SHE WAS STARTING TO REGRET ever agreeing to Clarke's request as the blonde kept trying to persuade them to talk to the Ark. They had been walking for a couple of hours through the forest, following the direction on the map. Jinny was pointedly ignoring every attempt at conversation regarding the Ark, and Bellamy had taken it upon himself to reflect them.
"You know, the first dropship's gonna come down soon," Clarke started again as they treaded through a patch of bald trees, their spindly branches poking out at them on all sides. "Pretty sure you can't avoid Jaha forever."
"I can try," Bellamy retorted.
They broke the line of trees and hiked up an incline in front of them. Jinny wrapped her jacket tightly around herself as a cool breeze blew in from the north. She definitely felt the chill from that, seeping deep into her very bones with a gnawing ache. The three of them stopped at the top of the hill and looked out over the landscape. The site of a ruin laid before them, half buried in a large body of water. The decrepit structure of what was once an imposing building stood out from the rest of the broken down remnants that surrounded it. Four tall columns still supported the triangular crest above them, which was all that was left of the roof.
Jinny could pick out several other landmarks around the edifice; a rusted tower that was leaning to the side, a sign with the number fifteen next to a house. Beyond the decay laid the vast expanse of coniferous trees reaching uninhibited into the misty sky.
"The depot's supposed to be around here," Clarke said as she looked around. "Somewhere..."
"There's gotta be a door," Bellamy declared.
"Maybe he'll be lenient," the girl looked at them pleadingly.
"He's not just going to forgive and forget," he told her with a tone filled with exasperation.
"You wouldn't know if you didn't try," she went on.
"Clarke, enough!" Jinny snapped at her. "You don't know what you're talking about here, okay? Just stop it."
"Well, maybe if you tell me why you're avoiding them then I will!" she argued back. "What could it be that's so bad that you can't even talk about?"
"Hey, hey," Bellamy interrupted before Jinny lost her temper and attempted to impale Clarke on a branch. "We didn't come here to talk about this. Let's just split up, we'll cover more ground. Stay within shouting distance."
He nudged Jinny along with him as he walked around Clarke and made their way down the hill. The blonde sighed out loud but complied with his suggestion. Jinny continued to seethe as Bellamy searched the area for some kind of entryway, hacking away at overgrown roots. She wandered around, wondering what the ruins had been like in its prime instead. Had there been a metropolis here? Did it used to be teeming with life and splendour before its destruction?
She remembered the few history documentaries on the Ark, that talked about grand palaces and state capitols where momentous decisions were made. There were treaties of peace and declarations of war made by leaders of different countries. Men would lose their lives over a notion called patriotism, defending a nation that was all but forgotten to time now. Clarke's voice broke her out of her reverie and she turned around.
"Bellamy! Jinny! Over here, I found a door!"
Heading over with Bellamy, she saw Clarke bent down over the handle of a metal door and tried to pull it open. "It's rusted shut," she told them.
"Watch your foot," Bellamy warned before he brought his axe down on the hinges peeking out of the muddy grass. "Give me a hand."
They managed to pry the door open, revealing a set of stairs that led down to Emergency Aid Depot #23. Jinny clicked on her searchlight as she went ahead to check out the interior. It smelled strongly of copper, along with damp and rot the further inside she went. Cobwebs hung all around the sides, stretched from one corner to the next like an intricate design.
"You really think this place hasn't been touched since the war?" Bellamy asked.
"A girl can dream," Clarke sighed as she looked around.
"C'mon, over here," Jinny motioned before continuing down the passageway on their right. They followed after her through the pitch darkness, trying not to choke on the musty air. She paused when they reached another set of stairs, shining her light down on the dusty remnants of a ragged corpse sitting on the second step.
"Hell of a place to die," Bellamy commented as they continued past it.
They went through a hallway of metal shelves, unidentifiable objects lying scattered throughout the surfaces. A ripped canvas hung over a section of exposed wires and empty metal barrels were spread out across the floor.
"I don't know about you, but this place looks like it went through hell," Jinny told them.
"So much for living down here, this place is disgusting," Clarke said with a frown. "Damn it!"
"Anything left down here is ruined," Bellamy added.
A cascade of water leaked down from the ceiling in front of them and Jinny turned the corner to a large open area. The barrels here seemed to be in better condition than the rest, sitting upright in front of them. A few metal boxes were arranged around the sides of the walls as well.
"They must have distributed the rest of the supplies before the last of the bombs went off," Clarke made an educated guess.
Bellamy opened a container nearby and threw his bag inside, grabbing a few glow sticks and cracking them. He passed one to both girls and threw a few more around the room. Jinny walked further into the depot to scrounge around.
"Hey! I found blankets!" Clarke exclaimed.
"Excited about a couple of blankets?" Bellamy asked sardonically.
"Are you kidding?" Jinny snorted. "I'm freezing my balls off."
"It's something," Clarke told him.
He shook his head at them as he marched by, voice raising with every word. "How about a canteen or a med-kit? Or a decent freakin' tent?"
Jinny rolled her eyes at his melodrama as she grabbed one of the orange blankets from the box and stuffed it into her bag. When they would undoubtedly have to bunker down in some hole for shelter, she'd wrap herself up in her nice warm fire blanket and laugh as Bellamy shivered away.
The man opened the lid of a barrel to inspect its contents and Jinny went over to peer inside. He dipped his fingers into the slick black oil and rubbed them together. Well, that might be useful to burn things with. Bellamy stepped away and suddenly let out a yell, kicking angrily at the barrel. It tipped over and sloshed onto Jinny's boots, making her gasp in disbelief before whipping around to punch him. Clarke turned to look at them in bewilderment.
"Bellamy, you owe me new boots!" Jinny yelled.
"Wait a minute." He cocked his head when he heard something else fall out of the barrel and walked around her. Sitting on his haunches, he shone his light down to reveal a stack of assault rifles now littering the ground and his face instantly lit up. "Oh, my God."
"What?" Clarke asked, quickly heading over to them.
Jinny picked up a gun with a gleeful grin on her face, unlocking the safety and cocking the charging handle. The chamber was empty, but it still had the desired effect as the blonde looked at it in awe.
"We're back in business," Jinny told them.
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Everything was going to change, as Bellamy eloquently exclaimed while hanging up a blanket with a cross painted over it. "No more running from spears... ready to be a badass, Clarke?"
He offered some nuts to Jinny as he popped a few into his mouth. She was grinning ecstatically from their new find, having already claimed a firearm for herself.
"I'm not gonna fight you guys on bringing guns back to camp," Clarke started. "I know we need them but don't expect me to like it."
"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough." Jinny cocked her head to the gun in the blonde's hands. "C'mon, Clarke, test the bad boy out."
"We're lucky the rifles were packed in grease," Bellamy said. "The fact that they survived means we're not sitting ducks anymore. You need to learn how to do this."
She nodded and took a step forward while raising the gun to her chest. "So I just... hold it on my shoulder?" she asked awkwardly.
"Relax," Jinny told her as she readjusted the girl's grip. "Just hold it a little higher and..." She turned her head to the side and met Clarke's questioning blue gaze. "That's it."
"Watch and learn," Bellamy boasted, picking up his own rifle and taking aim. Clarke and Jinny watched as he pulled the trigger, only to be met with a hollow click. He glanced at them and discharged the empty shell. Blowing out a breath, he took aim and tried to fire again with the same result.
"Wow, such aim, much awe," Jinny deadpanned, eliciting a small giggle from Clarke.
"Shut up," he grumbled. "My bullets are duds. Try yours."
With her eyes still on him, Jinny fired her gun once at the target and hit close to the middle. Clarke clapped her hands in appreciation and Bellamy sighed, shaking his head.
"I was talking to Clarke," he told her.
"I know," she responded, lips twitching at the side, before turning to the girl. "You're up, princess."
"I hate that nickname," she muttered as she stepped up and took aim again, adjusting her stance to how she was shown. She squeezed the trigger and fired a round, hitting the blanket on the far right. Her eyes widened as she lowered the gun. "That... was amazing."
She laughed before turning around with a frown. "Am I horrible for saying that?" she asked.
They shook their heads at her with wide smiles. "Try again," Bellamy gestured.
"No, we shouldn't waste the ammunition," she said.
"You need to practice," he told her.
"But we need to talk about how we're gonna keep guns around the camp," she looked at them. "Where we're gonna keep them? Who has access?"
Bellamy sighed and picked up another gun, stepping forwards to take aim. Finally, he fired a shot which managed to hit the blanket an inch to the right of Jinny's.
"You guys left Miller in charge of the Grounder," Clarke changed the subject. "You must trust him."
"He's good," Jinny nodded approvingly. "I'd stake my money on him."
"You should keep him close," Bellamy said. "The others listen to him."
"I should keep him close?" Clarke questioned, picking up instantly on his mistake. "What's going on? You've been acting weird all day." She glanced towards his bag. "All the rations you took... you're going to run!"
She whirled around to look at Jinny. "Did you know about this?" At both their silence, she visibly blanched with disbelief. "The both of you? That's why you agreed to come with me. You were going to load up with supplies and just disappear?!"
"We don't have a choice," Bellamy told her. "The Ark will be here soon."
"You're going to leave Octavia?" she asked and they averted their eyes at the same time.
"Octavia can look after herself," Jinny said even though she felt guilt wrestling in the pit of her stomach.
"You don't know-"
"They're gonna kill us, Clarke!" Bellamy raised his voice. "Best case scenario, they'll make it quick for Jin and then lock me up for the rest of my life with the Grounder. There's no way I'm giving Jaha the satisfaction." He put his gun down and started towards the exit. "Keep practicing, I need some air."
The girl turned around slowly, shaking her head with a perplexed frown. Jinny sighed heavily as she secured the strap around her rifle and slung it over her shoulder.
"What did you do?" Clarke asked. "I can't figure it out. Why would they have kept you in solitary if they wanted to kill you?"
Jinny stood up, refusing to meet her gaze. "If I tell you why, Clarke, you'll want to kill me too."
She started to leave as well but Clarke called for her to stop. "You're not going to leave me here, are you?"
"Not without supplies," she replied before heading out after Bellamy.
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[ author's note ]
i did not expect this chapter to be so long but i definitely had to keep the parts about jinny wanting to impale clarke on a branch, and her showing off her shooting skills. and at the same time, i needed to show their relationship/dynamic with each other for future scenes. i kinda ship them together?? jlarke?? clinny?? clarky?? jike (like sike)???