─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

ONCE THE SUN CAME BACK UP, IT WAS MUCH EASIER TO FIND THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WOODS. June still didn't trust Murphy, so her focus would move from the back of his head to the trees. She was on guard for the moment he'd explode or they'd be under attack by grounders. She was sure they were still angry about burning their warriors alive during the war, but June knew her friends were out there somewhere. She could shut her eyes and picture what was happening to them, and it made her keep moving with a gun cocked straight in her hands, prepared despite the tiredness and aching.

Once they're past trees, Bellamy, who had been hauling Murphy in the lead, urges him. "Alright, Murphy, where to now?"

Sniffling in agitation, Murphy held up the binds digging into wrists sarcastically. "What do you say we loose these first, alright?" He suggested. June rolled her eyes, coming to a stop.

"No." It's the same answer Bellamy had given the other times Murphy asked to be released, much to June's relief.

"Hey, if we get attacked out here I have nothing to defend myself with," Murphy snapped back.

June fakes pity with her lower lip pouted. "Oh, that must suck," she says, sickly sweet with deep sarcasm. Murphy's mouth shut when realizing she was referring to the hostage situation in the dropship, and truth be told, she didn't give a damn if he couldn't defend himself.

That changed when Finn heaved a sigh and pushed past June and Bellamy, pulling a knife out and bringing the blade down until it sliced through the ties to set him free. June is astonished while Murphy is grateful for it, letting the bounds that once held him fall. "Thank you," he says, going ignored as Finn stormed ahead with Bellamy behind him, confronting him with demands over what he just did.

Shaking her head in disbelief, June grabbed Murphy by the sleeve of his jacket and hauled him forward to follow, Monroe and Sterling trailing behind them. "Woah, easy there," he jokes, even though he had not made a move to pull away.

"Shut the hell up, Murphy," June commanded, her lower lip curled into a sneer as they catch up with Bellamy and Finn.

"... We can handle Murphy." June could hear Finn stating once they were close enough.

Shooting Murphy a glare, Bellamy mutters; "Better hope so."

A smug grin is plastered on Murphy's face when he meets Bellamy's glare. "So do I get a gun now?" He questioned. Bellamy, annoyed, shoves him forward harshly, sending him stumbling and nearly tripping.

The walk through the woods went on longer, this time with Murphy in the front with Bellamy straight behind him. June hates that she no longer keeps her attention on the shifting trees, only on Murphy. The level of distrust is too high for her to not. The woods seem to stretch longer as they trailed on, following Murphy's directions without any breaks. June was getting more and more tired, but there was not enough time to waste. Anything could be happening to those that survived and were kidnapped by the enemy.

June was pulled out of her thoughts when Murphy suddenly lurched forward when they came near a slope. "Everybody down!" He hissed, throwing his weight on Bellamy and pushing him down. June quickly dropped, sprawling to the ground, feeling the dirt stain her clothing, her and her friends hidden by the tall grass. Murphy leaned off Bellamy, pleased with himself. "This is it. Told you I'd find it."

Although she hates to admit it, June sees Murphy's right. He was telling the truth. A good far distance away was the grounder village he talked about, making June look through the scope of her rifle to get a better look. She could see grounders, all women, men and children dressed in armor and carrying different types of weapons. "I see nothing but grounders," Bellamy said from where he was observing the area through his own scope. Finn took Sterling's to peer through and get a look for himself. "Our people aren't here." June sighed at his news, knowing he was right.

"Wait a minute. They've got stuff from our dropship," Finn says, squinting to get a better look.

When taking another look, June could see he was right. A few of the grounders they were spying on were tugging on red seat-belts, the same ones that kept them in their seats in the dropship on the way down. "Maybe they know where our friends are," Bellamy suggested wistfully.

"Yeah, or maybe they killed them already," Murphy said dully.

June turned her head to shoot him a scowl. "Shut up, Murphy."

Suddenly, Finn's features turned cold and his hands tremble with fury. "Son of a bitch."

"What is it?" Bellamy questioned, noticing the action.

"The guy with one eye. Around his neck," Finn instructed them. June was confused but looked through her scope once more. She found the man with one eye, a pink scar over the closed lid and his long brown hair braided on each side of his head. But she didn't see anything out of order, leaving her uncertain if she was missing something important, as was Bellamy, who asked what they were looking at. "He's got Clarke's watch," Finn snarled out angrily.

With another gaze, June could see he was right. Hanging from the one eye man's neck was the watch she had seen so many times in the Griffin's. "It was her father's," she murmured, in thought. "Jake Griffin gave it to her before he..." She drew in a shaky breath, knowing how important the piece of jewelry was to Clarke.

"She wouldn't give that up without a fight," Bellamy noted.

The cold expression Finn has turned much more deadly. "Neither will we."

"Okay." Bellamy pulled away from the scope. "June, Finn, you're with me." He nodded to Monroe and Sterling. "You two stay here. This thing goes south, take out the other grounders, but don't shoot the grounder with the watch. Copy?" He ordered.

"Copy," Sterling repeated.

"Copy," Monroe added. "And what about Murphy?"

Murphy grinned. "Yeah, do I get a gun now?"

Shrugging one shoulder, June sees a glint in Bellamy's eye when he's hit with an idea. "Something like that."

As it turns out, June didn't mind Bellamy's plan. Murphy was the one used as bait, crouched at a tree and tapping two rocks together to lead the one eye grounder away and towards them. June stayed huddled in a bush, feeling the scrape of tiny thorns picking at her skin. She holds her gun close, the barrel pointed forward but not peeking out of the leaves as she watched Murphy tap the stones to make a noticeable noise. June bit her lower lip, tensing when she could see the grounder they wanted to capture follow the noise.

Just as the grounder circled the tree, Bellamy hopped out from his position and swung his weapon down, striking him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun. He's knocked out on impact, his legs buckling and falling to the ground, unconscious. June immediately jumped out of the bush as Finn had, her gun pointed forward steadily at a non-lethal limb in case he jerked or attacked them.

Meanwhile, Finn lowered his gun and hunched over, swiping the watch off the necklace the grounder wore. He slipped it onto his wrist as Bellamy spoke. "We need to take him somewhere quiet."

Looking up, Finn met June's stare, sharing a knowing gaze. "I know just the place."

━━━━━━━━

The last time June was in the small bunker was after Wells was killed, and they were sheltering a child killer. Now, she was back there with the others and the one-eyed grounder, interrogating him. She remembered when Bellamy was doing the same to Lincoln, but she could see the way he held back with hurting their hostage. He had been asking questions with fury in his tone, but he held back whenever he chose to hurt him. June wanted to know where her friends were as much as the rest, but she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, watching silently as both Bellamy and Finn took turns shooting questions that only received a repetitive answer.

"We're gonna do this again, and this time, you're gonna stop screwing with us," Bellamy demanded lowly, holding up Clarke's wristband and dangling it in the man's face. "Where did you find this?"

The grounder, covered in dry blood heaved a few deep breaths. "I told you. I found it outside your camp," he replied incredulously. June cocked her head, having heard the same response again and again.

"He's lying," Finn said through gritted teeth. "She would never take it off voluntarily." Bellamy nodded, knowing. June had never seen Clarke without the watch, but if the grounder was repeating the same answer, then it was always possible he was telling the truth. Before she could suggest so, Finn is suddenly snatching the silver watch out of Bellamy's hand and leaning so close to the grounder, they were face to face. "Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?!" He shouted.

"I never saw a girl," the grounder retorted again.

From his place slumped in a seat, Murphy rolled his eyes. "Another lie," he commented before suggesting; "Maybe you should stop asking him nicely."

"Maybe you should shut up, Murphy," June warned for the third time lowly.

Ignoring them both, Bellamy crouched again and addressed the grounder. "Where are our friends? You took them. We know you did," he stated. "Just tell us where."

Finn pulled his handgun from the belt of his jeans. "Murphy's right. We're wasting time," he muttered distastefully before whirling, reeling his gun downwards striking the grounder in the face, knocking his head back. "Answer the question!"

"Woah! Okay!" June exclaimed over Finn's scream, pushing herself off the wall to stop him. This wasn't Finn - he was the first to suggest peace, had always kept a nonviolent argument even in the middle of war. She couldn't understand how that changed in just a few days; all because Clarke was missing?

But Bellamy beats June to Finn, tugging him back. He protests as Finn continued, his voice rising. "Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?!" June sees his skin turning red, blowing with anger.

"Finn, stop!" Bellamy exclaimed, finally able to pull him away quick enough to get him to face him and talk. "You don't want to do this. Trust me," he pleaded. "There are some lines you can't uncross."

Watching Finn freeze, June holds her breath, trying to relax in hopes that he had calm down enough to think more clearly. She's almost convinced he does before he shoves himself away from Bellamy and lurches back to the grounder. June's in too much shock to try and stop him as Finn punches the grounder. "Where's Clarke?!" He screams roughly, punching him multiple times. "Where is she?!"

Finally, June is able to move and dash forward, grabbing Finn's right arm. "Stop! Finn, that's enough!" She shouted over his screaming, trying to haul him backward. Bellamy quickly helps her, trying to grab Finn's other arm with the hand he held the gun.

It turns out to be a mistake as Finn rips out of both of their grips, spinning around and pointing the barrel of his gun directly at Bellamy's chest. June stumbled back, surprised as she watches her friend tremble with rage, prepared to shoot Bellamy for trying to stop him. Bellamy holds his hand out slowly, speaking more gentle than before. "Put down the gun, Finn."

Nobody moves at first. Even Monroe, Sterling and Murphy are astonished and completely still. June waits for a gunshot or for Finn to back down and drop the gun, but instead, he is swiftly turning back around and aiming the gun at the temple of the grounder now. "Three seconds!" He hollered. "Two! One!"

"Okay!" June violently flinches, expecting Finn to pull the trigger, but only hearing the grounder cave. "I'll tell you," he gasps out. "Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war."

"East where?" Finn demanded. "How do we get to them?!"

"I can draw you a map," he responded before warning them, his one eye looking up. "You should hurry. Soon they'll outlive their usefulness."

Dropping his arm, Finn dully commands them. "Get him something to draw a map." Monroe approached, flicking a piece of yellow paper in his direction while Sterling joined her with a black marker.

June ignored the pang in her chest as Murphy uttered to her and Bellamy; "You thought I was the crazy one, huh?"

It doesn't take long for the grounder to finish drawing the map, in his own style without certain directions or estimated time of how long it would take them to get there. Although it isn't much, June is glad that the brutal interrogated is over. She leaned over a corner of the table it was spread on, studying it alongside Bellamy before he finally declared to the others; "Gather up the gear. We're leaving." June breathed a sigh of relief, pulling the strap of her firearm over her shoulder.

"What about him?" Sterling questioned, jutting his chin towards the direction of their prisoner who now had a gag tied in his mouth.

"For now, we leave him," Bellamy replied simply. "We'll deal with him when we're done."

Murphy scoffed. "And what if he escapes?" He cut in. "He knows exactly where we're going."

"We're not killing him," Bellamy firmly declared. June nodded in agreement. They've already crossed a line, as Bellamy had said earlier.

"I don't really see another option," Murphy argued. "If we don't care of this now it'll blow back on us and you know that."

"So what?" June asked. "We kill him for doing something he may or may not even attempt? Look at him, he's hurt, and he's not even armed!"

"He's a grounder," Murphy emphasized. He looked around to the rest of their circle. "Come on, tell him."

Unsure, Monroe slowly shook her head. "I don't know..." She hesitantly trailed off.

In disbelief, Murphy narrowed his eyes. "You don't know what? He's gonna tell his people everything, we're as good as dead," he says with a sharp edge in his tone. "Our friends too." June doesn't agree, doesn't like this more than anyone left, but she hates herself for thinking it's possible he's right. She didn't want to put her friends at risk.

"We're not doing this. End of discussion," Bellamy retorted. "You want him, you go through me."

Taking a step forward, Murphy's lower lip curls into a sneer, hit with anger. "What exactly happened to you?" He taunted. "You're acting like you've never killed a grounder before."

"That was in battle," Bellamy countered desperately. "This would be an execution - "

Before Bellamy can finish his speech, a gunshot that is so loud it vibrates off the walls and leaves June's heart skipping a beat cuts him off. June's hand goes to her gun, prepared to point it forward on instinct, but stops suddenly when she sees Finn holding his gun forward. Smoke arises from the barrel, and the grounder who had once been sitting up, tied down to a chair, is fallen to his side. A bloody bullet hole is in his temple.

It's silent, except for Finn's quiet panting as the adrenaline leaves his veins. June's stunned, looking at him, horrified, as he carelessly lifts his head to meet their gazes without any remorse for what he had just done. Finn lowered his arm, his voice without any emotion as he heads for the ladder. "Let's get moving."