CHAPTER 10
EVERYTHING WAS A MESS and none of them knew how to fix it. Jinny ran a hand through her messy dark hair as she paced the inside of the tent. It trembled with residual pain and she balled it into a fist instead, throwing dark glances around at the others. Charlotte sat in the corner with her eyes glued to her muddy shoes.
"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy yelled from outside.
Jinny ducked under the flap and screamed at him. "Shut the hell up, or I'll shut you up!"
"Why, Charlotte?" Bellamy asked, his eyes troubled and weary.
"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me," she said, her small voice sending shivers down Jinny's spine. It was like she had absolutely no idea how terrible her actions had been. Was she that desperate to end the nightmares?
"What the hell is she talking about?" Clarke demanded fiercely, looking between the both of them.
"She misunderstood me." Bellamy quickly defended himself. "Charlotte, that is not what I meant."
"You can't hide her forever, Jinny!" Murphy continued to shout vehemently. She inhaled sharply but stopped herself from running out of the tent to pummel his stupid face back into the ground.
"Please don't let them hurt me," Charlotte whimpered, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Damn it." Jinny buried her face in her hands, then grasped at the roots of her hair. "She's just a little girl, Bell. What the hell are we supposed to do? I can't think of a single option where this will turn out okay."
He clenched his jaw, frown deepening, before looking up at Clarke and Finn. "If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up." Jinny turned to them expectantly as well but they averted their gazes silently. "Now you stay quiet. Great."
"Those are your boys out there," Finn said unhappily.
"This is not my fault," Bellamy told him firmly before looking pointedly at Clarke. "If she had listened to us, those idiots would still be building the wall."
"You wanted justice, princess?! Let's have justice! Bring her out!"
"No!" Charlotte cried loudly, clasping her hands against her ears. "Please, Bellamy. Jinny. Don't let them hurt me."
"It's okay." The older girl went forwards and stroked her hair. She could feel her heart fracturing into two—morality and mercy warring for dominance. This wasn't something that any of them could possibly walk away from unscathed. Murphy would never allow it. She looked up at Clarke and Finn, her eyes wide with evident distress. "Hide her. Bring her away. Run."
"Where would we go?" Clarke asked, swallowing nervously.
"I don't know—anywhere safe," Jinny asserted.
"It's alright." Finn nodded and exchanged glances with the blonde. "We'll do it."
Bellamy sighed heavily behind her. "Charlotte, stay with them, okay? Come on, Jin."
She turned around, sharing an apprehensive look with him, before they exited the tent. The crowd of teenagers stood behind Murphy, some of them looked shellshocked and others just seemed terrified of what was going to happen next. Murphy's lips twisted into a cruel smile when he saw the both of them approaching him.
"Well, well, well," he started. "Look who decided to join us."
"I love the sound you make when you shut up, Murphy," Jinny growled threateningly.
"Dial it down and back off," Bellamy advised, holding a hand out to emphasise his point.
Murphy scoffed derisively. "Or what? What are you gonna do? Hang me?"
"I cut your stupid rope down," Jinny hissed. "Don't make me regret it."
"After you let them string me up in the first place," he sneered back.
"We were just giving the people what they wanted," Bellamy said stiffly.
"Yeah?" Murphy started to pace around agitatedly. "Yeah, why don't we do that right now? So, who wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favour?"
He raised his hand and looked back at the others in the crowd. Only a few raised their hands up—all of them from his gang. The rest of the kids refused to make eye contact with anyone else as they stood there with their heads hung low in shame. Jinny felt relief but her heart dropped when Murphy turned back to look at them with an expression of hurt hidden under a mask of scorn.
"I see," his voice was tight. "So it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you all let her walk? Cowards! All of you are cowards!"
"Hey, Murphy!" Bellamy bellowed. "Murphy, it's over!"
The boy stopped as he regarded the both of them in front of him. Then he nodded his head, apparently coming to grips with his situation. Jinny frowned, knowing that Murphy would never forget about this. There was a rift between him and everyone else now that could never be repaired.
"Whatever you say, boss." He lowered his head.
Bellamy sighed, then turned around to leave. Jinny followed after him and they were halfway across the clearing back to the tent when Bellamy suddenly went down beside her with a loud grunt of pain. His body fell heavily into the dirt and Jinny managed to whirl away just in time as Murphy swung a log at her head.
"Son of a—" She dropped herself to the ground as he made another attempt to strike her and kicked her leg out, managing to connect her foot with his shin. Murphy cried out, the piece of wood slipping from his hands. Two of his lackeys came up to grab her off the ground and she struggled against their restraints. Murphy quickly ran towards the tent and ripped away the flap, cursing loudly when he found that it was empty.
"Hey! Come on, let's get the girl!" he called to the others before sprinting into the woods and yelling at the top of his lungs, "Charlotte! Charlotte, I know you can hear me! And when I find you, you're gonna pay!"
The two boys that held Jinny flung her to the ground and she scraped her elbow from the fall. She scrambled to her feet just as Octavia ran forwards to help her up, and they hurried towards Bellamy to check if he was okay. Jinny ran her hand through his hair to feel for any open wounds, fingers brushing across a bump at the back of his head to the right of his crown and she quickly hauled him up.
"What the—" he started, blinking blearily.
"That asshole got you pretty good," she told him, holding an arm around his waist and pressing a hand against his chest to keep him upright. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'll be fine." He shook his head but it didn't seem like he was okay. Bellamy took a step forwards before his knees buckled and Jinny had to strain her muscles to stop him from falling over. He weighed like a block of cement and it was in that moment when she truly understood the meaning of dead weight.
"You're not fine, come on." She brought him back into the tent with Octavia's help. They deposited him on a chair and Jinny darted out of the tent. The crowd was still gathered outside, looking around in bewilderment, before she shooed them away to do something useful. She quickly ducked into her tent to grab a torchlight and her knife before returning to the previous tent.
"What's gonna happen now?" Octavia asked as she handed a bottle of water to Bellamy.
"I need to find Charlotte before Murphy does," she replied. "God knows what he'll do to her."
"Wait, I'll go with you," Bellamy said.
"Bell, you can barely stand." Jinny furrowed her brows with an amused smile.
With considerable effort, he pushed himself up to his feet and took a deep breath. He squeezed his eyelids shut before turning to her with a hard nod, voice gruff with concentration. "Yes, I can."
She rolled her eyes before grabbing his hand. "Such a man. Let's go then."
"Octavia, stay in camp!" Bellamy called to his sister before tearing through the forest after Jinny.
They ran as fast as they could, following the sounds of Murphy's frantic search. His furious voice rang loudly throughout the entire woods and she was afraid that they would find something more than a little girl from all the cacophony he was raising. They had put some distance between them and the camp when Jinny stopped. Murphy's yelling had become less incessant and she guessed that he might be plotting something, so she pulled the flashlight from her pocket as night started to descend on them.
Bellamy breathed heavily next to her and she looked up to make sure that he was okay. Maybe the exercise had done some good for his brain, he didn't look completely out of it at any rate. He caught her gaze and touched her arm.
"We can't let him get to her," he said with trepidation.
"Don't worry, we'll figure this out," she told him, then added in a mutter, "How did we even end up in this situation?"
"Because I opened my god damn mouth," he sighed. "I never should have said anything."
"Neither of us would know she'd take it the wrong way, Bell." Jinny patted his hand. "Come on, they couldn't have gotten that far."
"I miss hearing you call me that," he said quietly.
"Well, I miss calling you that." She turned to smile at him.
They continued through the darkness that shrouded the forest in a heavy veil. Jinny had switched off her flashlight when they found that silence was now their only guide through the twisting trees. Her breaths were shallow with anticipation because they both knew that Murphy was not the only one they needed to hide from. Out here, there were worst things than the wrath of a seventeen year old boy. She was consistently aware of everything around her, senses heightened due to the disquiet in her head.
"We've been searching for hours," Bellamy whispered beside her. "Maybe we should head back. Continue in the morning."
"Wait." She turned sharply to the side. "Did you hear that?"
He followed her gaze and saw a figure shooting out from the shadows of the foliage about fifty meters on their left. The little girl's small silhouette gave her away instantly and Bellamy sprinted in her direction, determined not to lose sight of her. Jinny bounded after him, trying to make as little noise as possible by running on the balls of her feet. She saw Bellamy skid to a halt, grabbing Charlotte around the middle and clamping a hand shut against her mouth to muffle her screams.
"Screamer, hey, sshh." Jinny stopped in front of her and held her arm. "It's us, be quiet."
Charlotte turned to look at them, eyes wide and confused through the thin light penetrating the canopy. They could hear Murphy and his boys starting to call again in the distance. Bellamy quickly pulled the little girl away in the opposite direction but she struggled against his hold while kicking up a huge fuss.
"Let me go!" her voice was fierce. "Stop it!"
"Hey, we're trying to help you." Bellamy paused and turned to her.
"I'm not your sister!" she retorted. "Just stop helping me!"
Suddenly, she turned around and started running back, screaming at the top of her lungs to give away their position. Jinny caught hold of her and gripped her arm in an iron vice.
"Are you crazy?" the woman hissed. "Do you wanna die?"
"You're gonna get us all killed," Bellamy said.
"Just go, okay?" Charlotte looked at them. "I'm the one they want!"
He crouched down in front of her and held the sides of her arms. "Charlotte, listen to me. We won't leave you."
"Please, Bellamy," she said to him before trying to make a run for it again. She didn't reach very far though since Jinny still had a grip on her, and Bellamy decided that enough was enough. He lifted Charlotte up in the air and tossed the girl over his shoulder. She continued to struggle and scream on his back as they walked away.
"NO! MURPHY, I'M HERE!"
"COME ON OUT, CHARLOTTE! COME ON OUT!" came Murphy's reply through the monotonous gloom.
"Screamer, seriously, do you wanna bring an entire army down on us?" Jinny asked scathingly.
Bellamy picked up his pace, heading towards a part of the forest that thinned out into a clearing. They broke through the line of trees and found the light of the moon bearing down on them in all its glory. In front of them was a steep drop off a rocky cliff that faced the sea. Its tranquil waters down below looked like a sheet of glass that was waiting to be shattered. Bellamy set Charlotte down as Murphy's voice grew louder, no thanks to the girl's unrelenting screams.
"Damn it," Jinny muttered as they looked around.
The foliage behind them shuddered before Murphy tore through the leaves, his voice now clear and crisp in the night. The flames from his torch flickered against their faces with an orange sheen and more boys came to light up the small area they were standing in. A gentle sea breeze came from behind as Jinny turned to face the group of boys, holding Charlotte protectively between herself and Bellamy. She could smell the salt in the air together with the coppery murderous intent.
"You can't fight all of us," Murphy said. "Give her up."
"Wanna see me try?" Jinny bared her teeth.
"I can guarantee I'll take a few of you with me," Bellamy told him.
They turned at the sound of Clarke's voice as she and Finn managed to find them, stumbling onto the cliff. Guessing from the distress in her eyes, she hadn't been separated from Charlotte on purpose.
"This has gone too far," Clarke said. "Just calm down, we'll talk about this." She turned to Murphy who regarded her almost with boredom.
His lips curled, somewhere between a taunting smile and a sneer. Then he reached out quickly and grabbed hold of Clarke, drawing a blade against the blonde's throat. "I am so sick of listening to you talk," he said lowly.
"Let her go!" Finn started forwards.
"Back off!" Murphy snarled. "Or I'll slit her throat."
"No, please!" Charlotte cried, tears starting to well in her eyes. "Please don't hurt her."
"Don't hurt her?" Murphy turned back to them. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come over here right now and I'll let her go."
"Don't do it, Charlotte," Clarke said and Jinny pulled the little girl closer. Charlotte stubbornly took a step forwards but Bellamy held an arm out to stop her, pushing her back as she struggled against him again.
"Charlotte, stop!" Jinny raised her voice sternly as she grabbed the back of the girl's jacket.
"No! I have to!" she yelled shrilly, beating her small fists against Bellamy's arm. He grabbed her shoulder gently, forcing her to look at him and he shook his head firmly.
"Murphy, this is not happening," he then told the boy.
"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore," Charlotte said, her voice filled with defeat. "Not because of me. Not after what I did." She took hold of Jinny's hand and looked up at the older woman's face. A single tear ran down her soft cheek, tumbling down to the ground from the end of her chin. Jinny felt her heart breaking as she peered down at this young girl who had so much to live for, but didn't know how.
"We are infinite," she said, repeating the words Jinny had said back in the cave. Those words that had been meant to instil courage and hope.
But Charlotte wanted it all to end, so she turned around and jumped.