TWENTY SEVEN.   if we go down, we go down together

     
      As much as Tatum disagreed with Octavia's logic, she knew they needed to stick together. She followed her swiftly through the woods. Octavia had a tight grip on Nyko and she kept her knife pressed to his throat. Tatum eyed all the grounders that threatened to shoot spears into them at any second. "Ai laik okteivia kom Skaikru," Octavia announced herself in Trigedasleng. "And you have something I want!" I am Octavia of the sky people.

A rush of anxiety ran through Tatum's veins. She kept her hand gripped on the knife in her pocket.

A woman exited the grounder camp and made herself present to the girls. "Ai laik Indra kom Trigeda. Chit yu gaf?" She spoke in Trigedasleng.

Neither her nor Octavia responded to what she said.

The grounder woman, Indra, walking down the hill towards them. "I said what do you want Octavia of the sky people?" She spoke in English. Her wicked dark eyes flickered to Tatum. "And who are you?"

Her eyes widened lightly. "Ai laik Tatum kom Skaikru." She spoke in their language, though it was very shaky. Any other time, she would be proud of herself for getting that right.

"What do you want, Octavia and Tatum of the sky people?"

"Lincoln." Octavia answered firmly. 

"No," She responded and her expression never faulting.

She felt a rush of anger and she kicked Nyko in the back, making him cry in pain and fall to his knees.  Tatum jumped slightly.

The grounders surrounding them raised their bows again at the action but Indra quickly stopped them.  "Enough, Nyko is our only healer."

"Good. Then you'll do as we say," Octavia stated.  "Bring me Lincoln to the place I saw him last. He knows where that is. Just you and him. No one else. If I see anyone else. . . I'll kill your healer. You have until dark," she explained slowly and angrily. She yanked Nyko up from the ground and looked at Tatum briefly.  "Come on."

"You scare me. You know that?"

"It's how you get shit done."

The longer Bellamy sat chained, the more his thoughts attacked him. He gave up on crying. He felt as if he had no more tears left to cry. He stared at the wall in front of him and imagined himself with Tatum in his arms, and it killed him. He would rather feel the pain of a bullet between his eyes than to have to think of her for one more second. He missed hearing her voice and her sarcastic comments. He missed the feeling of her skin on his and how her hair felt wrapped in his fingers. He would give anything to hear her voice one more time.

Having Murphy almost a foot away from him didn't make things better. He burned holes into him from the harsh glares and he wanting nothing more than to crush his skull between his hands. He would never forgive Murphy for hurting Tatum the way he did. He'd never forgive him for making her watch him torture him and then declaring his love for her as he did it.

Maybe Bellamy didn't understand their relationship and what they had before coming to the ground, but he knew that Murphy didn't love her. He loved the idea of her loving him and that wasn't the same thing as loving someone. Bellamy loved her. His love for her made the stars burn brighter and they dulled whenever she was gone. 

The doors opened and Finn came rushing in. "Get up. We're going after them," he declared and quickly unattached the cuffs around Bellamy's wrists.

"About time." He muttered.

Murphy stopped them before they left. "Hey, whoa,  wait. What about me?" He stated and motioned to the cuffs on his wrists.

They shared a quick look, the spacewalker shaking his head no. Bellamy picked up the wrench from the floor and walked closer to Murphy with a dark glare on his face, making him cower back.

Finn quickly stopped him. "Wait, no. What are you doing?"

He didn't answer and instead freed Murphy from the pole but kept the cuffs on his wrists. "He's coming with us."

"No way,"

"He's been to the grounder prison camp," Bellamy told him and grabbed Murphy, hoisting him up from the floor, and not lightly.

"He's right, okay? I can take you there," Murphy agreed even though it killed him inside to admit it.

Munroe quickly ran into the room. "Hey, Sterling just signaled. Someone's coming." She warned them. 

Finn had a defeated look on his face and motioned his head to the door. They followed her out quickly. 

I'm coming Tatum. I promise.

As night time came upon them, the more anxious Tatum was feeling. She and Octavia went back to Lincoln's camp and waited for Indra to bring him back. Nyko stood a few feet away from them. Tatum sat nervously with her back against the rocks and she watched Octavia pace back and forth. "Via, you're giving me a headache."

"What if they killed him?" She spoke and started biting her nails. "What if it's too late? What if they got to him?"

"Octavia—"

"What if they killed him, Tate?" She asked again and tears shined in her eyes.

Tatum quickly stood up. "Hey." She cupped the girls face. "Everything's going to be okay. Lincoln is strong. He won't go down without a fight, and he'll do anything to stay by your side."

She put her hands on Tatum's wrists. "I just don't want to lose anybody else. . ."

What hurt her the most was knowing that if Lincoln was still alive, that meant Octavia will had her love. Tatum didn't. She didn't even know if he was alive or not. "I'm still here, yeah? If we go down then we go down together. Believe me, i'm not gonna leave you."  She patted her shoulders. "Now relax." She dropped her hands and went to sit back down. She kept a close on Nyko, who was silent the entire time.

"You miss him, don't you?"

Tatum tensed up at the question. "Of course I miss him. I miss all of them." She quietly replied.

Octavia chuckled from where she was standing. "You know, I hated the thought of you two being together."

That made her chuckle. "You did?"

"Yeah, because I was kinda jealous. I spent my childhood under that floor. I didn't have any friends or anyone to talk to besides Bellamy. Then I met you and you were the first person to make me feel like more than just the girl under the floor—"

Tatum continued to smile.

"—Then you got with my brother of all people." She rolled her eyes. "I thought it was gross at first but now I can't picture the two of you with anyone else. He loves you so much, Tate."

It made her happy to know that, but Bellamy was her brother. A sinking relationship runs deeper than anything else. "Are you okay?" She uttered.

Octavia bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't know." After a while of silence, she continued her pacing. Her face was full of concern. Hours passed by and there was still not sight of Lincoln.

"Looks like you'll have to kill me," Nyko commented.

Octavia glared at him.

Tatum heard the snapping of a tree limb and she whipped her head to the side. She stood up from the ground and Octavia quickly went and grabbed Nyko.

She held her breath as Indra and Lincoln showed themselves. His hands were tied together and his skin was covered in dirt, blood, and sweat. "He's hurt," Octavia growled and pressed her knife farther into Nyko's neck.

"He should be dead." Indra stated bluntly.

"He's alive," Tatum stepped in. She glanced at her friend. "That's all that matters."

The grounder woman stared at her for a minute before motioning her head to Lincoln. He started limping towards them, small grunts leaving his lips. Octavia released the knife from Nyko's throat. "Sorry." She whispered.

"Yeah, sorry." Tatum whispered as well, feeling awkward about basically kidnapping him.

Nyko started walking in Indra's direction. Him and Lincoln stared at each other when they passed one another. Octavia smiled at him, thanking god that he was alive. Lincoln began to smile back until he looked over Tatum's shoulder and saw a figure emerge from the woods. "REAPERS!"

Tatum spun around and became face to face with the said reaper. It swung its sword at her and she quickly ducked down, dragging her knife along its arm.

But it wasn't the only one. Suddenly, multiple reapers appeared from behind the trees. Lincoln, Indra, and Nyko took out their swords and started fighting them off, but there was too many of them, and Tatum couldn't keep up.

She felt a blunt force to her head and she cried out. She felt to the ground and slowly brought her hand up to the back of her head. Blood coated her fingers. Her chest heaved up and down as the wind was knocked out of her. Her vision started to blur.

Across from her, she saw Octavia fall to the ground. "Octavia," she groaned out. She picked herself up with her arms, which were shaking, and she tried crawling over to her. It lasted all about five seconds because she suddenly felt a wave of nausea and she collapsed again on her side. Her black hair fell in front of her face and slowly, everything became black.

Bellamy kept a tight grip on Murphy as he dragged him along outside. He huffed in anger and tightened his grip every few seconds. He wanted to leave him for dead because that's what he deserved, but another part of him, as much as he hated to admit it, said that Murphy was the only one that could help them find their friends.

The sun shined on the group traveling through the open woods. It'd been hours since they left the camp and they had Murphy giving them directions. "All right, Murphy, where to now?" Bellamy questioned while keeping a hold on his gun.

"What do you say we lose these first, huh?" Murphy responded and held his zip tied wrists up.

"No. Again."

"If we get attacked, I have nothing to defend myself with," he argued.

"I don't care." Said Bellamy, completely unfazed.

Finn went against his statement and cut the zip ties from Murphy's wrists. "Thank you." He said sarcastically.

He gave Finn a look of disbelief. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" He snapped.

"It was your idea to bring him." The spacewalker expressed.

"Yeah, cause he's the only one who's seen where the grounders keep their prisoners."

"Then we probably shouldn't let him be defenseless out here. We can handle Murphy."

"You better hope so." Bellamy replied in a dark voice.

Murphy walked up to him and smirked. "So, do I get a gun now?" He asked smugly.

The man pushed him roughly and felt a searing anger in him. His nostrils flared but he tried to get him fury controlled. They didn't have time for drama. He continued walking the path, clutching the gun so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "I'm doing this for you, Tatum. Hope you know that." He mumbled to himself.