KING, the hundred

twenty-eight: the war

"Wishing you godspeed, glory.
There will be mountains you won't move.
"I let go of my claim on you, it's a free world.
You look down on where you came from sometimes.
"But you'll have this place to call home."

godspeed by frank ocean

Avery couldn't tell what was happening anymore. She was operating completely on autopilot. She'd dropped her walkie on the ground somewhere as the grounders stormed the camp.

As soon as they heard the war cries, she and Miller raced outside of the wall to meet them. She didn't like that plan, but with the foxhole in front of them most likely out of bullets and Raven needing more time, there was no other option. Avery raised her gun in front of her and shot, hitting a large man in the side of the head. His body crumpled to the ground.

Then she did it again and again and again. Breath. Reload. Pull. Repeat.

Each time she pulled the trigger it seemed to get easier. She could feel her heart pumping and the sweat pouring out of nearly every pore. It felt like she was dying. But the erratic beating of her heart in her ears told her otherwise.

With every shot she remembered what they'd lost. Every time she pulled the trigger, she thought about what they could lose if she didn't do it. If she didn't kill these people.

But then she pulled the trigger and all the gun did was click.

It was going to happen at some point, Avery running out of bullets.

It happened in the middle of a fight, and the grounder on top of her took the opportunity to slash his metal sword across her forearm. He succeeded in cutting her, but it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the arrow in her shoulder mere days before. Avery quickly took the opportunity to grab a knife from her belt and send it into his stomach.

She ran forward, taking cover behind a nearby tree to examine the wound on her arm. It was just a small cut, so all she could do was pray that the knife wasn't poisoned. Tears sprang to Avery's eyes as she heard the cries of pain coming from around her. But the tears were gone as quickly as they came, and replaced with anger. The grounders weren't just killing them, they were killing all of them.

Spotting another grounder coming near the tree beside her, Avery ran towards him. The man didn't notice her approaching, and swung his blade in surprise when he did. She ducked under the blade and came up directly behind him. As cleanly as she could, Avery wrapped her arm around the front of his head and slit his throat with a small throwing knife.

She ran forward about five feet to the next tree and bent her knees as she heard someone approach. She closed her eyes for a moment and lunged, nearly stabbing Bellamy in the eye as he approached with Octavia in his arms.

As soon as she saw his face, she put down the knife, letting out a sigh of relief. Then she saw the arrow protruding out of Octavia's leg.

Bellamy barely had any time to take in Avery's blood-covered face before he carried Octavia behind a nearby tree and set her on the ground. Avery moved Octavia to look at the wound on the back of her leg, and Octavia cried out from the pain. Avery felt immense guilt at letting her friend fight on the front lines, but one look from Bellamy told her they had bigger problems to worry about at the moment.

There were hundreds of grounders storming the camp, and Avery could see the dead bodies of her people littered everywhere. If they didn't do something soon, it was going to be amore of a massacre than it already was.

"Avery," Octavia's speech slurred as she stared upward. She reached her hand out for her friend and gestured towards the sky. Both Avery and Bellamy turned to look, to see that something was coming down into the atmosphere. Avery flinched as one of the pieces of metal exploded, the sound reverberating through out the area.