𝟐.𝟐

──── 「VIOLENT; STORM」 ────

     We had been walking for a couple of hours following Murphy's directions to get to where the Grounder's camp was supposed to be. I eventually had moved to Finn's side to talk with him about Raven and also because I was tired of Murphy asking for things, concluding that Bellamy was well equipped to deal with him on his own.

-    "So," –I started, glancing at Finn- "how are you holding up?"

-    "Fine." –his tone was cutting, clearly trying to avoid the topic.

-    "I know you don't wanna talk right now, but I wanted to tell you that I'm here if you need me, alright?"

-    "Thank you, Sam. Seriously."

-    "Thank you for taking care of my best girl while I was out."

-    "I... I don't know if she'll be okay."

-    "Raven is strong, Finn, you know it. She'll get through this." –I squeezed his shoulder- "We'll help her get through it."

Finn sighed and gave me a small smile. I didn't want to push him so I avoided Clarke's topic. We kept walking in silence, simply keeping him company as I went into my own head. I hadn't been able to control myself around Murphy when I first saw him and I was only doing it now because I knew we needed him. I was angry at him but also at the small part of myself that had been relieved to see him because, even if it was just a minuscule part of me, I still cared for him. He had looked familiar for a while, but I couldn't quite pinpoint why or from where. It had also been easy to develop a friendship with him because he understood what it meant to be truly alone. I hated that he had to be the one, out of everyone in the whole damn camp, to have anger issues that drove him to hurt Raven and leave her like she was. To try and murder Bellamy. To hurt me.

-    "Alright, Murphy," -Bellamy's voice brought me back, turning to look at him as Finn stopped- "where to now?"

-    "What do you say we lose these first, huh?" –Murphy smirked at him, raising his tied hands in front of him.

-    "Again, no."

-    "If we get attacked I have nothing to defend myself with."

-    "I don't care."

I hated to admit it, but Murphy did have a point; if the Grounders came after us, he had no way of defending himself. Finn took a knife and moved back towards them, clearly having thought the same as me, and freeing Murphy as Monroe and Sterling exchanged I look that didn't go unnoticed by me.

-    "Hey!" –Bellamy moved after Finn who had come back to walk beside me- "What the hell are you doing?"

-    "It was your idea to bring him."

-    "Yeah, because he's the only one who's seen where they keep their prisoners."

-    "That's exactly why he kind of has a point."

-    "Besides," -Finn nodded in agreement with my words- "we can handle Murphy."

-    "You both better hope so."

Bellamy warned us with both his tone and his eyes on us but Finn didn't seem to care, turning around and starting to walk again while I stayed behind with Bellamy, Sterling and Monroe walking past us after them. I was worried about Finn but, if he didn't want to talk about it, there was little I could do to help him.

-    "You know we can handle him," -I faced Bellamy, pointing between us- "we've done it before."

-    "If I recall correctly, none of those situations ended up too well."

-    "Well, we didn't die," -I shrugged my shoulders- "that must count for something."

-    "So," -Murphy cut our conversation short, pushing between us to stand in the middle- "do I get a gun now?"

-    "Oh, yeah." –I turned to face him- "You can get this gun to your chest while I pull the trigger." -I rose my shirt and pointed at the gun in my pants, gaining a loud laugh from Bellamy in contrast to Murphy's horrified look as he took a step back-    "Don't worry." –I pushed him to move in front of me- "I won't shoot you if you behave."

-    "We may be able to handle him." –Bellamy smirked at me as we watched Murphy run after Finn.

-    "What do you mean 'we'?" -I rose a teasing eyebrow at him- "More like 'I' just did."

Bellamy shook his head, prompting me to move in front of him, easily catching up with the other five. We kept walking following Murphy's directions, losing track of time. We kept changing positions as to who was leading the group and who looked over Murphy which I was thankful for because there was nothing I dreaded more than boredom. I was walking first in line with Murphy following me and telling me which way to but, out of nowhere, I was face-first on the floor.

-    "Everybody down now." –Murphy spoke, laying on the floor beside me- "Get down."

-    "You know you didn't have to crush me to the floor, right?" –I argued squatting next to him.

-    "You are welcome."

-    "For what exactly?"

-    "Because I brought you to the Grounders' village in one piece." –he pointed in front of me. I followed his gaze, realizing we were, in fact, next to something that looked like a camp, keeping in mind ours had been better-    "I told you I'd find it."

Bellamy took his rifle and looked through its sniper scope towards the village, Monroe being the first to ask him if he saw anything. Bellamy's answer wasn't much of a surprise: 'just Grounders', but what did we expect walking into their camp.

-    "Wait a minute." –Finn mimicked Bellamy's moves with his rifle– "They've got stuff from our dropship.

-    "So, maybe they know where our friends are."

-    "Yeah," -Murphy nodded to Sterling- "or maybe they killed them already."

-    "You are aware you have outlived your usefulness, right?" –I warned him- "Don't push your luck."

-    "Son of a bitch."

Finn was still looking through his snipper, my hand instinctively going to my gun as Bellamy and I asked him what was happening in unison. Finn motioned Bellamy to use his snipper again, pointing him in the direction he needed to look but Bellamy was still as confused as a second prior, asking Finn again what he meant.

-    "What?" –Bellamy and I asked in unison.

-    "The guy with the one eye. He's got Clarke's watch." -Finn lowered his rifle and looked at me- "It was her father's."

-    "She wouldn't give that up without a fight, would she?"

-    "We need answers, now." –I grabbed Bellamy's rifle, pointing it in the Grounders' direction- "I count 5 with the one-eyed guy. Let's do this."

-    "Wait." –Bellamy pushed me down as I had tried to stand up- "Finn, you are with me. You three stay here out of sight. If this thing goes south, take out the other Grounders." -I looked up at him as he gave the orders. Do I look like a babysitter? As if he could read my mind, he faced me-    "I know you want to come with me but I need you to stay hidden in case this goes wrong. I know you can take care of yourself but right now you have to trust me on this, can you do that?"

-    "I–" –his eyes softened as I was about to put up a fight that he seemed to sense was coming, squeezing my hand as I sighed- "Fine, but next time you are the one staying out of the party."

-    "Sure." –he smiled gently at me- "Just don't shoot the Grounder with the watch, alright?"

-    "Whatever you say, boss."

Monroe chuckled beside me and nodded as did Sterling. I didn't like staying behind but I trusted Bellamy had a plan, taking Murphy with him but not giving him a gun. He was probably going to use him as bait. I just hoped it would all work out for the sake of the safety of our friends. Monroe and Sterling moved each to one of my sides, the three of us keeping a close eye on the remaining Grounders. A peace only disturbed by a random noise out of nowhere.

-    "What's that?"

-    "It sounds like rocks hitting each other." –I answered Sterling as we all looked around.

-    "Yeah," -Monroe looked behind us- "but where does it come from?"

-    "Bellamy." -I rubbed my forehead as I realized what he was doing- "I can't believe that idiot's plan is to make noise with rocks."

-    "Let's just hope it works out." –Monroe looked at me.

-    "Yeah," -Sterling nodded to Monroe's words- "or else we are going to be in the middle of another fight."

Monroe and I nodded to his words, the three of us turning to keep looking at the Grounders. But one was missing. The one that had Clarke's watch had disappeared. I furrowed my eyebrows, about to move forward when Monroe pulled me back, pointing behind us. I turned around annoyed but having to hold back a scold as my eyes landed on Bellamy and Finn carrying the Grounder towards us and Murphy walking beside them. Un-fucking-believable.

-    "What are we going to do with him?"

-    "We are getting some information." –Finn answered Monroe- "And I know just the place to go."

Sterling then proceeded to change places with Finn so that he would be carrying the Grounder with Bellamy and Finn could guide us to where we needed to go. Monroe asked, or more so, commanded Murphy to walk in front of her so that she could keep an eye on him. I moved next to Bellamy.

-    "I don't know what's harder to believe: that that was your plan or that it actually worked."

-    "So little faith, Sam."

-    "No offense, but you tend to walk around without plans."

-    "When has that ever happened?"

-    "A couple of times, don't you dare trying to deny it."

-    "I always have a plan." -I scoffed a 'yeah, sure', eyeing him up and down as he shook his head annoyed-    "Alright, you tell me when I didn't have a plan and I'll tell you what it was."

-    "For starters, the night you left camp alone after being hit on the head to look for Charlotte."

-    "I had a plan."

-    "Oh, yeah, and that was...?"

-    "Finding Charlotte."

-    "That's not a plan!" –I laughed, shoving him to the side- "That's a goal."

-    "The plan was to find Charlotte and get her away from Murphy."

-    "Without backup or weapons." –I reminded him- "Such a nice plan."

-    "No offense but you never have a plan in mind yourself." –he smirked.

-    "Non-taken." –I grinned at him- "I never said I have, my gut doesn't have time for planning."

-    "I'm familiar with that way of doing things, yeah."

-    "I'm glad you didn't need backup."

-    "Me too."

We walked for a little longer until we got to a bunker where Finn decided to interrogate the Grounder. We sat him on a chair and tied him as hard as possible to make sure he wouldn't escape or try anything. Once he got back to his senses, Finn and Bellamy started asking questions but were never really satisfied with the answers. After the fifth time, I chose to lay in one of the beds; after all, I still needed to take it easy. This will take a while. Murphy sat down next to me but didn't speak. For what seemed like the thousand time, Bellamy tried again.

-    "We're gonna do this again and this time you are gonna stop screwing with us. Where did you find this?"

-    "I told you, I found it outside your camp."

-    "He's lying." –Finn intervened- "She would never take it off voluntarily." –he took the watch- "Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?"

-    "I never saw a girl."

-    "Another lie." –Murphy spoke- "Maybe you should stop asking him nicely–"

-    "Shut up, Murphy." –I pushed him to the side as Finn and Bellamy's voices faded into the background- "You are not helping."

-    "And you are?"

-    "I'm not getting in their way."

-    "You are just laying there, being useless."

I opened my eyes at his sharp tone and sat on the bed looking at him in the eyes.

-    "Just because you make a comment here and there doesn't mean you are helping, Murphy. Besides, it's not like I can get the answers out of him anyway."

-    "I just think it's weird how calm you are acting right now, not moving around like you usually do."

-    "Well, give me a break. I almost died yesterday, alright?"

-    "Wait, what? Are you serious?"

-    "Yeah, I almost bleed out so, breaking news: apparently, I can die."

-    "Samantha–"

-    "Bellamy saved me though so why do you care?"

-    "Because you are my friend and I care about you; I never wanted to hurt you."

-    "You tried to kill me once, maybe twice if you count the knife on my throat back at the cliff; you also betrayed my trust and tried to kill Bellamy and injured Raven." –I enumerated for him- "So you did hurt me a little."

-    "I'm sorry, alright? I was angry."

-    "Trust me." –I scoffed- "I know."

-    "I'm sorry for what happened with Charlotte."

-    "That one's really on all of us."

-    "I'm sorry for the time at the dropship too."

-    "What were you even thinking?"

-    "I wanted to hurt Bellamy, made him feel what I felt."

-    "I think he got the memo because you actually hanged him."

-    "Yeah... I didn't mean to hurt you, Sam... Samantha. I just..."

-    "I know, it's fine, I know I was collateral damage." –I shrugged my shoulders- "Tends to happen."

-    "I spoke with Raven."

-    "You did?" –I raised my eyebrows in confusion- "When?"

-    "Before Finn and the others got to the dropship, the Grounder keeping an eye on me–"

-    "They captured you again?"

-    "Yeah. Anyway," –he brushed it off- "he entered the dropship and Raven shot him, she then shot me but she didn't have any bullets, so that's why I'm still alive."

-    "I'm surprised she didn't kill you after all."

-    "I'll never forgive myself for doing that to her. I–"

-    "Did you guys talk about this?"

-    "Yeah."

-    "And you guys are good?"

-    "I don't know, maybe?"

I nodded, wondering what exactly had gone down between them. I doubted Raven would have forgiven him; she never liked him much and forgiving him out of the blue sounded more of a me thing than hers.

- "Just because you are good with Raven, doesn't mean I'm back to being okay with you."

- "I know."

- "If you really care about our friendship, about me, you'll have to prove yourself." -he nodded- "And for the love of everything that's good, stop hurting my friends."

- "Thank you."

- "But I swear to the gods if you dare betraying me or hurting anyone I care about one more time, I'll kill you myself. I'm choosing to give you a second chance, don't make me regret it."

-    "I won't."

-    "You still have to earn my trust back."

-    "You said Bellamy saved you?" -I nodded, glancing back at him, seeing the tension on his shoulders before I faced Murphy again- "I'll have to thank him."

-    "Oh, please do." –I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh but failing- "I can't wait to see how a conversation between you both goes."

Murphy faked being hurt, gently pushing me to the side but, before I could retaliate, Finn's yells caught our attention. Bellamy was pulling him away from the Grounder who was now bleeding from his nose. I assumed that had been Finn.

- "Finn, you don't wanna do this. Trust me. There are some lines you can't uncross."

Lincoln. Finn broke away from Bellamy's grasp, trying to recover his breathing, clearly infuriated. Bellamy simply sighed, shaking his head and moving away from Finn, clearly defeated, allowing his thoughts to eat him alive.

-    "Hey." –I stood up, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder to make him turn around and face me- "You need to let go of that. You are good, Bellamy."

-    "How you know?"

-    "Because I know you and I know the demon haunting you right now. You need to let yourself feel the pain and then let go. The past is the past, you can't change that."

He moved his hand to streak my cheek but he stopped mid-way as Finn started yelling, asking the Grounder again about Clarke. Bellamy sighed, moving after him to try and break him from the Grounder before Finn kept beating him up.

-    "Back off!"

Finn rose his voice like he rarely did, taking out his gun and my blood froze as he pointed it at Bellamy. Panic ran through my system. Finn was out of control.

-    "Put the gun down, Finn."

Bellamy spoke with a calm voice, raising his hands, trying to get Finn to cooperate; instead, Finn loaded the gun and pointed it to the Grounder's head. I was not ashamed to confess that was a relief.

-    "Three seconds."

I looked at the scene in front of me unsure of how to act. Finn counted two as the Grounder rose his head to look at him, fear in his eyes.

-    "One."

-    "Okay. I'll tell you." –the Grounder spoke, mouth full of blood- "Your friends are East of here at the village where we take our prisoners of war."

-    "East where? How do we get to them?"

-    "I can draw you a map but you should hurry, soon they'll outlive their usefulness."

-    "Get him something to draw a map."

Finn ordered, putting the gun down but his eyes never left the Grounder. I had a bad feeling about this. Monroe moved fast and gave the Grounder a paper and a pencil to draw. Murphy moved towards Bellamy.

-    "And you thought I was the crazy one, huh?"

     I tried to ignore Murphy's comment as I kept an eye on Finn; I knew how he felt but he was starting to lose control. And I should know what that felt like. Finn wasn't my favorite person around but I didn't wish him to cross any lines he wouldn't be able to uncross.

-    "I don't like this." -I felt Sam moving beside me.

-    "Neither do I."

-    "No, I mean," –she turned to look at the Grounder drawing and then at Finn- "he said they are in the village where they take war prisoners."

-    "Yeah."

-    "It doesn't add up." –she looked at me again- "If that's the village where they take war prisoners... why didn't they take Murphy there?"

I looked at Murphy and then at her. Fuck.

-    "You are right."

-    "He is lying, but I know Finn won't give in." –she turned his way completely- "He's lost it; for a second I was afraid he was going to shoot you."

-    "It's fine." –I took her chin in my hand to make her face me again- "I'm fine." –I reassured her as she smiled lightly, rubbing my thumb over her skin.

-    "What are we going to do?"

-    "We'll check the place, maybe we'll find something there."

She nodded at me and moved to sit on one of the beds next to Murphy who started talking to her. I thought she might push him away but she spoke with him. I must have missed something there. I turned around and faced Finn who had now the drawn map with him. We looked at it and figured out what it had on it before we started packing our stuff again.

-    "Wait." –Sterling spoke- "What about him?"

-    "For now, we leave him. We'll deal with him when we are done."

-    "What if he escapes?" -Murphy, of course, fueled the fire- "He knows where we're going."

-    "We're not killing him."

-    "I'm not seeing another option here."

-    "Maybe one of us could stay with him." –Sam offered- "I'll do it."

-    "If we don't take care of this now, it will blow back on us and you both know that." –Murphy insisted, his eyes moving from me to Sam.

-    "He's unarmed, Murphy."

-    "He's a Grounder." -he looked at Sterling and Monroe and then at Sam- "Tell him."

-    "I don't know." –Monroe answered him.

-    "You don't know what? He's gonna tell his people everything. We are as good as dead."

-    "Fine, shut up." –Sam sighed, looking for her gun- "I'll do it."

-    "Hey!" –I grabbed her arm, pulling her back to me- "No, you are not doing this."

-    "Bellamy–"

-    "You'll have to go through me."

I stood my ground, looking into her eyes that were boring deep into mine. We are not doing this. She is not going through this again. After a moment, her gaze softened enough for me to notice.

-    "I don't want to hurt you, Bellamy."

-    "Then stop this, Samantha." –I soothed my grip on her arm.

-    "What happened to you, huh? You became a softie while I was gone?" –Murphy came to face me as I let go of Sam- "You're talking like you never killed a Grounder."

-    "That was in battle, this would be an execution–"

A gunshot cut my words. We all turned around to see the Grounder on the floor, dead, and Finn with the gun in his hand.

-    "Let's get moving."

Finn didn't say anything else, like what just had happened, what he had done, was nothing, walking past us and grabbing the map. The rest all followed him after a moment except for Sam, whose eyes were on the Grounder. I knew what she was thinking.

-    "I should have done it." –Sam spoke still looking at the bloody floor- "He won't be able to live with that when he realizes what he's done."

-    "Were you really going to kill him? After I told you you'd have to go through me."

-    "You know I'd never hurt you, Bellamy; I like you too much." –she turned to face me- "But I know I can live with these things." -The guard back in the Ark- "I'm not sure he can."

-    "I wouldn't have let you."

-    "I know, I counted on Murphy to distract you. Besides, I wasn't really going to kill him, just hurt him really bad so he couldn't escape." –she gave me a sad smile- "Maybe the Finn I was starting to get to know wouldn't have been able to live with this... maybe this new Finn can."

-    "He is not okay."

-    "Of course not. He loves Clarke; it's like he's grieving her at the same time he's fighting to get her back and, for the sake of his mental health, I hope we'll find her, and the rest, soon. I'm afraid if we don't, he'll do something worse. And I don't want things to go south to the point to which we'd have to hurt him to stop him from causing more harm than good."

-    "Are you both coming or what?" –Murphy's voice echoed from outside, Sam turning her head in that direction- "It's not the time to make out right now, you know? Finn is leaving."

-    "He is obsessed with us." –Sam smiled as the subject changed.

-    "Maybe you should ask him why."

-    "I don't like Murphy that way and he knows it." –she moved towards the exit- "Besides, I think he wants to talk with you."

-    "With me? And why is that?"

-    "I don't know, maybe he likes you that way." –she smirked at me before going up the stairs and out of the bunker.

-    "Too bad I only have eyes for you, Sam." –I smiled following her.

-    "Oh, I'm sure you do." –I saw her smiling at me as she offered me her hand to get out of the bunker.

-    "You are not going all embarrassed on me, how's that?" –I pointed out, used to her eyes casting low whenever I pushed the flirting a bit further and every time we interchanged comments like these.

-    "Maybe I'm getting better at controlling myself around you, maybe you need to step up your game." –she raised her eyebrows- "Or maybe it's your blood, who knows."

I laughed, amused by her, stepping out of the bunker and standing directly in front of her. Sam wasn't shy but there were times I did manage to push something in her that made me... I wasn't sure how to describe it, but I liked it.

-    "Alright now, let's focus on this." –I pulled her to walk with me- "I don't want to die because you are flirting with me."

-    "I could say the same, you know?"

     After our little talk, Bellamy and I caught up easily with the others. We were completely alone on new ground, so we all stood sharp as we advanced in the direction of this new camp. I still didn't think the Grounder was saying the truth but I knew Finn needed this so I wasn't about to burst his bubble. Yet.

-    "Everyone eyes peeled, we're in Grounder territory." –Bellamy reminded us for the billion time.

No shit, Sherlock.

-    "Everything is Grounder territory." –Murphy expressed my thoughts out loud as I tried to repress the laughter in my chest- "I can't keep running. We don't even know if the guy Finn killed is telling the truth."

-    "Keep moving." –Finn commanded as he pushed Murphy to keep walking in front of him.

-    "We can give them a minute."

-    "No, we can't." -Finn stood in front of Bellamy- "You heard what that Grounder said: "They'll outlive their usefulness"."

-    "I heard what he said when you had a gun to his head."

-    "Finn, I know you don't want to hear this," –I spoke moving beside him- "but Murphy is right, it doesn't add up. He might have said something because he was afraid of you."

-    "Do you all think I wanted to do that? He would have told his people we're coming and by the time we got there, our people would be dead." –he looked at Bellamy and then at me- "Maybe that's something you both can live with, but I can't."

-    "Are you fucking kidding me, Finn?" –I spat pushing him forward- "Do you truly think I don't give a shit about our people?"

-    "Sam..." –Murphy moved towards me as he spoke in unison with Bellamy.

-    "No, you both shut up now." –I moved my hand in front of them to shush them before facing Finn- "Look, I know there's no one there that I love the way you love Clarke, but that doesn't mean I don't care. Jasper is there and hopefully Monty too, and I am getting both of them back." –I turned around while adding- "So don't you dare implying I don't care; I always do."

-    "Then why are you defending Murphy? Just because you aren't losing the one you love doesn't mean we can stop. If Raven or Be–"

-    "Finn, enough." –Bellamy stopped him- "I know you did what you think you had to do but you are not yourself right now and I can't be out here with another loose cannon."

Monroe had kept moving forward a little and her voice made us all turn around as she called for us. A bunch of insects were buzzing and flying around in front of us. We started moving again and, as we advanced, we saw something I wish we had never had to see: hundreds of bodies were spread through the territory in front of us, clothes and body parts lying around or hanging from tree branches: a catastrophe. I had to cover my mouth.

-    "Where the hell do they come from?" –Murphy asked completely oblivious.

-    "From the Ark."

-    "Would anyone have managed to survive?"

I wandered not really expecting an answer, Bellamy and Murphy looked at me, most probably agreeing on a firm 'no'. We kept moving until we got to a cliff.

-    "That's a rough landing."

Murphy couldn't have been more right: the ship had crashed into the cliff and ended up falling into the valley, completely destroyed.

-    "There's nothing we can do for these people." –Bellamy finally spoke- "We have to go."

-    "You heard that?"

Murphy questioned just as we had started to make our way back. We all stood still and, after a couple of seconds, I thought I distinguished something, all of us moving back towards the cliff.

-    "Hey." –Monroe pointed out, all of us looking in that direction- "Someone's there!"

-    "We need to help them."

-    "Hey!" –Bellamy shouted, gaining the girl's attention- "Up here!"

-    "Mel?"

-    "You know her?"

-    "Murphy, shut up." -Sterling pushed past him- "She's my friend, we have to do something."

-    "We will, I promise." –I told him- "We need something to get her up."

Sterling quickly moved back as Bellamy and Finn moved away to talk. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear anything else coming from Finn's mouth so I started to look for stuff with Sterling as Mel kept shouting. We finally found a rope and Sterling started to get it around his body.

-    "You sure you wanna go?"

-    "Yeah, she's my friend, I'm doing this."

-    "Alright." -I nodded- "Everything's secured?"

-    "Yeah, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

I stood next to the edge with Monroe, watching as Sterling started to slowly make his way down. I just hoped he'd manage to catch her and we'd all get out of there soon. I didn't' know how long Mel had been there but I was certain she'd need to see Abby as soon as we could. Once Sterling was halfway through his descent, Bellamy walked towards us, saying we were leaving.

-    "Don't think so."

-    "Sterling, wait!" –Finn screamed.

-    "Yeah, it looks like we are taking that break after all."

Murphy commented, sassy as he got; I looked at him as he moved away to sit down next to a rock. Finn started sighing angrily at the situation as Monroe, Bellamy and I kept looking over the edge at Sterling and Mel.

-    "I'm almost there." -Sterling shouted- "Once I have her, pull us up."

-    "I'd say he's heard too many of your motivational speeches." –Murphy told Bellamy as he moved back to the edge.

-    "Shut up, Murphy."

-    "At least he is doing something for someone he cares about, you know?" –I spoke as Murphy looked at me unconvinced.

The next 10 seconds of our lives went by too fast.  Something snapped beside us and we all turned around to see the rope Sterling had tied to keep him hanging had untied and was now moving towards the edge as Sterling started to fall. Monroe and I, on instinct, threw ourselves to the ground and tried to catch it, but it slipped burning through our fingers and then, we heard a flat noise. Sterling was dead. I looked at her, she had tears in her eyes and she was breathing heavily; Sterling was her friend and she watched his life slip through our fingers. Literally. Murphy helped us both up and Monroe moved away from the edge as she threw her hands to the air in despair. I looked at Murphy and then down as Mel.

-    "Mel! Hold on" –Bellamy told her as we saw her starting to panic again- "Focus on me, you can do this."

-    "No, I can't."

-    "Yes, you do. You're strong."

-    "I'm not strong." -Mel was shaking- "Stubborn maybe."

-    "Then hold on a little longer because you are definitely joining Bell and I's stubborn club." –I kneeled next to Bellamy who nodded at me- "Alright?"

-    "Yeah, we are not going to let you die. You hear me?"

After Mel nodded, Bellamy stood up to go look for something to get to Mel. Bellamy moved back but Finn stopped him, saying we had no more rope and we should leave. I couldn't believe Finn, the guy who had opposed to ever leaving anyone behind was willingly suggesting leaving Mel to her luck. It was sick. Bellamy stood his ground, saying we were here and Mel needed our help.

-    "Anything happens to our friends..."

-    "We don't know if we can save our friends!" –Bellamy finally snapped- "For all we know, they may be dead already; we've all thought it. But what we do know is we can save this one girl."

Bellamy's voice broke at the end and I felt the urge to hug him but I decided against it, we needed our heads as cold as possible. I needed to focus.

     We had watched Sterling die, right in front of our eyes, unable to help him. And I knew Finn wanted to go but we couldn't leave Mel like that; she needed our help and that was what we were going to do. Thankfully, everyone there agreed with me instead of siding with Finn.

-    "How do we do it?"

-    "Let's find anything we can use to make a new rope."

-    "Take anything you can find from the wreckage: wires, seat belts, anything." –I added to Sam's words.

-    "Come on then."

Murphy took Monroe with him as Sam moved to the edge again to keep an eye on Mel and try to calm her down. I was glad she was with me because I was starting to doubt every decision I was making and Finn throwing it to my face wasn't helping.

It didn't take much longer to have a new rope built and secured as tight as we could. I'd dare say it seemed stronger than the previous one, even if it had its faults. It was then a matter of going down, picking up Mel, and bringing her back to solid ground with us.

-    "I'll go." –Sam moved towards the end of the rope to start tying it up around her.

-    "No."

-    "Bellamy–"

-    "I said no."

-    "Mel and I will be lighter to pull up."

-    "I have more arm strength to hold her up."

-    "I am also strong," -she furrowed her eyebrows- "how dare you."

-    "I don't want you to go."

-    "Give me one more reason and don't try to blame it on my strength."

-    "I don't want you to go because I can't lose you."

-    "Well, I don't want you to go because I can't lose you."

-    "I have to do this."

-    "You don't have to. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone. This is my party now and you aren't invited."

I knew Sam and I knew she was not going to back down as much as I tried. I knew she was right; heer and Mel would be lighter to pull back up but I'd rather anyone else go down there than her because, even if the risk was minimal, her life mattered more to me. Even if she refused to hear me out. I looked around us, my eyes landing on Murphy and I knew just what would work.

-    "Murphy, come here."

-    "Why are you bringing him into this." –Sam whispered surprised, glaring at me.

-    "You know why."

-    "This isn't fair play." –she rolled her eyes- "I don't have O with me to push you out of this."

-    "Yeah?" –Murphy asked as he came next to us- "What now?"

-    "Hold Sam here while I go down for Mel."

-    "Because...?"

-    "Because she wants to go and I think you'll agree with me on this one: Sam's not going down there."

-    "You are not doing this, Sam." –Murphy faced her.

-    "Ugh," -Sam didn't try to fight back, knowing she was at disadvantage, throwing her hands in the air- "I despise you. Both of you." –she sighed, facing me- "If you don't come back up to me, I'll find you in the Hades and I will kill you again myself."

-    "Are you using mythology against me?" –I smiled surprised she knew about it and never told me- "Since when?"

-    "I was waiting for the right moment to impress you with my little knowledge on the subject." –she smirked- "This seems like the perfect time."

-    "Alright you two, enough flirting. Get a room once we are done here, will you? Solve this ten–"

-    "Oh," -Sam cut him off, a mischievous glint in her eyes- "we already have a room." -she eyed me up and down- "Right?"

I lost my voice for a moment, enough for her to let out an amused chuckle before moving away towards the edge of the cliff.

-    "Wao." –Murphy faced me- "I didn't know you had already gone there. Since when is this going on, huh?"

-    "We haven't done anything Murphy, she's messing with you."

-    "Yeah, the way you both interact is pretty ordinary, sure." –he paused for a moment- "Thank you."

-    "For?"

-    "Saving her; she told me she would be dead if it weren't for you."

-    "I couldn't just let her die, she's too important."

-    "She is."

Murphy agreed with me as we both looked over at Sam's figure sat on the edge as she talked with Mel to calm her down. What would we do without her? What would I do?

     Once I told Mel what we were going to do, Bellamy was all tied up and secure to go down for her. I still thought me going down was a better idea but he just wouldn't let me. He moved towards the edge as the rest of us picked up the rope we'd made and took positions: Murphy was the closest to the edge, I stood behind him followed by Finn and Monroe at the end. This better work.

-    "Alright, ease it out slowly."

Murphy instructed everyone and we simultaneously started to let go little by little of the rope so that Bellamy would descend as slowly and carefully as possible. I felt my nerves spiking up the more I let the rope move through my fingers.

-    "Just hang on, I'm almost there."

After a couple of minutes of uncertainty, since none of us could really see what was going on down there, the weight on the rope increased, grabbing it tighter.

-    "I got her!" –Bellamy yelled- "Pull us up!"

-    "Don't you worry, Bellamy! I won't drop you."

-    "Just pull, Murphy." –Finn yelled at him.

The four of us started pulling them back up, slowly but surely; but suddenly, the rope snatched between Murphy and me, making Monroe, Finn and I fall back down as Murphy was left with all the weight. Bellamy! No! I quickly stood up as my heart started racing even faster than it already was, grabbing the rope from in front of Murphy as Finn and Monroe moved next to us to keep pulling back.

-    "What the hell is happening up there?" –Bellamy yelled.

-    "Just hold on!"

Finn answered him because I doubted my voice would come out even if I tried. I thought we had it under control, managing to start pulling them back up without any more trouble but, as with everything on that goddamn planet, everything could always go worse. As we managed to get them stable again, arrows started flying towards us.

-    "Grounders!"

-    "Monroe, cover us." –Finn instructed, handing her his rifle- "Go."

-    "How many are there?" –Bellamy asked.

-    "We can't see them."

-    "They're in the trees! Aim for the trees Monroe!"

A spear flew towards us and Murphy moved to one side and Finn and I to the other, Murphy being left with all the weight yet again.

-    "Alright, that's it." –I took the rifle Bellamy had left on the floor- "Finn, help Murphy, I'll go help Monroe."

Finn nodded at me and I moved next to Monroe and started shooting at the trees. They were well covered with the foliage but with the sniper my work was much easier. We had been able to shoot a couple of Grounders when Monroe was hit, falling to her side against me. I pulled her behind a couple of rocks to keep her from getting hurt again, checking her wound.

-    "He's gotta cut her loose, we can't do this." –Murphy rose his voice- "Bellamy, you gotta cut her loose!"

-    "No way."

-    "Murphy, shut up and pull!" -I shouted as I kept shooting towards the trees when a horn started blowing in the distance- "Seriously?! Acid fog, right now? What's next?"

As the Grounders stopped shooting arrows at us, I moved towards Finn and Murphy and started to help them pull Bellamy and Mel back up. Monroe moved beside me and started pulling again too as best as the arrow on her leg allowed her.

After what seemed like hours, we were able to see first Mel and then Bellamy pushing her to solid ground. Once they were both back with their feet on the ground, Mel crashed over Finn as I moved towards Bellamy, hugging him, making him stumble to the side and we both fell to the ground. I buried my face on his neck as he hugged me back and stroke my hair as all the emotions hit me.

For a moment there I had thought I was going to watch him die.

He sat back up pulling me to sit on his lap. I looked up at him but didn't know what to say, so instead I placed my hands on his face and rested my forehead against his, eyes closed.

-    "I know." –he stroke my check- "But I'm fine, don't you worry."

I barely heard Finn saying we had to get going to find cover from the fog, only realizing when Bellamy made me moved back, his eyes boring into mine when I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning to look at Finn, offering to help me stand up. I rose from Bellamy's lap offering him my hand to stand up as Finn left us there. As we both stood up, a voice I'd missed endlessly echoed through our ears.

-    "Bellamy? Sam?"

Bellamy's face illuminated as he moved towards the voice while I turned around to see its owner. Octavia. She's back.