Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 47

The walkie-talkie screeches in an endless static.

Ethan jolts awake, fingers hooking into the crate underneath him, hand grabbing onto Murphy's shoulder like an anchor.

In tandem with his caution, Murphy seizes Ethan's ankle and places a palm against the ground just in case he has to spring from the knee he's moved onto-

There's a scoff.

A collected glance ahead shows Harley eyeing them, a slight smile - one that looks odd on the usually stoic man - being sent towards their instinctive alert. He's sitting on a different crate, further in front as though he's planned carefully the best position to watch over them, and block the others out.

Ethan and Murphy blink back to focus.

They notice Harley's eyes on their hands and pull away as if the touch burns.

"Ethan?"

The radio crackles to life again. It's Clarke.

He yanks it from his pocket, "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry." He sees Murphy standing, brushing off his clothes with a confused look on his face, striving to remember what led up to this. A hand goes for his hair, brushing over the design.

Ethan looks away.

"We have a way to stop the attack."

He jumps from his seat in shock, bringing a hand to his mouth to bite at the nail. "How?"

"If we manage to bring Lincoln back, then we eliminate the threat of the reapers - We'll have something to offer to the commander."

Ethan runs a hand over his head, "Clarke. . . If?"

". . .We're still working on it." She says, voice low, "What's happening there? Has a decision been made?"

Glancing away from Murphy, Ethan looks at Harley. The guard who's resting his head back against empty boxes, eyes closed.

"Harley?" Ethan hesitates, pulling the walkie away from his mouth. He sees the shift of a finger and rolls his eyes, "Harley, I know you've been listening. Anything new from the chancellors? We leaving or staying?"

"Ethan? We're on the way back, what's happening?"

Sighing, the middle-aged man blinks open blue eyes and tips his head to look at him. "We're leaving in two hours." He shifts to lean on his knees, "The Chancellor's given the order."

Ethan presses hard on the button to the radio, his teeth grinding down, "Chancellor Griffin's decided we're leaving." He hears nothing from the other end for a solid minute, fidgeting with the buckles to his cargo pants.

"Can you convince her to wait?"

"I'm not the best at convincing people." Ethan winces, "But I'll try anything."

"I know some people who might think otherwise." Clarke's voice is light.

It tugs a small smile onto Ethan's face.

Murphy stares.

Harley notices.

"I'm not far, Ethan, just distract her for a few more minutes."

The line goes silent. Ethan lowers the device and glances at his foot, shuffling in the dirt. Sighing through his nose, he pulls his gaze out to the clearing and looks for Abby.

She stands beside Jaha, in front of the Ark's circular door.

"You coming?" He turns to Murphy.

Murphy shakes his head, fringe steering clear of his eyes as he scoffs, "Nah." His gaze locks onto Jaha, quickly narrowing into a glare.