Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 106

Bellamy surprises them when he berates Pike for shooting the two grounders working the elevator, jerking forward to shove his guns aim to the floor. "Hey! I told you, that is not how we're doing this."

Ethan stares at him with bewildered eyes. Every time he leaves and comes back, Bellamy is a different man, and it's starting to mess with him.

Continuing his surge forward, Pike doesn't give him a second glance, "They were in our way."

Harley catches his shoulder and yanks him a step back. "These people are under ALIE's control. They're innocent, and you're only killing them because you want to." He lowers his head a little to make eye contact with the shorter man. "Do it again and I'll take you down."

Miller shoves past all of them, "There's gonna be a lot more of these people if we don't move. Let's do this."

"I'll bring it down." Indra offers, stepping over the dead body in order to grab the lever. She pushes it down with one arm, favoring her bad shoulder.

Slightly out of breath, Bellamy starts throwing orders. They don't have the time to argue. "Once we're up, you blow the elevator and then climb."

Bryan nods and rushes to his position, "Destroy the ladder behind us. On it."

"Come on. You do realize we don't have a way down, right?" Murphy, apparently, does have time to argue. He shares a look with Ethan, but the latter shrugs.

"A problem for another day."

"Let's go. Our ride's here." Bellamy holds the elevator open and stares pointedly at the two boys seemingly glued at the hip. "Coming?"

Ethan sighs, shoulders his bag, and nudges Murphy toward the elevator. The latter grumbles something under his breath - sounding suspiciously like a few grounder curses - but with an exasperated glance, starts walking.

"O.?" Bellamy looks at his sister, brow raised.

Octavia glances at Pike, then at Ethan. He nods. "If anything goes wrong down here, they'll need my help." She decides, weapon at the ready. "We got this."

And then she closes them inside.

Ethan stares longingly at the exit when their ride starts moving, a jostle beneath their feet. He and Murphy stick to one side of the elevator, straining the fill the awkward silence left simply by being in Bellamy's vicinity.

"You get that we're screwed, right? ALIE already knows that we're coming." Ethan silently thanks Murphy for making the first step.

Bellamy doesn't look at him when he answers, "This plan will work."

Keeping up an incessant whistling tune, Ethan steps closer to Murphy's side. It keeps him distracted from the obvious tight enclosure of a room they can't exit.

It seems Bellamy can't ignore his curiosity, "Why are you here?"

Not willing to give away his entire life story, Murphy grants him a single answer. "I'm just trying to survive." But the earnestness to that one bit of truth keeps the quiet in the elevator.

Ethan looks at the floor beneath his feet.

A lot of their time on the ground has been spent surviving. They barely get a moment to truly live.

Bellamy, however, isn't satisfied with his answer. 

When Murphy looks up to see that Bellamy's eyes are still on him, he sighs, and stares ahead. A touch on the quiet side, he adds. "You're not the only one here trying to protect someone you care about."