Of The Sea : John Murphy

Mr Steal Your John

After taking shifts in feeding, sleeping and everything else, Adrian and I were back at the camp before sunrise to find a replacement for our lost cargo. There was a blonde girl and a dark haired male at the body at one point. The girl was shattered and it seemed she knew him well. They thought that it was a 'grounder' as they called it, we assumed they meant our kind. We weren't about to step out and defend ourselves saying that it wasn't us so we just kept watching them.

Among the list of things I hadn't known about Adrian was that he was extremely agile. He could climb trees that I found impossible to even attempt. Up from his tall post in the trees, he would make noises and point to different places to let me know where to look and where to watch from. He looked in his element taking watch and giving helpful cues.

There was a loud voice on the other side of the wall, a male. He was yelling instructions at people, crudely telling people to hurry up and at one point I was sure I heard him throw water at someone. These people were strange. Their children were savage, their men were weak and arrogant and the women were just plain stupid.

Why did Anya want me to take one of them? She could do it easily enough herself.

"Look we're already there. Just a few more steps, okay?" A female voice startled me and cause me to dive clumsily into a bush. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I though I saw something." An anxious male stuttered, his face nearly visible by the half open gate. "Could just be seeing things." He laughed nervously.

The girl seemed affectionate and kind as her face came into view when she stepped out of the gate to guide her traumatised friend.

It seemed no one was alone in this camp and they generally stood together in large cliques. There were the hormonal girls that braided each other's hair and chatted about the most ridicule things. There were the 'men' but I thought they were just dickwads with bigger mouths than brains. There were the workers, the ones that just wanted to have a part in the system by keeping their heads down. And finally there were the mixed groups, ones with people that actually had a little bit of a brain though they lacked in the strength department.

I had weeded out the ones we definitely could not pick out. Bellamy, the one in charge. Clarke, the one trying to be in charge. Finn, the one who's always with Clarke. Octavia, the pretty one who is the sister of the leader. Jasper and Monty, the way I placed their names was self explanatory. Pretty much anyone from the named groups. My list was little to none and I needed to find someone fast, regardless if it would cause a stir or not.

I was watching the blonde named Clarke as she spoke with Octavia, her tone was low but thankfully they were by a wall to keep away from the others.

"This knife was made of metal from the drop ship." She observed.

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked.

"It means the Grounders didn't kill Wells. It was one of us." She near whispered.

I heard another set of footsteps approach the two but they didn't fall silent so it must have been someone who knew about the death. Either Bellamy or Finn.

"So there's a murderer in the camp?" Octavia seemed concerned.

Were killers really that worrying to them? I suppose being around them and being one myself, it doesn't become that big of a deal.

"There's more than one murderer in this camp. This isn't news. We need to keep it quiet." Yup, it was Bellamy.

I heard footsteps scuffle slightly and Clarke growled. "Get out of my way, Bellamy."

"Listen Clarke, them not knowing is good for the all of us. Fear of the Grounders is building that wall. Besides, what are you gonna do? Just walk out there and ask the killer to step forward? You don't even know who's knife that is."

"Oh really?" She snapped. "J.M. John Murphy. The people have a right to know."

Oh yes, let us not forget John Murphy, people would notice an asshole like that suddenly disappearing off the face of the earth.

From across the ways John Murphy, or as everyone seems to call him, Murphy, was yelling out the rules for water breaks to the people building the wall.

"You son of a bitch!" Clarke yelled, storming up to him.

"What?" He barked back with a tone equally loud.

She shoved him as hard as she could be he stood there barely fazed, just stared at her with a confused look. "What the hell?"

"You killed Wells!" She yelled, ignoring all signs of danger that could lurk outside the walls.

I found an opportunity to slip away when the builders of the walls slipped down to watch the quarrel.

I stood at the base of the tree that Adrian was perched on and hooted like a dove, a call to beckon him down.

"I say by night, we take John Murphy. I doubt anyone will miss him." I told him as he finally dropped down.

He was about to nod, at least it seemed he was but he pointed behind me and I turned to see people kicking Murphy out of the gates. "Not another one..." I whispered.

He tumbled with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth gagged, blood stained his red face and his eye was swelling. Clarke ran behind the others trying to stop them but all of her efforts seemed to fail. A flash of something on her wrist caught my eye, a watch I believe. My eyes were instantly drawn to it and I stared at it's mesmerising twinkle under the sun.

I watched curiously as she tried her best to stop him from being hung. Wasn't she the one that wanted him dead in the first place? Why else would she announce it like that?

Bellamy threw a noose over Murphy's neck and someone else pulled him up, letting his feet barely rest on a crate. The rope was tied to the tree and over the yelling I could still hear Clarke's begging.

The creepy killer kid emerged from the back of the crowd with a look of worry, her eyes watering as she pushed to the front.

"We should go, there's too many people around here." I nudged Adrian. "We come back at night fall."

He looked from me to the teens then up at the trees. "You go, I got this." He quirked a smile.

"You better not get caught." I gave him a gentle shove and sprinted back to our small camp.

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I took in a mouthful of ale, my eyes lazily rolling in my head as I pulled out a dagger. Having been alone for hours I had gotten bored and sidetracked. Slightly drunk with the unfortunate amount I had drank, I raised my dagger with a wobbly aim, squinting at the tree across from me.

I tossed it lazily and it bounced off the bark and into the dirt. I rolled my eyes at the pathetic attempt and sat down in front of the fire with my cheek resting in my hand.

I was dozing off just sitting there until I heard a loud rustling in the bushes behind me.

I fell forward and stumbled to my feet, the dried leaves on the forest bed slipping under my shoes. I reached for my axe and crouched in defence.

"Show yourself." I growled, eyes having trouble scanning the darkness.

"It's me!" Adrian's voice called out. "Come over here, I need help."

I approached cautiously and saw my second dragging a body across the forest floor.

I pricked up in excitement and jumped over the body to get to the other side.

"You got him!" I grinned, grabbing the guy's face and examining it from left to right. "We'll go up to base tomorrow. That's where we're meeting Anya." I told him, grabbing his other arm and helping Adrian drag him to our small camp.