Astrid flinched slightly as Raven screamed. Bellamy's grip on her waist tightening slightly as he looked at her in concern.

"This should stop the internal bleeding." Clarke sighed as she put the knife she used on Raven aside.

"I don't understand." Finn looked at the couple in confusion. "How did Murphy get a gun?"

"Long story." Astrid grumbled as Bellamy pressed a kiss to her head.

"We got lucky." Raven grunted as she looked at them. "If Murphy hit the fuel tank instead of me, we'd all be dead."

"Shut up, Raven." Astrid snapped. "This wasn't luck. You got hurt."

Raven sighed as Clarke looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, there's rocket fuel down there? Enough to build a bomb?"

"Enough to build 100 bombs... if we had any gunpowder left." Raven grumbled, mentally choking Murphy to death. Besides the fact that he shot her, he almost killed Astrid, his friend. If Raven could get up now, she would find Murphy and murder him without a second thought.

"Let's get back to the reapers. Maybe they'll help us. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?" Bellamy raised an eyebrow in question.

Clarke shook her head. "Not this enemy."

"For fucks sake..." Astrid grumbled as she ran a hand through her hair, Bellamy's arm still tight around her. She was just so tired of constantly having to be on edge or waiting to get killed. She just wanted sleep and food. Was that too much to ask for?

"Can she walk or not?" Finn crossed his arms, looking at Raven.

"No." Astrid denied immediatly. She might not be a doctor but she knew when something was wrong. Really wrong. "We're carrying her." she paused as she glared at Raven. "And it's not up for discussion."

"Astrid's right, Raven is not walking any time soon." Clarke agreed.

"Well..." Astrid hesitated. "We could just stay here. If we're out there, we're out in the open, ready to get slaughtered. If we're here, we have walls that can protect us."

Finn groaned. "Astrid we talked about this."

"No, Finn. You and Clarke talked about this." Astrid snapped. "I'm not sure if you forgot, but you're not a leader. I am. Did you stop to think that there are so many fucking miles to that ocean? We will never make it."

A small silence was followed by Astrid's outburst, and yet she felt no regret. She said what needed to be said, and she was happy about it.

Finn glared at her. "Fine then, if you want to stay, then stay. I don't give a shit."

And with that, Finn stormed out of the drop ship, leaving a heavy silence that was broken by Bellamy. "You're not staying here."

"I don't see how that's your decision." she snapped at him. "I'm staying here whether you like it or not."

Bellamy clenched his jaw. "You're not staying here alone."

"What?" Astrid asked, completely taken by surprise.

"I'm staying here with you, whether you like it or not." he sent her a sarcastic grin and quickly kissed her cheek before exiting the drop ship.

Astrid sighed then looked towards Clarke who looked determined. Both girls knew what she chose to do.

•

Astrid fumbled with her gun as she looked towards the gate nervously. Next to her, Bellamy gave her shoulder a squeeze as he too held on his rifle tight.

Shouts were heard. Astrid's heart dropped. They were right, she was right. It was all a trap.

The couple quickly hurried and opened the gates, the camp quickly being filled by panicked delinquents. Clarke was last to enter, as she sent Bellamy and Astrid a solemn look.

"Where are they?" Bellamy asked after several minutes.The couple was informed that Drew died, but only him. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"Because we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do." Clarke realized.

Astrid's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Clarke looked at her then at everyone else. "Lincoln said the scouts would be the first to arrive."

"If it's just scouts, we can fight our way out. That's what Lincoln would do." Octavia added.

Bellamy scoffed. "We're done doing what that grounder would do. We tried it and now Drew is dead. You want to be next?"

Finn sighed in annoyance. "That grounder saved our lives. I agree with Octavia. For all we know, there's one scout out there."

"Well why don't you go out there and find out." Astrid smiled bitterly at him.

"Come on, we can still do this." Octavia pleaded.

Bellamy looked at Astrid, seeing her by his side. He sighed with a small unnoticeable smile. She made up her mind, he knew that. "Looking at you, Clarke. What's it gonna be? Run and get picked off out in the open, or stand and fight back?"

"Clarke, if we're still here when Tristan gets here-" Finn tried but he's cut off by Clarke.

"Lincoln said "scouts." More than one. He said, "get home before the scouts arrive." Finn, they're already here. Looks like you've got your fight."

"Finally." Astrid muttered as Bellamy turned to address the crowd of delinquents.

"Ok, then. This is what we've been preparing for. Kill them before they kill us. Gunners, to your posts. Use the tunnels to get in and out. From now on, the gate stays closed."

Octavia grumbled as she went to leave, only to be stopped by her brother. "Whoa, whoa. Where are you going? You're not a gunner."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm not. Like you said... I'm a grounder." she said before leaving, ready to fight.

"So how the fuck do we do this?" Astrid asked after a moment of silence.

"We've got 25 rifles with 20 rounds each, give or take. Roughly 500 rounds of ammo. While you two were gone, we made some improvements. Thanks to Raven, the gully is mined."

"Partially mined, thanks to Murphy." Raven muttered.

"Still, it's the main route in. If the grounders use it, we'll know. She also built grenades."

"We don't have many." Astrid muttered, worried as she crossed her arms.

"Again, thank you Murphy." Raven said bitterly.

"We'll make them count. If the grounders make it through the front gate, guns and grenades should force them back." Bellamy said.

"And then?" Clarke asked, hopeless.

Raven sighed. "Then we close the door and pray."

Clarke shook her head. "And pray what? That the ship keeps them out? Because it won't."

"Then let's not let them get through the gate." Bellamy said as he brought the radio to his mouth. "All foxholes, listen up. Keep your eyes and ears open. Inflict casualties, as many as possible. You can hold them off long enough to make them turn back. That's the plan."

"That's always your plan, just like the bomb at the bridge." Finn said, an edge to his tone.

Astrid glared at him. "Do you have a better idea, genius?"

"It can't be that simple. You said there's fuel in those rockets, right? Enough to build 100 bombs." Clarke looked towards Raven.

"I also said we've got no gunpowder left."

"I don't want to build a bomb. I want to blast off." Clarke said.

"A ring of fire." Astrid whispered to herself.

"Barbecued grounders." Bellamy smirked. "I like it."

"Will it work?" Finn looked at Raven worried.

"You give me enough time, I'll cook them real good."

Antonia speaks!
— hi bitches. this is not proofread because its 2 am and im so fucking done with life. also just like two more chapters and im done with this book. yay. i promise i'll only hurt astrid ONE MORE TIME. just once.

— also shameless promo (kinda) but go check out my graphic shop because i like doing edits in my math class rather than pay attention

gif by the amazing retrobabe-