Reigna let out an angry huff as another pained moan escaped the dropship. Grabbing Murphy's discarded jacket she bundled up the material and pressed it over her exposed ears as another loud cry could be heard across the camp.
""At this point I wish he would just hurry up and die." Reigna heard Murphy's muffled voice beside her.
"Honestly, me too." Reigna sighed, uncovering her face but keeping the jacket pressed firmly over her ears.
"Or why don't they just gag him?" Reigna thought out loud.
"They're too nice." Murphy grumbled, covering his own ears with his hands as Jasper let out a pained yell from the dropship once again.
"He's gonna piss off everyone in camp if he hasn't already."
"He's pissed me off already." Murphy replied with a roll of his eyes. Reigna snorted, taking the jacket off her ears when it was finally silent for a moment.
"You think he'll make it?" Reigna questioned, repositioning the jacket to use as a pillow.
"Doubt it." Murphy shrugged, "He's in pretty bad shape, we don't have meds for him. I'm giving him about three days tops."
"Three days might be a bit generous." Reigna thought aloud, "I would bet on it but I don't have anything to gamble." She joked, bringing a rare smile to Murphy's face for a moment.
"I could think of a few things-"
"You're disgusting." Reigna laughed before pulling the blanket her and Murphy borrowed from Bellamy's tent back up.
"We should try to get some sleep now that Jasper's decided to keep him damn mouth shut." Reigna proposed before turning her back to Murphy. She heard him grunt in agreement before moving around to get comfortable, lifting Reigna's head off the bunched up jacket and onto his arm.
"Goodnight, John.
"Night, Reign."
-0-
Reigna was just as tired as Murphy looked the next morning. Murphy, Bellamy and herself were out by a cluster of trees to practice throwing knives and axes, and Jasper was still screaming in pain.
"That damn kid is messing with my head," Murphy growled as the knife he threw didn't manage to stick in the tree.
"He's not gonna last much longer. Better think of a new excuse." Bellamy said to him as he threw an axe at the same tree, lodging it deep into the bark. Murphy clenched his jaw and glanced over to Reigna who gave him a subtle shake of her head.
"Are you sure it was really Jasper that kept the two of you up last night anyway?" Bellamy smirked as he made his way to the tree to retrieve his axe. Reigna narrowed her eyes at his back before removing one of her newly sharpened knives from her waistband, throwing the knife and lodging it in the tree a hair away from the tip of Bellamy's nose.
"Positive." Reigna's voice was deadly serious as she responded to Bellamy, making her way to the tree and pulling her knife out with ease before retreating to Murphy's side.
Just as Bellamy made his way back to where Murphy and Reigna were standing, Atom and Mbege and some others Reigna didn't bother to get to know appeared.
"We searched a half-mile in all directions. No sign of Trina or Pascal." Atom reported to Bellamy.
"You visit your special tree while you were out there?" Murphy said to Atom, a hint of humor in his voice.
"Atom took his punishment, let it go." Bellamy quickly responded to Murphy before turning back to Atom, urging him to continue. Both Murphy and Reigna glared over at Bellamy for a moment before looking back to Atom.
"Could be grounders." Atom suggested.
"Yea, or they could be in pound town." Murphy joked, turning around and walking toward the trees to get his knife from the ground, "Lot of that going around recently."
Atom rolled his eyes at Murphy before continuing to talk, "Look, Bellamy, people are scared, and that dying kid, he's not helping the morale around here."
"Everyone will be fine once we find more food." Reigna finally spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What about when they someone asks about Trina and Pascal?" One of the other delinquents directed his question at Reigna, making her raise her brows slightly. She glanced at Bellamy for a moment before responding.
"Don't say anything. Everyone thinks they're lost and as far as we know they still are." She shrugged.
"We'll keep an eye out when we go hunting." Bellamy spoke up quickly. The delinquents around them mumbled amongst themselves, nodding in agreement before beginning to walk towards the woods, weapons in hand.
"Lets go kill something." Murphy spoke, grabbing Reigna's wrist to pull her along with him.
"You're not going." Bellamy stopped Murphy from continuing forward.
"What?" Reinga questioned, feeling Murphy's grip tighten slightly around her wrist. Bellamy sent a look to Reigna before looking back to Murphy once more.
"I need you to stay here. If the grounders are circling, we can't leave this place unprotected." Bellamy explained before nodding to Reigna's wrist. Hesitantly Murphy looked to Reigna and let go of her with a loud sigh.
"Fine. Somebody better tell goggle boy to keep it shut."
-0-
"I would ask if you were mad but I know you better than that." Reigna spoke to Murphy after Bellamy walked away. She was sure he would interrupt as soon as it was time to leave.
"What happened to fuck everyone else." Murphy grumbled, trying to throw his knife at the tree again to no avail.
"You think I changed my mind overnight?" Reinga put a hand on his shoulder when he tried to walk away from her, "Tell me to stay and I will, John."
Murphy stopped, looking Reigna directly in her eyes for a moment before letting out a loud sigh and looking away.
"No you need to go. I don't trust any of those fuckers but you to actually be competent enough to bring home food."
"You sure?" Reigna's brows were furrowed as she looked over Murphy. He nodded once before grabbing her hand and squeezing tightly before pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Just promise you won't do anything stupid." Murphy spoke quietly into Reigna's shoulder.
"Promise." Reigna said, pulling away enough to present her pinkie to Murphy. The two locked their fingers together for a moment before Reigna spoke up.
"You have to promise me you won't get yourself killed either."
"How could I get myself killed, I'm staying at camp." Murphy asked, an incredulous look on his face.
"Don't you forget we aren't very well liked. You even less than me." Reigna reminded him.
"Fine then, I promise." Murphy responded with a smile, giving Regina's pinkie one last squeeze. Reigna opened her mouth to speak but Jasper's pained yelled caused both her and Murphy to jolt, Reigna whipping her head in the direction of the dropship.
"You go check. I'm gonna stay here a little longer." Murphy explained. Reigna nodded once at him before darting to the dropship.
-0-
"What's going on with goggles?" Reigna asks Bellamy after seeing Octavia sprinting into the dropship after hearing his yells. He shrugs before the two follow her into the ship. Reigna follows Bellamy up the ladder.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Octavia yells as Reigna pushes Bellamy to one side of the ladder so she can see through the hatch with him.
"She's trying to save him!" Finn yells back at Octavia as Clarke continues cutting flesh off Jasper's stomach behind him.
"She can't" Bellamy spoke, pulling himself up into the room and standing up, Reigna deciding to follow him up. Wells stands as well and blocks the two from the group.
"Back off." Wells warns as Reigna narrows her eyes into a glare up at the taller boy.
"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die." Clarke said angrily in their direction.
"Kid's a goner. If you can't see that, you're deluded." Bellamy shrugged.
"He's also driving everyone crazy." Reigna called over to them.
"Sorry if Jasper's life is an inconvenience to you two, but this isn't the Ark. Down here every life matters." Clarke spoke strongly and Reigna rolled her eyes at the statement.
"Take a look at him, he's a lost cause." Bellamy motioned his arm to Jasper's sorry state on the floor. He was covered in sweat and breathing erratically.
"I give him like two days before we have to drag his corpse outta here." Reigna crossed her arms. Clarke ignored both of them and turned to Octavia.
"Octavia, I've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If i say there's hope, there's hope."
"This isn't about hope, it's about guts." Bellamy spoke up from beside Reigna, "You don't have the guts to make the hard choices. I do, and he's been like this for three days." Bellamy said, looking directly at Octavia. Reigna looked between the two then back at Jasper who looked like he was struggling to keep himself alive.
"If he's still like this tomorrow, i'll kill him myself." Reigna spoke up when Bellamy didn't immediately turning and climbing down the stairs.
"Octavia, lets go." Reigna heard Bellamy's voice above her as she waited at the bottom of the ladder for him.
"I'm staying here." Reigna heard Octavia reply before she heard Bellamy climbing down the ladder.
"Now what?" Reigna asked as soon as Bellamy reached her. He sighed and looked outside.
"Grab your stuff, we're leaving now."
-0-
The small group had already been hunting for a few hours, Reigna managing to hit and kill a few small prey animals like squirrels and rabbits until they managed to find larger prey, like they did now. The delinquents and Bellamy were all huddled behind thick brush watching a boar nosing around in the dirt. Reigna pulled one of her sharper knives out of her waistband, getting ready to throw before Bellamy held a hand out in front of her.
"She's mine." He said quietly. Reigna rolled her eyes and lowered her arm as Bellamy lined up his shot. Right before he could throw the axe, a stick loudly broke behind them, alerting the hog and causing Reigna to throw her knife in the general direction on the sound as the other delinquents to chase after the boar.
"Who the hell are you?" Bellamy asked, sounding angry as the two of them turned fully to face the little girl who had scared away their dinner.
"Charlotte." she responded promptly, looking between the two.
"I almost fucking killed you." Reigna narrowed her eyes at the kid, striding forward to remove her knife from the tree near Charlotte's head.
"Why aren't you back at camp?" Reigna heard Bellamy ask her calmly behind her.
""Well, what with that guy who was dying. I just… I couldn't listen to it anymore." She sounded distressed as she looked to Bellamy. Reigna crossed her arms over her chest after she returned her knife to her waistband.
"There's grounders out here," Atom finally spoke up from beside Bellamy, "It's too dangerous for a little girl."
"I'm not little." Charlotte narrowed her eyes up at Atom, bringing a small smirk to Reigna's face which she desperately tried to conceal.
"You heard her, she isn't little." Reigna mocked Atom lightheartedly before crouching down to Charlotte's height.
"Reigna-" Bellamy sounded tense but Reigna held a hand out to silence him.
"You ever killed anything before, Charlotte?" Reigna asked the girl. Charlotte looked at Reigna for a moment before shaking her head.
"You can't hunt without a weapon." Reigna replied to her head shake, pulling a smaller but still sharpened knife out of her waistband before handing it to the girl, "Maybe you'll be good at it." Reigna spoke up once again, looking Charlotte in her eyes before standing to her full height and walking towards Bellamy and Atom, urging Charlotte to follow.
-0-
"Why do things always have to go to shit so fast!" Reigna yelled running after Bellamy and Charlotte who he had grabbed. Everything was fine until the four noticed a yellow fog as tall as the trees in the woods begin to fill the area. A loud horn filled their ears almost as soon as they had spotted it and everyone's guts spelled run. The other delinquents had gotten separated from them.
"There are caves this way, come on!" Bellamy called back to Reigna and Atom, who was farther behind her. Reigna never really paid attention in the Earth Skills classes she got to take but she was sure this was not how fog was supposed to be. Behind her she heard Atom trip over a tree root and fall. Skidding against the dirt and mud, Reigna hesitated, looking back to Atom on the ground, yelling for help.
"Shit-" Reigna made a move to run to help Atom but Bellamy seized her bicep and pulled her along.
"We'll come back for him after this shit goes away but right now we have to go." He spoke fast before running again. Branches and vines smacked against any of Reigna's exposed skin before Bellamy pulled her into a small cave, where Charlotte was already waiting.
"Holy shit." Reigna panted, leaning an arm against the cave wall, taking deep breaths and trying to calm her breathing.
"What are we gonna do?" Charlotte's distressed voice echoed slightly in the cave.
"Wait it out." Bellamy replied near the entrance of the cave, "Hopefully it'll be gone by morning and everyone else will be okay." Reigna nodded at his words and moved to walk deeper into the cave before feeling a burning creeping in on her ankle.
"Ow shit! What the hell?" Reigna exclaimed, crouching down to inspect her blistering ankle.
"Is that from the fog?" Bellamy asked, having rushed to Reigna's side when he heard her curse.
"Dunno what else it would be from." Reigna replied, still sounding confused. Sighing deeply Reigna slid onto the floor and flung out her legs in front of her before looking to Charlotte.
"Might want to get comfy, kid. We're gonna be here a while."
It was well past night time when Reigna noticed Charlotte was asleep. Bellamy was sitting directly in front of her, sharpening the edge of his axe with a rock he found on the ground.
"You're pretty good with her, you know?" Reigna finally spoke to Bellamy who looked shocked to hear her voice.
"What?"
"Charlotte, I mean. You got her to sleep pretty fast." Reigna explained.
"Well I do have a younger sister." Bellamy responded.
"I've never been good around people that are younger than me." Reigna admitted.
"How old are you?" Bellamy asked, furrowing his brows at her.
"The oldest besides you." She managed a laugh, "I'm eighteen, but the day they sent us down here was the day I was supposed to be floated. I don't really know why they sent me here instead of actually floating me. Guess they thought I'd die either way." She shrugged. Bellamy looked genuinely shocked at her confession.
"I always thought you were younger than Murphy."
"Because I'm short?" Reigna spat out.
"Wha- No I- I didn't mean-" Bellamy sputtered for a moment, making Reigna snort.
"I'm kidding." Reigna smirked over at him and he nodded.
"Of course you were."
"As shitty as it is for us down here, i'm glad they sent me here instead of floating me." Reigna admitted.
"Because of Murphy?" Bellamy assumed.
"Not just because of Murphy." Reigna thought aloud, "I'm… happy here." she hesitated. Bellamy stayed quiet, not forcing her to continue but Reigna nodded and sighed.
"I've been... Angry for as long as I can remember. I wasn't a happy kid, I had no reason to be. People who didn't even know me hated me just because they didn't like my dad. Murphy was my only real friend. My mom didn't give a shit about anything even up to her death." Reigna explained with a small shake of her head.
"You had no reason to be happy." Bellamy observed, making Reigna nod.
"Everything was shit. The only thing I looked forward to was seeing Murphy, and that didn't happen every day. And then my mom…" Reigna trailed off.
"You said you killed her," Bellamy spoke softly, shifting so he was sitting beside Reigna instead of in front of her.
"I killed her by not doing anything. I was too slow." Reigna cast her eyes to the ground, digging her nails into the palms of her hands before taking a deep breath.
"Olivia was sick. Really, really sick. And Abby could only give her so much because of the rationing. So, when I could, I would sneak into the med bay at night when there were only like one or two people in there. I had a route set in stone. There were always these specific places in the med bay where they never watched. I was small so I could crawl around and sneak into spots most people would never think to check because it was so small." Reigna began her explanation, sniffing softly as she did.
"I would regularly sneak in to get Olivia the medicine she needed. The amount she needed. And then i did the same for Murphy because I was already sneaking into the medbay, what's it to me to just get a little more medicine while I'm there. But one night I spent too long looking for the right shit." Reigna faltered, swallowing hard and biting the inside of her cheek.
"Reigna you don't have to tell me." Bellamy spoke.
"Yes I do. I need to hear it again." Reigna's voice broke as she spoke. Shaking her head one more time she continued, "She- She wasn't okay when I left. She was on the couch just… zoned out. She wasn't talking or anything. She barely looked alive. I had to run back to our house. Some of the guard saw me and tried to chase me down but they couldn't catch me. It didn't matter." Reigna's voice was quiet as she clenched her fist harder.
Bellamy grabbed Reigna's hands and gently began prying them apart when he heard a drop of her blood hit the cold cave ground.
"She was dead by the time I got home." Reigna spoke as she watched Bellamy wipe the blood from her palms.
"Was it her illness?" He asked.
"That's what I thought at first. They arrested me when my dad came home. He said i poisoned her. I didn't. I fought tooth and nail, i drew blood. But I still thought it was my fault. And In a way it still is." Reigna explained, "Her illness didn't kill her but the meds did. Every time I brought her home medicine, she didn't take it. She hid it. She overdosed that day. And they knew it but i wasn't released. I'm sure he still wants me to think it's my fault." Reigna finished.
"Reigna.. I'm sorry." Bellamy breathed out, looking at her as she aggressively wiped her eyes.
"Don't. I'm sure you have your own demons to deal with." Reigna sniffed, gently pulling her hand away from Bellamy's,"But thank you… For listening."
-0-
Reigna was really getting tired of waking up to screaming. As soon as the sound of Charlotte's screams hit her ears, Reigna's head sprang off Bellamy's shoulder.
"What the fuck?" Reigna blinked tiredly as Bellamy rushed to her side.
"Charlotte. Hey, Charlotte, wake up." Bellamy shook the small girl as she thrashed around for a moment before bolting upright.
"I- I'm sorry." Charlotte cried, grasping Bellamy's jacket he gave her to sleep under.
"Does it happen often?" Bellamy asked, bypassing her unnecessary apology. Charlotte sighed and looked away from Bellamy, giving him all the answers he needed.
"What are you scared of?" Bellamy started before rethinking, "Actually, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you do about it."
"But i'm asleep." Charlotte's voice was desperate. 'This must be something she's been dealing with for a while…' Reigna thought to herself.
"Fears are fears. Slay your demons when you're awake, they won't be there to get you when you sleep." Bellamy responded.
"But how?" Charlotte asked.
"You can't afford to be weak. Down here, weakness is death, fear is death." Bellamy paused for a moment, thinking, "You still have that knife Reigna gave you?" Bellamy asked. Charlotte nodded and twisted to pull it out of her pocket. Bellamy took it from her and gripped it tightly.
"When you feel afraid, you hold tight to this and say 'screw you, i'm not afraid'"
Bellamy hands the knife back to Charlotte, who grips the knife tightly, the same way as Bellamy.
"Screw you, i'm not afraid." Charlotte repeats quietly. Bellamy raises a brow at her timidness and she sighs.
"Screw you, i'm not afraid." Charlotte says louder, stronger and Bellamy smiles.
"Slay your demons, kid. Then you'll be able to sleep." Bellamy says before Charlotte lays back down, still gripping the knife. Bellamy waits a few minutes to make sure she's completely asleep before moving back beside Reigna.
"That was damn cute, Bell." Reigna says quietly, as to not wake Charlotte.
"Bell?" He asks with a smirk.
"I'll allow you to call me Reign if i can keep calling you Bell." Reigna smiles and Bellamy raises his brows, smirk still plastered on his face.
"Oh! You'll allow me." Bellamy laughed before nodding. "Reign is a suitable nickname. Guess i never noticed until now."
"Trust me, I used to let it go to my head all the time. I might be a little less egotistical if my name was spelled differently." Reigna joked.
"I don't think you're that bad." Bellamy leaned back, hands behind his head as he looked over to Reigna, "Not yet anyway."
-0-
When the sun finally rose, Bellamy and Reigna cautiously peeked outside the entrance of the cave.
"Its gone." Reigna noted, turning to Bellamy, "Go wake up Charlotte." Bellamy nodded and darted back inside as Reigna slowly stepped outside the cave entrance. Sweeping her eyes across the woods, Reigna noticed that everything looked normal.
"So the fog doesn't affect anything but us. Maybe animals too." Reigna said to Bellamy as he left the cave, Charlotte close behind him.
Bellamy and Reigna walked side by side for a while, treading lightly before Bellamy called out.
"It's all clear! Anyone out there? Jones?"
"Over here!" Reigna heard Jones voice call out to her left, jogging over the three met up with the rest of the delinquents.
"Lost you in the stew. Where'd you go?" Bellamy asked, looking over them all.
"Made it to a cave down there." Jones responded and pointed behind them, North of where Bellamy and Reigna had been hiding, "What the hell was that."
"No idea, some kind of fog. Left Reigna with a nasty burn overnight." Bellamy responded, glancing over to Reigna who was looking around the group with her brows furrowed.
"Where's Atom? He didn't meet up with you guys?" Reigna asked, her voice holding concern. Jones shook his head and Reigna looked over to Bellamy panicked.
"Split up. You guys check near the camp to see if he made it back last night. We'll search the woods." Bellamy ordered. Jones nodded and rounded up his small group of delinquents and lead them back to camp.
Bellamy and Reigna searched the woods for what felt like hours, calling out his name only to get silence as a response.
"You don't think the grounders could have taken him, do you?" Reigna asked, looking to Bellamy.
"I don't know-" Bellamy began to answer before the two heard a high pitched scream to their right.
"Charlotte!" Bellamy and Reigna both yelled before sprinting in the direction of her scream.
As the two approached her Reigna spotted a body lying almost motionless on the ground.
"Son of a bitch." Bellamy muttered quietly, pushing Charlotte back.
"Atom…" Reigna whispered, walking toward him and dropping to her knees, Bellamy following close beside her.
'Kill… me. Kill me.. Please.' Atom was rasping out. Reigna's eyes widened in shock as she looked over his face and neck. He was covered in burns and huge boils, and his skin was tinted yellow. As much as she hated to admit, there was no helping him at this point.
"Don't be afraid." Reigna heard a small voice beside her. Charlotte was standing to her left, holding the knife Reigna had given her yesterday out to her.
"Charlotte, go back to camp." Bellamy nudged Charlotte back before she could put the knife in Reigna's hand.
"Reign… What can we do?" Bellamy asked Reigna quietly. She noticed his eyes were wet with tears she doubted he would let fall. Reigna bit inside her lip hard enough to draw blood before moving to Atom's other side, across from Bellamy.
"Hey, Atom. Its Reigna. Look at me... please?" Reigna spoke softly, giving Atom a real smile as he slowly brought his cloudy eyes to her face.
"Hey. Listen, everything is gonna be okay, you hear me?" Reigna kept smiling at him as she brought one hand to pet the top of his head gently, the other silently pulling one of her knives out of her waistband.
"We're gonna get you back to camp and Clarke will fix you up and you'll be fine. Everything will be fine." Reigna's voice broke as she looked Atom in his eyes, a tear escaping hers. "I promise." She whispered before quickly plunging her knife into Atom's neck. Reigna can taste copper when she finally removes her knife from Atom's neck, tears flowing freely down her face.
"Fuck…" Reigna curses, angrily wiping at her eyes with her wrist.
"Reign, I could have-" Bellamy started.
"No- I had- I needed to do it. He was my friend too." Reigna sat back, not able to look at Atom.
"I heard a scream what- Oh god." Reigna hears Clarke's voice but doesn't bother to look away from Bellamy. Reigna realizes in this moment he's the only thing keeping her from falling to pieces right now.
-0-
Reigna fled to her tent as soon as they all returned to camp. Not bothering to talk to Bellamy, Octavia or Murphy as she ran. She figured Murphy would show up eventually anyway. Throwing herself onto her makeshift sleeping bag, Reigna buried her head in her arms and sobbed. After a few minutes, Murphy flung open the tent entrance.
"Reign? Oh, thank fuck." Murphy exclaimed, dropping to his knees and bringing Reigna into a tight embrace. "Holy shit, Reign. I was so worried about you."
"Don't get to hear you say that very often." Reigna joked through her tears, wiping her eyes on Murphy's shoulder.
"What the hell happened to Atom?" Murphy asked, pulling Reigna away from himself.
"He got stuck out in that fucking fog overnight. This kid, Charlotte, found him and… we couldn't... He was ..." Reigna stuttered and Murphy pulled her in close again.
"Its okay. Its over. I'm just glad you're okay. We both kept our promises." Murphy rocked Reigna back and forth gently as she cried.
"I'll always come back to you, Murphy." Reigna spoke, her voice muffled by his shoulder.
"You need to get some sleep. In an almost real bed." Murphy unwrapped Reigna's arms from his torso and sat her back on her sleeping bag.
"Did that shit show up here too?" Reigna asked as Murphy made quick work of removing her boots and tossing them aside.
"Yea. We all had to sleep in the damn dropship last night. Jasper wouldn't shut the hell up the whole time." Murphy grumbled.
"Damn, Murph. We both slept shitty then." Reigna managed a smile.
"You can say that again." Murphy sighed before kicking off his own boots and shedding his jacket.
"This had been the longest two days of my life. And i was in solitary for five years." Reigna huffed and laid down flat on her back, staring at the top of their tent. Murphy joined her on the ground before throwing their 'borrowed' blanket over both of them.
"I hope things will get easier down here eventually." Reigna said quietly, turning on her side to face Murphy, who was already facing her.
"They will. We'll all adapt. We'll be okay, fuck everyone else." Murphy smiled at Reigna before pulling her into another tight hug.
"Never do that to me again. I've never been so scared of anything in my whole life. Murphy's voice was muffled as he buried his face in her hair.
"Today just proved my theory that bad things always happen when we're separated." Reigha replied, hugging Murphy around his neck tightly. "Maybe we should handcuff ourselves together so have a reason to never leave each other alone."
"I could think of a few other things we could use some handcuffs for-"
"John Murphy I swear on my life I will punch you so hard you'll forget your name."