Of Leaders and Followers
"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." - John C. Maxwell.
"Run!"
"I am running!"
"Then run faster!"
Kyra's shoulder was being weighed down by Octavia's arm - the girl was already slow, but then she had tripped over a tree root and Kyra would be damned if she let anyone else get hurt - as they quickly made their way back through the forest while trying to ignore the sarcastic quips coming from the others in the group that had been going on since Jasper's injury. Octavia was depending heavily on Kyra - Monty had offered to help but Kyra had told him to "just run goddammit" - which meant that the two girls were now lagging behind due to the gash on the female Blake's thigh.
"We're almost there - just move!" Kyra yelled at the bickering pair as the trees parted in opening and the cheers and yelling from the rest of the hundred grew louder.
"What the hell is going on?" Octavia questioned.
"Wells!" Clarke screeched as she ran forward. "Let him go!"
"A lot, apparently." Kyra muttered in response as she continued to carry Octavia forwards. The sound of a panicked voice caused the girls to look up.
"Octavia!" Bellamy said in concern as he rushed out of the commotion and took his younger sister from Kyra's arms, leading her over to a fallen tree trunk. "Are you all right?" At her nod, he continued with his questions. "Where's the food?"
"Not here." Kyra muttered bitterly.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather." Octavia elaborated.
Bellamy looked up to the rest of the group in confusion, "What the hell happened out there?"
"We were attacked." Clarke replied.
"Attacked? By what?"
"Not what," Finn started, "who. It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark? He wasn't the last Grounder."
"It's true," Clarke carried on, sounding more distressed by the minute, "everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here; survivors."
"At least that means we'll be able to survive," Kyra added in a hopeful tone. "Radiation won't kill us."
"Yeah," Finn agreed, "the bad news is the Grounders will."
"Jasper was already hit," Kyra explained. At Bellamy's confused expression, she rolled her eyes and added, "the kid with the goggles - the Grounders took him."
"Wait," Clarke frowned, stepping forward and tugging up Wells' sleeve, "where's your wristband?"
"Clarke, shouldn't we be focusing on Jasper right now?" Kyra pleaded.
"How many?" Clarke continued, choosing to focus on the bug-eyed kid Kyra had yet to learn the name of.
"Twenty four and counting. "He replied with what could only be described as a smug grin.
"You idiots!" Clarke snapped. "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"
"We're stronger than you think! Don't listen to her." Bellamy retorted in an attempt to win the crowd. "she's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore!" We? Kyra scoffed. You were never a prisoner, sunshine. "They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!"
That did it. The crowd erupted into cheers at the idea of finally being free and it was obvious by Bellamy's smirk that Clarke had lost this round.
"Who died and made you leader?" Kyra asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.
The grinning Bellamy who was all but basking in his glory turned to face the brunette. "I'm sorry, were you talking to me?"
"Oh, no, sorry," Kyra said with a flippant smile. "I was talking to the other jackass who just gave a bullshit speech that could potentially kill all of us."
Bellamy looked down at the girl in amusement. "Who are you again?"
"Kyra Quinn," she replied with a simple shrug before pointing casually towards him, "and you're Shumway's bitch." Well, cat's out of the bag.
Bellamy's eyes widened slightly in fear as he took a glance around at the rest of the hundred. Nobody else was paying attention to the pair of young adults and so he forced his expression back into a passive look. "What did you say?"
"Why don't we talk somewhere else?" Kyra suggested, gesturing with a nod of her head towards the edge of the woods where, thankfully, nobody else was standing. Without waiting for a reply, she led the way, only knowing that he was following due to the sound of crunching leaves that trailed behind her. They were now a considerable distance away from the rest of the group - far enough so that their conversation would be private, but close enough that they could still see the clamouring delinquents and the glow of the fire.
"We're far enough," Bellamy decided, grabbing Kyra's arm and stopping her in her tracks. "Start talking."
"What do you want to know, King Blake?" The brunette questioned sarcastically. Bellamy remained stone-faced. "Fine, jeez," Kyra sighed, raising her hands in defence, "you kill one Chancellor and suddenly you think you run this joint."
Bellamy's gaze never faltered as his hand immediately went to rest on the gun tucked into his waistband. "Why would you think I hurt Chancellor Jaha?"
"You're kidding me, right?" Kyra asked with a sharp laugh. "How old do you think I am, Blake?" Bellamy straightened up awkwardly, his eyes scanning her from head to toe whilst looking extremely uncomfortable at having to guess her age. Well, at least his mother raised him right, Kyra thought. Except for the whole 'murderer' part. "Okay, relax. I'm 21 years old, okay? Do you know what that means?"
A small frown formed on the man's face as he slowly began to put the pieces together.
"You're not a prisoner. "He mumbled, more to himself than to her.
"I'm not a prisoner," she repeated with a nod, "I was just innocently going about my business up on The Ark when I overheard a conversation between Shumway and some guy. And guess what? They were planning to kill the Chancellor. Then, when I came here and heard your voice, I knew it sounded familiar. Add that to the fact that you told your sister you sneaked onto the dropship and the way you're reacting right now, I think it's safe to say that it was you."
Bellamy knew he couldn't deny it. Not now. She knew it was him - knew what he did - but she didn't understand why. He had to make her understand. His hand dropped from his gun and instead chose to rest on her shoulder, almost as if he was going to shake her into believing him.
"Look, I didn't want to kill Jaha, okay? But The Ark was sending prisoners down to the ground and I knew that included my sister. I couldn't let her go down here by herself! I had to be there for her. To look out for her!" Bellamy sighed in defeat, "So Shumway made me a deal."
"Kill the Chancellor and he would get you a place on the dropship," Kyra nodded slowly. Hearing it from Bellamy's point of view made her rethink some things. She felt bad for him - really, she did - but on the other hand, he had killed someone.
"Exactly. "He replied, dropping his hand from her shoulder. "We'd just finished making the plans when we heard a noise from outside the door and Shumway said he'd take care of it... I'm guessing the 'it' was you."
"I dropped a stupid needle." Kyra explained meekly.
"Needle?" Bellamy frowned. "I thought you were an engineer."
Kyra frowned. "Five minutes ago you were asking me what my name was and now you remember my profession?"
"I was a janitor, okay?" Bellamy shrugged. "I saw you around The Ark a few times. Didn't know your name but I recognised your face."
The girl nodded slowly. After the journey she had experienced that day, the fear she felt for Jasper, and the new information she had just received, she was now exhausted.
"Look, I get why you did what you did. But when he found me, Shumway chased me through the halls and knocked me unconscious. I woke up on the dropship, strapped into some chair with this stupid thing on my arm," Kyra raised the hand with the wristband on it in disgust. "I still don't know how he managed to snag one of these, especially for me... Your sorry ass is still the reason why I'm down here. And honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm relieved or pissed. Maybe a bit of both."
Bellamy sighed. "Look, you're not gonna tell anyone, are you? I came down here for a good reason. I did what I had to do to help my sister."
"I won't tell anyone," Kyra decided as she chewed on a piece of loose skin on her bottom lip, "as long as you promise not to tell anyone why I'm here. Clarke is my friend so she'll know that I wasn't a prisoner and that's fine - I can make up some bullshit excuse for her, but with everyone else? If I tell anybody what Shumway did, he said he'd find out. And I know I may not have any family left, but there are still people I care about up on The Ark. And I can't risk them getting hurt."
"I won't tell anyone." Bellamy repeated. His expression had softened when Kyra mentioned her lack of family and it seemed like she had tugged on his heartstrings without even meaning to. "But what are you gonna tell them?"
Kyra shrugged. "With Clarke, I'm not sure. But I'll just tell the others I committed some stupid crime like stealing medicine or something." Despite the darkening sky, the majority of the hundred were still gathered around the fire, being loud and reckless like Kyra would expect of teenagers who had recently been freed from confinement. "It's getting late," she said as she looked up at the sky. "At least I think it is... I'm gonna go find some place to sleep."
"Right." Bellamy nodded as she brushed past him and headed back to the group. His head was still reeling from the fact that someone knew what he did but he trusted Kyra. He had no choice but to trust her, really.
"Hey, Quinn."
Kyra paused and turned back to face her new acquaintance. "Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Although it looked like it had physically pained him to say it, Kyra took the comment with a slightly awkward nod before continuing back to camp. It had been a very long day for everyone, and she needed to sleep. Preferably for several hours.