Third Person's POV
Julia coughed up blood onto her hands and that's when Murphy got sick too. He turned away as if to puke, but what came out was just blood.
Clarke came into the drop ship, blood smeared on her cheeks too. Derek and Conner followed her. She stopped and crouched down in front of Julia and Murphy.
"Murphy, hey, look at me. I need you to tell me exactly how you escaped from the grounders. What happened?" Clarke asked, glancing over at Julia before looking back at Murphy.
"I don't know. I woke up, and they forgot to lock my cage. There was no one there, so I took off." Murphy answered and Clarke realized something. "They let you go."
That's when Bellamy walked into the drop ship. "Bellamy, stay back." Clarke ordered and Bellamy looked at his sister, noticing the blood on her face and hands in horror.
"Did he do something to you?" Bellamy questioned her and Julia shook her head. It wasn't Murphy's fault, whatever was happening.
"What the hell is this?" Bellamy demanded and Clarke looked back at him. "Biological warfare. You were waiting for the grounders to retaliate for the bridge? This is it. Murphy is the weapon."
Clarke helped Murphy sit up against the wall and started inspecting his injuries again as Bellamy paces across the room.
"Is this your revenge, helping the grounders kill us?" Bellamy accused Murphy. "I didn't know about this, okay, I swear. I wouldn't put Julia's life in danger like this if I'd known." Murphy answered, glancing over at the sick girl next to him.
"Stop lying. When are they coming?" Bellamy questioned him. Clarke turned to Murphy with a kinder voice. "Murphy, think, all right? What can you tell us that's useful? Did you hear anything?"
"They are vicious, cruel." Murphy answered, shaking his head slightly. Bellamy came a little closer. "You want to see vicious?" He said, threateningly.
"Bell, stop. Please." Julia spoke up, her voice sounding weaker than normal. Bellamy looked at his younger sister's pleading eyes and backed off.
"Julia's right. Whatever this thing is, it spreads through contact." Clarke informed him. That made sense to Julia. She got sick because she was the first one to go to him when they found him, she imagined Conner and Derek were sick because they were the other two that helped him inside, and Clarke had touched him when she checked out his injuries.
"Clarke?" Finn ran into the drop ship, worried. "Finn, you shouldn't be in here. No one should." Clarke told him.
"I heard you were sick. Clarke, what is this?" Finn questioned. "I don't know. Some kind of hemorrhagic fever. We just need to contain it before–" Clarke was cut off by Derek's retching across the room.
Clarke stood up and started to go over to him, but Finn went to help. "Hey, don't touch me." Clarke pulled back from Finn. "You could get sick. Wash your hands now."
Derek continued throwing up, but it was blood and it sounded like he was choking on it.
"What's the hell is happening to him?" Finn asked Clarke as Murphy and Julia watched in horror. "I don't know." Clarke answered and suddenly Derek's coughing stopped as he collapsed in the pool of his blood.
"Is he...?" Bellamy trailed off as Clarke checked Derek's pulse. "He's dead." Clarke announced.
"Oh, God. Is that what's gonna happen to us?" Julia questioned, scared for her life, but also for Murphy's and Clarke's. Bellamy turned to her. "I'm not going to let anything bad to you, Julia. I promise."
His words made Julia start to cry. It was the words he and Octavia had said to her the day she was born.
Clarke turned to Finn. "Here. Alcohol. Hold out your hand." Clarke poured the alcohol onto his hands.
"What do we do?" Finn asked her and Clarke was quick to come up with an answer. "Quarantine. Round up everyone who had contact with Murphy. Bring them here." Clarke told him and Finn started to leave.
"And everyone they had contact with?" Bellamy questioned. "Well, we have to start somewhere." Clarke said before turning to Conner.
"Conner, who was with you when you found him? Who carried him in? Think." Clarke asked the boy. "The first ones there were Julia and Octavia." Conner answered.
Bellamy turned to Julia. "I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you safe, Jules. But I have to go and check on Octavia." He told her and she nodded. "Go."
So Bellamy rushed out of the room towards his other younger sister. Julia leaned towards Murphy to rest her head against him, but Murphy pulled back so she wouldn't touch him. Julia looked at him, both a little hurt and confused.
"I don't want you to get more sick than you already are." Murphy told her, but she refused his explanation.
"I've already touched you more than enough to get me as sick as I'm gonna get. I don't think it can possibly get worse by touching you more. Besides, if I'm going to die, I'm not going to do it by sitting here alone." Julia said and Murphy shook his head. "You're not going to die, Jules, you can't. Not because of me." Murphy looked haunted by the fact that he might've been the cause of Julia's future death.
"Hey..." Julia grabbed his hand, purposely coming in contact with him. "This wasn't your fault, Murphy. You didn't know, don't blame yourself. If I die, I die happily. I mean, I got to come down to Earth. This magical place. I got to see my siblings again. I got to see you outside of the confines of the skybox. I had my first kiss. If I die, I'm just glad it's not on my eighteenth birthday on the Ark."
Murphy didn't respond, just wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her into him. If she was still willing to be in contact with him and refused to stay away for safety, then he wasn't going to hold back from her.
~~~
Bellamy soon came back to the drop ship with Octavia. His first priority was to check on his youngest sister. What he saw infuriated him. He stormed over to Julia and Murphy, yet still keeping his distance.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Bellamy demanded, looking between the two. Julia lifted her head to look at her brother weakly, not understanding.
"What happened to not wanting to put Julia's life in danger?" Bellamy questioned, referring to the fact that they were sitting right next to each other with Murphy's arm around her shoulders and Julia had been resting her head on him. They were still in contact and they shouldn't have been now that they knew how the disease spreads.
Octavia walked up behind her brother, looking at her little sister with fearful wide eyes. Julia had dried blood on her cheeks, by her mouth, and on her hands. Her eyes looked red and she looked very weak and tired.
"I tried to convince her to stay away, Bellamy, but your sister is very stubborn." Murphy said, but it didn't help ease Bellamy's anger any.
Bellamy just narrowed his eyes at Murphy. "You obviously didn't try hard enough." He responded.
"Stop." Octavia said and Bellamy looked over at her. She could see how weak her sister was and she knew that fighting wasn't helping her. She also knew how her sister felt about Murphy and if it was Lincoln instead of Murphy, Octavia would be right there where Julia was.
"Yelling and fighting isn't going to help her get better." Octavia spoke and Julia gave her a weak but thankful glance.
Bellamy looked at Julia for a few moments before sighing and taking Octavia over to Clarke.
Clarke examined her, holding a cloth to her mouth to try and keep them safe. More sick people came into the drop ship during the examination.
"Okay. We're done. No visible signs of swelling or bleeding." Clarke told them. "So you're saying she doesn't have it?" Bellamy asked her.
"I'm saying she doesn't have symptoms, but that could change. We need to keep her here just in case." Clarke said. "No way. Look at this place. She'll get sick just being here. I already have one sick sister, I can't have another." Bellamy said and both he and Octavia glanced over at Julia.
"Do you want to stop the spread or not? Look, I'll keep her on the third level with the people who aren't symptomatic yet. Think of it as a way to stop her from sneaking out again." Clarke convinced Bellamy. "Screw you, Clarke." Octavia responded.
"I'll let you know if either her or Julia's condition changes." Clarke said and Bellamy glanced between Octavia and Julia before leaving the drop ship.
Octavia started to go to the ladder, but Clarke stopped her. "Octavia, wait. I need you to sneak out again."
Clarke was about to explain when suddenly Julia leaned forward and started puking blood. Clarke rushed over to her with Octavia close behind, yet still keeping her distance.
Julia finished puking and then collapsed against Clarke. She felt so tired and weak. She tried to fight the darkness, but she was unable to as she went limp.
"Oh, my God. Clarke." Octavia said, terrified that her sister had just died. Murphy was terrified too. Clarke checked her pulse and let out a sigh of relief. "She's alive, just passed out." She informed them.
Clarke shifted so Julia was passed out on Murphy instead of on her as she turned to Octavia. "Whatever you need me to do, I'm willing to do anything to save Julia." Octavia told her.
"I need you to go to Lincoln. If there's a cure, he has it." Clarke told her and she nodded before quickly leaving the drop ship and leaving camp.
Murphy looked down at the girl in his lap and he knew that if she died, the grounders were going to die. He was going to kill them. All of them.