"Clarke?" I asked, stepping toward her.

I went and stood next to her. I could see why she stopped now. There was a beautiful waterfall right in front of us.

If I wasn't so worried about Jasper, I would have been more inclined to stay for a while. Clarke and Finn however, had other plans. 

They both walked down the slope to the water. Clarke opened her water bottle and filled it up. Finn was up to his knees in the water. He splashed around for a minute. 

"Guys, we don't have time for this," I warned, looking around at the trees worriedly. Grounders could come up out of nowhere and attack us at any time. And with the amount of noise the two were making, it wouldn't be long until they found where we were. If they hadn't already, that is. 

Finn and Clarke ignored me, as predicted and I rolled my eyes. 

I stood there for another minute, watching the trees and I almost didn't hear when Finn called everyone over. He sounded... excited but worried at the same time. 

I looked down the waterfall to see the two teens perched around a rock. There was something on it... something red? Blood. I felt my body go cold and I all but fell down the slope to get to them. 

Clutched in Clarke's hands was none other than Jasper's goggles. I reached forward and snatched them out of her hands. 

"Jasper," I whispered.

"We should get the others," Finn said. Clarke nodded and went in search of Wells, Murphy and Bellamy. 

"We better find him," I said, rubbing my thumb over the plastic. Finn smiled grimly.

"I hope we do."

Suddenly, he leaned down onto his knees. I looked over his shoulders to see what he was doing. He put two fingers in a small patch of blood and took them away to find that it was still wet. 

"We're close," he said, looking forward. I felt a surge of hope. We were close. We're coming, Jasper. 

I waited anxiously for Clarke and the others to return. Clutching the goggles in my hands, I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet. We're close.

When they did show up, I practically pushed them to start moving. I could tell they were slightly unnerved by my enthusiasm. 

"Down girl," Murphy sniggered. I ignored his snide comments and instead urged Finn to track faster. 

"If I go any faster, I might miss something important," he said quickly. 

I heeded his silent warning and kept quiet. We moved slowly, gradually picking up signs and tracking the small patches of blood we found in places. 

Eventually, the silence got overwhelming. The only sounds were the crunching of twigs, the breeze in the trees and the movement of rocks on rocks as our boots walked over them. 

"How do we know this is the right way?" Murphy spoke up, breaking the silence. 

"We don't," Bellamy answered before anyone else could. "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker."

"On the Ark there are Earth Skills classes. He probably learnt there," I said, defending the long haired boy. 

"Do you guys want to be any louder or should I paint a target on your back?" Finn asked, glancing from a shrub to the ground a few times. I watched, fascinated.

After a few moments, in the distance we heard a loud moan. My head snapped up. 

"That could be Jasper," I said hurriedly, stepping forward quickly. I suddenly felt an arm against my chest. 

"What are you doing?!" I asked Bellamy. 

"It could be a trap," he whispered, looking in the direction of where the moan sounded from. I knew he was right to be cautious but all I cared about was getting Jasper back to the drop ship where we could help him. 

"Either way I'm going in there so you can either move, and let me do this by myself or you can help me. Your choice," I said menacingly. He looked into my eyes for a moment. He clicked his teeth before sighing. 

"You aren't as pathetic as I thought, sweetheart," I heard Murphy drawl from Bellamy's side. 

"You shut the fuck up," I warned. He chuckled. 

"Lead the way then," Bellamy said with a smirk, moving his arm. I sarcastically smiled and stalked forward. 

About a hundred meters away, there was a clearing to the left of the rocky path. I stepped inside slowly and carefully, the rest of our group behind me. 

"Jasper," I whispered. In a tree in the middle of the clearing, lay Jasper. He was tied to the branches, moaning softly in pain. He was shirtless and his chest was covered in some kind of markings. I bit my lip, feeling the tears well in my eyes. "What have they done to you?" 

"Jasper, its Alex," I called up timidly. "We're going to get you down, okay?" 

I swiftly walked toward him and shrieked when the ground suddenly gave way from beneath my feet. A hand was suddenly gripping my arm and I looked up, heart beating wildly and feet dangling down. It was Bellamy. 

He looked down at my bracelet for a moment before looking at my eyes again. I could see that my weight was straining him and I whimpered. 

"Please don't let go," I whispered. 

Forever seemed to pass by as I dangled there. For a moment, I thought he was going to drop me. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes seemed to stretch into hours. And then I was being pulled up. The spikes beneath my feet got further away and more hands were reaching for me. I shook with relief once I was out. 

Bellamy's hand was still on my arm as he helped me balance. I looked up into his eyes. 

"Thank you," I said honestly. He let go of my hand and grunted. 

"You're welcome."

He watched me for another moment, eyes boring into my skin. I cleared my throat. 

"We, uh, we need to get him down," I stuttered out, turning away from his gaze. 

"I'll climb up there, cut down the ropes," Finn said, looking up at Jasper. 

"I'll help," Wells said, stepping forward. 

"No, you stay here. Watch him," he said, gesturing to Bellamy. 

"You, with me," he said to Murphy. Murphy looked to Bellamy,  probably for permission, before moving forward to help cut the wounded teen down. 

"Hey, Clarke, what's that?" I asked, pointing to a green thing on Jasper's chest. She stepped forward to take a better look. 

"A poultice," she said, confusion etched in her features. "That makes no sense."

"Why would they patch him up only to use him as live bait?" Wells asked, speaking up from the back of the group. 

"Its a trap," I said, realising what was going on. 

"And I bet its for us," Finn added, beginning to climb the branches. I watched them, biting my lip. 

"Lets just get Jasper and then get out of here then," I said. 

"Good plan," Wells agreed. 

In the trees to our left, we heard loud rustling. I felt my breath hitch. What is it? Are the Grounders here?

"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked from his perch in the trees. 

"Grounders?" I suggested to the group. 

I looked around at the trees. I saw a flash of black and then whipped my eyes back to it. Crouched in the foliage, was a large black animal. Its eyes watched us carefully and it stayed close to the ground. It snarled, showing me its sharp white teeth.

"There," I hissed, grabbing Bellamy's wrist to grab his attention. He turned to look where I was looking. 

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. I felt sick to my stomach and my blood ran cold. It was running toward us, growling.

"Bellamy, gun!" I heard someone yell. I couldn't tell who it was. It might have been me or it might have been somebody else. 

Several gun shots were let out into the air and I saw a small spray of blood come from the predatory animal. It howled and then took a different course, back into the trees. I turned to look at Bellamy, to thank him for saving my life yet again but he wasn't holding the gun. 

I looked around to see Wells with the gun outstretched. Before I could thank him, another loud growl was let loose in the trees and I shrieked, seeing the trees rustle near us. 

"Wells, kill it!" 

He didn't answer me. I grabbed Bellamy's wrist harder, clutching it like a lifeline. 

Then, just next to us, the animal leaped, paws outstretched and eyes glinting. I felt a scream rip from my body as it got closer. Then it was gone, lying on the ground before us, twitching. Bellamy and I panted, hearts beating quickly. 

Suddenly Clarke was in front of me. She was saying something but it just sounded like white noise. What was she saying? 

Then she was looking at Bellamy, talking to him. I saw her mouth word something like "shock" and he nodded. He pried his arm from my hand and I started to hyperventilate. 

"-lex," he said. I looked into his eyes and swallowed thickly. 

"Alex, its alright. You're alright," he said. This time, I was able to hear much clearer what he was saying. I gave a small nod, trying to breath easy. 

"Shit," Clarke said, looking at me. I looked at her. 

"What?" I asked timidly, still feeling adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"Your arm," she nodded at me, reaching into her pack. I looked down to see my left arm covered in blood. 

"Huh, I couldn't even feel it," I muttered. Suddenly, like just saying the words had jinxed it, my arm started to burn. Then a pain unlike any other that I'd ever felt coursed through it. I bit my lip, feeling tears spring to my eyes. 

"We need to get you and Jasper both back to the drop ship. Now," Clarke said, pushing past us. Finn and Murphy quickly got Jasper down. 

"Are you alright to walk?" Wells asked me. I nodded, pressing my hand to my wound to suppress the bleeding. 

Wells and Finn carried Jasper back to camp while Murphy and Bellamy used the parachute to drag the animal. The way back to camp seemed to take longer than the trip out. Soon enough, my hand was covered in the metallic red liquid and I kept swaying when I walked. I probably looked like a zombie from one of those Earth movies. 

Clarke lead the way, occasionally looking back to make sure we were all keeping up.

"Keep your hand on that," she called back to me. I nodded, not trusting my voice to speak. 

It was dark by the time we got back, the moon well into the sky. There were calls from inside the camp and we were suddenly surrounded by people. I followed Clarke, Finn and Wells to the drop ship, where they carried Jasper. 

They moved him to the second floor and I followed, ignoring the pain ripping through my arm as I hoisted myself up rung by rung. Once I had poked my head through the hatch, I was almost immediately shut down. 

"Alex, go back downstairs. I need space," Clarke said, shooing me off. As much as I wanted to help, I knew I couldn't. So, doing as I was told, I made my way back down and stood by the door. 

Not even a minute later, I heard excited yelling. I walked down the slope in the direction of the main area of camp. Still clutching my wounded arm, I watched as the crowd cheered Bellamy's name. 

Through a gap in the mass of people, I saw the animal's body. Oh, they were cheering for food.

I smiled and sat down on a log. I hissed as the wound on my arm stretched. Gritting my teeth, I lifted my hand. It was covered in sticky, drying blood. 

"You should really get that looked at," I heard a voice say. I looked up and saw none other than Bellamy Blake standing before me. I chuckled. 

"Yeah, probably," I agreed. 

"Here, let me," he said, leaning down and moving my hand away. He brought a wet cloth to my arm and started to wash the blood and grime from the wound and I wondered where he had got it from.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked, wincing after he pressed particularly hard with the cloth. He stopped. 

"I don't know," he said honestly. 

"You know, I still haven't completely forgiven you for what you said." 

"So, me saving your life didn't get me on your good side?" 

"It helped, but not completely." 

He nodded, continuing to wash the wound clean. 

After he was done, he left for a moment. While he was gone, I took the time to look at the wound. There were four scratches etched deeply into my skin. They started just below my shoulder and finished in a diagonal down into the inside of my arm. I smiled, looking at it. 

"Thats going to make an impressive scar," Bellamy said, in front of me again. This time he was holding a clean, dry rag. He pulled my arm toward him and wrapped it around the wound. I didn't answer him. 

Once he wrapped it around as many times as it would go, he tied it off by wrapping the end underneath some of the layers of the makeshift bandage. 

Just as he was about to stand up and leave, my arm shot up and grabbed him. He looked down at me, silent. 

"You know, just because aren't friends yet, doesn't mean we can't be." 

"Sweetheart, I don't have any friends," he said before walking off, leaving me sitting there, jaw tight and silent. 

I watched the rest of the camp for a while. Slowly, they cooked the animal, a panther, I had heard someone call it. Once it was cooked, Murphy got someone to put strips of meat onto sticks. Then, when someone tried to take some, he shoved them back and smirked. 

"No, no. You give us the wristband, we give you the food," he said, smirking devilishly. I felt my stomach rumble and I looked at the wristband still stuck on my arm. I rubbed it self consciously and watched as people began to line up. 

One of Bellamy's "friends" sat by the fire and began taking their wristbands off. I watched silently as people, one by one, gave up their wristbands. 

Then I saw Finn walk up to the food, and take two strips of meat. 

"Whoa, whoa. What, you think you play by different rules?" Murphy asked him, stopping him from leaving. 

And without a seconds hesitation, Finn replied, "I thought there were no rules." 

Murphy looked stunned as he left, Clarke behind him. 

I saw someone in the line step forward, thinking that he could get away with the same thing. Bellamy, of course, was not going to have that. He raised his fist and punched the kid in the face. 

The kid fell to the ground and Bellamy looked up to me. There was no smile, no nothing. I looked at him with a disappointed scowl on my face. 

He looked away to the line of people before stalking away into the trees behind me. He glanced quickly to me as he walked past and I looked back. What are you hiding?