The Ground : Part One

twenty-eight : vulnerable

"Come on. These foxholes aren't gonna build themselves. Better hope those landmines work. All the gunpowder we're wasting, we could be making more grenades." Bellamy is just standing above and ordering us around.
"You know if you helped, it would get done faster." I am squatting down helping with the landmines. The last thing I want is something bad to happen to anyone in this camp, and this might be something that could help.
"You want to come over here and test one out?" Raven turns and looks at him. I chuckle a bit.
"Cute. I need this entire section mined by morning. Then you finish the south field." He orders and motions over to where the south field is, even though we all know. He's kind of being a d-hole about this whole safety thing. He could be a lot nicer about it. Maybe he could even help. I think the leader thing is going to his head, making his ego even bigger.
Raven stands up. "Hey... I told you, we're going after Finn, Clarke, and Monty in the morning."
"And I told you, nobody leaves this camp." He orders, and she gets a sour look on her face. He turns to walk away, but she grabs his arm.
"I'm talking to you. We can't just abandon our people. You want to lead them, show them you give a damn."
A gunshot goes off making everyone jump.
"Whoa! What the hell was that?" Someone yells. I stand up and walk over to where Bellamy went.
"Hey... what the is a matter with you?" He yells and gets in his face.
"I'm sorry, man. I fell asleep. I've been on watch all day." Sterling looks between the two of us.
"We've all been on watch all day! That bullet was one less dead grounder." Bellamy yells at his face. Sterling looks to me for help. I mouth to him, "It's fine. You're okay."
Octavia walks up behind us. "Bell, you're scaring people." She whispers.
"They should be scared! The bomb on the bridge bought us some time to prepare, but that time is up! The grounders are out there right now, waiting for us to leave and picking us off one by one when we do! Clarke, Finn, and Monty are gone, probably dead, and if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp! This camp is the only thing keeping us alive! Get back to work!" He yells and walks through the gate for camp. Once he's out of sight, I start talking to them.
"Guys, I get what you're all thinking right now, but he's just stressed. I don't believe that Clarke, Finn, and Monty are dead. They are strong, just like all of us. One less bullet isn't going to get us killed! If we get these minefields done before tomorrow night, we should be fine. We shouldn't be the ones scared, alright? The Grounders need to be scared of us! Now, I believe in all of you, so get back to work before Bellamy kills all of us himself!" I yell and get a few chuckles with the last comment. Everyone starts working again, so I go to find Bellamy.
I walk into the dropship and see Bellamy talking with Jasper.
"No. They'd go after me. Then they'd be dead, too. I am doing what I think is right for the group." He says as I walk up beside him.
"It's funny, you didn't think that way when Octavia or Briar went missing." Jasper proves a point. He isn't wrong. Bellamy didn't hesitate to torture a Grounder because he thought Lincoln was the one who took me and hurt Octavia. Jasper moves to go up the ladder of
the dropship.
"Where are you going?" Bellamy asks.
"More gunpowder for your minefield, sir." Jasper puts a hand up to his forehead and salutes Bellamy. I laugh and Bellamy rolls his eyes. Bellamy walks out of the dropship, so I go up the ladder to help Jasper.
"I need to get something from the lower level." He says and starts walking past me. He goes down the ladder, but stops halfway. I hear Murphy's voice.
"He stopped breathing. I was... I was trying to help him." He tries to explain something he did. I start to walk to go down the ladder, but Jasper stops me by moving his hand. I stand still, waiting for something to happen. I hear moving around, which is making me anxious not knowing what's happening.
"Murphy, just put the gun down." I hear Jasper say, obviously a bit scared.
"He tried to kill me. Hey, don't move." Murphy is obviously trying to cover something up.
"Ok. Ok. It's cool." Jasper says. I'm seriously scared and confused on what to do.
"No it's not. You know what'll happen to me if you tell Bellamy." Murphy says. He's clearly scared of Bellamy.
"Tell Bellamy what?" I realize I still have my walkie on. Shoot. I grab it and turn the volume down.
"Give me the radio, Jasper." Murphy orders. Thank God he didn't hear mine.
"I know someone's up there!" He yells. Shit. I don't know what to do. Should I hide? I look around. There is nowhere to hide.
"Murphy has a gun. He killed Myles." I hear Jasper yells into the walkie-talkie. I hear him yell in pain.
I hear creaking. Is the dropship door closing?
"You try to be a hero, Jasper dies." Murphy threatens. He starts walking closer. Oh my god, oh my god. I don't know what to do. My heart feels like it is beating out of my chest. I see the top of his head creep above the hatch. The gun is next and I step backwards. Not long after, his eyes come into view.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we have another hostage." A smirk slips over his lips and he steps closer.
"Murphy, stay back." I order. I remember that I have a blade tied to my waistline. He keeps stepping closer. "Murphy, I swear."
"You swear what? What are you going to do?" He asks and keeps walking closer. Graham taught me a move back at Tondc, but I didn't get it perfected. I could mess it up, or it could help me a lot. Murphy steps within arms reach. I quickly grab my blade, grab the muzzle of the gun, turn him against me and put the knife to his neck. I push the blade hard enough into his neck so it breaks skin. I quickly throw the gun to the other side of the room so I can ensure my safety. I grab my walkie from my belt and turn the volume back up. I still have the blade against his neck.
"Bell, I have Murphy, but there's no way I can get him down the hatch to open the door." I let go of the button.
"Are you alright?! Did he do anything to you? Murphy, if you do so much as touch her, your dead!" Bellamy and Octavia both threaten through the walkie.
"I'm fine, but I don't know about Jasper. He's in the lower level." I loosen my grip on Murphy a bit trying to look down the hatch. He switches our position, so now my back is against him. He whispers in my ear. "You're going to regret everything that has happened in the last 5 minutes." I elbow him in the stomach, causing him to topple over so I can get away. I attempt to run over to the gun, but he gets there before me. He walks closer. My walkie is on the floor.
"Briar? Briar! Briar, answer me!" Bellamy is yelling through the walkie-talkie.
"Looks like someone really cares about you, Briar. Let's make him suffer like I did." He threatens as he walks closer. He picks up the radio off of the floor and rigs it so the button stays held down.
"Murphy, what are you doing?" I ask and back up as far as I can without falling down the hatch.
"Murphy, I know you can hear me. All our ammo and food is in the middle level. You know that. You're leaving us vulnerable to an attack. I can't let that happen." I look and all of it is surrounding us. They have hardly anything out there. Murphy is still walking closer to me. He gets to me and puts the gun to my forehead.
"Bellamy. I have the gun to your little girlfriend's head. Don't try anything, or I'll blow her brains out." He says loud enough for the radio tied to his waist to hear.
"Come on, Murphy. You don't want to hurt Jasper or Briar. You want to hurt me. So what do you say? How about you trade them both for me?" Bellamy offers. Murphy looks like he's contemplating.
"No! No way. You can kill me, but you aren't touching Bellamy." I yell Murphy.
"How about I kill both of you?" He shoves the gun closer to my head. I almost fall backwards as hard as he's pushing.
"Murphy. Do not touch her." Bellamy orders through the radio.
"Well if you haven't noticed Bellamy, you're not exactly in charge right now." Murphy points out the obvious.
"All you have to do is let them go, and I'll take their place." Bellamy brings up the idea he had earlier. I chew on my lip.
"How?" Murphy asks.
"Simple. You open the door. I walk in, they walk out." He explains like it's not a big deal. Murphy thinks about it. He pushes me, and I turn to catch myself before I fall down the hatch.
"Go down." Murphy orders, so I go down the ladder. I see Jasper tied up with a gag in his mouth. I try to run to him, but Murphy grabs the back of my shirt. He drags me to the lever to open the door. He pulls the lever. The door opens slowly and loudly.
"Just you Bellamy. Unarmed." He calls out. Murphy still has the gun pointed at me, but now it's shoved against my neck.
"10 seconds or I'll put one in Briar's neck!" Murphy threatens.
He gets to 5 before Bellamy yells, "I'm here!"
Murphy keeps the gun to the back of my head while he picks Jasper up to throw him out. Bellamy walks in.
"Let her go." Bellamy orders and motions to me. Murphy ignores him and pulls the lever to close the door back.
"Murphy, you said you would let her go!" Bellamy yells.
"I lied." Murphy says and pushes me over to one of the chairs. He pushes me on the ground and ties my hands together then to the chair. He puts a gag in my mouth like he did with Jasper.
"I never thought this day would come. Briar, Bellamy, and me all in the same room together. Except now, I'm in charge. And I'll be the only one walking out of here alive." I look at Bellamy. He looks tough, but he has fear in his eyes. Murphy unties the radio and puts it in his pocket.
"Murphy, I don't care what you do to me. Just let her go." Bellamy says and looks at me. I yell against the gag. They both know exactly what I'm saying.
"Enough, Briar!" Murphy yells and swings the gun so it hits me in the face. Bellamy attempts to hit Murphy, but Murphy points the gun back at Bellamy.
"Do exactly what I say, and maybe you're girlfriend will have a quick death instead of a slow, painful one." Murphy threatens.
Bellamy looks at him with pure hatred on his face.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" He asks with his voice low. His eyes flicker to me. I just shake my head.
"Tie the seatbelts together." Bellamy moves over to me to get the seatbelts. His hand brushes my leg. Murphy fires his gun.
"Stop flirting. Now do what I said." Murphy orders.
"Bellamy? Briar! Are you ok?" Octavia shouts frantically over the radio.
"Want to show her you're alive? Start tying."
"Bellamy, do you copy?" She sounds so scared.
"I'm fine. Just a misfire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you... And tell Raven to hurry her ass up." He orders. I'll bet he has Raven trying to open the door.
"What about Briar? I need to hear her voice!" She says, so Murphy walks over and pulls the gag out of my mouth.
"I'm fine, O. Get back to work." I tell her. Murphy puts the gag back in my mouth. I give him a dirty look. Then look at Bell.
He grabs all the seatbelts and starts tying them together, end to end. I keep my eyes on him the whole time.
"All right. That's enough. Now tie those two ends together." Murphy orders. Bellamy obeys
"All right. Now get up and toss it over." What is Murphy trying to do? Bellamy gets up and throws the long seatbelt rope over a pipe thing on the roof.
"What do you want me to say? You want me to apologize? I'm..." He takes a step forward which causes Murphy to point the gun at him.
"I'm sorry." He sympathetically apologizes.
"You got it all wrong, Bellamy. I don't want you to say anything. I want you to feel what I felt, and then... Then I want you to die." Murphy is turning into a psychopath. I yell against the gag. Murphy gets a box for Bellamy to stand on.
"Stand on it. Put it over your head." Murphy orders and Bellamy obeys again.
"This is insane. The grounders could..."
"Put it over your head." Murphy orders
through his teeth.
"Happy now?"
I push the seatbelt out of my mouth with my tongue, which takes a lot of work.
"Murphy, please don't do this." I plead him. He turns and looks at me.
"You talk too much, but I'm leaving that gag out of your mouth because when I kick the box out from beneath him, I want to hear your screams. And when he stops breathing, I'm going to make you sit there and cry, then I'm going to kill you." He is actually going insane.
"Murphy. Please, I know how you feel. You feel like this is the only way you can feel better about what happened to you. It isn't. We can talk this out. You don't have to do this. Please." Tears are falling quickly down my face. He turns away from me.
"You're so brave, aren't you? I mean, you came in here thinking you're just gonna turn this whole thing around, that you were stronger than me, and maybe one of your friends would come and help you. That you could come in here and keep Briar from being hurt. Well, what are you thinking now, Bellamy? Hmm?" Murphy pulls on one of the ends of the seatbelt, causing Bellamy to get on his tiptoes to avoid choking. He puts his fingers in between the rope and his neck to help with the suffocation.
"You know, I got to hand it to you, Bellamy. You got 'em all fooled. They actually look up to you, almost as much as they look up to Clarke. Yeah, well, we know the truth, don't we? You're a coward. I learned that the day you kicked out the crate from beneath me." Murphy keeps calling Bellamy out on stuff from the past.
"Isn't that what you said? That you were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"
"I should've stopped them." Bellamy says, still straining to avoid choking.
"Yeah it's a little late for that now." Murphy points out.
"You think they're just gonna let you walk out of here?" Bellamy asks. The obvious answer is no.
"Well, I think the princess is dead... but I know the king and queen are about to die, so who's really gonna lead these people, huh? Me, that's who, and, yeah, maybe I'll have to kill your grounder-pounding little sister..." He threatens.
"Murphy, you aren't going to lay a finger on her!" I yell.
"What are you going to do about it if you're dead?" Murphy asks. Bellamy punches him in the face, which makes Murphy pull the rope tighter.
"Murphy, stop!" I yell. I hear Raven yell from below the floor.
"I bet that's her right now." Murphy says and starts shooting at the floor. His gun starts clicking. Bellamy tries to get off of the box, but Murphy kicks it from under him causing him to start suffocating. His hands are still in between, but Murphy puts and end to that quickly.
"No! Murphy! Stop this! Please!" I'm screaming and crying while watching Bellamy hang. The door starts creaking.
"Bellamy! Stay with me! Listen to me! I love you, Bellamy! Bellamy, please!" I'm sobbing at the sight in front of me. My wrist are rubbing against the rope tied around them while I try to get over to Bellamy. Jasper and Octavia are the first to run in. Jasper grabs Bellamy's legs and lifts him up so the rope isn't cutting
off his airway. Someone comes over and starts cutting the rope that is restraining me. Octavia reached up and unbuckles a seatbelt. Jasper lowers Bellamy to the floor, and they work to get the rope off of his neck.
"Bellamy, Breathe." Octavia says.
"Bellamy, can you breathe?" Jasper asks.
He sits up and breathes heavily. He jumps up and pushes on the hatch where Murphy escaped to. I hear a huge explosion. I wish this person would hurry up with my damn wrists.
"Murphy! Murphy! It's over! Murphy! There's only one way out of this for you now!" He yells as he gets the hatch open. Smoke comes out and then Bellamy comes back down the ladder. The guy finally gets my wrist untied. I get up and run over to Bellamy, who is talking to Jasper. I throw my arms around him and hug him tightly. He wraps his arms tightly around my back. I cry into his shoulder. When we get out of the hug, I slap his shoulder.
"Don't ever do that again." I say. He laughs a bit.
"Never." He says.