[C H A P T E R S I X]
Rock Star
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AS IT TURNED OUT, Roseline was terrible at being the leader. Every so often she would wander off the opposite way to examine an interesting plant, or pocket a bunch of rocks that were shiny. Both Clarke and Wells had to remind her that they were out there looking for Jasper, not determining Mother Nature's rate of plant growth. After the third time, Clarke declared that she was no longer allowed to lead, and that she had to bring up the back if she wanted to "waste time".
Being behind everyone else didn't seem to faze her, though. The only problem was that now when she mentioned anything plant or radiation related, Murphy would groan with dismay or curse at her loud enough to where she could hear his every word. She would also stray away from the group, causing Bellamy to stop (which made Murphy stop) and call out to her to hurry up. Usually, when people didn't really care for her interests, they would either politely change the conversation, or wait it out until Roseline did it herself. So, hearing Murphy constantly shame and belittle her for expressing her interests made her a little upset, but not enough to where she stopped talking about stuff altogether.
Ten minutes went by of Roseline humming some unknown song while pulling leaves off of trees, and Bellamy decided to see what the blonde and the chancellor's son were up to.
"Hey, hold up. What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart." As he said that, he waved his gun around carelessly, and it didn't settle very well with Roseline, so she manuvered through the trees to avoid being in the potential line of fire.
"Put the gun away, Bellamy," Wells ordered with a scowl, blocking Bellamy's path.
"Well, why don't you do something about it then, huh?" Murphy interjected, and pushed Wells roughly against his chest.
"Can you stop arguing for three seconds?" Roseline sighed, absentmindedly plucking a flower from a bush. Murphy turned and shot daggers into her back before she finally turned as well, facing his dark eyes and dangerous look.
"You got something to say, Lab Rat?"
"I just think you should relax for, like, three seconds. You don't need to fight everything that breathes." she shrugged, pulling the petals off the flower as she did so. Murphy's fake chuckle made her uncomfortable, but she felt safe enough around the others to know that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
"I'll relax when you do. No one cares about your weird plant facts, or what each and every leaf in this damn place looks like," he spat, taking a threatening step closer. Bellamy began to put a hand up to hold off Murphy, and the girl gave a cold stare to the criminal. It was something that Bellamy had never seen before, and he wasn't sure how much he liked that side of her.
"Guys, focus," Clarke stepped in between the two, splitting them up. "Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear had struck his heart, he would've died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste." She started walking again, but Bellamy snatched her right arm, the gleaming wristband shining like a prize.
"As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go," he negotiated with smirk.
"The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm dead. Got it?"
The smirk never left Bellamy's lips. "Brave Princess."
"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" Finn said, announcing his presence from the trees. "You call this a rescue party? We gotta split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me."
The pair disappeared into the trees before Roseline had a chance to include herself as well. Being with the other three boys wasn't something she was particularly interested in, but at that point she didn't really have a choice. She then thought it would've been better for her to stay behind anyway, considering Finn and Clarke had a weird vibe whenever they were with each other.
At one point during the hike, Roseline overheard Bellamy convincing Wells that they were similar, due to the fact that both of them came down to Earth to protect the people they loved. Her mind thought about her parents again, and how worried they must be. One minute she was there at home in her small bed, and the next she was sitting next to people who have lied, stolen, or even killed. She looked up at the blue sky. The puffy clouds past by slowly with the wind, and she saw a small bird soar past, the feathers shining in the sun's rays. She focused back to the path, her heart weighing heavy in her chest.
"Hey guys, check it out!" Finn called out after another dull hour. Roseline and the other three boys jogged to catch up and when they did, they all stopped in shock. In front of them was a massive waterfall that fell down jagged rocks and into a sparkling pool at the bottom. The cool mist reached out and touched her face, causing Roseline to grin. Finn and Clarke were already in the water, splashing each other and laughing. Bellamy walked down and dipped his hands in to get a drink of water while Murphy and Wells took a seat on a large rock and enjoyed the scenery.
With the river snake incident still fresh in her mind, the brunette decided against going into the water. Instead, she hopped across rocks to the other side of the pool and began to search through the pebbles for any interesting treasures. She pocketed a bent fork and a small bottle before noticing an odd shaped rock.
"Woah! Check this out!" she exclaimed, holding up the rock. "It's shaped like a star!"
"We can't see it from here, Rosie," Bellamy reminded, sitting down next to Murphy. Roseline rolled her eyes with a playful look.
"I know, dummy. Can you catch it?" She made a motion of tossing the rock, and Bellamy raised an eyebrow with his signature smirk.
"Can you throw it?" he countered, crossing his arms. Roseline scoffed.
"Of course I can throw it! Remember the game Paperball?" She crossed her arms, mimicking Bellamy's stance.
"I hardly think throwing crumpled paper into the trash counts as a game," he chuckled.
"Well, either way, I was amazing at it. Now, stand up and make sure you catch this thing, and if you drop it, I will kill you," She tried to make her voice sound serious, but while saying it, she had a wide smile on her face. Swinging her arm back, she threw the rock to Bellamy, who caught it with ease. Murphy stood up next to Bellamy and examined the rock as Bellamy rolled it around in his hands.
"It looks like a blob," Murphy commented dryly. Roseline rolled her eyes, and continued to scavenge the ground for anything else. She could hear Bellamy try to explain to Murphy how the rock looked similar to a star, but she knew Murphy could care less. Walking closer to the trees, she found a pair of goggles wedged between two rocks.
"Woah," she breathed. Then, the realization came to her, and with a loud yelp, she dropped the goggles at once, causing the others to look up.
"What happened?" Bellamy asked, pocketing the rock and rushing over. Carefully, she picked back up the goggles and showed them to the man. Clarke, Finn, Wells, and Murphy crowded around her, making her hands tremble more than they already were.
"Guys... look," Wells murmured, pointing toward the crimson blood that painted a few boulders that were farther into the tree line. Finn put his fingers to the red puddles, a concerned look etched into his face.
"We're close," he said grimly.
The rescue team marched on, much to Roseline's dismay. She didn't even have the energy to search for any more novelty items from before the war. Her legs were sore from stepping over logs and tripping on gnarly roots that almost seemed to shoot up out of the ground from nowhere. There were multiple times where she had to grab either Bellamy or Murphy's jacket sleeve to keep from falling over. Though, the second time she had grabbed Murphy, he pushed her over and let her tumble to the leaves below. After that, she decided it was better to walk with Bellamy, because he actually helped her back up on her feet.
"Hey, how do we know this is the right way?" Murphy spoke up, kicking up rocks around him.
"We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker," Bellamy responded with an arm discreetly ready to catch the clumsy girl who walked beside him.
"It's called "cutting sign." Fourth-year Earth Skills. He's good." Wells corrected, rolling his eyes.
Roseline rubbed her head and stepped around sneaky root that had escaped the confinements of the soiled earth. "C'mon, guys. Please don't argue again. My brain is too fried already."
"Do you wanna keep it down, or should I paint targets on your backs?" Finn hissed, his eyes being drawn toward a broken branch. Crouching down, he found what appeared to be more blood scattered on pebbles.
A distant moan tore their attention away from the blood and to the trees in front of them. Roseline took a step closer to Bellamy, the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up.
"What the hell was that?" Murphy said, gripping his metal knife tighter.
"Please don't let us die," Roseline murmured to the invisible stars above them, holding Jasper's goggles firmly in her hands before stuffing them into her bag.
"Now would be a good time to take out that gun," Clarke suggested before creeping toward the groaning sounds.
They made it to a small clearing with wild bushes covering the area. In the center was an old oak of some sort, Roseline wasn't sure, with bright green moss covering it. What horrified them the most was a shirtless Jasper tied up in the tree. his arms were held above his head, and his chest and face were covered in dried blood. Even from a distance, she could tell that the pain he was enduring was excruciating.
Roseline called out for the boy and walked forward. The others followed her surprisingly quick pace as she tried to get Jasper to respond.
"Jasper! Hey, Jas--" Roseline was cut short from the hole she had fallen into. At the bottom were wooden spikes that would have definitely killed her had Bellamy not grabbed her arm before completely plunging.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, bringing her back up to the surface. Roseline's eyes were wide with fear, but she still nodded, taking another glance at the booby trap. The others surrounded her and made sure she was okay before looking back up at Jasper, who seemed to be too caught up in the pain to focus on his saviors.
"We need to get him down," Clarke said, scanning the area.
"I'll climb up there and cut him down," Finn volunteered, navigating around the giant hole. Wells offered to help, but Finn told him to stay with Clarke , and keep an eye on Bellamy, who narrowed his eyes. Finn then told Murphy to help instead.
"I'll help too," Roseline stepped up and matched their steps to maneuver around the trap. Finn hesitated, but then nodded and handed her a knife of her own. She set it in her pocket, and climbed up to Jasper's side, finding an area to start cutting the vines that entangled his limbs.
"There's a poultice on his wound," Clarke leaned forward, inspecting Jasper's spear hit.
"Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells frowned.
"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner breathing," Bellamy wondered. Chills ran down Roseline's back as she sliced the vines.
"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us," Finn added on. Her heart was caught in her throat.
"Maybe you guys should stop suggesting stuff before I throw up," Roseline squeaked, leaning her arm against a branch to steady herself. Finn cleared his throat and made his way up the tree with Murphy on his heels. The boys kept him upright while Roseline went around to cut all the vines and leaves off of his body. Her hand was starting to cramp up, but seeing Clarke's worried looks, she pushed on.
"Hurry up," Finn urged softly.
"I'm working on it," the girl grumbled back.
"Be careful," Clarke called up, her eyes still wild with distress. A low growl echoed across the clearing, causing everyone to freeze up.
"Oh, God, what was that?" Roseline whispered, whipping her head around to try and spot the thing that made noise.
"Grounders?" Bellamy speculated, his voice faint and soft with fear, which was unusual for him.
Another menacing growl unfolded from the bushes, only this time louder. Then, from the shadows emerged a large muscular beast with a glossy pitch black coat of fur. It took a low stance, and Roseline had read enough books to know exactly what came next. The cat snarled and bolted, and the target was none other than Bellamy Blake.
"Bellamy, gun!" Clarke cried out. He reached for his waistband, only to find it was no longer there. Shots suddenly erupted from Wells, who now had the handgun. He shot five rounds, the last one finally hitting the creature. It roared before falling over into the overgrown bushes. None of them could see it anymore, and Roseline watched Bellamy take a few steps closer to see it it really was dead.
She saw the leaves quiver, and the beast lunged out for the oblivious man.
"Bellamy, no!"Roseline felt the words leave her lips before she realized it. Another shot rang out, and this time they all saw the beast fall to its end, twitching in the process. Wells dropped the empty gun to the ground, his hands shaking. Bellamy checked for a pulse, and when he relaxed his shoulders, relief washed over Roseline like a tidal wave. Her heart was beating at the speed of light, but all she could focus on was that Bellamy was still alive.
She gazed up at the sky. "Thank you."
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A/N: i really enjoyed writing this chapter, and i hope you guys enjoyed reading it!! also thank you for 200 reads!! it means a lot!!
anyways happy reading!
-kate