9.0

It had been a couple of days since the groups went out to hunt for food. Bellamy's small group had come back, but there were no signs of Clarke, Finn, Myles, or Monty. Sophia was getting worried; the grounders could be at their doors at any moment, and people were missing. For all they knew, the grounders could have already killed them.

"They're fine." Sophia looked behind her to see Murphy come over to join Sophia on watch. The brunette frowned slightly as she looked ahead.

"They should have been back by now. What if they got caught by the grounders? They could be dead." Sophia mumbled, letting out a small 'oof' when Murphy nudged her with his elbow.

"They're fine. I doubt Finn would let anything bad happen to his precious princess." Murphy grunted.

The two looked ahead, Sophia readying a gun only to quickly lower it when she saw a beaten and bloodied Myles stumbling to the wall, collapsing in front of it.

"Holy shit-" Sophia quickly climbed down, making her way to the entrance, pushing the gate open.

Murphy scowled but followed after Sophia. Myles weakly crawled away from the pair. "Don't touch me, roaches." He seethed. Sophia glared at Myles, grabbing Myles' arm, pulling him up.

"You're injured. You're not really in the right place to be denying help, prick." Sophia muttered as Murphy begrudgingly went on Myles' other side, helping Sophia bring the injured delinquent to the dropship.

"Where's Finn and Clarke? They were with you." Sophia frowned as she and Murphy set Myles down on one of the hammocks. Myles hissed in pain, throwing his head back with a groan.

"Grounders. They took them...left me for dead." Sophia frowned, looking at Murphy. "They're closer. We need to let Bellamy know."

Murphy glanced at Myles before looking back at Sophia. "You go. I'll keep an eye on Myles, make sure he doesn't get worse."

Sophia's brows furrowed slightly, "He's one of the ones that tried to hang you..." she mumbled as Jasper awkwardly walked past, climbing upstairs to get more gunpowder for ammo.

"Bygones." Murphy shrugged. And eery feeling bubbled up inside Sophia. She looked at Myles, who was moaning in pain, then back to Murphy.

"Alright." Sophia made her way out of the dropship and walked over to Bellamy and Raven, hearing the tail end of their conversation about needing to get ready for the Grounders' attack.

"Bellamy...can I talk to you for a second?" Sophia spoke up. Bellamy looked over at Sophia, clipping his walkie to his pant pocket as he nodded his head towards his tent.

Sophia followed Bellamy. She crossed her arms as she looked at the older male. "What is it? We can't waste time--"

"The grounders are closer than we anticipated." Sophia cut Bellamy off, making him frown. "Son of a bitch. How do you know?" He pressed.

"Myles. He told us the grounders captured Finn and Clarke. You guys weren't out that far hunting. They could easily attack today." Sophia frowned. Bellamy let out another string of curses.

"...You know what'll happen to me if you tell Bellamy." Murphy's voice suddenly came in from Bellamy's walkie. Bellamy and Sophia looked at each other, both of them confused, as he answered the walkie.

"Tell Bellamy what?" He questioned. Sophia heard Murphy's voice telling Jasper to give him the radio, followed by Jasper quickly saying in a rushed voice, "Murphy has a gun. He killed Myles!" A thud was heard next, making Sophia's heart sink.

"Murphy, what the hell are you doing?!" "Murphy!" Both Bellamy and Sophia ran out of the tent only to see the dropship close.

"No!" Sophia shouted, banging on the door. "Murphy! Murphy! Open the damn door!" Bellamy snapped, banging on the door with Sophia.

"You try to be a hero, Jasper dies." Murphy's voice was slightly muffled. Sophia's stomach dropped as her eyes started tearing up, her knocking/banging growing more frantic.

"Jasper! Jasper! We're going to get you out of there!" Sophia shouted, her voice cracking as tears slid down her face.

"Sorry, Princess. This is for the best." Sophia clenched her fists, punching the dropship before walking away from the ship with a choked sob.

Sophia sat by the new smokehouse, her head in her hands as she tried to hold back her worried sobs. "Sophia?" She looked up to see Harper coming over, looking at Sophia worriedly.

"I'm...I'm fine, Harper..." She mumbled. Harper frowned, sitting beside Sophia. "It's going to be alright. Murphy's not going to kill Jasper. I don't think he's got it in him."

"He killed Myles. What if he killed Connor, too? He's capable of killing. He's going to kill Jasper." Harper frowned, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I think it's different with Jasper. He knows Jasper is your brother, and between you and me, I think Murphy's got a soft spot for both you and Jasper."

Sophia shrugged her shoulders. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he was just bluffing. Sophia didn't care. Jasper's life was on the line, and Sophia was stressed.

"He's not going to kill Jasper," Bellamy stated matter-of-factly as he walked over. Sophia quickly got up as she looked at him. "How are you so certain?" Sophia questioned.

"I'm going to trade places," Bellamy said, making Sophia's eyes widen. "You- why?" She questioned in surprise.

"Other than the fact that he's your brother, Murphy wants revenge on the people who hung him. I was one of those people. I offer to trade places, he can't refuse." Bellamy said as he walked back to the closed dropship. Sophia followed close behind, feeling herself grow anxious.

"Come on, Murphy. You don't want to hurt Jasper. You want to hurt me. So what do you say? How about you trade him for me?" Bellamy said into the radio. There was a silence that fell. Sophia felt herself growing more anxious as Bellamy added, "All you have to do is let him go, and I'll take his place."

Silence again. The dropship door opened. Sophia went to run in when Bellamy pulled her back. "Just you, Bellamy, unarmed." Bellamy tossed Sophia his gun. "10 seconds, or I'll put one in Jasper's leg." Murphy warned as he started counting.

Bellamy looked at Sophia and Octavia. "Get everyone back to work. The grounders are still coming." He made his way inside. A few seconds later, Jasper got shoved out of the dropship as the door closed again.

"Jasper!" Sophia knelt, helping Jasper up before hugging him tightly, crying into his shoulder.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, Soph." Jasper muttered, hugging Sophia back.

**********

Sophia was helping Octavia get people ready for a fight when a gunshot was heard from the dropship.

"Bellamy? Bellamy! Are you ok?" Octavia called into her radio frantically. Silence. "Bellamy! Do you copy?"

Static. Then Bellamy's voice came through, "I'm fine. Just a misfire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you... And tell Raven to hurry her ass up." He was cut off after that. They were left in silence.

"We need to move faster. The grounders will be here before we know it." Octavia nodded as she helped out.

Gunfire was heard again as the dropship door opened. Sophia and Octavia ran in to find Bellamy hanging. He was still alive, but it was only a matter of time. Octavia quickly cut Bellamy down while Sophia tried to follow Murphy upstairs, getting the hatch slammed in her face.

"It's over! Murphy! There's only one way out of this for you now!" Sophia shouted as she knocked on the door. Silence. A few moments later, Murphy's muffled voice came in. "You want to bet, princess?"

"What--" Sophia was cut off by an explosion from upstairs, tossing her back. "The guy knows how to make an exit. Should we go after him?" Jasper questioned as Sophia groaned in pain.

"All gunners! We got movement outside the south wall!" Miller's voice chimed in suddenly from the walkie. "Someone's coming! Get ready! Stay together!" Sophia got up, her head reeling slightly from being thrown back.

"Wait! Hold your fire! Clarke and Finn! Open the gate! Get in!" Sophia, Jasper, Bellamy and Octavia all looked at each other before rushing out of the dropship.

"Hey, we heard an explosion. What happened?" Clarke questioned, coming in with Finn.

"Murphy." Bellamy and Sophia frowned.

"Where's Monty?" Jasper questioned, making Clarke frown. "Monty's gone?"

Finn shook his head, "We need to leave, now. All of us do. There's an army of grounders, unlike anything we've ever seen, coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run."

"Like hell we do. We knew this was coming." Bellamy grunted, making Octavia frown. "Bell, we're not prepared..." Bellamy looked at his sister with a frown. "And they're not here yet. We still have time to get ready."

Bellamy turned to look at all the other delinquents. "This is our home now. We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall in this ground! Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they're yet to realize one very important fact: We are on the ground now, and that means we are grounders!"

Sophia frowned as the others started cheering in agreement. Raven could be heard from inside the dropship calling for help. Clarke went in to check on her, frowning worriedly.

"Murphy shot her." Bellamy crossed his arms. "Clarke you can't believe that Finn is right. We need to be ready to fight."

"The decision has been made," Clarke muttered stubbornly. "Crowds make bad decisions. Just ask Murphy. Leaders do what they think is right."

"I am."