Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 44

"By now, you've all heard the rumour." Abby starts, sweeping her gaze over the people.

Ethan glances to his right to see Murphy at the edge of the crowd, and as if sensing his stare, the brunette tilts his head and makes eye contact. He looks between Ethan and Clarke like there's something to be seen there.

"And unfortunately it's true. The grounders are coming."

Blinking in shock, Ethan turns back to Clarke, "What? When?"

"You haven't heard?"

"No, I've been locked inside."

Clarke glances his way, brows pinched. She barely gets the beginning of a question out before Abby is cutting her off, continuing the speech.

"We have a difficult decision to make. Thankfully, Chancellor Jaha has made his way back to us. And we're discussing all options." The Chancellor finishes, allowing Jaha to step in front of her and continue.

Jaha snatches the crowd's attention. "But to be safe. You need to pack. Now." He glares, his face set in stone. "Whatever you can carry. We may need to leave at a moments notice."

The crowd starts asking the real questions. Where would they go? How far? What about supplies? Jaha explains that he doesn't know, but he's simply heard of a place.

Ethan wants to scoff. As if they'd leave on a hunch. The City of Light, whatever that's supposed to be.

"Given the alternative. I think it's good enough an option to me." Jaha nods.

And leave their friends behind like nothing has happened? Move on to a better land while they suffer alone? Ethan scowls.

Clarke steps forward, voicing his thoughts. "Not for us." She says, "If we leave here, what happens to our people in Mount Weather?"

"As your mother said," Jaha glances at Abby, "That is a very difficult decision we have to make. But the time has come for each and every one of us to ask. Is this how the story of our people ends? Did we come all this way, just to die tomorrow?"

The crowd murmurs, a surprisingly good amount of people disagreeing with Jaha's plan.

"I have faith," Jaha says.

And Ethan scoffs. He turns around to find Murphy, knowing they share a similar hatred for the old Chancellor.

When he makes eye contact with the boy at the edge of the crowd, a hand grabs him and he panics, trying to twist out of the grip. But all he sees is Bellamy's frowning face and breathes out a sigh of relief.

"Dude," Arms connected from wrist to elbow, Ethan sighs, "You okay?"

Murphy rolls his eyes from where he stands, taking a step back as though he'd never instinctively moved forward. He shoves his hands back into his pockets and watches them converse for a second longer, eyeing the distance between them with a frown.

"I'm fine. We need to get to the dropship." Bellamy says, tightening his grip.

Ethan notices that Octavia isn't with him. He nods, "Yeah, okay. What's there?"

Bellamy glances at Jaha, still talking. 

Does a double-take, his mouth parted in question, deep lines across his forehead.

"Yeah, that happened." Ethan says, glancing at Jaha himself with his lips curled down. When he looks back Bellamy is shaking his head, releasing the hold he still has on Ethan's arm.

Then, "Lincoln."

Ethan almost gets whiplash looking at him. "You found him?" He's sensing a but coming along.