havoc | bellamy blake (book two)

8 | magnet

"Mel! Mel, hold on. Focus on me. You can do this," Bellamy called down to the girl that was still clinging to the tree.

"So now are we going to help?" Jovie said, giving Bellamy a 'told you so' look.

"Jovie, not now," he said, referring to her attitude. He knew they should have just done it from the start without hesitations, but they had a lot to think about. They couldn't all just act on impulse like Jovie or they would all be dead. If making hard decisions had to be on him, then he would take it as long as it meant keeping them alive.

"Oh no!" Mel screamed.

"You're strong," Bellamy called down to encourage Mel. If she let go of that tree, she was gone. She just had to keep holding on a bit longer.

"I'm not strong! Stubborn, maybe," she replied.

"So be stubborn a little longer. I'm not gonna let you die, you hear me?" Bellamy said.

"We're out of rope," Finn informed him.

"So we make a new one," Bellamy ordered.

"If anything happens to our friends when we could-" Finn started.

"We don't know if we could save our friends. For all we know, they may be dead already," Bellamy said. Finn gave him a look like he couldn't believe he was saying that, but it was true. "We've all thought it. But what we do know is we could save this one girl."

"Sterling was one of us. She was his friend. I'm in," Monroe said.

"She's one of us too," Jovie added. "She may not be a delinquent like the rest of us," she paused to laugh a bit. "But she's still from the Ark. We don't leave our own behind."

"How do we do it?" Murphy asked.

"We make new rope from the wreckage. Go find wires, seatbelts, anything," Bellamy said. Murphy and Monroe rushed them forward to get to looking. The more time they wasted, the less time Mel had and the less time their other friends had.

"I hope you're right about this," Finn said.

"So do I," Bellamy replied.

"As soon as we're done here, we'll keep moving. I promise," Jovie said. Finn nodded then walked off to help the others look for things they could make a rope with. Jovie looked over at Bellamy and squeezed his hand. "We're doing the right thing here."

"I know," he said. "It's just that doing the right thing isn't always the easy thing."

"Life's not fair like that," she said with a small smile. They had all learned that the hard way.

As soon as they had made a rope long enough and strong enough, Bellamy tied himself to the other end.

"Bell, are you sure you don't want me to go? I'm lighter. It might be easier," Jovie said as she helped make sure he was secure.

"No. No, I won't let you put yourself in danger. I need to do this," he said. Part of him felt guilty about Sterling and another part of him didn't want that to happen to Jovie either.

"Alright," she gave in with a sigh. "You got this."

"Thanks, Sunshine," he teased. She rolled her eyes and playfully slapped his chest with a smile before walking back to help the others lower him down. "Alright, ease it out slowly." After they slowly lowered him down, he yelled back up to them. "Okay, I got her. Pull us up!"

"Don't you worry, Bellamy. I won't drop you," Murphy joked.

"You drop him and you go over with him," Jovie threatened from right behind him.

"Somehow I don't doubt that," her brother replied quietly. She used to be so willing to defend him and now she was willing to fight him. If it really came down to it, Jovie would save his life, but she would also risk it if he got on her bad side.

"Pull, Murphy!" Finn said. Suddenly, the seatbelt snapped open. Monroe, Finn, and Jovie went flying back, leaving only Murphy to hold onto the end of the rope that held up Bellamy and Mel.

"A little help!" Murphy screamed as he struggled to singlehandedly hold the two up. Finn and Jovie were quick to rush over to grab the seatbelt with him. Mel screamed as loose rocks fell from the cliff's wall.

"What the hell is happening up there?" Bellamy screamed.

"Just hold on!" Finn screamed back. A sudden rush of arrows landing around them startled Jovie. She was so focused on making sure Bellamy and Mel didn't fall that she didn't stop to think about how open they were leaving themselves to an attack.

"Grounders!" Monroe screamed. Finn handed one of the guns over to Monroe for her to cover them while they continued to pull up the others.

"How many are there?" Bellamy yelled.

"In the trees! In the trees! Aim for the trees!" Finn instructed Monroe. She just continued to shoot blindly. Jovie groaned before letting go of the rope, keeping low to the ground as she ran towards the tree line.

"Jovie, get back here!" Murphy screamed after his sister who was stupidly running straight towards the Grounders that were firing at them. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"

"Not if they don't see me," Jovie mumbled to herself as she used the bushes for camouflage and cover. Maybe if they were so focused on the others, they wouldn't notice her. Before she could get close though, a fog horn sounded in the distance. Jovie froze, knowing what that meant.

"Jo!" Finn screamed. "Get back here!" She didn't hesitate in turning back around to run back to help them now that the Grounders had stopped firing at them and had retreated. The four of them used every last bit of strength left to pull them up. When Mel landed firmly on the ground, Jovie crawled over to help Bellamy get firmly on the ground himself.

"Are you okay?" She asked. He nodded his head, still out of breath. He glanced over at Murphy who was still holding the unattached seatbelts and gave him a nod of acknowledgment. When Jovie put this together, she stood up and took Murphy by surprise by hugging him. "Thank you." He had been the one to make sure they didn't fall to their death when the seatbelt snapped. He still had to work towards earning her trust back, but it would be one step at a time.

"How about next time you don't go running towards the arrows, huh?" He replied quietly. Watching her run straight towards the danger made him realize how reckless she truly was. He had seen it before obviously, but never to this extent and it scared him to think about losing his sister.

"We have to take cover," Jovie replied, ignoring her brother's comment. She couldn't promise him anything about not running towards danger again. It was like a magnet for her and she didn't know why. "From the fog."

"Bellamy," a familiar voice called out. Jovie whipped around when she saw Octavia standing there with the fog horn in hand. "Jo."

"No we don't," Bellamy said, about taking cover from the fog.

"She blew the horn," Murphy put together. Jovie stood to her feet but let the two siblings hug first before she could greet her friend. The last time they saw each other was when Lincoln was saving Octavia after she got hit in the leg with an arrow. Bellamy didn't take it easy parting ways with her like that, but it was necessary if she was going to survive. Octavia looked much stronger now. After Bellamy backed out of the hug, Jovie was quick to fill the space.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," Jovie said quietly as she clung onto her best friend. Finding Octavia made not finding the others just a bit more bearable. It gave her hope.