ix. straight into hell
his sister's keeper

SOON AFTER the flares disappeared into the night sky, Sawyer suggested everyone head off to bed. They had an eventful day with Raven's pod crashing landing to Bellamy tossing the radio into the river to assembling the rockets. They all deserved a long rest. Sawyer even debated on whether or not to put off daily activities for a late morning. She, along with her fellow delinquents, needed the extra sleep.

Sawyer just shut her eyes and drifted off when someone ripped open the tent flap and shone a light into the darkened space. She groaned, forcing her eyelids apart. She blinked and adjusted to the sudden brightness. "What's going on?" she grumbled when her stare landed on the moppy head of Bellamy Blake.

"Sorry," Bellamy apologized, before he scanned the other sleeping bodies in the tent. He looked back to the Wesley girl and asked, "have you seen Octavia?"

Sawyer rubbed her hands against her eyes, before she pushed up from her makeshift bed. "Is she not in her tent?"

Bellamy shook his head. "No. I can't find her anywhere."

Sawyer racked her brain for where the girl could be. Now that she thought about it, she had not seen Octavia since their talk about going to search for Raven's pod.

Harper rolled over and groaned from the light of Bellamy's torch. "Ugh, put that out."

Sawyer shuffled out of her bed fabrics to exit the tent. "Harper, go back to sleep." She pushed the flap aside to stand up next to the eldest Blake. "Are you sure you checked everywhere? I mean, it's Octavia. She's not gonna stay in the same place for long."

Bellamy turned on his heel and headed back through the camp. "Yeah, but I haven't seen her since," he trailed off, ripping open another tent to search for his sister.

Sawyer quirked a brow when she caught onto his words. "Since what?"

Bellamy yanked the tent flap back down and set off for another. "Since nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Sawyer voiced after him as she grabbed her thick hair to bundle it into a bun atop her head.

Bellamy peeked inside an even larger tent than the others. He shone the light of his torch to see, but he paused when someone stared back. "You're up?"

Sawyer looked around him to find Clarke awake, sitting up near the entrance of the tent. Half a dozen others were scattered throughout the rest of the structure. All of them sound asleep.

"Yeah," Clarke stated, climbing out to not wake anyone else. "Knowing that hundreds of people might be dying on the Ark makes it pretty hard to sleep."

Sawyer grimaced. She did not want to be reminded of that. She wanted to believe Raven's flares worked, that everyone up there knew they were alive and would come down soon enough.

"Raven's flares will work," Bellamy said, mostly to make himself feel better than Clarke.

"Her radio would've worked better," Clarke countered.

Sawyer pursed her lips and kept her own comments quiet. No need to make the hostile conversation worse.

Bellamy ignored her remark and asked, "have you seen Octavia?"

Clarke shook her head. "No. It's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies."

Sawyer nodded. "That's a good point." She pointed to the blonde and faced the young man. "She might have wondered into that glowing forest."

Bellamy let out a long breath. "Guys, I've checked the camp. She's not here," he exclaimed. His voice more strained than before.

Sawyer paused. She shared a look with Clarke and then sighed. "Okay. We'll help you look for her."

"Let's check the again," Clarke added as they started through the camp. "You go to the dropship," she gestured to Bellamy and then to Sawyer, "you check the butterfly field. I'll check the rest of the tents."

Bellamy's tight expression softened a bit. "Thank you."

Clarke's hardened. "Don't thank me. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Octavia," she told him, before she moved away from him to begin her search.

Sawyer glanced toward Bellamy and shrugged at his dejected look. "You brought this on yourself, pretty boy."

_______

To their dismay, Sawyer, Clarke, and Bellamy failed to locate Octavia anywhere around the camp. Not in the tents, not in the dropship, and not in the butterfly field. In light of not seeing any sign of the girl, Bellamy proceeded to wake all the delinquents to scout beyond their constructed borders.

Sawyer objected to the massive search party, at first. While she liked Octavia, they could not afford for so many of them to leave the safety of camp. But then again, she did participate on a rescue mission for Jasper Jordan. So after a heartfelt reasoning from Bellamy, she relented and promised to go with him to find his sister.

"Hey, everybody, gather around and grab a weapon," Bellamy called out as the delinquents groggily climbed out of their tents. He pointed to the pile of axes, spears, and other weapons forged from the metal of the dropship. "My sister's been out there alone for twelve hours. Arm up. We're not coming back without her. We need all the people we can get."

Sawyer stood next to him and voiced a warning, "only those who are awake enough to not stab themselves with their own knives are allowed to go. We don't need anyone getting killed. We're heading out to find Octavia, and that's it. Anything else could end with someone dead."

"We need a tracker," Bellamy stated, glancing from Sawyer to where Clarke stood a few yards away. He raised his voice and shouted, "Finn! Get out here!"

Sawyer already had her chosen palm-sized knife stashed into her pack, but she grabbed one of the few axes still among the other weapons. Several delinquents stepped up to help out with the search party, one of whom being Jasper. Sawyer did not expect that, considering the boy was scared to even step outside of camp since he took a spear to the chest.

Once she secured the axe to her pack, Sawyer took in the other members of their group. Roma, Mbege, Monroe, a boy by the name of Diggs, and a few others she failed to recognize. Not the biggest party, but she really did not imagine many more would join them. Out of the hundred, a couple dozen at most were capable of the bravery and skill needed with Grounders and other hazards out there.

Sawyer turned to where Bellamy secured his own weapon, before he started for the barrier's gate. She started for him and voiced, "you know, we should've waited until daylight. It's gonna be hard enough not tripping over our own feet."

Bellamy whirled toward her with scrunched brows. "My sister has been out there for God knows how long. I'm not waiting another second," he stated and started to head out. "Finn, we're leaving!"

Sawyer sighed and followed him. "You're going to be the death of me one day," she grumbled under her breath.

"Hey, wait," a voice shouted from behind them.

Sawyer looked back to find Finn, striding across the camp to reach them. His hair much shorter than earlier. Clarke appeared at his side. They seemed to have a short but serious discussion. One Sawyer wanted no part in. Now was not the time for their relationship issues.

"Guys, guys. Come here!"

"What is that? It's so bright."

"Did you see that? Look up there. It's so beautiful."

Sawyer looked to where the delinquents aimed their stares toward the night sky. Dozens, if not hundreds, of white streaks erupted across the darkness, burning bright as they hit the Earth's atmosphere. If she did not know any better, she would have figured it was a run-of-the-mill meteor shower. But, Sawyer knew exactly what it happened to be.

"They didn't work," Raven, who emerged from one of the tents and witnessed the spectacle, exclaimed. "They didn't see the flares."

Bellamy came to a halt just like everyone else. "A meteor shower tells you that?" he questioned, not understanding the gravity of the scene.

Sawyer did, though. "That's not a meteor shower," she sneered, capturing the man's eyes when they aimed her way. "That's a funeral."

"Hundreds of bodies being returned to the Earth from the Ark," Clarke said. "This is what it looks like from the other side." She shifted her gaze to Raven. "They didn't get our message."

In that moment, Raven stormed forward to go after the eldest Blake. "This is all because of you!" she screamed right when Finn caught her by the arms.

Bellamy's expression scrunched as he stood nose-to-nose with the older girl. "I helped you find the radio."

"Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!"

Sawyer rushed to place herself between them and eased Raven back. "He knows. He knows it's his fault." Her gaze drifted to Bellamy and snapped, "he'll have to live with that for the rest of his life."

Bellamy's jaw clenched as he met her narrowed stare. He stayed quiet for a beat, before he voiced, "all I know is that my sister is out there, and I'm gonna find her. You coming or what?"

Sawyer made a noise with her tongue, but she answered, "yeah."

Bellamy finally broke eye contact and glanced over the delinquents gathered around him. "What are we waiting for? Move out!" he shouted, pivoting on his heel to proceed with the plan to find his sister.

Sawyer ground her teeth together and followed Bellamy out the gate and into the surrounding forest. She would have to hold off on the hostility until they found Octavia. They did not the extra drama of Sawyer kicking Bellamy's ass.

_______

Orange flames of torches illuminated the densely packed terrain, making it possible for the search party to see where they stepped. Sawyer pulled at the strap of her pack that rested across her chest as she trudged on. They continued further away from camp, looking for any sign of Octavia. Finn lead the way, putting his Earth Skills knowledge to the test, while Bellamy stayed on his heels.

Sawyer wondered if Finn even knew where they were headed. Octavia could be anywhere. How was he sure they were actually tracking her?

"Look! Over here!" John Mbege shouted from where he stopped at the crest of a sharp hill.

Sawyer rushed to his side, along with the rest of the group. "What is it? Did you find her?" she asked when she jogged up next to him.

Mbege shook his head and pointed into the ravine below. "Right there. You see it? Is that Octavia's?"

Sawyer trailed a line from his finger to where something appeared to be caught in a bush halfway down. She squinted to make the shape out. It looked like torn fabric. "Could be part of her shirt or something," she supplied.

"Rope." Bellamy held out a hand for Diggs, who had the braided strands looped around his shoulder. He took it, tying off the end around the nearest tree, before he tossed the rest into the ravine. He proceeded to grab the rope and began to inch onto the sloped land.

"What are you doing?" Finn questioned him.

"We need the rope to get back up," Bellamy stated and turned to another boy with his palm open. "Flashlight." The boy pulled out one of the few battery operated lights they had in their possession.

Sawyer watched as Bellamy clicked on the flashlight and then eased down the hill. He stepped lightly on the ground to reach the bush where the fabric tangled in its branches.

"It's hers," Bellamy called up to them. "I'm going all the way down."

"Bellamy, be careful," Sawyer told him as he proceeded to rush into the ravine. "We don't know if there's any Grounders out here."

Bellamy dismissed her comment and continued on, dropping into the shadowed space.

After a few seconds of silence, Sawyer huffed and grabbed ahold of the rope. She tightened her grip on the rough material, making sure that she could catch herself if she slipped. The light of Bellamy's flashlight became her guide as she descended deeper into the shallow valley. She almost tripped near the bottom, but she righted herself and jumped to the slick mud.

Sawyer's boots sank with every step as she made her way over to where Bellamy crouched, shining the flashlight to something in front of him. She stopped next to him and asked, "what'd you find?"

Bellamy glanced back at her and then pointed to an indention in the mud. "Someone else was here."

Sawyer looked to where a footprint sat in the soaked dirt. One much too big to be Octavia's.

Finn dropped into the ravine after them and knelt beside Bellamy to see the print. He examined it for a long moment and said, "the prints are deeper going that way." He gestured straight ahead, before he shifted his stare between Sawyer and Bellamy. "He was carrying her."

Jasper came down the hell and caught the last bit of their conversation. "If they took her, she's alive," he stated, drawing their attention to him. "Like when they took me."

Sawyer sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "Alright, then we'll go after her just like we did with you," she stated, giving Jasper a determined look. They would find Octavia. They were not about to leave one their own at the mercy of the Grounders.

_______

As soon as they discovered someone grabbed Octavia, the group trekked on in the hopes they could find her before something horrible happened. Sawyer would have tried to calm everyone's nerves, but there was no guarantee they would find the Blake girl in time. And from what they did to Jasper, she failed to hold the Grounders to high standard.

Sawyer came to a sudden halt when Finn paused mid-step. Her blood ran cold at the sight before her. Human skeletons were lifted into the air, strung up in trees and posts shoved into the ground. All of them beyond decomposition and brown with age. Sawyer could not help but notice the parallel to how they found Jasper after he had been attacked.

"Uh, this is," Sawyer trailed off, having lost whatever witty comment she wanted to say.

Finn, on the other hand, did not seem to lose his. "I don't speak Grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out."

Sawyer nodded. "Agree."

At that, the other delinquents started to voice their opposition to the entire rescue mission. Almost all of them spun around and hightailed it back to camp.

Bellamy set his jaw and swiped one of the torches from one of the others before they could leave. "Go back if you want. My sister, my responsibility," he exclaimed, before he stormed ahead through the forest of skeletons.

Sawyer blinked after him. The man had a death wish. She liked Octavia, truly she did, but there were lines. Clear lines of stupidity and recklessness, and they were staring at one.

Before Sawyer could voice her concerns, Jasper stepped forward.

"I'd walk into hell to find her," he stated and waded through the knee-high foliage after Bellamy.

Sawyer's eyes went wide. Damn you, Jordan, she cursed in her head. Without another moment of hesitation, she huffed and went after the boy.

Finn did the same, muttering quiet enough for himself and Sawyer to hear. "I think we just did."

_______

Once most of the delinquents headed back, the group reduced in size to Sawyer, Bellamy, Jasper, Finn, and three others. Not that Sawyer expected any different. They were criminals. They were not fearless soldiers like Bellamy wanted them to be. They would not risk their lives for someone they hardly knew.

Hours after they begin their search, the sun rose and brightened the grey, cloud covered sky. Sawyer instructed the others to put their torches out, no longer needing them in the daylight. The vegetation grew denser the further they traveled, making it difficult for them to move in either direction. Sawyer made sure to keep her eyes peeled for any kind of movement, even if it were something as mundane as a deer. She was not about to become another subject of cruel amusement for the Grounders.

"I got nothing," Finn voiced from where he walked ahead of the group, tracking the path he believed Octavia and her captor went. "We lost the trail."

Bellamy snapped to him and demanded, "keep looking."

"Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister. We should backtrack..."

"I'm not going back," Bellamy cut him off.

Sawyer sighed as she approached the boys. "Bellamy, he's not saying go back to camp. He's saying back to where we picked up on the trail, in the first place."

Bellamy turned to her with scrunched brows. "That puts us hours away from her. We can't waste any more time."

"And like Finn said, we can't just wander around," Sawyer tried to reason with him. "What if we run into Grounders? We'll find her another way."

Before Bellamy could reply, Roma spoke, "hey." She drew everyone's attention to her. "Where's John?"

Sawyer could not help the pang in her chest that flared when the name sounded in her ears. She shook the feeling off and scanned the group for the boy, but she failed to see him among the others. "Was he not with you?"

Roma nodded. "Yeah."

"I just saw him a second ago," Jasper stated from where he walked next to the other girl.

Bellamy sighed. "Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far."

Sawyer started to look for the now missing boy. That soon ended when something fell from the overhead trees and smacked the ground right in the middle of their group. Her eyes whirled to where it landed and found a body. Not just any body, the dead body of John Mbege.

Sawyer stumbled back at the sight. "What the complete and total hell?"

Finn lifted his stare from Mbege to the branches above them. "They use the trees."

"We shouldn't have cross the boundary," Diggs hissed.

Sawyer agreed. The skeletons were a definite sign that they should have tried another way. If Bellamy were in the right frame of mind, he would have seen that. Sawyer should have insisted, or maybe even dragged everyone back to camp with her. They were in Grounder territory. They had the upper hand.

"Now can we go back?" Roma questioned in a quieter voice.

Sawyer nodded. "Yes."

"There," Jasper shouted, pointing off to the right. "Right there."

Sawyer followed his eye-line and found a dark silhouette through the trees. Her heart began to thud harshly inside her chest. She twisted her pack around to grab for her axe.

"Another one." Diggs pointed out one more to the left.

Sawyer abandoned the axe and whirled in place, seeing the dark figures dressed in thick clothing. They multiplied in numbers, taking off in a sprint in their direction. "Run. Run!" she screamed, shoving against Finn and Jasper as she kicked into overdrive and ran for her life.

_______

They ran for a long time, weaving and jumping to stay upright. Sawyer's chest heaved harder and faster to stay out of the Grounders' grasp. No matter how far they made it, the savage beings stopped them from escape at every turn. Everywhere they looked, a Grounder was there to stop them.

"What're we gonna do? They keep heading us off," Jasper shouted from where he started to fall to the back of the group.

"Just keep running," Finn exclaimed.

"I can't – run much longer!" Jasper wheezed, doubling over to lean against the closest tree trunk.

"I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs called out and maintained his speed to continue on through the forest.

Sawyer slowed her pace and spun on her heel to reach Jasper's side. "Yeah, well no one asked you." She grabbed ahold of his arm to pull him along with her. "Come on, Jasper. If we stop now, we're as good as dead," she stressed told him.

Bellamy skidded on the grass. "I'm sick of running away," he said and ripped his axe from the waistband of his jeans.

Finn gaped at the man. "Hey, what're you doing?"

"They know where she is."

Sawyer released Jasper and set her stare on the eldest Blake. "You don't know that."

"Really?" Bellamy faced her with an incredulous gaze. "Who else would have taken her, Sawyer?"

Sawyer did not get the chance to retort. She opened her mouth right when Roma began to shout.

"Diggs, where are you?" Roma raced off, searching for the other boy, who seemingly disappeared without a trace.

"Roma!" a distant voice rang further in the distance.

Sawyer groaned and spun to where Roma vanished into the green foliage. "Roma! No!" she called to the girl, but it was no use. Roma ignored her warning and set off after Diggs.

"Wait! Roma, there could be more. Stop," Finn also tried to no avail.

Sawyer rolled her eyes. Why were her people so stupid? Or better yet, lacked anything that resembled commonsense. She pulled her pack around her side and unhooked her axe to chase Roma. They were not about to lose anyone else. She jumped over fallen branches and moss covered boulders. Shuffles behind her alerted her to the others right on her heels.

The trees grew closer together as Sawyer attempted to slip through them. Before she could make her way between a grove, someone's hand clamped down onto her shoulder. Sawyer would have whirled toward them and sent her axed their way, but her attention fell to the massive thing that cut off her path. A wide piece of wood with sharped spikes stuck out mere inches from Saywer's chest. That would have been enough to cause her heart to lurch, but what made it worse was a blooded body skewered. Diggs.

Sawyer glanced to where Finn stood behind her, having stopping her from ending up just like the boy in front of them. She gave him a thankful nod, before she turned back to Diggs and sighed.

"They were leading us here," Jasper spoke, causing everyone to look to him. "It's the only direction we could run in."

Jasper was right. The Grounders stopped them from going any other way. They were leading them into a trap.

"Hey. Where'd they go?"

Sawyer perked at Finn's voice. She scanned the trees and expected to see the Grounders there, waiting for their chance to strike. Instead, there was nothing but a shadowed forest. They were gone.

The Grounders would not leave with them out there. Sawyer knew that. It would be irresponsible on their part. So, where did they go? Or more specifically, who did they go after?

Sawyer's eyes widened and looked to where Bellamy seemed to have the same thought. "After Roma," they both exclaimed.

Sawyer did not waste any time and began to look for the missing girl. If they made it back to camp alive, she promised herself to rip the rest of the delinquents a new one. Their recklessness and clear disregard for their own lives were about to get them all killed.

Sawyer tightened her grip on the axe handle and swiped her gaze across the area, searching for any sign of Roma. So far, she saw nothing that indicated the girl's presence.

"There she is. Roma!" Monroe, a girl with light brown hair braided into three strands down her back, voiced and pointed to where a shoulder and long dark hair peeked out around the trunk of a tree.

Sawyer felt a rush of relief flood her body. She rushed over to the girl and went to grab her by the arm, to shout at her for being so stupid, but she froze at the sight of a spear imbedded in the center of Roma's chest. Blood pooled from the wound and dripped down her chin, while her eyes were glazed open without a flicker of life.

"Oh, Roma," Sawyer breathed as her heart fell into her stomach.

"They're playing with us," Finn stated.

Bellamy stepped up to Sawyer's side, staring at the body of Roma pinned to the tree. "She only came because of me," he muttered, lifting a hand to close the girl's eyes.

Sawyer sighed, turning away from Roma to run her free palm onto her sweat coated scalp. "Yeah, well, we don't have time to think about that now."

"They can kill us whenever they want," Finn continued on.

"Then they should get it over with!" Jasper screamed out into the forest. Loud enough for anyone to within a hundred yards to hear him. "Come on! We know you're out there! You want to kill us..."

Sawyer ran toward the boy and clamped her hand onto Jasper's mouth. "Shut the fuck up! Shut up!"

"Sawyer!" Monroe shouted.

Sawyer whirled toward the girl, finding her attention aimed where several Grounders crashed through the trees with massive weapons in their grasp.

They were so about to die.

Sawyer and the rest of the group gathered close together, raising their axes and knives ready to fend them off. She knew that they would most likely not make it out of the encounter alive, but she was not about to go down without a fight.

Just before the Grounders could reach them, the echo of a horn sounded in Sawyer's ears. She would have looked for the source, but that was until she noticed their attackers came to a halt. They were only immobile for a moment, before they spun around and ran back the way they came.

Sawyer blinked, watching them disappear into the foliage. "They're leaving?" she thought aloud. "Why're they leaving?"

"That horn," Jasper spoke. "What does it mean?"

"Acid fog."

Sawyer snapped to Finn and asked, "what? How do you know that?"

"We heard before the acid fog last time," Finn said as he grabbed for the pack set on his shoulders.

"We have to run," Monroe exclaimed and made a move to take off, but she paused when Finn answered.

"There's no time."

_______

Finn's idea to save themselves from the acidic fog that blanketed the landscape had been a makeshift tent created from the dropship's parachute. Something Sawyer did not expect, nor did she think to prepare for.

And also something they did not need.

As it turned out, the fog failed to make an appearance. The warning, or so Finn thought it to be, was a false alarm. They were in no danger of dying from the yellowish-green substance. Yet, anyway.

Once they emerged from the quickly constructed tent, Sawyer and the rest of the group noticed one of the Grounders still around. Alone. With no other leads or trails to discover, Bellamy made the decision to follow him. Sawyer opposed, knowing that nothing good would come from confronting someone hellbent on killing them. Except, possibly getting themselves killed in the process. But, there was no stopping the eldest Blake when it came to his sister.

Sawyer kept her axe up and ready to send into a Grounder, if the need arose, while she slipped into a large hole behind the strange man. She and Bellamy moved further into the dark, cold cavern underground with everyone else on their heels. Sawyer made sure to stay alert as she turned the corner, especially when the space opened up into a circular room. She would have been interested in the various items that covered shelves and hung on walls, but the two figures in her eye-line made that hard.

"Bellamy?" Octavia exclaimed when she spotted her brother. She sat on the dirt floor with her hands bound by a chain secured to the wall, while blood coated her forehead, chin, and cheeks.

"Octavia." Bellamy rushed over to his sister until she stopped him.

"Get the key," Octavia told him, pointing to where a Grounder man laid a few feet away.

Sawyer turned to the others. "Monroe, watch the entrance. Tell me if there's any movement."

Monroe nodded and moved into the arched tunnel they just entered through.

Bellamy had swiped the keys from the Grounder and went to his sister's side, unlocking the chains wrapped around Octavia's wrists. As soon as she climbed to her feet, Bellamy pulled her into a tight embrace and reassured her that she was safe.

"How did you find me?" Octavia asked when she pulled away from her brother. 

Bellamy gestured to the unconscious man. "Followed him."

That peaked Sawyer's attention. How did the Grounder end up in that state within the few minutes it took for them to travel through the cavern? Octavia was chained to a wall. Although, she figured she would have tried to do the same in her situation.

Finn crouched next to the man and observed his thick, fur clothes and dark marks around his face. Sawyer did the same, curious about the people who have tried to kill them since their first day on Earth. The man looked just like them, not resembling the deformed skulls and skeletons Clarke mentioned they found on their failed trip to Mount Weather. A plus to Sawyer. At least the Grounders were not misshapen monsters.

"We should go. Now – before he wakes up," Octavia told them with a glance toward the man still on the ground.

"He's not gonna wake up," Bellamy exclaimed, turning his gaze to the Grounder. His eyes narrowed and expression fell into a deep glare.

Sawyer snapped to where Bellamy set his sights on the man, after having grabbed a spear from the items scattered around the cavern. "Whoa, I don't think so," she stated, intercepting his path.

Octavia had the same intention and positioned herself next to Sawyer, shoving against her brother's chest. "Bellamy, stop. He didn't hurt me. Let's just go."

Bellamy flicked his stare between both girls, pushing his sister out of the way. "They started this." He went to repeat the action with Sawyer, but she remained in her spot unfazed by his demeanor. "Sawyer. Move."

"You gonna make me?" Sawyer quirked a brow, before her jaw clenched. "We're not killing anyone."

"He'd kill us if he had the chance," Bellamy countered as he met her stare.

"Yeah, but we're not like him."

"Foghorn."

Sawyer turned at the sound of Finn's voice. "What?" she asked, but she did not receive an answer.

Finn opened his mouth to reply until the Grounder shot up and stabbed a knife into his chest. Sawyer's eyes almost bulged from their sockets. She ran to the boy's side, catching him before he could hit the ground. Jasper knelt next to them, just as shocked as they were by the sudden change in events. Sawyer raised a hand to put pressure on the wound, but the man's knife stayed inside of him, pulsing blood out from the sides. Jasper followed her actions and went to rip the weapon out until she stopped him.

"No, don't!" Sawyer commanded, forcing Jasper to freeze in place. "Don't pull the knife out. It's stopping him from bleeding out."

Sawyer snapped back to the commotion. The Grounder somehow made it to his feet and got the spear from Bellamy, knocking the man onto the dirt with the point aimed at his throat.

"Stop! That's my brother!" Octavia screamed at the sight.

Sawyer wanted to help, but she wanted to jostle Finn as little as possible. She slapped Jasper on the arm and motioned for him to do something. Anything to help Bellamy. They already lost too many people. They could not lose Bellamy, too. Jasper jumped to his feet, scanning the room for a weapon. Sawyer started to suggest her axe, but Jasper beat her to the punch and picked up a thick log among the Grounder's possessions.

Without a moment of hesitation, he rushed forward and slammed it onto the man's skull. The Grounder's body crumpled, dropping the spear, and resumed his unresponsive state on the ground.

<August 10, 2019>

I hate this chapter. Seriously, it sucks. I'm sorry about that. This episode is not my favorite, so my writing suffered because of it.

But, the rest of Season 1 is about to kick off. I'm excited! I have so many plans that I can't contain myself.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.