It was the sound of Jasper screaming that awoke Jovie. She rolled over to see that Octavia was already gone and by the sound of everyone moving around outside, she figured she had slept way later than she had intended to. She also got back a lot later in the night than she meant to though.
"Someone shut him up!" One of the delinquents yelled. Jovie quickly jumped out of bed and threw on her jacket over her tank top and slid into her boots before making her way to the drop ship. By the time she entered they were already working on Jasper's wound.
"What's going on?" Jovie asked. Monty, Finn, and Clarke were hovering over Jasper, who looked to be in extreme pain.
"Hold him still. I need to cut away the infected flesh," Clarke said. It wasn't a direct answer to Jovie's question, but she could infer what they were doing based on Clarke's instruction.
"Grab his other arm, Blondie," Finn said. Jovie nodded and made her way over to Jasper's left side to help Monty hold him down. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he groaned, a single tear dripping down his cheek before he passed out.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Octavia yelled as she rushed in.
"She's trying to save his life," Finn told her.
"She can't." Bellamy entered shortly after Octavia, making Jovie internally groan.
"Great, let's get the whole camp in here," Jovie mumbled under her breath, leaning back from holding onto Jasper now that he was passed out and not moving anymore. Wells immediately stood up and faced Bellamy.
"Back off," he said. It wasn't as much of a warning as it was a plea. It was obvious Jasper's condition was making them uneasy, especially Monty. The only thing left they had was hope. Or doubt, for some people.
"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die," Clarke said.
"Kid's a goner. If you can't see that, you're deluded. He's making people crazy," Bellamy said.
"Sorry if Jasper's an inconvenience to you, but this isn't the Ark. Down here, every life matters," Clarke snapped.
"Take a look at him. He's a lost cause," Bellamy stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Jovie looked over and saw Monty hanging his head, so she reached over and placed a comforting hand on his arm. He looked over at her and forced a smile. It was inevitable that they were going to lose people down here, but this was the first real experience with dying that they've had and had to feel it too. Jasper was too goofy, too happy-go-lucky to suffer like this.
"You don't know that," Jovie said softly, casting a side glance at Bellamy. "Jasper will be okay." He looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. It was almost like he wanted to believe her but was refusing to let himself.
"Octavia, I've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If I say there's hope, there's hope," Clarke insisted. If there was one Blake sibling that she could get to believe she could fix Jasper, it was Octavia.
"This isn't about hope, it's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard choices. I do. He's been like this for three days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself," Bellamy said before starting to make his way out. He turned back, looking at his sister. "Octavia, let's go."
"I'm staying here," Octavia said without even bothering to really acknowledge her brother. Jovie wanted to smile. Her entire life Octavia felt like she was never in control. Even these small acts of defiance were giving her her power back.
"Power-hungry, self-serving jackass. He doesn't care about anyone but himself," Monty spat out. He looked over at Octavia, seeing that she looked slightly upset at his comment. "No offense." She just shrugged as if she knew that he was right even if she didn't want to admit it.
"Yeah. Bellamy is all that. But he also happens to be right," Finn said. Jovie looked over at him and frowned. She didn't want to believe that Jasper was a lost cause, but unless Clarke could pull this off, it was true. And he wasn't going to have much more time if they couldn't help him.
♛
Jovie climbed down the ladder, dropping to the ground once she was only a few feet above the ground. She ran after Bellamy. He wasn't the first person that she wanted to go to, but she knew he was in charge of the hunting parties.
"Hey!" She called after him. When he saw her chasing after him, he slowed down and frowned.
"If you're here to yell at me about Jasper, save your breath," he said. She shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face.
"No, I'm here to see if you need an extra hand hunting," she told him. He stared at her for a brief second like he was debating whether or not to let her go. "I just, I need to get out of here. And I think you need my help," she added, laughing a bit when she looked over at the crew that Bellamy was taking to go hunting. Most of them had shit aim, so she wondered how they were even chosen to go hunting in the first place. Years of being stuck in their living quarters made her grow bored. She would play a game where she tried to hit the same spot on the ceiling with one of the tennis balls John had found in the Ark once, so she grew skilled in her hand-eye coordination.
"Alright, fine," Bellamy said. "But this time you listen to my orders." She smiled, thinking that was never going to happen, and moved past him to head towards where the others were waiting. She had her daggers already shoved into the holders around her waist, ready to go.
♛
They had been walking for a while through the woods, not having much luck so far. Jovie found herself growing steadily annoyed at how loud the others were being, not taking into consideration that the whole point of hunting was to not make your prey aware that you were there.
"Why don't we wake up the whole damn forest?" She said sarcastically to herself as they seemed to step on every branch that was on the ground. When she heard a grunting noise, she slowed down and saw a boar a few feet ahead. It seemed like Bellamy had caught sight of it too because he moved past her, pulling out his axe.
"She's mine," he said. She rolled her eyes but let him have it. If it was going to satisfy his ego then she would just have the next one. Before he could kill the boar, the sound of a twig snapping behind them distracted him. He whipped around and threw the axe at the source of the sound. His axe landed firmly in the tree, a little girl with her hair in two braids standing fearfully next to it. A couple inches to the left and the axe would have been in her forehead. "Who the hell are you?"
"Charlotte," the girl said quietly. Jovie shoved her dagger back into its holder and approached the girl with a frown.
"He could have killed you," she said. Her voice was stern, but more out of concern for the girl than anger.
"Why aren't you back at camp?" Bellamy asked, walking up next to Jovie as they stared at the girl.
"Well, what with that guy who was dying, I just... I couldn't listen anymore," Charlotte explained. Jovie let out a sigh. She knew listening to Jasper screams wasn't pleasant but neither was getting killed by Bellamy's axe.
"There's Grounders out here. It's too dangerous for a little girl," Atom inputted.
"I'm not little," Charlotte replied fiercely which made Jovie smirk. It clearly amused Bellamy too because he smiled before leaning down a bit to look at Charlotte.
"Okay then. But you can't hunt without a weapon. Ever killed something before?" He asked as he handed Charlotte a knife. She shook her head, staring at the knife like he would burn her hand off if she touched it, but took it anyway.
"Who knows? Maybe you're good at it," Bellamy said. Handing Charlotte the knife and encouraging her to learn how to fight reminded Jovie of the night before when she watched the young Grounders learning how to fight. It was just one more thing that she realized they had in common. This world made the young grow up way too fast.
♛
"So, Charlotte, got a boyfriend?" Jovie teased the younger girl. Charlotte wrinkled her nose and shook her head, making Jovie smile. "Good. Boys are gross." Charlotte giggled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw even Bellamy was smiling in amusement, though it was obvious he was trying to hide it.
Suddenly, a loud horn sounded in the distance. They all stopped to look at each other in confusion before they broke out into a run. A yellow fog was quickly approaching them and none of them intended to stay to find out what it was.
"Come on! There are caves this way!" Bellamy shouted, reaching out to pull Charlotte along with him. Jovie and Atom were on their heels as Bellamy led the way to the caves. Adrenaline kept Jovie's legs pumping and she was nimble on her feet. Atom, unfortunately, was not so much. When Jovie saw him trip, she turned back around to reach to help him up. It was too late though. The fog was already engulfing his body. She quickly yanked her hand back with a scream when the fog burned it. "Jo! Come on!" She heard Bellamy scream from the cave that he was pushing Charlotte into.
"Please! Don't leave me!" Atom begged her as she sprinted to get into the cave with them. She tried to tune out the sounds of his screams but it was too much. As soon as she got far enough into the cave, she fell to her knees as she was out of breath and in pain. Pain from the burns on her hand and pain from the thought of leaving Atom how she did. She stared at the ground as she tried to catch her breath. She jumped when a hand grasped her shoulder.
"There was nothing you could do," Bellamy said quietly. She knew he was right but it was hard to accept, knowing that Atom was probably suffering. She only touched the fog for a second and her hand felt like it was on fire. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling. If she stayed just one more second, maybe she could have dragged him to the cave and saved him.
Bellamy walked around so that he was kneeling in front of her. He was trying to read what she was thinking, but she was too stoic. He found it unsettling how well she hid her emotions. He tried to do the same, but he knew he sometimes let it slip a bit. But she was unreadable. She looked over at him with a dull expression, as if she wasn't bothered by anything that had just happened, even though she completely was.
"Are you okay?" He asked, sounding uncertain about even asking her that. She nodded, but he noticed how she was careful as she held her hand close to her chest. "Let me see it." Jovie looked over to see Charlotte staring at them with fear evident in her eyes.
"Charlotte, can you get my water canteen from my bag?" Jovie asked, pointing over to the bag that Jovie dropped near the entrance of the cave. For some reason Jovie found herself wanting to protect Charlotte. The girl was obviously scared, so maybe giving her something to do would help her get her mind off of what was happening. Charlotte nodded and after she walked to get the bag, Jovie reached her hand out to show Bellamy. He grimaced at the sight of her hand that was red and burnt.
"I don't know what to do," Bellamy admitted. He sounded a bit defeated and Jovie found herself staring at him. Usually he seemed like he had it all together, even if he was just pretending. This was the first time that he showed any kind of defeat and admitted that he didn't know what to do.
"It's fine. Clarke can look at it as soon as we get back," Jovie reassured him. She struggled as she ripped off a piece of her shirt and attempted to wrap it around her own hand.
"Let me help," Bellamy cut in quickly. Her natural instinct would be to resist his help and insist on doing it herself, but she found herself letting him help her and she didn't know why. He gently grabbed her hand and slowly wrapped the cloth around it. Jovie watched him as he carefully helped her. It was this moment that Jovie realized Bellamy wasn't as tough as he acted. He had a gentle side to him too. She remembered all the stories that Octavia had told her during their time spent sharing a cell on the Ark, how Bellamy took care of her and protected her for so many years. Jovie could see how much Octavia admired her brother as she reminisced about her childhood. When they had first come down, Jovie found it hard to imagine Bellamy being anything but a narcissistic asshole. Now as she watched him, she realized that maybe he wasn't as bad as she had originally thought. The way he acted with the other delinquents was just a facade.