CHAPTER ELEVEN - ON THE RUN

     THEY HAD TREKKED THROUGH the forest for nearly half-hour when Dakota was starting to get real tired of just walking. The thought of Grounders could be lurking in the forest and watching them had Dakota on edge as she followed behind the group, keeping watch from behind them.

 Dakota had no idea why she out of all people were helping a child who was getting away from murder, but even she knew in the situation-how scared the little girl was. Dakota herself was declared a murderer, serial killer at worst.

  "Do you have any idea where were going, Spacewalker?" Dakota's loud voice split the silence that fell upon the group rather quickly. Neither of them answered. "So we're just gonna wander out here a little more until Murphy finds us? He will find us, you know." 

 "I have a plan," Finn promised. 

 From beside him, the blonde rolled her eyes as she trekked through the forest, hand on the handles of her backpack which hung heavily on her back. "It would be nice to share that plan with me," 

 He shrugged and repeated, "Trust me. I have a plan."

 Dakota, hearing the remark, rolled her brown eyes and trudged behind the two when Charlotte slid her hand into the pale hand of Clarke, seeking comfort, but this stopped Clarke dead in the middle of the forest. Without realizing it, she shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" 

 Finn turned around as he heard the harsh voice of the princess, and Dakota stopped in her tracks, her eyebrows raising on her forehead as Clarke snatched her hand back from her hold. "Just because we saved you, doesn't mean you're forgiven. Got it?" Clarke snapped rather harshly, looking down at the already frightened girl. 

  "She's just a kid," Finn started in a disapproving tone, and Clarke shrugged. 

 "She's a killer. You killed someone Charlotte- ended his life." Clarke shook her head with distaste in her eyes for the small girl, "Did you even think about that for even one second?" Clarke's blue eyes turned to the shameful Charlotte, but she didn't feel an ounce of pity in that moment.

 Charlotte blinked back while her mouth opened, her lips trembling with fear as her eyes began to widen even more. Clarke seen her look away from her, the little girl almost in tears. 

Clarke stepped forward, grabbing the girl by her shoulders to give her a slight shake. "Look at me! You can't just kill someone to make yourself feel better."

 Before Charlotte could respond in any capacity, there was a loud shout, "Charlotte! Clarke, Finn, and Dakota can't save you!"

 Dakota turned back on her heel. "Are we just going to stand here all day and wait for him to come to us?" She snapped as her breathing was beginning to become unsteady, her hair flying out of her face with each breath she took. When no one answered her, she spoke up again. "No I didn't think so. Let's move." 

 She looked over at Clarke and pointed down towards Charlotte. "You stay behind with her." 

 "Yeah, that's one way to go," Finn interrupted them as Clarke and Dakota started to move in one direction. "I like my plan better." He reached down and pulled open a hatch from the ground. "Get in." 

 Dakota, Charlotte, Clarke, and Finn all climbed inside, shutting the hatch and securing themselves inside. With a flashlight in hand, Clarke walked around and surveyed the ground compartment she had been lead into.

 "Finn.. what is this place?" Clarke asked. 

 "For now, it's... home," he answered. Determined not to stay in darkness for the rest of the night, Clarke and Finn went around and lit the candles all over the secret hatch so they had light. Charlotte, who was extremely tired, was tucked into bed by Finn while Dakota roamed around the small hatch in curiously.

 "This must have been built when the first wave hit." Dakota whispered to herself as she looked down at the multiple tin cans that littered the place, noticing that they were way over their expiry date, so food here wasn't an option. 

 As Dakota's eyes wondered over the structure of the small nuclear room, her eyes stopped upon the slightly confused look of Finn. "What? I was an engineer up on the Ark, you know?" She whispered over to him while putting a tin can of peaches on the table. "I was the one who checked the Drop Ship before we came down here."

 Finn smiled over at her, "Must have never been a good one, since part of the Drop Ship fried on the way down here."  He smirked over at her which made her lips twist upwards. 

__

 Dakota was sprawled out on the chair while Charlotte was sleeping on the nearby bed with Finn and Clarke taking the floor as their option for sleeping. She wasn't fast asleep, Dakota was never a heavy sleeper and usually a slight shuffle would have her jolting awake. 

  And that proved to be true as Dakota's ears were flooded from movement on her right side. The sharp sound of blankets being moved off of someone's body had Dakota peeking through her closed lids, the light of the candles shining in her pupil and the figure of a little girl was tip-toeing through the sleeping bodies of Finn and Clarke. 

 Dakota shut her eyes once again as Charlotte took one last look behind her, her eyes glancing at the sleeping individuals behind her before reaching for the hatch and climbing up the ladder. 

 Dakota was quick to lift herself off of the chair as she slid on her black leather jacket to cover up her maroon T-shirt before climbing up the ladder and going after the little girl. She contemplated telling Finn and Clarke that she had ran, but with them behind her and not shutting their mouths, most likely they would slow her down.

 The dark forest and the lack of light made it hard for her to navigate through the forest without a sound with twigs that were ripe for cracking laid unseen beneath her feet. Dakota pressed her body against the rough bark of a evergreen tree while her eyes gazed around the dark forest, her eyes standing alert for anything to crack under the boots of a little girl. 

 "Charlotte?" Dakota whispered out into the dark forest, hoping that the little girl would answer her call and reveal herself, but she didn't answer back. 

  As soon as she heard a twig snap nearby, she took off in the direction. Her heavy footfalls fitting the ground as she sped through the forest, her legs hopping over rotten logs that laid on the forest floor like a professional. Dakota had no idea how long she had been running for, but soon every fiber of her being was starting to grow tired, her legs aching painfully.

 The sudden glow of the fire came from behind her had her turning on her heel quickly, Murphy and his men were holding sticks with the orange flame burning brightly; lighting up the forest. Dakota held her breath, feeling suddenly scared that the possibility of her getting caught right now increased. She didn't think Murphy would hurt her, but seeing as she had taken Clarke's side of things, she knew how angry he could get. 

  She knew better than anyone.

 "Where'd they go?" A gruff voice spoke lowly, a few meters away from where Dakota was hid behind a tree.

 "Murphy! I'm over here!" 

 The sound of the loud cries of Charlotte echoed throughout the forest and Dakota's head spun around at the sound, her eyes going wide while her mouth opened slightly. Dakota took one last look at Murphy and the other men before taking off in the direction the scream came from. Frantically, Dakota's eyes darted around desperately, waiting for Charlotte to shout out again so she could follow it's echo, but instead she got a high pitched scream echoing throughout the forest. 

 "Over here!"

  Without another word, Dakota sped off in the direction of the screaming, ignoring the burning sensation intensifying in the heels of her feet. All she knew and what she cared about was getting to Charlotte before Murphy could do any harm. Dakota started swerving across the forest, avoiding the trees and jumping over the rotten logs that littered the forest floor.

 "Come on out, Charlotte, come on out!" Murphy's sinister voice came out from somewhere behind her, which made Dakota's heartbeat speed up, she needed to find Charlotte, and fast.

 "Murphy, I'm over here!" Charlotte screamed out again, and Dakota began to run faster, her breathing becoming shallow and uneven as her legs took her further into the forest until she came to the opening. 

 Bellamy turned towards the new individual who joined them at the dead end, the cliff towards his back as he lifted his knife towards Dakota as she entered the clearing. Her eyes widened as she was at knife point, but as soon as Bellamy knew it was only her, his hand dropped to his side.

 "Bellamy!" Murphy called as he appeared through the trees. "You can't fight all of us. Give her up."

 "Maybe not, but I guarantee I'll take a few of you with me," Bellamy growled back.

 "Bellamy! Stop!" Clarke shouted as she emerged from the forest with Finn following quickly behind her. But it wasn't Bellamy who was doing anything- he had his arm in front of Charlotte, protecting her from Murphy. 

 The group whipped around at the sound of another voice joining in, their worried expressions and concern, albeit a little relieved to see that Charlotte was still unharmed and alive. "This has gone too far. Just calm down... we'll talk about this."

 Murphy hesitated, and for a moment, it seemed like the was about to give up. Instead, he reached beside him and took the closest person to him, which happened to be Dakota, who was taken too off guard to fight back by the time he had a knife to her throat, pressing just enough into it so that she didn't dare try to move, otherwise it would slit her jugular. "I'm sick of listening to you talk."

 Bellamy stepped forward with wide eyes, as Finn reached over and grabbed Clarke's arm protectively. Bellamy swallowed hard, staring directly at Dakota, "Let her go."

 "Back off! I will slit her throat." Murphy growled.

 Dakota was struggling against Murphy's tight grip; he dug the knife further into her skin, far enough to feel a small stream of blood trickle down her collarbone, the crimson liquid was sure to stain her dirty maroon t-shirt. "Don't even think about trying to get away, Kota." He murdered venomously into her ear, spitting her old nickname in such a taunting manner that she felt a thousand pins and needles shoot down her spine.

  "Murphy, please.. i know you-" Dakota's voice was cut off when a frightened yelp came out of her mouth as his hold around her tightened and he shook her violently to make his point around that he would indeed hurt her, but Dakota still remained unsure that he would be capable of hurting someone with such a history with him.

 "No, please. Please don't hurt her," Charlotte pleased as she stepped forward, much to the disapproval of Bellamy. 

 "Don't hurt them?" Bellamy stretched his arm out in front of the young girl as if it would shield her from the danger at present, whilst Murphy moved to make a deal. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I'll let her go."

 Dakota's eyes widened as the little girl tired to advance forwards them, "Don't you dare listen to a word he says, Charlotte!" 

 But again, Charlotte didn't want to listen to her.  She glanced around meekly, and it was clear that she was deep in thought. She then began to step forward, attempting to make her way over to Murphy and hand herself over to the mercy of the group, but Bellamy held her back. "No!" As she started to struggle, he grabbed the young girl by the arms and held her a she cried out in protest. "No, I have to!" 

 Bellamy was far too strong for Charlotte to fight. She ended up giving in relatively fast, and therefore Bellamy looked back at Murphy, still holding Dakota captive, and said slowly, "Murphy, this is not happening. Let her go."

 "I can't let any of you get hurt anymore." Charlotte's voice was small, innocent almost. Yet, it didn't falter. Her words were strong. "Not because of me, not after what I did."

 Confused and concerned expressions fell upon the group as everyone began looking towards one another to see if their companions knew what was going on, what Charlotte meant by her words. 

 But when Dakota saw it, her eyes widened like saucers. The little girl was moving backwards, edging towards the cliff's edge. Murphy had lessened the pressure of the knife and Dakota was finally able to take a deep breath. 

 "Charlotte!" Clarke screamed out in horror as she finally realized what was happening in that moment. 

 With the shock of Charlotte throwing herself off of the cliff the group were right on the edge of, Murphy had finally let Dakota go enough so that she slid to the edge of the cliff, her knees covered in the wet mud from the fresh rain. She and Bellamy hovered over the edge without a word to say, and behind them Clarke wept. 

  Bellamy stood from the ledge slowly, almost menacing. His head was hung low and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his chest begining to rapidly heave up and down as he breathed out. He looked over at the scrowd that was gathered and for a moment his brown eyes locked on Dakota's as she stared back, her own brown eyes widened. His eyes then traveled down towards the blood that was running down her neck. 

 "Bellamy.." Murphy moved to protest as Bellamy turned to face him. His hands were bawled up into fists and his face twisted with anger. 

 Bellamy was charging at him; he lunged at the boy and knocked him clean to the ground with one dingle guttural growl, raining crushing blows down onto Murphy's face. Murphy was trying his best to push Bellamy from his body but the more blows that landed on his face, the weaker he grew.

"Bellamy stop! You'll kill him!" Clarke cried out, but he ignored her. Finn quickly intervened and pulled Bellamy off of him. 

 "Get off of me!" Bellamy fought against Finn before looking back down at Murphy, his eyes were cold. "He deserves to die!" 

 "We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here." Dakota managed to pick herself off of the ground, her voice overpowering everyone else's, making Bellamy's eyes snap towards hers. 

 He shook his head, "So help me god, if you say the people have the right to decide-" But he was cut off by Clarke who was finally joining them. The blonde stood beside them, "Dakota is right. I was wrong before, okay? You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules."

 Bellamy glanced away from the two girls and over to Murphy who was sitting down beside Finn, with a scared expression on his face. The rain pouring over them, and Bellamy's hair was clinging to his skin. "And who makes those rules, huh? You?"

 "For now, we make the rules. Okay?" Clarke motioned towards the three of them that stood in a circle. "The three of us." 

 Bellamy swallowed hard, his eyes drifting back over to Murphy, "So what, then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened. 

 "No," Dakota shook her head, looking back at Murphy over her shoulder, her own eyes flooding with a sadden expression. "There needs to be a punishment, to show that we don't tolerate this behavior. We banish him." She finally said, her voice coming out barely above a whisper.

 Bellamy needed no convincing. As swiftly as he lunged onto the boy before, he heaved Murphy to his feet, mumbling a 'get up' as he did so. He had a vice-like grip on the collar of the distressed navy blue jacket he wore. He pulled the boy over to the cliff and dangled him over the edge, instilling fear into Murphy's heart as his eyes widened and hands gripped onto Bellamy's jacket at a desperate attempt to stop himself from falling, should the older man let go. 

 "Bellamy, stop!" Dakota shouted with warning as she advanced towards the both of them. She might've agreed on the punishment, and even suggested it but she still cared about him. 

"If I ever catch you near camp, we will be back here. Understannd?" Bellamy threatened lowly. 

 Murphy- who's face was beginning to grow more purple with the shadow of bruises begining to show itself on his pale skin- nodded his head feverishly. Bellamy threw him on the ground, and then turned to Murphy's band of followers, "As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice."

  Dkaota took a moment to glance down at the beaten boy, a shadow of his former strong self was now shattered. He looked up at the girl he called as a friend, lover with pleading eyes and all she could do was shake her head as her lips trembled. "I'll never forget what happened here tonight." She muttered under her breath as her hand came up to feel the inflicted wound from someone she thought she trusted. 

 "Come on, Dakota." Finn instructed softly. He could see the red streaks that marked down her face and her puffy red eyes but he tried not to look surpised. He never seen her cry, the rough and tough exterior of Marcus Kane's daughter began to crumble.

  "What you've done today is unforgivable." She shook her head. "I trusted you with my life and to find out that I didn't mean as much to you as I thought I did. I was on the end of your knife tonight. You disgust me." She spat out in hatred which surprised Finn, and for a second there, her words surprised herself.

"Dakota.." Murphy managed to choke out, he was covered in blood and dirt and she couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain he was feeling.

"She was a fucking child, Murphy!" Dakota practically screamed out at him, fresh tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. 

 Knowing that it was time to interfere in the dispute, Finn had grabbed her waist and tugged her away from whatever she was about to do. "Hey, it's done." 

 Dakota's head twisted to look at the soft face of Finn Collins, her own anger filled expression began to soften under his gaze and she nodded. "Let's go, Space-walker. There's nothing for us here." She hissed darkly, her eyes were cold and empty as she took one last look at Murphy. 

 She straightened up and watched as Finn glanced down at Murphy's beaten form and sighed before chucking him a makeshift knife. He looked back at Dakota and sent her a weak smile as her hard expression lifted from her face at his gesture. "Come on" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she rested her head on him as she silently cried on their way back to camp, grieving the fact that she had lost someone important to her, someone she loved and put his life above hers.

***

 Dakota made her way towards the drop ship, ignoring the looks of pity that was shooting in her way and ignoring the talks that began to flood around the camp. When she walked in, she expected the bottom level to be empty while Bellamy and Clarke gave their speech, but to her surprise Monty was sitting at a desk; his back towards her.

 Dakota stopped in her tracks as awkwardness began to flood in the drop ship and Monty turned around, taking in her appearance and her red and puffy face. "Hey," he raised a brow as he broke the awkward silence.

 "Hi." She managed to croak out as she smiled at him weakly and started walking towards him. "How's the wristband business going?" She asked curiously as she took a seat that was empty beside him. 

"Well, I'm still adjusting a few more things. Overall, it's done. Just gotta wait till they're done." He explained and Dakota shot him a fake smile in response as she didn't know what to say. She felt numb, her emotions never got the better of her but now she felt she was in the middle of a tsunami and was getting pulled underwater.

 Things between the two teenagers began to grow silent. The only noise that flooded the drop ship was the delinquents yelling from outside, some talking among themselves. "So, uh... you okay?" 

 Dakota's brown eyes glanced up towards the Asian, her eyes faltering slighting as she debated whether or not to lie or tell the truth. "No," She then spoke out.

 Monty looked over at her, his eyebrows furrowing in question as he continued to fiddle with the wires. He waited for her to say something else, but when she didn't he spoke up. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

 Dakota then decided that it was better to focus her thoughts on what he was currently working on. Clarke's wristband was connected to several wires from the drop-ship and his work and technique had fascinated her. "Monty," 

 "Yeah?" He stopped at his work as she glanced towards her with raised eyebrows on his face.

"Isn't that wire supposed to be over here?" Dakota suddnely asked, pointing over towards the yellow wire that was basically a loner from the rest. He took a look, and then his face lit up. "Oh, yeah. Thanks. Told you, still making adjustments." He smiled nervously then started working again.

"How do know this stuff? I mean, its not like everyone in this camp can tell which wire is which." Monty asked. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at him in the eye.

 Dakota shrugged her shoulders as her gaze remained on the wires, "Raven taught me back on the Ark."

"Raven Reyes?" he replied.

"Yeah, know her?"

"Seen her around." He shook his head then made his last final touched on the wristband.

Only a couple minutes past now that the speech was over, the drop ship was flooding with people. Octavia found her way towards the two of them, she looked over at Dakota with sympathy in her eyes. 

"So," Clarke greeted. "Will we be able to talk to the Ark?"

"No." Monty stated bluntly as he was carefully still adjusting the wire. "More like morse code." He finally stopped his work. He turned his gaze onto Jasper who was behind them. "Want to do the honors?" Monty offered. Jasper smiled and walked up to the table, he took the cable from his hand and slowly made his way towards the wristband. "That port right there." He pointed quickly as Jasper moved in.

He moved his hand towards the wristband with careful movements, then releasing the cable once he attached it. Dakota bit down on her bottom lip and she accidentally bit down too hard when a large bolt of electricity came from the wristband.

 "What happened?" Dakota asked as Monty moved towards and checked. Monty went quiet, checking what had happened. "It didn't work." He admitted and Dakota's face fell once again. "I think we fried all the wristbands."

Anyone else Murphy Trash, because this girl is. 

EDITED: 2018-05-19