WINTER WAS COMING, but that was currently the least of Jinny's worries at the moment. The chill had started to creep up on them almost unexpectedly and the acrid scent of smoke lingered heavily in the air. Bellamy sat quietly next to her as she filed her nails with the rough side of her knife. She felt that it was easier to maintain than letting dirt accumulate underneath it. The Grounder in front of them looked like he'd fallen asleep standing up, not that either of them particularly cared.
They were both trying to ignore the line of delinquents that were excitedly waiting to make contact with their families still aboard the Ark.
Clarke had tried to persuade them to talk with the Chancellor, which they had adamantly refused. In Bellamy's case, it was understandable since he was now a pariah but Jinny's reaction confused Clarke to no end.
"I don't get it," the blonde had said. "You were the one trying to restore communications, you helped Monty and Raven build the radio, and you fought with Bellamy over it. So why are you avoiding them now?"
"Look, my part is done," Jinny retorted. "If you wanna play twenty questions with Jaha, be my guest."
"Do you know why she's acting like this?" Clarke turned to Bellamy curiously.
"Nobody knows anything about Jinny, it's better that way," the man responded, averting eye contact with the both of them, and making his way back into the dropship instead. Jinny turned to follow, not wanting to be harassed anymore.
"Well, if the both of you change your minds, you know where to find me!" Clarke called after them.
There were only five living people that knew the real reason of why Jinny had been kept in solitary confinement. Before they were sent to the ground, everyone thought she had been floated for treason. Hacking sensitive information and killing a man, those had been the official stories for her arrest. Nobody knew that she had been thrown into the darkest hole of the Ark until the Council could figure out how to repair her mistake.
It was an accident that had costed them so much more than they realised. Besides, it wasn't entirely her fault. If somebody hadn't decided to interrupt her at the worst possible time, none of it would have happened. They might all still be sitting around happily in space- except for the few delinquents who would have turned eighteen if they hadn't been sent to the ground. She scoffed internally at the thought that she had accidentally saved a hundred criminal lives in exchange for a few hundred others.
Bellamy shifted beside her in his seat and cleared his throat, breaking her out of her train of thought.
"Maybe Clarke has a point," he said unexpectedly.
"No." She brushed him off.
"Maybe it's a chance for us to fix things," he went on.
"Absolutely not."
"Should we run away then?"
Jinny paused in her grooming and looked up at him incredulously before her frown smoothed down into contemplation. She hummed out loud in thought as she eyed their prisoner briefly.
"What about O?" she asked.
"O can look after herself," he told her. "She tells me that all the time."
"And you wanna just leave her like this?" Jinny raised an eyebrow sceptically. "After everything you had to do to get here, you're just gonna bail?"
"They know we're alive now." He leaned over to her, his voice lowering to a rumble. "When they get down here, we're gonna be dead. They'll execute us."
His plan was actually starting to sound less and less farfetched in her head. Back on the Ark, she still had influence and her knowledge was what kept her alive. All of that would be meaningless if and when they landed on Earth. She would no longer be able to hold any sway whatsoever on the Chancellor or the Council then. Plus, she was pretty sure that they all hated her guts too. They'd put a bullet in her head at the first opportunity they could get and no one would stop them if the truth was revealed.
"If we're seriously considering this," she whispered back. "How are we gonna do it? Everyone has their eyes on us."
"We're bound to have to go out for a hunt soon, we could sneak off then," he muttered back.
"Where would we even go? Think Murphy is still out there and found himself a nice cottage to share with us?" She looked at him dubiously.
Bellamy opened his mouth to reply, but a low creak from the hatch door stopped him from saying anything further. They both turned to look as Miller climbed up the ladder to check in with them. Jinny felt like they were old partners in crime again when they instantly relaxed their stances and she nonchalantly went back to her nail filing. Miller stood in front of them with hands on his hips.
"Commander," he greeted.
"Cadet," Jinny responded.
She sighed internally as she thought about leaving Miller behind too. He was a good kid, his only crime being theft, and his father had also been in the Guard. Along with above average academic scores, he had been an obvious choice for recruitment. Miller looked up to her because of that, always badgering Jinny to train him like she had intended to back in the day.
"Did you talk to the Ark?" Bellamy asked.
The boy nodded, his beanie casting dark shadows over his eyes. "I told Digg's mom the news," he said, voice thick with emotion. "John's dad. I'm supposed to talk to Roma's parents later."
"Thanks for doing that," the older man said. "I owe you."
Miller turned around to face the Grounder with a look filled with contempt. "Telling all these parents that their kids were murdered by Grounders, I just wish I could say we were getting some justice."
"We're not killing him," Bellamy asserted.
"Yet," Jinny whispered.
Miller nodded his head stoically before reaching over to grab some berries on a table. He crushed the fruits in his hand as he took a step closer to the chained prisoner. "You were a lot scarier when you had that face paint on," Miller told him in a low voice before splattering the red pulp across the side of the man's face.
In a swift move, the Grounder headbutted the boy who cried out in pain as he fell over backwards onto the floor. Jinny snorted in amusement and leaned forwards to look at Miller groaning with a hand over the bridge of his nose. She couldn't help laughing hysterically at him.
"I wish I caught that on video!" she exclaimed.
"You're such an ass," Miller grunted back.
"You're such an ass...?" she repeated with an expectant tone.
"Ma'am," he responded begrudgingly.
"As you were, Miller," she smirked, then turned to give Bellamy a significant look. "C'mon, let's check on what's happening outside."
He nodded, standing up from his seat as she did. "Miller, stand guard."
"Sure," the boy sighed despondently.
Jinny made her way to the hatch and slid down the ladder to the bottom level. The first thing she laid eyes on was Octavia sitting in front of her and throwing her a quick glare. They hadn't spoken a word to each other ever since the event that happened during the storm. Bellamy dropped down heavily next to her and paused to look at his sister. He exchanged a glance with Jinny and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.
"You're still here?" he asked.
"I'm not moving until you let me up there to see him," she replied.
"Get comfortable," he told her. Octavia glanced at him and rolled her eyes. He turned to leave before stopping and looking back to her. "I let him live. Isn't that enough?"
"He saved my life," she told him with a hint of disbelief. "And yours."
"I know you see it that way, but-"
"That's the way it is," she cut him off.
"He's still dangerous," Bellamy said.
"Just look at the scar he gave me," Jinny added. "Clarke said I was lucky he didn't blind me."
"Only because of what you did," Octavia told them stubbornly.
"Whatever twisted connection you think you have with that animal, forget it," Bellamy told her. "You don't get to see him. End of conversation."
The girl scoffed out a breath of indignation and leaned back against her seat. "Why do you even care if I ruined your life? You should want me to go up there. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll kill me, problem solved."
"O," Jinny started. "We care about you, we would even kill for you. Don't say things like that."
"You know I didn't mean that," Bellamy said with a gentler tone but Octavia turned away from them.
Clarke walked in just then, completely unaware of their previous argument. "Jinny, Bellamy," she called when she saw the pair. Jinny barely spared her a glance, spinning on her heel to leave the drop ship while pretending she hadn't heard anything.
"The answer is still no," Bellamy answered behind her as he followed. "We are not talking to Jaha."
"Hey, relax," Clarke remarked. "That's not why I'm here."
They paused to turn back to her. "What now?" Jinny asked with suspicion.
"The Ark found some old records that show a supply depot not too far from here," she explained.
"What old records?" Jinny asked hastily.
Clarke blinked at her and shrugged. "I don't know. Does it matter?"
"What kind of supplies are we talking about?" Bellamy interjected.
"The kind that might give us a chance to live through the winter," the blonde went on. "I'm gonna check it out. I could use backup."
"And you're asking us why?" Jinny looked at her uncertainly.
"Well, because right now, I don't feel like being around anyone I actually like," she replied.
Jinny laughed while Bellamy lowered his head and smirked with a small scoff of amusement. He looked over Clarke's shoulder and spotted Octavia listening intently on their conversation. Then he turned to Jinny for her confirmation and she cocked her head in approval.
"Fine," he nodded to Clarke. "We'll get our stuff, see you in ten."
"Sure," the girl gave a brief smile before leaving the dropship.
Octavia turned around just then as Jinny slapped the parachute cover over the entrance out of her way. Bellamy and his sister glared at each other for a second before he followed Jinny outside. She had a small frown on her face as they made their way to their tents, which were right next to each other. They both knew that they were thinking the same thing.
It was the perfect opportunity for them to escape.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
[ author's note ]
Trivia: I originally planned for Jinny to stay in camp and fall asleep, so she missed out on the whole eating ~Dream Nuts of Doom~ then wakes up to find the camp in chaos while Octavia and Raulf are trying to sneak Lincoln out. So she just looks at them like "dude" and all three of them give her the puppy eyes, and she's just like "omg go i never want to see you again" so Raulf tells her about Dax following Bellamy and she goes after him instead. But she doesn't know about the nuts so she eats them on the way to the depot anyway and starts tripping out in the middle of the forest thinking everything is glowing blue lmao (which is completely different and funnier and the exact opposite of what's actually going to happen next).
also, any thoughts on what jinny actually did to get arrested? :p