❝ 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘂𝘀 ❞
- 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀

𝗔𝘃𝗮'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

We all trek through the forest, searching high and low for the younger Blake sibling that I've grown to care for.

"Look! Over here!" John Mbege's voice is hear from further away.

I race forward, hoping to find Octavia or something that will lead us to her.

"Where? What is it?" I rush out as Bellamy comes up beside me.

"Right there. You see it?" John asks, shining his flashlight down a hill, onto a tree.

I see a familiar looking buckle that I think belongs to the dark haired girl and I take a step forward to look at it but it's too far away for me to know for sure.

"Is that Octavia's?" John then asks.

"Rope!" Bellamy demands but before they even take out the rope I start climbing down the hill.

"Ava! Stop!" Bellamy barks at me but I don't listen, continuing my way to the tree.

I reach the tree, grabbing onto a branch and hauling myself to up to grab the buckle.

"What the hell is she doing?!" I hear a Finn's voice.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her?" Bellamy fires back.

"Ava!" Finn shouts.

I hold the buckle in my hand and study it closely, realising that the buckle does in fact belong to my friend. I turn to the rest of the group and hold it up with a hopeful smile.

"It's Octavia's!" I yell.

"We have to go down!" I add and before anyone can protest I let go of the tree, continuing my way down the hill.

I jump to the bottom and seconds later Bellamy is by my side, Jasper not long after him. We begin looking around and I turn to see Bellamy crouched down to the ground.

"What is it?" I ask curiously, putting my hand on his shoulder.

He shows me his fingers and my gut twists when I see the red liquid on them.

"Someone else was here" Bellamy announces as Finn comes up behind us.

"The prints are deeper going that way. He was carrying her" Finn states and I feel my blood run cold.

"If they took her she's alive. Like when they took me" Jasper assures us.

"Yeah, for now" I reply and walk away from them in the direction the footprints are headed.

I keep my head down low as the rest of the group follow my lead and hopefully watch my back.

"Ava, wait!" Finn hisses and I look up from my feet to see skeletons strung up in front of me.

"Oh, hell no!" I shriek, jumping away from the skeleton I almost walked into.

"I don't speak grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out" Finn tells us.

"Really? But it looks so welcoming" I joke sarcastically and Finn elbows me.

"Sorry. Not the time" I mumble.

"Let's get out of here man" A guy says from the back of the group.

"It's crazy" His friend agrees.

"I'm outta here" A guy behind Finn says, the look of pure fear across his face.

"Go back if you want!" Bellamy shouts to the large search party and then turns back to the front "My sister, my responsibility"

Bellamy walks away and I turn to the group in disbelief.

"Pussies" I spit and chase after the freckle faced man.

I pull my knife out of my boot and squeeze it in my hand tight as I walk through the woods behind Bellamy.

fight the fear, Ava

fight the fear

⇠ flashback ⇠
seven years ago

My ten year old self woke up screaming, sweat drenching my body and tears running down my face. My dad immediately rushes to my side and pulls me close to him.

He's getting used to my nightmares now.

"It's okay, sweetheart" He tries to tell me but I sob in agony, my chest physically hurting.

"But it hurts, Dad" I cry and he rocks me gently.

"I know it hurts, baby, I know" He tells me, his voice cracking as he speaks.

"It won't go away. I keep seeing her in my dreams. I see her smiling at us and then...and then I see them float her" I whimper.

"Dad, it's so scary" I cry and he pulls away from me to hold me out at arms length.

"Don't be scared. Fight the fear, Ava" He tells me.

"How? How do I do that?" I sniffle, feeling my eyes start to burn from the amount of tears I'd shed.

"You have to think of the good things, not the bad" He elaborates.

"But it's so hard" I sniffle.

"You have to try...Think of the way your mom would sing you to sleep. How she'd sit at the table and help you with your homework after a long day at the infirmary helping all those people, or think about when she taught you and Finn to tie your laces" He tells me and I let a short giggle escape my dry lips.

"He couldn't do it. He just kept tying big knots and getting them stuck" I laugh through my tears and my dad smiles.

"See? Think of good thoughts, and that'll get you through the bad times" He assures me.

"I'll fight my fears, I promise" I say to him.

"I know you will" He smiles.

⇠ end of flashback ⇠

Quickly enough the sun rises into the sky and we still haven't found Octavia.

"I got nothing. We lost the trail" Finn sighs.

"Keep looking" Bellamy replies.

"Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister. We should backtrack" Finn tells Bellamy.

"I'm not going back" Bellamy snaps.

"Hey, where's John?" I hear Roma ask and I turn to see the boy has disappeared.

"I just saw him a second ago" Jasper says in disbelief.

"Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far" Bellamy tells us all.

I hear a loud thud right behind me and I turn to see John at my feet with his throat slit. I gulp and my heartbeat speeds up.

"They use the trees" Finn says and I crouch down to close John's eyes.

"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary" Diggs states loudly and I stand up straight.

"Now can we go back?" Roma asks.

"There. Right there" Jasper says and points into the distance where I see a grounder running.

"Another one" Diggs says and my head snaps in his direction to see the other one.

"We should run" Finn whispers.

"Yeah" Bellamy replies and we all take off running together.

I sprint through the woods as fast as my legs can carry me. The adrenaline running through my veins pushing me to run faster, swiftly dodging trees and fallen down logs. I'm on high alert as I see the grounders following and almost catching up to us.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Finn shouts as we run and I push myself to go as fast as I possibly can.

"What are we gonna do? They keep heading us off" Jasper yells.

"Just keep running" Finn replies.

I fall in line behind Bellamy and Finn while the others are behind me.

"I can't run much longer!" Jasper screams.

"I'm not stopping for him!" Diggs protests.

"I'm sick of running anyway!" Bellamy states, stopping.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Finn asks in disbelief.

"They know where she is" Bellamy replies.

"Diggs, where are you?!" Roma shouts, running off.

"Roma!" I hear Diggs shout back.

I chase after the girl because whether I like her or not I can't just let her die. I find her just in time to see her scream at Diggs' dead body and run.

I take in the scene before me, of the way that Diggs has been caught in a trap and stabbed through the chest with a larger tree trunk full of spears and I gulp.

"Wait! Roma! Ava!" I hear bellamy shout.

I chase after Roma once again, catching up to her and trailing her.

"Roma, stop!" I yell at the brunette but she continues to flee.

I almost catch her, reaching out my hand to grab her but I'm tackled to the ground by someone.

The sound of flesh being pierced fills my ears and I look up to see Roma with a spear through her chest, stuck to a tree like a kebab.

My head then snaps to the person who tackled me and a dark haired girl stares back at me. Her pale green eyes peer at me through the black paint she has over her eyes like a mask.

She holds out her hand to me and I feel obliged to take it. When she pulls me to my feet I don't feel threatened or scared whatsoever.

"Who are you?" I ask.

All she does is smile at me and run off, without saying a word. I steady myself and run but by the time I reach Roma, the girl is gone. I turn to Roma and let out a sigh, closing her eyes and sitting down on the ground at her feet.