Sorry for the evil cliffhanger, muahahahaha. Clarke is getting the shit beat out of her in this story, isn't she? I guess I'll give her a break for a while. Anyways, let me know what you think! Hope everyone is liking it so far. I included a few lines from the show in this chapter, they were too good not to!
Selmersaurus: He will, not to worry. She's too much of a badass for anyone to ignore. Clarke and Bellamy have grown quite close and protective of each other as you'll see in this chapter. They might have some more difficulties when Bellamy makes a few headstrong decisions later, but that's all I'm going to say :)
11.
Bellamy was able to shake Octavia's grip on his arm and he fired a shot at Murphy, missing a second time. Murphy's face had transformed from triumphant to fearful when the bark of the tree exploded just a few inches above his head. He turned his aim towards Bellamy.
"Murphy, put the fucking bow down!" he roared, furiously.
Murphy smiled a possessed smile. "Why would I do that?"
"I'll blow your damn head off. Get down. Now."
"Go ahead. Shoot me then." His attitude had never failed to piss someone off, but now he was messing with the wrong person at the wrong time. Bellamy gritted his teeth and fired again, hitting Murphy in the thigh. He yelped as he lost his footing and fell until he was able to take hold of a branch with one hand as he held onto the bow with the other. Monroe screamed. Bellamy pulled the trigger one last time and hit the wood next to Murphy's hand, forcing him to lose his grip and fall the remaining few feet to the ground. Atom and Miller rushed to restrain Murphy while Finn, Raven, and Bellamy rushed to Clarke's side.
She had gone unconscious. Her white shirt and jacket were stained with blood on opposite sides of her body where the arrows stuck out of her skin. Finn started to remove one of them, but Bellamy grabbed his wrist. "Don't take it out yet, she could bleed to death. Get me a knife and a lighter, Raven."
She nodded and retreated back to the drop ship where she had been working with Jasper and Monty on the radio. Bellamy and Finn were both kneeling on the ground, keeping Clarke on her side so that the arrowheads implanted in her flesh wouldn't move and hit an artery.
Bellamy had had barely any time to process what just happened. Murphy shot Clarke and he was about to shoot him, but Clarke had jumped in front of him, just in time. He didn't know what to think of it. All he was focused on was saving Clarke's life. "Clarke!" he called. "Clarke, open your eyes. Can you hear me? It's Bellamy."
Clarke's eyes shot open, and she squirmed under his and Finn's hands. "Bellamy, get out of here! Murphy is shooting the leaders-."
"He's down, Clarke. It's okay," Finn said as he held her still while she struggled. She began to relax when Bellamy cupped her face, calming her. Raven jogged back with a knife and lighter in hand. She stood over the three of them, helpless.
"You were shot," Finn said. "Tell us what to do."
Clarke looked down at her chest. "Oh, God damn it," she mumbled. Bellamy almost wanted to laugh at the way she said it. She touched her skin in the middle of her chest around the arrow and Bellamy winced when she cried out in pain. "Ow! Okay, at least it only impacted bone." Her sternum had taken the blow, protecting her heart. Usually it would have gone right through her, bone and all, but by some miracle she was still alive. If Murphy had been a better shot and hit her just three inches to the side, she would have been killed instantly. "Someone pull it out. If I move the wrong way, it could shift and something important might be punctured. That would not be very good."
Bellamy hesitated and looked up at Finn, but he knew he'd have to be the one to do it. He put a hand on Clarke's shoulder and the other around the base of the arrow. "Look at me, Princess," he said, calmly. Her face was hard, but her blue eyes were full of pain and fear. When they finally found his, she was instantly reassured.
Bellamy drew in a sharp breath and in one swift motion he yanked the arrow from Clarke's sternum, never breaking eye contact with her. He pulled down Clarke's shirt to reveal the entry wound. Just as he'd hoped, there wasn't much bleeding so cauterizing wasn't needed just yet.
"Bellamy," Miller said, suddenly. Bellamy turned. Atom and Miller stood on either side of Murphy, restraining his arms behind his back. Bellamy stood and approached them, seething. "What should we do with him?"
Bellamy didn't answer. He looked at Murphy as he struggled to stand on one leg. His face was expressionless. Pathetic. "Put him on his knees." Atom and Miller each put a hand on Murphy's shoulder and forced him to the ground. Murphy looked up at Bellamy with horrified eyes. The man towered over him, shrinking him to the size of a mouse.
"Why?" Bellamy hissed at him.
"When we were on patrol the other day the Grounders found me. They said that if I didn't take out Jaha, Clarke, and you, they'd kill everyone in the camp."
"You're lying," Bellamy said, his eyes narrowed.
Murphy shook his head and then craned his neck to reveal a long, red scar just above his collarbone. "They held a sword to my neck and gave me this. They were going to kill everyone! What was I supposed to do but what they told me to? I had no other choice."
"Why Jaha, too?" Finn asked, still holding Clarke still. "He wasn't like Clarke or Bellamy."
"I may have added him to the list." Murphy smirked. "He was a problem for us. Trust me, I did you all a favor."
I'm going to kill you. Bellamy pulled his gun out, letting it rest at his side. "Crime here will not go unanswered, Murphy." His voice was cold and dark.
Murphy looked up again, shaking his head. "Wow," he whispered. "You sound just like them."
Bellamy gritted his teeth and put the gun between Murphy's eyes. "Any last words, John?"
"You can't be king forever, Blake. Your kingdom will fall soon. Thank God I won't be around to watch it happen."
Bellamy's finger tightened around the trigger.
"Wait!" he heard someone say. He looked up, relaxing his hand.
"Clarke, what is it?" he asked impatiently.
"No," she said and paused for a moment. She looked at Bellamy with sad eyes. "No more death."
Bellamy stared at her, dumbfounded. "He killed Wells, shot you, and tried to kill me. He deserves to die."
"No!" Suddenly, she was shouting. Pain shot through her chest but she ignored it. "We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here. There has been too much of our own blood spilled. He had a fault in that, yeah. But no one here chooses if someone else gets to live another day. No one has that right."
"So what do you suggest we do? Let him go?"
The crowd started to protest. "No! Float him!"
Clarke started to stand, one arrow still sticking out of her shoulder. Everyone fell silent at the sight and she turned around to face them. "If you want Bellamy to pull that trigger, you're just as bad as Murphy. If we keep going on like this, the Grounders won't even have to kill us. We would just be doing the hard work for them." She paused and turned to Bellamy. "We make the rules- you make the rules. But there will be no more death." Her voice broke on the last word as a lump began to form in her throat. She fought back tears, but Bellamy saw the brokenness in her eyes.
He looked back at Murphy, the pistol still pressed to his forehead. "If you come near this camp again, we'll be right back here, just like this, and my finger might just slip." As he spoke, his voice was low and terrifying. His eyes were filled with a kind of defiance that Murphy had never seen before. "Leave," he said, quietly. "Don't come back."
…
Finn and Raven helped Clarke walk herself to the drop ship. The pain in her chest and back was so great, that she began to drift in and out of consciousness. Bellamy took over and began barking orders at everyone in the room. "Octavia, make her that herbal tea stuff for the pain. Help me get her on the table, Finn. Raven, do you still have that knife and lighter? Heat the blade." She looked confused but she didn't question it. She lit the small flame and held it under the blade.
Clarke moaned with pain as Bellamy and Finn lifted onto the table so that she was on her side. When Octavia returned with the tea, she cupped Clarke's mouth and tipped the cup so the hot liquid ran down her throat. Clarke looked relieved, but her face was still hot with sweat.
"You're going to be okay, Clarke," Octavia said softly, kneeling down so that they were eyelevel.
"Get this shit out of my back," she slurred. "You have to-."
"Cauterize it." Bellamy finished. "I figured. Relax. Octavia, hold her still."
Clarke mumbled something about booze and closed her eyes. The arrow implanted in her shoulder was a gruesome sight. It stuck through two layers of clothes and dense muscle- Bellamy knew is wouldn't be easy to take it out. Once again, he braced her shoulder with one hand and made a fist around the arrow's shaft with the other. He pulled, hard and felt a ripping sensation as it exited her back. Shit. Clarke grunted in pain and tensed, as more blood started to pour out of the wound shoulder. Bellamy knew that if she weren't intoxicated with magic, herbal tea, she would have passed out from the pain.
He eased Clarke's jacket off her shoulder and pulled the now reddened strap of her shirt down to uncover the area the arrowhead had impacted. He quickly took the blade from Raven and found the hole in her flesh with his fingers. He pulled a bottle of alcohol from the shelf and took a long swig. He grimaced as the clear liquid burned his throat. Make it quick, will you? Her voice from the river echoed in his mind as he touched the blade to her skin.
After the agonizing 15 seconds had ended, Clarke fell unconscious, victim to the sedative in the tea. Bellamy poured the alcoholic drink over the burn to sanitize it. Finn began to bandage it and Bellamy was able to relax, dropping the knife. He almost didn't notice the scars peaking out from under her shirt. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to cover them up so that no one saw. When the bandage was on, e quickly slipped the strap back onto her shoulder, followed by the jacket.
He cleared his throat. "Can someone get her a pillow and blanket? She can spend the night in here. Raven, can you stay here, with her in case she wakes up?"
Raven looked surprised. "Yeah, that's fine. Where are you going?"
"Murphy said the Grounders want us all dead. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen." With that, he turned and headed towards the door.
"Listen up! Everyone!" he shouted, his voice booming from the middle of camp. When the majority of campers had gathered, he turned to face them. "The Grounders are out there. We've known that for a while. But I think it's about time we start preparing to fight back." A few people in the crowd cheered. Bellamy looked around at them- they were his people. He had a responsibility to them to keep them safe.
"On the Ark, we were criminals. Every last one of us. They sent us down here to a radioactive planet and they knew we might've died, but they didn't care. We were expendable. But that was then, and this is now. We aren't apart of the Ark anymore. The moment they sealed the doors of that drop ship and launched us into the Earth's atmosphere, we became something else- something better. We weren't sent here to die. We were sent here to live. It won't be easy- Murphy showed us today that our lives are short. But they're worth fighting for. Every last person in this camp is worth fighting for. When the Grounders come, we'll be ready, but only if we stand together. They are the enemy, not the people standing around to you right now. There will be no more killing our own, no matter the circumstances. And like I said, this isn't the Ark. We will not float everyone who commits a crime, but that doesn't mean that justice will go unserved." He paused as his people began to nod, agreeing with him. He didn't realize it then, but they were willing to follow him anywhere even though most of he said were Clarke's words.
"Now, we need to bury the dead," he said referring to Wells, his face somber. "Let this be the last day someone is killed by the hand of their own people."