Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 36

"Why choose this specific colour?" Ethan slices another seatbelt from the abandoned wreckage. It settles in his palm, a jarring contrast and painfully familiar in a way that blood was. "Talk about forewarning."

Tying one end to the other, Murphy wraps the fabric around his hand and tugs to ensure its tightness. "Tell me about it."

Ethan lowers the seatbelt and chucks it towards him, landing squarely on Murphy's shoulder for further tying. The make-shift rope is almost done, reaching from Murphy's hands to under Ethan's feet to Monroe on the other side of the path.

She rips loose a fairly long sash and lifts it into view victoriously. Ethan chuckles, turning back.

"They have enough blood on their hands." Murphy hitches a brow, sliding the belt off of his shoulder. "It only seems fitting."

Ethan huffs. "It's an eyesore is what it is."

"Why colour it at all? It's just a waste of dye." Monroe pipes up, moving closer to lay the rope out in a straight line across the dirt. They follow it along and glance at each other in question, nodding at the length.

"Now that's the question we should be asking. Thank you, Monroe." Ethan smiles, teeth on display. He glances at Murphy, taunting, "Dye, right Murphy?"

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

Monroe lifts a brow, confused as she gathers some rope into her arms. Ethan chews on his lip, still finding it funny and aids her in the process. They head back to the cliff's edge, purposefully avoiding the dead bodies along the way.

Lifting it for Bellamy and Finn to see, they then tie it twice around the tree stump. The knots are checked thrice before passing Bellamy the excess.

Finn sticks to the back, closest to the tree and Murphy grabs the rope from the front, Ethan and Monroe between them. Twisting it around an arm, Ethan blows out a breath, bending his knees to keep a sturdy stance.

"All right, ease it out slowly," Murphy says, gradually releasing lengths of rope.

Bellamy begins his trip downwards.

Ethan can't help but call out before the brunette's head disappears past the rock, "Be careful!" And clutches the rope tighter. He looks behind him, checking on the tree stump. "We're good down here." He says to Murphy, letting him release a bit more.

The weight doubles and he can only guess Bellamy has the girl safe in his arms.

"I got her! Pull us up!"

Ethan smiles, releasing a small victory laugh.

"Don't you worry, Bellamy. I won't drop ya." Murphy grits out, feet planted into the dirt to heave upwards.

Almost four days ago Murphy was hanging Bellamy by the same material in the dropship.

This is new.

"Just pull, Murphy," Finn growls. "Come on!"

Ethan feels the rope give way, snapping not from the tree stump, but one of the buckles. It throws everyone but Murphy to the ground and Ethan panics, expecting to hear Bellamy screaming as he fell to his brutal death.

But Murphy still has part of the rope, and he's keeping Bellamy up with all he's got, struggling to find purchase with the weight pulling at his arm.

"Come on, a little help!" He cries out, face screwed up in pain.

Ethan dives under Murphy's hands to grab onto the rope, digging his feet into the ground to pull back.

Finn joins on the other side but they're still struggling, getting awfully close to meeting William at the bottom.

Grunting with the effort, Ethan leans backwards, shoes pushing off the rock, shoulder blades bumping into Murphy's chest.

"What the hell is happening up there?!"

Finn winces, "Just hold on!"

Something swishes through the air.

Ethan cries out in pain before he even processes what it was that happened. He feels the agony slice across his forearm, splitting apart skin. Sees the arrow imbed itself into the ground, blood flickering onto dirt like rain. He thinks someone has yelled out his name but it's hard to hear over his own breathing and the "fuck!" that tears from his throat.

He quickly cradles his arm into his chest, choking on a whimper. His feet drag an inch across the ground.

The other three follow the look on his face, to his arm, to the arrow, and the panic is palpable.

Bellamy's voice lifts from where he's hanging, "Ethan?"

"Grounders!" He grits out, turning his face to see several more arrows flying towards them.

"Monroe!" Finn shoves his gun over the two boys, "Cover us!"

She drops the rope, giving weight a little more to the others and spins around, getting into position to start firing.

"How many are there?" Bellamy calls out.

"We can't see 'em!" Finn whips his head around, "In the trees, aim for the trees!"

It isn't an arrow that comes flying for them this time. It's a whole spear.

Ethan sees it in time to roll out of the way, the pain in his arm flaring when he lands, leaving Murphy all alone with the rope again -

- who almost falls off the cliff with the extra weight dragging him across the dirt.

"No, no, no!" Murphy panics.

But he isn't letting go.

He pulls harder, the rope wrapped around his wrists and gathered in his hands.

Ethan scrambles back to Murphy's side, fingers chaffing against the line. Finn dives to the bit by the edge, pulling upwards and nobody cares how close they are to each other because this is about survival.

Monroe almost screams and they glance back to see the arrow sticking out of her thigh.

"Monroe!"

"He's gotta cut her loose! We can't do this!" Murphy furiously shakes his head, turning back to the rope. "Bellamy, you gotta cut her loose!"

Ethan rears back further, getting a knee on the ground to help him pull, making up for the use of only one arm. "Come on!" He can feel the blood soaking through his sleeve and dripping onto stone.

"No way!"

"Cut her loose!" Finn yells.

"We've come this far, we're not-"

The horn that sounds, shaking the trees, causes a blanket of silence.

"Acid fog?"

Ethan glances over his shoulder, "Either that or Lincoln's back." His voice cracks, foot gaining traction on the rocks to push off and pull further, leaving a gap in the rope for Monroe to jump over and grab, despite the pain surely radiating up her leg.

Further and further they go, the rope curling past Finn, through Monroe, around Ethan and reaching Murphy, all the way up the boy's arm, twisting and turning around his wrists to pull for more.

They see Bellamy's head over the rocks, the girl, Mel, attached to his back.

They reach desperately for the cliff's edge.

Ethan grits his teeth and the remaining four give one last, heaving tug before all of them collapse to the safety of the ground, panting into the thick air of a hot day.

Bellamy looks over at them, still on his knees, to see Murphy with the rope gathered around his hands, having never let it go, not for a moment.

The two meet eyes.

Bellamy gives Murphy a single nod.

Breathing hard, Murphy returns it.