Defiance • Bellamy Blake [1]

12. The Grounder

I ran so that I was beside John. I looked up, because he seemed to have fallen from the sky. Or well, trees.

"They use the trees." I said.

I looked up, trying to catch a glimpse of a human soul up there.

"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary." Diggs said.

"Now can we go back?" Roma asked.

"There." Jasper said.

I turned around to see what he was pointing at. A figure was standing far away. I turned around and my eyes widened as I saw someone else.

"We're surrounded." I said.

"We should run." Finn said.

In a second we were all running away. But we were getting chased. The grounders were on our tail and I know that there was no way we could escape them.

Octavia better be damn happy when we find her.

I quickly turned around. They were closer then before. I sprinted so I was leading with Bellamy and Finn.

"What are we gonna do? They keep heading us off." Diggs shouted.

"Just keep running." Finn shouted back.

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

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

"I'm sick of running anyway." Bellamy said, stopping. He started to walk forward.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I demanded, putting my hand on Bellamy's chest to stop him.

"They know where she is."

"Diggs, where are you?" Roma asked, running away from us.

"Roma!" Diggs shouted in the distance.

We couldn't separate. We all ran after Roma. I heard her scream.

"Wait! Roma." Bellamy shouted.

"Could be more. Stop." Finn said.

We all came to a stop when we saw Diggs pierced with thorns. Blood was falling from his mouth and his eyes were wide open.

"They were leading us here." I said as I closed his eyes. "It's the only direction we could run in."

"Hey. Where'd they go?" Finn asked.

I turned around and realized that they were gone. No one was chasing us anymore. I was confused.

"After Roma." Bellamy said before sprinting again.

Everyone ran behind him. Except for me. For some reason, I felt drawn to go east. I ran east for quite a while before I saw something. Looking closer I realized that it was Octavia.

"Octavia!" I shouted.

Her head whipped around. "Harley!"

We ran to each other. The minute I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her.

"Are you okay?" I asked, scanning her body.

"Fine, I guess. Who came with you?"

I heard someone scream. I turned around and could faintly see Roma. I hid behind a nearby tree. Octavia was just about to follow when someone grabbed her. That person put his hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream.

He dragged her and then he ducked as if he were trying to hide her. Actually, now that I think about it, everyone who died, were all killed in an instant. If this grounder wanted Octavia dead, she'd be dead. So I followed my gut, and did nothing.