4.0

The next morning, something felt off in the air. Sophia wasn't sure what it was. Everything seemed fine. Jasper was alive and was walking around the camp now. Murphy wasn't irritating Sophia that much for a change. But something still felt off to the girl; she just couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Sophia was helping out with building a wall of defense with the other delinquents when she heard a log drop. She looked behind her to find Murphy walking up to Connor.

"We're burning daylight. Get back to work." Murphy ordered.

"We've been working all morning. I just need a water break."

Murphy tilted his head slightly to the side. "Fine." He started to walk away whilst Bellamy went over and picked up the log after joking with Charlotte about it.

Sophia smiled small. It was nice seeing a less commanding Bellamy like this. Her attention shifted back to Connor when she heard him shouting in disgust to find Murphy pissing on him.

"Murphy, what the actual fuck?!" Sophia shouted, shoving Murphy, making him stumble slightly.

"What? He wanted a water break-"

"That doesn't mean you can piss on him!" Murphy rolled his eyes at Sophia's complaints.

"The grounders aren't going to sit around and wait for us to build our defenses," Murphy said as he looked around at everyone. "Get back to work!"

Sophia scoffed as she walked past Murphy, stopping as he grabbed her arm. "You can take a break, princess."

"And have you piss all over me too? You said it yourself, the grounders won't wait." Sophia pulled her arm free as she went back to working on the wall. "Maybe you should take your own advice and do some work too instead of just standing there watching us." She added from the wall she was working on.

"You son of a bitch!" Sophia looked over to see Clarke charge in, shoving Murphy.

"Seriously? Again with people shoving me today? What's your problem?" Murphy questioned, a slightly amused smile on his face.

"Recognize this?" Clarke questioned, holding up a knife with the initials JM carved into it. Sophia frowned slightly as she stopped working and walked over.

"It's my knife, where'd you find it?" Murphy questioned, reaching for the blade.

"Where you dropped it after you killed Welles!"

"Where I what?" Murphy questioned in confusion. Sophia frowned, just as confused as Murphy, as she got closer. She was with Murphy all last night. There's no way he could have murdered Welles.

"The grounders killed Welles. Not me." Murphy's brows furrowed.

"I know what you did, and you're going to pay for it." Clarke glared at Murphy, making him scoff.

"Bellamy, you really believe this crap?" Murphy questioned.

"You threatened to kill him! We all heard you! You hated Welles!" Clarke pressed.

"Clarke, Murphy was-" Sophia began, only to be cut off.

"Plenty of people hated Welles. His father was the chancellor who locked us all up!"

"But you're the only one who got into a knife fight with him!" Clarke argued back.

"Yeah, but I didn't kill him then either."

"But you tried to kill Jasper, too." Octavia chimed in, making Sophia frown.

Things were escalating fast. Sophia opened her mouth to try and come to Murphy's defense again.

"Come on, this is getting ridiculous! I don't have to answer to you! I don't have to answer to anyone!" Murphy snapped as he tried to walk away.

"Come again?" Bellamy questioned. Sophia's stomach dropped for Murphy when she saw how pale he had gone.

"Bellamy, look, I'm telling the truth! I didn't have anything to do with this." He frowned.

"He was with me last night, Bell-"

"You were drinking last night, for all we know, you imagined it!" Connor argued back against Sophia's defense, making her frown.

"Is this the kind of society that we want?" Clarke questioned as she looked around at everyone. "You say you want no rules, but does that really mean we should just let murderers go unpunished?" She pointed at Murphy. "He killed one of our own! How much longer before he decides to kill the rest of us?"

"Clarke-" Sophia frowned.

"I already told you! I didn't kill anyone!" Murphy frowned.

"I say we float him!" Connor said, followed by a series of agreements, and everyone started chanting to float him.

Though he was trying to keep it hidden, Sophia noticed the small glimmer of fear in Murphy's eyes as he looked around at everyone who was cheering for his demise.

"Hold on-" Sophia attempted to speak up again over the chanting.

"He deserves to float! It's justice!" Connor argued.

"Revenge isn't justice!" Clarke frowned.

The chants only grew louder after that. Murphy glanced over at Sophia, noting the worried expression on her face. He attempted to run away, only to be abruptly tripped as several delinquents surrounded him and started beating him up.

"No!" Clarke shouted.

"Get off of him! He didn't do it!" Sophia shouted as she tried to push past the other delinquents to get to Murphy.

"Let him go!" Clarke tried to shout over the commotion whilst Connor tied a makeshift gag in Murphy's mouth, using one of the old seat belts from the dropship.

Sophia quickly followed after as Connor and a couple of other delinquents started shoving Murphy out of the camp, towards one of the trees. Her eyes widened when she saw a rope get tossed up the tree.

"You can't do this!" Clarke and Sophia both pleaded, trying to stop Connor.

"Back up!" He shoved both girls back. Sophia's heart was pounding in her ears as she watched Murphy get strung up, a box under his feet.

"He didn't do anything!" Sophia frowned, her eyes getting glassy.

She wasn't the biggest fan of Murphy, sure. But Sophia knew Murphy was innocent. She knew he couldn't have possibly killed Welles.

"You can stop this! They'll listen to you!" Clarke pushed Bellamy.

"Bellamy! You should do it!" Connor looked at Bellamy before starting a new chat about Bellamy's name.

Sophia's stomach dropped as she saw the look on Murphy's face. He looked afraid. The tears that started to blur Sophia's vision fell.

"Bellamy, don't do this!" Sophia begged. "I heard the way you talked about Atom's death! I know you're not a killer! Please-"

Bellamy briefly glanced at Sophia. Murphy's muffled pleas could be heard as he tried to say he was innocent. Both fell on deaf ears as Bellamy kicked away the box that was keeping Murphy up.

"No!" Sophia screamed. She tried to run over to Murphy, only to be held back by Connor.

"How could you!?" Clarke screamed as she pushed Bellamy.

"This is on you, princess! You just couldn't keep your mouth shut!" Bellamy snapped back.

"What the hell is going on!? Cut him down!" Finn came running over, only for Connor to point a knife at him.

"Just stop, okay?! Murphy didn't kill Welles!" Silence hit as everyone looked over at Charlotte. "I did!"

"Oh my god-" Clarke immediately cut the rope, so Murphy fell to the ground.

"Murphy..." Sophia breathed out in relief as she knelt down, taking the gag out of his mouth while Finn worked on taking the rope off his neck. Murphy took a few gasps for air while everyone else looked at Charlotte, shocked and unsure of what to do.

Sophia watched as Finn, Clarke, Bellamy, and Charlotte went into one of the tents as they got back to camp. Sophia seemed to be conflicted. On one hand, Charlotte was the murderer and should be banished or something of the sort. On the other hand, she was just a child; they'd all be seen as monsters if they kicked her out or killed her.

"I don't care!" Murphy snapped as he paced back and forth like a caged animal. "That bitch admitted to killing him! We should hang her!"

"She's a child-"

"She's a murderer, Soph! They didn't hesitate to try and kill me when they thought I did it, but now they're going to hesitate?!" He cut Sophia off, making her frown as she looked back at the tent.

"She's a little girl..." Sophia mumbled, wincing slightly when Murphy started shouting at Bellamy to hand over Charlotte.

Bellamy eventually stepped out of the tent, walking up to Murphy. "Stand down, Murphy."

"Or what? You gonna hang me again?" Murphy questioned.

"I was just giving the people what they wanted," Bellamy muttered.

"You know what? Yeah. That's a good idea." Murphy turned to look at the other delinquents. Sophia's stomach dropped, already not liking where this was about to go.

"So, who here wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favor?" Murphy questioned as he raised his hand. A couple of the delinquents slowly raised their hands while a few others looked around in hesitation.

"I see...so it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you want to just let her walk?!" He snapped. "Cowards! You're all a bunch of cowards!"

"Murphy! Murphy! It's over!" Bellamy snapped. Murphy blinked as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever you say, boss." He muttered. As soon as Bellamy's back was turned, Murphy grabbed one of the logs, hitting him in the back of the head.

"Murphy!" Sophia shouted.

"Come on. Let's get the girl." Murphy motioned the couple who were on his side over.

As soon as he opened the tent, anger grew as it was empty inside. "Charlotte! Charlotte, I know you can hear me! And when I find you, you are going to pay!" Murphy screamed.

"Murphy, she's just-"

"Princess, if you say she's just a child one more time, I'm going to think you're not actually on my side here and you wanted me to die like the others." Murphy cut Sophia off.

"You know that's not true! Other than Charlotte confessing to murdering Welles, I was the only one who was trying to defend you!" Sophia argued back, her shoulders sagging as she begrudgingly followed Murphy.

"You know as well as I do, then. That bitch needs to pay." Murphy muttered.

**********

Night fell, and the small group was still out looking for Charlotte. Sophia looked around the woods before looking back at Murphy.

"It's late. We should head back to the dropship and-"

"And let Clarke and Finn get even further away with Charlotte? Nice try, princess. We're not stopping until that bitch is found."

Sophia frowned as she kept walking. The small group stopped when Charlotte's shouts could be heard. She was calling for Murphy, but she sounded like she was getting further and further away, as if someone was carrying her.

Sophia followed the group close behind as they ran in the direction of the shouting. Sophia's heart pounded in her chest. They couldn't do this. They should have just let the kid go free. It wasn't her fault.

"Bellamy?" Sophia questioned as they got out of the forest to find Bellamy and Charlotte at the edge of a cliff.

"Hand her over, Bellamy. You can't take us all." Murphy said.

"No, but I'm damn sure I'd take some of you out with me." Bellamy shrugged.

"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke shouted as she and Finn came in.

"This has gone too far." Clarke frowned at Murphy. "Just calm down, we can talk about this."

Sophia inched away from Murphy. She noticed the dangerous look in his eyes. She didn't believe he'd actually kill Clarke, but with how suddenly he grabbed Clarke, holding her at knife point, Sophia couldn't help but hesitate near him.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk!" Murphy seethed.

"No, please...don't hurt her." Charlotte begged.

"Don't hurt her? Why don't you come over here then? You come with me and I'll let her go." Murphy stated simply.

"Don't do it, Charlotte!" Clarke told the girl. Charlotte tried to go, only to be stopped by Bellamy.

"Murphy, this is not happening. Let Clarke go." The air grew tense.

"I can't let anyone else get hurt for me. Not after what I did..." Charlotte frowned as she started to back away.

"Charlotte, no!" Clarke shouted. As quickly as the words left her, Charlotte had already thrown herself off the cliff.

Clarke pushed passed Murphy, going next to Bellamy as the two looked over the cliff. Sophia and Murphy exchanged glances. Clarke was right. This went too far. But it was over now.

Murphy was tense as Bellamy turned around, staring at him and Sophia.

"Bellamy-" Murphy was cut off as Bellamy tackled Murphy down and proceeded to throw several punches.

"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke shouted.

"You're going to kill him!" Sophia frowned.

Bellamy got pulled off Murphy. Sophia was by his side again, looking over his injuries.

"He deserves to die!" Bellamy snapped.

"We don't get to decide that!" Clarke shouted back.

The two argued back and forth while Sophia looked down at Murphy. Confliction was in her eyes again. On one hand, she was relieved that Murphy didn't die; on the other hand, she felt he should for being the cause of Charlotte's suicide.

"Get up!" Bellamy pulled Murphy up abruptly. Sophia jumped up shortly after.

"What are you doing?!" Sophia shouted.

"He's being banished! If he ever comes back to our camp, we will kill him on site! Anyone who wishes to join can do so now." Everyone was silent.

"Maybe send his little dick rider along with him!" Connor shouted. Sophia's head whipped back as she glared at Connor.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up, Connor?!" Sophia snapped.

"What? I'm just calling it like I see it. You didn't hesitate to jump to his defense earlier." Connor pointed out.

"That was different-"

"Sophia is more useful to us. She's staying." Bellamy said, making Sophia's head snap back.

"You're kidding me! I'm not your sister, Bellamy. You can't boss me around and try and keep me here!"

"You'd really leave your brother?" Bellamy questioned.

That was a low-blow. Sophia frowned as she watched Murphy keep being pushed away from the others. Murphy looked back at Sophia, frowning slightly as he eventually kept walking, disappearing into the forest.

Sophia watched where he had left for a moment before frowning as she followed everyone back to the dropship.

She may have despised Murphy. They may always butt heads, but that didn't mean Sophia wasn't worried for Murphy, especially considering he was all alone. What if the grounders get him? All he had was his knife. He couldn't fight them alone. He could die.

Those thoughts plagued Sophia's mind as she got back to camp. She didn't say much of anything to anyone as she went into the dropship and plopped down in one of the hammocks that Murphy had slept in before.

"I can't believe I'm saying this...please don't die out there, Murph..."