EXILE

vi • You Dun Messed Up Now Finn

When the three boys returned, they came to retrieve the others and bring them to the bunker where they were hiding the Grounder. Bellamy didn't know if he was relieved to find the Grounder still their prisoner, he hoped they'd be rid of her.

In the bunker, the one-eyed Grounder was interrogated vigorously and without mercy. "Tel em chit emo want kom hear." Scotia pleaded with him so they could both be set free and the Sky People could continue the search for their friends. "Delano!" She scolded, drawing his attention.

"We're gonna do this again and this time, you're gonna stop screwing with us. Where did you find this?" Bellamy demanded, holding up the watch. Whatever they were going on about between them, Bellamy was tired of not being able to understand them.

Delano watched Scotia from the other side of the bunker. They both knew he couldn't comply with her pleas. "I told you, I found it outside your camp." Delano repeated his words carefully, hoping they would sink into their thick skulls and the Sky People would cease the torture.

"He's lying. She would never take it off voluntarily." Finn was in the corner, separated from the Grounder as he simmered in his own rage.

"I know." Bellamy agreed. It was getting hard to question the Grounder and keep Finn in line.

"Where is the girl who was wearing this watch?" Finn shoved the watch in his face, demanding an answer.

"I never saw a girl." Delano told them.

"Another lie." Murphy fed the flames from afar as he preyed on Finn's rage and blind anger. "Maybe you should stop asking him nicely—"

"Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy said. "Where are our friends? You took them. We know you did. Just tell us where." He returned his focus to the Grounder.

Finn pulled a gun from his waist band. "Murphy's right. We're wasting time. He strikes the Grounder across the head with his gun. "Where is Clarke? Where is she?"

"Finn, back off!"

"Murphy's right. We're wasting time." Finn excused his own actions as desperation to find his friends, not even caring to conceal his anger behind reckless moves that were mistaken for righteous. He beat the Grounder again. "Answer the question!"

"Hey. Hey." Bellamy dragged him away, forcing him back despite his efforts to overpower Bellamy. "You don't wanna do this. Trust me. There are some lines you can't uncross."

Despite his best efforts to calm the boy down, Finn's anger was consuming him like the flames of Hell and no matter the cost, he would burn until he found Clarke and his friends.

"Where's Clarke?" He sharply turned and beat the gun against Dilano's head. "Where is she? Where is—? Back off!" He shoved Bellamy back and raised the gun on him.

"Finn! Put down the gun, Finn." Bellamy raised his hands, paying close attention to his movements. Finn was like a rabid animal that had gotten loose and would tear them all apart at any sudden moves.

He turned and cocked the gun towards the Grounder. "Three seconds. Two! One."

Before he could process pulling the trigger, Dilano caved and explained everything to them. "Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war." Scotia stood slowly at attention, hands bound to the bed post as she tried to figure out his plan. East was a peaceful place no matter what village it was. No prisoners were kept near there.

"East where?" Finn demanded through gritted teeth, so frustrated he might've almost shattered them. "How do we get to them?"

"I can draw you a map..." Dilano spoke quickly. Whatever his plan, he was brilliant to come up with it on the spot. "...but you should hurry, soon they'll outlive their usefulness."

When Finn lowered the gun, Dilano relaxed in the chair. "Get him something to draw a map." Finn ordered one of the others.

"You thought I was the crazy one, huh?" Murphy said as he passed by Bellamy. He was right, Murphy fired up every pressure point Bellamy had, but Finn terrified him just by what he had planned to do. In his eyes there was no hesitation to kill the Grounder, an innocent man.

Scotia pulled so hard against her restraints that she began to tug on the skin and cause bleeding, but she was eager to see the map Dilano had drawn. It certainly didn't lead to a prison camp. He was leading them away from where he thought they had prisoners, but leading them towards an innocent village. Double-blindly leading them into disaster.

"Gather up the gear." Bellamy told the others. "We're leaving."

"What about them?" Sterling asked, referring to the two Grounders tied up.

"For now, we leave them here. We'll deal with them when we're done." Bellamy told them, watching Scotia sit back on the bed.

"What if they escape? They know where we're going." Murphy said, rallying back up all frustration that had been temporarily settled. But he struck up a good point.

"We're not killing them." Bellamy tried to keep his voice calm, but he didn't need Murphy putting words into Finn's head, triggering any thoughts he might want to put into action.

"I'm not seeing any other option. If we don't take care of this now, this is gonna blow back on us, and you know that." Murphy explained.

"They're unarmed, Murphy."

"They're Grounders." Murphy looked towards the others for any kind of support to his claim. "Really? Come on, tell him." He looked between Monroe and Sterling but they had unwavering loyalty in Bellamy.

"I don't know."

"You don't know what?" Murphy demanded. "They're gonna tell their people everything. We're as good as dead. Our friends too."

"We're not doing this. End of discussion. You want them, you go through me." Bellamy stopped him, stepping into his path to block the way to a personal vendetta.

"What happened to you, huh? You're talking like you never killed a Grounder." Murphy said, bringing up his history, but Bellamy was not letting Murphy through.

"That was in battle. This would be an execution—" While everyone was distracted, a gun went off and everyone ducked.

Scotia herself, distracted by their argument, was unaware of what Finn was doing. She jumped when she saw Dilano's body fall lifeless to the concrete. She couldn't run with her hands tied to the bed, but she certainly moved away from the boy with the weapon.

He aimed it at Scotia as she backed against the wall as far as she could. The blackness in his eyes certainly wasn't the most horrifying moment of her life, but it made her heart race with the fear of death. Never had she been so deep into an enemies capture.

"Wait." She cried out moments before he could pull the trigger. "You'll not survive these woods, no matter the weapons. And my people will slaughter you."

Everything stopped for a moment as her words traveled across all of them in the bunker. She had been of no use so far, but her words made sense.

"Let's get moving." He lowered the gun and grabbed the map, heading for the door of the bunker.

Scotia watched the others. They all watched Finn leave them with an awkward silence that was only characterized as that by the dead body and the unwavering sense of dread that their friend was too far gone.