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MONSTERS WITHIN
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LEAVE OR DIE. That was what everyone back in camp was repeating when they returned to fetch Clarke. They had stashed Lincoln in the dropship, making sure to chain him up real good before they left him with Octavia. Bellamy hadn't been too keen on leaving her alone, but modern medicine was what Lincoln really needed right then. However, as Jinny stood on the fringe of the crowd gathered in front of the towering ring of Alpha Station, she shook her head in pure disbelief. Thelonius Jaha had returned, lo and behold, trying to shepherd his people away into a new era of light beyond the dead zone.
She was pretty sure the Grounders called it a dead zone for a reason.
"What makes you think we'll make it there?" a man asked skeptically from the audience.
"Because we made it here," Jaha said with all his duplicitous confidence. "I have faith. And right now, given the alternative, that's good enough for me."
"Not for us!" Clarke protested loudly and the people turned their heads to look at her. "If we leave here, what happens to our people in Mount Weather?"
"As your mother said," Jaha responded, "that is a very difficult decision to make. But the time has come for each and every one of us to ask, 'Is this how the story of our people ends? Did we come all this way just to die tomorrow?' Because if we're not gone by the time that sun rises, that is exactly what will happen."
Jinny groaned obnoxiously as she rolled her eyes so hard she was she sure she had strained a muscle, turning to Bellamy with pronounced vexation. "If someone doesn't shut him up soon, I will!" she hissed.
"I should've shot him twice," he muttered to her, then added, "or maybe used the entire clip."
She nodded at him angrily as Abby told the Ark citizens to report to their station supervisor and gather emergency supplies. Hopefully, not for Jaha's nth suicide mission. Bellamy surged forwards once the crowd started to disperse, grabbing hold of Clarke's arm before she could take another step forward to the station door. She turned around to look at them, blue eyes wide with surprise before her eyebrows furrowed over them with concern.
"Hey, where have you guys been?" she asked.
"In the dropship," Bellamy answered. "You need to come back with us right now."
"Why? What's happened?" Clarke inquired, her tone turning serious.
"Something really bad," Jinny told her. "And we need your medical expertise for it."
"Is it Octavia?"
Bellamy shook his head. "We'll explain on the way. Get your medkit; meet us at Raven's gate."
He turned back around and started walking towards the station's hull with Jinny alongside him. She grabbed his jacket to stop him when she noticed that Scanlan had made it back to camp as well. The guardsman looked a little shaken, and he had a noticeable limp as he ducked back into the medical tent. That was something, at least. Jinny quickly went to grab some supplies that were left outside by the guard post and stuffed them into her bag.
They didn't have to wait long for Clarke to meet them at the gate with her yellow plastic medkit. Jinny grabbed her walkie and radioed in Raven to switch off the power for them before they snuck out once again. It still took them a couple of hours to reach the dropship even though they jogged most of the way. The area around these woods had already been engraved into their retinas that they could traverse its mossy paths in the dead of night. They barely paid much attention to their footsteps while they were explaining what had happened in the garage to Clarke.
It had been more than a week since they abandoned the dropship, and the thick layer of ash and dust now barely covered the burial grounds. The faded red, blue and white flag of old Russia was still imprinted on the face of the ship, serving as a reminder to their origins in deep space. Jinny pushed the dirty parachute canvas out of her way at the entrance and walked into the familiar room. Clarke climbed up the ladder first, her boots causing hollow rings to echo around the metal structure.
The moment she set foot on the upper level, Lincoln greeted her with a ferocious snarl that startled the girl. Jinny and Bellamy quickly climbed up to join her, looking at the man who was straining against his chains. His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging from taut muscles underneath his darkly tanned skin with dirt and scabs coating it. He snapped his teeth in their direction, feral growls escaping from the back of his throat as he tried to tear himself free.
"It's okay," Bellamy said, patting Clarke on the back as she stared at Lincoln with barely concealed fear. "He's been restrained."
"I can't believe we're back here again," she said. The sight of the man bound exactly where they had tortured him the last time made Jinny uncomfortable. They were at war then, he was an enemy, and they told themselves that they were doing what they had to do to survive. Now, they were trying to save his life and humanity.
Jinny bent down next to Octavia who was sitting in a corner on the floor. The older woman touched her shoulder and passed her a bottle of water from her backpack. Octavia smiled gratefully and unscrewed the cap to take a gulp from it. She then looked up to Clarke with weary eyes. "Can you help him?" she asked, almost pleadingly.
Lincoln let out a long rasping wail, gurgling and mouth frothing like an animal.
"I don't know," Clarke replied and Octavia closed her eyes painfully. "I know Mount Weather controlled the Reapers... but I had no idea that they were creating them."
"If they can do that to Lincoln," Bellamy said, pointing towards the man uneasily. "What're they doing to our friends?"
That was an awful thought to ponder on and Jinny stood back up, wiping her hands on her pants as she carefully crossed the room. Lincoln's crazed eyes followed her as she moved, mouth wide open as he screamed maniacally at her. She could scarcely imagine the feelings that must be coursing through Octavia's veins to see the man she loved completely transformed into a mindless beast. Jinny glanced at Bellamy, feeling her chest tightening and the urge to hold him in her arms almost overwhelmed her completely.
She took a deep breath as Lincoln continued to yell out, a sheen of sweat slicking his skin. "The only time I've seen someone act this way was a crackhead I arrested back on Arrow. Neighbours said he refused to leave his room for days. He was a complete mess, up to the moment we floated him."
"I remember you telling me about that," Bellamy murmured.
Clarke frowned in perturbation, taking a step forward as she tried to find a way to help. Suddenly, Lincoln started choking and his head fell as his body started to shudder uncontrollably. "He's convulsing," the blonde stated, but he regained consciousness right after the minor episode.
"So what does it mean?" Octavia asked, standing up and picking her torchlight off the floor so they had more light.
Clarke shook her head, letting her eyes examine him. "What happened to his leg?" she asked, pointing towards the bleeding wound before turning to them.
It took Octavia a moment to reply, with her voice hardened. "I shot him." Tears started to prick her eyes again, beads collecting on their lower rims and she looked downwards to avoid their gazes.
"Clarke," Bellamy said. "He's lost a lot of blood."
She pressed her lips into a thin line before taking another step forward to Lincoln. He growled at her, grunting as he pulled against his restraints again. Clarke flinched in response before carefully scrutinising him with her eyes. "Can you shine a light on his neck?"
Octavia and Bellamy obliged, angling their flashlights downward so that the beams of light landed against the man's jugular. Lincoln turned his head away, closing his eyes in aversion and exposing the dark tangled lines of the webbed matrix extending from the nexus of several puncture wounds. "Needle marks!" Clarke exclaimed.
"You think he's been drugged?" Bellamy asked.
"His pupils were completely dilated earlier," Jinny remarked.
There was a loud sound as one of the links in the wall broke and Lincoln swung it towards Clarke, the chain catching around her neck. She cried out sharply as she was dragged forwards to Lincoln who was trying to sink his teeth into her flesh. Octavia yelled his name, quickly darting forwards to pry Clarke away from him but he lashed out with a strong fist. Jinny lunged forwards to catch Octavia before she flew into the wall, slamming her own back against it instead. Bellamy was on Lincoln in the next second, his grunts loudly filling the air to join the rabid snarls, as he repeatedly brought his fist down on the other man's arm. But it was like Lincoln had become completely impervious to pain, grabbing Bellamy's collar and headbutting him.
He fell back heavily and Jinny extended her leg to swipe her feet at Lincoln's shin once again. He buckled, releasing Clarke as he fell to the floor. The frenzied man continued to thrash violently, reaching out with clawed hands as they scrambled away from him. His ankles were still chained to the floor and once he realised that, he picked himself up to pull against the links.
Bellamy got back up onto his feet, grabbing Jinny's shock baton off the floor and charging it with sizzling blue energy. He ran forwards just as Lincoln finally freed himself completely, grabbing the electric rod with his bare hand and sending Bellamy crashing to the floor again. The sound of bone cracking against bone incited an intense fear response in Jinny and she ran forwards, kicking Lincoln hard under the chin with a vicious scream.
He fell backwards from Bellamy, and she dropped onto her knees over his body. She grabbed the handgun from her belt and slammed the butt down onto his temple, finally knocking him out. Her breaths were ragged and deep as she looked down at the unconscious man before turning around to Bellamy. Octavia was already helping him sit up on the floor, blood flowing freely from his nose.
"Bell," Jinny gasped, crawling forwards as she reached out to him.
"I'm okay," he said, voice gruff with pain as he pressed a hand against his nose to staunch the bleeding.
"Jinny..." Octavia touched her hand and it was only then that she realised that she was trembling. She curled her hands into tight fists and took deep calming breaths as Bellamy looked at her in concern. He leaned forwards and enveloped her in a reassuring hug that made her close her eyes and relax slightly.
"We need to restrain him before he wakes up," Clarke said, drawing herself closer to them and dragging the metal chains with her.
Jinny pulled away from Bellamy and looked around the cabin. "There's still some seatbelts left downstairs, we can make a net."
Clarke nodded and went after her to help collect the materials from the lower level of the dropship. They returned a couple of minutes later to find Bellamy already securing the chain onto new links on the floor. Jinny and Clarke set to work, tying the seatbelts to Lincoln's wrists and ankles, then layering more of it in a meshwork above his body. He was now lying spread eagled on the floor with the chains holding him down.
"We have to stop the bleeding and get the bullet out," Clarke told them with a surgical voice as she went to examine the wound in his leg again. Lincoln let out a whimpering cry of pain when she applied too much pressure. "Hold his leg down."
Bellamy moved over to position himself next to her, pressing his hands down on Lincoln's thigh and shin. Clarke turned around to prepare her medical tools as Octavia poured some water into the cap of her canister. She attempted to dribble some into Lincoln's mouth but he shook his head from side to side violently, teeth snapping and almost catching her fingers between them. She let out a yelp as she fell backwards in surprise, the water spilling everywhere onto the floor.
Octavia bit her lip as it started to tremble, picking up the canister and screwing the lid back on. "I'll get some more," she said quietly, before standing up and heading towards the ladder.
Bellamy watched her leave in concern and Jinny leaned forwards to touch his arm. "I'll go," she whispered to him and followed Octavia downstairs. As soon as they exited the dropship into the warm night air, Lincoln started to scream as Clarke extracted the bullet from his wound.
Jinny stepped up to Octavia and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder as she sniffed and fumbled with the water canister. She lowered her gaze and closed her eyes, tears leaking out onto her cheeks again. Jinny pulled the girl into her arms in a tight hug and she felt Octavia's fingers grab hold of the back of her jacket as she sobbed softly.
"It hurts to see him like this," she said, voice muffled against Jinny's shoulder.
"I know," Jinny sighed. "We'll make him better, okay? I promise. We just need to let the drug leave his system, and he'll be back to himself."
"What if he doesn't?" Octavia pulled away to look up at her, wet droplets clinging to her lashes. "What if this changes him?"
"Then we'll knock some more sense into him together," Jinny told her, then smoothed her brown hair to the sides of her face. "We'll get through this... we always do."
She leaned forwards to press her lips on Octavia's forehead and the girl nodded once she leaned back. Turning to the side to wipe her eyes, Octavia suddenly froze. Jinny blinked and followed the direction of her gaze, noticing a white lily placed on the opposite tree trunk. She instantly grabbed the handgun from her belt, clicking the safety off and pointing it in front of her.
"Wait," Octavia murmured as she took a step forward.
Jinny heard a crunch from behind the trees on her right and she swivelled in its direction. Octavia ran forwards before she could stop her, and suddenly a large figure jumped out from the shadows. He grabbed hold of Octavia and pressed a hand against the girl's mouth to smother her frightened scream. Jinny quickly moved closer, taking in the long hair and scraggly beard that were weaved with wooden beads. The man's sweaty skin was fully marked with swirling dark tattoos, the same kind of pattern as Lincoln's had been. She recognised his face from the village.
"Let her go!" Jinny shouted sharply just as the man did just that.
Octavia spun around and frowned in confusion. "Nyko? What are you doing here?"
"You know him?" Jinny asked, continuing to train her gun on his head.
"The scouts have already arrived," Nyko told them. "The Commander is true to her word. If you do not leave, you will die. Octavia... you saved my life from the Reapers. Now let me save yours. It's what Lincoln would've wanted."
Another feral scream erupted from the dropship and Nyko turned to look at its source with a spark of recognition. "What was that?"
"That was Lincoln," Octavia answered, looking back at him with resolve in her green eyes. "If you're really his friend, you'd help me help him."
"He didn't die? What happened to him?" Nyko asked.
"He was made into a Reaper," Jinny said. "The Mountain Men did that, they injected drugs into his veins. Made him lose control of himself."
Nyko hesitated then, his dark eyes glancing towards her before settling on the gun that was still raised in his direction. "Jinny," Octavia said. "You can lower the gun, he's their healer."
The woman hesitantly did so, her eyes darting around towards the trees suspiciously. She holstered the weapon before averting her gaze back to Nyko. "If you're a healer, then you must know some way to help him."
It took him a moment to reply, his expression still held some distrust for her. "I might."
"Then please," Octavia pleaded. "Help us."
Jinny watched Nyko carefully, then he nodded his head in acquiesce.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
[ author's note ]
textpost is me in every episode.
i'm so excited for the next chapter!! anyone missing raulf and his adorableness? ;)