Book 1: Under The Mountain

Small Cuts

Bellamy walked through the woods, gun strapped to his back. Octavia walked next to Indra a few feet in front of him. Raven road horse back, as not to overdo her bad leg. She would need it later. Bellamy glanced at the grounders around him, some spread out and some close to him. There was 20 in total, Lincoln and Indra included; Lexa was at the head of the group.

They had left camp an hour after dusk, making steady progress up to Mt. Weather. They would reach it by morning. Bellamy gripped his pistol, that was stuffed into the waistband of his pants, anxiously. He tried not to imagine the things Cage was doing to Clarke. They last thing he had heard was her screams. He knew Clarke was tough. He had never heard her scream that much, sounding so much in pain. He swore he would kill someone for this. Bellamy glanced up at where the Commander was walking, he didn’t think she was doing any better than the rest of them.

Lexa walked stiffly yet quickly through the forest, knowing the others would follow. Lexa stared ahead, looking quite focused but her mind said otherwise. Her mind trailed off in thoughts of her beloved, Clarke. She worried over the things they were doing, what they had already done. She had heard from many of the Skaikru that the Mt. Men had used drills to get to their bone marrow. She had heard how painful it was; how the Mountain Men wouldn’t knock them out and operated on them when they were conscious. Cage had proven this earlier. She had heard the sounds of a small machine, then Clarke’s screams. Lexa had almost crumpled from the ache in her chest as she heard Clarke. She gripped her sword harder as she walked; thinking of all the things she would do to Cage once they found him.

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“Rise and shine Princess!” Cage said loudly, standing over Clarke’s body. Clarke groaned softly as she blinked open her eyes, looking up at Cage. He grinned down at her, “Another big day has started.” He chuckled darkly before take a few steps back. Clarke winced as she stood up, her joints popping in several places from having slept on the cold concrete floor. She looked down at her wrists and ankles, taking in the raw skin from the chains. She held back a grimace, they stung like hell but she’s had worse. Her hips were still incredibly sore, if possible then they felt worse then yesterday.

‘They always said the second day is the worst.’ Clarke thought to herself, thinking back to when her mom taught her the basics of her medical training. Clarke felt a pang in her chest when she thought of her mother.

“Still a little sore, are we?” Cage asked cruely as he knelt down to look her in the eyes. Clarke glared back. This smug bug knew she was in pain and just enjoyed taunting her with it. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He tsked lightly. “You know Princess, if you had just left us be, let us keep the 44 then none of this would be happening.” He told her. Clarke’s eyes sparked in anger. How dare he.

“If I would have just left you be then I would be no different than you.” She snarled at him. Cage’s face twitched, losing his cheery look.

“The ground is our rightful place Clarke.” He said calmly, “You of all people should know what it’s like to want to walk on the ground.”

“I do, but that wouldn’t give me the right to do what you were doing.” She retorted. “You were killing innocent kids.”

“Innocent? I believe you were all criminals once upon a time Clarke.” He said with smirk. She glared back at him. “You kids coming down to Earth was a blessing, both your’s and ours.” He said, standing up. “Your’s because then the rest of your people could finally walk on this land. Ours, well you already know the benefits we got from you kids.” Clarke wanted to strangle him. He had killed her friends, cutting and bleeding dry the grounders. These men didn’t deserve to walk on the ground.