Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 65

"It'd sure be nice to have a sign that we're not marching to our death."

"Ditto to that one," Ethan yawns for the fifth time in the last ten minutes. Hands deep in his pockets, he hangs behind Murphy, too scared of his own feelings to get close.

He's never had these feelings before.

"We're not," Jaha reassures.

They move faster without supplies and the cart. But the downside kind of overruled the fact. They weren't gonna last much longer without food and water.

"Hey, what about this one -" Their resident joker begins, already laughing to himself.

Murphy groans, "Not again, please."

Ethan drops his head, "I thought we were past this, Harris." He pinches at the bridge of his nose.

A headache was just sitting there, waiting to happen.

"A grounder and a reaper walk into a bar. The bartender looks at the grounder, he says 'we don't serve your kind here.' The reaper gets up and leaves." Harris cackles.

No one echoes his laugh.

"I will take Jaha's staff," Murphy starts, void of emotion, "And beat you to death with it."

Ethan huffs a laugh.

"John," Jaha warns.

"Or this one!" Harris starts again, "An Arker, a Grounder -"

Murphy glances at the sky like he's begging for something to shut Harris up or he will.

And something does.

They should have paid more attention to the ground.

In seconds, Harris is blown to bits, lighting up the vicinity in an orange glow. Limbs flying in different directions. He didn't even have time to scream.

Ethan's on the ground.

He doesn't remember falling or hitting his head, but his ears are ringing and he can only hear his own, rushed breathing, forcing his chest up and down erratically.

His face is sticky, his skin is warm. He reaches up to touch it, pulls back and sees blood.

It's not his blood.

Ethan hears a scream and another explosion, feels the spray of red cover him and his clothes, seeping through. Eyes wide, he's scrambling frantically away from the carnage -

"Stop! Stop!"

Someone is yelling at him, calling out his name.

"Ethan, don't move! Fuck - Stop!"

Oh.

Landmines.

Ethan halts, teeth chattering with how hard he's shaking. He looks up, it's Murphy yelling at him, holding a placating hand his way and one hand against his own ear, throbbing in pain.

Murphy breathes out his relief, shuddering out of him in panicked breaths. His heart is racing, deathly afraid Ethan was going to be the next to go and Murphy doesn't know what he'd do if he lost the one person he gave a fuck about.

Shaking his head doesn't stop the ringing, doesn't stop the under-water like sound, but Ethan still does it, stretching an arm across his face to wipe away the blood dripping off his chin.

He's gonna be sick.

Jaha says something, but he's too far away to hear. Murphy, closer, looks around, "Well," he swallows, "anybody else want a sign?"