RIPTIDE ➸ BELLAMY BLAKE [1]

VII; ACID RISK

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  HELL UNLEASHED QUICKLY on the criminals' camp when Jasper Jordan started screaming in pain. Most of the people were outside, trying to block out his cries. Asteria was no different from them.

  She didn't know the kid, nor she cared to. All she wanted was a safe place, to be safe. Her other goal was to be on their right side, to use the delinquents as a tool to benefit herself. War ran through her veins and the strategy to survival was all she focused on.

  The sun had risen, and they would try again. To survive one more day, to save who they could save. To be better.

  "Hey, you!" Bellamy shouted, calling out Asteria. "Come here."

  "What makes you think I have to obey you?" She shouted back, still sharpening her knives while resting against a tree.

  "Believe it or not," He said, walking closer to her "we have to work together. It's your choice whether you want this to be done in a good way."

  "I get it, all of that whatever the hell we want crap," She chanted, mocking him. "I'm on my own side."

  If there was something she was not good at, it was following orders. Especially from someone she had never met before, someone she could not call superior. On the other hand, having the king on her side wouldn't do her any harm. Twisting her likes to increase her odds of surviving was no new thing for her.

  "What is it that you want?" She questioned, with a hint of stubbornness in her voice still.

  "We were thinking you could help us," Bellamy told her. "I'm willing to listen now."

  "Smart boy," She whispered half smiling, looking at him. He half smiled back. For a second only, they were lost in the moment.

  "Murphy is waiting at my tent." He added.

  Walking together, they realized it was better for both of them getting along with each other.

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  Talking about strategy with the two delinquents made her realize Bellamy and she got more in common that she thought before. Murphy was no idiot, but he was reckless and impulsive, with no sense of planning before attacking.

  Grounders were smart, but they were extremely violent. When an idea got into their heads, they chased it without almost not even stopping to breathe. Like the idea of trikova. What the sky people needed was to outsmart them with less resources than they had.