𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍, the risk of death

      𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐒, Quinn tries her best not to trip over roots or rocks as the search party runs for their lives in hopes of the Grounders leaving them alone. She doesn't know how much longer she can do this for, her legs aching and her head pounding as she sees more and more Grounders appearing in front of her, lurking behind shadows and trees, holding weapons in their hands.

      Almost the entirety of the group is in front of her, and she's stuck running with Jasper. The boy's panting, his breaths being erratic as the two begin to slowly fall behind. Her delayed reaction to the knowledge of the Grounders essentially being blended into their group, hiding just behind trees and lurking up on top of branches has not proven helpful to her — if she had reacted sooner, she would've known, and she would've ran.

      Nothing about the situation is something she would wish upon her worst enemy. Being chased by Grounders who know the land they walk on more than they do? This wasn't something she was planning on experiencing, especially while they're supposed to be searching for Octavia, who's still missing.

      "They keep heading us off!" She hears someone shout, but she's not sure who — her mind isn't exactly focused on listening to other people, instead being more focused on not tripping and falling, giving the Grounders the perfect opportunity to kill her and add her body to the skeletons tied up in the woods.

      Her hair keeps falling in her face, and she mentally curses herself for never finding a way to put it up — she didn't think this rescue party would be running through the woods out of fear. That was never her thought when she joined the mission, only thinking that they'd be walking to find her.

      But maybe she should start expecting the unexpected.

      She hears Finn call out that they need to keep running — something which she thought was obvious, but who knows. She's learned that some of the delinquents don't think when they're panicked, which makes it hard for sudden switches in the conditions they're experiencing hard. 

      Her head is pounding — her headache's pain level growing almost exponentially with every step, her body telling her to stop running. She doesn't want this, she shouldn't have to experience this, but she's here anyway. She's stuck between life and death, and her only option seems to be to continue running, not knowing when she'll stop.

      "I can't run much longer!" She hears Jasper say from beside her. His steps are staggered, his body seeming to almost collapse in on itself as they continue to run. She knows that they can't stop — if they pause at all, they could all be caught between multiple different forms of death. Grounders would surround them (More than they already have), and each of them would have a different form of death waiting for them.

      "I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs declares from in front of them, continuing to run forward and in the opposite direction of where they are. 

      There's a pause for only a moment before she sees Bellamy begin to slow down, his strides no longer as quick-paced as they were before, the urge to escape certain death leaving his body as he comes to a complete stop, declaring to the entire group that he's sick of running. 

      At least in Quinn's opinion, that seems like a bad idea.

      "What are you doing?" Finn questions, his tone being infused with panic as the Grounders continue to close in on them. It doesn't make sense to stop — not when there's a large group of Grounders chasing after them, closing in on them with every second that passes. 

      She hopes that Bellamy hasn't gotten the idea in his head that their small group could fight the Grounders, especially with the different levels of experience. It would probably take a group effort to take down a single Grounder, much less however many are lurking beyond the trees and hiding in the shadows. Sure, they can see some — but who knows how many are hiding, waiting for the perfect opportunity to come out from their hiding places to kill them.

      What she doesn't think he would say is that the Grounders know where his sister is. 

      So imagine her surprise when he does.

      That's an idea that seems so ludicrous — how would they get answers out of a group of Grounders? How would a few teenagers and an 'adult' be able to convince the people who have made it clear that they don't particularly enjoy their presence in their grounds to give them the location of someone that they've taken hostage? Maybe his need to find his sister has clouded his judgement — maybe he isn't thinking clearly about how they would go about this. But at least in Quinn's opinion, that doesn't necessarily seem like a good idea.

      Her thoughts are brought back down to their current situation when Roma calls out for Diggs. Her eyes dart around the area — Diggs is no longer there. Her head immediately places his sudden disappearance on a Grounder in the trees, her eyes darting  upwards instantly only to see nothing but branches and leaves.

      When she sees Roma run off in the direction they were headed, she assumes that he just kept running. And as she begins running after the girl, following everyone else's lead, she swears she can see Diggs running through the forest, continuing the path that they had been taking originally. Or maybe it's her eyes playing tricks on her.

      She shouts out to Roma to stop, to stick with the group to avoid the possibility of being another kill to add to the Grounders' list. Splitting up will only make their situation worse, and she doesn't know if she can handle seeing anyone else's dead body anywhere, the blood and the realization that one step in a certain direction could've gotten her killed being too much for her.

      The only thing they have guiding them now is where they had seen her run off to — and the fact that she let out a scream of what sounded like horror, but her figure has disappeared from their view. Finn shouts that there could be more Grounders, and Quinn wants to add on to that, but the sight before her stops her.

      Diggs's body is stuck on what is evident to be a trap, one meticulously placed by the Grounders at whatever point in time — maybe it was just placed in the woods because of their arrival, or maybe the Grounders have an enemy they don't know about. His corpse is pinned up by metal rods, poking out through his back as blood drips down, some of it even creating small puddles on the ground. His face is still painted with fear, eyes wide open.

      "Shit" She lets out, her hands immediately racing up her scalp and scrunching up her hair out of stress. Who knows how many more traps the Grounders have placed throughout the woods — and what if she's the next to be trapped in one? She wouldn't even wish that upon the members of the camp that she dislikes, death via Grounder trap being too gruesome.

      "They were leading us here" Jasper starts. "This was the only direction we could run in". His conclusion brings the realization onto Quinn that they're just going to continue attempting to pick them off one by one — and she doesn't know if she wants to be the next or the last.

      But the lack of movement coming from all directions terrifies her — where the fuck did all the Grounders go? They were just chasing them, wielding their weapons in attempts to scare them. And if they were leading the group of delinquents here, shouldn't the Grounders be where they are? Finn voices her thoughts — the sudden disappearance of the Grounders doesn't seem right. 

      Her eyes go wide with horror as she realizes where they've gone, not wanting to accept the truth of what's going on around her. "They're going after Roma".

      She sees Bellamy run ahead, and is quick to follow. The group's following as well, none of them daring to go off on their own, even though the Grounders have already taken some of them when they're together. Maybe it's better to be together than a part, but she's not sure anymore. Anything can happen, but she doesn't think it'll be anything positive.

      They run in that direction, many emotions coursing through her veins as she does exactly what she was attempting to do earlier. Avoid falling, giving any Grounders that are lurking the chance to kill her. Her head's still pounding, her legs hurt from all the running, and she can feel herself get increasingly tired as time passes.

      She hopes they find Octavia soon.

      Soon, their pace slows down, as they realize that the Grounders are no longer chasing them. She hopes they've given up trying to capture and kill them entirely, but she's sure that's not the case. She doesn't want her head to stir up thoughts that will just disappoint her, especially regarding the situation they are currently in.

      Lost in her thoughts and only taking brief glances up towards the trees to check for the possible hidden Grounder, she fails to hear that Monroe has spotted Roma. She almost crashes right into Finn, not realizing that the only person besides herself that is currently moving is Bellamy, going to check up on Roma, who Quinn finally realizes is barely hidden behind a tree.

      But something seems off. As her eyes focus, she realizes that the girl isn't moving. She seems to be frozen in time, as if someone cast a spell on her to forever curse her to not move. But as she sees Bellamy's face drop, his expression painted with horror and pain, she realizes that the Grounders must've gotten her.

      "They're playing with us" Finn says, causing them all — besides Bellamy — to almost frantically scan their surroundings to see if any more Grounders are lurking anywhere. She takes a few steps forward, cautiously, to get a better glimpse at what caused Roma's death — and to her horror, she sees a spear sticking out of her chest, pinning her lifeless body to the tree.

      "She only came with us because of me" She hears Bellamy whisper to himself, or maybe to the group, but she's not sure. She's not sure if that's even the reason why the girl came with the group.

      "They can kill us whenever they want" Finn declares, causing her to glance around the forest once again, but not seeing any Grounders anywhere. She's not sure if that's a good thing — would it be better to see them, because at least their location is obvious? Or should the lack of a solidified location calm her nerves?

      They could be lurking anywhere, hiding behind the shadows cast by the tall trees and the green plants that are overgrown. They could be hiding behind the trunk of the trees, holding their weapons with precision and readiness so they won't miss when it comes time to kill. They could be hiding above them, ready to come off of the branches and take one or two of their lives away in an instant.

      "THEN THEY SHOULD GET IT OVER WITH! COME ON!".

      Jasper's frantic shouts snap her out of her thoughts, pulling her back to reality suddenly as she frantically tries to get him to be quiet. Her frantic pleas for his silence seem to fall on deaf ears, and she begins to hear rustling from somewhere in the forest, and she can feel fear crawl up her body like a spider. 

      "WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE! WE KNOW YOU WANT TO KILL US!".

      She storms up to Jasper, frantically slapping her hand over his mouth so his shouts are muffled and can no longer draw the attention of the Grounders. She makes eye contact with him, trying to bring her normal fierceness and attitude back, but her fear is overtaking her. 

      "You need to shut up!" She hisses to him, scanning the area behind them to see if any Grounders have appeared in their area. "Please".

      She still feels fear crawling up her spine, her emotions and brain's wild thoughts of what could happen and where the Grounders could be plaguing her. All she can think about is that there's Grounders lurking somewhere, waiting, watching, ready to come out and kill them. She drops her hand from Jasper's mouth, taking a deep breath as she does so before turning to scan the area once more.

      "Bellamy!" Monroe shouts, everyone's eyes turning to her. She's staring forward, right as the first of many Grounders that appear.

      Shit.

      She feels her chest rise and fall at a more rapid pace, her hand flying up to her hair as she tries not to break down in tears. She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want to feel the pain that Mbege or Diggs or Roma felt earlier, she doesn't want to be another kill on someone's conscious. Her vision starts to blur as the only thing she can focus on is the fact that death is some hundred feet away from her, before a noise distracts her.

      A brassy horn rings out throughout the woods, echoing and bouncing off the trees. She doesn't know what that means, but the Grounders seem to know exactly what that means, with the same people who were just ready to kill a bunch of teenagers turning on their heels and darting away, leaving the group of delinquents to suffer from complete and utter confusion.

      "They're leaving" She hears Bellamy point out, a hint of relief coming from his voice. She doesn't have a response to that, only finding the nearest tree to sit up against. Her heart's slowing down, her breathing becoming more calm and collected. 

      "That horn. What does it mean?" Jasper questions, head cocked to the side. She doesn't know what it means either, but maybe it's a good thing. Maybe they shouldn't question it and only be happy that they aren't being chased and picked off one by one by Grounders.

      Finn starts rustling through the bag he brought, looking up at the group with worry painted on his face. "Acid fog".

      "You have got to be fucking kidding me" Quinn whispers to herself, taking another deep breath as she helps Finn take out the emergency tent that he brought from the camp. Monroe tries to tell them that they have to run, but there's no time. Running from the fog would only get them killed.

      And as they all file under the tent, keeping them hidden from the fog as much as possible, Quinn can't help but wish she were back at camp, in her own tent, not in the middle of fucking nowhere while fate keeps trying to throw different forms of death at her.

—————————————————————————————

      𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐎, Sam sits beside Raven at a table situated on the first floor of the dropship. The camp's been peaceful ever since they got back — everybody continuing on with their normal activities. The search party for Octavia hasn't come back yet, and Sam has absolutely no idea when they'll be back.

      He made sure to check up on Makayla once he got back, too. She said her ankle feels somewhat better, but it still aches with every step. She hasn't been putting much pressure on it, and instead of participating in any of the many activities in the camp that deal with major amounts of movement, she's been entertaining some of the younger members of the camp with shitty stories she comes up with on the spot (Her words, not Sam's).

      Raven's been oddly quiet ever since they got back. She's been focused on the radio, which is expected, but she's barely said a word to him. He doesn't want to pester her if she truly doesn't want to be bothered, but he can't recall a time where she's ever been this silent. All she's said is a few things that they need to do for the radio, but nothing more than that.

      "How's it coming?" He hears Clarke say, and he turns to see her walking in. He gives her a light smile, knowing that Raven probably isn't going to acknowledge her presence in the room, and starts to explain the conditions the radio is currently in.

      "The radio's fixable, but we're not sure how much longer it'll take to fix" He explains, seeing Clarke nod along as he speaks. His eyes dart over to the girl next to him once more, who is still yet to register the blonde girl in the room with them. He has a pretty good idea into why the brunette hasn't registered Clarke's presence — he thinks if he had gained the same knowledge that Raven has, he'd be decently upset over the matter, and wouldn't want to speak to anyone either.

      "Raven, are you okay? You hardly said a word the whole way back from the bunker" Clarke questions, and Sam tries to silently tell her that her questions and attempts to make conversation with Raven might be a bad idea. He doesn't know how Raven will handle the situation, and based off of the assumptions he's made over the few expressions on their faces and what he's seen, Raven has the same ideas as him.

      It wasn't exactly hard to figure out. Clarke's face had absolutely plummeted when she saw Finn and Raven kiss on the day of Raven's arrival, and it's not like it was hidden from anyway. And it was easy to make the assumption, because out of anyone on Earth, she's spent a lot of time with Finn — and if they really did start something, he wouldn't be surprised.

      And Raven's face after she saw the metal reindeer in the bunker was also telling. She had come to the assumption that the two had started something as well, based on the fact that the metal reindeer was literally made for Clarke — why else would Finn have made it?

      He remembers the first day Raven showed up with the metal bird around her neck. It was the day the two were given the opportunity to take their test to move to zero-g, earlier than everyone else was normally given the opportunity. How she was smiling, saying that it was a good luck charm from her boyfriend. He thought she didn't need a good luck charm, but she still wore it with pride anyway.

      It makes sense why Raven would figure that out.

      He watches silently as she gets up from her seat, turning towards the blonde. Her face is painted with betrayal, anger, sadness, and plenty of other emotions that Sam can't list. "Tell me I'm wrong" She starts, her voice somewhat shaky as she speaks. "Tell me Finn didn't make this for you. Tell me you weren't screwing my boyfriend as I was risking my ass to come down here".

      Clarke seems to be at a loss for words. He tries not to stare, trying to at least give them some sort of privacy as they speak — but there's not many places for him to go. He turns back to the radio, not wanting to intrude.

      "I can't tell you that".

      There's a pause before anything else is said, Clarke's response hanging over all of their heads before Raven decides to speak. "He made one for me, too. Just in case you thought you were special".

      Raven's emotions are radiating off of her, and he isn't even looking at her to tell. Every word she says is laced with her anger and frustration, and though he doesn't blame her, he does think it's slightly extreme to be taking out her emotions on Clarke. They don't seem to have a past relationship where they would've known each other, gotten a chance to speak to each other and become friends, or even just acquaintances.

      "Do you think I wanted this? I didn't even know you existed. Look, as far as he knew, you were dead, or you would have been soon enough. My mom, too, and everyone we ever knew on the ark, And there was nothing we could do to stop it" Clarke tries to explain. Sam can't tell if anything she's saying is actually helping the situation, because it could very much be harming it. 

      "He could've waited more than ten days" The brunette starts, and it sounds like she's ready to cry. He understands the connection that the girl has with Finn — he's not surprised that she feels betrayed. If he were in a similar situation, he would be feeling betrayed too.

      Raven sits back down next to Sam, fiddling with the metal raven on her necklace as she lets out a sigh. He's not sure what to do — he really wants to help, but relationship advice isn't exactly his strong suit. He does feel sorry for her, because he's sure one of the main reasons she even decided to make such a long journey down to the ground, risking her life, was for Finn.

      "Do you love him?" Raven calls out to the blonde, back facing the girl. The blonde is almost out of the dropship, only turning back to answer.

      "I hardly know him".

      The room goes silent then, the only sound being the clinking of metals and other materials as he continues his work on the radio. Raven has her necklace clutched between her fingers, as if she's trying to crush the metal bird before tossing it onto the desk, burying her head in her hands.

      "Did you know?".

      He looks up from the radio, glancing over at the girl. "Know what?".

      He hears Raven scoff. "Don't play dumb, Sam. Did you know about Clarke and Finn?".

      He doesn't want to lie to the girl but thinks that telling the truth might be a bad idea as well. Nothing in this situation seems right, both options feeling wrong. He considers the idea of not telling her the truth — his brain telling him that to spare her feelings, the best option would be to stretch the truth slightly. But also, what would the repercussions of not telling her the truth be?

      "I had a hunch, nothing was ever told to me about it, but I assumed" He says, telling her exactly what he thought. Never once was it confirmed to him before now, but it wasn't hard to figure out the few times he saw things between the two delinquents. He hopes his words don't make the situation worse, only wanting to make his friend feel better, but he's not sure if there is a way to make her feel better at the moment.

      She stays silent for a few seconds, looking straight ahead at the radio. He's not sure what to do — does he sit there and wait, or does he press the subject? He can't tell what to do, only hoping he can make her feel better magically.

      "Why didn't you tell me?". 

      She's looked up from the radio now, her eyes welling up with tears — only slightly — as she looks straight at him. He's always known her to keep her guard up, only letting it down a few times around him back on the Ark. And after every instance where that happened, she would always reiterate that next to Finn, he's the closest thing she's got to family. He can almost feel the slight betrayal she feels.

      "I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to make you feel hurt if I were to tell you something that was entirely based on an assumption" He starts to explain, trying his best to be careful with his words to not make her feel even more worse than she already does. "I'm really sorry Raven, and I probably should've told you sooner, but I —".

      "Didn't want to hurt me?" She questions, wiping her cheek as her eyes drop back down to the radio, like they were before. He stays silent for a few seconds, only giving her a response by nodding his head.

      "You wouldn't be hurting me. It's not your fault" She explains, looking back over at him. He nods his head, not knowing what to say in response. He feels like he's teetering on thin ice at the moment, like if he says the wrong thing he could get lashed out at, like Raven essentially did to Clarke. "I still think you should've told me though".

      He nods his head once more, and the two end up peacefully working on the radio, not simmering in the same awkwardness that they were before.

—————————————————————————————

      𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇.

      She's tired of constantly experiencing near-death experiences, she's tired of her friends going missing, she's tired of Earth itself being completely fucked up. She's tired of not feeling safe, and she's tired of feeling like she needs to carry a weapon around with her no matter where she goes. 

      She's also tired of sitting under a dirty tent, wedged between Finn and Monroe. But at least she's not dying in the poisonous fog that should be outside, lurking and waiting to infect someone. 

      She can hear everyone's shaky, uneven breaths as they lay there, waiting for the fog to pass. She's sure her breathing is the loudest, still trying to calm down her nerves after that terrifying scare with the Grounders. She's thought it over, and she doesn't understand why she acted like that — if you're standing between death and life, wouldn't you want to move and attempt to survive? Everyone else was doing that, making their best attempts to survive in the moment, but she wasn't. Instead, she stood still, frozen in her place.

      Her survival instincts must suck.

      "How long are we supposed to wait?" Jasper questions, breaking the silence that has fallen over them. It's been quiet for what seems like hours — they don't know how long it takes for fog to pass. But now that she thinks about it, shouldn't the fog cause some sort of movement to happen to the piece of the tent that's over their heads? Instead, the only movements have been when one of the five moves their head, or leg, or any other limb of theirs.

      "Will this even work?" She hears Monroe question — something that her mind has silently been asking for the past however many minutes they've been under the tarp. 

      "We'll find out" Finn tries to reassure, but his voice sounds uneasy. Everyone seems uneasy — not just about the fog, but the Grounders too. What if once they get out from under the tent, they get ambushed once more? What if they don't have an unplanned method of escape like they did this time?

      Someone lifts up their head, and she looks over to the best of her ability to see that it was Bellamy. "No we won't".

      "Wait, what do you mean —" She begins, but is cut off by the tent being lifted up to reveal absolutely no fog. Her mind immediately goes to the horn, which she was quick to learn is meant to signify when the fog is coming, so why was it used? Did one of the many Grounders that had surrounded them believe they saw the fog racing towards them?

      "Maybe it was a false alarm" She hears Finn suggest as she restabilizes herself in a standing position. She hopes it was, instead of being some sort of tactic to kill all of them by giving them the false sense of safety that the Grounders fled the scene.

      She's about to add onto that statement when she hears Bellamy declare that the Grounders are coming back. She immediately lets out a huff, running a hand through her hair on instinct out of stress, her eyes darting around the forest to try and find them. She can already feel herself getting nervous once more — the makeshift sword she brought that completely slipped her mind because of the stress is still with her, but she doesn't know if it'll work against a single Grounder, much less multiple.

      "I think he's alone" Jasper points out, and her eyes finally find the Grounder. 

      "He's not even running towards us" She adds, finding it odd that the Grounder wouldn't want to try and kill them. That's all that they've been trying to do this entire time, so why does he not want to anymore? Does he not see them? Or is he just ignoring their presence in the woods, pretending like they're not there?

      "He doesn't see us. I'm going after him" Bellamy declares, and Quinn immediately wants to tell him that his reckless decisions seem like a bad idea. The only thing she can think of that might work in the man's favor against the Grounder is a sneak attack, but even then, the Grounder could probably overpower him.

      Finn seems to have the same idea as her. "And do what? Kill him?".    

      "No. Catch him. Make him tell me where Octavia is, then kill him" He explains, and Quinn immediately shakes her head. That sounds like a horrible idea to her, because why would the Grounder tell him where Octavia is? What is he going to do against him? What harm could Bellamy possibly inflict upon the figure that's continuing to run away from them?  

      "Do you really think you can get answers out of him?" She questions, seeing an annoyed expression appear on his face. "I don't doubt that you can probably inflict some damage on him, but seriously, he can probably kill any of us in an instant".

      Bellamy lets out a sigh. "Do you have a better plan then?".

      She shrugs, because she knows she doesn't. She just doesn't want to end up being a part of something so stupid that it ends up costing her life. Now that she's not panicking like crazy and actually has regained her senses, she can at least try to influence the rest of the group to not do something incredibly stupid.

      "What if he's leading us into a trap?".

      Nobody has an answer for the Jordan boy, only slowly walking through the woods to keep a safe distance from the Grounder they're following. She hopes it's not the general consensus in the group that they're following Bellamy's plan, but she's almost certain that even if they agree on something else, he'll still do his reckless plan anyway, endangering his life and the rest of the group's.

      They continue walking, following him through the forest, not knowing if he's leading them into a trap or leading them to Octavia's location. She hopes it's the latter, not wanting to know what would happen to them if they get stuck in a trap. They continue wandering, almost aimlessly, and she hopes that the Grounder finally arrives at the location the entire group is hoping to find soon.

      And then he does.

      He enters a cave a couple hundred feet away from them, and the group immediately starts rushing towards it. Attempting to not trip over the thick roots poking out of the ground, Quinn's one of the people at the front of the group, wanting to get Octavia out of there as soon as possible.

      Bellamy takes the lead, Quinn following close behind. The man in front of her is holding up his axe, ready to strike the Grounder the moment they turn the corner and see the main area of the cave, but as they do, they learn that the weapon is not necessary.

      "Bellamy? Quinn?".

      She races towards the girl, collapsing onto the floor and quickly embracing her into a hug. She's finally found the girl she's been itching to reunite with for so long, finally gotten the girl that has made the last year of her life a lot more entertaining than it used to be.

      "I'm sorry for being such a shitty friend to you the past few days, I feel so, so bad —".

      "You haven't been, Quinn" Octavia says, letting go of the hug to finally embrace her brother. She backs up, letting the two siblings embrace as she stands up, finally taking in her surroundings.

      The cave is almost built as if it's supposed to be a home, housing the Grounder that they followed. She can finally identify that the Grounder is a man, covered in multiple different garments that probably hold plenty of different weapons. She doesn't know how to feel about that, only knowing that staying in the cave with the Grounder longer than necessary isn't a good idea. Sure, he's knocked out now, but wasting any more time increases the entire group's chances of dying. 

      She watches Finn crouch down next to the man, inspecting the many things intertwined with his clothing, the many items that he's carrying with him. She knows it's not a good idea, and while trying not to panic, she quickly walks up to him.

      "Foghorn" He points out, holding onto the same horn that saved their lives earlier. Her mind connects the dots, that this Grounder might've saved their lives from the others that wanted them dead, blowing the horn to make it seem like there was acid fog coming, instead of letting them die at the hands of who knows how many Grounders that were lurking in the woods.

      She crouches down next to him. "He saved us?".

      Finn questions what she means, and she shifts her weight backwards in an attempt to keep her distance from the man. "The foghorn, that was the noise we heard. What if he blew the horn so the other Grounders that were chasing us would stop?".

      Finn still has the horn in his hands, inspecting it even more. "But how do we know for sure? It could've been any Grounder, or maybe, it was a false alarm".

      "We can't know for sure. But we should probably get away from him, just in case I'm —" She begins saying, attempting to stand up from her spot on the ground, but instead, there's a sharp pain in her thigh, immediately surging through her body. She almost instantly collapses to the ground, the pain being too much for her to handle. 

      She watches as Finn gets stabbed with a knife, which is what she assumes is stuck in her thigh, and collapses along side her. She's stuck on the ground, completely helpless, as she watches the Grounder attempt to attack her friends, the same people she's almost died with earlier that day. She wants to help, she really does, but she feels frozen in her spot once more.

      Her vision begins to darken, her head is spinning, and she feels the pain coursing through her veins. She hears voices around her, but she can't make out who's saying what. Everything sounds muffled, and she feels like she's dying.

      Maybe this is what was meant to happen anyway. She's avoided death so many times in one day, the traps and the Grounders, and still gets hurt. She can't do anything about it anymore — all the fear she's felt has been meaningful. She should've listened to herself, instead of entertaining the idea that the Grounder helped them. She should've gotten herself and Finn out of the way immediately.

      But as she loses consciousness, all she can think about is that fate's a bitch, and there's no outrunning whatever's been written in the stars about where she'll end up now.

      𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 —

6k words i'm gonna go do a backflip (not really)

as much as i love quinn, putting her through a ton of shit is really fun too! and i hope i portrayed the sheer and utter panic she went through with the grounders and the possibility of her dying properly.

go check the cast list i made a few updates to it!

also updates aren't going to be as frequent anymore, i have gotten so busy recently that i haven't had much time to do anything. updates should be every other monday now though :)

xoxo!

𝟔𝟎𝟖𝟏 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒