DISCORDIA

[ 15 ] dead men

     "That's not a meteor shower, Bellamy." Jinny looked at him in dismay.

     Clarke turned to face them. "It's a funeral. Hundreds of bodies being returned to the earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side." She shook her head and looked to Raven. "They didn't get our message."

     Raven's eyes locked onto Bellamy, and she started forwards angrily. "This is all because of you!"

     Finn held her back as Bellamy raised a hand in protest. "I helped you find the radio!" he defended himself.

     "Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!" the girl spat.

     Clarke placed a hand on her shoulder and there was an edge in her voice when she spoke, "He knows. Now he has to live with it."

     Bellamy took one more glance at the shooting stars before regarding them seriously. "All I know is that my sister is out there and I'm gonna find her. You coming or what?" There was a beat of silence. "Then what are we waiting for?" He raised his voice. "Move out!"

     Jinny exchanged a look of annoyance with Raven, the both of them rolling their eyes in exasperation. Jasper stood by the side and looked at them uncertainly as he waited for Finn. She just noticed that the boy was now sporting shorter locks than she remembered.

     "We have to talk to them," Clarke said. "Three hundred won't be enough. The oxygen level will just keep dropping. And if we don't tell them that we can survive down here, they'll kill more people. They have to."

     Jinny shifted uncomfortably at the choice of topic, turning around agitatedly. Bellamy had already disappeared into the woods with the other delinquents, their torches flickering in and out through the ghostly pale trunks.

     "Guys, they're leaving. We gotta go," Jasper said.

     "We tried making use of the wristbands to build a telegraph, you could use the parts we have and the ones from your pod," Jinny told Raven stiffly.

     Finn held the girl's hand. "I gotta do this. And you should stay and fix the radio, okay?"

     "Fix it?" Raven repeated incredulously. "The transmitter's smashed. Unless there's a parts depot down here, we're not talking to the Ark."

     "Art supply store," Clarke said suddenly. Raven looked between them questioningly. "I might know a place where you can get a transmitter."

     "Finn, hurry up, I'm going ahead," Jinny snapped before heading towards the gate without waiting for a response. She quickly caught up with the group, making her way to the front and walking alongside Bellamy. He glanced at her as she let her eyes roam the dense foliage, illuminated only by the flames of their torches and a couple of flashlights.

     "Took you long enough," he said gruffly. "Thought you decided to stay back."

     "I care about Octavia as much as you do," she said tensely. "Besides, Raven is the best mechanic we've had for like fifty years or something. She'll fix the radio."