Chapter 9

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It was the middle of the night and she was seething with anger. Ari was having just as much trouble sleeping as the rest of them, Clarke had refused to allow her to stay up watching over Jasper. Instead she had been sent off to her bed to rest and she had strict instructions not to get any more wounds.

"Can he just die already?" It was the boy's annoyed question that made her snap. In a second she was lunging across the clearing with a handmade knife at his throat, "Can you stop breathing already?" The question was cold and practically spat at him. He slunk off, stance defeated.

She had turned to wander the edge of the camp, hoping to be as far away from the repulsive idiots surrounding her as possible. She was close enough for safety but far enough not to want to kill someone. She wouldn't actually hurt anyone unless they hurt her friends of course.

These thoughts led her to thinking about the time she had killed someone. It had been when she was young, she was panicked and he had done something awful to her. In a fit of disgust and hate she had taken a man's life. She had felt hollow for awhile but it soon turned to an all encompassing hatred for the Ark which had cooled as she got older.

1..the ripping of her clothes.

2…the heavy breathing and suffocating feeling of him crushing her.

3..the audible rip of her underdeveloped muscles as he forced himself upon her.

4..the burning pain between her legs and all that blood.

5…his smug grin and the last blow against her beaten face which knocked her unconscious.

Even now she felt nothing about it. He had taken something from her and she felt no remorse in taking his life as a trade. It felt fair to her, he had stolen her virginity so in turn she stole his life.

She was broken out of her dark thoughts of screams by what sounded like a young girl. "No! No!" She followed the sound hurriedly, afraid of what she may find. It led her to a small girl with braids who slept curled on the ground. She was twitching in her sleep and mumbling the repeated word rather than screaming it now.

"Hey, wake up," she told the girl softly as she shook her gently. The girl jerked awake as she sat up sharply, brown doe eyes glancing around anxiously as her cheeks wetted with tears. "It was just a dream, you're okay now." Ari's assurance seemed to have made the girl remember she was there as she glanced over at Ari suddenly. "You're Charlotte, right?"

The girl didn't answer, curling her arms around her scrawny little knees as she rested her head on them sadly. "It's okay to be scared. Do you want to talk about it?" The little girl seemed to contemplate it for a moment before looking away with fresh tears rolling down her face. "It's my parents. They got floated and I see it in my dreams. I just.." Ari nodded reassuringly, wrapping an arm around her tiny shoulders. "I understand. My mom was floated too..I couldn't stop it."

The small girl stared at her in mutual understanding as Ari stood. She held a hand out to the girl who hesitantly took it. "You shouldn't be sleeping out here on the cold ground. You can have my bed." Ari's tent wasn't much, a lean to she had made out of tarp and scrap metal. Her bed was some parachute material she had managed to gather and that was almost all she had in her tent besides some spare clothes lying around.

Charlotte put up no fuss, following her back to the tent where she curled up in Ari's bedding and fell into a deep sleep. Ari slept next to her, curled up with her back to her new tent mate.

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The knife bounced off the tree with a dull thunking noise and Murphy swore. "It's that damn kid, he's messing with my head." Ari snorted from where she was practicing, "He's not gonna be sick for long. Might want to find a new excuse before then." She sent the angry boy a wink before throwing her knife to the tree, where it stuck exactly where she had aimed.

The only reason she was so good at this was because she practiced a lot, whenever she wasn't helping with some chore around camp she was throwing the knife. Bellamy only smirked," That's how it's done."

Atom arrived before Murphy could respond, most likely with some form of threat. "We searched half a mile in all directions. No sign of Trina or Pascal." "You see your special tree while you were out there?", Murphy taunted as he picked up his knife. Atom looked away guiltily.

"Atom took his punishment, let it go." Bellamy's voice was stern and deep. Ari found herself glancing him over. His hair was no longer slicked back and instead fell in messy curls across his forehead. His skin glistened with sweat in the early morning sun and his tight shirt showed off his muscles. She wasn't sure how she had ended up in Bellamy's inner circle but she was loving the view.

"It could be grounders," warned Atom. "Yeah or they could be in pound town," Murphy suggested," lot of that going around recently." His words made Atom look away once more, his intentions with Octavia seemed pure. Bellamy only stalked forward, removing her knife and tossing it to her.

Atom glanced over to the left, gaze hovering on something nearby. She followed his stare to see Octavia dumping some water in the weeds near them. She smiled shyly at Atom who quickly looked away. Ari glared at him when she saw the way 'Tavia's face fell. Atom turned and approached Bellamy speaking lowly.

"Look Bellamy, people are scared. And that dying kid is not helping the morale around here." "Morale will go up when I find them food," Bellamy retorted. "What do we tell them when they ask about Trina and Pascal?" The question came from one of his henchmen that she was unfamiliar with. "For now, nothing. It's possible that they're just lost. But we'll keep an eye out for them when we go hunting later."

"Let's go kill something," Murphy muttered as he stared up at the dropship in disdain. He began to leave with them but Bellamy stopped him. "You're not going. If the grounders are circling I can't leave this place unprotected." Murphy nodded obviously believing the lie Bellamy was feeding him.

Ari knew it was because he didn't want to leave Atom here with Octavia this time and Murphy wasn't interested in the younger Blake. Also the pale boy was a horrible shot. Ari got to go because she wasn't going to hook up with Octavia anytime soon and she could actually hit her target.

"Fine. Somebody better tell goggle boy to keep it shut." Ari stepped towards him," You touch Jasper, you're dead." She glared up at him, meaning every word. She would hurt John Murphy if he so much as breathed in Jasper. Murphy was the first to look away, turning to angrily throw his knife at the tree which fell once more.

"Oh, and he falls short!" With that she sauntered out on Bellamy's heels, who looked over at her in amusement as he tried not to laugh at the expense of his second in command.

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Bellamy was in his tent discussing weapons with Murphy when O stormed in. "What did you do to Atom?" He jerked his head to the side, indicating for Murphy to get out. After he had done so Bellamy stood and turned to look at his sister in annoyance. "Atom's fine."

"You can't keep everyone away from me," she exclaimed in exasperation. He shook his head pretending that it wasn't about that. "Atom had to learn. Disobey me and you pay the price. He paid his price." She rolled her eyes, which minded him quite a bit of Ari, "Yeah well now I'm paying the price. So next time you decide to go on a power trip, leave me out of it."

She turned to leave only to stop and glance back at him. "What's going on with you and Ari?" His eyebrows shot up, surprised by the question. "Nothing's going on with us. Why?" His tone was confused maybe even a bit defensive. O cocked a brow at him, "Just don't break my only friend's heart, okay?"

At a sudden scream from Jasper she ducked from the tent to hurry towards the dropship. Bellamy was left staring after her in confusion. Why did she think something was going on between him and Ari?

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They trekked through the woods slowly, keeping quiet as they approached the boar. It was snuffling the ground as it dug for roots to eat. Ari pulled back her arm, ready to throw her knife. When the twig snapped she whirled and flung it into the tree, just missing Charlotte who stared up at it in horror.

The pig squealed as it disappeared into the brush as Bellamy shouted for the others to get it. "Who in the hell are you?" It was Bellamy's question but Ari was the one Charlotte glanced to. When she nodded the younger girl told him her name. Bellamy obviously hadn't missed the exchange, "You know her?" Ari nodded, "We share a tent."

Something softened in him then, glancing between the two girls although he was still annoyed at her chasing off the boar. "She almost killed you."

"Why aren't you back at camp?" "W-w-well with that guy dying and all, I couldn't listen to it anymore." Atom responded to her, "There are grounders out here. It's too dangerous for little girls." "I am not little!"

Ari snorted in disdain to Atom's words, "I'll keep an eye on her. Come on kid." Bellamy smirked at them, " You can't hunt without a weapon." He handed the young girl a knife asking her," Have you ever killed something before?" Charlotte shook her head hesitantly. He sent Ari an indistinguishable look, "Who knows. Maybe you're good at it."

They hadn't been moving too long when Ari heard the birds. Glancing up she saw them fleeing in panic. No one else seemed to notice but that didn't deter her from grabbing Charlotte by the arm and screaming, "RUN!"

At first the others looked around in confusion, Charlotte staring up at her in concern. When they saw the large yellow cloud with its thunder and lightning bolts they soon followed her as she fled from the toxic cloud.