XX

[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia was attacked by an unrecognisable under-water creature. Jasper saves her life and, trying to impress her, is the first to cross the river on Finn's makeshift vine. However, he gets speared by an intruder and now the group knows that they are not the only ones on Earth after all].

"W-we're not alone."

At Clarke's declaration, everyone, on impulse, turned and scanned their surroundings carefully. However, we couldn't see anything or anyone.

"We gotta go!" Finn exclaimed, catching me by the arm. "C'mon."

"Wait! W-what about Jasper?" I cried out.

"He's probably dead, Octavia," Dustin said, a sorrowful tone lacing his words. "I - I'm sorry."

"And even if he isn't, we can't risk anyone else's lives by going back for him," Clarke proclaimed. "We need to warn the others. So let's go."

"The spear came from behind me!" I shouted out as I began sprinting after the others. "Does that mean that they were watching us this entire time?"

"They must've been," Finn returned.

"That's not creepy at all," Bryce muttered.

"That river must be a boundary!" Clarke puffed as she exerted herself to her limits. "They didn't attack because we weren't in their territory, but once Jasper crossed the river ... well, the land on the other side must be out of bounds."

"Out of bounds?" I exclaimed angrily. "Whoever did this has no right to go around killing people just because they trespassed!"

"Even so, we need to get back to the drop-ship and warn Bellamy," Clarke returned urgently. "They may try to attack everyone else too and with no weapons, we're practically defenceless."

"You couldn't say that any louder?" Monty queried, rolling his eyes.

"UURRGGHH!"

We all froze stock-still and whirled around. The river was a good 500 metres behind us now but the piercing scream that reached our ears told a different story.

"T-that's Jasper!" I yelled. "He - he's still alive!"

I made a move as if I was going to turn back, but Finn bounded over to me and in a blink of an eye, he had seized my arm in a vice-like grip.

"You ... are .. not ... going ... back ... there," he told me pointedly. "Bellamy asked me to look out for you and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"B-but Jasper is ... "

"No, Octavia, we can't do anything for him now. We'll come back when we have a plan in place, okay?" he tried to reassure me. "But it's stupid to run back out there with an all-seeing assailant right on our tracks."

I gulped, trying to conceal my fear and anger.

"So ... let's go."

I nodded reluctantly as I allowed Finn to guide me away.

The hardest thing I had ever done was turn my back on Jasper and walk away.

Darkness fell quickly.

There was no way we could make it back to the drop-ship before nightfall, so, as dusk settled upon the land, Finn suggested that we set up camp; each of us interchanging with three-hour watches.

No one was very keen on spending the night out with an ever-watchful spear-thrower, but we had no other choice.

We all collected handfuls of soft moss from the underside of the numerous trees surrounding us to make a semi-comfortable place to lie down. We had no blankets or pillows and we dared not light a fire in case of being noticed and attacked as we slept.

When darkness finally did encompass us, a cold southerly wind shifted throughout the forest, blowing its' cold gusts over us.

I hugged myself, trying to trap in my body heat, but goosebumps continued to pop all over my arms and legs. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't sleep. I was exhausted, I was sore, I was wet and I was absolutely freezing.

Dawn couldn't come soon enough.

We were all up with the sun.

Dustin found a bush covered with juicy purple berries which we devoured ravenously. Clarke shared out containers of water that she'd filled up from the river and Finn handed out some strips of dry meat that he'd taken from the drop-ship.

Once refreshed and invigorated, we continued on our way. We got back at around noon.

By then, the rest of our crew had regrouped at the drop-ship. As we approached them through a thick grove of trees, we heard much ruckus and commotion.

"What the hell is going on?" Finn muttered as we drew nearer and nearer.

When we burst through into the clearing, the sight that met our eyes was not only surprising, but startling.

A circle of boys and girl had gathered around a large bonfire that had been set up. Inside the chanting, noisy ring was Wells and a large-nosed boy. Wells had grappled the boy into a head-lock and was holding a knife to his throat.

"WELLS!" Clarke shouted, her booming voice silencing the excited crowd. "What on earth are you doing? Let Murphy go!"

Wells hesitated as he glanced up at Clarke.

"Let him go NOW!" she ordered angrily.

Wells sighed and shoved Murphy away from him. The ragged-dressed boy nearly tripped over himself as he was thrown forward. Straightening up, he whipped a knife from his belt and lunged towards Wells!

Suddenly, Bellamy stepped straight into his path. Grabbing him by the shoulders, he restrained him by saying, "Murphy! Enough!"

"So that's the guy you were talking about, huh? The troublemaker?" I whispered in Finn's ear as the rest of us clambered after Clarke.

Finn raised his eyebrows and let out an annoyed huff which I took as a yes.

"O-Octavia!" Bellamy cried upon sighting me. Pushing Murphy aside, he hurried towards me. "W-why are you limping? Are you alright? Where's the food?"

I raised a hand to silence him and nodded at Finn who confirmed, "We didn't make it to Mount Weather."

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy demanded, his brow darkening with suspicion and anger.

"We were attacked," Clarke responded.

"Attacked? By what?" Wells questioned, confused.

"Not what ... who," Finn cut in, his eyes wandering across the crowd in front of us. "Turns out, the last man on the ground who died on the Ark? He wasn't the last grounder."

"It's true," I agreed with a nod of my head. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong."

Bellamy placed a protective arm around me as Clarke picked up where I left off. "There are people here ... survivors," she stated. "The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."

"Bad news is, the grounders will," Finn sighed as he lowered himself onto a nearby fallen log and buried his face in his hands.

"Wait, w-where's the kid with the goggles?" Wells inquired, glancing around frantically.

"Jasper was hit," Monty gulped. "They - they took him."

The awful news was met with a moment of silence.

Suddenly a loud cry burst from Clarke's lips as she rushed over to Bellamy and I. She grabbed Bellamy's wrist and pulled up his sleeve. "W-where's your wristband?" she gasped.

Bellamy just snorted and shook his head in disgust. "I took it off."

"H-how many?" Clarke demanded, her cheeks and neck flushed with rage.

"Twenty-four and counting," Murphy's arrogant, snarky voice answered her.

"You idiots!" Clarke burst out. "Life support on the Ark is failing! That's why they sent us down here! They need to know if the earth is survivable again and we need their help against whoever is out there! If you take off your wristbands, they'll think you're dead! You won't just be killing them, you'll be killing us!"

"Good, after what they did to us, I say FLOAT EM ALL!" I called out, my angry, sardonic voice carrying throughout the air.

A loud cheer of agreement rose up from the crowd surrounding us.

Bellamy's grip around my shoulders tightened and he shot me a look of thankfulness and brotherly pride.

"We're stronger than you think!" Bellamy spoke up, his eyes shooting daggers at Clarke. "You see these weapons? We found them and more in a secret compartment on the drop-ship. We are armed and we are ready - for whatever or whoever tries to come at us!"

Turning to the others standing nearby, Bellamy flung out his arms and exclaimed, "Don't listen to her! She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same, huh? We can take care of ourselves! That wristband on your arm? That makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes, but I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The grounders should worry about us!"

I smirked and added my voice to the loud outburst of yells that erupted from everyone around about. They stuck their fists up in the air and nodded their heads vigorously, yelping and hooting as they listened to my brother.

Clarke rolled her eyes and glared at Bellamy as she broke through the circle of chanting youths and stormed away. Wells, after shooting a disgusted look at me and Bellamy, hobbled after her.

Monty, Bryce, Dustin, and Finn hesitated, not sure what side to pick. As Bellamy pulled Murphy aside for a discussion, I turned back to the four boys behind me.

"What?" I queried after seeing the annoyed expressions on their faces.

"You do know that Clarke has a point, right?" Finn raised his eyebrows at me. "Surely you don't want two thousand innocent people dead?"

"That's the whole point, Spacewalker!" I argued. "Not all of them are innocent."

"Yeah? But most of them are!" Monty pressed his lips into a thin, hard line. "If you do nothing to stop this atrocity, their deaths will be on you." He brushed past me and, sticking his hands deep into his pockets, strode after Clarke and Wells.

"Great!" I flung my hands up in the air. "Anyone else?"

Finn sighed and shook his head as he straightened up and looked me in the eye. "How about this, Princess: let's make a third group."

"W-what do you mean?" I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"Well, you wanted to go back for Jasper, didn't you? Then let's go."

"Right now?"

"As soon as we can, yeah," Finn nodded. "Or are you gonna stay here and keep rallying the rebels with your psycho brother?"

I heaved a deep breath. "Fine. I'll come."

"Count Bryce and I in," Dustin spoke up. "We sure as hell don't wanna stay here."

"Cool, we can do that," Finn placed his pack on the ground and rummaged through the contents inside of it. He lifted his head and glanced at me, "We'll need to restock our supplies first."

I shrugged and turned away, setting my face in the direction of the drop-ship.

"And the search beings," I muttered to myself as I started walking off.

We were going after Jasper.

Gif: Octavia's face when she turns around to talk to Finn, Dustin, Monty and Bryce.

XX