CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"One a scale from one to ten, you are a solid negative fourteen." 

***

You know how much I like annoying people? And you know how much I hate Murphy? Well, right now, I am living something of my worst nightmare. 

 I am gagged, and Murphy is right in front of me. 

I didn't think it was one hundred percent necessary to  tie us to chairs and stuff rags in our mouths. Unsanitary for one, annoying as hell for the other. I don't know how long we've been in this damn Drop Ship, but it had to have been millions of hours judging by the way my throat is scratching with thirst, and all of my limbs have fallen asleep. 

 "Murphy!" A muffled voice came from outside, and by the harsh tone I could tell it was Octavia, "If you even touch either of them, you are dead!" 

 Murphy chuckled, cradling his gun like it was a baby, "I'd like to see her try." 

 I wanted to yell that Octavia could kick his ass with her eyes closed, but it just came out as an indignant growl. Jasper's eyes were closed tightly, like he was bracing for impact, and mine were narrowed to the point I could barely see, but was trying to mentally summon my knife to my hand. 

"Murphy, I know you can hear me," Bellamy began, speaking through the walkie-talkie, "All of our food and ammo are on the lower level, you are leaving us vulnerable to an attack, and I can't let that happen." 

Murphy replied with an amused grin on his face, "well, encase you haven't noticed you're not exactly in control right now." 

 I rolled my eyes, looks like Murphy's time with the Grounder's didn't make him any more of a drama queen. 

 "Come on, Murphy," Bellamy urged, and I could vividly picture the smirk on his face, "you don't want to hurt them, you want to hurt me. So what do you say? Why don't you let them go... trade them for me."

 If I could talk, I would have called him an idiot, instead, I just shook my head as fast as I could, my hair whipping my face with the action. "You idiot!" I tried, but it came out muffled and garbled, Murphy gave me a cocky smirk. 

 "Yeah... you might wanna talk that idea over with your little boyfriend." He actually had the audacity to laugh, shaking his head, "for someone so good at stealing, he really isn't that coordinated on his feet." 

 I huffed in annoyance, trying to bite through my gag, which really wasn't working. "I'll steal your life, asshole." 

 "I think he just threatened me, Blake, so you might wanna hurry this up." 

 "All you have to go is let them go, and I'll take their place." The sentence was such a Bellamy thing to say, what an idiot, so concerned about a Grounder attack that he would be willing to trade himself in and have me as the only person to actually run this camp. 

 Murphy raked his eyes over Jasper and I, looking so pleased with himself. He has the two people who could run this camp right in the palm of his hand, and he is relishing every second of it. 

 "How?" 

 "Simple," Bellamy replied almost immediately, "open the door, they walk out, I walk in." 

 We waited in silence for what felt like hours, Murphy and I having a very intense glare-competition. My entire body was shaking from all of my pent-up anger. Everything was mixing together, Monty and Clarke are missing, we could be attacked at any second by vengeful Grounders, Murphy kidnapped Jasper and I, and now Bellamy is willing to be a human sacrifice. 

 "Rot in hell." 

 Instead of responding, Murphy traipsed over to the door, pulling the lever and sending the heavy doors open with a rather annoying creak. I winced at the light that spilled out, craning my neck and managing to catch Bellamy's eye. His widened, and if I wasn't gagged I would have sent him a sarcastic grin. 

 Murphy grabbed my knife from the ground, and used it to cut off Jasper's restraints. He then walked over to me and pulled off the gag, smiling like he had just won the lottery. "Prince charming came to save you, huh?" 

 I lashed out, jerking forward and trying to bite him, but he jerked away at the last second, grabbing Jasper's arm, but making to move to untie me. 

 "Nate?" Jasper asked, pointing at me, I stayed silent, wanting to talk for so long, but not having any words. 

 "Nate is gonna help me convince Bellamy to not do anything stupid." 

 "Well then you probably shouldn't have chosen the stupidest person in this camp." I shot back, my voice scratchy. "Bitch." 

 "Just you, Bellamy!" Murphy yelled, approaching the entrance with Jasper tightly in his grip. "Unarmed. Ten seconds or I'll put one in Nathan's leg." 

 I bit my lip to ignore the urge to mock him in a high-pitched voice. A lesson I have learned in my past experiences, "never mock a guy with a rifle." Instead, I mumbled under my breath, "wouldn't be the worst thing that happened to me on Earth." 

 Once Murphy reaches five, Bellamy yells his awareness from behind the thin cloth. I could still see him through the crack separating the Drop Ship from the cover. He looked... kinda pissed off actually. Murphy shoved Jasper out f the Drop Ship with an excessive amount of force, causing him to lose his balance and tumble down the ramp. 

Bellamy entered, his gaze immediately traveling to me, I tried to cover up how freaked out I was by a nod of my head, "'sup?"

 "The deal was both of them!" Bellamy snapped, but Murphy had already pulled the lever to shut the door. 

 "Oh yeah," he shrugged innocently, looking at me like he forgot I was there, "sorry... too late now." 

 "Murphy, on a scale from one to ten, you are a solid negative fourteen." I spoke up, a wide array of colorful insults at the tip of my tongue. "And only I am allowed to hurt Bellamy, so if you do, I will shove my foot so far up your ass-" 

 "See? He's funny." He pointed to me, smirking and staring at Bellamy like he was a rat, "I want to hear his commentary." 

 "Murphy, I swear-" 

 "Shut up!" He snapped, apparently not liking all of my commentary, he turned back to Bellamy, pointing at a red seat belt with his gun, "grab that, and tie a loop." 

An uneasy feeling settled in my  stomach, and Bellamy stared at Murphy as if he was insane... well, he is so that makes sense. He made no move to grab it, so Murphy turned to point the gun at me, pulling the trigger. 

 I gasped, closing my eyes shut tight as the bullet whizzed by my head, to close for comfort. My heart stopped for a second to long, and then made up for it by exploding with a flurry of erratic beats. Bellamy jumped, holding up his hands and grabbing the seat belt. "Stop! Okay? I got it." 

"Bellamy?" Octavia's worried voice came through the walkie-talkie, "are you and Nate okay?" 

 "Want her to know you're alive?" Murphy asked, waving the radio around like it was his new favorite toy, "start tying." 

 "Bellamy! Do you copy?" 

 "We're good, Tavia!" I yelled as Bellamy began to tie a knot in the seat belt, I swallowed at how my voice sounded... scared. "I mean, for now." 

 "Tell Raven to hurry her ass up!" 

 Those simple words from Bellamy made hope blossom in my chest, Raven. Of course, Raven could find a way to help us, she's Raven Reyes for God's sake!

"And get back to work!" 

 Behold, the most Bellamy Blake thing to have ever been said. 

 "Alright that's enough." Murphy released the button on the electronic, tossing it onto the table. "Tie those two ends together, and toss it over the beam." 

 I felt a harsh grip of paralyzing fear crush my chest as I realized what Murphy was doing. He was going to make Bellamy hang himself, for revenge. 

 And he was going to make me watch. 

  "Bellamy no!" I shouted, struggling against my bonds. "Don't listen to him! Just let him shoot me!" 

 Murphy laughed again, pointing to my white face with his gun. "See? Funny. I have nothing against Nate... well, I didn't until you beat my face in at that cliff.... call this, making us even." 

 "You're crazy!" I snapped, pulling at my wrist's until the ropes cut into my skin, "you know you deserved that." 

 "What do you want to say?" Bellamy demanded, desperately trying to pull the attention from my flailing form, "you want me to apologize? Okay, I-I'm sorry!" 

 "You've got it all wrong," Murphy counteracted, "I don't want an apology, I want you to feel what I felt... and then I want you to die." 

 A small scream came from me, and I began pulling harder, trying to get closer to the knife. if I could just tip the chair over, I could grab it. 

 But then what would I do? I'm tied up. 

 "Oh ho-" Murphy chuckled, pointing to me, "guess your little pick-pocket doesn't like my plan, maybe I should just kill him and get it over with." 

 "No." Bellamy didn't raise his voice, but his fists were clenched so tight I was just waiting for them to snap. "You can kill me in whatever way you want, Murphy, but you need to let him go." 

 "Or the other way around," I counteracted, trying to discreetly inch my chair forward, "I would be much more fun to kill-" 

 "You're not killing him." 

 "Au contraire, you are not killing him-" 

 "Enough!" Murphy snapped, waving his arms, and striking me with the idea that we could annoy him into leaving us alone. "If either of you speak again, the other dies!" 

 I clamped my lips shut, for once not even having the urge to speak, Bellamy probably looked the same, his lips sucked in, and his face tinted red. Murphy relaxed, "much better." 

Not much better you little bitch! I resorted to cussing Murphy out in my head, wishing that I had just killed him by that cliff. Or better, let the mob hang him. Maybe it was unfair, but it would have saved up a crap-ton of trouble. 

 "Grab that stool and drag it under the beam." 

 I could feel tears prick my eyes as I thrashed my body forward to try and get the chair to tip. I don't have Monty or Clarke right now, I can't lose Bellamy too. I don't care how much I can hate him at times, he can't die. 

 "Stand on it." 

 All I could do was watch as Bellamy obliged, and I made the painstaking effort to rock my chair, truing to reach for my knife using my foot. One thing was clear in my mind: Bellamy Blake was not dying today. 

 "Put it over your head." 

 I lifted my head so I could meet Bellamy's eyes, seeing that, for once, he looked scared. That frightened me further, and I mouthed an 'it'll be okay,' and gestured to the knife with my head. His lips parted, as I snagged the edge, doing my best to silently pick it up with my feet. That was much harder than it looks, since my hands were bound, and I couldn't make any sound without Murphy turning around... then we'd both be dead. 

 "This is insane," he croaked out, his voice quiet, making Murphy scoff and point the gun at me, thankfully not turning around, Bellamy's eyes widened, "no, I'm sorry-" 

 "You better be-" Murphy said, and I grinned in triumph as I got the knife high enough to gently bite the sharp edge, careful to not cut myself, and lower the hilt into my hand. Bellamy's eyes glittered with what I thought was hope, and I smiled to myself, praying that he could keep Murphy busy long enough for me to get these damn ropes off. 

 Our captor grabbed the belt and pulled slightly, making Bellamy stand straight as a pin, and claw at the rope, sending Murphy looks of intense loathing. I found that out was hard to cut a rope around you wrist, using that wrist, that couldn't really move. I managed to flip it around, and using the little space I had, began sawing at the material. 

 Come on. I internally willed, please work, please. 

 "You're so brave, aren't you?" Murphy taunted, pacing around in front of he Blake boy, "you came in here thinking you could just-" he gestured wildly with his arms, "turn it all around! You thought that you were stronger than me, or that one of your little friends would help you... well what are you thinkin' now, Bellamy?" He pulled the belt again, making Bellamy have to rise to his tip-toes, his face turning a shade of red. Panic hammered in my chest, but I could feel the rope thin. I just need a minute-

 "You know, I gotta give it to you, they look up to you almost as much as they look up to Clarke... or Nate." 

 I had to refrain from scoffing, please, these guys only look up to me if they want to do something stupid and need permission. 

 "Yeah well, we know the truth. You're a coward." 

 I could feel my hands freeze, the knife almost slipping from my grip. A coward. I had called him the same thing hours before. It was clear to me now, that Bellamy Blake was the farthest thing from a coward. He was brave, braver than me, to not let his emotions get in the way of the bigger picture. That's why we need him. 

 That's why I need him. 

 "I learned that the day you kicked the crate out from under me. That's what you said, that you were just giving the people what they want." 

 "I should've stopped them." Bellamy mumbled, and Murphy nodded, his 'no talking' rule going down the drain. I stayed silent, hoping that he had forgotten about me by this point. 

 "Yeah," Murphy sneered, "it's a little too late for that now." 

 "What happens after you kill me?" Bellamy asked, and I almost screamed when the rope gave out, and my hand was free. I immediately shifted the knife to my other hand, furiously cutting at the other bond, ignoring the  singing pain from where the rope cut into my wrists. "You think they're just gonna let you walk?" 

 "Well, I think princess is dead..." He admitted, and I shook my head, freezing when he jerked his head in my direction, but didn't turn. "And I think the little boyfriend is gonna have to go soon... might wanna do it while he's tied up... He can be feisty when he's mad." 

 Feisty. I scoffed to myself, when I'm mad I can rip a full grown man's head off using only my teeth and a handkerchief. 

 "Who's gonna lead the people? Huh, I guess that'll be me. And maybe I'll have your Grounder-pounding little sister-" 

Bellamy lashed out, kicking his leg forward and hitting Murphy, knocking him back a few steps, and then wincing as he stormed forward, grabbing the rope. I bit my lip, looking in between the two boys and my rope. 

 I don't know what it was, but a female voice cried out from underneath us, making all three of us perk up our ears and look down. Murphy smirked deviously, "I'm guessing that is her now." He said, before turning and firing repeatedly into the ground, I jumped in surprise, accidentally shouting at Bellamy, making Murphy turn to look at me, and then his empty gun. 

 "You little shit!" He snapped, but instead of running at me, he turned to Bellamy, swiftly kicking the box out from under him, and sending him flailing in the hair, choking and sputtering, not having much time before all air is gone.