Later that night, I found myself in my new tent that I would be sharing with Octavia. With all the chaos of getting the flares together, I was surprised anyone had found time to put more tents together. All I could think about was getting to rest my head on my own bed for the first time since we'd landed; to finally get a proper night's sleep, not having watch duty tonight.
As I was about to undress for the evening, I heard footsteps approach my tent. Within seconds, Bellamy's voice came through.
"Octavia? Are you in there?"
I remained silent, figuring he'd opt to leave on his own.
"Octavia?"
Letting out a huff, I headed over to the flap of the tent, pulling it to the side. "She's not here." I dropped my hand from the tent flap, letting it close. Before it could, Bellamy slipped his hand inside, stopping it.
"Do you know where she is?" He asked, his voice shaking.
I raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen her since you told us to wait until sunrise to go after the pod."
"You're sure that's the last time you saw her?"
"What's going on, Bellamy?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.
Bellamy looked around before entering the tent. "Octavia followed me this morning. We got into a fight and I thought she came back to camp."
"Nobody else has seen her?"
He shook his head. "I've looked everywhere. She's gone."
"Okay. I'll help you look." I said, grabbing my knife from where it sat next to my cot. "Let's check again. You go to the dropship, I'll check the rest of the tents."
Bellamy nodded. "Thank you, Athena."
I nodded. "Octavia was all I had in Skybox. I owe her."
Exiting the tent, I turned back one more time, giving Bellamy a nod before heading off to search the rest of the tents.
...
"Hey, everybody, gather around and grab a weapon!" Bellamy called out. "My sister's been out there alone for 12 hours. Arm up. We're not coming back without her."
I had spent the last hour searching the rest of the tents, never finding Octavia. Nobody had seen her since this morning.
Clarke placed her hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Hey, you don't have to do this. You haven't left camp since we brought you back."
Jasper shook his head. "Clarke, I need to do this."
"We need all the people we can get. We need a tracker." Bellamy then shouted, "Finn, get out here!"
We waited a few moments before Finn, now with his hair shorter, came out of his tent he shared with Raven. "You guys ready to go?" He asked, Raven stepping out behind him.
"As ready as we're going to be," I sighed.
Our little group made its way across camp, one of the delinquents stopping just outside of the gate. "Guys, look!"
"What is that? It's so bright."
"It's beautiful."
I followed their gaze, spotting what looked to be hundreds of shooting stars falling from the sky.
"They didn't work." Raven mumbled, before raising her voice. "They didn't see our flares."
Bellamy eyed her for a moment. "A meteor shower tells you that?"
"It's not a meteor shower, it's a funeral." Clarke responded. "Hundreds of bodies being returned to the earth from the ark. This is what it looks like from the other side."
Raven spun around, moving closer to Bellamy. "This is all because of you!"
"I helped you find the radio."
"Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!"
"Yeah, he knows." Clarke spoke. "And now he has to live with it."
I shook my head. "We don't have time for this. Octavia is out there, alone or with grounders to keep her company. We have to find her, now. We can worry about the Ark later."
Bellamy's eyes landed on me for a moment, a slight smile forming across his mouth. His face soon shifted back to his normal frown as he turned back to Finn. "Are you coming, or what?"
Finn nodded.
"What are we waiting for?" Bellamy asked. "Move out!"
...
While Raven and Clarke instead headed off to find a new transmitter for the radio, the rest of us carried on with our search for Octavia. It wasn't too long before John Mbege found something.
"Look, over here!"
Bellamy rushed over. "What is it?"
John pointed. "Isn't that Octavia's?"
We all looked down the hill, squinting our eyes. Finally, Bellamy shook his head. "Give me the rope." Finn handed the rope over and Bellamy tied one end to a tree.
"What are you doing?" Finn asked.
"We need the rope to get back up," Bellamy responded, tossing the other end of the rope down the hill. "Flashlight?"
John handed him the flashlight and Bellamy made his way down the hill. Bellamy shined his flashlight on a branch, and I instantly recognized what used to be a seatbelt on the dropship. Octavia had been using it as a belt, wanting to spice up her jumpsuit from Skybox.
"It's hers." Bellamy confirmed. "I'm going all the way down."
Jasper took a deep breath, handing his torch to Finn before beginning to climb down behind Bellamy. I went next, clumsily staggering down the hill. As I neared the bottom, Bellamy extended his hand. Letting my right hand fall from the rope, I grabbed Bellamy's, allowing him to guide me down the last few steps.
"Bellamy," Jasper spoke, grabbing our attention.
Bellamy pushed through the brush surrounding us, kneeling down next to Jasper. I watched as he ran his finger along a rock, lifting it to reveal a small puddle of blood. Finn soon joined us, inspecting the blood and the area around it, including a larger set of footprints.
"Someone else was here," Bellamy said.
Finn nodded. "The prints are deeper going that way. He was carrying her."
"If they took her, she's alive." Jasper's large smile soon faded. "Like when they took me."
Bellamy shook his head, standing back up before rushing in the direction the footprints were headed. We spent what felt like an eternity following the footprints, going up and down smaller hills than the last. The sun had come up when we finally came to a clearing, right in the middle of Grounder territory.
"What the hell is that?"
I followed Roma's gaze, chills running down my spine as I saw it. "Are those-"
"Skeletons?" Jasper finished, swallowing hard.
They were tied to trees, some only partially decomposed. I wondered if they'd been left there after death, simply to scare enemies away. Or, had they been strung up and left there to die as punishment for breaking whatever rules they lived by?
"I don't speak Grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out." Finn said.
"Let's get out of here." One of the other delinquents spoke up.
A few others mumbled in agreement, following each other back the way we came.
Bellamy shook his head, his jaw tensing. "You guys can go back too if you want. My sister, my responsibility."
"I'd walk into hell to find her," Jasper spoke bravely.
Finn sighed. "I think we just did."
John, Roma and Diggs all agreed to continue the search as well.
Bellamy nodded, his eyes soon landing on me. "How about you, Athena?"
My eyes drifted back to the slowly disappearing silhouettes of the other delinquents, thinking about how much better off they'd all be for heading back. Finally, I took a deep breath. "I'm with you."
Smiling, Bellamy nodded. "Let's get moving."
...
As we headed deeper into the forest, Finn stopped abruptly, kneeling down to inspect the soil. He was silent for a while, Bellamy finally kneeling down next to him.
"What's the problem?"
"I've got nothing," Finn admitted. "We lost the trail."
Bellamy stood up, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, keep looking."
Finn stood up. "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister. We should backtrack."
"I'm not going back."
I shook my head. "Bellamy, if we keep going like this, we'll never find her. Finn is right, we should go back a little bit, see if we can find other footprints to follow."
"I already said, I'm not going back," Bellamy spoke firmly. "I know this is the right way, alright?"
As I went to protest, Roma's voice stopped me.
"Hey, where's John?"
I turned around, noticing John had vanished.
"I saw him just a second ago," Jasper said.
We all looked to Bellamy, who shook his head. "Spread out, he couldn't have gone that far."
Just as the words left his mouth, a body fell from the trees above us, landing in the middle of all of us. My eyes quickly shifted up the body, landing on the face. John's face. His throat had been cut, the blood already having stopped flowing from the wound.
"They use the trees," Finn mumbled, looking up.
I stepped away from John's body, my own beginning to shake.
"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary," Diggs mumbled.
"Now can we go back?" Roma asked.
Jasper jumped slightly. "There! Right there."
We all followed his gaze, spotting a Grounder off in the distance, a long knife in his hand.
"Another one!" Diggs called out.
My eyes shifted around the forest, spotting more and more of them surrounding us. "They're everywhere," I whispered.
"We should run."
Bellamy was the first to move, the rest of us following after him. I could feel my legs growing weaker with each step I took, my body still shaking from the sight of John's body. As soon as we thought we'd gotten far enough away from the Grounders, one would pop up ahead of us, forcing us to change directions.
"Let's go!" Diggs called out, running ahead of everyone else.
"What are we going to do?" Jasper asked. "They keep cutting us off."
"Just keep running!" Finn said.
"I can't run much longer."
"I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs called out, continuing on.
Bellamy stopped. "I'm sick of running anyway."
The rest of us stopped, looking to Bellamy for instructions.
"What are you doing?" Finn asked.
"They know where she is."
Roma shook her head, running off. "Diggs, where are you?"
"Roma!"
Finn spun around, running off after them. "Roma, wait!"
We followed Finn, hearing Roma scream in the distance. It wasn't long before we came across Diggs, who had been impaled on a spike.
"They were leading us here," Jasper mumbled. "It's the only direction we could run in."
Finn looked around, noticing the newfound silence. "Where'd they go?"
"After Roma."
Finn looked around, spotting more footprints. "She went this way."
We followed the footprints, trying our best to remain quiet, hoping to not grab the attention of any more Grounders. Eventually, I spotted Roma's jacket off in the distance, most of her body tucked behind a tree.
"There she is," I spoke, smiling. "Roma!"
As we moved closer, my smile faded. Jasper and Finn stopped, while Bellamy and I made our way over to the tree. Roma had been pinned to the tree with a spear, just inches closer to the heart than Jasper's had been.
"They're playing with us." Finn whispered.
I watched on as Bellamy used his fingers to close Roma's eyes. "She only came because of me."
Finn shook his head. "They can kill us whenever they want."
Jasper looked around, raising his voice. "Then they should just get it over with!"
"Jasper, stop it!" I yelled.
"Come on, we know you're out there!" Jasper continued. "You want to kill us? Get it over with already!"
We all watched on as Grounders rose from the bushes around us, weapons in hand, before beginning to run towards us.
"What do we do?" I asked, looking at Bellamy.
Standing back-to-back, we all remained still, unsure of what to do. There were no openings. Everywhere we looked, there was a Grounder, ready to kill us as soon as they got close enough.
Just as hope had left me, the sound of a horn filled the air. The Grounders stopped almost instantly, looking around before running away.
"They're leaving." Bellamy mumbled.
"That horn," Jasper spoke. "What does it mean?"
"Acid fog."
"We have to run." I said.
"There's no time." Finn pulled out a parachute from his pack, spreading it out. "Everyone, get under, now!"
...
We remained under the parachute for a while, all of us holding down the edges as best as we could.
"How long are we supposed to wait?" Jasper asked.
"Will this even work?"
"We'll find out soon enough." Finn mumbled.
Bellamy shook his head. "No we won't," He then lifted his side of the parachute, poking his head out. "There's no fog."
We all pulled the parachute off of us, looking around the forest.
"Maybe it was a false alarm?"
"They're coming back," Bellamy noted, pointing.
Jasper shook his head. "I think he's alone."
"Can we get moving?" I asked. "I don't want to be here when the rest realize the fog isn't coming."
"He doesn't see us," Bellamy said, standing up. "I'm going to follow him."
"And what? Kill him?" Finn asked.
Bellamy shook his head. "No. Catch him. Make him tell me where Octavia is. Then I'll kill him."
As Bellamy ran off, Jasper sighed. "How do we know he's not leading us into another trap?"
Finn shook his head. "We don't."
...
We finally caught up to Bellamy just outside of a cave. Bellamy was crouched down just a few paces from the entrance, hiding behind a rock.
"He went in there," Bellamy said, looking back at us.
I shook my head. "We don't know how many there are in there."
"Keep your eyes open, your weapons drawn."
Bellamy stood up, heading towards the cave's entrance. We all followed close behind, doing just as he said. The cave was quiet and dark, no torches on the walls. I was almost certain that as soon as we reached an open area, Grounders would jump out and kill us all.
The open area soon came, Bellamy poking his head around the corner.
"Octavia?"
"Bellamy!"
All of us rushed around the corner, Bellamy reaching Octavia's side while the rest of us watched the Grounder who laid passed out on the floor. Bellamy removed the chains that were around Octavia's hands, the two wrapping their arms around each other as soon as she was free.
"It's okay," Bellamy whispered. "You're okay."
Octavia soon pulled away. "How did you find me?"
"We followed him," Bellamy spoke, nodding towards the Grounder.
"We should go now before he wakes up."
Bellamy shook his head, grabbing a spear that sat off to the side. "He's not going to wake up."
Octavia jumped in front of him. "Bellamy, stop! He didn't hurt me. Let's just go."
"They started this," Bellamy argued. "Finn, move."
Finn didn't move, instead inspecting the horn attached to the Grounder's gear. Before Finn could speak, the Grounder moved, grabbing the knife from his pocket and stabbing Finn in the chest before standing up.
Octavia and I rushed to Finn's side, while Bellamy swung at the Grounder. The Grounder grabbed the spear from Bellamy, pinning him to the ground. I watched on as Bellamy struggled against the spear, which was now aimed at his throat.
"Stop!" Octavia yelled. "That's my brother."
Just as I thought Bellamy was about to meet his end, Jasper came up behind the grounder, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. Bellamy gasped for air, moving away from the Grounder.
"Finn?" I asked, noticing he'd now lost consciousness. "Finn!"
"We have to get him back to Clarke, now!" Bellamy commanded.
We once again retrieved the parachute, laying it out and placing Finn on it.
"Everyone on three," Bellamy said. "One. Two. Three."
We lifted the parachute in unison, rushing out of the cave and leaving the Grounder behind.
...
"Clarke!" Jasper called out. "Where's Clarke?"
We had just entered the gates of the camp, our tired arms struggling to keep the parachute containing Finn off the ground.
"I'm here, what's going on?" Suddenly, Clarke's eyes landed on Finn. "Finn? Oh, my god."
Raven soon came to her side. "Oh, my god."
Clarke placed her fingers against the side of Finn's neck. "He's alive!"
"Bellamy wouldn't let me take the knife out," Jasper spoke up.
"No, that was a good call." Clarke nodded. "Get him to the dropship."
A few other delinquents who had stayed behind at camp grabbed Finn, carrying him to the dropship.
"Can you save him?" Raven asked.
"No, not me," Clarke whispered. "I need my mother. I need to talk to her."
"There's still no radio."
"Fix it, then!" Clarke snapped. "Go!"
Raven eyed her for a moment, before running off towards the dropship. Clarke then turned to Octavia, examining her. "Are you okay?"
Octavia nodded. "I'm okay. Just worry about Finn."
Clarke nodded, running off.
As Octavia marched towards the gate, Bellamy ran after her. "Hey, why were you defending him?"
Octavia stopped, turning around. "Because he saved my life. That spear that hit Roma was actually meant-"
"No." Bellamy cut her off. "I saved your life. For all you know he was keeping you alive to use you as bait for one of their traps."
"No. I don't think so."
Bellamy rolled his eyes, raising his voice. "You don't think, O! That's the problem. They killed three of our people today. If you would've let me kill him when I had the chance, Finn wouldn't be in there dying right now too!"
Octavia's fists balled up, her face turning red. "Stop it! Stop blaming me for your mistakes! What happened to Finn is not my fault. I wanted to leave, so if Finn dies in there, that's on you! Everything that's gone wrong is because of you."
"Octavia-" I spoke, to no avail.
"You got me locked up on the Ark. You wanted me to go to that stupid dance! You got mom killed!"
Bellamy flinched, Octavia's words hitting him like he'd never felt before. I watched his eyes swell up, tears forming in them but failing to fall. He wouldn't let them. Finally, he spoke, his voice breaking. "Me?"
Octavia nodded.
"Mom was floated for having you. She's dead because you're alive. That was her choice. I didn't have a choice." Bellamy shook his head. "My life ended the day you were born."
Octavia flinched as well, Bellamy's words hitting her just as hers had hit him. She attempted to turn away, moving towards the gate, Bellamy instead grabbing her arm.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Octavia yanked her arm away. "You can't keep me locked up in here forever."
With that, Octavia ran off towards the dropship.
"Octavia, wait!" I called out, but she didn't listen.
I then turned to Bellamy, his face pale as his eyes lingered on his sister. He finally turned to me, his eyes quickly falling to the floor. I couldn't help but shake my head, feeling angry for Octavia.
Before I could tell Bellamy off, I noticed a boy lingering outside of the gate. "Get inside, now!" I hissed.
The boy ran inside as I approached the gate, staring up at the sky.
"A storm's coming," Bellamy mumbled from behind me.
"We're so screwed." I nodded, closing the gate.
