Chapter 14
While Clarke was away with Charlotte on the drop ship Wells is looking for something over by the drop ship to cook the Deer on once Clark helps them skin it. He rounds a corner where he encounters Murphy carving 'First son fist to dye' on the side of the dropship. Murphy turns around and sees Wells.
"What do you think? Do I have what it takes to be an artist?" Murphy says sarcastically before moving into Well's personal space,
"You know my dad begged yours for mercy before he was floated, I think I'll make sure you beg for your life too" Wells is not intimidated by Murphy,
"You spelled 'die' wrong" is all Wells says before he walks away, Murphy looks back at the wall, and Mbege approaches,
"You know if you're planning to kill someone, not very smart to announce it." As they are talking Bellamy approaches them.
"Murphy, Mbege I need your help with something." They both turn to Bellamy with hostile looks, but nod at him to continue,
"Do you really think that when the Arc get down here they're going to magically forgive our crimes? I do not think they're going to lock you up again or kill us, so I have a plan to make sure they don't come down." Mbege pipes up,
"But Clarke said they're running out of oxygen." Bellamy smirks,
"do you really care? as if anyone up there has ever done anything for us, those wristbands are telling them it's safe. If we can convince people to take them off then the Arc will not come down and we can run things around here!" Mbege looks at Murphy who just shrugs and says,
"How are we going to convince people to take them off, some of them have family up there." Bellamy grins,
"Well, I don't think we should make it optional." He smiles are them menacingly before continuing to tell them what he has planned. Bellamy then walks off to 'supervise' the work going around camp while Murphy and Mbege start convincing people to take their bracelets off some do it willingly, while others get held down. Well looks up and watches as Mbege and Murphy remove Fox's wristband and toss it into the fire.
Wells runs over,
"What the hell are you doing the Arc needs us to keep them on!" Bellamy smirks,
"In case you haven't noticed Prince we aren't on the Arc anymore, there are no more rules, no more laws! We can do whatever the hell we want!" Wells grits his teeth,
"We can't live in a lawless society there have to be rules to keep everyone safe, if you do this we won't survive we need to Arc to help us!" Murphy and Mbege come up behind him, and Bellamy laughs,
"You may need the Arc Prince, what we need is for the Arch to think you're dead!" Murphy and Mbege hold him down and Bellamy forcibly removes this wristband, those on Bellamy's side chant and cheer as he throws it in the fire.
Clarke hearing the commotion from inside the Arc runs out,
"What the hell are you doing?!" she shouts, Bellamy repeats his phase laughing more,
"Whatever the hell we want!". Clarke is furious, not because of the wristbands but because Bellamy is covering his own back again and Wells is caught in the crossfire. She tries to think about the situation rationally, she needs people to support her as a leader and to not follow Bellamy's idiotic notion of 'whatever the hell we want'. Clarke thinks about this and decides in a heartbeat knowing what she has got to do.
Clarke marches straight over to Bellamy, he squares his shoulder to assert his height over her, and Clarke acts quickly. She punches him straight in the throat and as he grasps his throat, she removes the gun from his waist and points it at him.
"Whatever the hell we want right? Well, I want your gun, because I know what you did with it! I know what you did to get passage on the drop ship. I know that if you'd stayed on the Arc, you would have been floated for it! That is the real reason you don't want the Arc to come down right, Bellamy? So, nobody will know that you shot Chancellor Jaha so you could get on this ship to be with your sister?" Bellamy is holding his throat looking at her in horror and shock, not understanding how she knows. His eyes bounce from here to everyone gathered around before they land on Octavia, who approaches her brother.
"What she's talking about Bell?" Octavia asks her voice small but full of hurt and accusation.
"What I am talking about Is that Bellamy does not care about any of you, what ever promises he made you to take off your wristbands were just to save himself! He is not someone you should follow, I never wanted to be the leader of this group but I want us to survive. I care about making sure that every single one of your regardless of what you've done before, survives. I have brought food and water back to camp when all Bellamy has done is throw his weight around!" Clarke speaks to all of them not as Clarke but as the leader she has always been.
"The Arc will come down regardless of what we do, they do not really have much choice as I have said before they are running out of air. There are only about four months left, if they think we aren't surviving they will probably start culling the population so that they can save themselves more time. They believe they are the last humans, but they are not we are here we are surviving so are the grounders, but they don't know that! They will do anything to save themselves, and who do you think will be the ones to pay the price? It will be the workers, the old, and the ill! Potentially people you love!" Clarke sees her words impacting every single one of them in different ways she carries on.
"When not if, the Arc comes down, if they try to take back their pardons if they try to control us. We can just leave! This is a big planet; we can go anywhere we do not have to stay with them. Bellamy, I know you did what you did out of love for your sister, so I will make sure that even you are given a pardon for what you have done. To be honest, Jaha has hurt a lot of people, he even killed my father, I will not miss him if he dies. However, the choices he made were to save his people and I understand that because I will do anything and everything I can to save you all because you are my people." Most of the 100 look at Clarke with awe and respect, she knows not everyone will be on board but she has won the crowd for now, she tells everyone to call it a night, but for some people to remain on guard. The crowd disperses she can see Millar organizing a watch and gives him a head nod. Clarke looks at Bellamy,
"I do not want to fight against you Bellamy, I do need your help here but you need to be what this group needs you to be. Not what you've been so far, you can have your gun back when you decide you want to be the leader, I know you can be."