𝟎𝟏𝟒. ❝ NO BLOOD. ❞
— HER EARS WERE RINGING, THE CHANT OF BELLAMY'S NAME BEING REPEATED OVER AND OVER. Time had slowed down, Cleo's eyes glued to Murphy's. He had been nothing but cruel, but not even the cruelest person deserved this. Horror and sympathy filled her eyes and she hoped Murphy knew that she didn't hate him.
In the background of the ringing, she could hear Bellamy and Clarke arguing. She had seen Bellamy kick the box out from underneath Murphy, but she hadn't been able to uproot herself from her position. Murphy swung around, listening to the cheers of the bloodthirsty delinquents.
It wasn't just Bellamy who would be responsible for his murder, it'd be all of them.
Finn came out of nowhere, instructing Charlotte to get out of the angry pack. Cleo hadn't even noticed the young girl was there.
Her eyes were trained on the hanging boy, dry and wide-eyed before Charlotte's voice stopped every cheer in the forest.
"Murphy didn't kill Wells!" She shouted, silencing the juveniles surrounding the dying boy. "I did."
"Oh my god," Clarke murmured with disbelief, acting quickly to cut Murphy down.
Cleo pushed past the crowd, joining Finn by Murphy's side. An angry gasp for air left his lips as the boy loosened the rope around his neck. Her fingers worked quickly to undo the gag around his mouth while in the background, she could hear Bellamy taking Charlotte away from the situation.
"Can you breathe?" She asked him, fingers going to his neck, feeling the indentations of the rope.
"I'm gonna fucking kill that little bitch!" He screamed in response, trying to get up.
Cleo pushed him back down, looking over her shoulder to see if Charlotte was gone. "No, you're not. You're gonna breathe and you're gonna gather yourself first."
"You don't get to tell me what to do, Cleo. You were gonna sit there and watch me die!" He looked at the surrounding teens. "You all were!"
She looked at Finn, who was looking intently after Clarke — who'd followed Bellamy. "Go, quickly," she told him.
He got up without another word and sped off, catching up with the group.
"Get some water!" Cleo instructed. "Now!"
The crowd dispersed quickly, but Octavia returned with a mug of water. Cleo untied his hands, giving him the water. Murphy took it gratefully, swallowing it all in three huge gulps. He threw the cup angrily, letting it smash against a tree.
He got up shakily, but he was determined to make it to one place.
"Murphy, get cleaned up first," Cleo said, chasing after him and trying to stop him. His anger would only make him do something he'd regret — and she didn't want anyone to have that.
He pushed her aside, forcing her into the dirt without saying anything. She winced, landing on her right hand harshly. Octavia and Jasper helped her up, following Murphy back into camp. They jogged, trying to catch up to him.
When they reached him, he stood outside of Bellamy's tent like nothing had even happened. He paced back and forth in front of yet another crowd that had formed to watch the action. Cleo pushed through the bystanders, creating a path so the trio could make it to the front.
"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy's voice bellowed in anger.
Cleo shot a nervous look to Octavia, who matched her expression. The other girl shook her head at her and Cleo knew that nothing good would happen. She took a timid step forward but went right back to where she was when he began speaking again.
"Bring the girl out now!" He was growing angrier and angrier by the minute. "Yeah, you want to build a society, princess? Let's build a society! Bring her out!"
She could hear the scared murmurs behind her. Everyone had been willing to kill Murphy, but the thought of killing a little girl didn't resonate too well with everyone else.
When the flap opened and Bellamy crawled out, Murphy left the crowd to walk towards him. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us."
She saw Bellamy scan the crowd hesitantly. "Dial it down and back off."
"Or what?" Murphy asked, sauntering a little bit closer to his ex-leader. "What are you gonna do about it — hang me?"
With the blood caked on his face, he looked like he'd just been through a war. He didn't look like somebody Cleo wanted to mess with, but luckily for her, Bellamy was much braver than she was.
"I was just giving the people what they wanted."
"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Why don't we do that right now?" He turned from Bellamy and back to the crowd. "So, who here wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favor?"
When nearly nobody raised their hands, Cleo averted her gaze, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Murphy's wrath.
"I see," he began. "So it's okay to string me up for nothing — but when this little bitch confesses, you all let her walk?" He paused, letting his words hit the crowd. "Cowards — All of you are cowards!"
Cleo kept her mouth shut like always, raising her eyes to meet his wrathful eyes. He was out for blood, anyone could tell from the animalistic look in his eyes.
"Murphy, it's over," Bellamy said calmly to him.
"Whatever you say, Boss."
Cleo's mouth dropped open slightly, watching Bellamy walk away. Just as she thought the situation was defused, she watched Murphy lunge for the pile of logs. He picked one up about the width of her arm, drawing back and hitting Bellamy painfully on the back of the head.
He crumpled to the ground, immediately drawing Octavia from the crowd as she screamed for her brother. Cleo pulled her back with Jasper, who then stood in front of her. He took a punch to the face instead of Octavia, who then ran to her brother, checking to see if he was still breathing.
"Oh, fuck," Cleo breathed out, catching Jasper as he fell. She knelt down on the ground next to him after laying him down gently. "Shit, Jasper, are you okay?"
"I've been better," he groaned, holding his nose with a wince on his face.
"Is he okay?" Cleo asked Octavia, looking up at the Blake siblings. "Is he alive?"
"Why does it matter?" Murphy asked. "He wanted me dead and I want him dead."
"The world doesn't revolve around you, Murphy!" Cleo snapped, raising her voice to scream at him. "If you kill Charlotte and Bellamy and whoever you feel like killing, you're no better than them!"
"I don't care if I'm better than them!" He yelled back, drawing her to her feet. "I care that everyone here was okay with hanging me and nobody wants to hang her."
"If you weren't such a dick, Murphy, maybe more people would've defended you. But let's face it — it's not that hard to believe you're a murderer, is it?"
"Says the murderer herself," he taunted, taking a step closer to her. "Don't you have another kid to go kill?"
Cleo felt the eyes of more than a dozen delinquents, hearing the hushed whispers that were frequent among the crowd. For the first time, his words about Penelope didn't phase her. She steeled up, inhaling deeply. "No, Murphy. I've never killed a kid, but you're about to."
His jaw moved, eyes calculating the outcome of his actions before he shrugged. "An eye for an eye."
He walked away, a group of angry boys following him. Cleo took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down before helping Jasper up. He was still weak from being impaled, but he had been brave today.
"Can you get him?" She asked Octavia.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Bellamy insisted, proving that he was indeed alive.
A strange feeling of relief washed over her bones as he got up with Octavia's help.
"You need rest and you need your head looked at," Octavia said.
"I'm no Clarke, but I can try." Cleo offered. She had basic first aid training, but nothing compared to Clarke. All she knew how to do was what Pike had taught her.
The two pairs made it to the dropship, evading Murphy's men wielding their kid-hunting weapons. Cleo set Jasper down on a box and instructed Octavia to get him a cloth for his nose. It wasn't broken, but he wouldn't be walking around with an unblemished face anytime soon.
When she made her way to Bellamy, he sat up on a cot with his eyes scrunched close like he was trying to remember something.
"How is it feeling?" She asked gently, moving behind him to inspect the area Murphy had hit him.
"Like Murphy just bashed my head in," he answered dryly, hissing when she pressed her fingers along the bump on the back of his head.
She pushed his curls aside, pressing and feeling for blood. "Lucky you, there's no blood," she told him. "But there's a really nasty bump, so you shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon."
"Are you kidding me? Murphy's gonna kill that kid, Cleo." Bellamy stood up, having to be steadied by both his sister and the girl he hated. "I thought you cared about kids."
"I do, Bellamy, but I also care about our leader not dying You're the only one who can reign them down and force them to listen." She forced him back down. "Just sit down for an hour or two and I'll keep an eye out, okay? You're no use to Charlotte if you're dead."
He looked defeated, but he nodded, laying down on his cot and closing his eyes. She didn't know if she gave him sound medical advice, but she couldn't have an angry, confused Bellamy walking around the forest.
"Cleo, your hand," Jasper said, pointing to her bandaged hand.
She looked down, realizing for the first time that blood had begun to seep through her wrapped fingers. "I'll be fine," she lied, ignoring the growing pain. "I'm gonna go try to stop Murphy, keep an eye on him?"
"Of course I will," Octavia answered, giving her brother a worried look.
Cleo walked out of the dropship, ignoring her hand while she looked around for Murphy. She had to make sure they had enough time to get away and her stalling Murphy could be the only way.
— HIGH KEY the next
chapter is one of my
favorites ngl.
do you agree with murphy or bellamy?