18: G o o d b y e
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[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia, Finn and Raven discover that it was Bellamy who stole the radio from the pod. Then, Raven reveals the secret that Bellamy's being trying so hard to hide: he shot Chancellor Jaha. Now the gang needs to find the radio in order to save the lives of three hundred people up in the Ark].
"It's no use!" Raven cried out in frustration as she slapped her hands against her knees. "We've been searching for hours. The radio's gone."
I straightened up from my stooped position along the banks of the foaming river and sighed. It was true. The radio that Bellamy had thrown into the raging waters would've been carried kilometres downstream by now. It was well and truly gone.
I had been right. When Clarke found out what all the commotion was about, she hurled all her anger at Bellamy. They had a massive fight in front of everyone before stalking off in opposite directions. Finn and I took charge after that and told everyone how important it was that we retrieve the radio.
Of course some people, like Murphy and his cohorts, refused to comply. They thought that everyone up in the Ark deserved to suffocate. But others, like Zoe and Monty, were won over by the fact that some of their own families could be the victims.
Raven, Finn, Bellamy, Clarke and I returned to the river with at least a couple dozen people. We scrounged around everywhere, in the water, along the footpaths, across the riverbanks, but we found nothing.
I sighed again and stretched my tired arms as I looked out upon everyone else, working together in a desperate effort to save their people.
"Hey," a rough, calloused hand was placed on my shoulder and my body was turned around to face the speaker. Finn.
"H-hi," I nodded at him in response as I prepared to walk away.
"Wait," Finn's grip on my arm stopped me. "I - I'm sorry. I should've told you about Raven."
"Can we not talk about this now?" I shrugged him off, averting his gaze.
"I didn't think I'd see her again ... Princess."
My head snapped up and I stared at him, somewhat confused, somewhat upset, and somewhat angry. "Yeah, well you wouldn't take off your wristband."
Finn looked taken aback. "Y-you haven't either."
"Not yet," I corrected him. "The fact is, you had hope ... you had hope that you'd see her again. And it's okay, I get it. I was around, I was passive and cute. But now? It's over."
Finn's face was an expression of hurt and disappointment. He licked his lips ands shook his head as he backed away.
Before he could rebuff me, however, a loud cry rose up from nearby, "Hey! I found it!"
We both whirled around, amazed and shocked.
Monty was standing in a pool of knee-deep water, waving the black contraption over his head.
"Yes!" Raven sprinted past us, splashing through the water to get to where Monty was.
Finn and I exchanged quick side glances before racing after her. We'd barely arrived on the scene before Clarke, Bellamy and Zoe showed up.
"Can you fix it?" Clarke demanded as she watched Raven examine the wrecked radio.
Raven sighed and bit her lip as she responded, "Maybe, it'll take a day just to dry out the components to see what's broken."
"Like I said, it's too late," Bellamy offered pointedly.
"Do you have any idea what you did?" Clarke yelled as she glowered at him. "Do you even care?"
"You asked me to help," Bellamy shrugged. "I helped."
"Three hundred people are gonna die today ... because of you!" she shoved him furiously in the shoulder.
"Whoa, Clarke, c'mon, back off," I told her.
"You're always taking your brother's side, aren't you?" she sneered as she turned on me. "What happened to your disownment of him? He's a tyrant and a bully and you know it!"
"Hold up!" Raven called out, interrupting our heated conversation. "We don't have to talk to the Ark ... we just have to let them know that we're down here, right?"
"Yeah, but how do we do that with no radio?" Finn frowned.
Raven gazed at him, a knowing smirk tugging on the corners of her mouth. "I have an idea."
"Seems like Bellamy isn't the only one whose been lying," Clarke whispered in my ear as she brushed past me. "How does it feel to see your boyfriend screwing with someone else?"
"Leave her alone, Clarke, or I swear to God I will hurt you," Bellamy growled from behind the two of us.
"I feel really threatened right now," Clarke guffawed. "C'mon, Octavia, admit it: Finn was always an ass."
She whirled around and stalked over to where Finn and Raven were excitedly discussing plans.
The heavy weight that was on my chest felt like it was going to burst. Trying to keep my tears in check, I turned my back on everyone and started walking away.
"Wait, Octavia," Bellamy grabbed at my arm. "Don't listen to her."
I shook him away as I bitterly responded, "She's right, you know. It is hard ... seeing Finn w-with her. I - I can't be here anymore. Go put that brilliant mind of yours to work and figure out another way to tell the Ark that we're here."
"What about you?" Bellamy inquired, concerned.
"Me? I'm done ... with everything," I sniffled. I wiped at my eyes as I took off.
"OCTAVIA!" Bellamy yelled after me.
I didn't pay heed to him, however, I just kept running. I needed to be alone. I needed to think. I needed to figure out why Finn was messing with my head.
A sharp pain began to twist my side. My breaths were coming out in puffs and pants. My legs were throbbing. My muscles were screaming at me to stop, to slow down, to give them a break.
But I didn't stop. I kept going. I kept running.
Tears blurred my vision as I stumbled over tree roots and stones littering my path. I tried to keep my sobs in, but every so often, a muffled sound would escape my mouth. My shoulders were heaving, my chest was rising and falling and my head was pounding. My entire body was filled with pain, the pain of betrayal.
How could Finn do this to me?
Suddenly, the ground disappeared, right beneath me! With a little shriek of horror, I felt myself sail through the air as I fell.
THUMP.
My body hit the hard, cold ground, but at the momentum I was going, I didn't just stop there. I kept rolling ... down and down and down. Flailing my arms and kicking my legs, I tried to grasp onto something, anything, but there was nothing. My body was being pummelled with force from bushes, stones, and underbrush, but nothing was breaking my fall, nothing was slowing me down.
Oh God, help me, please, I inwardly pleaded as I begged for my life.
BAM. I reached the bottom of the hill.
My body careened to an abrupt halt. My head snapped back and hit something hard. My vision began to dim and the wild thoughts racing through my brain began to decrease. The last thing I thought of before the blackness overwhelmed me was my brother, Bellamy.
I hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye.
Then the surrounding darkness swallowed me whole and just like that, I was gone.
Gif: Octavia as she talks to Finn.
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