Rayne's Point of View
It had been about an hour or so since we left the underground bunker where Finn had killed the grounder. I had been practically glued to Bellamy's side the entire walk to wherever it was this grounder was leading us. Through out the walk Murphy and Bellamy would start there little spats and arguments about the event that had taken place the evening before.
Soon night fell and Bellamy explained we where going to stop and set up camp. However, Finn decided that rather than stopping for a rest we were going to power through the night to make up for lost time. By lost time he meant the day my father found us in the forest. It was crazy how Finn went from being the silly one, to the protective one, to the guy who refused to fight, to whatever he was now.
"Bellamy we need to stop, I don't know how much more walking I can take." I told him.
"Finn we need to take a break, the others need rest. I need rest." He spoke up for me.
"If we stop to rest, that is just taking time away from finding the others. If we take a break that could be the difference between life and death." Finn called him out as, Bellamy looked back at me apologetically.
The walk through the night was brutal; using any bit of moonlight we could get to navigate through the woods was time consuming. Bellamy and Finn where now walking ahead of us all trying to lead the way as best they could. However something told me Bellamy was up ahead with him so Finn couldn't run off without us.
Murphy caught up to me handing me a small jug of water, "Where'd you get this?" I asked him.
"Swiped it off the grounder back there. Don't worry I've already refilled it once or twice. It's water." He smiled in the darkness.
"Thank you Murphy." I said to him as he nodded, "Do you think their at this camp?" I asked.
Murphy shrugged, "If the grounders had them they wouldn't have told us, they would have just tried to capture us too."
I shrugged; "Yea, that's true. I just mean… it seems too good to be true that they took all of our people and yet forgot…six of us."
Murphy chuckled; "I would say that makes us the lucky six."
I smiled, "Yea, you're right. I just can't help but feel like this is a trap… you know."
Murphy nodded; "It most likely is, Rayne. Problem is with Finn up there leading the charge, and your boyfriend losing his balls… we have no choice but to fall into it."
I lowered my head, sadly Murphy was right. Ever since that moment in the bunker Bellamy has been acting very timid when it comes to approaching Finn. Almost as if he himself was afraid of what was to come, or the outcome. I had to admit, I was afraid of Finn.
Once the sun broke up above us letting us see everything around us, and making the path through the forest less life threatening. We were finally able to get close to the edge of this part of the forest. "Everyone, eyes peeled. We're in grounder territory." Bellamy announced from ahead of me.
"Everything is grounder territory, all right?" Murphy spat out of him moving through the brush behind me causing me to chuckle softly at his remark.
"I can't keep running, all right? We don't even know if the guy Finn killed was telling the truth." Murphy continued allowing us to stop moving for at least a moment.
That was until Finn walked over grabbing Murphy by the scuff of his shirt pulling him to walk again; "Keep moving." He commanded us.
"We can give him a minute." Bellamy said looking at the four of us knowing full well how exhausted, Murphy, Sterling, Monroe and I where. They may have been used to long distance runs through thick wooded areas but it was obvious the rest of us where not doing so well.
"No, we can't." Finn snapped, "You heard what that grounder said. 'They'll outlive their usefulness.' What if Rayne was with them… would you let them stop for a break?" Finn asked.
Murphy looked over at me shaking his head, "Like how he has to use you against Bellamy even though you haven't left his side once…"
"Oh shut up Murph'" I said pushing his shoulder.
"I heard what he said when you had a gun to his head." Bellamy spat, "I am almost positive we need energy and strength to save the others so yes… if Rayne was with them, I would take breaks."
"Look, you think I wanted to do that? He would have told his people we're coming, and by the time we got there, our people would be dead. Maybe that's something you can live with, but I can't!" Finn shouted at him.
"Hey, you did what you think you had to do, but you are not yourself right now, and I can't be out here with another loose cannon." Bellamy explained to him.
"Think he means you." I nudged Murphy.
"Shut up." He said with a smirk.
"Guys…" Monroe started to say holding her gun up.
I looked over at her as she pointed off in the direction behind the boys; the distinct sound of flies buzzing about was now a faint noise, yet I could still hear it. The smell that was now being pushed at us by the soft wind was nearly unbearable. I looked at Bellamy motioning my head to look behind him at the path of bodies behind them.
"How did we not see that?" I asked Murphy quietly.
"We where distracted by them." Monroe answered for him.
"Fall in." Bellamy said before us.
Bellamy stopped putting his hand out for me to grab, I took his hand and he pulled me closer to him. "Try not to look." He whispered into my ear as we continued to walk down the path full of dead bodies.
Each one looking more and more and more charred, the part that was getting to me was that some of them seemed to still be strapped into chairs, or looked completely broken like rag dolls. I tugged on Bellamy's shirt as he tried to move us through the path quicker.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Murphy asked.
We stopped moving to take a closer look to figure out if they where grounders or other people. That was when I watched Finn walk ahead of us, and felt Bellamy's one arm tighten around me. "From the Ark." He answered.
Once we had made it out of the path of bodies we were met with even more bodies. These ones not so lucky to fall in the grass no, these ones were laying in the rocks and rubble that where all over the ground. I looked up from the ground to see Finn standing in front of us, however it was what was behind Finn that was catching my eye.
"It's a rough landing." Murphy commented once we had all stopped at the edge of the cliff.
A massive piece of the Ark was embedded in the ground before us. The piece looked as if it had landed hard, possibly killing every single person on the Ark that was inside. The whole thing looked like a massive fireball must have ripped through it. I felt Bellamy grab hold of my hand and squeeze it in an attempt to comfort me. Who knows who was in this part of the Ark when it came down? It could have been friends, family.
"There's nothing we can do for these people. We got to go." Bellamy said as he put his hand on the small of my back to pull me away from the edge to leave with him.
"We should look for some survivors…" I whispered to him.
"We can on the way back, if we stop now we risk grounders coming. Its best the grounders come here and think everyone's dead. They will see the bodies and leave, they wont waste time looking for survivors." He attempted to convince me.
"This just feels wrong, these are our people too Bells." He nodded kissing my forehead. "I know." He whispered against my head.
Finn stopped and looked over at us, "You heard that?" Sterling asked.
I nodded, along with Murphy and Monroe. I could tell Finn initially wanted to ignore the noise knowing if we checked it out majority would vote to help the injured person. Which would only take time away from finding the others. We all turned back towards the edge of the cliff leaning over in an attempt to see where the noises where coming from.
"Hey. Hey, someone's down there." Monroe said pointing to a small ledge not more that forty feet below us.
"Hey!" Bellamy shouted. "Up here!"
"Please!" She called up to us.
"Bellamy we have to help her." I said quickly.
"Please, help me!" She cried out.
"Mel?" Sterling said confused.
"Help me!" She shouted again. I looked down and noticed the girl was around our age; it was a miracle she survived the crash, and managed to get this far up the mountainside without falling or losing energy.
"You know her?" Murphy asked.
"Shut up, Murphy. She's my friend. We have to do something." Sterling snapped.
"I agree… Bellamy we have to help her." I pleaded with him.
"Thank you." Sterling said looking at me.
"Please, Bellamy… we can't leave her like that, she will die."
Bellamy and Finn moved away from the group for a moment to I suppose discuss what to do about Mel. "Help me!" She cried out again.
"What is there to talk about, we need to help her!" I cried out to them.
"Sterling, please!" She screamed again.
"This isn't a grounder Finn, we have a rope." Bellamy said loud enough for the rest of us to hear.
"You saw her, she'd never be able to hold onto it." Finn protested. "We'd have to lower somebody down. It'll take time that we don't have. I hate this as much as you—" Finn was saying before Bellamy interrupted him.
"I know."
I couldn't believe Finn was suggested we let someone die, not just anyone. One of our own people just because it would take too much time to rescue them. This was unbelievable; I wish Clarke were here to talk some sense into him. She would have been the first one down the mountainside to get Mel. Without question or hesitation… I couldn't believe Bellamy was agreeing.
"I know—ok—I know." Bellamy said again as Finn continued to try and explain his point of view on this.
"Just hold on!" Sterling yelled as he moved behind me with something, causing both Murphy and I to spin around to get a better look at what he was doing. "Just hold on, Mel."
"Sterling!" She cried again. "Please!"
"We're movin' out." Bellamy said harshly, as Murphy and I turned back around to face him.
"You have to be kidding me." I exclaimed. "She's one of our own."
"Hey! Wait! Sterling!" Finn said moving towards the edge just in time to watch Sterling's head vanish from under us. He was going to go get his friend regardless of the outcome.
"I can't hang on!" She cried out again.
"Well, it looks like we're taking that break after all, huh?" Murphy said as I shook my head and punched his shoulder.
"Shut up." I mumbled.
Murphy walked away from the edge of the cliff and had begun to walk around the top looking for things to salvage I assume. Finn too walked away, visibly upset with the fact that we had stopped to save someone's life. I looked over at Monroe whose attention was focused on watching Sterling slowly propel down the side of the cliff.
"I'm almost there!" He shouted up at us.
I turned to face Bellamy whom had a face of utter shock and confusion with the situation. "This is good, Bells. She's one of our own, we can stop to rescue her." I said to him.
"And when she comes up and is to injured to come with us?" Finn asked.
"Sterling can take her back to the camp." Monroe piped in, "You don't need all of us to rescue the others." She said.
"She's right." I added. "She's one of us. Leaving her to die, just to save the others is contradictive. She is also someone we need to save, just like the others… she is no different."
"Once I have her, pull us up!" Sterling called up again.
"Well, I'd say he's heard one too many of your motivational speeches." Murphy said joining us all at the edge of the cliff again.
"Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy mumbled.
I heard screaming which caused me to look over the edge, "The rocks under her feet gave way." I said as the rest of them looked too. She was holding onto the tree branch above her with all the strength she had left in her body. Which by my count wasn't a whole lot, we had no idea how long Mel was down there for, or when the last time she ate of had water was.
Just then the rope Sterling had been using to climb down ripped off the stump he'd attached it too whipped by all of our feet faster than any one of us could catch it. "Sterling! Sterling!" Bellamy started shouting down the cliff.
"Oh my god…" I cried out trying not to watch but hoping there was at least something near by he could grab onto before it was too late.
All we could hear where Sterling's terrifying screams as he continued to fall down the side of the cliff. Falling to his impeding death, to save his friend. If only we had stopped and properly planned it out maybe he wouldn't be falling. We'd be pulling the two of them up instead. We all continued to watch as his screams where soon cut off by him hitting a massive rock that was protruding from the cliff, before his body finally settled on the ground at the bottom.
Monroe walked away from the edge of the cliff trying to console herself, sooth out her breathing. Bellamy went to grab hold of me to hold me close but I moved away from him to go make sure that she was all right. Once I reached her I put my arm around her shoulder and began to rub circles in her back to calm her down.
"Come, sit down." I suggested to her as I brought her over to a crushed log. "Murphy, the water?" I asked him as he fumbled around himself before pulling it out and tossing it over to me, so I could give it to her.
"Mel! Mel, hold on." Bellamy called down the side of the cliff.
"Focus on me. You can do this." Bellamy attempted to calm her down.
"No!" She cried up, "Yes, you can. You're strong." He continued to tell her.
"I'm not strong!" She screamed out. "Stubborn, maybe."
Monroe and I stood up walking back towards the edge of the cliff in hopes to also reassure her. It was like we all knew once Bellamy was on board with saving someone's life. That Finn would have no choice but to agree and help out, and wait till we where finished what we where doing.
"Mel, hold on! We're coming to get you, please just hold on a little while longer." I called down to her.
"Hold on Mel!" Monroe called down to her shortly after I did, turning to me with a small smile. One of the few I have ever seen Monroe adorn on her face.
"Exactly, listen to them and be stubborn a little longer!" Bellamy called out to her.
"We're not gonna let you die, you hear me?" He shouted down to her.
"Ok." She cried up to us.
"Thank you, Bells." I said giving him a quick hug.
"You were right, Ray. She is one of us, she is one of our people and we can't just leave her down there."
"I love you, Bells…"
"Because I save people?" He chuckled.
"Because you refuse to give up, and you refuse to let anyone down." I told him as Finn pulled him away from me.