CHAPTER SEVEN
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TAYLOR RELEASED THE HAIR THAT SHE HAD BUNCHED UP IN HER HANDS out of stress, her hands falling down from either side of her head. Her pacing had ceased and she looked at the innocent looking girl standing before them.

"Why, Charlotte?" Bellamy asked, a certain pain and horror evident in his voice. Finn and Clarke looked just as shocked as Taylor did, everyone in the tent on edge. Of all of the things that had happened to them during their time on the ground so far, she would have never expected something like that.

"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me," she explained defensively. Taylor didn't think that the girl had fully processed the fact that she had killed someone, taken their entire life away forever.

Bellamy froze at her words and his eyes drifted to the ground. "What the hell is she talking about?" Clarke questioned almost desperately.

"She misunderstood me," he answered with the shake of his head. He turned to Charlotte and leaned down to her level. "Charlotte, that is not what I meant."

"Bring the girl out now!" Murphy screamed from outside. After what had happened, Murphy was furious and had a primal need for revenge. His own personal brand of justice.

"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. Taylor looked at the little girl, seeing the deep fear in her eyes. The lack of understanding for her actions showcased what was really beneath the mask of the murderer. A scared little girl.

"If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up," Bellamy said, turning to the other three expectantly. Clarke just paced and turned nervously while Finn looked at the ground. "Now you stay quiet."

"Those are your boys out there," Finn argued accusingly, finally speaking up.

"This is not my fault!" Bellamy snapped back. He turned and gestured to Clarke. "If she had listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall!" Clarke brought a hand to her head and diverted her gaze from Bellamy, saying nothing to defend herself.

"This is exactly what we told you would happen," Taylor shot at her angrily. Now because of what Clarke had done, they were engulfed in chaos and unrest; the kind that Taylor had predicted would happen.

"You wanna build a society, Princess? Let's build a society! Bring her out!" Murphy yelled once again from outside. Finn ducked over and pulled open the flap of the tent for a moment, revealing a pacing and furious looking Murphy.

"No! Please, Bellamy," Charlotte begged with tears streaming down her cheeks. Bellamy crouched down and grabbed her shoulders to speak to her.

"Charlotte, hey, it's gonna be okay," he assured quietly. He looked over to the others and nodded in their direction. "Stay with them." Bellamy swiftly pushed out of the tent, Taylor hearing his voice speaking to Murphy. She shifted her balance and turned to address Clarke and Finn.

"She can't stay here," she spoke, her voice rough from yelling so loudly when Murphy was being attacked. "You need to take her somewhere safe. And right now, that isn't here."

Clarke nodded slightly, her feelings of dislike for Taylor seemingly gone for the moment. "How long? How long do we stay away?" Finn questioned.

"I don't know," she responded somewhat shakily. "We'll find you. But we can't risk Murphy getting to her."

"Come on," Clarke ordered, addressing Charlotte. The group slipped out of the back of the tent, Taylor leaning over and watching until she was sure they cleared the wall. A violent flapping noise caused her to pull her vision to the front of the tent where Murphy was standing.

"Where the hell is she?" he demanded, standing his ground, but looking like he was ready to make a move against her at any given moment. Taylor didn't respond and instead stood there quietly while putting all of her effort and fear into giving him a challenging look.

Murphy didn't search for an answer from her any longer than that. He ran forward and raised a rather large log looking object and struck her against the head with it. She attempted to fight him away, but felt a shocking pain in her skull.

Taylor fell to the ground and heard Murphy's shouts and footsteps fading away like a distant echo. All she knew was that that she laid there for a few minutes before her head became clear enough. She pulled herself up with a struggle, leaning against the rickety table for support.

"Taylor!" Octavia exclaimed as she entered the tent and rushed over. She leaned down and examined the wound on her head. "Are you okay?" Taylor nodded and swatted Octavia away just as another Blake made an appearance.

"What did he do to you?" he asked quickly, with a touch of anger in his voice.

"Same thing he just did to you," Octavia responded as she helped Taylor up. She felt crowded hanging off of Octavia's arm as Bellamy took a look at her head. She stepped away from both of them and finally got her bearings, feeling much better than she had just several minutes before.

"Where are Clarke, Finn, and Charlotte?" Octavia asked, her eyes darting around the tent for any sign of the trio.

"Gone. I told them to run and get somewhere safe," she responded while shaking her head stiffly.

"Murphy's gone after them. We need to go. O, you stay here and make sure everything doesn't fall apart while we're gone," he told her. She nodded and for once did as he said without objection. Taylor and Bellamy quickly made their way out of camp to begin to find their departed allies, but had no quick luck.

The sun was going down and Taylor became anxious. "They couldn't have gone that far," she remarked, trying to convince herself more than Bellamy. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a few light footsteps and heavy breathing.

"What?" Bellamy asked, his eyes darting around the trees that surrounded them. Taylor pointed to where she heard the noise. The two crept up to where the person had stopped and Bellamy lunged forward and grabbed a now shrieking Charlotte. He covered her mouth immediately and shushed her quickly.

Taylor stepped out and looked around them to make sure that no one else was around them. "We need to get out of here," Bellamy said when they heard the distant echoes of Murphy's shouts. He was getting closer and neither of them liked the idea of that.

She nodded and Bellamy tried to drag Charlotte with them, to which she heavily objected. "Let me go!" she yelled, trying everything she could to get out of his grasp.

"I'm trying — hey, hey — " He paused as their struggled ensued. Taylor finally grabbed Charlotte's other arm and her fighting ceased. "I'm trying to help you!"

"I'm not your sister! Just stop helping me!" she burst out loudly, breaking free from the both of them and running to a tree. "I'm over here!" Bellamy and Taylor ran after, Bellamy grabbing hold of her once again.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?" he reprimanded, the glow of torches growing closer to their position.

"Just go, okay? I'm the one they want," she told them. Taylor watched from behind a tree as the party out for Charlotte's blood approached. She knew that they couldn't stay much longer.

"Okay, Charlotte, listen to me. I won't leave you," Bellamy assured her quietly. Taylor looked back and shook her head. It was all too much to process.

"Charlotte, I know you're really just scared. And that's okay," Taylor finally said in a lower tone so that nobody except for the other two could hear them. "But it doesn't mean you should give yourself up."

"Then what should I do? This is all my fault!" the little girl exclaimed in a surprisingly rational sounding tone. More rational than she expected from a killer that young. But then she thought back to the scared little girl that she saw hours ago at camp and sighed. She leaned down next to Bellamy and faced the girl.

"Being brave doesn't mean you try to pretend you have no fears. It means you accept them and deal with what's happening, despite being afraid," Taylor affirmed. "And right now we need to deal with this somewhere that isn't here."

Charlotte stayed quiet for a moment. "Please, Bellamy, Taylor," she pleaded, still holding onto the idea of them letting her go. She yanked from Bellamy's grasp and started yelling for Murphy again. Instead of trying to talk to her any longer, Bellamy picked her up and the three started to run.

Even while slung over Bellamy's shoulder, she yelled while the two others tried to keep her quiet. "Come on out, Charlotte! Come on out!" Murphy coaxed from nearby. It was hard to tell how long they ran for. It felt like an eternity, a game of cat and mouse that could go on forever. Only she knew at some point the cat had to catch the mouse.

"No! No! Murphy!" Charlotte screamed over Murphy yelling her name behind them. They came up out of the trees, finding themselves at the edge of a high reaching cliff. Bellamy finally put down Charlotte and looked over the edge.

"Damn it," he cursed. Taylor's eyes widened as she skidded to a stop. She looked over at Bellamy in worry.

"What are we gonna do?" she breathed, saying this more as a general question and not looking for an answer. She knew that they were trapped.

"Bellamy!" Murphy's voice was unwelcome, his desire for revenge the most detectable thing in his words. His bloody face looked haunting in the glow of the torches that he and his lackeys carried. "You cannot fight all of us, give her up."

"Maybe not, but I guarantee I'll take a few of you with me," he threatened. Taylor grabbed Charlotte and pushed her behind her. Several more footsteps alerted them to the presence of more figures in the forest; the very people who had evidently lost Charlotte not long ago.

"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke cried as she and Finn clamored into the area. She turned to address Murphy. "Just calm down, we'll talk about this."

Murphy looked around at all of them and grinned slightly. Taylor could now clearly see the bruises that resulted from the hanging. In just the blink of an eye, Murphy had grabbed Clarke and was pressing a knife up against her throat."I'm done listening to you talk!"

"Let her go," Finn ordered as he tried to take a step toward Murphy.

"I will slit her throat," Murphy threatened, teetering away from Finn dangerously. Taylor tensed up and held onto Charlotte more tightly. The cat had caught all of the mice and lives were at stake.

"No, please. Please don't hurt her," Charlotte whimpered with a desperate look, trying to get past Taylor. She didn't allow this, keeping a firm hold on her arm.

"Don't hurt her? Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I will let her go," he proposed, tapping Clarke's shoulder while holding the knife just as dangerously close to her throat.

"Don't do it, Charlotte," Clarke warned with an edge to her voice. Charlotte attempted to run forward, but both Bellamy and Taylor held her back from doing so. There had to be another way. There had to.

"No! No! I have to!" she protested, trying to rip herself away from their grasps. Bellamy pushed her back one final time. It seemed that something had shifted in her desire to fight them.

"Murphy, this is not happening," Bellamy maintained. He wasn't making threats like before; the tables had turned on them now that Clarke was so close to having her life taken away.

"This isn't how it has to be," Taylor asserted carefully. Murphy just scoffed and shook his head at his opposers in disgust.

"This was how it had to be the minute you strung me up for a crime I didn't commit!" he yelled, Clarke flinching at his louder tone and the knife that was pressed harder against her throat.

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore," Charlotte said quietly as she shook her head weakly. "Not because of me. Not after what I did. I'm going to be brave now." She looked directly at Taylor with those last words and slipped away from her grasp. She had been holding her back the entire time, but in that moment her grip had loosened, her confusion overtaking every part of her. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

Charlotte turned away and jumped. She jumped off of the edge into the abyss and fell like a doll being discarded elsewhere. Murphy let go of Clarke, his own shock getting to him, and she rushed forward, falling beside Bellamy at the very edge of the cliff.

Bellamy's yell and Clarke's cries seemed foreign to her. Taylor didn't move, she didn't scream or yell. She stood there blankly with tears welling in her eyes, trying to process the horrifying scene that had just transpired.

She turned to look at Murphy, who looked just as shocked as everyone else. The anger that filled her didn't care for Murphy's remorse. "You son of a bitch!" she shrieked suddenly, running towards Murphy and punching him in the nose.

His head jerked back and he groaned in pain. This seemed to have brought back his infuriation from before, but before he could do anything in retaliation, she grabbed onto his jacket and kneed him in the stomach. His hands found her jacket and the two began to wrestle each other, trying to hit the other at every opportunity.

Murphy was finally able to shove her away, leaving her winded once her back hit the ground. Taylor didn't have time to get back up before Murphy was saying Bellamy's name and she heard him getting tackled to the ground. Bellamy was yelling, beating Murphy continually despite how many times Murphy tried to say his name. Taylor stood up, wiping the tears from her face without doing anything to stop Bellamy.

"Bellamy, stop! You'll kill him!" Clarke shouted tearfully as he proceeded to beat up Murphy. Finn finally intervened and pulled Bellamy away despite a very passionate struggle from the latter.

"GET OFF ME! HE DESERVES TO DIE!" Bellamy was blocked from Murphy by Clarke, who was ready to push him away if she needed to. Taylor, however, lunged towards Murphy again. Finn was once again the one to mediate, pulling her back more easily than Bellamy.

"LET GO!" she screamed as she fought him.

"NO!" Clarke interrupted the chaos. "We don't get to decide who lives and dies! Not down here!" Taylor stopped fighting and Finn let go, Clarke's words rattling around in her mind. That was how the Ark had worked as long as she'd known it; who lived and died was picked and chosen like nothing.

"So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide — " Bellamy began, looking ready to completely lash out on Clarke.

"No! I was wrong before, okay? Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want!" she announced. Taylor stepped up to her while shaking her head.

"How are we supposed to do that if people are accusing each other of murder and hanging them?" Taylor spat. "Especially when you were doing whatever the hell you wanted when you started this!" Every emotion about the events that had happened in their entire time on the ground was bubbling to the surface and bursting out. She wouldn't have said those things if there was something holding her back. But there wasn't.

"We need rules!" Clarke answered in the same tearful tone.

"And who makes those rules, huh? You?" Bellamy inquired, taking a step closer to Clarke, as if almost challenging her authority. Taylor looked to her expectantly, wondering the same thing. Everyone spectated as the three stared each other down, horrified and looking for answers themselves.

"For now, we make the rules. Okay?" she responded.

"So, what, then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened?" he asked, gesturing to Murphy's broken looking form on the ground.

"No!" she exasperated. She took a glance back at Murphy and when she looked back, she had a completely blank look on her face. "We banish him." Taylor nodded slowly and Bellamy didn't say anything. Instead he strode over to Murphy and grabbed him by the jacket, dragging him over to the edge of the cliff.

"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke argued.

"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here. Understand?" he growled threateningly. Taylor couldn't tell if Murphy gave an actual response, but it didn't matter. Murphy knew. He threw him aside back onto the ground and faced everyone who had followed him there. "As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice."

Bellamy stomped away, followed by Murphy's group and Clarke. This left only Finn and Taylor staring down at the defeated boy. Finn pulled out a knife and threw it on the ground next to Murphy, nodding at Taylor to come with him.

She fell into step with him, the two heading up the back of the group. Her eyes found the feint torch light that blurred against the dark background between the trees. She didn't want to talk and there was nothing to say. They stayed uncommunicative the entire journey back to camp.

Not much time had passed when she found herself standing beside Bellamy and Clarke in front of the entire camp. They were explaining what had happened and what these new rules would be; why their 'whatever the hell we want' philosophy was no longer going to work.

"That's why we've decided to banish Murphy from camp," Clarke finished calmly to all of the teenagers onlooking their speech.

"Anybody got a problem with that?" Bellamy questioned, garnering no response from anyone.

"Know that if you do, you're always free to join Murphy," Taylor added. They couldn't afford to have anyone try to go rogue or dispute their new rules. Once the crowd had begun to disperse, Taylor nodded at the two others and began to stride out of camp.

Everything that had happened was hitting her at once. Even though she had expressed it quite fully before, she felt the need to take her feelings out somewhere and she couldn't melt down in the middle of camp.

She didn't stray far, still knowing the threat of Grounders was present. Closing her eyes, she leaned against a tree and took a deep breath. A sob finally escaped her lips and she found herself crumbling to the ground. This continued as a pattern for an innumerable number of minutes.

Her gaze shot up when she heard footsteps, Taylor's tense figure relaxing when she saw that it was only Bellamy. He sat down next to her without a word. The only sound that traveled between them was her occasional sniffing.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. She fully expected that he would be blaming himself somehow since Charlotte had been the one taking his advice to begin with.

"Don't worry about me. Are you?" He dodged the question quickly and she sighed, looking up to meet his gaze.

"No. If I had just held on to her a little tighter— " she began, but was interrupted by Bellamy.

"Don't do this to yourself," he told her, his voice barely at an audible level.

"You should take your own advice sometime," she mumbled. "Did you hear her last words? How can I just be okay with that and not feel like I played some part in what happened?"

There was a pause that crushed upon them like tons of concrete, hardening with each passing second.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, guilt filling his voice. She shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why?" she asked, knowing that there was no reason he should have been sorry.

"For bringing you down here. This is my fault," he confessed, averting her gaze completely for a moment.

"I did this because I wanted to. I was the one who decided on my own to come," Taylor whispered, her eyes welling up with tears again.

"You would've never had to have made that choice if I hadn't — "

"Bell," she stopped him softly. She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Don't. We're in this together. We have been for a long time now. And let me tell you, I am choosing this."

He looked down at her and she could swear there was the ghost of a smile on his lips. She could say the same for her own and that would be good enough. Neither of them could smile fully that night, not after everything. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed, letting a final serenity wash over her. They were all so emotionally exhausted, they knew that joy would have its limit after that. They also knew that this was just the beginning. Their fight was nowhere near over.