My hand, which was gripped tightly around Jasper's waist,  was still shaking, close to an hour after we had almost been attacked by that animal and I could not will it to stop.

"You okay there, Sunshine?" I turned to look at Bellamy who was walking behind me, him and Murphy carrying said animal, now dead of course.

I turned back around and nodded, not wanting him to look at my face any longer. Because the truth was, I wasn't okay...not at all. In the past two days, I had been sent down to a new planet, reunited with my twin, almost lost my best friend to a freaking sea monster, saw my new friend get speared in the chest by people who are wanting to kills us, and oh yeah, was almost ripped to shreds by a rabid animal. 

I didn't want to tell him any of that, so I gripped onto Jasper even tighter, trying to hide my tremors. "I'm fine."

Finn, who was on the other side of Jasper turned his head slightly to look at me with concern. I gave him a small shake of the head to tell him I didn't want to talk about it. 

"I see the camp!" Clarke called from up ahead. That put a little more pep in each of our steps. It was nearing dark, and most of us were starving. Not to mention, we needed to get Jasper medical attention sooner than later. 

As we reached what was to be our temporary home, someone announced our arrival. Dozens of heads turned toward us, each of them desperate to see how we made out. 

I ignored their stares, Finn and I rushing past curious faces as we made our way into the DropShip. 

Clarke, Octavia, and Monty follow closely behind us, bringing armfuls of supplies with them. We didn't have a lot, but we had enough to make-do. 

A quiet whimper came from Jasper as Finn and I gently laid him down. I felt my heart pinch at his expression. He was in horrible pain. 

Grabbing a piece of cloth, I dipped into the pot of fresh water before lightly rubbing it across Jasper's face, trying to remove the blood and grime that had built up. 

Remorse washed over me as I considered what he went through these past few hours...we never should have left him. 

"We would all be dead." Finn announced from next to me. He was reading my expression...and maybe my mind. 

"What?"

Sighing, he took the cloth from my hand and dipped it back into the water. "If we went after him earlier today, we all would have been dead. We had no choice."

"Finn's right." Clarke declared as she laid out the supplies in front of her, her eyes scanning them. "We did the right thing."

"Right thing for who?" Monty muttered, his sad eyes on his best friend. 

"For everyone." Clarke asserted, her eyes flickering back to me. "Avery, can you hold the light. We need to clean this wound."

With a small nod, I took the light, flicking it on before holding it over Jasper's wound. It looked even worse under the bright light. 

"This is going to hurt." Clarke whispered to Jasper, her hand hovering over the bloody mess on his torso. 

My spare hand reached out, gripping onto Jasper's as I gave it a tight squeeze. Octavia was positioned at Jasper's head 

My spare hand found Jasper's as I gave it a tight squeeze. "Here we go."

***

Jasper's screams that cut through the night sky still echoed through my ears as I exited the Dropship in search of food. It had taken us less than ten minutes to have Jasper fully cleaned up, but his screams of agony didn't stop there.

Finn had disappeared at some point, and Clarke had insisted she was going to stay for just a little bit longer. Monty insisted he was never leaving. As for Octavia, I wasn't entirely sure where she had gone either. 

So, that left me alone as I made my way out to where the rest of the group was gathered. There was loud chatter floating through the night sky. 

As the crisp air hit me, so did the smell of roasted meat. My stomach growled at the scent, starved for some kind of food. It wasn't hard to pinpoint the source of the smell...Bellamy and Murphy had cooked the animal that we had killed earlier. 

But that sight alone wasn't what made my jaw drop in shock. What did, was the fact that the two of them were forcing people to take off their wristbands in exchange for food.

"No way." I whispered to myself, feet already moving before I knew what I was going to do. 

When I stopped in front of him, Bellamy looked down at me with a smug smile. "Well, hey there, Sunshine. Hungry?"

"What the hell are you doing, Bellamy?"

He passed a piece of food to one of the boys who had just removed their wristband. "What does it look like? Wristband comes off, food is given."

I looked down at the growing pile of discarded bands. "Have you lost your mind? You can't extort people like that."

Murphy looked over at me with raised brows. "Looks like we can."

I shook my head, folding my arms over my chest. "I'm not taking mine off." 

"And why's that?" Bellamy challenged. "You have someone back on the Ark worried about you? Boyfriend? Parents?" He asked, the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

I scoffed. "Obviously not."

He continued. "You want the very people who locked you up to come down here and do it all again?"

"Stop asking stupid questions. This has nothing to do with me, but—"

"No 'buts,' Sunshine. Take it off." Bellamy said, reaching down to grab my wrist.

"Avery!" I spun around to my brother calling my name. "Come on." he nodded towards the treeline, two sticks of meat in his hand and his wristband still intact.

A smile creeped onto my face as other kids began to notice Finn's act of defiance, quickly following suit. 

Anger had washed over Bellamy's face as he looked around at his plan crumbling before his very feet. 

As one of the kids reached for a stick, Bellamy grabbed onto his wrist, yanking it back before sending his fist into the poor boy's face. 

The boy collapsed to the ground, letting out a small groan of pain as Murphy let out a low whistle. "Shit."

"What the hell, Bellamy?" I snapped, shoving him away from the boy on the ground. "What's wrong with you?"

He looked toward me, no sign of remorse on his face. "Follow the rules and stuff like this doesn't happen."

Gritting my teeth, I kept my eyes locked on him. "Who the hell put you in charge anyway?"

Rather than answering me, Bellamy just shook his head before shoving past me. He said nothing as he made his way toward the trees. "Asshole." I muttered to myself, still seething as I knelt down next to the boy Bellamy had hit. "Are you okay?"

He sat up, clutching his cheek. "I think so."

"He's a dick." I sympathized, giving them boy a sorry smile. 

He let out a quiet laugh. "You might be one of the only people in this camp who isn't scared of him."

I rolled my eyes. Was everyone really afraid of Bellamy of all people?

"Here." I muttered, reaching up and grabbing a stick of meat before passing it to the boy. "Eat up."

He smiled at me. "Thanks. I'm Cooper by the way."

I stuck my hand out to pull him up off the ground. "Avery. And don't be afraid of Bellamy. Trust me."

Cooper grinned at me, taking a bite of the food. My own stomach growled, a reminder of the fact that I, too, was starving. 

"I've gotta go find my brother, Cooper. But let me know if Bellamy's bugging you again, seriously."

He laughed, taking another bite. "Thanks, Avery."

Most of my anger had subsided by the time I finally found Finn on the outskirts of camp. 

'Hey." he mumbled softly as I sat beside him, taking the extra stick of meat.

I huffed, resting my head against the tree behind us. "Bellamy just punched a kid" I announced, before taking my first bite of real food since we got down here.

Finn snorted. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

We fell into a comfortable silence for a moment as I looked upward. "It's beautiful out here" I commented, looking around at the trees and the stars in the sky. They were the same stars that I had stared at everyday on the Ark, but somehow they felt more beautiful down here. 

"I think this will be a good thing for us Aves, I really do." Finn admitted, looking over at me with a sincere look on his face.

I gave my brother a small smile. "I really hope you're right."

***

It was the sunlight that had woken me up the next morning. I still wasn't used to the way it was down here. 

Sitting up, I felt a pain shoot through my neck. With my eyes adjusting, I pinpointed the source of the pain—Finn and I had fallen asleep on the rocks. 

As I rubbed my neck, I gave my brother a light jab with my foot. He shot up, his look of surprise soon turning to discomfort. 

"Damn." he muttered, rubbing at his neck the same way I had.

"Remind us never to fall asleep on a rock again" I mumbled, standing up and letting my sore body stretch.

Finn chuckled. "Noted" he groaned, following my actions.

Once I felt like I could move without unimaginable pain, I looked back toward the Dropship. "We should get back to camp and see how Jasper is."

"Clarke was probably up all night with him. We should take over so she can get some rest." My brother declared, already on his way back toward camp. 

I tried to hide the look that overcame my face. "You seem pretty concerned about Clarke?" I pointed out, my brows raised in curiosity. "Are you and Raven—"

"Raven's up there." Finn interjected, his tone much colder than it usually was with me. "We're down here."

I was ready to press him on the matter further, but before I could do so, a loud wail cut through the air. 

It was Jasper, his screams of pain seeming to fill the entire camp. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now."

"It's been going on all night." A voice snapped from behind us. "Someone better shut him up soon or I will."

I whipped around to find Murphy. He was standing with Bellamy and a few other boys, knives and hatchets in their hands.

"Give it up, Murphy." I spat, anger coursing through me as Finn grabbed onto my arm and yanked me away from the snickering boys. 

" I don't know how much longer I can put up with that kid before I try to kill him" I admitted as we entered the Dropship.

"Well how about we refrain from killing people, yeah?" Finn suggested, guiding me toward the ladder.

"No promises." I muttered, climbing up to the upper level where Jasper's screams were even more pronounced. 

"Sorry." I apologized to Clarke as we joined her and Monty. "We fell asleep."

She looked up at us with a small shake of her head. "You don't have to be sorry. We all need sleep or we're useless."

I sat down next to Jasper, a sad smile coming to my face smile. "How is he?"

"He's stable." Clarke answered. "But without medicine-—the pain is too much." 

Inching toward Jasper, I examined his pain stricken features. "Hey, Jasper. Hang in there, okay?"

"I don't understand." Clarke pondered as she examined the wound. "The Grounders cauterized his wound, saved his life." 

"Yeah, saved his life so they could string him up as live bait." Finn countered. "The Garden of Eden this ain't." 

Monty, who was fiddling with the wristbands on the other side of the room, looked over at us with worry in his eyes.

"This is infected. It could be septic" Clarke explained as she dabbed a cloth on Jasper's wound. "Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?" 

Monty had his gazed fixed on his best friend, showing no sign that he had heard anything Clarke had just said.

"Monty." Clarke repeated more sternly, causing Monty to finally look at her.

He shook his head, coming out of the daze. "That would be a firm 'no.'"

Clarke looked utterly distressed. "My mother would know what to do."

Another body appeared in the upper level as Wells sat down next to me. "How's he doing?"

"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke snapped, causing the tension in the room to heighten. 

"Hey, I'm just trying to help." Wells defended calmly. It was almost as if he was used to this kind of treatment from Clarke...maybe he was. 

Clarke took a few deep breaths before speaking again, "You want to help? Hold him down." she instructed.

My brother and I shared an uneasy look as Wells secured his hands on Jasper's legs. Tentatively, I took a hold of one of his arms, Finn taking the other. 

With a shaky breath, Clarke turned toward us with a blade, its metal red and sweltering after being dipped into the flame that was lighting up the room.

 I felt my breath catch in my throat as Monty's eyes widened slightly. "I'm not going to like this, am I?" he questioned, already fully knowing the answer.

The five of us shared uneasy glances as Clarke hovered the knife over Jasper's chest. "No matter how much he screams we have to do this okay?" She verified, assuring none of us were going to back out. 

All eyes immediately turned to me with skepticism.  A defensive look covered my face before I realized they were probably right. I would be the first one to freak out and pull back. "Okay, okay." I sighed.

Clarke let out a deep breath, counting to three before plunging the knife into Jasper's wound. His screams of pain were immediate, and I almost broke down right then and there.

If we thought his screams of pain were loud before, they were unmatched compared to this. The sheer sound of his pain made it feel like I was the one experiencing this. It was heartbreaking. 

"You have to hold him still! I need to cut away the infected flesh!" Clarke yelled over the noise. Jasper's screams soon died down as his head lulled to the side, eyes rolling back in his skull. This wasn't good. 

"Stop!" A new voice screamed. "You're killing him!" I looked up with panicked eyes to see Octavia rushing toward us. 

"Tavia, she's trying to save his life." I explained, attempting to keep my voice even.

"She can't." Bellamy announced, following up after his sister.

"If it isn't Mr. Optimistic." I muttered, rolling my eyes at the mere sight of him. 

"Back off." Wells warned as he stood up in front of Bellamy, putting distance between him and Jasper. 

"We didn't drag him though miles of woods just to let him die" Clarke announced, her eyes still fixed on Jasper.

Bellamy shook his head "Kid's a goner, if you can't see that then you're diluted. He's driving everyone crazy."

Clarke still wouldn't look at Bellamy. "Sorry if Jasper's an inconvenience to you, but this isn't the Ark. Down here, every life matters."

"Take a look at him." Bellamy demanded. "He's a lost cause." 

Everyone fell silent at his words. All of our eyes focused on Jasper, the boy we had tried so hard to save.

"Octavia," Clarke said softly, ignoring Bellamy. "I've spent my whole life watching my mother save people. If I say there's hope, then there's hope."

"It's not about hope," Bellamy retaliated, "It's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard decisions. I do. He's been like this for days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself." he announced, walking away from us and towards the ladder, "Octavia, let's go."

"I'm staying here." Octavia shot back. I had to hide the smile that spread across my face at my best friend's defiance. 

Bellamy glared at each of us before angrily descending the ladder, disappearing from sight. 

"Power-hungry, self-serving jackass. He doesn't care about anything but himself." Monty grumbled.  "No offence." he added, looking to Octavia who just shrugged sadly.

"Yeah," Finn agreed solemnly. "Bellamy is all that. But he also happens to be right."

***

"I need to talk to you." Octavia announced, pulling me away from the centre of camp. 

 Clarke, Finn and Wells had run off to find some magical seaweed to heal Jasper, and Monty had assured me he was fine to watch after him for the time being. At this point, all Jasper did was sleep. 

I had instead decided to focus on helping out around camp. I spent time building tents, gathering fire wood, and sorting what food we had. 

By the time Octavia pulled me away, I was running out of things to keep myself busy with. 

"What's going on?" I wondered, noticing the way her eyes darted around, as if she was making sure we were along. 

"Have you talked to Atom at all?" She wondered, her eyes focused in on mine. 

I shook my head with a confused look. "Who?"

She sighed. "Atom. You know, one of Bellamy's—"

"—Goons?" I finished, earning a small shove from my best friend. 

"Be serious, Aves. Have you talked to him at all?" She seemed desperate, something Octavia rarely was. 

Still confused, I shook my head. "Can't say that I have. Why?"

With a small groan, she ran her hands over her face. "Bellamy caught us the other night in the woods and—"

I had to suppress a laugh as a cheeky grin spread across my face. "Caught you?"

"Aves, come on." She ordered, trying to stifle her own laugh. She did her best to keep the concerned look, but she couldn't fight the smile. "He did something to Atom, something about punishment for disobeying him and now Atom won't even speak to me."

I blew out a breath, not entirely shocked that Bellamy had now incorporated punishment into his little reign of terror. "Do you want me to talk him?"

Octavia clasped her hands under he chin in delight. "Would you?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

She let out a relieved breath as she pulled me into a tight hug. "This is why you're my best friend."

Jokingly rolling my eyes, I returned her hug. But as we pulled apart, my eyes focused on a group moving toward us. In that group was none other than Atom.

A mischievous grin fell across my face. "Perfect timing."

"We're heading out now." Bellamy announced, mostly to Octavia.

Perking up, I took a step toward them. "Where are you going?" All of the boys turned to look at me, but my eyes were only focused on one. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes and let out an exhausted sigh as if he just noticed I was there. "Hunting. Care to join?" 

He was kidding, and was mostly just being an ass, but he was giving me exactly what I wanted. 

"I'd love to." I smiled sweetly, giving Octavia a quick wink. 

Octavia had to turn away from us to hide her smile as Bellamy and the other boys looked at me in shock. "I wasn't being serious. I'm not taking you with us."

"Why not?" I questioned, folding my arms over my chest.

"Do you even know the first thing about hunting?" he challenged.

"Not exactly."

"Have you ever held a weapon in your entire life?"

I cocked my head to the side in false contemplation. "If I say no, is that going to ruin my chances?"

Bellamy shook his head, the hint of a smile on his face. "You're not coming."

"I want to learn!" I argued. Mostly, I wanted to talk to Atom, but it seemed some sacrifices needed to be made. 

Bellamy looked over at his friend Atom who gave him a small shrug as it to say why not?

With a look of displeasure, Bellamy turned back to me. "You stay close, don't get in the way and stay quiet, understand?"

I rolled my eyes at his orders but agreed nonetheless, "Whatever you say, Sunshine." I mocked, using the stupid nickname he had coined for me. 

Bellamy scoffed as he signalled for the group of us to follow behind him. I smiled, turning to give Octavia a thumbs up before following after the group. 

Avery: 1, Bellamy: 0

***

We had been wandering through the woods for a good hour and a half before we finally saw something. 

A black boar rustled in the leaves up ahead of us, so unsuspecting that its death was imminent. 

"She's mine." Bellamy warned the other boys as he crept towards it.

"You're actually going to kill it?" I asked quietly. Part of my heart hurt for the animal. 

Bellamy spun to look at me incredulously. "Why do you think we're out here?"

"Exploring?" I answered, causing Atom to chuckle.

He waved me off dismissively. "Stop talking. You're distracting me."

I barely had a chance to formulate my response, as the sound of twigs snapping caused all of us to turn, Bellamy's hatchet already flying in the directed of the noise. 

The boar squealed as it took off into the woods, the boys shouting as they followed after it. 

I was too shocked to see if they had caught it or not. My eyes were focused on the girl, maybe thirteen, who was standing beside the tree where Bellamy's hatchet was nested.

"Who the hell are you?" Bellamy demanded, approaching the girl with intensity.

She didn't waver at his level of intenseness. "Charlotte." she answered calmly.

"I almost killed you," Bellamy pointed out, grabbing his hatchet from the tree, "Why aren't you back at camp?"

"Well, that guy who was dying, I couldn't listen anymore." She explained. I frowned at her explanation of Jasper. 

"There are Grounders out here. It's too dangerous for a little girl." Atom warned.

"I'm not little." Charlotte argued.

Bellamy held his gaze on the younger girl before breaking a smile. He liked her grit, that was evident.  "Well you can't hunt without a weapon." he said, handing a knife to her. "Ever killed anything before?"

Charlotte shook her head and Bellamy's smile grew. "Who knows, maybe you're good at it."

And just like that, our hunting party grew. 

As the three of us began walking once again, I pulled Bellamy back. "You're kidding right?" I demanded, my grip tight on his arm.

"What?" he asked, playing dumb as usual.

"You just gave a 13 year old a knife!"

"And?"

"And, you didn't give me one, hell you wouldn't even let me come!"

Bellamy laughed in amusement as he reached into his back pocket grabbing a knife and handing it to me.

"How many of those things do you have in there?" I asked curiously.

Bellamy shook his head and laughed as we caught up to the rest of the group, "Are you going to kill something now?"

"Absolutely not."

hey guys! sorry for slow update, but I hope you enjoyed this! I love writing scene in which Avery and Bellamy are bickering back and forth lol it's so amusing. don't forget to tell me your thoughts on this chapter, I'd love to hear them

-maddy xo