Flame ➸ John Murphy

16

"I count 26." Finn said as he peered through his gun.

The group had run all the way to the grounder village and were stationed outside of it. Both boys were staring through their guns to see what the threat would be. As West observed the grounders, she noticed none of them looked aggressive.

"These people don't look like warriors." West said. "There's no way our people are here."

West looked at Murphy and he nodded in agreement. Finn stayed looking through the scope on his gun.

"They could be underground." He suggested.

Murphy shook his head before looking back to the village.

"We wait until dark, then we go in." Finn instructed.

"Go in? Finn we don't even know if anyone is here." Murphy protested.

"For once I agree with John. We can't just barge in and hope for the best." West explained.

"They're here." Finn sounded convinced.

"What if they're not? What if they're already dead?" Murphy asked.

Finns hand shot passed West to grab a hold of Murphy. Anger was clear in his eyes. Murphy slightly backed away.

"Take it easy." He said calmly.

When Finn took his arm off Murphy, West gave him a concerning look. He asked John how much ammunition they had.

He's losing it.

Soon night fell and they sprung into action. The boys tried to make West wait in the woods, but she was too stubborn. Following them into the village, they stayed quiet.

"What are you doing?" Murphy whispered to Finn when he grabbed a torch. "This isn't part of your plan."

Finn ran over to a building before throwing the torch inside. West felt her heart drop as the building lit up in flames.

"Finn!" She pushed him. "Are you stupid?"

He rolled his eyes before grabbing the girls arm. Pulling her, he took her to a place to hide where Murphy was already crouched. Grounders ran from their homes with buckets of water to put out the fire.

"Distraction, nice." Murphy commented.

West scoffed before John grabbed her arm again, this time to take her to a different hiding place. They carefully walked through the chaotic village until a man saw them. As he yelled Finn hit him with the butt of his gun.

"We need to leave now before things get more out of hand." West said as she tried to pull the boys from the village.

"No. If we leave, they'll kill our people." Finn growled.

He grabbed the grounder by the back of his shirt and pulled him up. Walking out into the group of grounders he shot his gun up in the air. They screamed in fear as they backed away.

"Who's in charge here?" Finn yelled.

Murphy pointed his gun at the villagers as Finn yelled at them. West stood a few feet behind them with her hands partially up to show the grounders she meant then no harm. When no one answered Finn he pushed the man he held to the ground and pointed his gun at his head.

"Our leader isn't here." A grounder said stepping forward. "You can deal with me."

Finn and the man talked before Finn grew even more angry. The grounder claimed their people weren't there. West felt sick as she watched Finn and Murphy round up the people into the center of the camp.