XX

[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia pleads with Heda for a second chance. She is met with mockery and scorn and cast into a dungeon to await her fate ... a dungeon that holds another prisoner - a familiar prisoner - Murphy].

"M-Murphy?" I gaped at the scrawny lad in front of me. "W-what? How?"

"Easy now, Princess," Murphy smirked. "Don't go blubbering all over me now."

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. "You son of a bitch!" I spat out.

Murphy pursed his lips and nodded, pretending to be deep in thought. "You know, one thing's for sure, if I end up escaping ... there's no way in hell I'm taking you with me."

I let out a strangled yell of rage as I strained against the chains holding me back.

"Whoa, calm down, Princess," Murphy held out his hands and gazed pointedly at me. "No need to act so tough."

"Don't ... call ... me ... that!" I snapped furiously.

"Oh. Is that because Finn used to call you that? You know, before Raven arrived?"

I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. I slumped back against the wall in defeat and heaved a deep breath. "I cannot believe it. I'm stuck in one of a dozen prison cells and I happen, just happen, to land in the same one as John Murphy. Could this day get any worse?"

"Don't say that," Murphy warned. "Because it always gets worse."

"It can't be worse than this," I groaned, burying my head in my hands. "Oh dear God."

I didn't know how long I sat there, ignoring Murphy's idle comments and eventually his deep snores. I didn't know how long I clenched and unclenched my fists, waiting, watching, hoping. I didn't know how long I gazed towards the slim crack of light moving slowly across the earthen floor.

I just knew that it was a very, very long time.

It must've been almost six hours later when I heard the loud scraping of footsteps and the resounding clang of metal. My head snapped upwards and I gazed towards the cell door as it was shoved open. A troupe of grounders bustled inside.

"On your feet now!" one of them brusquely demanded.

Exchanging looks with a now wide-awake Murphy, I staggered to my feet, using the hard-packed wall behind me as a leverage.

"What do you want with us?" Murphy ventured as his chains were removed; the metal bonds being replacing by thick rope.

"Shut it!" came the stern warning.

I shook my head at him, warning him against doing anything stupid.

"Alright, let's go," another of the grounders ordered once both Murphy and I were loosed from the wall. "We have a battle to win."

"Wait ... what?" I barely had time to mouth the words before a filthy gag was shoved in my mouth, preventing me from further protest.

I screamed my voice hoarse against the rough, scratchy material, but either the grounders didn't care or they chose to ignore me.

Murphy and I were bundled out of the dungeons and into the throne room, where a girded Heda sat, surrounded by a company of huge, burly warriors.

Murphy and I were thrown to the floor in front of her. Murphy kept his head down while I raised mine up to look Heda straight in the eye, my unwavering gaze telling her the message that my words couldn't: "You're making a mistake."

Heda waved us aside. "Keep them close to the forefront," she nodded towards a few of her men. "I want them right there with me when we face off against Skikru. Alright, Indra, give the order: Oso throu daun ogeda."

I turned my head to see a war-painted and fierce Indra bow in respect towards Heda, "As you wish, Heda." As she straightened up, she sent me a disdainful look before whirling around on her heel and stalking from the room.

I heard Indra's loud shout rumble throughout TonDc and my heart fell.

We were in trouble - big trouble.

Aligning with Heda's orders, Murphy and I were kept close to the front of the long line of warriors, in fact, we were right behind Heda and her majestic steed. The two of us were under close surveillance though; our hands and mouths restrained so we could not signal each other. Occasionally we exchanged worried looks, but that was that. It was all we could do.

We marched on for hours. The afternoon was drawing rapidly near as we finally breached through a clearing and arrived at the river crossing. This didn't seem to be a hindrance to the unstoppable grounders, however. We were just ferried across it in no time.

As we got closer and closer to our camp, I continued to scan the army for any signs of Aidan or Lincoln, but I didn't even catch a glimpse of them. It was like they'd fallen off the face of the earth.

Suddenly, Heda held up her hand, motioning for everyone to halt. Her eyes were fixated towards a distant knoll. I looked over in the direction of her line of sight and inhaled sharply.

Smoke. Billowing smoke. It was rising up, twisting, dancing through the air. It wasn't coming from our camp, though, it was coming - it was coming from the targeted village. Bellamy and Clarke hadn't even come after me. They had just carried on with their devious plans ... we were too late, too late to save them.

Tears of remorse stung my eyes as Murphy and I were shoved forward towards Heda. She alighted from her horse and indicated that Indra and a few others were to follow her. Then, she glanced back towards Murphy and I. I could almost swear I saw the beginning of a smirk line her face. "Bring them too. Hurry," she snarled.

The look of hateful glee on Indra's face was almost too much for me to handle. I knew that she would kill me within seconds if she had the chance too; and that's what scared me.

Indra seized me by the back of my neck and forced me forward. "Start walking, natrona!" she hissed in my ear.

I swallowed hard and nodded, knowing I had no choice but to comply.

We followed after Heda until we were standing atop of the knoll, overlooking the charred wreckage of what once used to be a grounder village. Heda shook her head as she surveyed the damage. "Your people don't mess around, that's for certain." She unsheathed her sword and motioned for the other warriors to do likewise.

I felt the cold, sharp steel of Indra's sword dig into the front of my neck as I was shoved down onto my knees.

Heda glared down at me as she spoke, "Octavia kom Skikru ... we are letting you live; but for one purpose only. You are to tell your people a message for me: Trikru is coming. Leave or die."

I glanced from the towering figure of Heda to the cowering one of Murphy. What was the deal with him?

Heda seemed to read my mind because her next statement was, "There are plans - much bigger plans - for Murphy kom Skikru." She looked over towards Indra and barked, "Osir na gon we!"

Indra didn't move from her position behind me, however. Instead, her blade dug deeper into my skin as she growled, "Heda, teik ai frag em op."

Heda shook her head and cast Indra a stern glance. "No. Breik em au."

Reluctantly, Indra fell back, giving me room to breathe.

Heda didn't give us a second glance as she spun around and walked off, the rest of her loyal soldiers at her heels.

Murphy and I glanced back over our shoulders, watching as the army retreated. I was so confused at this point that it wasn't even funny. The grounders weren't attacking? They were just leaving us here? What was the catch?

I looked over at Murphy and frowned.

His face had turned a sickly pale white. Splotches of red stained his gag. His entire body was trembling and sweating. He stared at me with big, pleading eyes as he collapsed helplessly to the ground and began convulsing.

I gasped and scooted away from him, watching the horrific scene unfold before me. My mind swam so fast with jumbles of broken thoughts and theories that a painful headache soon erupted and pounded through my brain.

What was going on? What was going to happen to us?

Suddenly, it clicked.

Heda hadn't needed to kill us or our people because we were going to kill them!

That was the catch: Murphy had been infected ... by a deadly, contagious virus.

Gif: Octavia as she confronts Murphy.

XX