I followed behind Clarke and Wells with Bellamy and Murphy trailing behind me. With each and every step I felt more and more discouraged. The dense forest did not seem to get any less confusing the further in we got. I had no clue how we were going to find Jasper.

"Hey! Hold up, what's the rush?" Bellamy called after about thirty minutes of silence, causing Clarke, Wells, and myself in turn to slow down. "You don't survive a spear through the heart." He was now waving his gun in the air as if to show it off.

"Put the gun away Bellamy." Wells ordered, causing Murphy to step forward and give him a shove. 

"Why don't you do something about it?" He challenged. 

I rolled my eyes with a huff. "Would you two cut it out?" I snapped, stepping in between the two boys. 

"Stay out of this freak." Murphy snickered, getting way too close to my face for comfort."Where is your brother anyway? Too chicken? Or is he hiding in a cupboard..." He trailed off for a moment, a smug look covering his face as he rose his brows. "Wait sorry, that was you."

I clenched my fists at my sides, honestly trying to resist punching this kid square in the nose. Bellamy, who seemed to have been triggered by Murphy's comments stepped in between us, giving him a light shove away from me.  "Murphy, that's enough." he ordered, his voice thick and angered.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him," Clarke started, ignoring everything that had just been said, "if the spear had have struck his heart he'd have died instantly. Doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy lunged forward, grabbing Clarke's arm as she began to move, "Soon as you take this wrist band off, we can go." Bellamy smirked.

Clarke ripped her arm from his grasp, "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead, is if i'm dead. Got it?"

Bellamy looked slightly taken aback but the smirk still remained on his face, "Brave Princess."

"Why don't you get your own nickname?" All of our heads turned to see Finn making his way towards us. As mad as I was at my brother, I couldn't help the small smile that spread onto my face.

"You call this a rescue party?" Finn questioned, ignoring the shocked looks on our faces. "We've got to spread out, cover more ground. Avery, Clarke, you two come with me." 

Another hand grabbed onto my arm and pulled me away from my brother and Clarke. "She's with me." Bellamy declared. 

I spun to look at him, brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

My brother stepped forward. "She's coming with me." He argued. 

Bellamy kept a neutral expression, not letting go of my arm. "It makes more sense to split into groups of two."

"Then Avery can go with Wells." Finn shot back. 

I sighed, feeling a lot like a piece of property. "I'll go with Bellamy." I interjected, much to my brother's dismay. "It'll be fine."

Finn clenched his jaw as he looked between Bellamy and I before breaking. "If you so much as hurt her feelings, I'll kill you, Bellamy."

Bellamy rolled his eyes with a smirk. "She'll be fine."

Finn and I locked eyes and I gave him a slight nod letting him know it was okay. He gave one last hard look to Bellamy before he and Clarke turned and left.

Once the two of them were out of sight, Bellamy released my arm, instead opting to place his hand on my back in an attempt to lead me in the direction we needed to go. 

Gritting my teeth, I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me."

He let out a breathy laugh from behind me. "Sorry, Sweetheart."

"And don't call me that." I ordered, already fed up with his presence.

He fell silent for a moment as we continued walking, putting more distance between ourselves and the other boys. Even without seeing him, I could tell he was thinking about something. 

"What do you want from me?" I questioned, turning to look at him.

He paused for a moment, looking down at me with an amused expression.  "Who said I want something from you?"

I positioned my hands on my hips. "Why else would you demand that I, of all people ,come with you?"

"Maybe I just wanted to get to know you, Avery. Considering you're my sister's best friend and all."

He was a terrible liar. 

"Fine." I challenged, turning away from him. "Don't tell me."

A few seconds passed before his hand grabbed onto my arm once again. "Okay." he breathed, face written in defeat. "There is something I wanted to ask you."

I tried to hide my satisfied smile as I turned to face him. "Yes, Bellamy?"

It seemed that he would have rather asked anyone else this question, but it seemed I was the only one who knew the answer. "Was she okay? After she was locked up...what was she like?"

Of course the question was about Octavia. Bellamy may have been an ass, but I had to admire the love he had for his sister. He and I were two people who loved the same person, even if we didn't get along. 

I contemplated making him push harder for my answer, but by the look on his face, I couldn't morally do that. "She was okay." I studied his face for a moment, heart softening ever so slightly. "She talked about you a lot. She admires you."

His face relaxed. "Really."

"Yeah." I answered with a sigh. "But she clearly forgot to mention what a jackass you were."

That broke the silent cease-fire that had just settled between the two of us for the last few moments. 

Glaring at me, Bellamy shoved me forward so I wasn't facing him any longer. "Let's go, smart-ass."

---

"How do we know we're going the right way?" Murphy challenged.

 Moments after Bellamy and I had finished our discussion about Octavia, Clarke and Finn had found us with the news that they had discovered a trail of blood. 

"We don't." Bellamy argued. "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker." 

Jackass Bellamy is back.

"It's called cutting side." Wells answered, fed up with the two of them, "Fourth year Earth skills. He's good."

"Do you want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your back?" Finn asked in frustration. Everyone fell silent at his words as he paused, reaching forward to touch a branch that instantly fell limp. Bending down he placed his fingers on a rock, holding them up to reveal blood.

We were close. 

As if on cue, a loud groan cut through the air, causing all of us to turn in the direction it came from. "What the hell was that?" Murphy questioned, evident fear in his voice. 

Clarke turned to Bellamy with a worried expression. "Now would be a good time to take out that gun."

And then we all started running, without so much as a discussion. We didn't know what had happened to Jasper, but it was evident that if we didn't get to him soon, it may be too late. 

After a couple of minutes of running we emerged into a clearing. It was empty except for a large tree that stood in the middle. Strapped up in that tree was Jasper.

I felt my heart lurch as we all hesitantly began to move toward Jasper. We needed to get him down from there, 

Halfway toJasper, the ground beneath me suddenly gave way. My heart felt like it was in my throat as my body plummeted downward. I didn't even have time to scream.

I slammed my eyes shut, but before I felt any impact with the ground, a hand had mine in theirs. 

Hesitantly, I looked down at the hole I was dangling over. There were a series of sharp spikes set up directly beneath me. This had been a trap...I should have known better. 

With a shaky breath, I looked up at who was holding me... the only thing that was keeping me alive. It was Bellamy.

He stared at me for a brief moment, his hand tightening around my own before he yanked me up. Finn has rushed to his side, grabbing onto me as I neared the top. My brother had me enveloped into a hug before I could even utter a single word. 

I wrapped my shaky arms around my brother as I looked to Bellamy, mouthing a quiet Thank you.

"Are you okay?" Finn questioned, pulling out of our embrace to check me over for any injuries.

I nodded, leaning back on my heels. "I'm fine." I assured. "Go help Jasper."

Finn nodded as he stood up before offering a hand to pull me to my feet. "I'll climb up there and cut the vines." He announced to the group. 

"Yeah, I'm with you." Wells offered.

"No." My brother immediately denied the other boy's help, "Stay with Clarke and Avery. And watch him." he ordered, nodding towards Bellamy. He then motioned for Murphy to follow him. "You, let's go."

Finn and a reluctant Murphy started towards the tree, Clarke spoke, "There's a poultice on his wound."

"Medicine?" Wells asked, "Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?"

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing." Bellamy suggested, causing chills to run through my body.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us." When the words left my brother's mouth my heart dropped into my stomach.

I wrapped my arms around myself, fear surging through me. "Okay. Please hurry." I prodded the two of them, my eyes dancing around the forest. 

Finn nodded as he and Murphy began to climb the tree. Nervously, I tugged at my fingers as they did their best to hurry up the tree toward a still groaning Jasper. 

"Hurry up, Murphy." Finn prodded as the two cut away the vines that were holding Jasper in place.

I ran a hand through my hair in desperation. "Be careful!"

The nerves that I had been feeling were quickly overtaken by pure panic when a growl came from within the dense vegetation. I paused, as did everyone else, as we tried to ensure that we had actually heard something. 

"What was that?" Wells was the first to ask as we all spun in slow circles trying to pinpoint the source of the growl. 

"Grounders?" Murphy wondered from the tree, his voice teetering slightly. 

Suddenly, a blur of movement caught my eyes, causing me to freeze and fear gripped my body. "Not Grounders!" I declared, eyes still wide as I rose a shaky hand to point toward the large animal that was prowling toward us.  "Definitely not Grounders."

A string of gasps and curses were heard from the rest of the group as they spotted what I was pointing out. 

"Bellamy, gun." I ordered, my voice thick with terror as the animal began toward us at a quicker pace, teeth bared. 

Bellamy looked equally as terrified as I did as he reached into his waistband for his gun. My eyes watched his movements and I felt confusion wash over me when Bellamy pulled his hands back to reveal no weapon. 

He looked over at me with a stunned expression "I don't—"

His words were cut off as shots began to ring off from somewhere behind us. The two of us spun around, only to see Wells now with Bellamy's gun. 

Wells fired shot after shot, missing almost every one which was only making the animal increasingly angered.  

The animal was running toward us at this point, directly at Bellamy and I. I stumbled back in fear as Wells continued firing. "Bellamy!" I pleaded, somehow believing he could do something to stop all of this. 

He grabbed a hold of my arm, pulling me close to him as the two of us watched the bushes around us move. The animal had hidden, but it was readying to attack at any moment. 

"Wells shoot it!" Finn yelled from the tree, his voice laced with worry.

"I can't see it—" Wells was cut off by a vicious growls as the animal finally leaped from the bushes...right towards Bellamy and I. 

I let clamped my eyes shut as Bellamy and I shrunk back, both of us awaiting the moment the creature make impact with our bodies. The two of us huddled together, preparing for the inevitable pain that was about to assault us. 

But with a stroke of luck, that moment never came. One last shot echoed through the air. The animal fell to the ground at mine and Bellamy's feet, taking one final shuddered breath before it died. 

All of us, both those on the ground and in the tree, stared at the dead animal in shock. We were that close to being its dinner. 

It was only then that I realized my hand was gripping Bellamy's. He showed no sign of letting go, so I was the one to pull away as I looked to Wells who was still firing the empty gun. "You can stop now." I told him, my breath laboured. 

Bellamy looked between Wells and Clarke, anger on his features. "Now she sees you."

I sense some tension between avery and bellamy ;)