𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 · 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 ¹

𝟏.𝟏𝟎

『 𝐖𝐞𝐫 𝐳𝐮 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐳𝐞𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐟 𝐄𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧
𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐦 𝐓𝐨𝐝 𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧  』

- 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 -

𝙍𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙞𝙣

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                        I went straight to bed, not wanting to allow more time for my thoughts to delve into everything that had happened that day, not wanting the darker ends of my mind to take over, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

    "Octavia!"

I rolled on the bed to see who was screaming at the top of their lungs so close to me, having woken me up from my more-than-earned rest. I rubbed my eyes trying to focus my gaze, seeing Bellamy's worried face once I opened them.

    "Bellamy? You look like..." I bit my tongue. "What's going on?"

    "I can't find Octavia."

    "How long has it been?" I sat up on the bed and stretched my arms.

    "Since you went to bed?" I nodded. "An hour."

    "I thought she was with Monty and Jasper."

    "I can't find her." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nowhere in camp."

The tiredness vanished from my body as soon as he said those words with that mix of worry and guilt in his voice. I quickly grabbed my boots, reminding him that this was her tent and, therefore, the first place he should've looked into, not the last.

    "I already did." He ran a hand through his hair. "I came again to check if she was back."

    "Then why didn't you wake me up the first time?"

    "Because I thought I could find her on my own."

    "You should have told me." I grabbed my jacket following him out of the tent. "Have you asked the rest?"

    "Most of them."

    "Then let's go ask the rest."

We walked around camp looking for Octavia, finding Clarke sat just outside of Finn's tent who, I assumed, was asleep; her gaze had been on the floor but as soon as she heard us coming, she looked up, disgust written all over her face, not that it bothered me because that was her problem to solve.

    "You're up," Bellamy spoke first.

    "Yeah, knowing that hundreds of people might be dying on the Ark makes it pretty hard to sleep."

Her comment made me roll my eyes. Do we look like we have time for this? They got into a discussion about that damned topic yet again, having to come in between them before either said something even more stupid than usual, reminding Bellamy why we were really there as I asked Clarke if she had seen Octavia.

    "No. It's Octavia, she's probably chasing butterflies or–"

The entitlement in her voice was irritating; was a simple no so hard to utter? Apparently, it was because she needed to portray Octavia as the dumbest person around and I was sure I'd have said or done something if Bellamy hadn't spoken before I did, being much more diplomatic than I'd have been.

    "I've checked the camp. She's not here."

    "Okay. I'll help you find her." Clarke agreed but not without making a big deal out of it. "You go to the dropship and I'll check the rest of the tents."

    "Thank you."

    "Don't thank me. I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for Octavia."

I watched them both move away, seemingly forgetting all about me as I stood there, crossing my arms over my chest, pondering why exactly did I bother helping either of them before I got back into my tent. However, Octavia was still missing, so I decided to go check around the outside of the camp on my own, just in case, picking my two knives and a flashlight.

It didn't mind how well I looked around or how many rounds I did, nothing seemed to indicate that Octavia, or anyone really, had been around the wall recently. Fuck. I should have come back with her. It's not like I was anywhere near helpful to the rest anyway. I was entering back into the camp when a couple of kids came near me.

    "Have you seen that?"

    "See what?"

    "Look at the sky. Everyone's looking at it over the fire."

I followed them and eventually found myself surrounded by everyone in the camp, again. What is it with these reunions already? I'm surprised no one's fighting. I caught a glimpse of Jasper, walking up to him to ask what was going on when I saw the rest there, Raven being the one to speak first as I got closer.

    "They didn't see the fares."

    "A meteor shower tells you that?"

    "It's not a meteor shower, it's a funeral." Clarke shot Bellamy a death glare. "Hundreds of bodies being returned to Earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side. They didn't get our message."

I saw Jasper tearing up as he looked at the floor; I couldn't help the guilt that spread around my chest as I stood near him but not close enough for I feared his reaction. After all, it was my fault. Bellamy looked at the ground and started to move away but he didn't get too far as Raven exploded, her face going from sad to angry in a matter of seconds.

    "This is because of you!"

    "I helped you find the radio."

    "Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!"

    "Yeah." I moved forward, making myself known and standing in front of Raven. "But you need to split your anger between us because I was there too."

    "Sam–"

    "No. Shut up." Raven barked at Bellamy who had attempted to pull me back and away from them, placing his hand on my shoulder, making him drop it as Raven faced me again. "You didn't trash the radio. You were there trying to help me so why are you protecting him?"

    "I'm not protecting Bellamy, I'm assuming the consequences of my actions. Not only did I not stop him, but I also encouraged him."

    "Then why did you stay there if you wanted the same as him?" Raven moved so close to me I thought I was about to hear her raged heartbeat.

    "I... I don't know."

Why did I stay? Because I knew she needed help? I mean, I obviously wasn't going to let her die. Or worse, get caught by the Grounders.

    "Because, even if she wanted the radio gone, Sam's not one to just let people die."

I turned to look at Bellamy, my eyebrows furrowed as I eyed him carefully; I was both confused and surprised he had said anything, let alone repeat the same words I told Clarke that day in the clearing. But we don't have time for this. I turned back to Raven, seeing she was now standing next to Clarke.

    "Listen, as much as I'd love for you to keep reminding me of the people I've killed, I don't have the time for that right now. Maybe later once Octavia is back safe with us."

I walked away from the crowd, walking past Bellamy and Jasper not wanting to hear anything from anyone; I heard footsteps behind me, soon seeing Jasper slowing down as he got to me, but not saying anything, simply walking by my side, both of us leaving the camp but having to stop because the rest were taking too long. Probably still fighting over some shit, as if we had the time for it.

    "You didn't know."

    "I didn't." I glanced at him, seeing in his eyes that he really wanted to comfort me. "I should have known better than to trash the radio, but there's nothing I can do about that now."

    "Don't torture yourself over this." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Okay? We need you."

    "Thank you, J." I took his hand in mine. "I really mean it." I squeezed it. "Your friendship means a lot to me. Even if I don't show it much."

    "Much? More like at all." He smiled, his eyes squinting as he did. "I'm kidding. I know. You went out of your way to make sure I came back alive to camp. You will always be my friend. My first friend from Earth."

I couldn't help but smile; Jasper's friendship was something I cherished deeply because he had an innocence about him that I wished I hadn't lost. He reminded me of a younger me, of a better time.

I'm not sure how I became so lucky as to deserve a friend like him, so full of life, so kind, so amiable that even chose to befriend the murderer in camp... I can tell he also cares a lot about Octavia.

Finally, the rest of the group got to us, walking all together but not finding anything in what seemed like ages, feeling the people getting tired and annoyed but I refused to give in. Where could she be? I swear if the Grounders took her, they are going to have a problem. I clenched my fists as I thought about Octavia getting hurt.

    "Hey! Over here!"

I made my way towards the voice finding Bellamy was already there with another guy, questioning what was happening. The guy pointed at something just down a slope. I wondered how exactly he saw anything in the first place.

    "Rope."

    "What are you doing?" Finn pulled Bellamy back as he got to us.

    "I need the rope to get back up," Bellamy answered him, quickly getting rid of him. "I need a flashlight."

    "Here." I handed him mine. "Careful."

His eyes stayed on mine for a second before he started going down the slope. I stood there, watching him go down as more people came towards us, all questioning Bellamy's decisions and whether walking around in the dark like we were doing was any good.

    "It's hers."

Bellamy rose his hand, showing us that he had caught it before he turned around and started to move away from the rope and in the opposite direction. I sighed as I watched him go. I know he is worried, but he needs to calm down and pause to think or he will get hurt himself.

I didn't think it twice myself, taking the rope and moving down the slope, closely followed by Finn and Jasper, but not before they let me know how much of a bad idea it was. I brushed them away, making my way towards Bellamy, seeing him squatted next to a rock.

    "What is it?"

    "Blood."

    "Hey, we are going to find her. Alive." I placed my hand on his arm. "I'm with you. Even if that isn't much."

    "Someone else was here Sam."

He moved some leaves, pointing just under them so I squatted to inspect them, hearing Finn getting to us as I got to the same conclusion Bellamy had: deeper prints meant more weight, which meant someone could potentially have taken Octavia with them.

    "If they were carrying her, that must mean she is still alive." I stood up before anyone could stop me. "We have to move."

I didn't wait for any of them to say anything, walking on my own after the tracks, wondering what the hell had really happened down here. God, I hope they aren't doing the same to O as they did with Jasper. As it became the norm down on Earth, I had more questions than answers and I was enjoying none of it.

    "Hey, Sam?" I glanced at Bellamy for just a second to acknowledge him. "Thank you."

    "You don't have to thank me. I'm not doing anything. Besides, we haven't found her yet."

    "Thank you for coming with me. For helping me. For confronting Raven."

    "I'll always be with you." Once I heard my own voice I felt the urge to puke rainbows. "That sounded way more romantic than intended, so forget it."

    "You'll always have me too."

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked puzzled at him, trying to determine if he was mocking me, joking, flirting, or just... being honest.

    "You are such a confusing human being, Bellamy Blake."

    "So are you Samantha... I don't know your surname. In fact, I doubt anyone knows."

    "Not the time." I brushed my hand in the air, starting to walk again. "We may discuss this once we have O back."

    "Will you tell me?"

    "As much as I love being a source of entertainment for you, because I can see your worried expression change, it's not the time for getting to know me."

    "I'm still worried about O."

    "I know you are." I paused again, having him standing directly in front of me. "But you need to slow down or you could get yourself hurt or killed. And that is something we don't need right now, okay? So don't be reckless. That's my job."

He nodded, allowing me to see the small smile on his lips just before he started to walk ahead of me, focusing completely on the tracks. Where are you O?

We kept walking through the forest, Finn quickly running past us to lead the group, following the strange footprints, having to walk in line for a while as the path stretched, only allowing one person at a time. I became very pleased when we finally made it to a widening, but once I stepped foot in it, I realized Finn was frozen in his place. I followed his eyes and could not believe what was in front of me: at least 5 different decomposing bodies were hanging from trees or impaled on the ground. Well, that sure doesn't look inviting.

    "I don't speak Grounder," Finn turned back to look at us. "But I'm pretty sure this means keep out."

As soon as the rest of the group got to us and they saw what was ahead of us, they started to turn around back to the camp. I didn't blame them but I did judge them; we were there to save one of our own and if the Grounders wanted to scare me off, they would have to try harder. I walked up to Bellamy after he announced whoever wanted to go could, most running back to camp as I stood by his side.

    "You are not going in there alone."

He turned his head to face me; I could tell he was both thankful and worried, opening his mouth to say something but being overrun by Jasper as he stood next to me.

    "I'd walk into hell to find her."

    "Good, cause we are about to."

    "More like we already have."

Finn approached us, followed by four other delinquents named John, Diggs, Roma, and Monroe, nodding at them, appreciating their bravery for I understood they hadn't signed up for this but chose to join us either way. We wandered around till it was morning, walking distributed to cover more ground but still keeping each other in sight. However, we found no signs of Octavia, or of anyone else for that matter. Not alive, at least.

    "I got nothing." Finn came to a stop, clearly exasperated. "We lost the trail."

    "Keep looking," Bellamy argued from his other side. "There has to be something."

    "Wandering aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister. We should backtrack."

    "I'm not going back!"

    "Hey, where's John?"

We had all moved back to stand close together, Bellamy and Finn going at it when Roma grabbed everyone's attention. It was true, John was nowhere to be seen and it wasn't as if we were on a bushy side of the forest for him to have hidden close by. It made no sense. Everyone spread out again to look for him, being interrupted when a flat noise behind me made me turn around, quickly walking back towards the others only to find John's body lying on the ground. Dead. What the fuck is going on right now?

    "They use the trees."

Finn looked at Bellamy and then at the trees. Bellamy's eyes landing on mine as I moved my hands to my knives, looking up at the trees but seeing nothing, all of us standing close together now. Roma was ready to shoot running back to the camp, but I stopped her, knowing, if she did, they would catch her and kill her. We were stronger together.

Jasper and Finn rose the alarm as Grounder's started to run towards us from what seemed every direction, yelling at the rest of us to run with Finn leading us through the forest. We won't get far. This is their territory. They know it. I ran after Bellamy and Finn, keeping an eye on Jasper who was right beside me, realizing he was starting to slow down, knowing he wouldn't last running much longer.

    "I can't run much longer." Jasper was out of breath.

    "I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs yelled, passing by Jasper as he stopped, out of breath.

    "I will." I put an end to my running, standing next to Jasper and squeezing his shoulder. "I'm not leaving you behind, J." He nodded as I rose my head to look around us. "I got you."

    "I'm sick of running anyway."

Bellamy came to a stop too, walking back towards us as I glanced at him, nodding his way both to thank him and let him know I was okay. Jasper too. For now.

    "What are you doing?" Finn asked turning around to face us. "They–"

    "I'm sticking with my friend, but you can keep running if you wish." I faced Finn, who had stopped running a couple of meters away from us. "They'll get to you either way. This is their land."

    "And they know where my sister is.".

    "Diggs?" Roma yelled, moving in circles. "Where are you?"

Roma started running again in the direction she thought Diggs had disappeared, Bellamy saying we couldn't leave her alone, finding myself running after her once Jasper started moving again, getting to her only after she let out a scream that could have frozen my blood if my skin wasn't on fire from running. I got to her to see that Diggs had been killed by a trap. Things were starting to get gruesome. I attempted to calm her down but she was out of it. Instead of thinking it through, Roma panicked and kept running.

Bellamy and Finn tried to reason with her but she was not listening, she needed someone to pull her back so I ran after her, ignoring Bellamy's and Jasper's pleads for me to stop, only hearing vaguely one of them say that the Grounders were leading us to their traps. But I had to catch Roma; I knew I could, I just needed a little more time to get to her and grab her back, being almost next to her, losing her for a second as I had to avoid a tree, finally seeing her resting against it. I assumed she had stopped to catch her breath and wait for the rest of us. However, once I got there, I saw the spear pocking out of her chest. She was dead.

    "Fuck." I took a step back, looking in front of me, knowing the spear had just come from the bushes in front of me. "When will anyone ever listen to me?"

    "Hey." Bellamy's voice made me jump in my place, feeling his hand wrapping around my arm. "Are you alright?"

    "I'm alive." I pointed at the tree. "But Roma isn't."

He moved towards Roma's body to close her eyes. I quickly pulled him back, not needing a spear through his chest too, moving behind the trees again. He sighed and closed his eyes.

    "She only came because of me."

I was about to cut him off, tell him to stop blaming himself for other people's decisions but Finn opened his mouth first as he reached us.

    "They are playing with us, they can kill us whenever they want."

    "Then they should get it over with!" Jasper started screaming. "Come on!"

    "Hey, Jasper." I tried to keep him calm. "Stop. C'mon."

    "They are coming!" Monroe pointed in front of us at least a dozen Grounders running our way.

    "Well," I took out both my knives. "I'm not going down without a fight."

She looked at me and nodded, tightening her grip on her self-made sword, all of us prepared to fight when a horn blew in the distance. When they heard it, the Grounders started moving away from us. Not again.

    "That horn, what does it mean?"

    "Acid fog."

Finn quickly answered Jasper, taking off his backpack and searching for something inside as Monroe pushed us to run away but I dragged her back, watching as Finn pulled a tent out of his backpack, putting it on the floor and not even bothering to set it up, rushing us all to get inside, Bellamy shoving me inside with him as I pulled Jasper in front of me. The tent was big but the way we had walked into it meant we all ended up lying on the floor almost one on top of each other, taking Jasper's hand in mine as I felt him shaking, murmuring something under his breath before I did and then nodding my way, pulling him to me.

    "How long are we supposed to wait?"

    "Will this even work?" Monroe added from Jasper's side.

    "We'll find out," Finn stated from Bellamy's side, answering both Bellamy and Monroe.

    "I don't feel anything," I argued, remembering everything from my first encounter with the fog. "There's no wind, no pressure, and I can still hear the birds."

Bellamy looked at me, probably having been thinking something around those lines, raising his head and I realized what he was going to do, pulling him back down next to me as he complained.

    "You don't have to stick your whole face to test my theory."

I rose my free hand in front of me, asking Bellamy to move the jacket up as he looked at me like I was asking him something completely different. He took my hand in his and put it down before he stuck his own out, his eyes on me and I feared he'd start screaming as he burnt himself, but he didn't, sticking his head out next before I could say anything else.

    "There's no fog."

    "Maybe it was a false alarm?"

    "I highly doubt that," I answered Finn as I stepped out of the tent after Bellamy.

    "They are coming back."

Bellamy warned us before the rest could even get out so I looked around, only managing to see one Grounder running around on his own, and he wasn't even running towards us. It made no sense, trying to puzzle this one out as the rest came out, Monroe suggesting we went back to the camp.

    "He doesn't see us." Bellamy was quick to argue. "I'm going after him."

Excuse me, what? How's that even a plan? Finn was quick to pull him back, questioning exactly what he was going to do, killing being his best option, only to be met by Bellamy's actual plan: catch him to force him to tell him where Octavia was. That wasn't even a plan on my book, that was a goal, but Bellamy didn't stay back to hear me point it out; he started running after the Grounder, so I sighed annoyed, running after him myself, hearing the rest joining soon after.

    "How do we know he's not leading us into another trap?"

    "We don't know."

Finn and I answered Jasper at the same time, keeping it low the closer we got to the Grounder, seeing him disappear inside a cave. Bellamy didn't think it twice, walking in after him and so did the rest of us. It was dark and cold, wondering where this would lead us, hearing noises deeper in the cave, which made me question whether the Grounder would have any company.

    "Bellamy?"

    "Octavia!"

I was the last to enter the cave's opening, seeing Bellamy kneeled next to her and trying to unchain her. The Grounder was knocked down on the floor as I looked around, having no clue what had happened, but not complaining as Octavia was okay. Bellamy commanded Monroe to watch the entrance as he stood up, Octavia landing eyes on me and Jasper, walking towards us with the biggest smile on her face.

    "How did you find me?" She hugged Jasper first.

    "I followed him."

    "Excuse me?" I shoved him to the side, raising an amused eyebrow at him. "You followed him?"

    "Sam!" She jumped over me. "I thought I'd never see you again."

    "It's going to take more than a Grounder to take me away from you."

Octavia smiled as she pulled back, but we couldn't waste more time there, having to leave before he woke up, looking around for supplies, kneeling next to the Grounder to check if he had any weapons on him that could be useful for us. Finn squatted next to me, probably thinking the same. Bellamy and Octavia's conversation faded into the background once I landed eyes on something Finn was holding.

    "It's a horn."

    "A Foghorn." He handed it to me, pointing at the inscription. "He saved us."

He saved us? Why? Bellamy's voice was now louder, making it impossible to ignore for longer as he addressed both Finn and me, saying we had to go and kill him but he had to know, Finn showing the horn to him.

    "We can't kill him. He saved–"

I wasn't able to say anything else, feeling the air slipping from my lungs as I fell to the side, a burning sensation on my upper thigh, seeing the Grounder raising and Finn lying on the ground too, looking at me. I placed one of my hands on my leg: a knife was pinned to my body.

    "Sam! Sam!" Octavia kneeled beside me. "Stay with me."

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't. I glanced at my leg. My whole body felt heavy and shaky, my head hurt and my eyes threatened to close. I nodded at Octavia, trying to let her know I was still there. I took in a deep breath and tried to sit up but the burning sensation got worse, having me gasping for air as I felt a tear running down my face, lying back down on the cold rock. I turned my head to look at Finn, seeing he had completely passed out having a blade sticking out from his side.

    "Finn..." I managed to whisper. "Help him."

    "Sam, don't. Stay with me."

I raised my hand to let O know I was still there.

    "I can't keep my eyes open... and it hurts to speak... But I'm... I'm still here."

    "We need to go back to camp." I heard Jasper somewhere close to me. "Now!"

    "We can't carry both of them."

Bellamy's voice was hard to decipher but I knew he was right; I had to fight, I had to make an effort to stay conscious. I took a deep breath and sat up, cursing all I knew and opening my eyes as much as every fiber in my body wanted me to lie down and pass out.

    "Let's go." They all looked doubtful to me, Bellamy walking up to me as I spoke. "Take Finn to Clarke. Now."

    "But you–"

    "Now, Bellamy," I demanded, not allowing him to argue with me. "I'll get there. I don't plan on dying today."

    "But your leg..." Octavia stood beside me.

    "I can walk. I don't need anyone carrying me but Finn has passed out and he needs help."

Monroe was quick to offer to stay with me, nodding thankfully at her. Octavia offered too but I knew she had to go back to camp; we had come out looking for her and she had to be the one to go back, plus I knew Bellamy would never agree to leave her behind.

    "Now it's my time to get you back to camp."

I tried to smile as Jasper joked, both he and Monroe helping me up. It hurt so bad, but I was not going to die like that. I refused. I caught the worry in Jasper's eyes so I put on my best I'm okay face as I squeezed his hand.

    "Hey." Bellamy's voice caught my attention, meeting his eyes after seeing he had taken Finn in his arms. "Be careful."

    "I already got wounded today." I nodded at him. "I don't plan on this day going any worse."

     "I'll see you there."

Octavia, Bellamy, and Finn left leaving Monroe and Jasper with me, each taking me by one side, leaving the cave soon after the rest. I hated to be deadweight but there wasn't much else I could do but attempt not to pass out, aware of everything around me, feeling Monroe tensing at every single noise and Jasper spending all the time looking around, checking we weren't followed.

    "If something happens–"

    "Nothing is happening."

    "Listen," I glanced at Jasper for he had been the one to cut me off. "If we get attacked, you both need to leave me. You can't die because I got wounded."

    "Samantha, if you died on our watch, Bellamy and Octavia would kill us," Monroe stated, feeling her hand squeezing my side as she spoke. "We are not letting that happen."

    "They'll understand. Two lives are more valuable than one so stop objecting and promise me."

They looked at each other and then nodded; I wasn't sure they were convinced, but I dropped the subject. Every damn life is valuable down here. I can't risk anyone dying because I was stupid enough to not see this coming.