XX

[PREVIOUSLY: Bellamy and Clarke have differing views on how they should handle the 'grounder situation'. In the meanwhile, Octavia and Finn exert their influence and everyone gets ready to leave the camp for good. Bellamy nearly crumbles but receives help from his sister just in time].

My boots padded against the hard-packed earth. Clumps of dirt stuck to the underside of my shoes. My feet rustled the autumn leaves scattered beneath me. My hands, clamped around the handle of my sword, grew taunt and rigid. The sharp, silver blade glinted in the noon-day sun.

My wary eyes travelled across the vast, green expanse of forest in front of me. Once upon a time, this place offered us a new life, a new hope. Once upon a time, this place whispered promises of security and safety, friendship and family. But now? All I saw was an endless abyss of unforgiving, foreboding darkness. It had been looming over us ever since we first set foot on earth. We were never safe. We were never free.

"Octavia! Why are you stopping?" Nate's surprised and worried tone cut through the air and deep into my reverie.

My eyes widened as I realised what I was doing.

Earlier, I had left Bellamy behind with Clarke so I could scour the front line with the gunners, just to make sure that no grounders were on our trail. Suddenly, and without much explanation, I had just stopped, stock-still.

Maybe it was the dead silence of the forest that had alerted me or maybe I had caught a glimpse of movement in the trees. Whatever the case was, I had no explanation for it.

Torn between feeling confused and agitated, I shook my head and held up my hand, quietening Nate and the others behind me. My alert gaze swept over every inch of landscape. My fingers curled tightly around the hilt of my sword. I didn't know what it was but something just wasn't right.

Suddenly, a rush of air sounded from right above my head. Instinctively I ducked, only to catch sight of an air-borne axe as it was hurled over me. The sickening sound of metal slicing through flesh reached my ears.

Spinning around, I inhaled sharply as I took in the hideous sight. A tall, ginger-haired boy was lying on the ground, sprawled on his back, with a sharpened axe-head embedded in his face!

Screams of horror sprung up from all around me as frenzied youths began stampeded back through the trees towards the camp.

"Get back inside! Get back inside!"

The cry was taken up and shouted to the four corners of the wind, travelling to the ears of our near-attackers.

Still in shock over what had occurred, my legs tumbled clumsily over each other as I pushed myself forward.

As I ran back to the camp gates, my breath coming out in short, uneven pants, one thought kept flashing through my mind: It's too late. It's too late. The grounders are already here.

"Princess, c'mon, hurry! They're right behind us!" Finn suddenly appeared by my side. Seizing my hand in his, he literally dragged me back behind the safety of the walls.

After the last of the fleeing teens stumbled inside, the gate was promptly closed and locked and the gunners quickly took up their positions.

A frenzied panic took ahold of everyone and as they began shouting and crying, begging Bellamy and Clarke for a solution, Finn and I retreated into a far corner.

"Lincoln told us that there would be scouts," Finn murmured as he stroked his chin. "But I didn't realise that they were moving so fast."

I shook my head as I raked my fingers through my brown, matted hair. "This is insane. He said to get out of here before the scouts arrived. Finn, it's too late. They're already here!"

"What's going on, O?"

Glancing up, Finn and I saw Bellamy shoving his way through the crowd towards us, his gun grasped tightly in both hands.

I exchanged a side glance with Finn before letting out a sigh and replying, "It looks like you've got your fight, big brother."

Bellamy sent the two of us a firm nod before jerking his thumb in the direction of the drop-ship. "O, get inside, it's getting too crazy out here and besides, we need to go over plans."

"Plans for what?" I demanded, my heart sinking within my chest.

Bellamy shot me a funny look as he responded shortly, "Battle plans."

I bit my lip and shook my head. "You don't understand, Bell, you can't win with force, not against thousands of Trikru warriors."

"Well, we'll never know unless we try," Bellamy snapped. "Now, let's go, we've got no time to waste."

A few moments later, Finn, Raven, Monty, Clarke, Bellamy and I were all gathered in the drop-ship, gazing down at a detailed map of our camp.

"Right, so how the hell do we do this?" Clarke queried.

"We've got twenty-five rifles, with twenty rounds each, give or take," Bellamy began as he rested the palms of his hands on the surface of the table in front of him. "That's roughly 500 rounds of ammo. While you two were gone, we made some improvements," he waved his hand over at Finn and I. "Thanks to Raven, the entire gully in between us and the river is mined. It's the main route in. If the grounders use it, we'll know. We also built grenades." So speaking, Bellamy reached over and heaved a large crate, topped with the weapons, onto the table.

I let out a shaky breath as I surveyed the crate. "T-that's not many."

"We'll make them count," Bellamy assured me as he turned back towards the map. "If the grounders make it through the front gate, our guns and grenades should force them back."

Finn let out a huff and shook his head.

Casting Finn a concerned glance, I looked over at Bellamy before demanding, "And then?"

"Then we close the door and pray," Raven answered.

"And pray what?" Clarke piped up, a disbelieving air to her tone. "That the ship keeps them out? Because it won't."

"Then, let's not let them in through the gate," Bellamy stated pointedly, shooting Clarke an annoyed glare.

As she shot out another retort, my gaze wandered over the map; the spindly, stick figures that were supposed to be us, the large squiggly drawing that was supposed to be the drop-ship, the criss-crossed lines that were supposed to be the camp walls. "It can't be that simple," I whispered.

Whirling around, I confronted Raven as I asked, "You said there was fuel in those rockets, right? Enough to build one hundred bombs?"

"I also said that we have no more gunpowder left," she returned, raising her eyebrows quizzically.

I shook my head. "No. I don't wanna build a bomb. I wanna blast off."

Raven's eyes lit up as she leaned forward. "You're saying that we draw them in close, fire the rockets, make a ring of fire?" she smirked. "What happened to that 'all-grounder' girl with her sword?"

I shot her a glare as I said, "That girl is not going to let her brother and the rest of her friends die, you hear me?"

Raven smiled.

"Barbecued grounders? I like it," Bellamy nodded at Raven and I, his features the definition of pleased satisfaction.

"Yeah, but will it work?" Monty put forth.

"The wiring's a mess down there," Raven shrugged. "But you give me enough time and I'll cook them real good."

As the others turned back to the map with a renewed sense of urgency, I turned away and made as if to leave the room.

Suddenly, I was stopped mid-stride when someone clamped their hand over my arm.

"Octavia, what about Lincoln?" Finn persisted in a low tone as he spun me around to face him. "And Aidan? W-what if they're among the attackers?"

"They won't be, Finn," I frowned as I jerked my arm away from him. "Both he and Aidan think that what their people are doing to us is wrong, Lincoln said so himself."

"I'm not talking about that," Finn hissed. "I'm talking about the fact that maybe, if they get found, they'll be forced to join the army as punishment for their betrayal. Princess, what if you kill them too?"

I gulped, thoughts of horror and fear crossing my mind. "Well," I spoke up as I regained my composure, "let's just hope they stay away .... far, far away."

Before Finn had a chance to counter back, the walkie-talkie on Bellamy's belt crackled to life. "Bellamy, this is Nate, do you copy?"

Bellamy wrenched the device out and held it to his mouth as he spoke, "Yes, I copy. What's wrong?"

"We've just received word from the front-liners who are positioned half a mile away from the walls, just as you requested. They can see them, they can see the grounders. Bellamy, they're nearly here."

Gif: Octavia as she discusses plans with the others.

XX