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ALL KILL
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THE MAP WAS STARTING to look less interesting to Jinny the longer she spent staring at it while they were gathered inside the dropship. Raulf was standing awkwardly next to her as he refused to leave the safety of her side, while pretending to be her hostage in case the other scouts saw him. Bellamy had spent the entire time glaring coolly at him, threatening the Grounder boy with the unspoken content of his eyes. Jinny had to smack him twice to stop him from doing that, but the man continued to furtively throw shady looks to his side.
Clarke folded her arms and asked, "Okay, so how the hell are we doing this?"
"We got twenty-five rifles and twenty rounds each, give or take," Bellamy answered. "That's roughly five hundred rounds of ammo. While you two were gone, we made some improvements. Thanks to Raven, the gully is mined."
"Partially mined," Raven quipped from the side. "Thanks to Murphy."
"Still, it's the main route in." Bellamy traced the area on the map with a finger. "If the Grounders use it, we'll know. She also built grenades." He picked up a casing from a container on the table.
"It's not many," Clarke remarked.
"Again, thank you, Murphy," Raven said bitterly.
"We'll make them count," Bellamy told them. "If the Grounders make it through the front gate, guns and grenades should force them back."
"Most warriors don't have heavy gear or shields," Raulf added, earning a glare from Bellamy who winced when he was kicked in the shin by Jinny.
"Thank you, Raulf," she said with a polite nod of her head before speaking into her walkie. "We can't afford to waste bullets, especially when they're trying to shadow play us. All gunners are not to shoot unless you have clear shots. Keep your heads down and stay behind the barricades."
"And then?" Clarke pressed.
"Then we close the door and pray," Raven replied.
"And pray what?" the blonde asked snappishly. "That the ship will keep them out? Because it won't."
"Then let's not let them through the gates," Bellamy said, bringing his own walkie to his lips. "All foxholes, listen up. Keep your eyes and ears open. Inflict casualties, as many as possible. You can hold them off long enough to make them turn back. That's the plan."
Finn shook his head. "That's always your plan, just like the bomb at the bridge."
"Damn right," Bellamy told him heatedly. "You got a better idea?"
"It can't be that simple," Clarke said with a thoughtful frown before turning to Raven. "You said there's fuel in those rockets, right? Enough to build a hundred bombs."
"I also said we've got no gunpowder left," Raven told her.
"I don't want to build a bomb." Clarke looked around at them. "I want to blast off."
Raven sat up in her chair. "Draw them in close. Fire the rockets. Ring of fire."
Jinny's lips curled at the side as she relished the idea. "No escape."
Bellamy nodded agreeably. "Barbecued Grounders. I like it."
"Will it work?" Finn asked.
"You give me enough time, I'll cook 'em real good," Raven said.
Bellamy turned to Raulf suddenly. "And this is okay with you? Standing there listening to our plans, you don't even care about your own people?"
"I've told them to stop plenty of times before and broker peace, but they wouldn't listen to me," he told them. "Tristan asked for this, so he will pay the price."
"You people really are heartless." Bellamy shook his head disdainfully and Jinny kicked him again.
"Frankly, I just want to live through the night and I don't give a shit about who's right or wrong at the moment," she said. "I'm going to make sure we can buy Raven enough time to set those rockets up. If they're gonna come, let them come." With that, she grabbed her rifle and exited the dropship.
For the first time ever, the camp was completely silent, as if they were already preparing to call the land their eternal graves. Jinny marched towards the west fox hole where Jasper was standing watch with Monroe and Miller. They all had their rifles drawn through the gaps in the barricade, senses on the alert for the slightest discrepancy. Jinny set herself up beside them and looked through her scope towards the dense forest. She could make out faint movement beyond the tree line, shrouded deep within the foliage and camouflaged amongst the dark wooden trunks.
"Anyone see anything?" Jasper whispered.
"Yup." Jinny grabbed her walkie and spoke into it, "Alright, everybody, stay on your guard. We're just playing a waiting game now, it's exactly like my love life, whoever breaks first, loses."
"Seriously?" Bellamy asked through the channel while a few laughs resounded from various areas.
"By the way, I won that war," she went on. A moment later, she felt the butt of a rifle collide lightly against her lower back and she turned around with a grin as Bellamy glared down at her.
"You think you're so cute," he commented as he positioned himself next to her.
"Hell yeah, I'm the cutest," she responded cockily.
"Guys, get a room," Monroe told them.
"Yeah, I'm about to throw up here," Miller added.
"Hey, Bell, I think we could use some bait to create a diversion," Jinny said in all seriousness as she stared at the both of them.
Miller snorted, calling out her bluff easily. "Please, the both of us are like your best gunners."
Three rounds of shots broke out from the south after he said that and Jinny grabbed her walkie once more. "Sterling, was that you?!"
"It was Sterling," Drew confirmed.
"Damn it, Sterling, I said not to shoot!" Jinny shouted into her radio.
"I, uh... think I got him..." the boy replied uncertainly.
"Oh... well... I heard three rounds. Use less bullets, damn it."
There was an explosion from their direction that startled them all as they looked to where the burst of light and fire had come from. Jinny exchanged concerned glances with everyone before Bellamy lifted his walkie. "What was that?"
"Raven, your mines work!!" Drew shouted through the channel and Jinny couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "We made those Grounders light up!!"
"That's it, boys and girls, make mama proud," she said with a wide grin.
"Uh..." Jasper said loudly as he squinted through his scope before yelling at the top of his lungs, "Holy shit, they're coming out!! What do we do?! Commander!!"
The shrubs and leaves shuddered violently as the Grounder troops emerged from their dense shroud, more than a hundred voices melding into a singular roar of battle cries that washed through the night like the clamour of a storm. Hardened, scarred and ferocious faces came to meet them to test their mettle in bounding strides.
"Everyone on my signal!!" Jinny shouted loudly into her walkie. "Get them within thirty feet and hit the mines!!" She estimated the distance with her eyes, allowing her senses to focus into one single purpose as her body relaxed into sheer raw instinct. The Grounders approached, and she took aim. "OPEN FIRE!!"
The pandemonium of gun primers igniting, bullets exploding from their barrels, landmines erupting underneath screams of pain filled up the night air. Jinny shot every Grounder that made its way through the mine field with lethal accuracy, ducking behind the barricade to reload after her first round. The walkie in her pocket crackled over the channel and Raven was calling her frantically, "Jinny, we need you here!"
"Negative, I can't leave the barricades!" she shouted at the radio.
"Clarke doesn't know how to splice a wire!" the girl yelled back.
"Splice a—" She shook her head in dismay before shuffling to the side. Jinny grabbed hold of Jasper's arm and yanked him down into cover. "You need to help Raven!"
"What? Why?" he asked.
"We need the dropship to go boom!" she exclaimed. "Now, go! Hurry!"
Jasper scrambled to his feet and ran back towards the dropship as Jinny commandeered his rifle. She cocked the charging handle and fired another round at the waves of Grounder troops, but there were just too many of them. The firsts of the warriors jumped over their barricade, wielding swords with deadly skill. Monroe had fled when her rifle emptied out. Jinny used her gun to take the Grounders out, quickly grabbing their weapons and using it against them when she ran out of bullets too. She parried and dodged, using her smaller stature to an advantage to roll in and out of range. The Grounders were a lot stronger than she was, so she had to use her cunning and dexterity.
Miller cried out in pain as he was stabbed in the shoulder, and Jinny ran forwards to help him when the warrior raised his jagged sword for a killing blow. She stabbed him through the gut, grabbing Miller's arm and pulling him away to safety. "Thanks, Jinny," he panted, pressing a hand against his wound. It looked superficial.
Jinny breathed heavily as she nodded back. "Get to the dropship, you need to defend our last line until Raven says we're ready, okay?"
"Yeah, got it," he said before taking off, careful to stay away from the main arm of the horde as more delinquents abandoned their stations for the safety of the gate.
Jinny turned back around, only just finding Bellamy had been waylaid by a Grounder and was struggling against the enemy on the ground. She was about to throw her knife when Octavia darted forwards out of nowhere and stabbed the Grounder through the back of the head and out of an eye. "Admit it," she said with a smug smile, holding up her sword. "You want one."
They heard the singing of arrows before any of them could react, watching helplessly as they flew through the air and a single bolt embedded itself in Octavia's thigh. She faltered, inhaling sharply, as Bellamy caught hold of her and picked her up in his arms. "O! Hey, hold on to me! Let me get you behind that wall!"
Jinny ran up to them, brandishing her sword as she looked around for more enemies. "Bell, over here!" she said, grabbing his jacket and pulling him behind a cluster of foliage.
"There's too many of them!" interspersed voices yelled through the radio.
"Stand your ground!" Bellamy spoke into the walkie. "If they take the gate, we're all dead!"
"They've broken through!" Drew yelled from the channel. "There's hundreds of them! They're heading for the gate! Game over, man!"
"Shit! Fuck!" Jinny screamed in panic, clenching tightly onto her sword and moving to stand. Bellamy caught hold of her before she could dart out into the open and attempt a suicide run.
"Jin, wait, stop!" he called. "You need to help me with Octavia, we can't leave her like this!"
The woman halted in her tracks and bent back down behind the tree and into the cover of the shrubs. She examined the arrow wound on Octavia's thigh, which was lodged deep into her flesh and broke the shaft off in the middle. If they didn't get this cleaned up, the wound would get septic and she would die from an infection. Jinny ran her stained hands through her hair, pulling at the roots as she let a few more curses fall from her lips. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the sky, the familiar blast of thrusters firing, and they looked up to find a large incandescent ball falling from the deep void of space. It was large, much too big for it to be an Exodus ship, and Jinny stared with widened eyes. "Oh, my God..." she whispered in awe. "They sent the entire Ark to the ground."
"What?" Octavia breathed out in disbelief.
The Ark broke against the stratosphere, splintering apart into its original twelve stations in its tempestuous descent to the ground. Debris exploded above them, raining down in an insurgent cascade, blazing through the glittering darkness like its own supernova. Jinny ducked back down and drew close to Octavia as she heard indistinct shouting and cries that were different from the organised structure of Tristan's army. They were wild hoots and shrieks, demented and insane.
"REAPERS!!" a deep voice shouted through the forest before the clashing of battle commenced once again.
"Jin, we need to move!" Bellamy called.
"I'll never make it," Octavia told him. "Leave me, I'll find another way."
They turned to her sharply. "No way in hell," Jinny said forcefully.
"I'm not going anywhere without you," Bellamy told her.
"Octavia!" Jinny and Bellamy started, instinctively pulling away defensively as a Grounder ran up to them. They recognised his face even through the war paint that decorated it, wolf pelts adorning his shoulders.
"Lincoln!" Octavia cried, embracing him tightly.
"You did this?" Bellamy asked, looking back at the raging battle behind them.
"With Finn," Lincoln answered, then turned towards the arrow wound on Octavia's thigh. "It's deep. I can help you, but you have to come with me now."
He exchanged significant glances with them, and Jinny squeezed Bellamy's hand in her own. They had to go back to the dropship, the others still needed them. "Go," Bellamy finally said. "Let him help."
"No way," Octavia said through gritted teeth. "I have to see this through."
"You can't walk and I can't get you back to the dropship," he told her.
"He's right," Lincoln said. "This fight is over for you."
The girl leaned her head back against the tree bark with dismay clouding her eyes. Bellamy leaned in closer and touched her shoulder comfortingly, his voice thick with emotion. "O, O, listen to me. I told you my life ended the day you were born. The truth is... it didn't start until then." Tears started to prick her eyes as she stared back at him and Jinny sniffed as she held back the dry sob in her chest. "Go with him. I need you to live. Besides... we got this."
He weaved his fingers through Jinny's and turned back to her with a smile. The woman caressed the younger girl's cheek with her free hand, choking back the intensity of her raw emotions as Octavia looked back at her the same way she did with Bellamy. "You are the best sister that I could ever hope to have," Jinny told her and she felt the tears drip unbidden down her cheeks. "I love you, O."
Octavia's face crumpled as she sobbed, the both of them leaning forwards to wrap their arms around each other. "I love you, big sis." Jinny drew back to let her hug Bellamy in turn. "I love you, big brother," she whispered.
"May we meet again," he told her.
She nodded to them. "May we meet again."
Lincoln gathered her in his arms as she held her hands around his neck. They stood up with one last parting look. "Keep her safe," Bellamy said and Lincoln nodded before darting away through the forest in the opposite direction.
Bellamy turned to Jinny and pulled her close against him, leaning down and kissing her fervently under the shroud of the trees and the light of the moon. She grabbed hold of the lapels of his jacket, pouring everything she had into the solitary moment, as if time had stopped for the both of them to share one last breathtaking experience together. To feel his lips against hers, the smooth touch of his skin, the taste of his tongue like the sweetest tragedy one the edge of the world.
They broke apart and Jinny looked up at him, memorising the contours of his face in the pale light. "We got this, right?" She quirked a smile.
"Right," he returned it in kind, and they ran back to the tunnel entrance of the dropship perimeter, darting in between the cover of trees and thick foliage. The cries and yells of the Grounders continued to surround them, filled with merciless bloodlust. They could hear explosions shattering the earth, sending plumes of smoke and ash into the air. The enemy had breached the gate, and they raced against time to make it to the ship before Clarke launched the rockets. Bellamy went through the tunnel first, with Jinny following close behind as she skidded down the slope.
It was a war zone on the other side, bodies strewn across the ground as the delinquents tried desperately to hold the horde off. Bellamy darted forwards from the entrance, picking up a gun from the ground as he made his way across the compound. A tall hulking man that stood out from the rest, with the arrogant air of a high ranking warrior, strode forwards to meet him, cutting down everyone in his path. From Raulf's descriptions, it must only be Tristan himself. Jinny ran after Bellamy, picking a sword from the ground as the rifle turned out to be empty. Tristan punched Bellamy in the face, sending him hurtling backwards, and Jinny swung her blade through the air. The clash of metal against metal filled her ears as the man overpowered her with his brute strength, and she ducked down to avoid his fist as she brought her sword slicing through the thin layer of his pants.
Tristan grunted in pain and indignation, anger lighting up his eyes with a red hot fire. Jinny sprung back up to her feet, just as Bellamy charged forwards with the butt of his rifle. Their weapons were thrown to the side by a single blow from the warrior; they were no match for his sheer brutality and years of experience in open warfare. He grabbed Bellamy and kneed him in the stomach, before shoving him away. Jinny raised her sword to attack but the man caught the blade with his bare hand, then lashed out with his fist and struck her across the temple. She fell to the ground with a cry, momentarily dazed by the burst of pain within her skull.
Shots pierced through the air and someone ran forwards from the dropship, launching themselves against Tristan and sending them sprawling against the ground. Bellamy got up and tackled the warrior, cracking his fist against the man's face. Jinny scrambled to her feet, regaining her composure quickly and glancing towards the dropship. "Miller! Clarke!" she shouted. "Go! Close the door!"
"No! Finn!" Clarke protested as Miller grabbed her arm and started to pull her back inside.
Jinny looked around and fetched her sword just as more warriors came up to meet them after they had finished slaughtering the rest of the gunners that had been holding up the gate to the last second. She let out a feral scream, expending the remainder of her strength to parry and slash repeatedly, aiming for weaknesses and severing ligaments. Miller continued to shoot from the dropship door as it closed and Bellamy darted forwards to grab Jinny around the waist. "We need to run! Now!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Finn! Let's go!!"
The Grounders started to swarm around the dropship, ramming against the walls and scaling the sides. Jinny ran back towards the tunnel behind Bellamy but felt fingers catch hold of her ankle. Her body lurched forwards, falling heavily with accumulated momentum. The last thing she remembered was seeing Bellamy's back disappear around the corner of the tunnel before her head collided against a stone, and then oblivion.
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T H E E N D O F A C T I
Wow, I am equal parts excited and scared for the next season. Season One is finally done whoo!!
Any guesses on what's going to happen in the next part?