nineteen; HOPEFULLY

"You're not serious."

Reese crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Bellamy in disbelief at his words but he didn't look at her, only turned around and began to walk away from her and Raven who rushed after him angrily.

"I'm talking to you." Raven exclaimed when Bellamy stopped in his tracks and turned back to the angry women.

"We can't just abandon our people, Bell." Her worry for each of the four people still out there increasing with each minute that none of them was out there searching.

"You want to lead them, show them you give a damn." Raven snapped at him and Bellamy bristled angrily, but before he could respond to either women's words, a loud shot pierced the air and they whipped around to see Drew stumbling as he tried to remain upright.

"Hey." Bellamy shouted as he rushed over to the guilty-looking male, "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry, man. I fell asleep." Drew stammered out, "I've been on watch all day."

"We've all been on watch all day," Bellamy shouted as he grabbed him by the jacket and shoved him against the tree, "That bullet was one less dead grounder."

"Bell, you're scaring people," Octavia called calmly.

"They should be scared." Bellamy responded angrily as he let go of the boy and turned around to face the onlookers, "The bomb on the bridge bought us some time to prepare, but that time is up! The grounders are out there right now, waiting for us to leave and picking us off one by one when we do! Clarke, Finn, Monty, and Rowena are gone, probably dead, and if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp. This camp is the only thing keeping us alive! Get back to work."

As the teenagers slowly began to move away and Bellamy stormed off towards the dropship, Jasper wandered over to Reese's side, looking just as angry as she felt.

"I kind of want to go and yell at him." He admitted and Reese laughed and tilted her head in the direction of the dropship and the two shared a small smile before they made their way to it, finding Bellamy inside who looked at them in surprise and began to speak before either of them could get the first word in.

"Don't you guys think I want to go after them, too?" He asked.

"If it was you out there, you think Monty, Clarke, Rowena, or Finn would hide behind these walls?" Jasper questioned him, his voice quiet.

"No, they'd go after me." Bellamy admitted, much to Reese's surprise, "Then they'd be dead, too, I am doing what I think is right for the group."

Reese scoffed angrily at that as Jasper slammed his gun onto the table and moved to the ladder.

"Where are you going?" Bellamy asked him, his expression becoming incredibly annoyed.

"More gunpowder for your minefield." He replied before be gave a sarcastic salute and added, "Sir."

When he disappeared, Bellamy look at Reese and sighed, "You want to argue with me too?"

"When Octavia was gone, you had the entire group armed up with weapons and ready to go the second you realised." She hissed at him, her eyes flashing furiously "But now that four of our people are gone, you want to hide behind the walls?"

"That was different." He retorted angrily.

"You know, you're absolutely right, it was very different, Bellamy." Reese snapped at him viciously, "Because it was someone that you cared about that was gone."

"That's no–"

"It is, but the fact is that if you were missing, any one of them would be the first to go looking for you, even if it meant they might end up dead." Reese cut him off before he had a chance to finish, "But you wouldn't do the same in return."

"Reese–"

"I'm going to help Jasper." She muttered as she gripped the first wrung, "It's funny because if I were out there, you wouldn't come looking for me but if it were reversed, honestly, I would walk through hell to find you."

Before he could respond, she quickly ascended the ladder and followed Jasper up to the next level and when her feet were firmly on the ground, she let go of the ladder and made her way over to were Jasper was standing, smirking at the note she'd written on the can.

"Funny." He told her.

"I thought so." She shrugged as she watched him pour the contents into a jar that they had a lid for to secure it so they didn't lose any on their way down the ladder and to the spot where they would be setting up the minefields.

"I'll meet you down there." She told Jasper who nodded and made his way back over to the hatch and disappeared through it.

Reese sighed once he was gone, raking a hand through her greasy hair as she did so, feeling guilty for yelling at Bellamy, even though he was being an idiot.

"You know what'll happen to me if you tell Bellamy." Murphy's voice came through the walkie she had attached to her belt and she frowned at the voice as she looked at her radio

"Tell Bellamy what?" Bellamy answered, his voice clearer than Murphy's.

Her walkie was silent for a moment before Jasper's voice came through.

"Murphy has a gun." He exclaimed, "He killed Myles."

Her eyes widened in horror when she heard a bang, both on the radio and on the level below her and she cursed, knowing she didn't have a way out.

"Murphy?" Bellamy asked angrily, "What the hell are you doing?"

There was no response other than a whirring hum that she hadn't heard since their first day on the ground and she groaned, raising the walkie to her mouth, allowing a little white lie to pass her lips, "I'm too far away, did he just close the door?"

"Yeah." Miller answered and she could hear Bellamy through the radio, far away, "Murphy! Murphy! Open the damn door."

"You try to be a hero, Jasper dies," Murphy shouted and there was a bang, signalling the door had closed completely.

"Fuck." She whispered as she looked around for anything that could help her defend herself against Murphy but also not cause any harm to Jasper at the same time and her eyes quickly found Bellamy's handgun in the corner and she quietly walked over to it and slowly picked it up, quickly checking the clip where she found a single bullet, relieved to find that Wells hadn't completely emptied it into the panther.

She quickly made her way to the hatch and peered down, only too see Jasper with his hands tied to the ladder and their eyes met

Jasper quickly looked back down at Murphy and then back to her, using his finger to point in the direction of wherever Murphy was and she nodded, sending him what she hoped to be a reassuring smile.

"Murphy!" Reese thanked the stars for Octavia as she began to scream through the dropship door and she quickly prepared herself and she slowly let herself drop to the floor, the blankets that Jasper had kicked to the bottom of the ladder muffling her fall, "Murphy, if you even touch Jasper, I swear to god, you're dead!"

Reese sent Jasper a nod as she slowly backed up, her eyes trained intently on Murphy's back as he covered Myles' body with some tarp, and she cocked the gun, the bullet sliding into the chamber, not as quiet as she'd hoped but Jasper coughed obnoxiously, covering up the sound.

"Murphy, I know you can hear me." Reese cringed as the sound of Bellamy's voice came from not only Jasper's walkie but her own as well and Murphy whipped around at the sound of the voice as it echoed from two separate devices, his face lighting up in surprise as he pointed his much larger gun at her, "All our ammo and food is in the second level, you know that, you're leaving us vulnerable to an attack, I can't let that happen."

"The Queen has arrived." He announced mockingly, "Put it down, Kane."

"You first." She responded tightly, her hands slowly steadying as her finger moved to the trigger.

"I don't want to hurt you, Queenie." Murphy told her, "You defended me, twice, but I will shoot you if I have too."

"Was this your big plan?" She asked him, "Take out everyone who played a part in your hanging?"

"Essentially." He nodded, his eyes sparkling in anger, "That bitch who let me be accused got off lightly, in my opinion."

"She threw herself off a cliff." Reese spat at him, her chin beginning to tremble as she stared at the boy in horror as her finger slowly curled around the trigger.

"Murphy?" Bellamy called furiously.

Murphy smirked as he rose Jasper's walkie to his mouth and spoke, "Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly in control right now."

"Come on, Murphy, you don't want to hurt Jasper." Bellamy responded, "You want to hurt me, so what do you say? How about you trade him for me? All you have to do is let him go, and I'll take his place."

"How?"

"Simple, you open the door, I walk in, he walks out," Bellamy answered and Reese shook her head.

When Murphy turned to look at Jasper in consideration, Reese took her chance and fired the shot and Murphy shouted in pain as he turned and fired causing Reese to let out a pained shriek as she ducked and rolled out of the way, a burning pain shooting through her shoulder as she rolled away from the boy who continued to shakily point the gun at her.

"Murphy, what did I just say!?" Octavia screamed into the walkie and Murphy rolled his eyes as he stared at the groaning girl in anger as he clutched his arm where her bullet had grazed him.

"I didn't touch your precious Jasper, grounder pounder." He said into the walkie in a calm tone as he walked over to the lever, "No, that was all for Bellamy's girlfriend, or maybe she's not Bellamy's girlfriend anymore, considering what I witnessed between her and Lerolan last night."

"Murphy, if you touch her again, I will end your life," Bellamy spoke in a threatening voice.

He pulled it down and the ship door began to open gradually, the light slowly poured in and Reese hissed in pain as she pulled herself up into a seated position when she realised that Murphy's attention was no longer on her and she clutched her shoulder tightly, clenching her jaw tightly to not alert the boy to just how much pain she was in.

"Just you, Bellamy." Murphy bellowed as he cut the binding the held Jasper's hands against the ladder, "Unarmed, ten seconds or I'll put one in Jasper's leg or maybe another into your Queen's other shoulder. One! Two! Three! Four! Five..."

"I'm here." Bellamy shouted as his silhouette appeared behind the tarp and Murphy grinned psychotically as he pulled Jasper to his feet and Bellamy slowly entered, his face a mask of fury when he saw Jasper and then Reese who was holding onto her shoulder, her face paler than normal, "Me for them."

"That wasn't the deal." Murphy tutted as he shoved Jasper out the door, "Buuuut, I am feeling generous."

He grasped Reese around the forearm and pulled her up harshly, dragging her over to the door with his gun trained on Bellamy who did not move, worried what would happen to Reese if he did.

"Bell, no." She groaned.

"It's okay." He assured her when they locked eyes and she could see the fiery determination in them, alongside an inkling of hurt but overall concern, "I'm okay."

"Me too." She murmured.

"Bye-bye Queenie," Murphy told her excitedly as he shoved her from the ship after Jasper and the woman lost her footing and slammed into the ramp hard and rolled down it, into the dirt and she screamed as her arm was jostled.

The door began to close once again and she cried out in pain as she attempted to push herself into a sitting position as Josie rushed to her side and looked her over, Octavia quickly following after she'd helped Jasper to his feet and loosened the bindings around his hands.

"That fucking asshole." She hissed out as Josie inspected her shoulder, having learned a thing or two from Clarke when she was helping her save Finn.

"It went straight through." Josie exclaimed, her tone relieved, "Nothing major was hit either but we'll have to check it properly before we stitch you up."

"Thanks." She groaned and Octavia grabbed two rags from Miller's outstretched hand and pressed each of them against both wounds for the time being, "What's being done to help him?"

"Raven and Xander are around the back trying to get in through the floor." Octavia informed her quietly, "But, before you even attempt to go and help them, the answer is no, you need to rest."

✦❀✦

"Bellamy?" Octavia asked frantically after a gun went off and Reese stared at the dropship with wide eyes as Josie finished stitching up her shoulder, "Bellamy! Are you okay?"

Reese grabbed the walkie with her good hand and spoke quickly, "Bellamy, do you copy?"

"Bell!"

"I'm fine, just a misfire." Bellamy responded and Reese felt a small sliver of weight lift from her chest, "Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you, and tell Raven and Xander to hurry their asses up."

The line went silent and Reese turned away from the dropship to those still standing there.

"Let's move, you heard him." She shouted loudly, "Let's get those foxholes finished and the landmines we have into place. Go!"

"You're all good." Josie said about ten minutes later and Reese slowly got to her feet and hissed in pain when Josie poured some of Monty's moonshine onto both sides of the of her shoulder, "But, my stitching isn't phenomenal so don't do anything too strenuous."

"You got it." Reese smiled at her, "Thanks, Josie."

Pop.

Reese whipped around to face the dropship and those around her stopped what they were doing to follow her gaze.

"Please be another misfire." She whispered when Bellamy didn't reassure them through the radio, "Miller go check on Xander, Raven, and Jasper, everyone else, keep working, move it."

Miller nodded and rushed off as the delinquents went back to the tasks that Bellamy had set the night before and Octavia and Reese shared a worried look before they turned back to the close dropship, dread coiling inside both of them.

"Raven's opening the door." Jasper shouted as he and Miller rushed toward them, "Alec told us to be ready."

The gun inside went of six more times and Reese jumped to her feet frantically, ignoring Josie's warnings as she grabbed the gun Drew was holding and she rushed to the entrance of the dropship the door slowly began to creak open, the young woman barely waiting for it to touch the drop before she hopped up onto the ramp and sprinted into the ship

"Raven, you did it." A voice shouted behind as she ripped the tarp aside, her heart skipping a beat at the sight before her.

"Bell." She breathed out at the sight of him hanging limp from a seat belt and she rushed forward, dropping her gun when she heard him gasp out in pain as he tried to breathe and she circled her arms around his legs, using her entire upper body strength to heave him up so the seat belt strap wasn't cutting off his airway completely, ignoring the burning pain it caused her shoulder, "Help me get him down!"

"Bell, hold on," Octavia screamed as Jasper rushed to Reese's side to lift him higher and she pressed the button of the seatbelt causing Bellamy to drop onto Reese and Jasper, the two groaning underneath the weight but Reese paid no mind as she rolled him off of her and got to her knees as she quickly used her knife to cut through the strap around his neck now that she could reach it

"Can you breathe?" Jasper shouted as Octavia scrambled to them and helped Reese pull the strap away from his throat.

"You're okay." Octavia panted as the older man slowly began to inhale shakily, his breathing coming out in painful sounding wheezes as Reese brushed his hair from his eyes as she gazed down at him tearfully.

"Raven, Alec, he's fine." Jasper bellowed as Bellamy rolled over and shakily got to his feet.

"Murphy!" He roared, his voice strained and hoarse, and he got to his feet as he grabbed onto the ladder, "Murphy! It's over!"

He grunted as he slowly moved up the ladder but the hatch wouldn't budge when he finally go there.

"Bellamy, get down," Reese shouted.

"Murphy!" He screamed, "There's only one way out of this for you now!"

It was quiet for a moment before the dropship shook violently, a loud bang coming from above them.

"What the hell?" Octavia asked in shock as Bellamy finally got the hatch open and smoke poured from it.

"The gunpowder was up there," Reese whispered as they watched Bellamy heave himself up onto the second level, Jasper following after him.

"Murphy!" He shouted when Reese was halfway up the ladder and she poked her head through when she got to the top, only to find the two staring out of a hole in the wall.

"Well, the guy sure knows how to make an exit." Jasper exclaimed, "Should we go after him?"

"No, grounders will take of Murphy." Bellamy answered hoarsely, "We're going after Clarke, Finn, Monty, and Rowena."

A grin formed on her face, "Seriously?"

"Both of you and Raven were right, we don't abandon our own" He answered, "Three guns, the three of us, that's it, Raven stays here to build up defences, we lost a day because of this, and our gunpowder."

Reese dropped down from the ladder as Bellamy moved towards it and the last thing she saw before she did was Jasper rushing forward to hug the older male, causing her grin to widen and Octavia to look at her as though she were crazy.

"All gunners! We got movement on the south wall!" Miller shouted through the walkie and Reese looked over to the door, her eyes finding Jasper's jar of gunpowder and she picked it up on her way out, alongside her gun, which she passed to Josie who was running toward the south wall.

"Get ready!" Harper shouted as the gunners all stopped and raised their weapons.

"Wait, hold your fire!" Miller bellowed, "It's Clarke and Finn, open the gate."

Reese rushed forward to the gate and helped two others shift it open and once it was, she stepped back, her eyes widening at the sight of the two sprinting inside.

"We heard an explosion." Clarke shouted as Reese rushed forward and embraced her tightly, "What happened?"

"Murphy happened." Reese and Bellamy exclaimed in unison as the former pulled away from the blonde and Jasper immediately took her place.

"Thank god." He exclaimed, "Where have you been? Where's Monty? And Rowena?"

"Monty and Rowena are gone?" Clarke asked in surprise and Reese's stomach twisted at her tone.

"Clarke, we need to leave, now." Finn exclaimed, "All of us do, there's an army of grounders, unlike anything we've ever seen, coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run."

"Like hell we do." Bellamy retorted, "We knew this was coming."

"Bell, we're not prepared," Octavia argued.

"And they're not here yet, we still have time to get ready." Bellamy exclaimed, "Besides, where would we go? Where would we be safer than behind these walls?"

"There's an ocean to the east." Finn answered quickly, "People there will help us."

"You saw Lincoln," Octavia spoke, her tone surprised as she looked at the two.

"Yeah." Finn replied, "Delphia too."

"You expect us to trust not one grounder, but two of them?" Bellamy asked him angrily as Reese looked at the two in surprise, "This is our home now, we built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall in this ground!" He gestured to the wall as he started to shout, "Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away, they think that because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they've yet to realise one very important fact: we are on the ground now, and that means we are grounders!"

The delinquents began to murmur and cheer their support for Bellamy, reminding Reese of their first few days, but this time, she was one to cheer with the rest.

"Grounders with guns!" A male shouted from the crowd and Reese watched with a small smile as Bellamy fought to keep the grin from his face.

"Damn right." Their leader bellowed, "Well, I say let 'em come."

"Bellamy's right." Reese shouted, "If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this."

"And God knows in this world, we could be faced with something that's even worse tomorrow." Clarke shouted, "But that doesn't change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die tonight, so pack your thinks, just take what you can carry, now!"

The chattering of the delinquents began to overlap and Bellamy turned to Clarke with a look of disbelief mixed with defeat as the group dispersed and Octavia moved closer to Finn.

"Where is he?" She asked and Finn didn't respond, only handing her the sword that Reese recognised to be Lincoln's and she slowly made her way over to the girl's side, squeezing her forearm in a comforting way when she looked up at her sadly.

"Help me!" A voice shouted and Reese turned to see Alec stumbling through the gap in the wall, clutching his shoulder as he supported Raven, the woman's face twisted in pain as she held her side and Bellamy was the first to move, Reese following after him, the two stopping a foot from the two adults.

"Murphy shot her," Alec exclaimed angrily.

"Shot Al too." Raven groaned out and Reese's heart dropped at the sight of two of her friends whose faces were both twisted in pained grimaces as they held one another up as well clutching their own injuries.

"I'm fine, Reyes." The male huffed.

"Get her into the dropship," Clarke shouted as Finn lifted her up and followed the direction of Clarke's orders, Alec quickly following after them and Bellamy stopped Clarke before she could follow.

"Clarke, leaving here is a mistake." He told her.

"The decision's been made."

"Crowds make bad decisions." He exclaimed loudly, "Just ask Murphy! Leaders do what the think is right."

Clarke stared at him for a moment before she looked at Reese for an opinion and she shook her head, not wanting to make a decision that would kill them all.

"I am." She told him before she rushed after Finn and Alec.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asked, "Your shoulder?"

"All stitched up." Reese answered with a faint smile, "Are you?"

"Not really." He answered, "I'll live, hopefully."

"Hopefully." She echoed with a grin that he returned.

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we're almost to the end of season one!

thanks for reading!

~r