ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

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A loud snore snaps me out of my peaceful state. My eyes feel like they've been sewn shut when I try to open them. I stir a bit. Another snore, and I finally manage to pry my eyes open. I'm in my tent, a sleeping Jasper sprawled out on Octavia's cot next to me, his mouth wide open.

I peel back my covers and attempt to sit up when a pinching feeling stops me halfway through my action. And then everything comes back to me; the cave. The Grounder. Finn. Poison.

By instinct, I pull up my sweater to see a fresh bandage wrapped around my waist. I untie it to get a closer look at the wound. It's been sewn closed by who I can only assume, and hope, to be Clarke. When touching two fingers to it, it's sore. But it's not nearly as painful as I remember.

I let out a sigh of relief and chuckle to myself in disbelief. I'd thought I was a goner, for sure. But the others must have gotten the Grounder to talk and give up the antidote. I don't allow my mind to consider just how they got that information out of him.

Another loud snore brings my attention back to Jasper. I smile. He must have been keeping an eye on me. Either that or his own cot just isn't cutting it for him anymore.

I wonder who has been watching—Finn!

I quickly re-wrap my bandages and throw on my boots, ignoring the head rush I get from getting up too fast. I leave Jasper to what I assume to be the best sleep he has had in a while from the looks of it and head out of the tent and straight towards the drop ship.

Did Finn make it? Did they get the antidote to him in time? Was it too late for him? He was stabbed in the chest, so the poison got into his bloodstream much quicker than mine. It might have been too much for his body to take. Did my idiotic curiosity cost a kid his life?

The camp is much neater than I expected it to be. When the storm was at its worst, we'd all heard the trees fall. I mean, the damn drop ship had shaken from the impact of one crashing into it—things should look a lot worse than they are.

When I enter the drop ship, I'm quick to notice that Finn no longer is on the table where I'd left him last night. "Shit."

I look around in search of the others so that I can get some answers. Did he make it? Did he die on the table and has been buried while I rested?

But none of the people I'm looking for are here. I briefly consider going back and waking up Jasper for answers, but before I go do that I decide to check the third level out first. Maybe some of them are still up there.

I climb all the way up to the hatch, only for it to be blocked from the other side. I slam my fist against it to get whoever is up there's attention. When no one opens I continue pushing against it until finally the hatch gives. I hear the clank of metal before opening it and climbing on up. The pipe that had been used to keep the hatch closed rolls across the floor.

"Freya," Bellamy's voice says when I finally set foot on the third level. He's sitting in a chair opposite of the Grounder that's still securely strapped up, but he stands up when he sees me. "You're awake."

"I am," I say, biting back a grimace when seeing the state of the Grounder. They'd tortured him. It's clear as day. The blood from his cuts look old and dried out though.

"Is Finn—" I start, not sure whether to end my question with 'alive' or 'dead'.

"He's okay."

I let out a deep sigh of relief. I couldn't have lived with myself with his blood on my hands.

"He's resting in his tent. Just as you should be," he snaps.

"Please, I'm just fine," I say, closing the hatch after me.