❝when are you going to get it through your head? we're in this together!❞

-hermione granger, harry potter

♛

OCTAVIA'S LIPS PRESS INTO a thin line. Her eyes dart to the exit of the foxhole multiple times, but I notice and immediately understand what's happening. She's going to run.

"The hell do you think you're going?" I hiss at her so quietly that only she can hear. Her eyes slightly widen when she realizes she hadn't been as discreet as she thought.

"Finding Lincoln," she answers with a gulp. I can see it in her face that she's expecting me to make her stay. However, there's no way I can do that and there's no way I'm letting her go alone.

"Alright, then," I say after checking to make sure Miller isn't watching us. Sure enough, his full attention is on his gun and the Grounders that are coming closer. "Let's go."

Octavia knows better than to argue with me. She waves at me to follow as she quickly ducks out of the foxhole and darts into the dark forest. I make sure my rifle is secured on my shoulder before taking off after her without looking back.

My feet move soundlessly across the mossy, uneven ground. Octavia tries her hardest to mimic the way I run, but unlike her, I have been trained to move in silence by my father. Even my breath seems to make no sound as it puffs out of my lips in white clouds. I'm briefly reminded of the time I ran across the Ark four times just to evade guards and give that bracelet to Clarke on her birthday.

"How are you sure that Lincoln won't kill me on sight?" I whisper as loudly as I dare to as we run side-by-side.

"He won't," Octavia asserts firmly. She pauses for a breath before responding, "You took care of him. That's how he knew to request you to meet Anya."

My mind travels back to how I had cleaned Lincoln's face after Miller had smeared berries across it. He hadn't looked at me for longer than a split second, but now I know that I had made an impression. At least being nice is going to work in my favor.

The sound of gunfire makes me jump. War cries sound from back where we came, sending chills down my spine. I can hear the horrible groans of the dying and grunts of those who are already dead.

"We have to go back," I tell her breathlessly, already slowing down.

"What?" Octavia asks, turning back to look at me incredulously. "Are you crazy?"

I just manage to catch the slightest of rustles from my left. Without hesitating, I grab my rifle and spin to face the source of the sound. A Grounder is hopping silently through the plants, almost invisible in the darkness. I fire a bullet at him before I can stop to think about the person I'm killing.

"Holy damn," Octavia breathes in shock. Obviously she hadn't been expecting me to be the type to kill so easily. I don't think she realizes that the girl who almost cried while helping to end Atom's misery is long gone.

"We have to go back," I repeat myself more sternly, and this time she nods in agreement. We both take off back the way we came, occasionally having to pause in order to pick off an attacker. Even though it shouldn't, it still surprises me when Octavia kills without the bat of an eye. I guess we both have changed drastically.

A familiar yell causes Octavia to pick up her pace to almost a sprint. My heart leaps into my throat when it registers that the voice had been Bellamy. My long legs decrease the distance between the younger Blake sibling and I, but my speed is no match for hers.

I find myself in the center of a battle when we stop. Once again I begin looking through the scope of my rifle as I fire countless shots at the Grounders around me. They're everywhere- popping out of the brush just when I think they might be gone. I can see the war paint on their shadowed faces before I see anything else. It's just me and them and my gun and bullets and blood.

I duck out of the way of a sword, crouching down before I quickly twist on my heel and pull the trigger. The bullet lands with a thunk in his or her chest before they fall to the ground. How much blood is on my hands? I can't tell.

"Hey, Amazon!" Bellamy's voice shouts through gasping breaths. I turn to see him holding Octavia in his arms, an arrow lodged in her thigh. "Come this way."

With one more shot, I duck and chase after Bellamy with zig-zag movements. It's a lot harder to hit a constantly moving target.

"We're taking the long route!" Bellamy calls to me over his shoulder. I nod even though he can't see me, gritting my teeth at the cramp growing in my side. I'm still not used to all of this running, even after being on the ground for almost a month.

The instant Bellamy says "the long route," I know exactly what he means. We circle around a large cluster of trees that are too close together to run through, and soon we'll make it to the camp. This is the only way we can avoid the Grounders that are sure to see us if we go the regular way. It was even risky for Bellamy to tell Miller to go back.

But when we arrive on the ledge of grass in front of the camp, my heart almost stops. A crease forms between my brow as I examine the scene below. Grounders are fighting Grounders, paying no attention to our safe haven as they engage in some sort of civil war. It's troubling and relieving at the same time to see this happen. Clashing of metal weapons filled my ears and I cringe at the amount of blood coating the dead plants beneath the armies' feet.

"What the hell is that?" Octavia breathes from Bellamy's arms. From the way her head is positioned, she can't see what's going on.

"I don't know, but they're distracted." He sets her down at the base of a tree, one that's secluded from the eyes of our attackers. "Let's move."

"What?" I can't help but raise my voice a little bit, but the sound of the cries from below drown out my shout. "Bellamy, no. We won't make it and you know it."

"Leave me," Octavia suggests much to my surprise. My head snaps to look at her gasping in pain. "I'll find another way."

"I'm not going anywhere without you." Bellamy shuts down the idea almost immediately. I open my mouth to suggest I stay with her, but he turns and jabs a knowing finger at me before I can speak. "Or you. I'm not leaving either of you, got that?"

"Octavia."

I turn and instinctively raise my gun at the unfamiliar voice. Relief washes over me when I realize it's only Lincoln. I feel stupid for not recognizing his voice, but then again, I've only heard it once or twice. It seems like ages ago when we were on that bridge.

"Lincoln?" Octavia questions, disbelief clear in her voice. She pulls him closer in a hug and sighs in relief. He keeps a hand on the side of her face and turns to Bellamy. His dark eyes flicker briefly to where I stand behind the boy, a stoic expression on his face.

"You do this?" Bellamy asks with a jerk of his head toward the onslaught nearby.

"With Finn," Lincoln confirms. I'm so surprised that the breath is nearly sucked out of me. Finn, who never agreed with violence, who always wanted the easy way out, called for a fight on Grounder versus Grounder?

And then it hits me, probably a lot later than it should've. They're Reapers. Finn and Lincoln got our common enemy to fight against another common enemy. Genius.

Lincoln's eyes catch the broken arrow in Octavia's leg. "It's deep," he informs sadly. I'm still caught off guard by how high his voice is compared to how I imagined it. "I can help you, but you have to come with me now."

Bellamy and Lincoln lock eyes, and a brief, mutual feeling of understanding passes between them. Bellamy has to let his sister go if he wants to make it back to the camp alive and save her at the same time.

"Go," he commands. Octavia glances at him with questions in her eyes. "Let him help you."

"No way," his sister protests. "I have to see this through."

"You can't walk and Fallon and I can't get you back to the dropship," Bellamy comments with his face screwing up in pain. I can tell how much he doesn't want to do this, but he knows he has to.

"He's right," Lincoln agrees. "This fight is over for you."

Octavia groans and leans back against the trunk of the tree. Her body is tense with the pain flowing from the arrow stuck in her leg, face caught in a grimace.

"O, O, listen to me," Bellamy commands in a brotherly tone. "I told you my life ended the day you were born. The truth is...it didn't start until then. Go with him. I need you to live. Besides...we got this."

Octavia's gaze flickers to me before going back to her brother. She scoffs and pulls him into a hug, pulling away and beckoning me down, too. I chuckle and let her embrace me tightly. My hand pats her back comfortingly and I whisper, "Stay safe."

She pulls back and nods. It takes me a second to realize she's close to tears, looking between the two of us like she'll never see us again. I can feel my own heart give a squeeze of sadness. I'm not saying goodbye to the stranger whom I jumped into a river with. I'm saying goodbye to one of my best friends, a sister of my own.

"May we meet again," Bellamy whispers to her with a heavy tone.

Octavia nods with tears shining in her eyes. She sniffles. "May we meet again."

Together, the three of us lift Octavia to a standing position. Lincoln sweeps her off her feet and secures her firmly in his arms.

"Keep her safe," Bellamy commands, his face back to its neutral, hardened state. Lincoln nods once with an extremely determined expression on his face. Octavia's lips are trembling and I know she's trying desperately not to cry as he starts carrying her back to his cave.

But I hear her sobs even when she disappears into the trees.

An enraged yell sounds from below, right behind the tree Octavia had just been lying against. Bellamy instinctively yanks me down to a crouched position. I attempt to slow my racing heartbeat as someone screams, "Now to the wall!" and I know the Reapers have only slowed down the inevitable.

"What the hell is our plan?" I ask, my eyes darting around the horde of Grounders surging toward our very own walls. I can feel the tears building in my eyes, the ones that refused to come even when Octavia left. But now, upon witnessing the enemy attempt to break down our doors with not the slightest thing I can do, the panic is rising in my chest.

"Hey, hey." Bellamy turns me around and searches my eyes with his own. "Listen to me. I don't know what our plan is yet, but we'll think of something. We won't let our friends die and stand back, okay? We will do something."

I can't help it. I can feel a sob threatening to come out, and so I lean forward and kiss him so it disappears. This time my hands are on his face and his are ghosting over my waist before I pull away, breathless and feeling stupid.

"Let's go," I say thickly. I rise to my feet and step into plain sight to examine the battle on the ground below. It's a mess of clanging metal, battle cries, and firelight. Bellamy pops up beside me. His eyes slightly widen at the sight of what's happening.

"There they are!" Clarke's unmistakable voice shouts above all others. "Fallon, Bellamy, run!"

I clench the gun in my hands and jump down onto lower ground before I can think twice. My heart thuds wildly in my chest as I catch sight of a tall, dark-skinned Grounder coming toward Bellamy and I. I quickly aim my rifle and fire a shot, but he's agile and moves out of the way before I can even pull the trigger. One of his knives grazes my stomach and I let out a cry as blood immediately starts soaking my shirt.

Bellamy picks up a random gun on the ground and tries to fire it, only to hear the clicking sound of an empty cartridge. The Grounder hits him in the face so hard he must see stars. As he reaches forward to grab his hair, I fire two bullets into his upper body and practically fall to the ground when he sends a wild, desperate swing at me with a longer sword. I hit the packed dirt with a grunt and kick the Grounder in the shins.

Mistake. Big, big mistake. Instead of falling backward, he pitches forward with his knife outstretched toward me. I barely catch Clarke's scream before I squeeze my eyes shut and roll to my left, letting out a shout as the Grounder lands on top of me. The gun strapped to my shoulder slams into my chest and knocks the air clean out of my lungs. For a second I think I'm dead as I lie there unable to breathe and shrouded in darkness.

But then the Grounder's body is lifted off of me by Bellamy, and I glance to my right to see the knife buried hilt-deep into the soil just inches from my throat. I'm still unable to breathe as he helps me up and asks me if I'm okay. I can only nod in response as my chest burns.

The moment of relief is extremely short-lived when an elbow slams into my cheek, knocking me onto my back again. I cough and sputter as I fight to see through my swirling vision. The new Grounder is fueled by anger that we killed his comrade. He is bigger and definitely stronger than the other one, with a scowl evident on his face through the black paint. Bellamy holds up the empty gun to block the blows from his sword, but his arms are shaking and I know he won't last. I still can't breathe; my chest is tightening as spots dance in my vision. My cheeks are throbbing and my stomach stings almost unbearably where the knife cut my skin open.

Shit, I think miserably. We're screwed.

It's then when the impossible happens. Finn Collins himself leaps out from behind the safety of the wall and fires a shot right at the Grounder currently attacking Bellamy. He runs right into the larger man, knocking them both onto the ground. I scramble out of the way before the Grounder's legs can land on me. Despite the fact that I'm still fighting to regain my breath, I lift my own rifle and look through the scope for the perfect shot. All I hear is a click when I pull the trigger. Dammit.

Bellamy climbs on top of the man and grabs fistfuls of his clothing. It's then that I know he has that one covered. Now, I have to work to fight against the dozens of other Grounders around us.

I choke out a gasp, finally able to breathe again. It seems to take me forever to get to my feet. Once I do, I turn to see a Grounder stabbing a sword into a boy named Owen's chest. Burning rage consumes me when I see the boy's lifeless body lift off of the dirt when the blade is pulled out. As hard as I can muster with my stomach and face stinging, I swing my gun into the side of the Grounder's head and knock him out cold. I then grab the sword in his hand and stab it through his stomach, recoiling at the spray of blood that surges up at me.

"Fallon, come on!" Finn shouts at the top of his lungs. I face the other way to see him waving me over with urgency in his brown eyes. Bellamy is wobbling beside him, face badly beaten up and bloody. "They're gonna fire up the rockets. We have to go. Now!"

I drop my useless rifle but keep the Grounder's blade securely in my hand. Then, just as the sound of the dropship firing up starts to hum in my ears, I run towards Finn and burst into the trees.

END OF PART ONE.

------

i had to sit there in shock for a minute to finally process that this is the end of season one. wow. i remember when i published the prologue!

part two will take place in this same book, but the chapters will start out from the beginning again after the playlist is posted. stay tuned for that!

mebi oso na hit choda op nodotaim,

-kristyn