Shoutout to DamonSalvatoreLover for the review!
"You're up?" Bellamy had made his way to our tent during a search for something in the campground. Clarke looked at me before she stood up, and I was surprised when she offered me a hand, helping me to stand. I stretched my arms above my head and looked up towards the sky.
"Yeah. Knowing there might be hundreds of people dying on the Ark makes it pretty hard to sleep." Clarke told him harshly. I pursed my lips, silently agreeing with her.
Bellamy's lips pursed and looked away. I could tell he was tired of that accusation. "Raven's flares will work."
"Her radio would've worked better." Clarke replied. The air grew tense, and I said nothing while they stared each other down.
Finally, Bellamy broke the silence. "Have you seen Octavia?"
"No." Clarke replied, shaking her head. Bellamy looked to me and I shrugged, not having met Octavia yet. "It's Octavia, though." Clarke said lightly. "She's probably off chasing butterflies-"
"Clarke, I've checked the whole camp. She's not here." I could hear the desperation in his voice, and Clarke looked to me for a moment.
"We'll help you find her." I finally said for the both of us, looking back to Bellamy.
"Let's check again." Clarke instructed, beginning to walk away from our tent. "You go to the drop ship and check there, I'll check along the wall, and you check the rest of the tents." She told Bellamy and I, walking swiftly.
"Thank you." Bellamy told her sincerely.
"Don't thank me. I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for Octavia." I blinked in surprise at Clarke's statement. I knew she was mad at Bellamy, but that felt a bit uncalled for. Bellamy looked at me as if I could make her take it back, but I shrugged. They needed to work this out themselves.
Within the hour, I was pretty sure everyone knew my face, and probably thought I had some weird obsession with Octavia. Since I didn't know what she looked like, I'd had to ask every person if they knew where Octavia was.
While most people were annoyed, I'd gotten to see some of the people that I'd been counseling back on the Ark. Being teenagers, most could care less about my presence, but a few were happy to see me.
After getting back with Bellamy and Clarke, he'd decided that he was going to gather a search party. I agreed. If she was lost outside of the camp, the sooner we found her, the better.
"Everyone gather up and grab a weapon." Bellamy demanded, tossing down a bag of makeshift weapons. Most were being held together by cord or tape, and I wondered if they'd made use of these weapons yet. I didn't pick any up, unwilling to partake in any violent manners they thought they'd need to use.
"Choosing not to arm yourself, Doc?" Bellamy asked, nudging my arm.
I rolled my eyes at his childishness. "It's Ellen." I told him firmly, watching as the rest of the campers grabbed what they could. "And no." I crossed my arms over my chest. Hopefully none of them would actually have to use these.
"Suit yourself." Bellamy commented, when Jasper reached between Bellamy and Clarke to pick up a weapon.
Clarke set a hand on his arm to stop him. "Jasper, you don't have to do this. You haven't left camp since we brought you back."
Jasper's hair was unruly, and there was a cut under his eye. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. He made eye contact with me, but his body language was a lot more withdrawn, and I could tell he was anxious.
Then again, all of us were anxious.
"Clarke, I need to do this." He practically whispered, although it sounded a lot less sure than he made it out to be.
"I don't think that's a good-" I began, thinking that him being so wound up would no doubt end up bad.
"We need all the people we can get." Bellamy interrupted, setting a hand on my elbow. I turned over my shoulder to look at him. The arm not holding my elbow was drawn across his chest, whether from the chill in the air or nerves, I couldn't tell.
I pursed my lips but said nothing, choosing to walk away instead of argue. I was surprised when I heard footsteps following me, and I glanced to see Jasper close on my heels. I stopped on the edge of the crowd.
"Did you need something, Jasper?" I asked, setting a hand lightly on his arm.
"I just-" He sighed and looked away, still looking as though he was fighting a war inside his head. "Do you think I can do it?"
"Do what?"
"Go outside the walls."
I bit my lip and nodded, giving his arm a squeeze before crossing mine over my chest. "I think that you have built up a fear of something, like a fear of the dark." I replied, once again taking the place of psychologist. "I can't say you won't get hurt outside these walls, but the longer you put going outside off, the harder it will be." He nodded, and the group around us began to move, heading towards the entrance.
As we walked, I felt my nerves growing. This would be my first time going out of the walls in the dark, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared too. But I had to be brave. For the sake of the people around me, I had to be strong.
The people around me began whispering and pointing up to the sky, and before even looking I knew what it was.
There were several streaks of light flashing above us, tiny shooting stars originating from one point in the sky. While it was beautiful, the knowledge of what it was made my stomach clench in sickness.
"They didn't work." Raven whispered behind me. I turned to look back at her, but my eyes searched for Bellamy in the crowd. "They didn't see the flares." Bellamy was a few people over from me, having been leading the group outside the wall.
"A meteor shower tells you that?" He asked, obviously not having connected the dots.
"It's not a meteor shower, it's a funeral." Clarke deadpanned, her own gaze falling to Bellamy with disdain in her eyes. "Hundreds of bodies being returned to Earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side." I swallowed and took a step nearer to Bellamy, ready to diffuse any rash actions. "They didn't get our message." Clarke turned to Raven, and I watched as her face went from shock to anger.
"This is all because of you!" She immediately shoved past Finn and Clarke, heading right for Bellamy. I went to stand in front of him, but he sidestepped me and stood in front.
"I helped you find the radio!" He held a hand out in front of him, ready to push her back.
"Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!" She yelled back, and Finn was holding her back from doing anything stupid.
"Yeah, he knows." Clarke told her, setting a hand on Raven's shoulder. "And now he has to live with it."
It was quiet for a moment, and I chanced another glance up, to see that it almost seemed bigger now, with more light flooding the sky.
"All I know is my sister is out there, and I'm gonna find her." Clarke was looking down at the dying flames, Raven looking like she was ready to kill Bellamy, and Finn was glancing between the two. "You coming or what?" He asked Finn, already turning and walking away. I followed the group as we moved to the wall, my arms crossed over my chest as the chill in the air seeped through my clothes.
"You're with me, Doc." Bellamy called out, waving me over.
I rolled my eyes and made my way through the crowd, not missing the way one of the only other girls, Roma, glared me down.
"It's Ellen." I muttered when I came close enough.
"Sure thing," he told me, throwing an arm around my shoulder as he strode purposefully away from the camp. "Doc." He added after a moment. I shoved him away from me, walking ahead of him.
"Why do I have to stay with you?" I asked, glancing at him over my shoulder.
He stared at me with raised eyebrows. "Because you didn't bring a torch or a weapon?" He replied as though it was obvious.
"I could stick with someone else." I muttered, not straying too far from him, because as much as I didn't want to admit, I couldn't see very far without the light from his torch.
"And who else would you trust with your life?" He asked without looking at me. His eyes were glued to the trees around us, looking for any movement or sign of Octavia.
I looked back at the group with us, scanning over each person. My eyes settled on a tall blonde guy, who I'd met when I was searching for Octavia in the camp. "Him." I told Bellamy, not feeling like being stuck with Bellamy on this whole walk.
I wished I could say it was so I didn't have to deal with his pompous ass, but in all honesty it was because I, too, blamed him for the deaths of the 300 people on the Ark. My stomach turned at the realization, but I vowed not to voice my opinion.
"By all means, relieve me of your presence." He told me, sounding bored. I sighed began to turn around, ready to stalk over to the blonde. "Be a burden to someone else." I heard him remark. I stopped moving, ready to turn back and hit him or yell at him, but I just bit my tongue and walked over to the blonde guy, refusing to give in to Bellamy's egging. He was upset that his sister was missing. That was all.
"Mind if I join you?" I asked, my arms crossed over my chest.
"By all means." He offered, gesturing beside him. I nodded my thanks, ready to walk in silence. "Eleanor, right?" He asked, shooting me a nice smile.
"Ellen, yeah. Whatever's easier." I smiled, stepping carefully around a root. We were already leaving the worn path, straight into the forest.
"I go by Hayes, in case you've forgotten." I exhaled with a laugh, holding my hands up in mock surrender.
"You caught me." I joked, earning a grin from him.
"Ehh, I'll excuse it. You crash landed on Earth today, it's a lot to take in." I nodded, looking at all the trees surrounding us.
"It definitely is." We continued with a bit of small talk, spreading out from the group as we got further into the forest and time passed.
It was obvious to tell that our motivation was diminishing as we got farther and farther from camp, and I wondered if Octavia had been taken, instead of simply lost.
Hope was found once again as someone found something. I saw Bellamy scale the side of a steep hill, declaring it was Octavia's, before he went all the way down. Jasper went down next, followed by Finn. Roma followed after eagerly, and I waited to make sure everyone else had made it down first, leaving just me and Hayes at the top. He gestured for me to go down, and I took the weapon from him so that he'd have a free hand to get down. At the bottom, Finn held out a hand for me to steady myself as the steepest part.
"Are you doing okay?" He asked, no doubt referring to how long we'd been walking so far.
"Just peachy." I replied, waiting for Hayes to join the rest of the group.
Finn snorted, obviously not believing me. "That's a lie if I've ever heard one." I shot him a grin. Finn smiled back at me, not trying to dig deeper. I was grateful.
I was exhausted, I hadn't eaten since lunch, and my feet felt as though I'd been walking for miles. We might have actually travelled that far, but I didn't want to even think about the walk back.
"Finn, I want you up here with me!" Bellamy called out. Finn rolled his eyes, taking a few steps backwards.
"Duty calls." He told me, annoyance seeping from each word. I smiled at him, Hayes joining my side once again. I glanced up to the front and saw Bellamy practically glaring at me as I handed Hayes the weapon so I could carry the torch for a bit. I shot Bellamy a salute, and he quickly averted his eyes, probably embarrassed at being caught.
"Have you gotten onto the bad side of Bellamy Blake already?" Hayes asked.
I shrugged, not feeling like explaining my life to him. "He's just upset his sister is missing." I justified. Hayes nodded and said nothing else, and my mind wandered to what was going on in camp.
I hoped they could get the communications up and running soon. No more people needed to die.
With renewed vigor, we made our way through the forest, even passing over a small creek without stopping. After a while of walking, the people in front suddenly stopped walking. I moved quickly, anxious to see why.
Once I had, I almost regretted coming. There was a tall fence covered with algae, and spaced every few feet there were long spikes, with corpses impaled through their midsection.
"I don't speak grounder. . ." Finn muttered, referring to whoever had made this fence. "But I'm pretty sure this means keep out." Several of the guys in the group began voicing their doubts, saying they were going back to camp.
"Go back if you want." Bellamy called out quietly, and I looked at him. "My sister, my responsibility." He whispered under his breath before stalking in between the spikes. I swallowed, thinking of how much I would rather be sleeping.
"I'd walk into hell to find her." Jasper muttered beside me, walking next.
"Well if she's that worth it, I've got to meet this girl." I joked to Finn, striding between the poles, carefully avoiding looking up at the rotting skeletons.
After a few steps, I looked back to group back up with Hayes, but was surprised when I realized he hadn't followed us in.
Then again, if I wasn't pretending to be brave, I wouldn't have gone in either.
The sun was beginning to rise, and we left our used torches in a pile under some leaves, away from prying eyes. Walking without something in my hands left me apprehensive. At least with the torch, I'd have something to defend myself with. Swallowing my pride, I jogged to catch up to Bellamy, Finn, and Jasper, with Monroe, Roma, and John bringing up the back.
"Did your knight in shining armor chicken out?" Bellamy asked when he noticed me near him.
I glared, but I didn't justify his answer. "That's okay, I'll protect her." Jasper joked, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I grinned and set my hand on top of his, giving it a quick squeeze before he continued walking.
"My hero." I joked, following after him. It was Bellamy's turn to glare, and I grinned at him.
It was just a few minutes of silence after when Finn realized we'd lost the trail.
"Keep looking." Bellamy insisted, looking a few feet farther out. I knew he was getting desperate. All of us were. We had a long trek back home, and I knew there'd be no going without Octavia. Finn shot me a will you please talk some sense into him look, and I glanced at Bellamy. He was studying the area intently, not willing to give up.
I raised my hands in a what the fuck am I supposed to do motion and Finn sighed before rubbing his face. "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister." Finn finally said, stopping in his tracks to look Bellamy in the eye. "We should backtrack-"
"I'm not going back!" Bellamy replied, anger growing in his voice.
"Hey. Where's John?" Roma asked. All of us turned to look where we'd last seen him, at the back of the group.
"I just saw him a second ago." Jasper whispered breathlessly from beside me. I reached out and squeezed his arm in support, knowing that he was beginning to panic.
"Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far." Bellamy ordered. Jasper and I had begun to take a few steps from the group when I felt something fall behind me. I turned quickly, and my body froze when I saw John laying on the ground. For a second, I was wondering why he'd fallen from the tree and what he'd been doing there, but then I saw the blood on his neck and the deep gash that showed his throat had been slit. My hand covered my mouth in surprise, a small gasp escaping me. Finn and Bellamy ran over, looking down at his body before looking up above us.
"They use the trees." Finn whispered, and I instantly looked up, trying to spot any movement. The bird calls that had been echoing around us suddenly seemed more ominous and foreboding.
"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary." One of the guys that had come, Diggs, stated.
"Now can we go back?" Roma stressed.
"There." Jasper pointed behind me, and I turned to see a man standing across from us. I backed into Jasper, my eyes not leaving the man.
"Another one." Diggs pointed out in the opposite direction.
"We should run." Finn whispered quietly. I nodded, my eyes still on the one directly across from me. We all broke into a sprint, leaving John's body behind. I tried to stay near Jasper, but both of us were more concerned with trying to stay ahead of the grounders than near each other.
I was panting quickly, not used to having to run for so long, and I could feel a cramp in my stomach, but I ignored it, adrenaline coursing through me.
"What are we going to do, they keep herding us off!" Finn called out, making a turn to the right that the rest of us followed.
"Just keep running!" Diggs yelled from behind me.
"I can't keep running much longer!" Jasper called out, and I silently agreed.
"I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs yelled, pushing me to the side in an effort to get ahead. I stumbled and fell into a tree, and when I looked up, I was grateful to see that almost everyone had stopped.
"I'm sick of running anyway." Bellamy told us, giving us a moment to catch our breath. I stood up again, leaning against the tree for support and ignoring the burn in my muscles.
"Diggs? Where are you?" Roma called out, turning and running after the guy who'd left us all behind. I sucked in another breath and began running again, Bellamy just ahead of me this time.
"Wait!" He yelled out, and as I crossed over the top of a hill, I saw Diggs had been impaled, and his eyes staring up at where we were standing. Finn grabbed my hand and tugged me to continue to the bottom of the hill.
"There could be more." Bellamy stated, looking around our immediate area.
"They were leading us here." Jasper realized, also looking around. I swallowed my fear and closed my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. I had to wait to panic. I had to survive right now. "It's the only direction we could run in." He added, and we made a small circle, looking over each other's shoulders.
"Wait." Finn breathed out, looking behind himself. "Where'd they go?" I looked around too, trying to see through the leafy growth.
"After Roma." Bellamy realized, taking off again. I took in a deep breath and ran again, chasing after Bellamy. We didn't get far when we slowed to a walk, all of us needing a break from the running.
"There she is." Monroe whispered from beside me. "Roma!" She called out as quietly as she could. I looked where she had her eyes trained, towards a thick tree, where you could just see a jacket peeking out of. I took another few steps as Bellamy jogged to reach her. There was something sticking out of the tree, and I realized she was already dead. Bellamy reached out to Roma, but I couldn't see what he was doing, although I saw how pained he looked.
"They're playing with us." Finn realized.
"She only came because of me." Bellamy whispered, his lips pursed as he struggled to accept it.
I was so engrossed in watching Bellamy that I didn't hear the sound of someone approaching me until it was too late. A hand snaked around my ankle, and as I turned to look down at it, it was suddenly jerked out so that I fell on my face. A surprised cry left my lips as I was yanked backwards several feet, my hands scrambling for purchase on the leafy ground. When I stopped being pulled, I rolled onto my back, and time froze when I saw a grounder sneering down at me. His teeth were yellow and black, his face painted in dark brown colors. He had several feathers giving him the appearance of a Native American War chief. One of my ankles was held in his grimy hand, and the other held a knife over his shoulder, aiming down at me. He was so close that I could see his pupils dilate. When his arm started to bring the knife down, I rolled to my right, the knife landing solid in the ground. My foot had come loose from his grip, and I kicked at the closest thing I could, his groin. He bent over in pain, and I kicked my foot at his face, a crunch felt under foot. Both of his hands went to his face, and I froze as his face contorted in anger. His eyes flicked to the knife beside my head, and my body kicked into action before I had time to contemplate what I was doing. One of his hands left his face to reach for the knife, but I was closer, and I pulled it out of the soil from above my head, throwing all my strength into a stab that landed in his neck. I pulled it out and fell back onto my back, the grounder staring at me in surprise for a second as the blood began spurting from his neck. He fell forwards, and I was so shocked that when he fell on top of me, I didn't move for a second.
And then, I was scrambling, my feet and arms kicking and pushing as I frantically tried to get away from it. And then someone's arms wrapped around my torso and pulled me to my feet and back several yards, and I was terrified for a moment that it was another grounder.
"It's okay, it's okay!" The person kept repeating desperately as I struggled, lost in my adrenaline. They let go of my waist but spun me around so I could see who it was. I had expected it to be Bellamy, but was surprised to see it had been Finn. I couldn't say anything as I panted, reaching out to grab onto fistfuls of his jacket. The knife that I'd stabbed the grounder with was still in my hand, and I dropped it in disgust, Finn wrapping both of his arms around my body to calm me down.
All that was running through my head was a steady stream of oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
"They can kill us anytime they want." Finn muttered, looking over me. I clung to his shirt like it was a life jacket, and I suddenly realized I was shaking like a leaf.
"If they want to kill us. . ." Jasper muttered, and I glanced over to him. "Then they should GET IT OVER WITH!" He suddenly started screaming, and I realized he'd snapped, his anxiety breaking him. "COME ON!" He yelled again, and I let go of Finn as he rushed to Jasper, trying to shut him up. Bellamy took Finn's place by my side, but I didn't reach out for him as he grabbed my shoulder, trying to bring me closer to him. A glance in any direction and I saw more grounders racing towards us.
Jasper had stopped screaming, and all of us formed a circle, desperately trying to think of a solution.
A horn suddenly pierced through the air, and the grounders stopped on the spot, turning and looking around before running back the way they came, leaving us to stand in the middle of the small clearing wondering what the hell just happened.
"They're leaving." Bellamy whispered in shock. The horn sounded again, and even the grounder nearest us turn and ran.
"That horn." Jasper breathed out, his back pressed against my side. "What does it mean?"
"Acid fog." Finn replied.
"Acid what?" I finally stuttered out, and my hand reached up without thinking to grasp Bellamy's jacket.
"We have to run." Monroe commented, looking around.
"There's no time." Finn told her, pulling out what looked like a parachute.
Just a few seconds later and all five of us were squeezed underneath it, hearts pounding and still trying to catch our breath.
"What is acid fog?" I demanded, stuck between Finn and Bellamy.
"Exactly what it sounds like, Doc." Bellamy muttered, and I shoved him with my shoulder.
Rolling his eyes, Finn nudged me. "It's this yellow fog that burns any flesh it touches, when the horn sounds it means someone spotted it coming."
"And we can hide under a parachute?" I asked, my hands pressing into the parachute underneath us.
"Well, this is currently an untested theory."
"Great." Jasper commented. "How long do we have to wait?"
"We'll find out." Finn told him.
There was just a beat of silence before Bellamy suddenly got to his knees. "No we won't." He peeked out from the mouth of the parachute. "There's no fog." I sat up to my knees as Finn poked his head out, too, before pulling it completely from over us. "Maybe it was a false alarm." We began standing to our feet, looking around the forest. A sudden movement from the corner of my eye drew my attention, just as Bellamy frantically muttered they're coming back.
All of us looked around further, trying to spot anymore. "I think he's alone." Jasper whispered after a second. I swallowed my fear and stood up straighter, looking down to see the knife I'd used just a few feet away.
"Now can we run?" Monroe asked, already in a stance to run.
"He doesn't see us." Bellamy whispered. "I'm going after him."
"And what? Kill him?" Finn asked, picking up the knife and pressing it into my palm. I gripped it tightly, trying not to think about what I'd just done with it.
"No. Catch him." Bellamy whispered as the man disappeared behind a tree. "Make him tell me where Octavia is. And then kill him." Bellamy began stalking away from us, leaving us in the small clearing.
"How do we know he's not leading us to another trap?" Jasper asked while Finn quickly rolled up the parachute.
"We don't." I nodded my head at Finn's reply, helping him stuff it in his backpack before we set off after Bellamy and the grounder.
AN: Another nice, long chapter down! Originally the chapter was almost twice this long, but I cut it in half so it wouldn't be too long. Ellen is getting ready to meet Lincoln! I hope you can understand that she is a huge pacifist, and killing the grounder shocked her. She hasn't had the time to process it yet, but you'll be seeing that more in the next chapter. Don't forget to review and follow!