Clarke turned on the flashlight as Finn closed the hatch above them, engulfing them in darkness aside from the pale glow of the light in the blonde's hands. As Finn landed on the ground, he reached into Clarke's bag and pulled out two more flashlights, handing one to Isaac. The two boys switched their lights on and Isaac stepped in front of the group ever so slightly, ready to take the brunt of an attack should there be one.
The light fell over a dusty table, lined with a few pictures and art materials. Isaac turned away, looking at a sink. "Finn, what is this place?" Clarke asked, Isaac nodding along with her question even though Finn wasn't even looking at him.
The long haired boy shrugged at Clarke. "For now, its... home."
They set to work on getting it lighter in the bunker, Isaac stumbling (quite literally, having tripped over a box full of them) across some candles and soon they were lighting them, spreading them around the bunker on different surfaces for some better lighting. Charlotte had fallen asleep on one of the bunk beds a while ago, Isaac noticed. While Finn and Clarke were talking, Isaac managed to find a blanket and cover the girl with it, tucking the edges around her in hopes that she wasn't cold.
"I can't believe you kept the place quiet," Clarke hissed quietly at Finn, shaking out the match she had been using for the candles.
"Oh come on, Clarke," Finn sighed, giving her a pointed look. "What would be the point of telling anybody?"
"Some of this stuff could be useful," Clarke pointed out.
"Like what?" Finn asked. "There's no weapons. All the food expired like ninety years ago."
The blonde nodded in agreement, but Clarke wasn't going to give up easily. "Yeah, but we could re-purpose," she suggested, raising her eyebrows. "Share with the group, if you'd like."
Finn rolled his eyes affectionately. "You can share this with the group if you'd like," he teased, holding out a jar. Isaac watched as Clarke grinned ecstatically, grabbing the jar and examining the pencils inside. Finn stared at her, amused as she went through the supplies. Isaac on the inside of his cheek, a bit bitterly, and turned away, ignoring the tug in his stomach as he went back to tending to Charlotte as she slept, determinedly searching for another blanket. "What did you find?" Finn asked her, Isaac listening to their footsteps as they went to sit next to each other.
"Well, it looks like they never made it here," Clarke sighed, Isaac glancing over his shoulder for a brief second to notice her staring at a photograph.
"No," Finn mumbled. "I figure the bombs took them by surprise." He sighed loudly. "All this preparation, what a waste."
"I don't know," Clarke said. "Maybe they were lucky. They couldn't have lived more than a few years down here, then when they ran out of food, or lost their minds, they would have opened the doors and been dead within a few days. Back then, maybe sooner."
Their conversation became hushed and for some reason Isaac couldn't shake the nervous feeling like they were talking about him. He knew it was unlikely, but there was still a part of him that nagged, tugging at him like a loose rope, trying to convince him that they were. Sighing, Isaac tried to shove those thoughts away, opening another drawer.
Inside were blankets and a few pillows. The curly haired boy smiled softly and reached inside, pulling out a few blankets and a couple of the pillows. He was just setting them aside when suddenly something soft tumbled into his lap. Looking down, he saw a stuffed bear. It was around the size of his head, and it had soft, fluffy fur that was brown and smooth, and two shiny black eyes stitched into the head along with a sewn-on smile and a button nose. Isaac drew in a soft breath, staring at the bear. Picking it up, he held it in his hand. This had belonged to someone, to a child, before the nuclear bombs destroyed everything. He often had though about how the world had ended, but until now he had never put too much thought into the people it had also destroyed. Families, cities, entire countries, men, women, and children alike.
He shuddered, quickly shoving the bear back into the drawer, slamming it closed to gain the attention of the other two teenagers in the bunker. "I found some blankets," he mumbled, standing up with the materials and walking over to them, handing a pillow and blanket each to Clarke and Finn. He watched as they immediately began to set up a snuggle-fest on the bed, and Isaac bit the inside of his lip in slight annoyance as he began to sit down on the concrete. "I'll sleep on the floor," he told them, tucking his blanket underneath him so the cold concrete wouldn't touch his bare skin, laying his head on the pillow in discomfort. He tried not to show how uncomfortable he was, though he thought to himself that Clarke and Finn were so caught up in each other they most likely wouldn't care if he was sleeping on a bed of burning-hot coals.
* * * * *
"Isaac -Isaac, wake up!" The curly haired boy opened his eyes sleepily, blinking slowly at the blonde who was hovering over him, shaking his shoulder.
"What?" he asked, his voice a sigh as he tried to shake the sleep out of his head, sitting up as he poked at his eyes.
"She's gone," Clarke's voice was panicked and Isaac threw his blanket off at once, scrambling to stand.
Finn was already rushing around, headed towards the hatch. Isaac slapped himself once in the face in an attempt to wake up before rushing after Finn, panic swirling in his stomach, worry weighing down his chest as he emerged from the bunker, jumping out. His footsteps pounded against the ground, and soon Clarke was next to him, an hand around his arm as she kept him from running.
"Isaac, we can't just run in any random direction, we could end up running away from her," she told him, and for once Isaac was bothered by her touch, stepping away gently as he glared at her and Finn.
"Well how do we find her?" he asked, staring at the two. He was breathing heavily, a bit panicked, and his shoulders heaved up and down in a way that was oddly attractive (not that Clarke would say anything about that out loud).
Finn jerked his head towards the ground, and both Isaac and Clarke looked towards the dirt where he was shining his flashlight, the small footprints clearly visible even from where they were standing. "We follow her footprints," Finn said.
Isaac bit his lip anxiously before nodding, and the three set off. Isaac and Finn in front, Clarke behind them. It went on for a few minutes, before suddenly there was another set of footprints that were much larger next to hers, and Isaac glanced at Finn with wide eyes. "What the hell?" Clarke offered, and Isaac nodded nervously, thinking the same thing. Before Finn had a chance to answer, Murphy's yells were suddenly ripping through the air, and the trio looked at each other. Whoever Charlotte, was with, it wasn't Murphy.
"Charlotte!" Isaac winced at the rage in Murphy's voice, and suddenly he was pushing his legs faster. Clarke and Finn were right beside him, and soon they were bursting into a clearing.
"-guarantee I can take a few of you with me," Bellamy was saying.
"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke blurted, and Isaac ran out to stand in front of Charlotte and Bellamy, blocking Murphy from getting to them.
"Murphy," Isaac gasped, his hands out protectively in front of his body, "You need to stop. This- this is going too far." He gestured towards the scene in front of him. "Just, be reasonable, okay? We can talk about thi-"
Murphy jumped forwards, his slim fingers wrapping around Isaac wrist as he yanked the boy towards him, turning him around and pressing his back against his chest, pulling out his knife and pressing it the his throat. Isaac's breath hitched as he felt the freezing metal against his skin, hardly breathing in fear of hurting himself. Eyes wide, he winced as he felt Murphy's arm lock around his stomach, keeping him in place.
"I am sick of listening to you talk," Murphy hissed into his ear, Isaac shuddering out of fear. He could feel the knife pressed further against him, and he gulped, tilting his head back in an attempt to distance himself from the weapon, even just a bit.
"Let him go!" Clarke snapped, and Murphy stepped away from her, the knife twitching against Isaac's throat as he was tugged along.
"I will slit his throat," he warned, venom lacing his tone.
"No please!" Charlotte begged, catching Murphy's attention. "Please, don't hurt him!"
"Don't hurt him?" Murphy asked, brows raised. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now and I will let him go."
Charlotte made a move to step forwards but was held back by Bellamy, and Isaac looked at the man gratefully before trying to look at Charlotte. "Charlotte do not go with Murphy, do you understand?" he blurted. "Don't listen to hi-" he gasped as the knife pressed into his throat again, the time breaking skin. Isaac let out a whimper as the cut stung, the metal gliding across his skin as he felt blood begin to run down his neck. His breath went a bit faster and he sent Clarke a panicked look, one which she returned in full.
"Murphy, this is not happening," Bellamy told him, stepping forwards.
The small girl behind him shook her head. "I can't let any of you get hurt anymore," she said bravely, before looking at Isaac. Her eyes met his and immediately he tried to hide any fear that might be showing, instead staring at her pleadingly, begging her not to go with Murphy. "Not because of me," she said. "Not after what I did."
Suddenly she turned, and Isaac's mind was on fire as he realized what was about to happen. "No!" he screamed, not caring about the knife at his throat as he tried to jerk free, only for the knife to go deeper, sliding across the right side of his throat. He let out a gasp and Charlotte jumped, disappearing over the cliff. Murphy's grip loosened and Isaac fell to his knees, collapsing as he stared at the edge of the cliff. Clarke had fallen next to Bellamy where they both leaned over the edge, Clarke sobbing loudly.
There was an odd ringing in his ears as he tried to process what Charlotte had just done. He was gasping, and his eyes were wet. Wide eyed, he fell back, sitting down as his wide eyes darted across the ground, shocked. His mouth hung open as he turned to stare at Murphy, horrified, scrambling away. In his haste, his hand slipped and he fell back, hitting his head on the ground. Pain shot through his head and suddenly he was aware of the burning pain on his neck that sent him leaning over, gasping in pain. He shook on the ground, and suddenly he was being pulled up by none other than Clarke, who was busy yelling at Bellamy. "No! We don't get to decide who lives and dies! Not down here!"
Bellamy glared at her. "So help me God if you say the people have a right to decide-"
"No, I was wrong before, okay? You were right," she cried, and Isaac tried not to lean against her too heavily as he looked at Bellamy as well, though the man in front of him didn't look away from Clarke. "Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth," Clarke reminded him, showing that she knew now. "But if we're going to survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want! We need rules!"
"And who's gonna make those rules, huh? You?"
"For now, we make the rules," Clarke said, correcting him. She glanced at Isaac, who stared back at her, the dirt on his face interrupted by the tear tracks that for some reason, surprised her.
"So what, then?" Bellamy asked harshly, and Clarke's attention was pulled back to him. "We just take him back and pretend it never happened?"
"No," Isaac croaked, frowning at his own voice. Both Clarke and Bellamy turned to look at him, and he gulped, glancing at the blonde next to him. "We could banish him," he suggested, turning his neck painfully to give Murphy a harsh look, before adjusting himself and turning back to Bellamy.
The older boy thought about it for a second before he stormed over to Murphy, pulling him up by the collar and dragging him towards the edge of the cliff, holding him there. "Bellamy, stop!" Clarke snapped, but Isaac put a soft hand on her shoulder, holding her back.
"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here," Bellamy threatened. "Understand?" Murphy nodded sluggishly and Bellamy turned, throwing him onto the ground. Isaac jumped back into Clarke, who stumbled, and Isaac quickly stepped away from her, forcing himself to try and stand on his own. Bellamy then turned to the four other boys who had been after Charlotte with Murphy. "As for the four of you," Bellamy continued in a low, threatening voice, "you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die."
With that, Bellamy stormed off into the woods, the other four following him. Isaac managed to make it a few steps before the world spun suddenly and he stumbled, stretching his hand out until he found a tree to lean into. He sighed, closing his eyes. He breathed heavily, until at some point a hand was touching him, delicate fingers tracing over his neck near his wounds, sending electricity through his skin. He opened his eyes and glanced down at Clarke with wide eyes, before looking over her shoulder at Finn, who looked concerned. "He lost a lot of blood," Clarke said, glancing at Finn. When she pulled her hand away from Isaac's neck, her palm was coated in blood and Isaac gulped. "I'm surprised you're still conscious," she turned back towards Isaac. "Finn, help me with him, he can barely walk." The long haired boy walked over and took one of Isaac's arms, placing it around his shoulder as he helped the boy walk away from the scene. Isaac's skin crawled from the touch, but he knew that it was necessary if he wanted to get anywhere father than two feet without falling flat on his face.
Together the three made their way back to the drop ship.
* * * * *
"Will we be able to talk to them?" Clarke asked.
Monty, from his place in front of the glowing wristband, shook his head. "No, just like morse code," he corrected her. "Wanna do the honors?" he asked, glancing back at Jasper. The boy nodded, coming forwards and taking the red wire from his best friend. "That port right there," he said, pointing. Jasper slowly made his way towards it, before clamping the wire around the port.
For half of a second, Isaac had hope that it had actually worked, and let a smile onto his face. Until, his wristband shocked him and he yelped, bringing his hand up to rub his wrist, as did everyone else's, and the little blue lights died out on Clarke's wristband. Monty rushed to bring a light up to the band, frowning.
"What happened?" Clarke asked, frowning.
Monty slumped in his chair, defeated. "It didn't work," he mumbled. "I think we fried all the wristbands."
Finn blinked in shock, glancing at Clarke before storming out of the drop ship. Clarke had that same look of shock on her face as she chased after him, leaving Isaac alone and defeated. The curly haired boy turned to Monty, who was staring at him pitifully. "Dude, sorry," he muttered, and Isaac bit his lip, a pained look on his face as he turned away, slumping out of the drop ship with his hands shoved in his pockets.
He went back to his tent, pulling out the wooden project and resting it in his lap. He was dizzy, tired, defeated, and heartbroken.
But he was more determined than ever to finish his box.
A/N: next chapter is adorable pretty much because Isaac is such a smol bean also sorry this one is so short but yeet