"You wanted to go first." Clarke pointed out to Finn, who was tightening a vine. It was the only way to cross the river. "Now quit stalling. Mount Weather awaits."

"Just hang on until the apogee and you'll be fine." Jasper reassured.

Finn turned to him. "The apogee like the Indians, right?"

"Apogee, not apache." Jasper corrected.

"He knows." Clarke dismissed. "Today, Finn."

He saluted her. "Aye, aye, captain." Then he turned to Jasper. "See you on the other side."

Finn pulled the vine back but Jasper stopped him. "Wait."

"What?"

"Let me. I can do it."

Finn handed him the vine and patted him on the shoulder. "Knew there was a badass in there somewhere."

He clutched onto the vine, his eyes widening slightly. I felt bad for him, it must be terrifying going first.

"Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper." Finn said gently. "The trick is not fighting it."

Jasper nodded, taking a deep breath. "See you on the other side."

He pulled the vine back and then swung, screaming the whole way across.

He jumped off the vine and fell onto the rocks the other side. The rest of us ran to the edge of the rocks and the vine swung back. Finn caught it with ease.

Jasper stood up, looking slightly dazed, before throwing his hands up in excitement. "WE ARE APOGEE!"

I mirrored his actions, throwing my hands up in a mixture of relief and excitement. All of us cheered.

"Yeah!"

"Wooo!"

"Yeah, Jasper!"

We all laughed as he danced around merrily, obviously incredibly proud of himself.

"You're up." Finn handed Clarke the vine.

"Come on, Clarke! You got this!" I heard Jasper yell from the other side.

"Go on, Clarke." I smiled encouragingly.

"Woo! APOGEE!"

I chuckled, looking back over at Jasper, who had bent down to look at something in the dirt. He picked it up and held it above his head. It appeared to be an old sign that read the words Mount Weather.

"We did it!" He screamed. "Mount Weather! Woo!"

And then Jasper got speared in the chest.

My smile dropped, so did my heart.

"J-Jasper?" I stuttered out, grabbing on to Monty's arm in fear.

"Wh-wh-"

"Jasper!" I yelled.

"Get down! Get down!" Finn hissed, waving us over. I stumbled towards a ridge in the rock, looking around to see who had hit Jasper.

There was nothing. Just rustling in the trees. My breathing was heavy as my heart pounded against my ribcage.

"We're not alone."

I ran my hand through my messy hair, my eyes darting between everyone.

"We have to run back." Finn said. "There's no other way around this."

Shakily, I stood up, running behind Monty and Octavia. I sprinted as fast as I could, trying to dodge trees and rocks.

Monty tripped in front of me and I bent down, helping him up.

I gasped, noticing he had fallen by a decayed body.

"Monty, you gotta get up." Octavia said, grabbing his arm. I took his other arm, keeping my eyes off the dead remains.

"Who are they?" Finn asked breathlessly.

Clarke picked up a misshapen skull. "What are they?"

Octavia breathed heavily, still holding on to Monty. "We are so screwed."

A pained scream soared through the air, causing Clarke to drop the skull in shock.

"Jasper." She breathed out in realisation. "He's alive."

Without a second thought, I turned around and sprinted back the way we came. As did Clarke.

"Clarke! Billie! Wait!" Finn grabbed my arm and pushed Clarke and I down before we came out of the forest. "Stay under the trees."

I looked over to the spot Jasper had been at, shaking my head in horror when I realised he had gone.

"H-he was right there." I said, turning around to face Clarke and Finn, who had the same horrified expressions. I felt sick. "Right there!"

"Where is he?" Monty asked.

Clarke sighed. "They took him."

~

"Holy-" I started to say as we stepped into camp. There was absolute chaos about . Wells had the kid with a long nose in a headlock, a knife held to his throat. Everyone was gathered in a crowd, watching and cheering them on.

Clarke cut me off. "Wells! Let him go!"

Wells harshly pushed him to the ground but the boy got up quickly, swinging his arms around.

"Woah, hey!" Bellamy Blake stepped in between the two of them. He'd changed out of that awful guards uniform and into a tight fitted shirt. His hair wasn't gelled back anymore and was more messy. "Enough, Murphy." He turned his head, suddenly noticing Octavia holding on to Finn. "Octavia! Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She murmured as he helped her down.

Bellamy looked around, obviously realising that we were empty handed. "Where's the food?"

Finn sat down on a log with a sigh. "We didn't make it to Mount Weather."

"What the hell happened out there?" He demanded.

"We were attacked." Clarke replied.

"Attacked?" Wells asked, alarm in his voice. "By what?"

"Not what." Finn corrected. "Who. It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."

"It's true." Clarke confirmed. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."

"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will." Finn said.

Wells looked around with a confused expression on his face. "Where's the kid with the goggles?"

"Jasper was hit." Clarke replied sadly. "They took him." Her eyes flickered to Wells before she grabbed his arm. "Where is your wristband?"

He pushed her hand off, glaring at Bellamy. "Ask him."

Clarke stepped towards him. "How many?"

"Twenty-four and counting." Long nose boy replied. I should really find out his name.

Clarke looked astonished. "You idiots." She shook her head. "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"

Bellamy turned to face the crowd. "We're stronger than you think. Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say, you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors. The Grounders should worry about us!"

There were cheers of agreement within the crowd and I shook my head, hating how much of a good speaker Bellamy was. He knew exactly which buttons to press and how to use them to his advantage.

I shook my head, not bothering to stand by and watch anymore. Clarke started walking off, Monty and I followed.

"What do we do now?" Monty questioned.

"Now we go after Jasper."

~

"You're not coming with us." I heard Clarke tell Wells sternly. I shared a look with Monty. Sure, Wells isn't my favourite person at the moment but we could really do with the help.

"My ankle's fine." Wells protested.

"It's not your ankle, Wells, it's you."

"You came back for reinforcements. I'm gonna help."

"Clarke, he's right. We need him. So far no one else has volunteered." Monty pointed out.

Clarke shook her head. "I'm sorry, Monty, but you're not going either."

"Like hell I'm not. Jasper's my best friend."

"You're too important." She said. "You were raised on Farm Station and recruited by engineering."

"So?"

"So food and communication. What's up here-" she pointed to the top of his head. "It's gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark and I'll bring Jasper back."

She turned to me.

"I'm going and you can't stop me."
I blurted.

"Billie-"

"Clarke."

She sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Damn straight."

She nodded, turning to Finn. "Hey. You ready?"

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. And neither should any of you. That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet."

"So what, we let Jasper die?" Monty asked.

"That's not gonna happen." Clarke reassured. She turned back around to face Finn. "Spacewalker? What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer. You're really just a coward."

"It's not an adventure, Clarke, it's a suicide mission."

She shook her head, walking out of the dropship. I followed her, not making any eye contact with Finn.

The two of us headed back around camp and over to the Blake siblings. Bellamy was cleaning up Octavia's wound.

"You could have been killed." He said.

"She would have been if Jasper hadn't jumped in to pull her out." Clarke interjected.

Octavia tightened the cloth around her leg. "Are guys leaving? I'm coming, too."

She started to stand but Bellamy pushed her gently back down onto the log. "No, no. No way. Not again."

"He's right." Clarke said. "Your leg's just gonna slow us down." She paused, looking at Bellamy. "I'm here for you."

"Clarke, what are you doing?" Wells hissed.

"I hear you have a gun."

Instead of answering, Bellamy lifted up his shirt, exposing his olive skin. Oh, and the gun.

"Good. Follow me." Clarke ordered, already starting to walk away.

He raised an eyebrow, turning around to face her. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you want them to follow you." She replied, motioning to the others in the camp. "And right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

Clarke walked ahead and Wells and I trailed behind.

"Murphy." I heard Bellamy say. "Come with me."

I followed Clarke and Wells through the trees, trying not to trip over my feet.

"Those guys aren't just bullies, Clarke. They're dangerous criminals." Wells pointed out, causing me to roll my eyes.

Clarke didn't miss a beat. "I'm counting on it."

I smiled slightly as we continued walking, Wells and Clarke leading, me on my own in the middle, and Bellamy and that god awful Murphy behind.

"Might want to watch your step." I heard Bellamy call out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a small tree stump in my way. It was mostly camouflaged by the ground, which was obviously why I didn't notice it. Calmly, I stepped over it, and then looked back at Bellamy.

"Thanks for the heads up. But I don't quite think I need you watching out for me."

I heard him scoff and I turned back around.

This will be interesting.

"Hey, hold up." Bellamy shouted after a couple of minutes had passed. "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart."

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells snapped.

Murphy put his hand on Wells' chest. "Well, why don't you do something about it, huh?"

Clarke ignored them. "Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy reached over and grabbed her wrist.

"As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go."

Clarke ripped her hand from his grip.

"The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm dead. Got it?"

"Brave princess." Bellamy smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" I turned around upon hearing Finn's voice. "Call this a rescue party? Got to split up, cover more ground." He said. "Clarke, come with me."

She didn't hesitate before following him and I groaned, realising I was stuck with Wells, Murphy and Bellamy.

"Great."

~

A/N

Bellamy and Billie are my otp already tbh

#belillie?

Also, I have attached the trailer above. If it doesn't work, my YouTube account is _toxicity

🦄