Bellamy POV
The flares from the night had finally burned out and Bellamy had hoped that the Ark had seen them. The idea that he would be the cause of three hundred people's death sent a cold feeling into his stomach. At the moment he wasn't concerned about that. No one had reported to him that Octavia and Andromeda had returned from the forest. He had waited another hour before he started to panic. Andromeda wouldn't let anything happen to Octavia, he was sure of it. With a torch in his hand he had set out to search the camp for them.
He ripped open their tent and found it empty.
"Octavia," he called out. No response. "Andromeda." Still no response.
After searching almost every tent in the camp, he came to Clarke's. When he looked inside, he saw her awake fidgeting with her hands.
"You're up?" he asked her somewhat frantically. No reason to ask other than to check if she'd seen the girls.
"Yea," she exited the tent, "Knowing that hundreds of people might be dying on the Ark makes it pretty hard to sleep."
"Raven's flares will work," he said firmly. He had to believe that they did.
"A radio would've worked better."
He ignored that statement but the cold feeling had returned in his gut.
"Have you seen Octavia or Andromeda," he asked her.
"No," she shook her head, "It's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies."
"Andromeda wouldn't," he said sharply. "Clarke, I've checked the camp. They're not here. Andromeda was with Octavia and you and I both know that she wouldn't just let her run off and not come back. They're missing."
Clarke considered what he said before agreeing, "Okay, I'll help you find them. Let's check again. You go to the drop ship, I'll check the rest of the tents."
"Thank you," he said with relief. They would be found soon, he knew it. The very idea of them in trouble made him sick.
"Don't thank me, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for them. Besides I couldn't let anything happen to Andromeda."
He made it about two steps in the direction of the drop ship before Clarke's voice stopped him, "What's going on with Andromeda?" He set his jaw and just glared at the blonde. "Gotta ask. We were, are, friends."
He turned around again but threw her a "Who knows?" before he was out of earshot.
Andromeda POV
Andromeda woke up due to a pounding in the back of her head. She would have to stop getting knocked out or risk serious brain damage. She realized that she was lying on the ground and when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a cave ceiling. She struggled to sit up. Her side screamed in pain causing her to wince and groan as she moved.
"I'm so happy you're awake," she heard from her right.
Octavia was leaning on her elbows with her right leg at an awkward angle.
"I'm not," Andromeda groaned sourly.
"I wasn't sure you would sometimes."
Andromeda managed to sit up a little bit but quickly slumped back down to the dirt from pain erupting in her side .
"What happened?," she asked from the floor.
Octavia hesitated, "A Grounder has us."
Andromeda froze. A Grounder? She felt as if she could see the end drawing near. She wouldn't see any of her friends again. She stopped panicking to think rationally. If the Grounder wanted them dead, why where they here breathing and talking? Andromeda looked around. Everything was sideways but she could still make out plenty of books but along with those books were various animal skulls.
Andromeda heard a thud and looked to the entrance of the cave. A shadow emerged and rounding the corner came a Grounder. His skin was dark, war painted, and tattooed. He was covered in various furs and armor. He stalked towards her with a hot iron in his hand. So, she was to be tortured to death. Andromeda tried to scurry back to a corner of the cave but cried out when she tried to move. He vision was darkening again from the blood loss and her head was feeling woozy.
"Andromeda, don't," Octavia tried but Andromeda didn't listen.
The grounder grabbed one of Andromeda's legs and pulled her to him. He pulled up her shirt to the bottom of her chest to expose her wound. Andromeda screamed and cried but the pain was getting worse. The Grounder lifted up the iron and jabbed it into her side. She bellowed in pain and blacked out once more.
Bellamy POV
"Everyone gather round and grab a weapon," Bellamy ordered the camp. They did as he ordered. After checking the camp for what seemed the hundredth time he called a search party.
"My sister's been missing for twelve hours," he began. He couldn't bring himself to mention Andromeda's name. "Arm up! I'm not coming back without her." Without either of them.
He turned to Clarke who stood by him, "Since Andromeda's not here, we need a tracker." She nodded in response. "Finn, get out here."
Bellamy paced for a few steps before he started playing with his knife. He was anxious to leave and to find them. He needed to apologize to Octavia and he had to just find Andromeda. His musings were interrupted by the cry of the others. He looked up to the sky to see hundreds of lights fire off into the sky and rain down in a steady shower.
"They didn't work. They didn't see the flares," Raven spoke softly.
"A meteor shower tells you that," Bellamy mocked.
"It's not a meteor shower, it's a funeral," Clarke explained, "Hundreds of bodies being returned to the Earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side. They didn't get our message."
A wave of guilt and regret washed over Bellamy. Suddenly, Raven charged him but Bellamy was ready. He was hurt and he was angry so he welcomed the fight.
"This is all because of you," Raven screamed.
"I helped you find the radio," he challenged.
"Yea, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it."
Clarke intervened before he could retort, "Yea, he knows. Now he has to live with it."
He would be angry and grieve later, "Look all I know is that they're out there and I'm going to find them. You coming or what?"
"Them?" Finn questioned.
He ignored him and stormed off into the night with his search party at his back.
Andromeda POV
When Andromeda came too again, she jolted upright ready to fight for her life. She was half surprised she was alive.
"Calm down, he's not here," Octavia whispered soothingly in the dark.
Andromeda sank down into the dirt, her side still painful.
"Why am I alive?"
Octavia sighed, "He cauterized our wounds. He stitched your side up and patched my leg. I don't know why."
"Maybe he wants to torture us for information," Andromeda reckoned.
"Probably," she tried to stand up, "We need to leave. I've been waiting for you to get up."
"How are we going to get out of here?"
Octavia didn't answer but shakily got to her feet. Andromeda tried to shuffle up again but it was no use. She wasn't strong enough to get up yet.
"Octavia, listen to me," Andromeda commanded.
Octavia turned around to look at her friend.
"Go. I can't let you die because of me. I can't walk, now go!" Andromeda croaked.
"No..."
"Dammit, just go!" Andromeda cried, "And tell your brother 'I'm sorry'."
Octavia tried to walk toward her, "You can tell him yourself."
"O, one of us is going to die or both of us. Your brother couldn't bear to lose you. No one will miss me. Now go before he comes back."
Octavia paused for a moment and nodded before turning around and limping off to the mouth of the cave. Andromeda sunk further into the ground and tried to once again, come to terms with death.
Bellamy POV
"Look, over here!" a kid shouted. Bellamy sprinted toward the sound of the voice hoping that he had found them alive. The idea that they could be dead was something he refused to think about. Even if they were, he would return with their bodies for a proper burial. When he broke through the trees he saw several people gathered around the top of a hill.
"Isn't that Octavia's," a kid with a lantern and it's light was reflected off of a dark red substance on bush branches.
They're hurt. They were attacked. Bellamy felt both angry and scared. With a rope, Bellamy made his way down the hill. He inspected the branch with the blood. He found more blood on rocks when he made it to the bottom of the hill. There was not too much to alarm him for his sister's health however. The light from the flashlight caught something else. A few feet away was a discarded jacket and this one was soaked in blood. Bellamy picked it up cautiously and felt his heart sink to his feet. It was Andromeda's jacket covered in her blood.
"Someone else was here," he announced to Finn and Jasper who came up beside him. Next to her jacket, was a large footprint too big to be either of theirs.
Finn examined them, "The prints are deeper going that way. Look there's drag marks."
Finn moved a little further on and turned back to Bellamy, "My guess: he carried Octavia, and dragged Andromeda." Bellamy figured Clarke had told him she was missing too. Bellamy raced forward to see the prints.
"If he took them, then they're alive. Like when they took me," Jasper reasoned. Bellamy set off again with the faintest of hopes that they were alive.
The search party had made its way farther in the forest than they had ever gone before. Hours had dragged on and the tracks did not waiver. They emerged from a thick clump of trees and were met with a grisly sight of old skeletons strung up in the trees. Bellamy felt somewhat sick to his stomach and hoping that this wouldn't happen to Octavia and Andromeda.
"I don't speak Grounder but I'm pretty sure this means keep out," Finn joked.
The search party started breaking off at the sight, many of them returning to the camp.
"Go back if you want," he called to the others, "My sister, my responsibility," he muttered to himself before walking into hell.