✿ TWENTY-EIGHT✿
"Am I just fooling myself
That she'll stop the pain"
___
Katherine had stayed seated for a little while, at least till her shortness of breath had passed and she was able to stand up straight without feeling like she was going to pass out any given second. She helped Clarke with the sick, offering them water and cleaning the blood from their faces, even though they looked worse. On her watch, another person had died. She hadn't even known the girl's name, but she'd died the same way as Derek, slipping right from under her hands.
Starting to feel like her throat was closing again, she moved outside the Dropship, watching the way two boys carried the dead girl and lied her next to Derek. She took a big gasp of air, appreciating the way the fresh oxygen seemed to lessen her stuffiness. Trying to filter out Bellamy's and Clarke's conversation about Octavia, her eyes fell onto a girl that fainted right in the hands of the people surrounding her, coughing blood in their faces. At the same time, another boy turned around, his eyes bleeding.
A scene of chaos developed in front of her. Every person in possession of a gun all of a sudden knew all to well how to point it at his friends, screaming and yelling like madmen. Katherine looked at Clarke, shaking her head with disappointment. Quarantine was their best chance at saving people and so far it wasn't working very well. It left her feeling with dread.
"Wait," Clarke said softly. Her usual ever so energetic voice, often the cause of much irritation, was now washed-out and barely audible. The girl disappeared into the Dropship, only to come back with a rifle. She held it up in the air and emptied three bullets in the air. She looked at Katherine, as if to ask her if she could do the talking.
Catching on the hint quickly, she set a calculated step forward, all eyes on her. "Guys, don't you see? We're doing exactly what the Grounders want us to do," she tried to explain calmly, even though she felt like she could strangle the bunch of them at that very moment. Not that she would have the strength for it. "The more we kill each other off, the less the Grounders have to."
"Well, they won't have to kill anybody if we all catch the virus," a boy yelled back. He pointed his gun in her direction, making her feel even more anxious. "So get back in the damn Dropship."
Though she'd been on Earth for a little while now, Katherine still wasn't used to weapons pointed in her direction, whether it was knives or riffles. It made her freeze up like a deer caught in headlights, leaving her at the mercy of the person on the other end of the weapon. Fortunately for her, Bellamy grabbed the gun from the boy, butting the end in his face, which left him staggering behind.
As if all wasn't bad enough already, Clarke lost her consciousness, or at least enough of it to faint, though not enough to keep her mouth shut. Finn caught her and biting on the inside of her cheek, Katherine looked at Raven, who looked like her heart had just been broken in many and more pieces. She couldn't help but feel for the girl.
"Put me down, right now," Clarke mumbled weakly. She was more or less hanging in Finn's arms, trying and failing to create some distance for his safety. "I'm fine."
Katherine felt like she could fall to the ground any moment as well, in fact, she thought the ground looked somewhat inviting. It was sure a lot colder than her feverish skin. She also knew that it wouldn't be good for the group spirits if both doctors, or well, one and a half doctor, would pass out. It took all of her energy to focus her eyes on Octavia, who had entered camp again.
"There's no cure," Octavia said. More restlessness broke out under the crowd. "They use the sickness to soften the battlefield. Yes, you heard me right, the battlefield. They attack at first light."
Katherine's head was spinning. It was like she viewed the world from the perspective of a moving toll, twisting and turning until it made her nauseous and dizzy. From somewhere far away, she heard Bellamy's voice, but it sounded as if her head was underwater and he was miles away. She put a protective hand on her stomach, focusing all of her attention on her breathing until the whizzing in her ears ceased ever so slightly and her head cleared. She focused her glance on Octavia. "Help Finn get Clarke inside the Dropship."
Octavia nodded, quickly moving to Finn's side. Katherine watched the tree of them disappear in the Dropship and as she looked out on the dispersing crowd again, she noticed Nate standing in the middle with Panther to his side, both of them observing her worriedly. She gave him a weak smile and she even dared to put her thumb up to him, though she felt everything but.
"Katherine," Bellamy said, immediately catching her attention.
He stood way too close for her liking, almost as if he didn't care if he caught the virus. Carefully, she took a step back, raising her eyebrows in question. "What is it?" she asked. She felt her throat tickle and for a sweet moment, she was able to suppress her coughing until it came out with a force twice as back. She was in time to turn around and an ugly puddle of thick blood ended in her elbow. She took a moment to catch her breath, wiped some of the blood from her mouth and turned around to face Bellamy again.
The expression on his face could only be described as pure horror, the worry so clear in his eyes that it couldn't be mistaken for something else. "Are you okay? Is there anything that can make you feel better?" he asked. He took a step in her direction, barely aware of the possible consequences.
"Yeah, an inhaler and some icecubes would be nice," she replied. Though she'd meant for the words to come out playful, sarcastic at the very least, they only sounded weak, like she was balancing on the edge of death. "But since we won't find either of those, what did you want to ask?"
"If it's true that the Grounders will attack at first light, I need you for a strategics plan," he replied. His eyes scanned her face, that horrified look still slightly present, though he obviously tried his best to cover it up. "That is, if you're able to."
"I'm flattered," she said, letting out a low chuckle. She motioned for Bellamy to take the lead, making sure that she always stayed at least three steps behind him. Normally, when she walked behind him, she observed his wild curls, the way he held himself, how he walked, but now, with him looking over his shoulder every two seconds, she didn't dare to. "A girl for war tactics. Sounds kinds of ironic, doesn't it?"
"Does it?" Bellamy asked. He looked over his shoulder with his eyebrows raised, their eyes meeting. Though she was barely able to put on foot in front of the other, her body was able to make her heart skip a beat. "Pallas Athena is the goddess of strategic war, a woman."
"Yet it is a god who represents war and pugnacity," she said back, smiling softly. She loved that she wasn't the only one who knew the stories of the ancient Greeks and Romans and that out of all people, Bellamy shared in this knowledge. Once again, her head was spinning, but this time for a different reason. She didn't know what she hated more, the virus from the Grounders or his.
Just as he wanted to reply, they reached Raven's tent and Jasper greeted them noisily. For a split second, his eyes flew from Bellamy to Katherine, before returning to the gun he was holding. She greeted Monty with a small smile, or else she would expose her probably bloodred mouth. She made sure she held a safe distance from all of them, though once again, Bellamy was standing closer to her than she liked.
"So, you've got any ideas?" Raven asked her. The young woman had raised her eyebrows in question, a bitter grimace on her mouth. "Because we have about five clips of five bullets and almost no gunpowder."
"Alright, that's not a lot," Katherine replied softly. She tried hard to push away the haze that was fogging her mind, her mind digging deep through the many books on war strategics she'd read. It didn't help that five pairs of eyes were trained on her already weak form, like she was going to spew out the solution that would save all of their problems any second now. The whizzing sound was slowly increasing, as if somebody was increasing pressure on the button of a drill.
"Well?" Jasper asked impatiently. He looked at her as if she was thick, which hit the wrong snare all together.
"Shut up," she snapped, her voice sounding more hateful than she'd intended. At least all of them were quiet now, their soft muttering abruptly cut off. She didn't know a strategic plan that would prevent the Grounders from murdering all of them if they came to Camp, which meant that she had to figure out a way that would prevent them from coming altogether. Slowly but surely, as the whizzing was increasing, a plan was forming in her mind.
She focused her eyes on Raven, only then noticing that there were a whole bunch of Ravens in the room. In fact, there seemed to be many copies of everybody in the room, like they were reflected in shattered glass. Slowly, she brought her hand to her head, the thick layer of sweat covering her forehead not escaping her notice.
"Sit down, Katherine," Monty said, his voice echoing through her head.
"No, no," she muttered, waving Monty off. She swallowed the vomit that threatened to escape her mouth and once again she tried to focus on Raven. "Do we have hydrazine?"
"Yes," Raven said, eyeing the girl carefully.
"That's good," she replied, nodding to herself. The head movement took her by surprise and as if her mind was disconnected from her body, she stumbled forwards. She was just in time to grab the make-shift table in front of her to prevent herself from falling on it with her headfirst. She felt a hand grab her by her arm, stabilising her. She looked at Bellamy with furrowed eyebrows, trying and failing miserably to look angry. He raised his eyebrow, daring her to say something about it.
"You need to let go and wash your hands," Raven said softly. She looked from Bellamy to Katherine, wondering what was playing between them.
"I will do whatever I please," he replied harshly. Though Katherine couldn't see his face, she knew exactly how he was looking, a hard look in his eyes, his jaw clenched. He turned to her with an entirely different expression. "What do we need the hydrazine for?"
"We will make a bomb," she said, watching her knuckles turn white as her grip on the table increased. She felt red tears escaping her eyes, a sharp contrast with her ashy skin. "Murphy came here over a bridge. Made a little bet with myself it's that bridge. We'll blow it up. Before that, I will draw circles on the map we have-" She turned away and coughed up enough blood for a transfusion before continuing. "If we manage to blow up the bridge, it gives us some time. In this time, we'll plant boobytraps on the places I drew circles which will hold them off after they've figured out the bridge. Give them a little taste of their own medicine."
Raven looked at her like she was a genius, her face brightening up for the first time since morning. "That might actually just work out."
Raven's voice sounded distorted and was almost entirely drowned out by the sound of whizzing in her ears. She saw the others talk as well, though she heard nothing. Feeling like she was the only one aware of the fact that she was slipping away, both mentally as physically, she looked at the metal table underneath her. Two drops fell from her nose on the table. Shaking her head, as if she could shake the flies out of her head, she shifted her glance up at Bellamy. He was already looking at her, his mouth moving but no sounds audible. "I... I don't... feel-"
She couldn't finish the sentence as the bare grip she had on herself earlier slipt away like water through her fingers. She collapsed and Bellamy, who'd still been holding her arm, was the only one who prevented her from hitting the ground with her head. Immediately, as if he'd expected her to fall down at that very moment, he wrapped his other arm around her middle, gently guiding her to the ground as all of her muscles went rigid.
"What are you doing?" Raven called out, jumping up from her chair. "Get her from the ground."
"She's having a seizure," Bellamy snapped back. His face scrunched up in concentration, he tried to put her on her back as carefully as he could, kneeling down next to her. He'd seen the way her eyes had clouded, the thick layer of sweat covering her face, how she was going numb.
"She just fainted," Jasper said, joining Raven's side.
Exactly at that moment, Katherine's body started convulsing like she was being electrocuted.
"Get Clarke," Bellamy ordered, not bothering to look over his shoulder. Nifty, his fingers open her jacket, removing the clothing from her neck to prevent her from choking. He took off his own jacket as well, carefully placing it underneath her jerking head. Not knowing what else to do, he removed the loose locks from her face, muttering calming nothings.
As he watched her convulse under his hands, red foam covering her mouth, he felt more helpless than ever. Katherine had always intrigued him, the way she could be so fearless and bold one moment, and frightened to death of the simplest things the next. Her witty statements, the way she raised her eyebrows to dare him. He couldn't deny it, he cared for her more than he'd imagined.
He dared to take a quick peek over his shoulder. Monty was the only one left in the tent, watching his friend with worried eyes. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could see the tears in the kid's eyes.
"Where is she?" he heard Clarke ask as the blonde stumbled into the tent. A while had passed since she'd fainted and he immediately noticed that she looked a lot better. He could only hope it would be the same for Katherine, who'd been convulsing for five minutes now. "You need to get away, Bellamy, I can take over now."
"I'm not moving," he said. Quickly he looked from Katherine to Clarke, only to focus his glance on the girl on the ground again. With a cloth, he gently removed the foam from her mouth.
"Alright, it's your choice," Clarke muttered as she knelt down on the opposite side of Katherine. She checked her pulse, which was a little hurried, but nothing out of boundaries. Bellamy followed all of her movements carefully, causing Clarke to snap her head up slightly irritably. "Bellamy, I'm not going to hurt her."
He didn't reply, his eyes fixated on Katherine's face. All of a sudden, his mind took him back to the day Charlotte had asked him if Katherine was a nymph. It was the first time he'd looked at her, really looked at her. Obviously, her eyes, which were now closed, were the most breath-taking about her appearance, but the small dimple's that were only visible when she laughed came in a close second. He thought back on the night he'd taken her outside of camp, when he'd kissed her. She wasn't a nymph, she looked like a goddess. When she was up and running, at least. Now, he thought, she looked like a dying angel.
"Why do you care so much about her?" Clarke asked, snapping him out of his trance.
He looked up, which he dared now that the convulsing was finally coming to an end. Clarke's eyes looked at him questionably, like she'd finally gotten to a puzzle she couldn't solve. He shrugged, trying his best to look indifferent. When the seizing had stopped completely, he stretched her left arm, crossing the right to lay her hand on her shoulder. He then pulled up her right leg, before slowly turning her on her side. He wiped away the last of the foam and positioned her head so that her airway was open. When she was younger, Octavia'd had a seizure of two and ever since he'd never forgotten what to do.
"Why did you call for me when you know what to do?" Clarke asked, once again breaking the silence.
"In case... I don't know, she died or something," Bellamy replied frustrated. He wiped his forehead, though he wasn't sure why, before looking at Clarke again. He wasn't stupid, he knew what he felt for Katherine, but he didn't like it in the slightest. He'd read his fair share of books as well and he knew, from the ancients myths to modern history, love was a weakness.
"Alright," Clarke replied, nodding. She checked Katherine's pulse again, which had slowed considerably. "I will ask Finn to carry her to the Dropship, there she can rest."
Rolling his eyes, Bellamy carefully put his arms underneath her shoulders and knees, lifting her close to his chest. The girl in his arms let out a soft sigh and he noticed the way her eyes were moving frantically beneath her eyelids. Clarke let out a loud sigh as well, but didn't say anything as she scrambled to her feet. He followed Clarke to the Dropship, where he lied Katherine in one of the hammocks in a quiet corner. As he found a clean cloth and wetted it, he noticed Clarke, Finn, Murphy and his sister observing him, the rest of the people present too far gone in their own illness. He raised his eyebrows, putting on an expression that told them he couldn't care less, before walking to Katherine to hopefully cool her down a little with the cloth.