Isaac stared down at the fingers lying on the table, sucking on his lower lip nervously as he eyes the rough cuts on the edges and the dried blood around the edges. Clarke leaned down to pick up the knife, which was found next to Wells' fingers. The weapon looked familiar to Isaac, and he frowned at it, trying to remember where he had seen it before. "This knife was made of metal from the drop ship," Clarke realized, eyes wide.
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Bellamy didn't answer the question; instead, he looked towards Octavia. "Who else knows about this?" he asked.
"No one, we brought it straight here," she told her brother, before glancing at Jasper to check and make sure he was okay.
"Clarke?" Jasper asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He was clutching on to his jacket as he stared at the blonde with wide eyes, waiting patiently and nervously for an answer.
"It means the grounders didn't kill Wells," Isaac spoke up roughly from his spot in the corner of the tent. Everyone looked towards him, though Isaac kept his gaze on the ground so they couldn't detect the fear in his eyes. "It was one of us."
Jasper breathed out heavily through his nose, shocked. "So there's a murderer in this camp?" he asked, looking to Clarke.
"There's more than one murderer in this camp," Bellamy told him, causing Isaac to glance at him oddly, wondering what that had meant, "This isn't news. We need to keep it quiet."
Clarke had been staring at the knife for the past couple seconds, but suddenly she pulled it away from her face and stomped towards the entrance of the tent with determination a raging fire in her eyes. Isaac watched in slight awe as she set her jaw and glared at Bellamy, who had stepped in front of her path. "Get out of my way, Bellamy," she snapped, the older boy raising his eyebrows at her.
"Be smart about this," he started, "Look at what we've achieved. The wall, the patrols. Like it or not, thinking the grounders killed Wells is good for us."
Isaac snorted lightly from his spot in the corner, everyone turning to look at him. He glanced over at Clarke and Bellamy, the latter glaring at him apprehensively. "No, go on," he taunted angrily. "You wanna say something, say it."
Isaac bit his lip in frustration, looking away and refusing to acknowledge the boy. Clarke spared him a glance before rounding on Bellamy. "You mean, good for you," she accused, voicing Isaac's thoughts aloud. "What, keep people afraid and they'll work for you? Is that it?"
"Yeah, that's it," Bellamy shot back. "But it's good for all of us. Fear of the grounders is building that wall. And besides, what are you gonna do? Just walk out there and ask the killer to step forward?"
"I don't need to," Clarke sneered, pointing towards the inside of the knife. "J.M. John Murphy. The people have a right to know."
Isaac's eyes widened as he watched Clarke storm out of the tent, knowing what she was about to do. "Wait, Clarke-" he blurted, hustling after her suddenly. "Clarke wait, this isn't the right way-" he scrambled after the blonde as she stormed towards Murphy, giving him a hard shove when she met him.
"You son of a bitch!" she screamed, and the boy looked down at her confused.
"Whoa, what's your problem?" he asked.
"Recognize this?" Clarke sneered, holding up his knife high, for all to see. Murphy nodded, eyebrows creased.
"Yeah, that's my knife," he said, reaching for it only for Clarke to pull it away. "Where'd you find it?"
"Where you dropped it right after you killed Wells!" Clarke snapped, and the look on Murphy's face as she said this was enough to hit Isaac in the stomach; he didn't do it.
Murphy scoffed, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard me."
Murphy shook his head at the blonde, rubbing his hand along his jaw. "The grounders killed Wells, not me," he defended himself, and Isaac could feel his insides twisting as more and more people gathered to watch the scene when every twitch the Murphy made, every reflection of light in his eyes told him that, however horrible the boy was, he was innocent.
"I know what you did," Clarke started her threat, stepping right up in Muphy's face, "And you're going to pay for it."
"Really?" Murphy asked, almost tauntingly, and Isaac groaned. The kid really wasn't helping his own case. "Bellamy," he sighed, glancing over Clarke's shoulder, "You really believe this crap?"
"You threatened to kill him, we all heard you," Clarke went on further, her eyes narrowed.
"Clarke," Isaac hissed her name under his breath, but she chose to ignore it as she continues to glare at Murphy.
"You hated Wells."
"Plenty of people hated Wells," Murphy shot back. "His father was the chancellor who locked us all up."
"Anger displacement," Isaac muttered under his breath, earning a look from Murphy.
"Shut up," he hissed angrily.
"Yeah well you're the only one who got in a knife fight with him!" Clarke went on shouting, despite Isaac tapping at her arm anxiously.
"And I didn't kill him then either, did I?" he gave back. Clarke almost went at him physically, before suddenly Isaac pushed his way in between the two teens, a hand on each of their shoulders as he gently pushed him apart, turning to Clarke.
"Clarke, I think he's innocent," he mumbled, his eyes deadly serious.
The blonde scoffed, looking at the boy in betrayal. "You think he's innocent? Murphy, really?"
Suddenly there was a hand near his side, Isaac glancing at Murphy fearfully as the boy traced his fingertips over his waist. "Listen to Curly here, Clarke," he smirked, taking a step closer to Isaac who stared at him with wide eyes. His fingers slipped under the material of his shirt, running along his waistline, making Isaac's skin crawl as he suddenly let out a breathy whimper. "He knows what he's talking abou-"
Clarke shoved the brown haired boy back furiously, her face red. "Don't you touch him!" she shouted at him, grinding her teeth as she stepped around Isaac. "WE ALL KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"
"He tried to kill Jasper, too!" Octavia blurted, earning a horrified look from the mentioned boy.
"Come on," Murphy groaned. "This is ridiculous. I don't have to answer to you, I don't have to answer to anyone!"
"Come again?" Bellamy snapped, stepping forwards with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Bellamy... look man, I'm telling you I didn't do this."
"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife, Murphy."
Clarke stepped up again, ignoring Isaac's attempts to pull her back. "Is this the kind of society we want?" she asked, addressing the crowd. "You say there should be no rules --does that mean we can kill each other without, without punishment?"
"I already told you, I didn't kill anyone," Murphy tried to defend himself.
Then a voice rose up from the crowd, chilling Isaac to the bone. "I say we float him!" A chorus of several 'yeahs' rose up and Isaac's eyes widened.
"That's not what I'm saying," Clarke began, but she was interrupted.
"Why not?" someone asked rudely. "He deserves to float, it's justice."
Isaac felt anger building up inside of him as he stepped up to the guy. "Revenge isn't justice," he countered the statement, the look in his eyes deadly serious as he clearly was trying to get the guy to back off. The boy shoved him back roughly, sticking a foot behind his heel so that he tripped and landed on his back with a thud, the air being knocked out of him. Isaac coughed as the same boy began to chant.
"It's justice! Float him! Float him!" The crowd began chanting with him, their cries loud and echoing, haunting Isaac's ears like gunshots. Murphy took off, suddenly, and whether he was trying to escape or run at the boy who was chanting, Isaac never found out as he was tripped as well, kicked to the ground. The crowd swarmed the boy like a mob of bees and began to kick and scratch at him, and as they tied a strap around his mouth, Murphy looked up at Isaac through the legs, panic evident in his eyes.
Isaac suddenly gasped as he felt a kick to his side, letting out a cough as he rolled over to see the boy who had tripped him kicking at him harshly. Isaac curled into himself, trying to scramble away through the legs of the crowd. He leaped between two bodies who weren't even paying attention to him, rolling out on the ground as he clutched his side painfully, leaning over to cough at the ground. He wheezed ever so slightly before pulling himself up, looking on with pained eyes as the crowd dragged Murphy away, tossing down a hill and letting him roll into a mud puddle, hands tied behind his back.
He watched in horror as they hoisted Murphy up by his neck, resting his feet against a black box as he tried to break free of the ropes constraining him, looking to be on the verge of hyperventilating. "No, you can't do this!" Clarke cried, and suddenly the same boy who had kicked Isaac was in front of her, holding her back.
Isaac scurried to to step in front of Bellamy, a pleading look on his face. "You can stop this," he said, pointing frantically towards Murphy. "Bellamy, they'll listen to you."
"Bellamy, you should do it!" Derek shouted, and suddenly he started another chant, this new on being Bellamy's name.
"I saw you in the woods with Atom, I know you're not a killer!" Clarke shouted, pleading with Bellamy.
"Please, don't do it!" Isaac added, eyes wide. "I swear to god, he's innocent! I can tell --Bellamy, he didn't do it."
The Blake boy gave one look at Clarke before stepping forwards, kicking the box out from under Murphy's feet. Isaac gasped at the way his body was tossed about like a rag doll, swinging from the rope in a grotesque way.
"NO!" Clarke screeched, and Bellamy suddenly rounded on her, shoving her back.
"This is on you, princess!" he shouted, accusingly. "You should have kept your mouth shut!" Isaac quickly pushed his way between the screaming pair, looking at Clarke in concern before glancing at Bellamy.
"Don't place blame, this is everyone's fault," he snapped, his emotions getting the better of him a third time as he gritted his teeth.
Suddenly Finn was there, yelling at everyone. "What the hell are you doing! Cut him down --Charlotte, get out of here! Cut him down!"
The jeers were loud and Isaac tried to push his way towards Murphy, but suddenly Derek was in front of him with a knife. "Stay out of my way!" Derek snapped, waving the knife threateningly in front of Isaac's face.
That was the last straw. "STOP IT, OKAY?" Charlotte screamed. "MURPHY DIDN'T KILL WELLS! I DID!"
Isaac stumbled away from Derek, eyes wide as he looked at Charlotte. "Oh my god," he blurted, as Clarke grabbed the ax from Bellamy's waistband and swung it at the tree, cutting the rope and sending Murphy crashing to the ground. Finn rushed to catch him, and Isaac stared at Charlotte as the people formed a ring around her, keeping their distance. Suddenly he looked at Bellamy and the two shared a look before Isaac jumped in, grabbing Charlotte by the arm and tugging her after him as he hurried back to Bellamy's tent. "Come on," he muttered, quickly getting into the tent.
It wasn't long before everyone else followed. "Why Charlotte?" Bellamy choked, sounding confused and maybe even a little bit heartbroken.
"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me to!" Charlotte whimpered, and Clarke looked at Bellamy, eyes narrowed.
"What the hell is she talking about?" Clarke snapped.
"She- she misunderstood me," Bellamy blurted, a wild look in his eyes as he turned back to Charlotte. "Charlotte, that is not what I meant."
Murphy's muffled, angry yells could be heard from outside the tent. "Bring the girl out now!" he was screaming.
"Please don't let them hurt me," Charlotte pleaded. Isaac knelt down in front of her, placing his hands on either of her shoulders. He pursed his lips as he looked at her, sincerity written all over his face, in his posture.
"Charlotte, I swear to you I won't let them anywhere near you," he promised, and the small girl nodded with tears in her eyes.
"If you have any bright ideas, speak up," Bellamy sighed, look at Finn and Clarke. When didn't get an answer, he sneered at them "Now you stay quiet."
"Those are your boys out there," Finn said, placing the blame on Bellamy.
"This is not my fault!" the older Blake snapped. "If she had listened to me those idiots would still be out there building the wall!"
Isaac groaned loudly, standing up to face the other three in the tent. "Can we stop blaming each other and think of a plan?" he snapped, losing his temper. "I don't care whose fault it is, but we can figure that out after Charlotte is safe and away from Murphy. Unless you want to argue about that too."
Bellamy nodded, a bit shocked by the outburst, but agreeing nonetheless. "Isaac is right," he said, finally. "We need a plan."
"You want to build a society, princess?" Murphy's anger filled voice echoed around the tent like a siren. "Let's build a society! Bring her out!"
"No!" Charlotte yelped at the thought of being handed over to Murphy. "Bellamy, please!"
"Charlotte, hey," Bellamy sighed, and now it was his turn to comfort the young girl. "Everything will be okay, just stay with them, okay?"
Charlotte nodded as Bellamy ducked under the tent flap and and went out. Murphy's taunting calls picked up again as he spoke loudly with Bellamy. Isaac stood next to Charlotte as he looked to Clarke and Finn. "We need to get her out of here," he told them.
Clarke scoffed. "Yeah, how about we just go out and run straight past Murphy, he'll never see us."
Neither Clarke nor Finn missed the flash of hurt in Isaac's eyes at the comment, but he pushed past it as he shook his head. "No, we can't use the front."
"Well there aren't any other exits," Finn observed.
Isaac shook his head, taking out the knife Bellamy had given him and showing it to them. "No, we're going to make one," he said. He quickly brushed past Charlotte and went to the other side of the tent, carefully poking his blade through the fabric. He began to cut, sawing away at the thin material as he heard Murphy's shouts getting angrier and angrier form outside.
After what seemed like forever, he finally had a slit big enough for them all to slip through. He went out first, cautiously in case anyone was there. When the coast was clear, he reached back in for Charlotte's hand and carefully, helped her out. The two already started off and soon enough Clarke and Finn were next to them, the group of four quickly starting to run.
Just as they were getting outside the camp walls, Murphy's shouts rose up like thunder as he bellowed after them, giving them a promise to find them.
* * * * *
"It's gonna be night soon, Finn," Clarke sighed as the trudged through the woods. "Where are we going?" She didn't get an answer. "At least tell me you have a plan and we're not just wandering aimlessly through the woods."
"I have a plan," Finn told her, sounding a bit impatient.
Suddenly, the sound of a slap sounded and Isaac turned to see Clarke swatting Charlotte's hand away from her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped. "Just because we saved you doesn't mean you're forgiven. Got it?" she hissed.
"Clarke," Isaac said softly, coming to stand next to her as he watched her gently.
"What?" the blonde snapped, glaring at Isaac.
He held back the pang in his heart as she yelled at him. "She'd just a kid," he told her softly, gesturing to Charlotte.
"She's a killer," Clarke shot back angrily, before rounding on Charlotte. "You killed someone, Charlotte. Ended his life! Did you even stop to think about that for one second?" Charlotte looked like she was on the verge of tears, and she avoided Clarke's gaze until the girl jumped at her. "Look at me!" she shouted. "You can't just kill someone to make yourself feel better!"
"Clarke!" Isaac interrupted her, his tone scolding and even the tiniest bit harsh. He hated using that voice, especially on someone he cared about, but even he had to admit Clarke had crossed a line. He pressed a hand to her shoulder, curling his fingers around it and gently moved her back a few steps. "You need to take a deep breath. We can't help anyone if we're too busy yelling at each other."
Clarke looked like she wanted to argue, but stifled a rude response, swallowing down her urge to snap again, blinking slowly at the curly haired boy and nodding. "Okay," she mumbled, before suddenly they heard Murphy's yells in the distance. "We should run," she suggested, and the long haired boy raised his eyebrows at her.
"Yeah, that's one way to go," he grumbled. "I like my plan better." He leaned down and opened up a rusty looking hatch that Isaac hadn't seen, which irked him considering how how he prided himself with his observational skills. "Come on, get in."
A/N: so sorry i forgot about how long this part was the adorable, heart melting scene will have to wait for next chapter, at the latest, chapter ten. so sorry. also i love isaac in this chapter i cry because he is my son.