I wasn't sure how long I had been here, a day, maybe two. I leaned against the cool wall of my cell as I surveyed my injuries. My leg throbbed in pain due to the large gashes that were present on my upper thigh from sharp blades. My stomach still felt like it was burning from the hot metal that was dug into it, My ribs were bruised and my face, my face was covered in bruises and blood, not near as bad as Murphy's, but bad.

I let out a shaky sigh at the thought of Murphy. I had only been here for a couple of days at max and was already in this much pain, I couldn't even begin to imagine what he had been through.

The hinges on the metal door of my cell squealed as it opened, causing me to lift my head and look at the person entering. Every time that door had opened for the past two days I had begged, cried, screamed, done everything I could think of to try and convince them not to take me back to that room, the room where I knew I would face unimaginable pain. But today, today was different, I had no fight left.

"I'm not going to tell you anything." My voice came out rough, barely there from all the screaming and crying I had done, "Do whatever you want."

The man ignored me, like usual, grabbed my arm and pulled me harshly from my cell, like usual, however he pulled me towards the opposite end of the hall, not like usual.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, panic beginning to seep into my blood, "What's happening?"

The man continued to drag me down the hallway, grumbling under his breath. I couldn't understand what he was saying until he turned his head slightly to look at me, "You should be thankful for Lincoln," he spat as we stopped and he secured shakes around my already raw wrists, "He's the only reason you're making it out of here alive."

I was shocked as we continued walking. Who was Lincoln? Was he their leader? Was he the one who called all the shots? Was he—

My thoughts were cut off when a struggle down the hall grabbed my attention. I turned my head to see Murphy attempting to break free from the Grounders that were holding him, "Avery!" he screamed, his voice raw.

"Murphy!" I yelled while trying to stop the Grounder from pulling me any further, "What's going on!?"

Murphy gave up fighting as he let the Grounders begin to pull him away from me, "They're letting you go! I heard them talking and—" He cut himself off as he was pulled towards another corridor, "Just come back for me Avery, promise you'll come back!" he pleaded.

I was stunned at the news he had just delivered but nonetheless I gave him a slight nod of my head, "I promise!"

I was then pulled towards a ladder and forced up it, each step I took caused my leg to scream in pain. As I reached the top, the sunlight hit my eyes and I squinted against its bright light.

The Grounder pushed me through the forest towards a large animal that I soon recognized as a horse. I had never seen one in person before and seeing the animal brought me a sense of peace.

"Let's go." The Grounder ordered, motioning for me to get on the horse, "Anya will be here soon."

---

My limp body bounced around painfully with every step the horse took. Not long after I was forced up onto the back of one of the horses, another horse joined us with a woman on the back who I assumed was Anya. We had been riding through the forest now for whatever like forever as all my injuries burned in pain. I struggled to keep my eyes open, in order to see where they were taking me, Murphy said they were letting me go but that didn't mean they were letting me go back to camp. One of my eyes was almost swollen shut and the other was too tired to want to stay alert.

Finally, the horses stopped moving and I forced myself to open my eyes. When I did I was met with the sight of a large bridge, it was covered in moss and overgrown trees, the dense forest surrounding it. But the sight of the bridge wasn't what shocked me. What had me almost crying out in surprise was the sight of Clarke, Octavia and my brother on the other side, joined by the Grounder that had taken Octavia.

"Get her off." The woman ordered which caused the Grounder who I had been on the horse with to jump off and pull me harshly from the back of the animal. 

I felt myself wince as he dragged me along behind him, walking me in the direction the bridge...toward my brother. The minute saw me, he started toward me in a hurry, only to be stopped by Grounder we had captured, who I now assumed was Lincoln. Lincoln said something to hum before nodding to Clarke.

My brother and Clarke shared a look before the blonde girl began making her way down the bridge towards us. T

he woman now grabbed my arm, yanking me from the man as she continued walking with me. In what felt like eternity, we were finally in the middle of the bridge, the woman forcefully shoving me towards Clarke.

Clarke caught my weak body in her arms, enveloping me in a hug before turning to lightly push me in the direction of Finn, "It's okay," she promised, "Go to your brother."

I didn't need to argue with her on that one. I went as fast as my body would let me, ignoring all my injuries begging me to stop. When I was far enough away from Clarke and Anya, Finn rushed towards me.

I let out a sob as my twin brother pulled me into his arms, squeezing me so tightly I felt like I couldn't breath. "It's okay Aves. You're gonna be okay."

I didn't let go of him as he all but carried me back to where Octavia and Lincoln we standing. My arms were tightly wrapped around the back of his neck, my face pressed into his shoulder. The minute we reached them, Octavia was pulling me from Finn's grasp, tears filling her eyes as she hugged me. "I'm so glad you're okay." she whispered.

I forced a smile at her once she released me. Finn instinctively pulled me back towards him, wrapping his arm around my waist, allowing me to use him for support. "How did you—"

He cut me off, knowing what I was about to ask, "It's a long story," he explained, "But you're here now and that's all that matters."

I nodded as we all fell into silence, all of us watching the exchange between Clarke and Anya. Everything seemed to be going as well as it could considering it seemed that the two of our groups at been at an undeclared war since we arrived.

It wasn't until a scream from the tree line that everything descended into chaos. "Clarke, get down!"

I recognized the voice as Jasper's, and not even seconds after his warning, shots began ringing off around us along with a downpour of arrow fire. My heart lurched in my chest as Finn threw mine and his body onto the ground.

His breathing was heavy as he used his body to shield mine, suddenly he began to yell, "Clarke, get down!"

I felt his body shift overtop of mine as he sat up. I felt another pair of arms grab me and pull me up off the ground. I looked up with wide eyes to see Lincoln step in front of Octavia and I.

Terror consumed me as Finn began running down the bridge towards Clarke.

I started forward, only being stopped by Lincoln who reached out to pull me back behind him. 

"Finn!" I screamed, my voice barely strong enough. He ignored me as he kept on towards the blonde, once he reached her he threw his body in front of her similar to how he had with me.

I could barely breathe as I watched the two of them run back towards us, dodging arrows as they did so. I was too busy watching the two of them to notice an arrow coming in our direction, I didn't see it until it was impaled in Lincoln's chest.

Octavia let out a gasp as she moved out from behind him, "Oh my God Lincoln, you've been hit."

Lincoln let out a grunt in pain, "It's just a scratch." he brushed it off, quickly breaking the end of the arrow off. 

Once Clarke and Finn had reached us Lincoln pushed Octavia away from him, "Okay, run. Don't stop until you get behind your walls. Go, take her!" he ordered, pushing Octavia into Clarke who grabbed her and began running.

"Lincoln, no!" Octavia's scream was full of emotion as she was pulled away from him.

"Come on Aves." Finn muttered, pulling me into his arms and up off the ground. I finally let the exhaustion that had been plaguing me for days consume me, resting my head on his chest. I listened to his breathing as we ran.

It appeared that our conflict with the Grounders was far from over.

hey guys! so I know avery wasn't gone for very long but I just felt like the story line fit better if she was reunited with the gang in this scene!

let me know what you thought of this chapter :)

-maddy xo