The newfound planet seemed to grow increasingly more beautiful and beautiful the further we ventured into it.
Each step through the forest caused me to look around in awe, instantly feeling my endorphins rise from the sights.
Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't seen a flourishing planet as such in over six years. Maybe it was just the prospect of a new beginning. But either way, I felt blissful.
That didn't mean that we weren't on edge. The group of us held onto our weapons as we made our way through the forest, turning at any variation of noise. We couldn't let ourselves become blindsided.
After about an hour of walking, the sky had begun to dim around us, signalling that it was time to take a break. According to Shaw's tracker, we should have been nearing a water source within minutes.
Luckily, his tracker was right. Moments later, we emerged from the forest onto a large beach.
"Looks like we found the water source." Bellamy pointed out the obvious, all of us falling silent as we took in the scenery.
The sight before us was spectacular, better than anything we could have seen buried within the forest.
A large lake reached for miles. The base of the lake met with luscious mountains of green, others capped with white.
But that wasn't even the best part. What really took my breath away was the view in the sky. There was visible a faint planet in the skyline, the large red suns of Planet Alpha visible as well.
"Amazing." I whispered in awe, my eyes roaming the scene in front of us. This was even better than Earth...much better.
"Now this is a view." Bellamy awed, a smile spread across his face as we stepped onto the sand.
I grinned, feeling the soft sand beneath my boots as we neared the edge of the lake.
"We camp here." He added, his eyes still roaming around in glory.
No one argued, all of us too busy looking around. I squinted against the sun-suns, bringing my hand up to shield my eyes.
"It looks like the suns are eclipsing." Clarke announced, she too squinting under the bright light.
A breathy laugh escaped my lips, maybe we had showed up at the perfect time. All of this almost seemed too good to be true.
I turned my head in confusion as someone went walking past me, I quickly noted that it was Murphy...of course it was Murphy.
He was silent as he pulled off the sling that had been supporting his gunshot wounded arm, and took the strap of his gun off over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" I wondered, watching as he made for the body of water in front of us.
"Murphy," Jackson called. "Murphy, wait! We haven't tested it."
"Yeah." Murphy replied absentmindedly, pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side.
Jackson looked like he was about to have a stroke. "Your wounds haven't healed yet!"
Murphy, in true Murphy fashion, ignored all of the warnings. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Watch out for sea monsters!" I yelled after him. Clarke, being the only one who understood my reference, turned to me with the smallest of smiles playing on her lips.
Jackson, who had no idea what I was talking about and clearly expected me to be on his side, looked to me with an incredulous expression. I gave him a small shrug as Murphy dove into the water.
We all watched on, curious looks playing on our faces as we waited for Murphy's head to pop back up.
We waited...waited a few more seconds...waited some more.
My heart now dropped slightly as I took a small step forward. Where the hell was he?
"John?" Emori yelled, the panic leaking through her voice.
"John!" I echoed, now standing at the very edge of the water, my worry increasing.
"Something's wrong." Clarke declared, her eyes scanning the surface of the water.
I turned to Bellamy, my worried eyes meeting his own as he began peeling off his gear, preparing to jump in after Murphy.
Suddenly, Murphy's head popped up, an excited cheer coming from his lips as he pushed his hair back. "Come on in. Water's fine!"
"You idiot!" I chastised, placing a hand over my rapidly beating heart.
Emori wore a frustrated smile. "Oh, who knew cockroaches could swim."
Murphy waded his way toward her. "You want me to teach you?"
"No. John, no." Emori demanded, her eyes widening as she tried to back away from him.
He managed to grab onto her before she could get away, and her protests were soon drowned out as he dragged her into the water.
A smile spread across my face as Jackson opened his mouth to speak, but soon realized his efforts were no good.
"You think that's funny?" Bellamy taunted as he arrived next to me.
My eyes widened as I tried to take a step away. "Bellamy, no." I ordered, sticking my hands out in front of me to stop him. "Don't you dare."
A mischievous look covered his face as he wrapped his arms around me, laughter shaking his body as he pulled us into the water.
"Bellamy!" I screamed, trying to wriggle free from his grasp. It was no use, and soon enough the two of us were soaked from head to toe.
Emori let out a loud laugh as she waded over to me. "Who's laughing now, Aves?"
I tried to fight the smile that came to my face as I shoved Bellamy away from me. "You suck."
Grinning, he ran his hand across the surface, sending a splash of water toward me.
"Oh," I whispered, narrowing my eyes at him. "It's on."
---
By the time night had fallen, we had reluctantly pulled ourselves out of the lake, and had begun the dry-off period.
Camp had been set up, and a fire started.
It was almost peaceful as the group of us sat around the flames, save for Shaw's incessant radio calls.
I couldn't blame him. We needed to reach Raven and Jordan to let them know we were okay, but so far it appeared that the signal was still jammed some how.
My eyes found focus on Jackson and Miller who were set off slightly from the group, seemingly in an emotional conversation. I was happy that they found each other in that bunker, because by the sounds of it, there wasn't much happiness down there.
I sat between Bellamy's legs, my back pressed to his chest as he absentmindedly played with the ends of my hair. "I know bringing Miller was hard for you." I finally mumbled, turning to glance up at Bellamy. "But it was the right thing to do."
From what I had gathered, Miller had been almost as much at fault as Octavia had been for all the horrors committed. No less, he had been the one to physically throw Bellamy into the fighting pits under Octavia's command.
But unlike Octavia, Miller actually seemed to regret what he had done. I knew the Red Queen would come around, but that had yet to happen.
"Was it?" he wondered, letting out a quick sigh.
I nodded, shifting my body so I was facing him. "Octavia is alive in part because of Miller. You'll be grateful for that one day."
Bellamy pursed his lips as he shook his head. "But not today." he whispered.
A sad smile came to my face as I nodded, taking his hand into my own. I knew that everything happening with Octavia was taking a toll on him. "You need to forgive her eventually. Not today, not tomorrow, but eventually."
He shook his head slightly as his voice cracked. "I can't."
I didn't say anything else, knowing that it was not my place to push him any further. Instead, I turned and reassumed my position, leaning my head back on his chest.
"One more time, Eligius IV, this is Expedition One." Came Shaw's voice, continuing to attempt at making contact with the mothership. "Raven, do you read?"
Like the last ten times he had called, it was radio silence. I watched him with sad eyes as he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Raven'll get the radio fixed." Clarke announced, causing all of our eyes to dart toward her.
The minute Shaw looked up at her, an uncomfortable tension settled across the group. What Clarke did to him and Raven would not be so easily forgotten.
Clarke seemed to note the anger emitting from our pilot as she let out an almost heartbroken sigh. "I'm sorry I turned you in, Shaw."
Shaw wore an angry look as he glanced in her direction, refusing to make full eye contact. "You really want to do this now?"
"Maybe you two should talk in private." Murphy suggested, clearly not wanting a damper on the mood.
"No." Clarke maintained. "I want you all to hear this."
"Great."
She wore a distressed look as her eyes moved across the group of us. "If I could, I'd go back and do things differently, but I can't. None of us can." Tears had now brimmed her eyes. "For some reason, Monty thought we deserved a second chance."
"Not for nothing, but this is, like, your fifth chance." Murphy pointed out, causing me to raise my brows in slight agreement.
"Yours too, Murphy." Clarke bit back, causing me to raise my brows again. Touché, Clarke, Touché.
Murphy wore a small smirk as he nodded. "Very good." he muttered, untangling himself from Emori. "I got watch."
"You're right." Shaw agreed with Clarke. "Your friend Monty gave you a second chance, but now what? Salvation comes from faith and good works, what you do, not what you say. You haven't done anything yet."
Silence fell over our group again, but this silence was different from earlier...it was too quiet.
"Listen," Bellamy announced, coming to the same realization as I did. "You hear that?"
Everyone glanced around, confusion written on our faces. "No more bugs." I muttered, feeling the smallest sense of uneasiness washing over me.
"You guys gotta see this!" Jackson called from where he and Miller were stationed.
We all rushed to our feet, quickly making our way over to the two of them in hopes of receiving some sort of explanation
"Five minutes ago," Jackson explained, holding out the small jar that contained one of the bugs he had caught. "This thing ate a leaf out of my hand. Now it wants to eat me."
My face contorted in slight disgust as I watched the bug squirm around in the jar, driving itself into the glass over and over again in hopes of escape.
"Not only that, its entire physiology has changed from--"
Jackson was cut off as Murphy swatted at the back of his own neck, killing a bug that had tried to bite him.
As if they were somehow connected to each other, the bug in the jar began to go haywire the minute Murphy killed the other bug.
"Oh, look at that." Murphy mused. "Your pet's pissed I killed its brother."
I leaned in closer, watching the bug with a distressed look. "How did it know?" I whispered in confusion.
Jackson looked over to me, giving me a dumbfounded look. "I-I don't know."
"What the hell is that?" Emori demanded, her eyes casting up to the sky.
Pausing, we all listened for whatever she was referring to. It wasn't hard to pinpoint the irregularity.
A loud buzzing noise was emerging from within the trees, rapidly making its way into the sky and toward us.
"Swarm!"
"It's coming from the direction of the ship." Echo announced urgently. "We'll never make it back."
"Everyone cover up!" Bellamy ordered. "We're heading to the beacon now!"
We all scrambled, grabbing our stuff of the ground as we pulled bandannas and anything else we could find over our heads and faces.
"What if there's nothing there?" Emori demanded as she pulled her jacket on in a hurry.
"Then we're bug food." Murphy shot back.
"All right, everyone move!" Bellamy screamed over the increasingly loud noise of the swarm. "Move!"
I secured my bag over my shoulders, my gun and bow dangling off my body as well.
Hurriedly, the group of us took off into the forest as the bugs swarmed after us, attacking us from all angles.
I could barley see as my feet sped through the uneven ground, doing my best not to fall as the group of us rushed on.
The bugs began to dive at us, doing exactly what that bug in Jackson's jar had wanted to do.
Pain shot through the exposed parts of my body as the bugs latched on, each attack stinging more than the last.
"They're everywhere!" I screamed, blindly charging on in any attempt to get away from those things.
Someone grabbed onto me, yanking me forward as we kept going. By what I could see from the small part of their face that was visible, I think it was Shaw.
"EMORI!" Murphy suddenly screamed, breaking off from the rest of the group.
I spun in horror, watching as he doubled back to where Emori had apparently been left behind.
"Left side of my bag!" Miller ordered to Shaw. "There's a flare, grab it!"
Shaw did as he said, his shaky hands reaching in and pulling out the flare stick.
I cursed, swatting away the bugs as we all stood still for a moment, awaiting Murphy and Emori.
Suddenly, light filled the air as Shaw lit the flare stick, causing the flame to illuminate the dark forest. Immediately, the bugs shied away from the fire of the flare.
"It worked!" Bellamy yelled. "The flares, light them all!"
Shaw grabbed a handful from Miller's bag, tossing one to me and one to Bellamy.
Once the sky had been better lit, we were able to locate Emori and Murphy, quickly bringing them back into the safety of our group.
"Stay together!" I shouted over the chaos. "Flares at the three corners!"
Shaw, Bellamy and I split up, Shaw in the lead as Bellamy and I took up the two back corners.
I held the flare as far above my head as I could, my heart pounding against my ribcage as we continued on toward the beacon.
The fear that we were never going to find this beacon filled my chest, and I had to repeatedly tell myself to push those thoughts out of my head.
By the grace of whatever was watching over us, red lights that seemingly marked a series of towers came into view.
"Here!" Shaw screamed, rushing forward. "It's here!"
The minute the words has left his mouth, pure disaster struck. As he rushed forward, it appeared that he had run directly into some sort of forcefield.
An agonizing scream flew from his lips as his body convulsed, stuck in whatever the shield was made of.
"NO!" I screamed, my heart lurching in my chest as Shaw continued to scream out in pain. I almost dropped the flare in my hands, my attention no longer on the swarm of bugs, but rather on the fact that Shaw was dying right in front of us.
"Shaw, get out of there!" Bellamy yelled, horror in his voice.
"It's killing him!" I exclaimed, my voice tearing through my throat as my chest constricted in on itself. "Get him out!"
Clarke's eyes darted to the tower closest to us, and she shook her head slightly. "It's radiation. It won't effect me." she announced, not waiting for a response before rushing toward Shaw.
"Clarke, no!" Bellamy demanded. "Get back!"
She ignored him, rushing into the shield and grabbing a hold of a withering Shaw. Clarke remained unharmed as she dragged Shaw out of the direct current of radiation and to safety.
My heart plummeted as Shaw struggled to breath, his body squirming around in pain as Clarke knelt over him.
"I've got three more flares!" Miller yelled, and only then did I notice that my flare had burnt out.
"Clarke, we're running out of time!" Bellamy shouted, grabbing onto another one of the flares.
I stood frozen in place, my face written in horror as my eyes remained locked on Shaw.
Pulling away from Shaw, Clarke rushed to the tower and popped open the control panel, quickly typing a code in.
Just as the bugs began to aggressively move in on us, the lights that were once red turned to blue.
"It's down!" Clarke screamed. "Run now!"
My body still felt dumb as Bellamy grabbed onto me, all but carrying me into the safety of the shield.
"We're in!" he announced to Clarke. "Put it back up!"
She did as he said, quickly typing the code back in, which resulted in the forcefield rearming.
It was now that we all got a good look at Shaw. He laid on the ground in front of us, his whole body covered in aggressive red blisters.
A quiet sob tumbled from my lips as I knelt next to him, tears filling my eyes as I assessed the damage.
Jackson did the same, instantly reaching into his back to pull out a syringe of morphine-something to numb the pain at least.
Shaw's breaths were coming out choked and labour...he was dying and that much was obvious.
"Hold on, Shaw." I pleaded, my heart breaking as I watched him struggle. "Just hold on."
He let out a few more gasps, looking up to Clarke who had rejoined the group of us. "Earn this." he choked out, each word followed by a sharp intake of air.
"No." he ordered, looking to Jackson who was about to inject the morphine. "No. Don't waste it."
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I gently took a hold of his hand, letting him know he wasn't alone.
His eyes flickered to me, and he gave me a small nod. "Tell Raven she deserves happiness." he ordered, giving me a pleading look. "She doesn't think she does but...she does."
I nodded, biting down on my lip to prevent myself from letting out another small cry.
Shaw and I hadn't know each other long, but we had been through enough together to deem us as friends. Even more than that, he was the first person to show Raven that she deserves more than she had expected for herself. He was the first person to make her happy since my brother back on the Ark.
A moment later, Shaw quietly passed away. His breathing ceased as his eyes slowly rolled into the back of his head.
I pulled my hand from his grasp, aggressively shoving myself onto my feet as I took a couple of steps away from the group
I shoved the back of my hand against my mouth as warm tears trickled down my face.
Silently, Bellamy appeared next to me, quickly pulling me into a tight hug. Burying my head into his chest, my body began to rack with sobs. "I promised her." I cried, my voice muffled by Bellamy's jacket. "I promise Raven I would look out for him."
"This isn't your fault, Ave." Bellamy assured, running a soothing hand over my hair.
I shook my head, gripping onto him. "I promised." I whispered quietly, more to myself than anything. "I promised."
What happened to Shaw was a complete accident, one that none of us really could have prevented. But I felt absolutely broken knowing how Raven would react.
She had just found happiness, and now Shaw was taken away from her for a moment of careless urgency.
He deserved better than this. We were alive because of him, he had saved our asses more than once...and now he was dead.
-an-
SHAW DESERVED BETTER! RAVEN DESERVED BETTER!
i am so mad at what they did to shaw, I loved him and I loved he and raven together!! i wanted to keep him alive, but an integral part of this story is loss (as we all know) so i had to do it :(((
anyway, hope you enjoyed (even if it was sad)
love you all!
-maddy xoxo