I Don't Need Saving

Chapter 22

I wake with start, which was a bad idea. I lay back groaning.

"Min, you ok," Octavia asks me.

"Yeah, my head is killing me. Where the hell is Murphy," I ask.

"Out in the woods looking for Charlotte. Bellamy still hasn't woken up. I am surprised that you are awake before him since it looked like he hit you harder," she explains.

"I have to go find Charlotte," I say getting up, ignoring the pain in my head.

"Like hell you do Ver. Murphy will kill you if he finds you," Miller says, coming up.

"Mil, I have to. I promised her. And you know me, I have to fulfill my promises. Just try to keep Bellamy here," I say, giving Miller a quick hug and running out of camp. It takes me a few seconds to find Clarke's track and I follow them. I follow them until nightfall where I lost sight of them. I begin to walk around aimlessly trying to find a single track when out of nowhere someone wrapped their hands around my mouth and pushes me to a tree. I scream underneath the hand.

"Shh, Min, its me," a voice says. Bellamy. I stop screaming and he moves his hand. "Have you found them yet?"

"Do you think if I found them that I'd still be wondering around the forests," I say, snarky. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "And what the hell are you doing here. I told your sister to keep you in camp."

"I couldn't leave you out here with Murphy," he says looking into my eyes. Luckily, it was dark out and he couldn't see the blush rising my cheeks. It got quiet real quick and from a distance, I could hear brush breaking.

"Do you hear that," I ask looking past him. I don't see any lights so it can't be Murphy. Bellamy gives me a weird look because I begin to push at his hold. "It has to be Char."

Once I say that, he releases his hold on me and we both start running towards the sound.

Bellamy is obviously a few steps ahead of me and he does the same thing to her as he did to me. Bellamy grabs her hand and starts leading her through the dark. She struggles against his hold. In the distance, we hear Murphy shout. Bellamy and I give a look and attempt to lead Charlotte away. She continues to struggle.

"Let me go," she shouts, successfully getting out of Bellamy's hold. She tries to run away, but I block her path and Bellamy lifts her off the ground.

"I'm trying Hey hey. I'm trying to help you," Bellamy says.

"I'm not your sister! Just stop helping me," she yells at him. "I'm over here!"

Charlotte begins just shouting into the forest trying to get Murphy's attention. Bellamy and I share a look and race towards her.

"Are you trying to get us all killed," Bellamy asks.

"Just go, ok? I'm the one they want. I killed your best friend," Charlotte says, aiming the last at me.

"That does not matter to me right now. You are too young to understand what Bellamy meant. You are too young to lose right now. I won't leave you," I said, bending down looking into her eyes. But she won't even look at me. She starts to run again, but Bellamy easily side swipes me and tosses Charlotte over his shoulder. She starts screaming for Murphy again.

"Bellamy where are you going," I shout.

"I have no idea," he says looking around, then choosing a random direction and starts running. I am far behind him when he stops at a cliff.

"Dammit," he says, pushing Charlotte behind him. Murphy and his goons appear right where I just came through.

"Bellamy," Murphy shouts coming out of the forest. "You cannot fight all of us. Give her up."

"Maybe not, but I guarantee I'll take a few of you with me," he fires back. Out of nowhere, Clarke and Finn appear from the trees.

"Murphy, this has gone too far. Just let it go and we will fix everything," I say, walking towards Murphy. Mistake number 3. Murphy wraps his hand around my wrist, spins me around, pulls me to his chest, and places a knife at my throat.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk," he says in my ear.

"Let her go," Finn and Bellamy say, coming towards us.

"I will slit her throat. Don't come any closer," he says. But Bellamy tries to get closer, but I signal for him to stop. He, shockingly, listens and stands down.

"No, please don't hurt her," Charlotte pleas.

"Don't hurt her," Murphy repeats. "Ok, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I will let her go."

Charlotte contemplates her options and Bellamy is smoking from the ears.

"Don't do it, Char," I say.

"I said shut up," Murphy shouts, pressing the knife harder into my throat. I can feel a blood start rolling down my throat. Charlotte tries to come to Murphy and I, but Bellamy holds her back.

"NO! NO, I HAVE TO," she screams. Bellamy finally calms her down and looks back at Murphy.

"Murphy, this is not happening," he says.

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore. Not because of me. Not because of what I did," she calmly says before turning on her heel and jumping off the cliff behind her.

"CHARLOTTE NO," I scream. Once I feel Murphy let go of his hold on me, I run to the cliff. Bellamy wraps his arms around me as I slip on the rock and pulls me back. I sink to the ground, tears falling from my eye and my whole body shaking. Bellamy doesn't say anything to me. He just stands next to me and looks at Murphy and runs toward him. I feel two sets of arms wrap around me and pull me back from the end.

"Bellamy," I distinctively hear Murphy say. I turn back to see Bellamy tackle him to the ground and start landing punches to his face. I have no control over my body, or I would have tried to stop Bellamy from almost killing him. Clarke tries to plead with him, not leaving my side. Finn rushes and pull him off of the younger kid.

"Get off me! UHHH! He deserves to die," he shouts. Clarke leaves my side and starts lecturing.

"No! We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here," she says.

"So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide," Bellamy tries to say but is interrupted.

"No, I was wrong before, ok? You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules," she goes on.

"And who makes those rules, huh? You," Bellamy asks.

"No. The three of us. Me, you, and Min," Clarke says, looking down at me. At this point, I've calmed myself down, but haven't stopped crying yet. I glance up at them and shake my head.

"So, what, then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened," Bellamy questions. Clarke doesn't come up with an immediate answer.

"What if we banish him," I say, with a shaky breath. "Makes it so he can't come back."

Bellamy doesn't respond, just picks Murphy up by his collar and drags him to the cliff. Clarke, Finn, and I shout for him to stop, the other two being louder than me.

"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here. If I ever catch you laying a finger on her again, I'll kill you. Understand," he said, the last part in quiet voice I almost didn't hear him. Almost. He tosses Murphy back. "As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me or go off and die with him. Your choice."

He comes up next to me and pulls me to my feet and starts dragging me back to camp.

"Let go of me," I say, shaking out of his grip and running ahead. He does not chase me in the slightest, so I decide to go to the waterfall.