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DRAWN QUARTERED
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AFTER ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES of walking, Finn finally brought them to a halt. There was a metal hatch in the middle of the path and Jinny went forwards to pull it open with a low creak. She gestured for Bellamy and Finn to bring their prisoner in, then waited for the others to climb down the ladder before following. There was a faint smell of vanilla masking the underlying mildew in the bunker, mixed with the scent of smoke from various candles that Finn was already lighting around the room. Jinny looked around the shelter in awe, taking in the various shelves stocked with jars and supplies. There was even a bed, dining table and kitchenette lining the right side of the room. It could have accommodated two people comfortably, but for how long?
She picked up a little metallic figure of what resembled a deer, sitting on top of some sketching paper and pencils. Her fingers traced the expertly hand drawn portraits of various animals and flowers. At the very bottom of the pile, she caught sight of long dark hair and the angle of a square jaw just visible of the paper's edge.
"Art supply store," she mumbled. Finn looked at her, having heard it, and she glanced back to him. "I remember Clarke mentioning it before."
"How long do we have to wait?" Murphy asked as he sat on a chair and looked down at the Grounder on the floor.
"As long as it takes," Bellamy answered, grabbing some wires from a bucket. He used them to tie the Grounder's hands together behind the back.
"And how are we gonna do this?" Murphy continued to question.
Bellamy glanced at Jinny as she was inspecting the inventory nearby, pulling out plastic containers and taking whiffs from the contents of old mason jars. "Jin's gonna do what she does best."
"Making your life a living hell?" she asked, turning around to grin at him.
"No, the other one," he replied.
"Making other people's lives a living hell?" Her grin turned into a sly smirk.
"How do you put up with her?" Murphy asked incredulously.
Bellamy shivered suddenly. "I just had a rush of déjà vu."
He walked over and started to rummage around the junk surrounding the room with Jinny, finding a few boxes of matches that he pocketed. Monroe and Sterling were sitting on the couch with their eyes closed and heads leaning against the wall in rest. Finn was brooding in the opposite corner, his dark eyes boring holes into the Grounder's impervious head as his thumb stroked the face of Clarke's watch.
"We can't wait for him to wake up," he said after a while.
"It's not like we can ask him politely," Murphy replied with a snort.
"The longer we sit here, Clarke and the others could be running out of time," Finn told them agitatedly.
"What do you want us to do, Finn?" Bellamy asked. "Hit him over the head again?"
"Ooh, looks like we might not have to wait," Jinny said, grabbing a small vial from a shelf and holding it up for them to view. "Smelling salts."
She went to the Grounder and uncorked the vial, waving it underneath the man's nose. Almost immediately, he jerked awake and gazed blearily around at them. Jinny took a step back, closing the small tube and slipping it into her pocket. "Good morning. Now tell us where our friends are," she demanded.
The disfigured man merely stared back at her defiantly and she sighed, finding the scene to be hauntingly familiar. "Okay, let's do this then," she mumbled almost boredly, leaning forwards and reaching out with a hand to position her thumb behind the man's jaw underneath his ear. She pressed, hard, and he suddenly let out a cry of pain which he smothered by gritting his teeth together.
"No?" She stood back up and cocked her head to the side, only to receive a glare back. "Sure then." She took out the salts again, pouring out a pinch onto her hand, and then rubbing it into his head wound. The man hissed out in pain, biting down on his own tongue to keep himself from making a sound. She punched him across the jaw. "Don't do that."
"Man, you're such a bitch," Murphy commented with a titter.
"Why do I find that so ironic?" she questioned rhetorically, then pulled out her knife. "Maybe he doesn't need his other eye too."
"I don't know anything about your friends," the Grounder finally spat out.
Jinny exchanged unsurprised glances with the others. "So he does talk," she stated, holding her hand out to Finn who passed her Clarke's watch. "Where did you find this?"
"Outside your camp."
She backhanded him. "Try again."
"The camp you abandoned."
Bellamy took a step forward, taking the watch from Jinny like a tag race. "We're gonna do this again," he told the man. "And this time, you're gonna stop screwing with us." He waved the watch in front of the Grounder's face. "Where did you find this?"
"I told you," he began again, baring his rotten teeth. "I found it outside your camp."
"He's lying," Finn hissed. "She would never take it off voluntarily."
"Murphy," Jinny called. "What did they do to you at the prison camp?"
"They listened to me scream as they tore my nails out," he answered nonchalantly. "Cut me and beat me up until I bled."
"I can do worse than that," she said, lowering her voice menacingly. "I've done far worse."
Finn took the watch from Bellamy and shoved it in front of the captive's face again. "Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?!" His voice increased forcefully with each demanding syllable until it reached a sharp yell.
"I never saw a girl," the Grounder said adamantly.
"Another lie," Murphy drawled. "Maybe you should stop asking nicely." He held up a wrench.
Jinny smirked lightly, taking the tool from him. "How 'bout one last chance?"
"Where are our friends?" Bellamy asked. "You took 'em, we know you did, just tell us where!"
The Grounder sighed and closed his eyes in exasperation. "Murphy's right, we're wasting time," Finn said, grabbing the gun from his back pocket. In the next instant, he slammed the pistol grip against the man's face before shouting loudly, "Answer the question! Where is she?!"
Bellamy held him back, pushing him away roughly. "Hey! Finn!"
"WHERE IS THE GIRL WHO WAS WEARING THIS WATCH?!" His voice roared throughout the small room, causing each one of them to flinch.
"Stop!" Bellamy bellowed. "You don't wanna do this, trust me. There are some lines you can't uncross." Finn paused and looked at him. Bellamy slowly let go before walking towards the opposite end of the bunker.
As soon as he had taken a few steps, Finn whirled around and swung the gun twice more against the Grounder's face. "Where is she?! Where's Clarke?!"
"Finn!!" Bellamy ran back and grabbed his jacket.
"Back off!" Finn yelled, shoving the man away and aiming the handgun at him.
"Hey!!" Jinny shouted loudly, moving to stand in between him and Bellamy. "Have you gone insane?! Calm the fuck down!"
"Finn, put down the gun," Bellamy called, his voice wavering slightly as he held a hand to her shoulder. He gently moved her out of the way so that she was no longer in his line of fire, while shaking his head beseechingly at the boy.
Finn cocked the gun and directed it towards the Grounder's temple instead. "Three seconds!" he shouted. "Two! One."
"Okay!" the Grounder cried out, bending over and letting out the breath he'd been holding. His voice came out in a rush after that. "I'll tell you. Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war."
"East where?" Finn asked in a low growl, the flicker from the candles lending him a sadistic glint in his eyes. "How do we get to them?"
"I can draw you a map, but you should hurry," he said. "Soon, they'll outlive their usefulness."
Finally, Finn lowered the gun to his side and took a step back. "Get him something to draw a map with."
Monroe grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from the table, flapping it in front of the Grounder. She crouched down to tie his hands in front of him so he had some leeway to draw. Murphy stood up, leaning in close to Bellamy and Jinny. "And you thought I was the crazy one, huh?" he asked almost smugly.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're still mad, Murphy, what are you talking about?"
"Just as much as you are," he replied, patting her on the shoulder before slowly walking down the bunker to pass some time.
"I'm not crazy," she whispered with a shake of her head.
Monroe gagged the Grounder when he was done drawing and brought the completed map to them. They crouched down to examine the directions, which showed the village to be about forty clicks from where they were, with the landmark of a statue in between.
"Gather up the gear," Bellamy ordered while standing up. "We're leaving."
"What about him?" Sterling asked, nodding his head towards the Grounder who looked at them expectantly.
"For now, we leave him," Bellamy answered. "Deal with him when we're done."
"And what if he escapes?" Murphy frowned. "He knows exactly where we're going."
"We're not killing him," Bellamy responded firmly.
"I don't really see another option here," the boy argued. "We don't take care of this now, this is gonna blow back on us and you know that."
"He's unarmed, Murphy," Bellamy stated.
"He's a Grounder." He looked towards Jinny and the others who continued to hold their silence. "Seriously? Come on, tell him!"
They all felt unsettled by the turn of events; but even Jinny could see that killing the Grounder didn't seem like the right thing to do. She wasn't even sure what right and wrong was anymore in their current situation.
"I don't know..." Monroe started uncertainly.
"You don't know what?" Murphy snapped. "He's gonna tell his people everything, then we're as good as dead. Our friends too."
"This isn't up for debate," Jinny said at last. "There's no need to kill him, he'll be locked up in here."
He shook his head and moved forwards but Bellamy stood in his way. "We're not doing this, end of discussion. You want him, you go through me."
"What exactly happened to you, huh?" Murphy asked cynically. "You're acting as if you've never killed a Grounder before."
"That was in battle," Bellamy said. "This would be an executi—"
An explosion rang throughout the bunker from the barrel of a handgun without warning, causing everyone to flinch instinctively. They turned around sharply to find Finn standing over the dead Grounder with his weapon smoking. Blood gushed forth from the head wound and spilled onto the floor in a pool of dark crimson. The only thing they could do was to stare.
"Shit," Jinny hissed under her breath, more from shock than remorse.
Finn lowered his arm as he looked down at the man he had just killed for one beat before turning around to them and walking towards the exit. "Let's get moving." He bent down to grab the map on his way out.
Murphy was the first to go after him, followed by Sterling. Monroe picked up the rifles on the table and passed them along to Bellamy and Jinny, before moving to climb up the ladder. They left the both of them in the bunker with expressions of incredulity still plastered onto their features. As much as Jinny's experiences had moulded her into an efficient killing machine, the biting cold in Finn's eyes unnerved her.
"I don't feel comfortable about this," Jinny said, exchanging disturbed glances with Bellamy.
"You and me both," he replied.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
[ author's note ]
i can totally see a tear sliding down finn's cheek in that textpost.
guys, i already have chapter 10 written out and the good stuff is still yet to come. if you thought jinny's virus was a grand reveal, you gotta see what else i have in store lmao.