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SHOT CALLS
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RIDING A HORSE was actually harder than it looked, though Jinny had gotten the basics down. Her legs weren't still used to the galloping motion and she could feel the ache radiating through her inner thighs as she worked her muscles to keep upright. Still, she would never admit to that nor allow it to show as their group drew to a sharp halt in the middle of the narrow path. Jinny frowned in agitation as Abby stopped in front of them and dismounted her horse, forcing their entire troop to stop for her. She exhaled an annoyed breath, nudging her horse forwards as Clarke climbed down from her own mount.
"Mom, why are we stopping?" the blonde demanded, striding up towards Abby who was collecting water from a puddle by the side of the road.
"You need to drink, the both of you," Abby told them, thrusting canteens to Clarke and Jinny.
"I need to get back home, that's what I need to do," Jinny retorted, ignoring the water and looking around warily at the open terrain around them. She tugged lightly at her reins as the horse started to shift uneasily.
"Jinny's right, we're fine," Clarke said, brushing her mother off. She turned back to the Grounders that followed them. "Our scouts patrol these woods. Be careful where you shoot."
"Yes, ma'am." The rider captain nodded in acknowledgement.
"The Grounders listen to you too," Abby noted.
Clarke lowered her voice slightly. "Lexa told them to... we shouldn't have stopped." She started to her horse. "Mount up!"
"Clarke!" Abby called worriedly.
The girl walked back to her with impatient energy. "We need to get back to that radio to see if Bellamy has made contact."
Jinny tightened her grip on the leather strap as she stared down at them with obvious irritation marked across her fair features. Too much time had passed, and there was still no word or sighting of Lincoln. He should have been back by now, telling them that Bellamy had made it through the intake door safely. Her insides twisted with worry, a cold sensation that filled the pit of her stomach with callous acid.
"Let's move out!" Abby finally called, making her way back to her horse.
A gunshot suddenly rang through the air, and one of the Grounders grunted loudly in pain as he fell off the side of his horse. Jinny turned around sharply to pinpoint the bullet's direction. It had come from the east, where Octavia was last seen scouting with Indra.
"Mountain Men!" Clarke exclaimed before spurring her horse forwards.
Jinny went after her quickly, Abby shouting for someone to follow them. They galloped past the prolific vegetation and over the mud packed ground that was heavily littered with fall leaves. Frenzied shouts erupted from beyond the bend of the road, and they pulled up in front of Octavia with her knife to the throat of a man in a green hazmat suit.
"Octavia, no!" Clarke yelled. "He's from Mount Weather, we need to keep him alive. Check to see if he's got a patch kit. We've got to get him back to camp."
Jinny got off her horse and started forwards as Octavia pushed the Mountain Man to the ground. He was crying out in pain about how it burned, blistering red ulcers spreading across the skin of his face that was visible through the clear plastic sheet of his breathing helm. There was a tear in his right pants leg from where Octavia had slashed it earlier, and Jinny guessed the air must be extremely toxic to them. It was strange to witness.
She went to examine the body of the other Mountain Man that had been killed by a Grounder's arrow, finding a sniper rifle positioned on the ground. So this was their would-be assassin. Octavia went through the pack that was left on the ground, unzipping the front pocket and finding old fashioned photographs inside. She let out a sharp breath of air and Jinny leaned forwards to have a closer look at them.
It was a picture of her, holding Bellamy's hand as they walked through the gates of Tondc.
Fuck, they knew his face.
Octavia shuffled through the thin stack, and there were other photos of Clarke and Lexa in the bunch too. All of them had red circles around their faces. Targets. The Mountain Men were aiming at the three of them. Bellamy wasn't included on the hit list, which was a relief. They wouldn't be actively searching for him then. Jinny took the photographs from Octavia and marched up to the Mountain Man, grabbing the front of his suit roughly.
"What the hell is this?" she shouted at him, waving the pictures in front of his face. He merely stared back at her as he continued to cry out in pain. "You were trying to assassinate us. How much do you know?"
He ignored her, pressing his hands against the hole in his suit as Octavia came up with a patch kit. She knelt down and quickly plastered a thin layer of radiation shielding over the opening. The man calmed down slightly, though he was still gasping out in pain from the burns he'd sustained. Jinny crouched down and grabbed him again. "What have you done to my friends?" she asked. "Tell me what I want to hear and we'll let you live."
"Carl Emerson," he said, voice muffled by his breathing apparatus. "Mount Weather security detail."
"Hi, Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail," Jinny responded with a dangerous glint in her eyes as she stood up and unholstered her gun. She pressed the barrel against the man's head. "This is Glock 22 stocking .45 caliber ammunition."
"Jinny, stop!" Clarke called.
The Ark Guard walked up to her and shoved the pictures at the blonde. "We're their targets, us and Lexa."
"We have to warn the Commander," Indra informed from the other side of the path before spitting out instructions in Trigedasleng to the Grounder escort. The warrior turned his horse around and whipped it into motion, galloping back down the dirt road.
"I need to find out if Bellamy's made contact," Jinny said, climbing back onto her horse. She kicked her heels into the animal's sides and took off without waiting for the others. They would follow her soon enough.
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The familiar ring of Alpha Station loomed high above her, blocking the harsh glare of the sun as she trotted through the gates of Camp Jaha. People immediately surrounded her, swarming her horse as they called out questions imperatively. Jinny ignored them as she dismounted, her eyes set on the station's entrance, and started forwards across the compound.
"Hey!" Commander Shumway's voice cut through the air as he grabbed hold of her arm before she could take a step further. "Why are you alone? Where's the Chancellor and Major Byrne? The others?"
She roughly pulled her arm out of his grasp and took a step back angrily. "Get out of my way!" she shouted.
"Jinny!" Kane stood in front of her, doing the exact opposite of what she just said. "We need a debrief of what happened."
She took a deep breath, then letting it out in a bluster of frustration, curling her anxious fingers into tight fists. Summoning whatever that was left of her frail patience, she quickly summarised the events that had taken place while they were in Tondc.
"The Grounders?" Kane questioned.
"Are with us," she responded. "Can I go now?"
He didn't look completely satisfied by her answers but gave a curt nod to indicate that she was allowed to leave. Jinny dashed towards the entrance, making her way towards the engineering work room. Raven was alone, manning the radio diligently and listening for the slightest hint of contact from Mount Weather. She should have known when Jasper's voice continued to relay his message in a never ending loop, but logic had temporarily taken a backseat in favour of irrationality.
"Anything?" Jinny asked breathlessly.
Raven looked up at her with wide eyes, brows slightly pinched together, and shook her head dejectedly. Jinny sunk onto the stool next to her with a dismayed sigh, feeling her limbs grow heavy from the disappointing news. In secret, her heart ached.
"Hey," Raven started, touching her arm in comfort. "It's gonna be okay. He'll make contact."
"What if he doesn't?" Jinny asked numbly, resentment seeping into her voice. "What am I going to do?"
Raven shook her head. "I know you have more faith in him than that."
Jinny rubbed her eyes, feeling the exhaustion and stress creeping up on her after having pushed it away for the past two days. Even if she had managed to tide things over with the Grounder Chieftains, they still kept coming back to harp on her. They had gathered the necessary teams to carry out her reconnaissance plans but they insisted to have more details of the operation. Lexa had to step in to allow Jinny to return to camp, or else they would have insisted for her to go with them. It was grating on her nerves; she had never been one to play politics. That was Clarke's area of expertise, she was just their tactical advisor. As she sat there in the work room, it was the first time that she could actually think and worry about Bellamy since he left to the mountain.
"Jin?" Octavia's voice called from the doorway and she slowly turned around to look at the girl. "Still nothing?"
Jinny shook her head despondently as Octavia walked over to the table. "Hey, you look like you could use some fresh air," she said to Raven.
"Fresh air does sound good," the girl replied.
"Clarke's in medical," Octavia informed. "We brought in one of the Mountain Men and I punctured his suit, so he has radiation burns all over. Maybe you should check in with her, Jinny and I'll man the radio while you're gone."
"Yeah, okay," Raven said with an easy nod, sliding off her seat and exiting the room.
Octavia took her place at the table with a sigh, throwing a glance to Jinny as she picked at her nails. "Hey... you holding up?"
"Still here," Jinny replied bitterly.
"All the Grounders are saying that the best thing about Skaikru is our tactician," the girl went on with a smile. "I'm guessing that's you."
Jinny shook her head. "I'm just stalling for time until we hear back from Bellamy."
"We will hear back from him," Octavia said confidently, then added, "And Lincoln too."
"Lincoln will be back," Jinny responded in the same tone.
With each passing second that Jinny spent listening to Jasper's voice, the void in her heart grew in size until she was engulfed in nothing but an empty hollowness. What if they had been too late and everyone was already dead? The thought of not being able to see the delinquents again made her anxious. The wait was unbearable. Clarke and Raven returned an hour later, finally giving Jinny something else to focus on.
"Did the Mountain Man say anything?" she asked.
"Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail," Clarke responded. "He won't say anything else even with Kane and your father interrogating him."
"That's not right," Jinny frowned. "Do you need me to do it?"
"Clarke and Abby won't let them torture him," Raven answered.
"It won't work," Clarke said adamantly, then pulled out a cylindrical device from her pocket. "Raven, I need to know if you can replicate this."
The mechanic took the piece of equipment and examined it, switching on the button to emit a high pitched tone and blue fluorescent light. She switched it off before nodding. "Yeah, I can totally replicate this frequency."
"Good." Clarke crossed her arms and started to pace. "If we can neutralise the Reapers, the tunnels will be easier to navigate. Get on it."
Raven scowled unhappily. "You don't need to give me orders, Clarke. I got this."
"Any word from Bellamy?" The blonde turned to Jinny.
"Take a good look at me, Clarke, and tell me whether you think Bellamy has made contact," she retorted.
"Lincoln isn't back yet either," Octavia said. "He should be back by now."
"They'll be okay," Clarke said assertively.
"They better be," Raven told them. "This whole plan rests on Bellamy getting in."
"He will!" the blonde exclaimed heatedly, but it sounded like she was assuring herself more than them.
The PA system sounded overhead, then Minho's voice spoke through the speakers. "Councillor Kane and Clarke Griffin, please report to the south airlock immediately."
"We'll finish this later," Clarke told them on her way out of the room.
Jinny watched her leave, muscle in her jaw twitching as she clenched her teeth. Her body moved with nervous tension, palms slick with perspiration as her thoughts went into overdrive. What if they did recognise Bellamy's face? He shouldn't have gone. Jinny couldn't do this anymore; sitting there was driving her insane. After a moment, she stood up and slammed her palms on the table, drawing attention from the other two girls still in the room.
"I'm going to Mount Weather," she announced.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
[ author's note ]
jinny please locate ur nearest chill.
she needs some heavy duty gps for that i think.