The sound of our feet crunching against the damp earth was the only thing that could be heard as the group of us made the walk back to camp. No one had dared said a word since we had left the cliff, the cliff that Charlotte had jumped from.

I lingered near the back, a million thoughts racing through my head. What if I had been able to get out of Murphy's grasp? Would Charlotte still be alive? If I had gone with Clarke and Finn in the first place would Charlotte never had run from them? What if-

"Stop." It was Bellamy's voice that caused my train of thought to cease. He had been at the front when we had initially left but had somehow ended up at the back.

"What?" I asked in confusion, my eyes looking up to meet his.

He glanced at me for a moment before adverting his eyes back to the forest, "Stop blaming yourself."

"I'm not." I lied, kicking at a twig near my feet.

"You've had the same pained look on your face for the last 20 minutes." he argued, looking back down at me.

"You've been watching me for 20 minutes?" I teased, trying to take the attention off of myself.

Bellamy ignored my previous comment as he spoke again, "Remember what you told me earlier tonight? That this wasn't on me? Well the same goes for you. Charlotte made that choice to jump, and Murphy pushed her to make that choice, no one else. This is on him."

I sighed as I shook my head, "I just wish-"

"No Avery. There was nothing any of us could have done okay? You did everything you could have."

I looked down at my feet before nodding, "Okay." 

He watched me for a moment, eyes straying toward my neck. "Are you okay?"

Reaching up, I felt a line of dried blood from where Murphy had dug the knife into my skin. "Yeah." I nodded, bringing my hand down. "I'm fine."

Bellamy kept his eyes on me, carefully studying my movements as we forged on. The only thing that caused him to stop was Clarke yelling his name from up front. We had reached camp, meaning it was time to explain to everyone what had happened. 

"Go." I prodded, nodding up ahead. "Clarke needs you."

He didn't say anything to me, just took off toward the front of the group where Clarke was. I didn't follow, but instead hung back as the group of us entered camp, Bellamy and Clarke already calling for everyone to gather. 

A lump had formed in my throat as they explained to everyone what had happened. The image of Charlotte throwing herself to her own death played over and over again in my mind. 

No one argued with the news of Murphy's banishment, most people probably thought it was for the best. Only hours earlier, the majority of them had tried to kill him. 

Slowly, the crowd in the middle of camp dispersed, everyone moving toward their tents for another night of restless sleep. It was impossible to sleep out here, the ever-constant threat of Grounders looming overhead. 

My friends and brother had disappeared at some point, but for once I didn't follow. Instead, I followed after Bellamy who had made his way toward the outskirts of camp. 

He was leaned up against a tree by the time I reached him, his head in his hands. I remained silent as I approached, my only tell being the twig that snapped under my feet. 

Bellamy's head shot up, his hand instantly reaching for his gun that no longer held any bullets. Despite me knowing that the magazine was empty, I could help but feel my heart skip a beat as I stared down the barrel of the weapon. 

When he realized that it was only me, and not a Grounder—or Murphy— he lowered his gun. "Jesus, Sunshine." He breathed, slipping the weapon back into his waistband, "What are you doing out here?"

I shifted my weight between either foot as I spoke, "I wanted to ask you a favour." I mumbled, afraid of his response.

I was surprised when he leaned back against the tree with a sigh, "What?"

"I want you to teach me how to defend myself...shoot a gun, actually use a knife, fight someone off, I don't know, whatever. " I announced, feeling more confident with my request.

Bellamy studied me for a moment, he seemed to do that a lot. "You planning on fighting the Grounders on your own or something?"

I shot him a look as I shook my head. "No. But I'm tired of being some freak who hid in a cupboard for most of her life. I'm tired of being viewed as some naive little girl who doesn't know anything. I want to be able to defend myself and I want Finn to be able to live his life without worrying about me."

I took a breath, feeling a weight lifted off of my shoulders as I released the worries that had been plaguing me since we got down here. Everything that happened tonight only made it worse. 

Never did I expect that the person I spilled all of these feeling to would be Bellamy, but here we were. 

Bellamy was silent for a moment, thinking over what I said. "Okay." He finally answered, giving a small nod which elicited a grin breaking across my face. 

"Thank you." I breathed, grateful he hadn't shot me down like I had expected him to. 

"But just so you know," He began, pushing himself up off the tree so he was standing up straight, "You're not a freak...and your brother will never stop worrying about you."

I let out a small laugh, "I can live with that...as long as I can—"

My words fell silent in my throat as a sudden burning sensation assaulted my wrist. I flinched, watching as my wristband all but launched itself from my wrist and onto the forest floor. 

Bellamy and I shared confused expressions, while he remained, I took off toward the Dropship in search of answers. 

"What happened?" I panted, as I entered the ship where only Octavia, Monty and Jasper now stood.

Monty shook his head as he turned to look at me, "The bracelets are fried."

"What does that mean?" I asked, not too sure on the whole technology thing.

"It means we're stranded down here, with no way to reach the Ark." Jasper piped in from the other side of the room where he sat slumped up against the wall, Octavia beside him.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" I asked, a bubble of panic forming inside of me.

"We wait...and hope for the best." Monty replied.

My breathing became increasing laboured as the panic began to take over. I knew I was seconds from a full blown meltdown.

"Come on Avse, how about we get some sleep?" Octavia suggested, sensing my panicked state. I allowed her to take my arm and guide me towards the tent that the two of us shared.

Once inside, I sat down on the pile of blankets that I had set up as my bed, "What are we going to do, Tavia?" I asked as I slipped off my boots.

She gave me a sad smile as she prepared her bed for the night. "Like Monty said, all we can do is hope for the best."

---

It must have been almost dawn by the time a commotion outside caused me to open my eyes. Octavia, who was already up, tossed me my boots, "Come on!" she urged as she exited the tent.

I rushed to follow after her, still in the process of waking up. My brain was barely working as I stumbled into the cool air of predawn. 

"Look!" A boy said from next to me, drawing my attention to the sky above us. I looked up, squinting at what appeared to be a shooting star. 

As it barrelled toward Earth, I realized it wasn't that, but rather some sort of pod being sent down from the Ark. Hope replaced the panic I had once felt. Maybe they were sending help. 

"Bellamy, get out here!" Octavia called in urgency, which resulted in her shirtless brother exiting his tent. Two girls who, if I were to hazard a guess, were naked underneath the blankets they head, followed behind him. I stared at the three of them in disdain, my cheeks burning when Bellamy's eyes met mine. 

I adverted them back to the sky, trying to pretend that I could care less about what the hell he did. Actually, I wasn't pretending, I didn't care...not at all. 

A larger group had gathered outside at the commotion. "They're coming to help us!" Someone exclaimed, "Now we can kick some Grounder ass!"

"Please tell me the brought some shampoo." One of Bellamy's bed partners mumbled.

I rolled my eyes, causing Octavia to snicker as the two of us watched on. Movement had started around the camp, everyone beginning to prepare to figure out what was in the pod. 

"Come on, get your jacket." Octavia instructed as she pulled me back towards our tent. I followed after her, my mind running over all the possibilites as I pulled on my jacket before hurrying back toward one of the other tents where Bellamy—now fully clothed— and a few other boys stood. 

"If it cleared the ridge, it's probably near the lake." One of the other boys, Archer was his name,  announced.

"We should get moving, everyone's ready." Octavia advised, basically bouncing on her feet in anticipation

"No one's going anywhere. Not while it's dark, it isn't safe. We'll head out at first light, pass the word/" Bellamy instructed. Despite their confusion, the boys did as he said, moving out to spread the word around. 

"Everyone for a hundred miles saw this thing come down. What if the Grounders get to it first? Bell, we should go now." Octavia pressured, causing her brother to shake his head.

"Since when did we have a problem with being out at night?" I backed up Octavia's point. "It's almost dawn, if we leave now we have less than a few hours of dark. We can get to this thing before anyone else does."

Bellamy fixed me with a less than pleased expression. "I said we wait until sunrise."

He stormed out of the tent, leaving Octavia and me standing in confusion. "What's up his ass?" I muttered, glaring at the place he had just been. 

Octavia snorted as she shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine."