Tragedy ✧ John Murphy

• Chapter 11 •

That's when Bellamy noticed something. A tassel from his sister's dress had caught in the hatch and was plainly visible as it was bright red. Panic shot through him and he quickly sat down at the table and placed his foot overtop of the tassel so the guards wouldn't see it.

"There you go. Just like new." Aurora spoke and handed Grus the uniform before standing closer to him and lowering her voice.

"Do you have something for me?" She asked and he grabbed her ass subtly. Bellamy noticed it though and looked away, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Bellamy's letter of recommendation." Aurora reminded the man, who was confused.

"You think you're guard material, kid?" Grus questioned Bellamy, who looked over at him. "Come here. Let's have a look at you." Grus instructed.

Bellamy hesitated. He knew he couldn't move because if he did, Grus would be able to see the tassel. "I'm good, thanks." He responded.

"Bellamy. Stand up. Now." Aurora ordered her son, not understanding why he wasn't moving.

Under the floor, Octavia just kept repeating, "I am not afraid," as she held onto her scared little sister. She wanted to comfort and protect her.

Above the floor, Aurora and Grus faced Bellamy. "I don't think so." Bellamy responded to his mother's order. Aurora couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing.

"You want to be in the guard or not?" Grus questioned. Bellamy wanted to be in the guard more than anything, but he couldn't move. He couldn't let them find his sisters.

"Come here. Three seconds." Grus demanded and pointed in front of him. Bellamy's mind raced as he tried to come up with a solution. He couldn't do nothing, but he couldn't let them see the tassel.

"One... two..." Grus counted and Bellamy finally thought of something. He stood up, purposely knocking over his mother's sewing kit. Her supplies were all over the floor and his sister's tassel blended in with the ones he knocked over, effectively concealing it.

"Bellamy! I'm so sorry, Inspector." Aurora turned to Grus. "Don't be. Maybe the guard will make a man out of him. Clean that up." Grus ordered Bellamy.

"Yes, Sir." Bellamy responded before crouching down and starting to clean it up.

"Come to my quarters later. He'll get that recommendation." Grus spoke quietly to Aurora before he and the other guards left.

Aurora turned her gaze on her son, incredibly frustrated and not understanding why he was acting so incompetent. But Bellamy didn't care. He let out a sigh of relief now that he knew that his sisters were safe.

~~~

In the present, Julia heard her sister muttering the same words as she would when they were children.

"I'm not afraid." Octavia spoke over and over as they crawled on their stomachs through the long tunnel towards what they hoped was a place they could escape.

Finally, they came to the outside world again. Since Julia was in front, she was first to leave the tunnel and fall onto the ground outside. It was daytime again. She was breathing heavily, but quickly moved so her sister could land where she had landed.

Octavia laid on the ground for a moment before joining her sister back against the cave, trying to obscure themselves from being seen by anyone that might be nearby. They didn't want the grounder finding them now that they escaped.

~~~

Bellamy, Jasper, Finn, and a few more walked through the forests, still on their search to find the Blake sisters.

Finn sighed. "I got nothing. We lost the trail." He said but Bellamy shook his head. "Keep looking." He instructed and Finn disagreed but continued.

"Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sisters. We should backtrack..." Finn waited a few moments before speaking up.

"I'm not going back." Bellamy said, stopping to face Finn as Roma looked around.

"Hey, where's John?" Roma questioned after not seeing her friend. Everyone glanced around but didn't see him. "I just saw him a second ago." Jasper told them.

"Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far." Bellamy announced and it wasn't five seconds after he spoke that Mbege's body fell onto the ground with a loud thump.

They all turned to look at him and noticed his throat was slit. Finn and Bellamy rushed over and Finn looked up. "They use the trees." Finn said and they all looked upwards.

"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary." Diggs said. "Now can we go back?" Roma asked Bellamy as Jasper caught sight of a grounder. "There. Right there." He pointed to show them where he was looking. The group looked around.

"Another one." Diggs announced and everyone was breathing heavily because of their fear and adrenaline.

"We should run." Finn suggested and they all seemed to agree as they all took off, trying to get away from the grounders. There were many of them.

"What are we gonna do? They keep heading us off." Jasper spoke as they ran. "Just keep running." Finn answered as he jumped over a log in his way.

"I can't run much longer!" Jasper shouted and Bellamy slowed down to look back at him. "I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs said and continued sprinting.

"I'm sick of running anyway." Bellamy said and Finn stopped running and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He questioned. "They know where my sisters are." Bellamy responded.

"Diggs, where are you?" They heard Roma shouted. "Roma!" Diggs yelled in response as he continued running. Bellamy, Finn, Jasper, and Monroe headed towards their shouts.

They heard Roma let out a scream and soon they came into view and realized why. Diggs had been impaled by a log with sharp branches on it that had been triggered by a trip wire.

"Wait! Roma. Could be more stop." Finn tried to advise Roma who had taken off running again.

"They were leading us here. It's the only direction we could run it." Jasper figured out and they looked around. "Hey, where'd they go?" Finn asked when they saw that there were no grounders in sight.

"After Roma." Bellamy answered and they rushed to go save their friend.

Nearby, Julia and Octavia were running through the woods, trying to escape, when they heard a girl's scream.

Suddenly there was a hand around both Julia and Octavia's mouths and they struggled but the man's grip didn't loosen as he crouched down and let the girls see what was happening.

Julia and Octavia watched as Roma ran. She was the one who screamed. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a spear was thrown and impaled her, literally making her fly back through the air before being pinned to a tree.

Both Julia and Octavia's face showed nothing but fear at what they witnessed. But they seemed to realize that the grounder holding them was trying to protect them from the same fate, which is why when he took his hands off their mouths, they didn't make any noise. And why they didn't struggle as he pulled them back towards the direction of the cave.