Ethan Beckett craves fun and chaos over the nuisance of rules and demands. But when disagreements begin on the ground, he's surprised to say he sides with the people who don't want chaos to be all they are.
Chaos is a drug. But death is something y...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Monty?"
Five pairs of boots crash down over ashy leaves, sauntering through the broken gates to the drop ship. There's no immediate reply to the voice calling out, and that leads two of them to pause where they stand.
"We got here first." Kane sighs, lowering his gun.
Ethan ducks down to investigate the dirt at the entrance of the gate. Words of a friend long lost ringing warning alarms in his otherwise distracted mind.
The footprints.
A few feet in front of him remains Harley, gun trained on the distance but his eyes following Ethan's towards the soil.
Ethan frowns, kneading his fingers into the presented indents.
Octavia, too, notices that something is off. "No, we didn't." She hisses, turning Kane down.
He could see Monty's boot prints, separate from theirs. But they were accompanied by frantic kicks against the dirt.
A scuffle.
The remaining footprints? Didn't belong to them.
Kane protests loudly when Octavia yanks Bellamy towards her and presses the blade against his throat. "Hey! What are you doing?"
Flicking his eyes up to meet Harley's, Ethan tells him quietly, "She's right. Monty's not alone."
"Get outside now!" Demands Octavia. Bellamy grunts when she applies pressure against his neck. She isn't playing around.
Checking the trees, Harley jerks his chin in gesture towards the wooden walls.
Ethan nods. He doesn't enter the courtyard like the others, but twists to hide behind its respective gate. Like a hawk, he monitors their surroundings for amuck, too used to the grounders hiding in the trees.
"They followed me. I'm sorry." Monty's meek voice makes itself known.
"Let him go, Pike."
"Can't do that." The man says, resolute. Filled with that unwavering belief that he's in the right.
Ethan grits his teeth, digging his hands into the leaves to keep himself planted. He wasn't going to get them all killed just because of his own visceral want to take Pike down.
Pike says something else, too quiet for him to hear. But the bullet that fires from the trees is loud enough to echo. "It's over. Put down your weapon."
"Shoot him." Octavia demands, shuffling testily from foot to foot with Bellamy in front of her.
Harley huffs, irritated, "Monty's in the shot." As much as he wants to shoot Pike, Monty's life was not worth it.
"Come on, Marcus. Harley." Pike taunts. Another shot goes off, firing at their feet. "I promised Monty's mother that I'd bring him home alive. Don't make me a liar."
