A day later, after Monty had been missing, Bellamy and Wells had prepared for the oncoming attack by discussing strategies. They had decided that building up a few fortified locations to shoot from was the best plan. That would protect their guys from the grounders and would give them a stable platform to shoot from. They also decided that laying down landmines would be an excellent countermeasure to keep the grounders away.
That led to the current moment where they were constructing the minefield outside the walls. It was dark outside, and it was even darker inside the tree line. The shadowy trees were sort of ominous. The grounders would come out of those trees any day now. Knowing when was the problem though. That was why it was so important to build the minefield. It would give them a little extra time to prepare for the inevitable conflict.
"Come on," Bellamy encouraged through negativity. "These foxholes aren't going to build themselves."
Bellamy approached Wells and Raven, looking down on the two.
"Better hope those landmines work," Bellamy said. "With all the gunpowder we're wasting, we could be making more grenades."
"Wanna come over here and rest one?" Wells quipped, making Raven snort. She stayed down, working on the explosive buried in the dirt.
"Cute," Bellamy remarked. "I need this entire section mined by morning. Then finish the south field." He turned to walk away but Raven stopped him.
"Hey," Raven called, Wells following behind her. "I told you we're going after Finn, Clarke, Monty in the morning."
"And I told you nobody leaves this camp," Bellamy returned coldly. He made to walk away again.
"She's talking to you," Wells chased after Bellamy, holding him back. "Raven's right. We can't just abandon our people. You want to lead them, show them you give a damn.
Bellamy opened his mouth to speak before a loud gunshot was heard through camp. Raven's eyes widened in alarm and she rushed towards the source of the sound, with Bellamy and Wells right next to her and a few other delinquents behind them.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" Bellamy snapped at a panicked kid named Sterling, who was supposedly the one that accidently pulled the trigger of his gun.
"I'm sorry." He quickly defended himself "I fell asleep. I've been on watch all day."
Bellamy clenched his jaw and gripped the top of Sterling's jacket, pushing him against a three "We've all been on watch all damn day! The bullet was one less dead grounder."
"Bell," Octavia quickly chimed in, "you're scaring people."
"They should be scared!" her older brother was quick to snap. He let Sterling go and turned to the crowd surrounding him "The bomb on the bridge bought us some time to prepare, but that time is up! The grounders are out there right now, waiting for us to leave and picking us off one by one when we do! Clarke, Finn and Monty are gone, probably dead. And if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp.
Wells and Raven shared a similar glance. Something is off, this isn't Bellamy's usual anger, no, this is him having a breakdown. Judging by the way he's panting between sentences, he's scared as well.
"This camp," Bellamy sucks in a sharp breath, "is the only thing keeping us alive... Get back to work!" And then he leaves.
Bellamy walked off to go order some other people around. The crowd watched him go before dispersing to work on their own tasks. There was a negative energy surrounding everyone, but that was to be expected considering the nature of the event that had just occurred. Raven too looked despondent as she knelt down next the landmine she had been working on. She waved off help from Jasper, who went to work on another mine instead.
Bellamy Blake leaned over a table in the dropship. He wasn't exactly in a good mood. All the shouting from earlier just made him angrier, but the one thing that made him the most angry was Octavia's words.
"Bell, you're scaring people," Octavia whispered in his mind.
The words repeated themselves over and over again as he thought of all the bad things he had ever done. It all came back to him, especially these past few months on the ground. Bellamy wasn't helping. He wasn't doing anything to make their lives better. Clarke was doing that, Wells was doing that, and Raven was doing that. What was Bellamy doing?
"Bell, you're scaring people," Octavia said louder this time.
Bellamy ran his hands over his face in frustration. Everything was going so wrong. Clarke, Finn, and Monty had been kidnapped, and were probably dead. The people were beginning to turn on him as well. He'd already heard from Octavia, Raven, Jasper, Wells, and many others about how they should be out there looking for their friends.
The worst part about all this was that Bellamy wanted to go looking for them, but he knew he couldn't. The grounders could attack at any moment, meaning that if any of their soldiers were to leave, then they would be screwed. Even two people could make a difference, depending on who those two people were.
He grew more frustrated with everything as Bellamy ran his fingers idly over maps on the table he leaned over. He groaned loudly.
"You're scaring people," Octavia said. "You're scaring people. You're scaring people."
"Shut up!" Bellamy roared pounding his fists on the table.
The voice went away, leaving only Myles's whimpering in the corner of the room. Bellamy glanced at the kid, wondering what exactly had happened when he was out in the woods with Clarke and Finn. Then, Monty had disappeared while they were out there looking for the two who had been kidnapped. Everyone who went out there disappeared. It only strengthened Bellamy's resolve not to let anyone leave camp.
Bellamy turned his eyes back to the table in front of him and stared at it for a moment. Then a ruffling sound came from his left as someone entered the dropship. Bellamy turned his head the other direction to see Jasper with a gun in his hands, looking nervous.
They held awkward eye contact for a moment. Bellamy knew exactly what the skinny kid was thinking. Jasper shook his head and made to walk away from Bellamy.
"Don't you think I want to go after them too?" Bellamy asked as he straightened.
"If it was you out there," Jasper said as he walked towards Bellamy slowly. "You think Monty, Clarke, or Finn would hide behind these walls?"
"No," Bellamy responded. "They'd go after me. Then, they'd be dead too."
Jasper shook his head sadly. Bellamy hated how people looked on him as though he were somehow pitifully misguided.
"I am doing what I think is right for the group," Bellamy said.
Jasper walked towards the same table Bellamy had leaned against earlier. He shrugged the rifle off his shoulders and placed it down.
"It's funny you didn't think that when Octavia went missing," Jasper commented darkly.
Jasper turned towards the ladder up to the second level.
"Where are you going?" Bellamy asked.
"More gunpowder for your minefield," Jasper saluted Bellamy patronizingly. "Sir."
He climbed the ladder with no further words to Bellamy.
The dark-haired man seethed in silence. He hated the way he was being treated now. The betrayal he was receiving from the others. He had thought they were his friends, but perhaps not. Maybe, they had just been using him for his position amongst the group. If that was the case, they certainly weren't good friends.
"Water," Myles croaked out behind him. "Please…"
Bellamy looked to the boy with some irritation. He was glad that Myles was awake, of course, but part of him didn't want to do anything for anyone right now. Bellamy was just really bothered by everything.
"I'll get you some," Bellamy said.
He turned around and left the dropship, going to get a canteen and fill it. It wouldn't take long, only a minute or so. He passed by Murphy as he went. There was an unusual expression on the battered man's face. It looked like an odd cross between anger and desire. That wasn't exactly comforting, but Bellamy walked on.
The calming sound of water splashing into the metal canteen soothed Bellamy slightly. He exhaled, trying to release all the tension in his body. Though his actions didn't actually accomplish anything, it made him feel a little better. At least he had tried.
Bellamy heard a crackling on his radio as voices came through the other end.
"It's cool," He heard Jasper say. Bellamy said nothing, not exactly sure what was going on.
"No," Murphy's voice travelled through the radio. "It's not." He sounded like he was further from the mic. "You know what'll happen to me if you tell Bellamy."
"Tell Bellamy what?" Bellamy asked as he walked towards the dropship without the canteen. It was time he figured out what was happening.
Silence was all that came through the other side for a solid ten seconds. It was tense. Bellamy picked up the pace a little.
"Give me the radio Jasper," Murphy threatened.
Silence for another five seconds, then Jasper spoke in a nervous rush.
"Murphy has a gun, he killed Myles," He said quickly, then the signal cut out.
"Murphy," Bellamy spoke. "The hell are you doing?"
Then, with a creak, the dropship door began to close. Bellamy ran to the entrance desperately trying to reach the door before it shut.
"Murphy!" Bellamy shouted. "Murphy!"
He stopped in front, the door now closed too far to enter. He could jump for the top, but he'd probably be crushed against the wall.
"Open the damn door!" Bellamy demanded.
"You try to be a hero, Jasper dies," Murphy called out to him.
"I told you." Wells said as he approached beside him. "You were going to regret it."
Bellamy gave him a side glare.
Morning has risen. Murphy had held Jasper in the dropship as Bellamy pleaded with him to open the door, but he doesn't listen.
Octavia emerged from one of the foxholes and made a b-line towards the two leaders. She panted as she caught her breath before speaking, panic obviously in her voice "I just heard Murphy has Jasper."
"Yeah." Bellamy nodded, before asking "South foxhole done?"
"What?" Octavia asked. "Bellamy, our friend is in there with a killer."
"O, look around." Bellamy started, looking around camp momentarily before looking back at his younger sister "No one's working. If the grounders attack us right now, we're all dead."
Octavia ignored her brother's words and brushed past the two leaders to stand in front of the door "Murphy! Murphy, if you even touch Jasper–"
"Octavia." Bellamy tried only for her to ignore him again.
"–I swear to god, you're dead."
"Octavia." Bellamy spoke, louder this time "We got this."
"Really?" His sister scoffed "Because it doesn't look like you're doing anything about it."
"Bellamy," Raven spoke up over their argument. "You were right. There's a loose panel on the back. If we can get it open, we could probably get up through the floor."
"Good," Bellamy nodded almost imperceptibly. "Do it."
Realization crossed Octavia's dirt-covered face and she looked down sheepishly "Sorry."
Bellamy gave her a knowing but forgiving look.
"Murphy," Bellamy used a radio to communicate with Murphy. "I know you can hear me. All our ammo and food is in the middle level. You know that. You're leaving us vulnerable to an attack. I can't let that happen."
Hostage negotiation was always fun. It never went how you wanted it to. At least it didn't in any of the movies Octavia had seen.
"Yeah, well," Murphy's voice came through the other end. "In case you hadn't noticed, you're not exactly in control right now."
"Come on Murphy," Bellamy spoke again. "You don't want to hurt Jasper. You want to hurt me."
"Bellamy what the hell are you doing?" Wells demanded from beside him.
Octavia's eyebrows practically shot off her forehead in shock at Bellamy's words. She couldn't believe this was how her brother was trying to rescue Jasper.
Thirty seconds of nothing passed. The birds chirped and the silence between Bellamy and Murphy was tense.
"So, what do you say?" Bellamy questioned. "How about you trade him for me?"
"No," Octavia said walking up to her brother. She wouldn't let him do that. Not now, when they needed him the most.
"All you have to do is let him go," Bellamy continued his negotiation regardless of Octavia's words. "I'll take his place."
"How?" Murphy asked after a brief pause.
"Bellamy." Octavia started, staring up at her brother pleadingly "If you do this, he'll kill you."
"If I don't, he'll kill Jasper," Bellamy met her eyes with firm determination.
Octavia shook her head and brushed her hair back behind her ear. Her brother was the most stubborn human being alive.
"Simple," Bellamy clicked his radio on to speak to Murphy again. "You open the door, I walk in, he walks out."
The three of them crowd the device, waiting for an answer in tense silence. It takes a second, but it comes in the form of the dropship doors hissing open, touching the dirt for only Bellamy to enter. Once he's swallowed up, they won't know what's going on. That's the problem.
"Just you Bellamy!" Murphy shouted, his voice muffled by the walls of the dropship. "Unarmed!"
Bellamy holds his gun out to Wells, shoving it into his hands when he doesn't reach for it. He takes a deep breath.
"Ten seconds or I put one in Jasper's leg!" Murphy threatened. He began to count loudly.
"We'll find a way to get you out," Octavia promised as Bellamy handed her the radio.
"One. Two. Three-"
"I can handle Murphy," Bellamy said.
"You sure?" Wells asked, concerned.
"Four. Five!"
"Yeah" Bellamy answered. "Get everyone back to work. The grounders are still coming."
"Six! Seven! Eight!"
Bellamy clears his throat, "I'm here."
He walked up the ramp and pushed the canvas hanging over the door aside. Octavia's brother disappeared into the dropship while she watched with concern over her face. Not a second later, Jasper came tumbling forward from the same spot Bellamy had just left. He collapsed to the ground on his back, a seatbelt strap wrapped around his mouth as a gag.
Octavia and Wells bent over to help Jasper. She tugged the gag out of his mouth as Wells began to untie his wrists.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly but strongly.
"He'll be fine, he's Bellamy."
She helped him to his feet as the door closed on Murphy and his new hostage. Jasper and Octavia made eye contact with full concern evident in each other's eyes.
There's no way he'll be forgiven now. Not by Octavia, not by Bellamy, and not by Wells.
Wells took a deep breath turning back towards the crowd of delinquents. "Get back to work."
"Do what I said." Murphy instructed after the first warning shot rang through the dropship, pointing to the red rope next to Bellamy's feet with the gun in his hands.
"Bellamy?" came Octavia's hesitant voice through the walkie "Bellamy! Talk to me. Are you alright?"
"You want your sister to know you're alive?" Murphy said, "Start tying."
"Bellamy do you copy?"
"I'm fine." Bellamy said after he started tying "Just a misfire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you. And tell Raven to hurry the hell up."
"All right, that's long enough. Tie those two ends together." Murphy said, making Bellamy drop the walkie from his jades and did as he was told.
Once he was done Murphy spoke again "All right. Now get up and toss it over."
At that moment it finally dawned on Bellamy what Murphy was planning. He wanted to hang him, just like he did with him. He swallowed thickly before tossing the tied rope up and facing Murphy again "What do you want me to say? You want me to apologize? I'm–"
When he moves a little closer, Murphy holds the rifle in his hands a little tighter, aimed directly at Bellamy's skull. Bellamy quickly realized his mistake and remained still.
"I-I'm sorry." Bellamy apologized, earnestly.
The corner of Murphy's lips pull upward in a small smirk. "You got it all wrong, Bellamy. I don't want you to say anything. I want you to feel what I felt, and then … then I want you to die." Murphy said, glaring daggers at Bellamy.
Bellamy slid the stool under the makeshift noose he'd been ordered to tie. Murphy kept his rifle trained on him, leaving Bellamy with no options other than to do exactly as Murphy said.
"Stand on it," Murphy ordered.
Bellamy sighed and stepped up. He had no other options. He hoped that they had found someone to open the door.
"Put it over your head," Murphy said calmly.
Bellamy took one look at the noose and figured he'd give reasoning with Murphy one more shot.
"This is insane," Bellamy argued. "The grounders could-"
Murphy made a bored expression that said, 'shut up, I don't care'. He fired his rifle at the wall. The gunshot was deafening, and Bellamy's ears were ringing.
Silence stretched between them uncomfortably. Murphy was doing his absolute best to make Bellamy feel hopeless. He wanted Bellamy to think that he had no way out. Bellamy would play along for now. He wasn't excited about taking a rifle round.
Bellamy made a frustrated expression and pulled the noose over his head.
"Happy now?" He asked vehemently.
Murphy continued to look bored as he pulled tightly against the other end of the strap. Bellamy panicked for a second as he just barely missed getting a hand inside the collar. The strap went taught and Bellamy had to stand on his toes to avoid being choked.
"You're so brave, aren't you?" Murphy spoke emotionlessly. "I mean, you came in here thinking you're just going to turn this whole thing around, that you were stronger than me, and maybe one of your friends would come and help you. Well, what are you thinking now Bellamy?"
Bellamy said nothing as Murphy pulled tighter on the strap. He desperately worked his second hand inside the collar. He wasn't going to die here.
He took quick and angry breaths, trying to keep himself alive at any cost. Meanwhile, Murphy leaned against his end of the strap, pulling the noose even tighter.
"You know, I got to hand it to you Bellamy," Murphy spoke patronizingly. "You got them all fooled. They actually look up to you. Almost as much as they look up to Clarke. Yeah, well, we know the truth, don't we?"
Bellamy wanted nothing more than to drive a solid fist right through Murphy's nose. Then, he wanted to keep going, right out the back of the psychopath's head.
"You're a coward," Murphy said.
Murphy looked on him with total certainty. Bellamy met Murphy's eyes, not sure how much longer he could put up with the monologuing. It was really getting boring now.
"I learned that the day you kicked the crate out from beneath me," Murphy said. "Isn't that what you said?"
Bellamy wasn't exactly sure what Murphy meant, but then again, he was trying to attribute logic and reason to someone who had very little of that right now.
"You said it yourself," Murphy said. "You were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"
"I should've stopped them," Bellamy said, knowing his mistake back then. Now all he was doing was stalling for time, but Murphy didn't know that.
"Yeah," Murphy smirked lightly. "It's a little late for that now."
Bellamy said nothing. He continued holding the noose with both hands, unwilling to let go. The instant he did, he could be dead. They held the silence for a moment then Bellamy spoke again.
"You think they're just going to let you walk out of here?" He asked Murphy.
Murphy scratched his ear and said, "Well, I think the princess is dead, I'll figure out what to to do with mini-chancellor, and the king's about to die, so who's going to lead these people?"
Murphy paused for a moment for dramatic effect.
"Me, that's who," He continued walking closer to Bellamy. "And yeah maybe I'll have to kill your grounder pounding little sister-"
Bellamy lashed out with one of his feet as Murphy came too close. Threatening to kill Octavia, not a wise move.
Murphy moved to the strap in anger and pulled down hard against it. Bellamy was lifted up in the air, his hands clutching at the noose, trying to hold onto his ability to breathe.
Murphy relaxed his hold on the rope when there was a yelp heard from under the floor. He smirked coyly "I'm guessing that's her right now."
Much to Bellamy's dismay, Murphy started shooting blindly at the floor until he ran out of bullets. Bellamy moved to take the noose off his head. Murphy kicked the stool out from under Bellamy's feet, leaving the dark-haired man dangling from the noose, choking. Bellamy fought to get his hands in, but the noose just tightened as he continued to hang.
He gasped for breath, but no sound came from his lips and no air entered his lungs. Bellamy's throat felt constricted, like a hose with a kink in it. The fluid just couldn't move through. Fingers scrabbling at the noose, he still couldn't find a hand hold.
"Using your hands is a cheat," Murphy said. "Mine were bound, remember?"
Bellamy didn't know how he could hear Murphy speaking to him as he swayed back and forth, desperate for air. Murphy tried to get hold of Bellamy's hands, but took a fist to the face for his trouble. The younger man collapsed to the ground with a grunt while Bellamy still looked for a handhold.
Murphy used the butt end of his rifle as a club and slammed Bellamy in the gut. Reflexively, Bellamy's hands dropped to defend himself, but then he found himself choking worse than before. Murphy struck again, harder this time, leaving Bellamy with virtually no air left in his already limited supply.
Then, the most beautiful sound ever hit Bellamy's ears. The dropship door creaked and began to lower.
"Raven, you did it!" Jasper's voice was heard outside.
Murphy started panicking and rushed to the upper level of the dropship when Wells, Octavia and Jasper, and other armed delinquents barged into the dropship. Wells noticed Murphy up the latter as he quickly followed before it was too late.
The first thing Octavia sees is Bellamy hanging from the roof, the same red belt used on Murphy tied around his throat. He isn't moving. Octavia cries out, running for the rope tied to the ladder, his sister ran to the release on the strap and yanked hard against it. It came loose with a loud click.
Bellamy drops like a bag of potatoes.
"Bell, breathe. Breathe."
"Can you breathe?" Jasper asked, looking at his leader in concern.
When Bellamy took a deep breath of air, the duo sighed in relief.
"Good. You're okay. You're okay." Octavia cooed.
"Raven, he's fine." Jasper yelled to the mechanic, who were still under the dropship.
Wells climb the latter and the first thing he sees was the barrel of the now reloaded rifle in Murphy's hands. He quickly put his hands up in the air, surrendering.
"Lock the hatch." Murphy ordered.
Wells hesitatingly locked the hatch without breaking eye contact.
"Didn't had to be this way." Murphy sneers.
"Murphy," Wells tried to reason with him. "Just put the gun down and let's walk out of here while we still can."
"Yeah, I don't know if you noticed." Murphy clenched his jaw. "But it's too late for that. No way they'll forgive me after this."
"Please." Wells pleaded. "I know you're upset. But this isn't gonna help. We can work something out."
Murphy held the rifle tight in his hands and shook his head. "Sorry." He sighed. "But I'm afraid I can't do that, Chancellor-in-training." He was inches away from pulling the trigger before Bellamy started banging on the upper door. While distracted, Wells stupidly, ran over and tackled him to the ground, the gun flying across the room. They wrestled on the floor as Murphy got on top of him and punched him in the face. Two more punches, and Murphy grabbed the rifle to club Wells over the head with. Before Murphy tried to do it again, Wells grabbed the rifle and yanked it from Murphy and kicked him off. Wells got up and fired the rifle just Murphy dodged it and tackled Wells with the gun.
He threw it on the floor before shoving Wells against the wall, releasing all of his punches and anger at him. Just as Wells grabbed one his fist, he quickly head butted him and shoved him as hard as he could onto the floor and threw every single punch he could at Murphy's face. He slammed Murphy on the ground three times before throwing the hardest punch to his face.
Murphy slammed Wells' head on the wall as he quickly got up and grabbed the gun, aimed at Wells.
"There's only way out this for you now!" Murphy heard Bellamy's voice from the lower floor, banging on the door.
"Wanna bet?" Murphy exhaled before aiming at the gunpowder instead, and pulled the trigger. As if things couldn't get any worse.
An explosion occurred.
To be continued