CHAPTER EIGHT

"What thirteen year old doesn't get metaphors?"

***

"This knife was made from metal in the Drop Ship." 

How did I get to this point in my life? I wondered, staring down at the knife Clarke showed me. Jasper was taking his first steps outside of the camp today, and... well, things didn't go totally as expected.  

 (He found Wells' fingers and a knife, which signified that the death wasn't perpetrated by a Grounder. It also means that I have another fucking thing to worry about in my life, so go me!) 

 "She's right." I clarified, although I was sure no one doubted her in the first place. I recognized the little indents in the metal from our... rocky landing. Plus, Grounder's wouldn't have used a dumb little knife, they would have probably used a giant sword or some shit. 

 "Who else knows about this?" Bellamy asked as I handed the knife back to Clarke. I wouldn't call us besties, but we were... getting along. Getting along in the way that we can speak without me wanting to light her on fire. Scratch that, I actually am finding myself enjoying her company. It's reminding me that this is still the girl I grew up with. 

 "Nobody, we brought it straight here." Octavia shifted nervously on her feet, her eyes practically brimming with concern. 

"Wait, Clarke? What does this mean?" Jasper asked, leaning heavily on the table. He was healing nicely, of course he is, he's tough. I smiled at the thought, before remembering the circumstances and forcing a poker face. 

 "It means the Grounders didn't kill Wells... it was one of us." 

 "So there's a murderer in the camp?" 

 "There's more than one murderer in the camp." I pointed out, crossing my eyes and furrowing my eyebrows. "There was one guy who literally almost stabbed me because I tapped on his shoulder asking for water." I paused, "and a lot of people hated Wells." 

 "Hey! We need to keep this quiet." Bellamy jumped up, as if struck by a sudden thought, standing between Clarke and the exit to the tent we were all gathered in. I turned to give Octavia a look that I hope told her that her brother was annoying. She nodded in response. 

 "Get out of my way, Bellamy." Clarke shot back, gritting her teeth together as defiance painted her expression. 

 "We can't have people going crazy." I tried, stepping between the two. "They're emotionally unstable as is, we can't have them rioting knowing that someone killed one of our own. Accusations will be thrown, and all hell will break loose." I bit my lip, "they're not exactly the smartest bunch."

 "Yeah," Bellamy agreed, pointing at me. "I mean, look at what we've achieved. The walls, the patrols. Fear of the Grounders are building that wall... and what are you going to do? March out there and demand the killer come forward?" 

 "We don't even know who's knife that is!" I added, and Clarke raised an eyebrow, holding up the blade. 

 "Really?" She pointed to a spot on the hilt, and I leaned forward to read what it said. "J.M. John Murphy." 

 How did I not see that? I coughed nervously, taking a step to the side. "Um, proceed."

 Clarke shoved past Bellamy, who shot me a 'what the hell?' look, and followed close after, I groaned loudly. Octavia rested her hand on my arm. "You do realize that there could be more than one percent with the initials 'J.M', right?" 

 "Yeah, but I am also not the smartest." 

 We pushed out of the tent, jut in time to hear Clarke speak. "You were the only one who got in a knife fight with him!" 

 "Yeah, I didn't kill him then either." Murphy retaliated, looking past Clarke's shoulder, directly at me. His eyes were wide and worried. He was worried... but not worried like 'oh no, I killed someone and I am getting caught, help me!' More worried like, 'yo, I didn't do it.' Way. I wasn't sure why he thought I could help him, but I felt a twinge of unease in my stomach. 

 I guess I believe him. 

 "Tried to kill Jasper too." 

 Okay... my trust just evaporated a little bit. 

"This is ridiculous! I don't have to answer to you, I don't have to answer to any of you!" Murphy snapped, his voice rising with his desperation as he took a few steps back. 

 "Come again?" 

 We all turned to Bellamy in almost perfect unison when his deep voice cut in. I reached forward to try and stop him, but he just shook me off. 

 "Look Bellamy, I'm telling you man, I didn't do this!" He turned, his wide eyes focusing on me. "Nate? Come on-" 

 "I believe him." I deadpanned, trying to keep my face as stoic as possible. I licked my lips, sucking in a deep breath. 

 Now it was everyone's turn to stare at me. 

 "Look, Murphy may be a dick... but he's not an idiot." I began, crossing my arms and pursing my lips. "I mean, come on! Do any of you actually think that he would kill someone with a knife bearing his initials? And then drop it and not pick it up?" I laughed, although being Murphy's lawyer wasn't particularly humorous. "Come on, you guys! Again I say, Murphy may be a dick-" 

 He mumbled something inaudible under his breath. 

 "But he's not stupid! You all are looking for someone to blame because you want closure! Just... chill out, and we can figure this out without being a bunch of dumbies." 

 There was a bout of silence, and Murphy visibly relaxed. Until one kid spoke up. I recognized him as the guy who I punched the other day. "Why do you know so much about covering up a murder, Nathan?" 

 "I've had lots of practice." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Why do you think? Maybe it's because I'm not a fucking idiot." 

 That seemed to be the final kick the dam needed before caving in. That one kid lunged toward me, catching me off guard and giving everyone else a chance to swarm Murphy. 

 A harsh push to my chest made me stumble back, followed by a harsh punch to my jaw. A scowl darted onto my lips. "Get the hell off of me." I snapped, shoving the kid who's name I still do not know. My jaw hurt from where he landed a blow, but I was otherwise unscathed. I pushed him back, and ran at the angry mob. They were all kicking Murphy, and one kid tied a gag around his mouth and his hands behind his back. 

 "Stop it idiots!" I yelled, trying to push my way past. A sharp pain spiked through my head as an elbow was thrown back to my head. I stumbled, tripping over someone else's foot and stumbling to the ground. Another punch hit my face as some of the mob-losers branched off to assault me. They kept yelling something about "alliances" and it was seriously pissing me off. 

 Someone else punched me, and I felt my eyesight go dark for like, a second at the hard blow, before suddenly the pressure was relieved. I heard shouting, dimly, and shook my head, feeling a trickle of blood come from my nose. I quickly wiped it off, pain resonating through my head. I spit a glob of blood to the ground, my heart beating so fast due to my anger. 

 "Are you okay?" Bellamy asked, helping me up. I swayed slightly. My entire face felt like it was tap-danced on, and my head was throbbing. Other then that, I was fine... I think. I could see and hear fine which was a good sign. 

 Those bitches. 

 "Nate!" 

 "What? Uh, yeah I'm fine." I mumbled, pushing myself away from Bellamy and stumbling in the direction the angry mob of assholes went. I yelled out in anger, hitting a tree with my forearm as the mob of losers continued their relentless pursuit. "Come on, Blake!" I turned to Bellamy, grabbing his forearm and pointing to the group. "This is insane!" 

"We don't know that." 

 "We also don't know it was him! They can't kill him if he's innocent, give it a vote, let him speak for himself, we aren't animals." I yelled again, shoving someone over when I spotted them. Murphy was on top of a platform, a noose tied around his neck, and a tree. 

 They were gonna hang him. 

 I spotted Clarke not so far away, struggling to get to Murphy. Almost instantaneously, a group surged forward, grabbing my arms and pinning them roughly against my back. Pain shot through my arms as I threw my head back, hitting someone directly in the forehead. I managed to worm out of their grasp. Someone kicked my knees out, my stomach hitting the ground harshly as my arms were onced again pinned to my back, my cheek against the dirt. I struggled, but the grip only tightened, a stab of pain was sent through my shoulder, and I stopped struggling. I would just die quicker if my arms broke. 

 The crowd began chanting Bellamy's name. 

 "No!" I screamed, although it was more difficult than it seemed, as I really didn't want a mouthful of dirt right now. He looked over at me, and I spoke up again, "Bellamy it won't fix anything!"

 "You can't do this!" Clarke's voice added. "I saw you in the forest, you are not a killer!" 

 "This is on you, Princess!" Bellamy glowered at Clarke. "You should've just kept your mouth shut!" 

 And before I could react, he stalked forward and kicked the box from underneath Murphy's feet. 

 He failed around like a fish out of water for a few seconds, his face turning purple, his lips turning blue, and I felt disbelief intermingle with my anger as the hand on my back slackened and I darted up, spitting out more blood. Before I could intervene, a new voice cut in. It was Finn, coming back from wherever the hell he was this whole time. "Cut him down!" He snapped, before brandishing his ax and doing it himself. I spotted a head of blonde hair, and jyst for the fun of it elbowed the closest person to me in the face, running over to the little girl and pushing her back slightly. 

 "Charlotte get out of here!" I snapped, and she took one look at my bloody, beaten up face and burst into tears. 

 "Stop it! Stop it!" She screeched. "Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!" 

***

"What the hell?" I repeated for the millionth time in ten minutes. I was pacing back and forth, trying to stop the blood leaking from my nose and cuts on my forehead alike with my shirt. I didn't even know what to say at this point, so my words were lackluster when it came to a meaninful message. "What were you thinking? You killed someone, Charlotte! Do you understand how serious that is? Do you realize what you did?" 

 "I was trying to slay my demons!" She shot back, tears still streaming down her face. "Like you told me!" 

 I groaned, running my hand over my hair. Clarke gave me a sharp look. "What?" 

 "It was a metaphor!" I explained, wincing at the pounding pain in my head. "What thirteen year old doesn't get metaphors?" I turned to Charlotte. "You should have told me what you thought before you did it! Killing someone is something that you can never take back!" 

 "Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy yelled from outside the tent, his words muffled and laced with malice. Charlotte gripped my hand with terror in her eyes. 

 "Please don't let them hurt me, Nate!" 

 "I-" I couldn't think of what to say. I mean, Murphy wouldn't stop. But Charlotte was a little kid. She would need to be punished somehow, but we can't kill her. I was against that, just like I was against killing Murphy. 

 "Those are your boys out there!" Finn spoke up, turning on Bellamy as I gripped Charlotte's hand and wondered what the hell we would do with her. 

 "This is not my fault! If you listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall!" Bellamy growled. I sniffled, wiping more blood from my face and wincing at my headache, an action that didn't go unnoticed. 

 "Nate." Charlotte whimpered again. "They hurt you, they hurt you because of me." 

 "I'm fine." I assured, kneeling down and letting her rest her head on my shoulder. "You just worry about yourself." 

 Ohh... bad wording. 

 "Just... you're gonna be fine. But you aren't getting out of this without punishment. I can tell you that none of them will hurt you." 

 I turned to point at Clarke and Finn. "Just stay with them while Bellamy and I try to figure all of this out. Okay?" 

 "Okay." She echoed, detaching herself from me, and taking a step backward. I turned to glare at Bellamy. "Try to keep your mouth shut." I snapped, scowling deeply as the image of him kicking the box from under Murphy played in my head. The man clenched his jaw.

 "This wasn't my-" 

 "You were the one who kicked the goddamn box!" I snapped, hitting his shoulder harshly and jabbing my finger at his chest. 

 "I was-" 

 "Save it." I hissed, turning and stalking past Bellamy, pushing out of the tent and being greeted by the group of mob-assholes. Now standing amongst Murphy in perfect harmony. I turned to spit on the ground, the metallic taste of blood lingering on my tongue. 

"First of all!" I held up my hand, flashing the entire camp my middle finger. "You all suck!" 

 "I've got nothing against you, Nate!" Murphy bellowed. He literally looked like hell. Blood mixed wit dirt was caked on his face and arms, I could clearly see the indent in his neck where the rope dug into his flesh. "Just bring out the girl!" 

 "Sorry, Murphy." I narrowed my eyes slightly. "I know what Charlotte did was fucked up, but we aren't gonna kill her. You know why?" I turned back to the assholes, raising my voice to an angry yell. "Because we aren't fucking stupid you goddamn losers!" 

 Bellamy's presence appeared beside me, probably the only thing keeping me from being jumped, and Murphy's lips curled in a sneer. "Oh, look who decided to join us." 

 "Dial it down and back off." His voice held a threatening tone, and I shot him a glare. Maybe I was on his side, but I still hated him, and was tempted to smack him with my wristband again. 

"What are you gonna do, hang me?" Murphy taunted, spreading his arms out. 

 Bellamy didn't even waver. "I was just giving the people what they wanted." 

 "Enough!" I smacked Bellamy's chest, making him shut up. I lowered my voice, "you weren't the one who got your face beaten up for him, so why don't you keep your mouth shut?" I turned back to Murphy. "Come on, Murphy! Do you really want to hang a thirteen year old girl?" 

 "Just giving the people what they want!" He grinned, "Okay! All in favor of seeing the real murderer hung up?" Only like, four people raised their hands. My spirit lifted, hopefully Murphy would see how crazy he is being.

 "I see! So it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you let her walk? Cowards! All of you are cowards!" 

 "There's a difference between cowardice and idiocy." I crossed my arms, making Murphy's eyebrows shoot up. "I'm sorry about the whole 'hanging' thing, but I can't help but notice how nice you all are to each other now." I raked my gaze over the group as Murphy glanced to his side. "You're all idiots. That's all I learned from this attempted murder." 

 Bellamy took a step forward, "it's over, Murphy."  

 "Whatever you say, boss." 

 I turned to catch Octavia's eye, flashing her a thumbs up. Murphy wouldn't fight the entire camp, just to kill a little kid, would he? I know I have called him an idiot a solid dozen time in the past minute, but he was the victim in this situation. He could certainly milk that if he just stepped down. 

 I turned around just in time to see him hit Bellamy with a log. 

 " Nevermind!" I yelled, sprinting forward and just barely managing to catch him before he hit the ground. I grunted at the weight, lowering him gently to the ground. I clenched my teeth. "Murphy!" 

 He went for Octavia next, but Jasper jumped in front of her and took the hit. I rose to my feet, dodging when he tried to swing it at me. I know I'm not good at fighting, but I was quick. 

 That obviously wasn't enough. I ducked when Murphy swung the log at me. "Quit it!" I shouted, "do you realize how things will end for you if you do this?" 

 "I don't think we have the same idea here, Masteron."

 Then everything went black.