𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

16. the chase

Bellamy had his light shone on the ground, revealing a rock with blood on it and large footsteps in the dirt, far too large to be Octavia's.

I felt my heart sink as Bellamy spoke, "Someone else was here."

"Prints are deeper going that way," Finn pointed out, "He was carrying her."

I watched Bellamy's face contort in a mix of anger and fear, the Grounders took his sister.

"If they took her then she's alive." Jasper said optimistically before dropping his voice slightly, "Like when they took me."

That's all it took for Bellamy to be up and on his feet again, the rest of us following behind him. He didn't need to say anything. We were going after her, wherever she was. 

We hadn't made it very far by the time we stopped again, but this time it was for a different reason. There, in front of us, were dozen of bodies hanging from trees, mostly decomposed by this point. 

I felt my stomach lurch as I looked at our surroundings, the worry in my chest growing, seeming to grip onto me. 

"I don't speak Grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out." I could hear the terror in my brother's voice, something I didn't hear a lot.

Mumbles about leaving started to surge through the group, "I'm outta here." one boy that was behind us announced, causing many to follow suit, shrinking the group down to about half a dozen.

"Go back if you want!" Bellamy called, "My sister, my responsibility." he added under his breath.

"Aves," Finn whispered, turning to look me in the eyes, "I don't think you should stay out here with us."

I turned to look at him, my face a mixture of fear and determination. I was scared as hell, but I wasn't abandoning Octavia. "Finn she's my best friend!"

Finn didn't waver. "Yeah, and I'm your brother and I don't want something happening to you."

I opened my mouth to argue but another voice cut in, "Your brother's right. It's not safe out here." Bellamy warned.

Letting out a deep breath, I shook my head. "It's not safe anywhere." I argued. "I'm coming with you and that's the end of it."

The two boys shared a look with each other before both looked at me, neither wanting to accept my decision. 

"Let's go, we don't have all night." I grumbled, grabbing the torch from my brother and walking ahead of the group. I was silently praying that they would follow and Bellamy would take the lead again, there was no way I was going to be the first one to walk into this death forest. Luckily, the group started walking along with me, Bellamy, Finn and Jasper arriving at my side.

"Sunshine is kind of a badass." Bellamy mumbled, leaning over towards me so only I could hear.

I cracked a small smile, "Yeah, you just figured that out?"

---

By the time morning rolled around we still had not found Octavia. We were all exhausted but had no intentions of giving up anytime soon.

"I got nothing." Finn announced, throwing his hands up in defeat, "We've lost the trail."

"Keep looking." Bellamy ordered.

Finn looked around, shaking his head, "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister, we should back track alright-"

"I'm not going back!" Bellamy argued. "If this was your sister you'd be doing the same thing."

Finn glanced over at me, knowing he couldn't argue with what Bellamy was saying.