CHAPTER EIGHT
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THE LOUD CRASH INTERRUPTED HER FITFUL SLEEP and the exclamations from people outside of the tent made it difficult to try and resume her state of rest. She knew the chances were that she wouldn't be able to get much sleep that night, not after what happened.

Her heavily lidded eyes scanned the tent and did not find Octavia, the very person who she was sharing it with. She laid on the ground for a few more moments, hoping all of the commotion would die down in a few minutes. Taylor flexed her hand, the ache still there from when she had hit Murphy. He was gone, but she felt like the pain in her knuckles and stain of his blood on her hands had sunk much deeper than just her skin, a feeling resonating deep in her bones. The dull soreness in her head where Murphy had hit her wasn't bad anymore, so she concluded that she didn't have any serious head injury.

The shouts had not subsided in the few minutes she lingered in the tent. She pushed herself up and begrudgingly made her way out through the exit. People were scurrying around and looking up at the sky curiously. Some looked angry and others looked utterly elated.

The dark black canvas of the sky was painted with smoke, her eyebrows furrowing at the sight. She approached the people nearest to her, her eyes not leaving the sky. "What's happening?" she questioned the two girls, whose names she recalled to be Harper and Monroe.

"A pod fell from the sky," Harper answered as Monroe nodded along with her. Taylor's eyes widened slightly, her stomach becoming slightly uneasy.

"Thanks," she said, ending the conversation there. She took careful steps back to her tent, trying to calm the worried thoughts that crashed around in her head. Quickly grabbing her jacket and finding Bellamy's tent, she steadied her breaths and assured herself that she and Bellamy would face no repercussions from this pod.

When she jerked open the flap to the tent she was given a welcome that was far from warm. "Are you kidding me?" a girl's voice spat annoyedly. Taylor rolled her eyes when she saw that Bellamy was not present in his own tent, the only two people there being two half-dressed girls.

"Where's Bellamy?" she asked quick and to the point, hoping to spend the smallest amount of time there she possibly could manage. The one who had spoken earlier scoffed while the other one answered indifferently.

"He left a little while ago," she said, Taylor nodding at her appreciatively. She left the tent and made a beeline for the weapons table. Nothing about the situation screamed good. Taylor knew exactly why Bellamy had left. It was the same reason why he wanted everyone to take off their wristbands.

She selected a small knife and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. Looking up at the sky and the fading smoke that streaked across it, she found the direction that the pod had most likely landed in. The direction that Bellamy would be headed in.

Taylor hurried to the gates and nodded at Miller, who was standing guard, as a signal to let her through. He told the people operating the gate to camp to let her out. Once she was outside of the camp walls, she broke into a frantic jog.

It appeared as though her guess was right, the smoke getting closer and closer. Finally, after a considerable amount of time making her way through the dark forest, she came out into a clearing. An old, rusty-looking pod was sitting there looking beaten and broken. She ran up to it and peeked inside of the already open door.

The state of the door in itself was enough to tell her that she was not the first one there. She inhaled sharply at the sight before her. A person sat in one of the seats, unmoving. There was no radio or any type of supplies in the pod, which she found strange. A few wires hung out in the open near the front. Also strange.

She ducked out of the pod and ran out of the clearing, promising to herself that she would return once she found Bellamy and received some answers about what was happening. She only had to run for a few minutes before she spotted a tall figure standing by a river.

The sun had finally come out and the sunshine of the early morning made it much easier for her to navigate the woods. He had an object in his hand, raising it above his head and throwing it into the river.

     "Bellamy!" she shouted once she was finally closer and was certain that it was him.

He turned around and gaped at her in surprise. She didn't allow him the opportunity to say a single word before she started firing her own expressions at him. "Was that the radio for the pod?" she questioned rapidly, a fire in her voice.

"What?" he asked as if he had no clue what was happening.

"It was, wasn't it? I saw the pod, Bell. I know what's going on," she told him, looking down at the river. She shook her head slowly before jumping down into the depths. The cold water reached just above her knees, something she attributed to her short height. It wasn't that deep, so she hoped it wouldn't be hard to recover what he had thrown into it.

"Taylor, get out of the water," he exasperated weakly. She tore her eyes away from scanning the surface of the water and whipped around, glaring at him indignantly.

"You do realize my mother is still up there, right?" she snapped, expecting some kind of reaction out of him. He sighed and turned away, causing her to wade quickly out of the river. He had begun to saunter back into the woods, which angered her even more.

She hastened to keep up with him, calling his name a few times with no response. All of the frustrations of the past day were building up again so she raced up to him and made her best attempt at shoving him over.

"What the hell was that for?" Bellamy demanded, turning around as he halted and looked at her with the same kind of anger that was shown on her own face.

"I'm mad! You keep doing things like this, but won't tell me what's happening!" she yelled. He didn't respond so she was the one to try and get away now, turning on her heel, infuriated as she began to march away.

She felt a hand on her arm, preventing her from leaving. Slowly turning back to face him, she sighed lightly and felt her anger fading away fast.

Bellamy put his hands on her shoulders like he was trying to calm her down more, which she wanted to roll her eyes at, but decided against it.

"I have told you. Please. I'm sorry about the radio and your mom, but I'm trying to help us," he explained quietly, desperate to keep her on his side. Both of them hated slipping back into the same argument. She paused for a minute before letting a sigh escape her lips.

"From now on, we make these decisions together. You aren't the only one who's had to make sacrifices for all of us, so quit pretending like you are," she snapped quietly, not quite meeting his eyes yet.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he questioned, clueless as to what she was referring to. She shook her head quickly and shrugged off his comment.

"It's nothing you need to worry about," she responded. He opened his mouth to say something, but the voice that filled the area wasn't his own.

"Hey!" Clarke shouted as she rushed down the moss covered incline that they stood at the bottom of. Taylor and Bellamy stumbled apart and stood their ground as the girl charged at them furiously.

"Where is it?" she demanded.

"Hey, princess. You taking a walk in the woods?" Bellamy asked casually in that pompous sounding tone that Taylor knew Clarke despised, judging from her expression.

"They're getting ready to kill three hundred people up there. To save oxygen. And I can guarantee you it won't be council members," she spat back, getting to the point rather quickly. Taylor felt her heart stop at this revelation. "It'll be working people, your people." She pushed Bellamy's chest when she uttered the words 'your people'.

"What are you talking about?" Taylor inquired, looking Clarke straight in the eyes. Just as the words left her mouth, Finn was rushing up and shoving Bellamy.

"Where's the radio?" he yelled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bellamy snapped, pushing Finn back equally as hard.

"Stop!" Taylor shouted, her eyes drifting over to a girl that was definitely not part of the camp; the girl she recognized as the person whom she had left in the pod.

"Bellamy Blake? They're looking everywhere for you," she commented. She glanced at Taylor, looking her up and down and scoffed. "You too." Every fear about her and Bellamy's persecution that she had thought up since they had left was finally being confirmed and she couldn't have felt more uneasy.

"Shut up," he ordered sharply.

Clarke's expression shifted and she looked over to the girl. "Looking for them why?"

"He shot Chancellor Jaha," the girl answered without missing a beat. All eyes singled out the two, Taylor's heart beating even faster.

"That's why you took the wristbands. Needed everyone to think we're dead," Clarke pieced together, all of Bellamy's actions finally making sense to her.

"And all that 'whatever the hell we want'? You just care about saving your own skin," Finn said in a disgusted tone, seemingly unable to believe what Bellamy had done.

"And you knew," Clarke added, looking at Taylor while shaking her head. Taylor wouldn't deny it. She knew and didn't tell a single soul. Not even Octavia. Because she wanted to protect Bellamy, and that she wouldn't apologize for.

At everything coming out, silence settled upon them until Bellamy just began to walk away. "Hey, shooter! Where's my radio?" the girl commanded angrily as they stopped just ahead of Taylor, Finn, and Clarke.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance," Bellamy threatened. She stood her ground without even flinching.

"Really? Well, I'm right here," she taunted. He grabbed her and shoved her against a nearby tree, hands at her throat. The three rushed up, but she had already pulled a knife on him.

"Okay, stop!" Clarke intervened. The two stared daggers at each other before Bellamy released her and began to walk away once again.

"Jaha deserved to die, you all know that," he defended, Taylor's mind about to explode with all of the secrets she was now keeping up with. That was his official excuse, the one that he would tell anyone else. But she was the only one who really knew why.

"Yeah he's not my favorite person, either," the girl, who she later learned was named Raven, said loudly, Bellamy stopping in his tracks at the words she said next. "But he isn't dead."

"What?" he asked, his entire tough facade almost fading away with just that one word.

"You're a lousy shot," Raven goaded. Taylor strode over to Bellamy, shivering at the utter detest in her voice, but smiling nonetheless.

"Hear that? He's not dead. It's not as bad as we thought," she said in a low voice so the others wouldn't hear her as clearly. He did not seem as comforted by this sentiment.

"Bellamy, don't you see what this means?" Clarke uttered in a calmer tone than she had possessed the whole time as she joined them away from the other two. "You're not a murderer. You always did what you had to do to protect your sister. That's who you are. And you can do it again, by protecting three hundred of your people. Where's the radio?"

"It's too late," Bellamy sighed.

"I already tried to get it back. I would be surprised if it wasn't dead," Taylor admitted, everyone else now finally seeming to notice her drenched pants.

"Just tell me. Where is it?" Clarke pressed on stubbornly.

"The river."