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[PREVIOUSLY: Clarke conducts a risky operation on Finn with help from her mother via the radio. In the meanwhile, interference from the storm cuts off their connection and Clarke and Bellamy take their anger out on the two captured grounders. Octavia, desperate to bring an end to their torture, puts her life on the line again when she slashes the poisonous knife across her own hand].

"O-OCTAVIA!"

The sound of my brother's strangled cry echoed throughout the room.

"Octavia, what have you done?" Clarke breathed, staring at me and the knife that I held in my hands with big bug eyes.

I loosened my grip on the blade and it went clattering to the floor. Slowly, I dropped to my knees before the grounder with hazel eyes, the grounder who had put a stop to my escape from the tunnels, the grounder who had helped save my life from the cavern.

"Please ..." I whispered. "Tell us! What's the cure?"

"You'd be stupid to have a poison around for this long without an antidote," Clarke sneered, her demeanour abruptly changing from horror to anger.

"O, O," Bellamy plonked himself down beside me and enveloped me in his arms. "W-what did you do? What did you do?" he rocked me back and forth, his eyes shining with tears of worry and hurt.

"I-it has to work! It will work!" I told him pointedly as I untangled myself from his arms.

"N-no," Bellamy shook his head, glancing down to look at the wound on my palm. "No. Not this way."

"Bell, don't," I desperately grabbed at his shirt as he stood up.

"Like I said, you're gonna tell us and you're gonna tell us ... now!" Bellamy growled, eyeballing the big, burly grounder next to Hazel Eyes. "My sister isn't going to the grave before you ... so you'd better rethink your decision to keep quiet - and do it fast!"

"Clarke!" I cried, turning to her. "Please, don't allow him to do this!"

Clarke hesitated for a moment, then, she turned back to glance over at Finn's limp body. A scowl crossed her features and she nodded at Bellamy, "Do it."

"NO!" I yelped. "Bellamy, stop!"

Bellamy stepped forward, drawing a small dagger from his belt as he did so. Seizing Burly's shirt with a rough and vice-like grip, he sliced the blade straight through the material, severing it in half. He yanked the shirt off of Burly and dropped it to the ground, his other hand wrapping tightly around the end of his belt.

"This ... is ... your ... last ... chance," he hissed.

When only silence met his statement, Bellamy let out a low grunt. Hazel Eyes and Burly watched his every move as he lifted his arm back and whipped the belt through the air.

CRACK.

It circled around Burly's chest; the buckle cutting deep into the flesh of his back. Hazel Eyes flinched as if it was him who'd been given the blow instead of his friend. His eyes glazed over with anger and he gritted his teeth as he glowered furiously at Bellamy.

"Bellamy!" I sobbed. "Stop it! Stop it! Please!"

CRACK.

Burly's shoulders slumped forward and his jaw clenched as he tried to contain his pain.

"BELLAMY! Stop it! This is not who we are!"

CRACK.

A low groan of agony escaped Burly's chapped and bleeding lips as he sagged forward against his chains.

"Bellamy, STOP IT!"

"Hold up!" a voice called out from behind us.

Bellamy, Clarke and I whirled around to see Raven digging through a pile of fur-lined hunting bags that had been taken from the grounders upon capture.

"Take a look at this!" Raven exclaimed as she withdrew a small bag enclosed with string. She ripped it open to reveal a package of vials, each filled with dried herbs and flowers. "One of these has to be the antidote!"

Clarke rushed forward and snatched it from Raven's hands. She dropped to her knees and spread the vials out on the floor next to Burly. "Please, tell us which one it is! The beating will stop! Just tell us which one it is!"

"Clarke? He's getting worse!" Raven shouted as Finn started moan in pain.

"We're running out of time! Damn it!" Clarke slammed her fists on the ground. "WHICH ONE IS IT? WHICH ONE?"

"Stand back, Clarke, I've got this."

CRACK.

Bellamy's belt once again penetrated Burly's flesh. This time he let out a yelp of agony. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I helplessly stood by, watching as my brother beat Burly. He was on the brink of unconsciousness! If only he would concede and tell us which vial contained the antidote! Then the belting he was receiving would cease!

"What's taking so damn long?" Raven screamed from her position next to Finn's bed. "He's stopped breathing!"

"WHAT?" Clarke screeched in horror as she jumped to her feet and sprinted over towards Raven and Finn.

"He - he's started again," Raven consoled Clarke with a sigh of relief. "B-but next time? He might not."

Clarke groaned and buried her head in her hands.

Bellamy yelled out in frustration and threw his belt to the floor.

I gulped, realising how weak my muscles had become. I could literally feel the poison running down the length of my arm. If it reached my heart ...

I shuddered to even think about it.

"Please," I whispered as I gazed pleadingly up at Hazel Eyes. "Which one is it?"

Hazel Eyes looked down at me. His jawline softened and his eyes went from furious to understanding. He glanced down at the wound on my hand and hesitated as he opened his mouth to speak.

"He -he's gonna break!" Bellamy exclaimed as he rushed forward.

The moment Hazel Eyes heard my brother's voice, however, he immediately closed his mouth and backed up against the wall.

"Bellamy!" I shouted. "You idiot! He - he was going to tell me!"

"I thought you said he couldn't speak English?" Bellamy scoffed as he bent down to retrieve his belt. "If the big burly one over here won't talk, maybe he will."

"No! I'm not letting you hurt him!" I cried out as I quickly blocked his path. "What is wrong with you?"

"Finn is dying, Octavia," Bellamy glared down at me. "And soon, you'll be in the same boat that he's in. I'm not losing you. It's not a risk I can take. It's either this or nothing. I'm sorry."

"That's it!" Raven stormed across the room to where we were all standing. With a giant heave, she ripped an entire strip of wires from a pile of debris that had been stored in the corner nearby. Seizing two wire plugs, Raven struck them together, creating a spark. She lunged at Burly and with a loud yell, jabbed the two wires into his bare chest.

Burly screamed in agony as the hot metal seared his flesh. His body started convulsing and blood dripped from his mouth.

"He's all that I have!" Raven screamed, right in his ear. "WHCH ONE IS IT?"

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, leaping to my feet and raising my voice over the chaos that had erupted.

Raven whirled around to face me, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He's letting Finn die!"

I shook my head and swallowed hard as I collapsed next to the vials on the floor. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn't even encircle my fingers around the thin glass tubes. Pointing at one, I looked up at Burly.

"Is it this one?"

Burly shook his head.

"Is - is it this one?"

Burly shook his head.

"W-what about this one?"

Slowly, Burly nodded.

"Here ... here ..." I shoved the vial into Raven's hands.

"Thank you!" she gasped as she rushed back to Finn's side.

"O? O, you're as white as snow," Bellamy knelt down beside me. "O ..."

"Don't touch me!" I snapped as I scooted away from Bellamy. Plonking myself back down in front of Hazel Eyes, I seized the end of my shirt in my teeth and ripped a strip of material from it. I tried to wind it around my palm, it was no use. I couldn't do it, my hands were shaking too badly.

A shadow fell across my huddled form and I glanced up to see Hazel Eyes moving closer towards me. He leaned over and took the material from my hands. He wound it around and around my injury and tied it off with a simple knot.

Then I knew, I knew, that in that moment, that the grounders weren't savages. They were people; people who deserved to be treated with the respect they deserved.

The same went for Hazel Eyes and Burly.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Bellamy shouted when he saw Hazel Eyes squatting next to me. With a yell of fury, he lunged for Hazel Eyes' throat.

Hazel Eyes instantly retreated and Bellamy missed him by just a hair's breadth.

"Bellamy! He - he was helping me!" I cried out.

Suddenly, my entire body fell limp. My head lolled to one side. Black spots began to dance in my vision. The whole room seemed to be shifting and swaying.

I couldn't fight it anymore; I couldn't fight this poison.

The last thing I remembered seeing was the horrified look on Hazel Eyes' face as he saw me fall to the ground.

Then the darkness came.

Gif: Octavia as she tries to convince Bellamy against hurting Burly and Hazel Eyes. Sorry, this chapter was a bit sad and gruesome :(

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