CHAPTER 07
SCREAMS FILLED THE NIGHT seemingly from all fronts as Jinny huddled under a tree near the campfire. The flames danced with wanton abandon, oblivious to the high tensions that were currently electrifying the camp. Goggles kid moaned in pain from the dropship and a little girl screamed from night terrors. Jinny watched as Clarke exited the ship and turned sharply to identify the source of the shrill cries, making her way to the opposite side of the camp.
Jinny closed her eyes but sleep ultimately eluded her. Sighing heavily, she stood up and made her way towards the dropship. It was like there was an infectious disease running rampant inside it, making people stay far away. Those who were bunking on the lower level kept shooting agitated glances at the ceiling. She climbed up the ladder, listening to the agonising groans from the boy grow louder. Jinny tried to recall his name—something like James? Jesse? Jason?
Her head popped out of the opening of the hatch and she looked around, finding only Monty sitting in a corner and watching his friend squirm deliriously. The boy's lips were white, face ashen and clammy skin dripping with sweat. He must be feverish and she was afraid an infection might be consuming him. Jinny pulled herself over the edge and crouched down next to Monty.
"How is he?" she asked quietly.
The boy merely shook his head, sadness washing his features down into a frown. She dropped herself to the floor and sat cross-legged as she examined the suffering boy, covered with jackets and quilted insulation fabric.
"What about you?" Jinny looked to Monty. "Have you even eaten?"
"Yeah, a little," he replied, shifting uneasily. "But I don't wanna leave him."
"I understand." She turned back to the moaning boy again. "If I was in your position, I wouldn't either."
"Seems that all I can do is to watch him suffer." Monty sighed forlornly. She stared at him from the corners of her eyes, finding something spark inside her. It was a familiar sensation that she had only ever felt once before—when she first met Octavia.
"You said you were raised on Farm Station?" Jinny started, an idea forming in her head. "What kind of herbs could ease pain?"
"Um..." Monty looked at her uncertainly. "I'm not sure if you'll find any around here. Besides, it's dark..."
"Let me help you help him." She tried to smile encouragingly. "Tell me what you know."
"There's uh... poppy. They're small yellow flowers, they're kind of round. The roots and stems can be stewed. Wild Quinine helps with infections. They're small white flowers that grow in a bunch, the leaves are oval and edgy."
He told her more on how to identify the various herbs and she nodded, patting him on the shoulder before heading back down the ladder. Jinny took a flashlight and started towards the forest to look for anything resembling the plants that Monty had described to her. But like sleep, she turned out empty handed as well. She could only hope tomorrow would be a better day.
Three days. That was how long she hadn't been able to sleep properly. Each time her eyes drooped closed, she would be jerked awake by another scream or someone yelling close by. She found that moving her sleeping location outside of the camp and away from other people alleviated most of her insomnia. Unfortunately, she didn't remove herself far enough.
Jinny blinked her eyes open when she heard the soft rustle of footsteps drawing nearer. The last person she wanted to see on earth hovered over her, fingering the metal emergency axe from the dropship. So that was where it went to. Bellamy looked down at her with a frown but she ignored him, keeping her gaze focused on the lazy trail of clouds drifting by in the azure sky.
"Have you been lying here the entire night?" he asked with a hint of incredulity.
"Maybe. Maybe I was sleepwalking. Maybe someone dragged me out here."
His face was devoid of emotion, as if he had been expecting her to say something along those lines. He probably did. Bellamy inhaled an intrepid breath through his nose, looking up with creased brows before turning his brown eyes back on her.
"Come on, Commander," he said. "There are cadets waiting to be tortured. I know you're in to that sort of thing."
Jinny slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her nose and sniffing delicately as she spared him a glance. She hated how he knew so much about her. Ignoring his outstretched hand, she got up onto her feet and tried to pat the smeared dirt off her maroon pants. He led her towards a small clearing where a group of boys milled about with various crude weaponry. The only thing Jinny needed was a knife, though she would have preferred having two.
Their first order of business was to practice their throwing in anticipation of a hunt later in the afternoon. Jinny attached a rope to hers so she didn't have to move from her spot each time. She'd been hearing the bouncing of blades for a while now and sighed with exaggerated grace as she pulled her knife across the ground back towards her.
"You're doing it wrong," she said in exasperation, eyes still trained on her target. "Keep your throwing line vertical and throw it with force. Like you mean it." She turned to look at Murphy. "Throw it so hard that when the knife sticks, the tree's ancestors feel it."
The boy looked at her with his eyes narrowed indignantly as she took a step and sent her knife soaring through the air into the deep dent she had already made through the bark. Murphy scowled unhappily before holding his knife up in the air to mimic her stance, then threw it in front of him. The piece of metal bounced off the thick trunk with a pitiful sound and dropped to the ground harmlessly. He growled loudly in frustration and looked back at the dropship.
"It's that damn kid, alright, messing with my head!" He gestured at all the moaning.
"He's not gonna last much longer," Bellamy said beside him while taking aim. "Better think of a new excuse."
With deliberate precision, he flung his axe at the tree where it embedded deeply into the wood with a hollow ring. He turned to Jinny with an arrogant smirk. "I think its progeny felt that too."
"Do you want a prize?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"I've been looking for some new boots," he shrugged.
Atom walked into view just then from around the foliage with Jones right behind him. Jinny thought she was getting better at remembering people's names now. "We searched a half mile in all directions," he reported. "No sign of Trina or Pascal."
"Visit your special tree when you were out there?" Murphy asked mockingly as he walked past to retrieve his knife.
"Atom took his punishment. Let it go," Bellamy said authoritatively.
"Could be Grounders," Atom suggested.
"Yeah, or they could be in pound town. Lot of that going around recently," Murphy retorted with a smirk.
Jinny sent her knife soaring through the air in his direction, almost impaling his cheek by mere inches, but the rope attached to it whipped him in the eye. Murphy cursed out loud, doubling over as he clasped a hand over his injury. He straightened up and turned to glare at her. "You better watch it!" he shouted angrily.
The woman shrugged as she muttered tonelessly, "My hand slipped."
Bellamy sighed as he looked between the both of them, choosing to remain quiet as he stomped over to pluck his axe out of the tree. Octavia splashed water into the thick ferns opposite them, sending them a wide smile as her eyes met with Atom's briefly.
"Look, Bellamy." The boy turned away from her. "People are scared and that dying kid, he's not helping the morale around here."
"Morale will go up when I find them more food," he responded without hesitation.
"Captain Ahab to the rescue," Jinny commented snidely. They ignored her.
"And what do we say when they ask about Trina and Pascal?" Jones asked.
"Now? Nothing," Bellamy answered. "It's possible they're just lost. We'll keep an eye out for them when we go hunting later."
Everyone nodded and started to pack their stuff up.
"Let's go kill something," Murphy said enthusiastically, glancing at the dropship again before turning around to meet Bellamy's palm on his chest.
"You're not going," the older man said. "I need you to stay here. If the Grounders are circling, we can't leave this place unprotected."
"Fine," Murphy acquiesced with a nod. Jinny glanced at him as she walked past, the angry red bruises decorating his face standing out starkly under the bright sunlight. She bent down to pick up her knife and continued walking. "Somebody better tell goggle boy to keep it shut."
"His name is Jasper!" she yelled from the distance.
She trudged back into camp and looked around scrutinisingly. In the past few days, everyone had been busy trying to build themselves shelters and a few tents dotted the grounds. Some had started to pick up on the idea of gathering nuts and berries around the campsite while jobs were slowly being allocated. It seemed like things were looking up for them.
If only they could have running water and electricity, that would be perfect.
His familiar presence stopped next to her and she groused at herself for being able to tell him apart from everyone else just by his existence alone. It didn't even have to do with anything like his scent or the sound of his footsteps, she just knew it was him. Jinny blew out an aggravated breath and crossed her arms, not bothering to acknowledge him.
"You're coming, right?" Bellamy asked. "Hunting."
"If you say so," she responded indifferently.
"We need to discuss defences," he told her before calling loudly, "Murphy! Come here!"
Jinny sighed in resignation and followed the tall man into his tent along with Murphy right behind her. They settled in crouches as Bellamy started going off on having a wall built, getting weapons and patrol shifts as he drew a rough sketch of the camp with his knife in the ground. She had to stifle a yawn of boredom as she sat there staring at the faded and stained canvas fabric, making little comments every now and then to look like she was participating. Suddenly, Octavia barged into the tent, her intent gaze focused on her brother as she stood over him.
"What did you do with Atom?" she demanded.
Bellamy gave a tired sigh before cocking his head to Murphy. The boy took that as his cue to leave the tent while Bellamy cleared his throat and stood up with his arms crossed. Octavia stared daggers up at him, clearly not intimidated by his larger stature that easily dwarfed hers.
"Atom's fine." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Then why did he blow me off?" she asked pointedly.
"Maybe he's just not interested."
"He'd be mad to resist that." Jinny waved towards Octavia who managed a small smile before remembering she was supposed to be stern. Bellamy sent the woman a glare.
"You can't just isolate me from people, okay?" Octavia told him.
"Atom had to learn," he started. "Disobey me, you pay the price. He paid the price. Now we're good."
"Now I'm paying the price," she retorted. "So next time you decide to go on a power trip, leave me out of it."
"She's right," Jinny added unhelpfully. She opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted by an agonisingly loud scream from the dropship. Octavia started in surprise and darted out of the tent in a hurry. Bellamy looked down at Jinny with furrowed brows as she scrambled to a stand. Without so much as a glance back at him, she ran out after Octavia. They climbed the ladder to the upper level quickly, the tortuous cries from Jasper reverberating all around them as if the metal had started to convulse.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Octavia cried when she made it to the top, rushing forwards and dropping on the floor next to Clarke.
"What are you doing?" Jinny asked as she scanned the room, the smell of septicity stinging her olfactory receptors. The blonde girl was holding a knife in her hand as Wells and Finn held her patient down. Tears were leaking out from the poor boy's eyes, staining his face in deep trails along the scratches across his cheeks. He looked worse than she remembered, and a deep frown etched her face instantly.
"She's trying to save his life," Finn answered.
"She can't," Bellamy said as he came up to join them.
Wells stood up with a heavy sigh. "We're not in the mood for your crap right now, Bellamy," he said, eliciting a humorous scoff from the man.
"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die," Clarke said.
"Kid's a goner," he told them. "If you can't see that, you're deluded. He's making people go crazy."
"This isn't the Ark anymore and I don't care what you think," she raised her voice angrily. "Down here, every life matters."
"Take a good look at him." Bellamy lowered his voice instead while gesturing with a hand. "If you hadn't noticed yet, he's a lost cause."
"Octavia," she spoke to the other girl softly, seemingly ignoring him. "I've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If I say there's hope, then there's hope."
"This isn't about hope, it's about guts," the man said, mildly exasperated by their stubbornness. "You don't have the guts to make the hard choices, I do. He's been like this for three days even with all the herbs Jinny's been bringing him. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll put him out of his misery myself." He turned and stepped towards the ladder, grabbing hold of the first rung. "Jin, let's go."
She turned to look back at him and for once, she listened.
Because she thought he was right.