, though. I was one hell of a firecracker."
As expected, Murphy didn't reply. I hadn't expected him to. But it had felt good to finally say what I had been feeling.
I had kept Murphy hydrated the whole day, and by the end of the day he was showing improvement. I however, was not.
The virus, however short lived, spread quickly and was deadly for some. Derek had died earlier that morning, and by nightfall, I felt like I would be next. Perhaps that's why I had felt so emotional that day. I mean, probably not but I could at least pretend that's the reason I had been near crying.
Murphy had started getting better, and went from being the needy, to being the caretaker. He went around the whole dropship helping people as they coughed up blood. He even helped Connor, which was surprising. I could feel myself getting sicker and sicker, and I had been starting to feel like how I did when I was tied up to a tree.
Murphy kept me in his eyesight the whole time, as far as I could tell. Anytime I needed anything, he was right by my side.
Come nightfall however, I was starting to feel slightly better. For the first time in what seemed like years, I slept and didn't have a nightmare. It surprised me, considering the proximity of Connor in the dropship. Maybe I was getting over my issues. Probably not, but a girl can dream.
The only reason I had woken up that night was to go to the bathroom. When my eyes had opened, I felt content with everyone being asleep around me. I started to sit up slowly when I noticed Murphy over by Connor.
At first, I hadn't thought anything of it. Murphy was holding a rag, and I had assumed he was going to help Connor. Except when Murphy leaned down, Connor wasn't awake. That is until Murphy placed the wet rag over Connor's mouth and nose and held it there. I watched in silence as Murphy slowly suffocated Connor.