"guy knows how to make an exit"
"Hey, where're you going?" Raven asked Jasper as he began to walk away.
"More gunpowder," Jasper muttered before heading toward the drop ship where I had put the extra gunpowder. I could tell he was in a shitty mood, and to be honest, so am I. We're pissed at each other and we're pissed at Bellamy for not letting us go after Monty, Clarke and Finn. Jasper made a point to shove past me as I was kneeled down, tying some wires. His shin bumped into my shoulder, knocking me on my ass. He turned around to make sure he made his point and I stuck my tongue out at him, which he returned.
I rolled my eyes as I watched him enter the drop ship before turning back to focusing on this land mine.
Bellamy was parading around camp, being a huge dick to make up for what he lacks, ordering people around, yelling at kids five years younger than him – the usual.
"'Tell Bellamy' what?" Bellamy said into his walkie-talkie as he passed me, stopping in his tracks right beside me as I finished the mine and covered it with a cloth like we did with all the others to let kids know where they were.
"Murphy's got a gun — he killed Myles-" Jasper's panicked voice over the radio was cut off with a grunt of pain. I stood up and looked to Bellamy beside me. Murphy has a gun in the drop ship and he just killed a kid. And to top it all off, my brother is in there with him.
"What the fuck did I just hear?" I asked Bellamy in reference to what Jasper had just said. Before Bellamy could answer, the whir of the drop ship door invaded our ears. Bellamy and I looked at each other, immediately knowing what was happening and sprinted to the drop ship.
"Murphy!" Bellamy shouted at the top of his lungs as the drop ship door rose up, closing. "Murphy! Open the damn door!"
"You try to be a hero, Jasper dies!" Murphy shouted back.
So now there's a revenge-hungry murderer inside the drop ship holding my brother hostage — also with an army of Grounders outside the walls who could attack any minute. Fan-fucking-tastic.
"John Murphy I swear to God, if you so much as lay a hand on Jasper, I-" I shouted, but Bellamy grabbed my arm as he cut me off.
"Hey, don't make this a scene. We need people to be working," He hissed in my ear.
"Oh, my bad. I'm so, so sorry King Bellamy," I started, words laced in sarcasm and venom. "I'm sorry that my brother being held hostage in there by a murderer is disrupting your war plans! I'll make as much of a scene as I damn well please. At least I'm doing something about it," In
"You don't think I wanna do something about it? You heard what he said – we try to do something, he's gonna kill Jasper," I shoved his hand off my bicep. Sure, he had a point, but standing around doing nothing isn't gonna help either.
***
About an hour had passed, and by now, the sun had come up. Most people were too distracted by what was going on with Murphy to do any work. I was still pacing outside the drop ship, worried for my brother, any thoughts of the fight we were in completely out of my mind and replaced with sheer worry and fear.
Raven had only just finished up the mines, and Bellamy had the idea to get her to see if we can get access to the door through the floor.
"I just heard Murphy has Jasper," Octavia came rushing out of one of the newly-built tunnels and over to where Bellamy and I stood.
"Yeah. South foxhole done?" Bellamy replied dully.
As if this guy could sound anymore like an ignorant asshole.
"What?" Octavia scoffed breathlessly. "Bellamy, my friend's in there with a killer!"
Bellamy leaned in closer to keep the conversation between the two. "O, look around. No one's working. If the Grounders attack us right now, we're all dead."
Octavia ignored her brother and shoved past, screaming at the closed dropship door, "Murphy! Murphy, if you even touch Jasper-"
"Octavia! Octavia stop!"
"-I swear to God, you're dead!"
"Octavia, stop, I got this," Bellamy continued to argue.
Octavia's head snapped to face him. "Really? Because it doesn't look like you're doing anything about it."
"O, calm down. Raven's-"
I was cut off by Raven walking over to us. "Bellamy, you were right. There's a loose panel through on the back. If I can pop it, we can get in through the floor."
"Good. Do it," Bellamy nodded.
Octavia sighed, realising she was wrong. "Sorry."
"You should go help her," Bellamy suggested as Octavia walked off.
I scoffed. "No way in hell am I going anywhere until I know Jasper's safe."
Bellamy brought the walkie-talkie to his lips. "Murphy, I know you can hear me. All our ammo and food's in the middle level, you know that. You're leaving us vulnerable to an attack. I cant let that happen."
Murphy's staticky voice sounded through the walkie-talkie, "Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly in control right now."
"That's it. I'm sick of this," I said before taking the walkie-talkie out of Bellamy's hand. "John, it's Ophelia. Think about what you're doing here. Is this really gonna work out in your favour? You kill Jasper, and then what? What'll that change? And what happens after that? You cant hide in there forever."
Murphy didn't answer.
Bellamy took the walkie-talkie back. "Come on, Murphy. you don't wanna hurt Jasper. You wanna hurt me. So what do you say? How about you trade him for me?"
"My God, you're an idiot," I muttered. Obviously I wanted my brother safe, but who's to say we can trust Murphy to let Jasper out when Bellamy goes in?
"No," Octavia protested.
Bellamy continued anyway. "Look, all you have to do is let him go and I'll take his place."
It took a second, but Murphy replied, "How?"
"Bellamy, if you do this, he'll kill you," Octavia urged.
"If I don't, he'll kill Jasper," Bellamy replied before pressing on the walkie-talkie again. "Simple; you open the door, I walk in, he walks out.
After a moment, the dropship door opened. I immediately tried running in to save Jasper, but both Bellamy and Octavia pulled me back. "Don't," Bellamy hissed.
Our gunners cocked their rifles, aiming them at the curtain draped over the entrance. "Just you, Bellamy! Unarmed!" Murphy shouted. "Ten seconds or I put one in Jasper's leg!"
"One..."
"We're gonna find a way to get you out," Octavia promised as Murphy continued to count.
"I can handle Murphy. Get everyone back to work. Grounders are still coming," Bellamy replied. "I'm here!" He shouted, standing at the edge of the dropship door. Murphy stopped counting, and Bellamy made his way inside.
I waited anxiously for Jasper to come out through the curtain. Suddenly, his lanky body was thrown down the ramp. A red cloth was tied around his mouth and his hands were bound behind his back.
"Jasper!" I exclaimed, falling to my knees to help him. I took the gag out of his mouth and helped him sit up to untie his hands from behind his back. "Are you okay?" I frantically whispered, helping him stand. Jasper didn't say anything, and hugged me tighter than I think we've ever hugged, any thoughts of the fight we had before over our heads.
"I'm okay... I'm okay," Jasper assured breathlessly.
"Go help Raven. She found a loose panel on the back of the ship so she can get into the floor," I said once Jasper had calmed down.
"And you?" He asked.
"I'm gonna stall Murphy to give you guys more time to hot-wire the door open."
Jasper nodded, giving me one last hug and a kiss on the side of my head before going off to help Raven. I was just so relieved he was safe and okay.
I turned to the small crowd that had gathered behind me, anxiously awaiting what was to happen with Bellamy. They were all looking to me, looking to me for answers like they would Clarke or Bellamy, and all I could wonder was 'why?'
"Everyone back to work. The Grounders could be here any minute. Let's make sure we're prepared," I shouted.
Now all I had to do was stop a revenge-hungry psychopath from killing Octavia's brother.
"Murphy, you know you don't wanna do this," I said into the walkie-talkie. "Think about what you're about to do."
It took a second, but Murphy's voice rang through the small speaker of the homemade walkie-talkie. "You know, out of all people, I thought you would be the one that understands the most. They hung you, Ophelia. And you know damn well they'd do it again in a heartbeat. Why are you siding with them?"
"You don't think I want revenge, too? You don't think that after I was accused for murder and hung that I didn't want any vengeance? Of course I did. But this isn't the answer. Revenge isn't the answer. You really think killing Bellamy is gonna magically solve all your problems? I didn't think you were that stupid, Murphy."
The other line went dead after that.
After a couple minutes, a gunshot went off in the dropship, and Octavia snatched the walkie out of my hand. "Bellamy?" She said worriedly.
No answer.
I started to panic.
"Bellamy, are you okay?" Octavia urged.
Still nothing.
"Bellamy, do you copy?" She yelled into the walkie-talkie.
"I'm fine," Bellamy's voice finally transmitted. "Just a misfire. Stop worrying about me and get back to work. All of you. And tell Raven to hurry her ass up."
The walkie-talkie crackled one more time, and Octavia sighed, handing the radio back to me. I turned back to the few people who had gathered again to watch the chaos. "You heard the man. Back to work."
The crowd dispersed, with the exception of Octavia and a couple gunners who I didn't mind being there in case Murphy tried making a run for it.
I gave the walkie-talkie to Octavia before going around the drop ship to see Raven and Jasper's progress.
"How's it going down here? Got anything useful yet?" I said as I entered the underneath of the dropship.
"Trying to hotwire the door, but the wires for the door are mixed in with the ignition wires," Raven said as she fiddled with a control panel.
"If we could just find me a spot to shoot through, I can shoot him through the floor," Jasper mumbled.
"Okay, A; Murphy would hear you and kill Bellamy on the spot, and B; Murphy would hear you, kill Bellamy snd then start shooting down here at you," I replied.
"And C; huge tank of hydrazine for Murphy to shoot," Raven added, her focus not leaving the panel of wires. I turned to see what Raven was talking about; a massive fuel tank labelled HYDRAZINE.
All of a sudden, another gunshot went off inside the drop ship, startling all of us.
"Whatever you're doing, get it done faster, please," I said before exiting the bottom of the dropship.
After another minute or two, Jasper came out and stood beside me. "Raven's almost got it. The door should be opening any minute now."
More gunshots sounded from inside the ship. The loud bangs of small bullets firing and rebounding against the metal interior rang through my ears. If Bellamy wasn't dead before, he probably was now.
Suddenly, the heavy mechanical whir of the dropship door filled the air as the metal door descended into a ramp. "Raven, you did it!" Jasper shouted.
Someone handed me a rifle and I held it at the ready as we approached the dropship door as soon as it hit the floor. Bellamy's struggles were heard from inside.
As soon as we opened the curtain, I was taken aback by the sight of Bellamy dangling from a rope, with a homemade noose around his neck. My throat suddenly felt tight, like it was all happening all over again. I screwed my eyes shut and shook my head, trying to get the image out of my mind. Sounds around me were dulled to muffles with a faint ringing tone in the back of my head as I tried to shake the image and feeling of rope tightening around my neck.
I was ripped back into reality by the sound of an explosion coming from above us. I shovelled down the images in my head and followed Bellamy and Jasper up to the middle level.
The whole level was filled with smoke and reeked of gunpowder. We looked over to a huge hole that had been blown in the back wall and looked out to see none other than the world's biggest coward himself, John Murphy, running away.
"Guy knows how to make an exit."
a/n: hey everyone i'm so sorry i haven't updated this in forever, i really did miss this book and i pinky promise updated will be somewhat more frequent from now on! stay safe, love you all xx