AN: Hello everybody! Can you believe it? Chapter ten is out! Ten! I've never had a chapter five in a story, let along a chapter 10! This is a big accomplishment for me. :)

I would have posted this sooner, but I was super bummed out by the problems with the stats bars. It's really uninspiring to see zero views everyday, although I had a few more follows, so it didn't make sense at all. Oh well. FFN finally provided the bandaid to the problem!

Thanks to GloriousFandoms, Little Bucky, thebluefeather, A-Mikaelson and all Guest reviews! You guys rock. Your kind and marvelous words keep me going. I love hearing what you think!

Thanks to all the new Favs and Follows. This story has over 115 follows and 64 favs! It blows my mind that so many people are honestly interested in my writing. Love you all.

Thanks to my faaaaabulous beta Dannylionthe1st. You da best.

Answers to guest reviews at the bottom!

Read on!

Chapter Ten

Staring at the scene in front of her, Alex took a shaky breath, shock rushing through her. The hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end; her stomach twisting around itself and knotting up, the unpleasant feeling reminiscent of taking a punch to the gut - chest aching, breath frozen in her lungs.

Who...How could anyone do this?

Jasper was strung up in a tree, skin sickly and ashen, covered in a shimmering sheen of sweat. His hands had been bound tightly above his head with rough looking rope, his head sagging lifelessly against the crook of his elbow. His body was held up by nothing but the tightly wound rope which fastened his hips to the tree, keeping his body from falling away. Chest bare, his thin, wiry torso was on full display, the shirt and jacket he'd been wearing when he left the dropship were nowhere in sight.

Other than his sickly demeanor, she would have nearly said he looked mostly unharmed, his chest unmarred save for a few scattered bruises and bleeding scratches. But she knew better. Her eyes were drawn to the center of his chest, just to the right of his sternum, where a green paste of...something was smeared; the area surrounding it was red, either from residual blood or inflammation, she didn't know.

The area where Clarke said he'd been struck.

She wasn't the only one in shock; she heard the sharp intakes of breath from Clarke, Finn and Wells as they came up behind her. Murphy and Blake stood tense beside her, their shoulders rigid as they stared at Jasper; clearly as troubled about what they'd found as everyone else.

A shaky breath escaped her when Jasper gave a low, pained moan, head shifting slightly, eyelids flickering momentarily before he stilled once more; he didn't open his eyes. His chest moved, and she frowned when she took note of how laboured each breath was, each lungful seeming to take great effort.

Shock slowly faded into a slight relief. They'd found him. They'd found Jasper, and as of right now, he was alive.

He's alive… and that's something we can work with.

But with the feeling of relief came the awareness that finding Jasper had been too simple, too easy. He'd pretty much been strung up and handed to them...all after someone had gone to the effort of putting a spear through his chest in the first place.

This entire thing could be a trap. A cynical voice whispered in the back of her mind. Hurt one us, let us know that he's alive, and we all followed back like a faithful bunch of lemmings to the slaughter.

The thought set her on edge. Almost unwillingly, her eyes flickered away from Jasper's body, and she studied the rest of the clearing, looking for any sign of a trap, or of whoever had left Jasper there for them to find.

The large tree he was tied to was set at the far side of the small clearing, the area between littered with leaves, dry grass and foliage. Everything else was covered in chest height grass, the tips swaying slightly as a gentle breeze broke through the trees.

Nothing. No movement, no signs of anyone else in the area. In fact, there was no indication that anyone had been in the area at all.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned slightly, finding Blake scanning the area as well, brows furrowed warily, as his dark eyes flickered around the clearing. She was glad that she wasn't the only one who found the whole thing suspicious.

But the more she thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. If it were a trap, then why keep him alive? We would have come to find him either way...they didn't have to save him, they could have let him bleed out well before we'd even arrived.

Whoever had done this had stopped the bleeding, had stopped Jasper from dying. The question was why.

It doesn't make any sense. Was this just a warning? Telling us we'd come too close, to stay away? Showing us that they have the ability to take one of our lives at any moment, that we're on 'their' territory?

If their intention had been a warning, it was clearly working.

It had been received, loud and clear.

"Oh, my god." Clarke whispered, interrupting Alex's internal debate as the other girl pushed past them, her face a blanket of worry as she stared up at Jasper, Finn and Wells slowly echoing her movements.

As Clarke took another step, the ground beyond her caught Alex's eye. With a frown, she studied the area, wondering why it had set off instant alarms in her head.

There was something off about the space before them. The grass was too even...too perfect. She couldn't explain it, but the entire area looked wrong.

This could still be a trap.

"Clarke, wait." Alex breathed in warning; the words rushed out of her before she even had a chance to think. But the other girl either didn't appear to hear her, too stunned at the sight of their friend tied to the tree, or was ignoring her.

She's going to walk right into a trap, hummed her internal voice, the tone casual, like she was making a statement about the weather, instead about watching the other girl possibly walk to her death.

Not going to happen, Alex thought, grim determination filling her.

"Clarke!" She called out again, leaping forwards, diving between Finn and Wells and desperately grasping at the other girls wrist, intent on pulling her away from the hidden danger. Behind her she heard the Blake and Murphy startle at her sudden movement.

Whirling around to face her, Clarke gave her a startled look as she met Alex's worried gaze.

Alex yanked the other girl towards her, sending Clarke stumbling, unable to get her feet under her as she lost her balance.

As Clarke fell, Alex's initial lunge for Clarke sent her staggering forwards, and horror washed through her as she realized she'd taken one step too many. The ground beneath her feet changed; it was too soft, too loose, too hollow.

Shit.

It was hardly surprising when the ground cracked and gave way.

I'm going to die. Was the simple thought that flowed through her mind.

She barely had time to gasp before she fell, heart lurching up into her throat as she disappeared into the dark hole that opened up beneath her feet.

Time felt like it slowed down around her, and for a moment all she felt was her heart beat, each slow beat like a drum in her head.

Her hair floating in the air around her.

Her breath caught in her throat.

A steel hard grip snaked around her wrist, fingers locking painfully around the base of her wristband, digging into the soft flesh of her forearm, halting her descent with startling abruptness.

With a yelp, her ribs slammed painfully into the earthy walls.

Dangling in the open air, her other hand scrambled to find purchase on the muddy walls, fingers slipping and sliding over the slick surface, even as her eyes slid down, past her feet, to the bottom of the pit. A chill swept through her, goose bumps spreading across her skin when her gaze landed on the spears protruding from the bottom, sharply pointed ends aiming at the sky. The intent was clear: it was certain death to anyone or anything that stumbled into the pit.

We did walk into a trap after all. Her mind supplied matter-of-factly.

She shivered, vaguely noting the air around her was cold, cooler than the warm and humid day above ground.

And the area around her was small.

Oh God, please get me out, please get me out.

Gasping for breath, suddenly more than desperate to be above ground, her eyes snapped up above her, finding herself gazing into the dark and intense eyes of one Bellamy Blake; her apparent saviour.

He stared down at her, expression blank, hardly seeming strained by the fact that he was the only thing keeping her from falling to her death, though from the painful grip he held on her wrist and the tendons and veins she saw popping through the skin of his forearm, she knew it couldn't have been easy.

Eyes wide, she stared up at him in disbelief. Out of everyone there, he was one of the last she would have thought would step forward and save her. Yet here he was. He'd saved her. She didn't know why or how, but he'd stopped her from falling to her death.

As he adjusted his grip, she winced, hissing in pain in her wrist throbbed, turning from a dull ache, and into a sharp, piercing pain as the needles in her wrist shifted, tearing at the skin. Her eyes watered at the feeling, and she closed her eyes momentarily to push back the pain.

At her apparent pain, Blake's frown shifted, going from focused to concerned, the expression becoming more pronounced as he noted the small rivulet of dark, crimson blood slowly seeping through his fingers, sliding down to the ends of his fingertips, trailing down her arm.

She watched his jaw clench as they both realized the blood presented a new problem.

Her breath caught in her lungs as his grip slipped slightly. Above her, he gritted his teeth, tightening his hold and she realized that he also felt that he was losing hold of her. She bit back a whimper of pain as his fingers forced the wristband to dig further into her wrist.

Before he had a chance to adjust his grip or reach down for her with his other hand, Clarke's horrified face appeared over the edge, peering down into the pit, her eyes widening as they landed on Alex.

"Oh my god, get her up! Get her up!" Clarke shouted, laying on her belly and throwing down her own hands, wildly reaching down for her own. Alex swung her free hand around, desperately latching onto Clarke's proffered hand, feeling the grip of Blake's hand sliding further.

Finn and Wells's heads appeared over the edge, eyes almost comically wide as they stared down at her. Soon they were reaching down into the pit as well, although their fingertips barely brushed her skin or the fabric of her jacket.

"Can't - can't reach." Finn panted, straining to get a grip on her.

Blake grunted in acknowledgement, and clenching his jaw, leaned back and hauled her up and into their reach. As soon as she was high enough, Wells grasped the scruff of her jacket, helping to pull her up; Finn grabbing her belt once it was in reach, keeping her from slipping back down.

With one final heave, they pulled her out of the pit, Alex sliding forward on her belly then onto her knees as they dragged her forwards. Unfortunately, their momentum kept them all going, and her rescuers lost their balance, falling backs, pulling her along with them as they crashed to the ground.

Alex was pulled forward, landing heavily across Blake's chest, his breath leaving him with an 'oomph'. His hand still gripped her wrist tightly, which was pinned awkwardly between them, the position causing it to flare with pain, and she let out a small hiss of pain.

The rest of the group was a pile of knees and elbows, Finn moaning pathetically that Wells knee was digging painfully into his lower back, to which Wells responded by stating that he would remove his knee for Finn's back, if Finn removed his elbow from his side. Alex was in no better position, she knew at least one of her knees was digging painfully into Clarke's stomach, if she understood the meaning of Clarke's grumbling.

Taking a purposely slow, deep breath, she tried to control her still racing heartbeat, feeling the slight trembles coursing through her, the adrenaline slowly began to ebb away now that her body realized it was once again safely on flat ground.

Or maybe not actually on flat ground.

She could feel the solid contours of Blake's chest beneath her, felt his chest moving, the intake and exhale of each individual breath. Despite what had just happened, his heartbeat was steady beneath her hand.

Opening the eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed, she found herself gazing into Blake's dark eyes. He was staring up at her, a slight frown marring his face, but she couldn't tell what it was aimed towards - her or the situation.

From this close, she could see the specks of hazel scattered throughout the darker shades of his iris, and the freckles spattered across his nose. She'd never noticed the slight scar with cut through his eyebrow, or the other which ran beneath his eye.

"Alex!" Wells had scrambled to his knees and made his way over to her, pulling her away from Blake, who gently released the grip he had on her wrist, letting her get tugged away.

Well's sat her down, grabbing her shoulders and peering anxiously into her face, before flickering his eyes across her body, looking for any sign of injury. "Are you alright?" He asked, even as Clarke pushed herself up next to them.

She took a shaky breath, holding it, trying to get her racing heart back in control, before releasing all the air in one go. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine."

"No, she's not," interrupted Blake's, and all of them snapped around to face him, finding him staring down at her. He'd pushed himself to his feet, standing next to Murphy, who was gazing at Blake with an indecipherable look on his face, arms folded tightly across his chest.

When they all gazed at Blake, wondering what the hell he was talking about, he raised his hand, the one that had grabbed her, showing them the dark crimson blood that covered his skin. "She's bleeding."

Alex sent him a short glare, before meeting Clarke stern gaze, pulling away her wrist, trying to keep it out of sight. "I'm fine," she repeated, keeping her tone firm, with a note of finality, "We need to focus on Jasper." My injuries can wait, Jasper's needs you now.

Clarke seemed to read her thoughts, because after a moment she gave a nod, although she was quick to thrust a finger towards her face, motioning towards her wrist, and Alex leaned away from her warily. "Okay, but when we get back to camp, we're going to look at that."

Alex nodded in response. "Fine."

Finn seemed to be in agreement, taking charge as he stepped towards Jasper, making sure to stay well away from the hole that had opened beneath her feet. "Clarke I need you to look at him before we pull him down. And you-" he pointed at Murphy, who raised a bored eyebrow at the motion. "Come with me, you can help me get him down. Wells." He shared a meaningful glance with the other boy, before glancing at her and Bellamy.

Wells nodded, stepping towards Alex almost too casually. "I'll stay here."

She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Finn stepped forwards, reaching out and grasping a long stick he'd found nearby before proceeding to cautiously tap the ground in front of him, looking for any more potential traps, Clarke at his heels. Murphy lagged behind, turning to Blake with a frown.

Watching Clarke and Finn head towards Jasper, Alex pushed herself slowly to her feet, brushing the dirt off her hands and her pants, but froze, cringing with a hiss as the movement pulled at the fresh wound on her wrist.

Hearing the sound, Wells turned, a concerned frown gracing his face as he met her gaze, before his eyes trailed down to her wrist

She tried to wave him away. "Look, I'm fine…" She trailed off with a sigh when he proceeded to ignore her entirely, grabbing a small scrap of cloth he procured from his handmade backpack before gently grabbing her wrist, and beginning to gently tie the strip around the base of her wristband.

"I can do that myself, you know," Alex said evenly, watching what he was doing.

"I know." He shrugged simply in reply, finished tying off the knot.

"You don't have to watch over me, either." She finally snapped, immediately feeling like the biggest jerk in the world for saying so. She didn't know why she was being so snippy.

Maybe the fall scared me way more than I thought.

At least that theory followed with the continuous shaking of her hands.

"I- what?" Wells said, shifting slightly on his feet, and she noted the way he avoided her gaze instead turning to watch the group as they reach Jasper. "I'm not."

"Don't play dumb, Wells, it doesn't suit you." She snorted as he finished tying the knot. "I saw the look you and Finn shared." She turned and met his gaze. "You don't have to protect me from Bellamy."

With a sigh, he turned to face her, meeting her steely gaze. "It's..It's not that. At least not the way you think."

"Then...what?"

He chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment before answering. "'Lex, when you fell, I think all of us stopped breathing," he said softly.

Startled at the random admission, she stared at him. "What?"

Wells let out a small laugh. "Heh, yeah. We all watched you fall, but all of us were too stunned to do anything. We just stood there - like idiots. Did nothing. Blake was the only one that moved." His mention of Blake sounded bitter.

Her gaze softened as she studied him.

He's kicking himself for not reacting quickly enough.

"He was just the closest one to react, Wells. That's all," she said softly, reaching out and putting a hand on his arm, "I don't doubt you would have reacted the same if you'd been close enough.

He shook his head. "No, you didn't see it. He moved. It looked like he knew you were going to fall before it even happened. He just made sure he was in the right place at the right time to catch you."

She frowned, feeling perplexed. After all their unpleasant interactions, why had he been the one to save her? He could have just let her fall. He'd made it plenty clear in the past few days that he wouldn't mind it if she disappeared entirely.

Why did he step forward? Just a reaction - or something else?

The thought bothered her. Maybe Bellamy Blake wasn't as bad as he made himself out to be.

"He saved my life, Wells," she said after a moment, glancing over her shoulder towards Blake, who was still standing a few yards away, exchanging quick pointed words with an unhappy looking Murphy.

She needed to know why.

"I'm going to talk to him," she stated suddenly, stepping towards him.

"Alex…" Wells began, sounding exasperated, but as she was already moving away, he sighed at her back. "Fine."

As she came up to Murphy and Blake, Murphy sneered at her before taking a pointed step away from them. They'd clearly been arguing about something.

She didn't have to wait long to find out what is was about.

"Would have been easier to let her fall," Murphy glowered at Blake, seemingly aiming to get the last word in.

Blake crossed his arms, giving him a dark unwavering stare. "Get it yourself, if you're so worried about it," he snapped back before waving him off. "Just go do what you were told, Murphy." At that, Murphy whirled around, storming over to where Finn and Clarke were checking Jasper over.

Alex gave Murphy an unimpressed look as he marched past her with a glare. "Lovely," she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Coming to a stop next to Blake, they both quietly watched the others slowly begin to untie the ropes that bound Jasper to the tree, Alex scratching at her forearm, which was becoming increasingly more itchy as the blood dried on her skin.

Licking her lips, Alex took a deep breath before glancing up at him.

"I guess I should probably thank you," she mumbled, almost wary of how he would act towards her. After all, he'd gone from threatening her life, to saving her life in the past day.

"Yeah," he drawled dryly, before shooting her a dark glance, apparently in a bad mood from his discussion with Murphy. "You should also probably watch where you're walking in the future."

Annoyance washed through her and she gritted her teeth. "It's not like I did it on purpose," she shot back, then cringed. Even to her the words sounded whiny.

After a second he snorted, before shooting her a mildly amused glance, a small smirk playing on his lips. "No, I suppose not. I guess most people don't go throwing themselves into holes full of pointed spikes."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Blake." Although the words held none of the heat that they normally would have. "Look, I want to know. Why did you save me?"

"Well, did you expect me to let you fall?" Blake asked, giving her a slightly mocking, but expectant look as he fully turned towards her.

Did she? She wasn't quite sure. Her previous view of Blake being an self-absorbed, arrogant bastard had shifted slightly, that's for sure, but what her opinion had changed into, she wasn't sure.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect you to catch me. So, thank you, I guess."

Blake seemed to shift almost uncomfortably at her gratitude, before waving her off. "Just don't make it a habit, I won't be there to catch you every time you fall."

She scoffed a laugh, giving an exaggerated grimace. "Sorry, but the last thing I want is to have more contact with you. So don't worry. I'll do my best to keep from falling into death traps from now on."

He gave her a good once over, his eyes seeming to burn through her clothes where she stood. "Well, I don't know about that. I think you and I should have a lot more contact."

Feeling like she flushed red from head to toe, her jaw dropped at the abruptly flirtatious comment, she was about to fire back with some witty comment about him already having plenty of "contact" with the other girls in camp, when a sudden deep guttural sound cut through the air.

Everyone froze.

What the...

"What the hell was that?" Called Murphy from where he was perched next to Jasper in the tree, his hands gripping the ropes harshly.

Shoulders tense, Alex turned, gazing in the direction she thought the sound had come from, Bellamy doing the same.

"Grounders?" Bellamy asked, sounding uncertain, the almost flirtatious air he'd held before was completely gone.

I sure as hell hope not. That's the last thing we need right now...

When a shadow dashed between the bushes, Alex took a startled step back, following the movement before it disappeared into the nearby bushes.

Wells came up beside her, following her line of sight. "Not unless Grounders are suddenly walking on all fours?" He swallowed, pointing towards the rustling bushes. "Look."

Even as they all turned to see what he was talking about, a large black animal slinked out of the foliage, crouched low to the ground. It's black fun glittered in the afternoon sun, and Alex could see the tightly coiled muscles undulating beneath its skin with every slow step it took towards them.

Alex realized that the sound they'd heard earlier was the animal growling, the deep reverberating sound emanating from it.

The animal slowed to a stop, and for a moment everyone held their breath, watching the animal warily.

Licking her lips nervously, Alex flexed her hands, trying to ignore the way that her heart had begun to pound heavily in her chest once more, wondering what the hell animal was going to do. It certainly didn't look friendly.

For a moment, everything was dead silent.

Then it snarled. And leapt.

With speed that she'd never seen anything move before, the creature dashed towards them, quick as lightning, fangs bared menacingly at them.

Alex dove backwards, trying to get out of the animals way, and she bumped into Bellamy who'd been standing not too far away. He gripped her arm, tugging her back away from the incoming animal.

"Bellamy, gun!" Clarke shouted from the base of the tree, voice raised in panic.

Releasing her, he threw his hands out behind him, intent on grabbing the gun she knew he'd stashed in the waistband of his pants. She watched his eyes widen with panic, as he lifted the back of his shirt and frantically began to pat down his waistband.

Eyes wide with worry, he met her gaze. "It's not - I don't…"

Uh oh.

Disbelieving anger flowed through her, despite the danger they were in. "You lost our only gu-"

A gunshot split through the air, cutting her off as she jumped, the sound seeming to resonate in her bones and through her lungs. Her ears rang, and after a second she realized she'd unconsciously brought her hands up in an effort to protect herself, her shoulder hunched defensively as she ducked away from the blast.

With a gasp, she whirled around, searching around for the source of the shot.

It couldn't have been Blake, I could see him, he was right in front of me!

When her gaze landed on Wells, stunned disbelief flowed through her.

He stood not too far away from her and Blake, gun poised tensely in front of him, tightly clenched in one hand, which trembled slightly, but kept it up.

Shaking off the disbelief, she snapped her head around to see where the animal had gone to.

The shot had apparently missed, although the sound of the shot seemed to have momentarily startled it, as it paused, looking around warily, as if second guessing its decision to attack them.

Apparently deciding that the risk was well worth it, the animal darted forwards once more, hissing and snarling.

Wells was quick to fired a second shot, this one seeming to strike its intended target when the animal stumbled, a pained whine escaping it, before it caught it's balance and darted into the nearby grass, disappearing completely out of sight.

Heart beat racing, Alex tried to keep track of its movements through the grass, looking for any sign of the black fur or the swaying grass which would give away its location, but everything became still, the animal stealthily blending into the environment.

You'd think it would be easy to see. Black and yellow don't exactly mix, it shouldn't be so easy for it to hide!

Whirling one way and another they all tried to figure out where it had gone to. Clarke had pushed herself higher into the tree, trying to get to a better vantage point.

It's also probably the safest place to be, at the moment, Alex thought wryly.

"Do you see it?" Finn called out, the question not seemingly aimed at anyone in particular, as his eyes darted this way and that.

"Where did it go to?!"

Movement behind Bellamy caught her eye, and she spun around to face it.

The animal was crouched low to the ground, slinking forwards it belly almost dragging on the ground. Lips pulled back in a snarl, she could see the rows of pearly white teeth, pointed and big. In what felt like slow motion, she watched the creature crouch behind him, ready to pounce.

Then it leapt.

"Behind you!" Alex screamed in warning, but it was too late, the creature was too near. Bellamy hardly had time to turn as it flew through the air towards him, eye widening.

Two more resonating gunshots cut through the air.

Lurching midair, the creature let out a horrific yowl as it crashed to the ground, where it rolled a few times before coming to a stop at Bellamy's feet.

click, click, click, click

Eye wide in disbelief, Alex turned to face Wells, who continued to pull the trigger, glaring angrily at the animal, until Clarke put a hand on his shoulder.

Glancing down, Wells stared at the gun, his eyes growing, almost comically, until they were almost popping out of his head. Abruptly, he threw the gun to one side into the bushes, treating it like it had suddenly sprouted legs and attempted to crawl away.

A relieved, almost panicked, breathy laugh escaped her, and everyone snapped around to face her.

"Well, I guess that solves our ammo issue, doesn't it?"

A/N: One step forward...

What did you guys think? Drop me a review and let me know! I love hearing from you guys.

Thanks for reading!

Reviews:

Guest: I totally agree! I hope season 3 is full of Clarke and Bell moments, although I have a feeling it won't be so. sigh. I think there will be a fair bit of angst going on with Clarke, Bell and all the other characters beating themselves up for what happened at Mt. Weather, before they finally have some peace.

A: I'm baaaack. I'm really glad you enjoyed chapter 9. And I also have to admit, I love a bit of Alex and Bellamy tension, makes things interesting, hmmm? Did you like this chapter? There was a slight shift in the feelings, what did you think of that? Charlotte is definitely going to be an interesting point to the story, although I can't really say anything about it without giving things away. So sorry! You'll have to wait and see :)