trepidation |BELLAMY BLAKE| [1]

CHAPTER 19

AVERY STOOD THERE, NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO. Bellamy was upstairs dealing with the Grounder while Clarke and Raven helped with Finn.

"The blade is at a sharp upward angle. Between his sixth and seventh rib." Clarke told her mother over the radio.

"Okay, how deep?" Abby asked,

"Well, I can't tell how deep it goes." Clarke stated,

"That's alright, just don't remove the knife yet."

Raven was pacing by Finn, making Avery even more worried. Clarke cleaned her hands with the moonshine before handing it to Raven, "Hey, here, sterilize your hands." Raven took the canister, taking a large sip before pouring some on her hands. 

"Clarke, do you see any fluid?" Abby asked,

Clarke was about to respond when there was a confrontation going on behind them between two of the delinquents.

"Damn it!" Clarke turned to Avery, "Clear the room."

Avery nodded before walking over to the group, "All right, everybody! Upstairs! Now! Let's go!" She stood by the ladder, watching as everybody went onto the second floor of the dropship.

"He feels a little warm." Clarke told her mother,

"That's alright, fever sometimes accompanies a trauma." Abby told her daughter, "Clarke, I need you to tell me if there is any fluid leaking from the wound."

Avery turned back to see Clarke examining Finn's wound,  "Ah... No."

"Pleural membrane's intact." She stated, "That's good. That's actually really good. You got lucky."

"Hear that? You're lucky." Avery watched at Clarke observed the two uncomfortably. 

Octavia came dropped down from the ladder and grabbed Avery's arm gently, "Hey, I need you to talk to my brother."

"Why me?" Avery asked,

"Because you're the only one he'll listen to." Octavia answered,

She shook her head, "Bellamy has never listened to me before."

Octavia sighed, "Okay, fine, you're the only person he'll consider listening to. You're the only person who could talk sense into that empty head of his."

Avery looked back at Clarke and Raven who were working on Finn before turning back to Octavia, "I can't promise anything."

The two girls went up to the second floor, where Octavia stayed. Avery continued up and paused on the top of the ladder when she saw the state of the Grounder.

His arms were chained to the wall, holding him still. His face was nearly covered in blood. Avery was surprised he was awake and kicking.

Bellamy turned to see Avery on the ladder, "Avery?"

The dropship shook more violently than before. Things that were nailed down began to fall over. Avery lost her grip on the rail and Bellamy grabbed her and pulled her up before she could fall.

She landed on top of him as they hit the floor. They heard screams in the levels below and once the shaking stopped, Avery rolled off of Bellamy.

"Drew, go check what happened." Bellamy ordered and the blonde boy quickly followed orders. He turned to look at her, "You okay?"

Avery nodded, "Yeah." She stared at the Grounder once again as the boys went around and picking up the things that fell.

"What the hell was that?" Bellamy asked as he stood and went over towards the ladder, "We under attack or not?"

"Storm damage." Drew answered, coming back up, "We're ok."

"We're gonna try this one more time." Bellamy approached the Grounder, "What's your name? Where's your camp? How many of you are there?"

 Bellamy went to swing at the man but Avery shot forward, "Wait, Bellamy!" He paused, waiting for her to continue, "You don't have to do this."

"Yes, sweetheart, I do."

Avery stood between Bellamy and the Grounder, "If you do this, they'll be no turning back. You didn't kill Atom. You didn't kill the Chancellor. You didn't kill those 300 people on the Ark. But if you do this, you will be a murderer."

"If I don't do this a lot more of our people will die." Bellamy argued.

"We came onto their land. If we just get them to understand that we didn't mean any harm-"

"Get them to understand?! They've murdered, kidnapped, and stabbed a half dozen of our people. It's too late to get them to understand anything!" Bellamy exclaimed,

"So you doing the same to their people makes us better how? How will it solve any of our problems?" Avery questioned,

"We need to know more about them." Bellamy stated,

"Hey. Check it out." Miller drew their attention away from each other to what he had in his hand,  "What is all this stuff?" Miller asked, showing them a small metal box filled with small bottles of various colored liquids.

"Hell knows with these people." Bellamy responded,

Bellamy grabbed a small book and the Grounder began tugging on his restraints, "Think we found something he doesn't want us to see, Miller." He opened the journal to see multiple drawings, "These aren't bad." Bellamy stopped on a page where there was a drawing of a girl. It was Octavia.

After glaring at the Grounder, Bellamy flipped the page where there was was a bunch of small lines, a few of them crossed out, "It's our camp. I'm guessing if I counted all those marks, it would add up to 102." He stood and walked over to the Grounder, "That's how many people we've lost. They've been watching us ever since we got here."

Another set of footsteps was heard coming up the ladder and they turned to see Clarke. Drew stopped her from advancing,  "Get the hell out of my way."

"It's ok. Let her through." Bellamy stated,

Clarke let her eyes roam over the grounder before turning to Bellamy, "Well, if he didn't hate us before, he does now."

He grabbed her arm and pulled away, "Who cares?"

While the two talked, Avery grabbed a cloth and dipped it into a bowl of water that was sitting on the side. 

 Avery went to clean the blood off the Grounder when Miller stepped forward, "You're not supposed to go near him."

"What is he going to do? He's already chained and beaten." Avery glared before looking up at the Grounder, "I'm just gonna help you a bit, okay?"

The moment when the cloth touched the Grounder's face, he began to pull on the chains, startling Avery.

"Hey!" Bellamy rushed over and pulled Avery back, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to help!" Avery responded, "We're still human."

"Clarke, he's seizing!" Raven called from downstairs.

"On my way."

Avery put the cloth back in the bowl before rushing downstairs after Clarke. Raven was standing a ways away from the table, where Finn was convulsing.

"He was fine, then-"

"Get my mother on the radio now." Clarke interrupted, running over to the table, "Raven, now!"

"The radio's dead! Interference from the storm." Raven said, walking over to the other side of the table, "Please don't let him die."