"the bad news is the grounders will"
Everything after that was a blur. I felt paralyzed. All I could think about was Jasper.
"Ophelia, come on!" Clarke tugged on my arm as we ran through the forest. We all ran as fast as we could, not looking back to see if whoever speared Jasper was chasing us.
Monty was ahead of the group, followed by Octavia, Finn, Clarke and myself at the end. Monty tripped over something, landing flat on his stomach.
"Monty, come on, get up!" Octavia rushed, grabbing his arm. In front of Monty was some kind of decayed skeleton, it was disgusting.
"Who are they?" Finn muttered. Clarke picked up a deformed skull off the ground which didn't look human.
"What are they?" She grimaced.
"We are so screwed." Octavia breathed. A loud, painful cry filled our ears, only it didn't belong to any of us. It belonged to my brother.
"Jasper!" Clarke exclaimed. "He's alive." I said nothing and booked it back to the direction we came from. That scream meant he was alive. I ignored the shouts of protest coming from behind me.
"Wait! Stay under the trees." Finn directed. We stayed hidden in the tree line as we looked out across the river where Jasper once lied. He was nowhere to be found.
"He was right there." Clarke said breathlessly.
"Where is he?" Monty asked.
"They took him." Clarke declared.
"We gotta go. Now." Finn decided. We all silently agreed and started running back to the dropship.
***
We made it back to the dropship and as we got closer, we heard the yells of the delinquents. We made it back to the sight of Wells holding the boy who claimed Jasper and I were 'with him' in a headlock and a knife to his throat.
"Wells! Let him go!" Clarke shouted as we arrived. Wells shoved the boy to the ground but the boy was straight back up on his feet and charged at Wells.
Bellamy held the boy back. "Hey! Enough. Murphy." Bellamy scolded. So his name must be Murphy. That's handy to know. "Octavia! Are you alright?" Bellamy rushed to his sister's side the second he saw her with her arm around Monty for support.
"Yeah." She sighed as she let her brother help her down. I looked down, missing my brother and feeling guilty that we just left him.
"Where's the food?" Bellamy asked.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather." Finn replied as he shed his jacket and sat down on a log.
"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy demanded.
"We were attacked." Clarke answered.
"Attacked? By what?" Wells cut in.
"Not what. Who." Finn corrected. "Turns out when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder." I hadn't said a word to anyone since Jasper was speared. I was just too caught up in my thoughts and too distraught to say anything.
"It's true. Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong." Clarke confirmed, speaking to the crowd of delinquents that had formed as well as Bellamy. "There are people here. Survivors. The good news is that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."
"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will." Finn added.
"Where's the kid with the goggles?" Wells asked. 'The kid with the goggles'? Seriously? He couldn't just say my brother's name?
"His name is Jasper, jackass." I corrected rudely, muttering the last part under my breath. It was the first time I spoke since Jasper was hit.
"Jasper was hit. They took him." Clarke admitted. She turned her attention to Wells' wrist, which was missing a wristband. "Where's your wristband?" She demanded, grabbing his wrist.
"Ask him." Wells shot a glare at Bellamy. He must have been getting people to take off their wristbands.
"How many?" Clarke demanded, glaring at the freckled boy.
"Twenty-four and counting." Murphy cut in, a proud smirk on his face.
"You idiots." Clarke shook her head. "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here! They need to know the ground is survivable again. And we need their help against whoever is out there." She announced to the crowd. "If you take of your wristbands, you're not just killing them... you're killing us."
"We're stronger than you think." Bellamy spoke up inspiringly to the crowd. "Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same?" The delinquents didn't answer. "We can take care of ourselves! That wristband on your arm, it makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes, I say you're not criminals! You're fighters. Survivors. The Grounders should worry about us!"
The crowd broke into cheers. I didn't care if anyone was taking off their wristbands or who was in charge. All I knew is that my brother was out there. And I needed to find him.
I went into the drop ship where Monty was. We both said nothing and just pulled each other into a hug. My whole life it had just been Monty, Jasper and I. We were all each other had. Both of us were scared for Jasper. Clarke and Wells had both walked past us and went up to the second level of the drop ship.
We heard them talking upstairs. Clarke was saying she didn't want Wells to come get Jasper.
"It's not your ankle, Wells. It's you." Clarke argued as she climbed down the ladder.
"You came back for reinforcements. I'm gonna help." Wells replied as he followed her down the ladder.
"Clarke, he's right. We need him. So far, no one else has volunteered." Monty cut in.
"I'm sorry, Monty. But you're not going either." Clarke replied.
"Like hell I'm not." Monty protested and walked closer to Clarke. "Jasper's my best friend."
"You're too important." Clarke reasoned. "You were raised on farm station and recruited by engineering."
"So?" Monty questioned.
"So, food and communication. What's up here," She put a finger on his temple. "is gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark, and I'll brig Jasper back."
She looked at me for a moment and I could tell she wanted to say something. "Don't even think about telling me that I can't go either." I said, knowing what she was thinking.
Clarke simply huffed and turned on her heel. Finn was walking into the drop ship at the same time. "Hey, you ready?" She asked the space walker.
"I'm not going anywhere." He replied. "And neither should any of you." He looked to Wells, Monty, Clarke and I. "That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from three hundred feet.
"So what, we let my brother die?" I questioned rudely.
"That's not gonna happen." Clarke assured me before turning back to Finn. "Spacewalker? What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer, but you're just a coward."
"It's not an adventure, Clarke. It's a suicide mission." Finn shot back.
"So you think Jasper's life isn't worth saving?" I cocked a threatening eyebrow at the boy.
"That's not what I mean-" He started but I rolled my eyes ad followed Clarke out of the drop ship, making sure to bump his shoulder on my way out.
"Where to now? We can't go with only three people." I asked Clarke.
"Bellamy has a gun. We need him." She answered simply. I nodded and followed her over to Bellamy, who was helping Octavia clean the wound on her leg.
"You could have been killed." We overheard Bellamy say disapprovingly to his sister.
"She would have been if Jasper didn't jump in to pull her out." Clarke cut in as we walked up to them.
"You guys leaving? I'm coming too." Said Octavia.
"No, no, no way. Not again." Bellamy stopped her.
"He's right. Your leg's just gonna slow us down." Clarke said to Octavia. "We're here for you." She said to Bellamy.
"Clarke, what are you doing?" Wells asked.
"I hear you have a gun." Clarke ignored Wells and looked up at Bellamy. He lifted his shirt slightly, revealing the black firearm. "Good. Follow me." Clarke began to walk off.
"And why would I do that?" Bellamy asked.
"Because you want them," She nodded her head toward the crowd of delinquents. "to follow you. And right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared." She replied confidently and walked off, Wells following her like a lost puppy.
"Murphy, come with me." Bellamy said. "Atom. My sister doesn't leave this camp. Is that clear?" He ordered as he put on his jacket.
I started walking ahead, catching up with Clarke and Wells. Time to find my brother.
word count: 1470
a/n: helloooo my lovely readers. how yall doing? hope you enjoyed this chapter, i know ophelia doesnt really have much impact on this chapter but oh well. next chapter will be much more interesting. love you all xx