ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

[ 1 8 ]

We collectively stop our walk at the sight of a bunch of decomposed skeletons hanging from the trees.

"Oh my God," I whisper in horror, feeling Jasper's body stiffen next to me.

"I don't speak Grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means 'keep out'," Finn says as he too sports a horrified look on his face.

The people behind us start to mutter amongst themselves, many of them wanting out of the rescue mission, and some of them leaving straight away to find their way back to camp.

There's nothing we can do about it. No one is gonna force these kids to walk into whatever this is.

"Go back if you want," Bellamy says almost stoically. "My sister, my responsibility."

My head whips to look at him, his words bringing back memories of what feels like a completely different life. He catches my movement and meets my eye. Then he nods. I find myself returning it with a nod of my own, and we both cross the invisible boundary set by the Grounders.

We make our way into Grounder territory, closely followed by Finn and Jasper and a few others, but most of the teens decide to turn back.

I try to keep a good distance to the trees, wary of who might be hiding in them. I've already fought a Grounder once, and that's more than enough for my liking.

Mbege, Monroe, Roma and a boy named Diggs, are the few that join us despite the Grounders' warning.

At some point, we manage to make it far enough into the woods that the skeletons from earlier are nowhere in sight.

"We lost the trail," Finn suddenly says. He turns to take an extra look around him as if he has overlooked something.

Bellamy shakes his head. "Keep looking."

Birds can be heard chirping away overhead as we all start searching for any clues as to where Octavia has been taken.

Finn sighs. "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister. We should back track," he advises, pointing a finger in the direction we'd come from.

"I'm not going back," says Bellamy decidedly.

"Hey." All of our heads turn to look at Roma. "Where's John?" she asks with worry.

I look around to see that he's nowhere in sight. My brows furrow together. He was just behind us a couple of minutes ago. Something's not right.

"I just saw him a second ago," Jasper says.

"Spread out," Bellamy orders us all. "He couldn't have gotten that far."

I spin in a slow circle in search of him before starting to backtrack a bit in the direction we'd come from. I don't catch sight of him, so I start making my way back closer to the group.

Just as I make it a few feet, something falls from the trees just in front of me, making a surprised yelp leave my lips.

"Freya!"

I only just get to realize that it's Mbege's dead body, his throat slashed open, when I'm pulled back by my arm. My horrified eyes meet Jasper's as he lets go of me before switching his gaze upwards.