"Grab that chair," Murphy points to a metal stool at the side as he grabs a hold of the long chain of seatbelts. Bellamy does as he's told, not wanting to anger Murphy further. "Stand on it."
Bellamy looks between Murphy and the noose before stepping up onto the chair, his face set hard. He stands level with the noose as my legs begin to ache from standing still for so long.
"Put it over your head."
Bellamy looks scared, a rare emotion I never see with him. "This is insane. The Grounders could atta—"
Murphy cuts him off with another shot at the wall. If there's one thing I've learnt from Murphy on our time on the ground, it's that he's a lousy shot.
My body crashes against the ladder and I scream in pain and clench my teeth together so hard I feel like they're going to break. I'm pretty sure I bit my tongue, but that's the least of my problems. My left arm feels like it's on fire, pain throbs from it and my hands hold onto the ladder so tight my knuckles feel like they've been hit with a hammer.
"MURPHY!" Bellamy yells, I assume he moves to step off the chair and come to my aid, but I can't see him as I lean my forehead against the cool metal before me, my body slumped against it.
"Nah uh," Murphy says to Bellamy, he sounds surprised, like shooting a bullet against my arm was an accident. "Don't move."
"You fucking asshole," I seethe, trying to take deep breaths through the pain.
"Sorry, Carter."
I turn my head to look at Murphy and glare at him as best as I can. He's smirking. He may not have intentionally shot me, but he is far from sorry about it.
Sweat starts to form on my forehead from the stress and I look down at my arm to see a tear in the fabric of my jacket, a deep liquid soaking it as it throbs continuously.
"I suggest you do as I say, Bellamy, or Carter might just end up with another bullet in her."
"She needs to get out of here," Bellamy all but pleads, "the bullet might still be in her arm—"
"Shut up and put the noose around you neck, Bellamy!" Murphy hells at him.
Bellamy quickly does so, the image of him standing there sparking more fear in me. "Happy now?"
Murphy yanks the belts, the noose tightening around Bellamy's neck and causing him to place his fingers in between his skin and material to give himself some room to breathe, holding onto it with his other hand.
I open my mouth to protest but a cry of pain comes out instead. Every time I move, my arm sears with pain. I see blood start to flow quicker out of the wound, the smell and sight causing me to whimper and look away.
"You're so brave, aren't you?" Murphy taunts at Bellamy. "I mean you came in here thinking you're just gonna turn this whole thing around...that you're stronger than me and maybe one of your friends would come and help you." Murphy smirks. "And you, Carter, you're even more foolish than him."
"We were f-friends once," I say to Murphy through deep breaths, staring at him. "We were two of the most feared kids in...lockup...You remember that?"
"No," Murphy chuckles as he moves to stand in front of me and shakes his head. "No, we were never friends, Carter. We weren't even...what was the word you used yesterday? Allies? No, we were never that."
"Enlighten me," I raise an eyebrow, actually curious about his point of view.
Murphy chuckles and looks down at my bloody arm, then looks at Bellamy, seeing him standing motionless and watching our exchange warily.
Murphy looks down at the floor, "I admired you so much, Carter. You were brave, and just...goddamn fearless." He chuckles and looks up at me. "I mean you killed your own father, for God's sake! What kind of psycho does that?"
He shakes his head and smiles, "I mean yeah, I was terrified of you at first, about what you were capable of...but then I realised that you weren't really brave, just scared and...a bit stupid, really. Though, you know I actually decided to go by my last name because of you? I mean sure, John is such a common, boring name...but Murphy. Murphy. Now that's a name that people remember. My father's name, because I admired him." Murphy steps closer to me as my vision starts to become slightly hazy, but I focus on him.
"I never asked for you to admire me, Murphy." I say to him quietly. "I saw you as my equal. Especially—"
"Especially what?" Murphy asks harshly when I trail off. "Especially because we both lost our fathers? Don't act like we're the same, Carter. Because we're not."
"No," I whisper to myself as Murphy turns back to Bellamy, "we're not."
"I mean," Murphy turns back around again, stalking towards me, "you used to be ruthless, not giving a shit about anyone, but now...now you've gone soft. You blamed yourself for that little bitch killing herself, and for what? Each time you take a life it eats you up inside. I've watched you try to change who you are and become a better person, but maybe you should just stop caring."
My jaw clenches at the way he speaks about Charlotte, but Murphy doesn't care one bit.
"You and her, you were both similar, right? Both murders at such a young age. What was that like, Carter? To take another's life? Tell me."
"You would know," I spit out at him as I start to shake with pain, my voice as hard as I can muster. "You've killed enough to know what it feels like."
"Yeah," Murphy nods, a devious smirk on his face, "but still not as many as you. Right Bellamy?" Murphy turns to Bellamy as I breathe deeply through my anger and pain.
"You still protect her, even though she's caused enough death around this camp. Why is that? I mean, it's obvious that you care about her, but why is the question?" Murphy looks over at me and inclines his head, "Yeah, you're cute, Carter, but when you know you're a psycho it's kinda hard to think about you like that. Not that I haven't, obviously," Murphy chuckles, causing Bellamy to shift around in sudden anger.
"What you thinking, Bellamy?" Murphy's mouth twitches up as he tugs hard on the belts. Bellamy's feet struggle to stay on the chair as his face turns a deep red from the lack of oxygen. "How much do you care about Carter? Would you die for her? Hm? She might just end up dying for you if she doesn't get out of here soon."
"Stop it, Murphy!" I try to shout, though I'm not sure what it comes out sounding like. After a few more seconds that feel like hours, Murphy slacks the belts only slightly when he ties it down, giving Bellamy a chance to gasp for air even though his legs wobble as he stands on his toes.
I watch him with a pang in my chest. Where the hell is Raven? Is my head supposed to hurt this much? Am I sweating, or is it tears? I can't even tell.
Murphy chuckles as he moves around the room, the gun resting at his side. "You know the only reason anyone still listens to you Carter, is because of Bellamy, right? I mean, this little partnership thing you guys got going on with Clarke, no one really buys it."
Murphy is really starting to sound like the taunting voice in my head, and I sure as hell don't need another one.
"I got to hand it to you, Bellamy. You got 'em all fooled. They look up to you, almost as much as they look up to Clarke. Yeah well, we know the truth, don't we?" Murphy turns and looks at me, "you think that look up to you, but they don't. Not one bit. The truth is, you're a coward, both of you. Cowards."
I look over at Bellamy to see him and Murphy staring at one another, the tension thickening.
"I learned that the day you kicked that crate from beneath me. The day you betrayed me, by giving the people what they wanted."
I start to blink a lot slowly, my eyelids heavy as I rest my head against the ladder. I ache. My arm, my head, my legs. My entire body aches.
"Isn't that what you said?" Murphy continues, "that you were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"
"I should've stopped them," Bellamy says.
"Yeah, it's a little late for that now." Murphy nods slowly. "Isn't that right, Carter? It's too late for redemption, isn't it?" I look up at Murphy but don't have the energy to reply.
"What do you think's gonna happen, Murphy?" Bellamy gains his attention again. "You think they're just gonna let you walk out of here?"
Murphy smiles, "well, I think the princess is dead, the queen has lost the right to her crown—and is bleeding out quite badly, might I add—and the king...the king is about to die—so who's really gonna lead these people, huh?" Murphy steps closer to Bellamy, "me, that's who. And yeah, maybe I'll have to kill your Grounder pounding little sister—"
Bellamy grunts and tries to kick Murphy, causing him to jump away and pull down hard on the belts holding Bellamy up.
"No, wait—" I try to lean forward, my voice quieter than I want it to be. "Stop..."
Bellamy meets my eyes as he struggles for air, his face turning red as his fingers try to grasp onto the tight noose around his neck. A cry is sounded from beneath our feet and Murphy smirks as he let's go of the belts, allowing Bellamy to breath and regaining his footing. I sigh out in relief at the sight of him but watch as Murphy reaches for his gun.
"I'm guessing that's her right now." Murphy shoots repeatedly at the floor until his bullets run out.
I wince as each shot it taken, my arm in a red hot pain. I look up to see Bellamy trying to pull out of the noose until Murphy kicks over the stool and sending Bellamy swinging in the air.
"No!" I gasp, trying to lean forward but crying out in pain at the sudden movement.
Bellamy chokes and gasps as he struggles in the noose, my heart breaking as I watch him desperately gasp for air. Murphy goes over to Bellamy and I vaguely hear him say something about hands. I pull my heavy, throbbing head up and try to blink away a hazy blanket of stars that coat my vision.
My eyes close heavily as I try to call out to Bellamy, the sounds of punches and grunts filling my ears.