The Ruling - Bellamy Blake

22. Children and Elders

We walk into camp and instantly the guards start asking us to drop our weapons. I hand over my gun and keep my sword on my back, which Octavia showed me on the way here.

I look up and see Clarke running towards us.
"No way." I mutter hugging her tightly. She lets go hugging Octavia and Bellamy next.

"How'd you escape the grounders?" I ask looking at her carefully. I can't believe she's actually here.
"Where's everyone else?" Bellamy asks.
"I wasn't with the grounders." She says sounding a little confused.
"What?" I freeze.
"Where's Finn?" She asks.
"Looking for you." Bellamy says.

"Where the hell were you then?" I ask.
"I was with the mountain men."
"The what?" Octavia asks.
"They're people who live in Mount Weather. They use grounder blood to keep themselves alive since they can't survive with the radiation. Thank god, Raven didn't let me wake you up, because you would've been taken too." She explains turning to me.
"Slow down. What the hell are you talking about? They took you?" I ask. How the hell did mountain men come and take them. And how come this is the first we're hearing about them.

"Yes, they threw red smoke that made us all pass out. Then I woke up there. It's a whole civilization. Everyone is still there. I barely escaped."
"How did you?" I ask pushing my brows together.
"I escaped with Anya's help."
"The grounder?" Bellamy asks. Clarke nods.

"We need to get them out." I say. My people are god knows where with strangers.
"We're doing everything we can." Abby says walking over putting her hand on Clarkes shoulder. I can't tell if she means she's actually helping or if she's just saying that so we relax.

"We need to talk." Abby says to her.
"What's it about?" Clarke asks.
"Finn and John." She says. Bellamy and I look up at eachother curiously as we follow Abby.

She tells us that she's not going to do anything about them.
"What? No. You can't just cut them loose." Clarke says.
"Sweetheart. We don't have the manpower to send out two rescue missions and protect our camp."
"Mom, they're in trouble. They're either gonna get killed or make things worse with the grounders, who we need to get our people out of Mount Weather."
"I know you feel this is unfair but our priority has to be with Chancellor Kane if there is any hope for peace."
"If you wanted peace, you shouldn't have killed the only grounder who was gonna help us."
"I'm sorry. The decision's been made." Abby says before turning around.

"You're sorry?" Bellamy asks. "Finn and Murphy are out there looking for your daughter with guns you gave us. And now she's home, you're just going to abandon them?"
"He's right." I add. "If you can't spare the guards, we'll do it ourselves."
"No, absolutely not."
"No? You let us go when your daughter was out there. Now what?" I ask in disbelief. There's no way she's serious. She just suddenly doesn't care just because Clarkes safe.
"Mom."
"I just got you back."

"Abby! I'm sorry. We need you in medical." Jackson says running in.
"You better go."
"Byrne. No one leaves this camp." Abby says.
"Abby-." I try.
"No one."
"Yes ma'am." Bryne says before I can respond.

Clarke turns around and walks over to us.
"We're gonna need guns." She whispers.
"Raven." I say. She nods.
"I'll talk to her right now."

We walk out and Clarke tells us to wait in the back where we wouldn't be seen.

Bellamy and I get Octavia and walk over there.

After a few minutes Clarke and Raven walk over. Raven sets a bag down in front of us.
"Scored you a couple extra clips." She says.
"My mom's in surgery, and the team going after Kane just left. We should too."

We all grab a gun and Octavia is about to step through the gate.
"Woah, not so fast Pocahontas." Raven says. She touches it with her crutch and it zaps.
"I thought you said it was handled." Clarke says turning to her.
"It is. Shut her down, Wick." Raven says into the radio. She touches it again and there isn't a zap. We all climb through and I turn to Raven.

"Thank you." I say. She nods. I turn around and follow after Octavia. I know it's killing her to have to sit back and wait for us to come back.

We walk until dark and set up a fire to all get some sleep. I lay my head on Bellamy's lap and he puts his arm around me comfortingly. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

I jolt up from a nightmare and Bellamy grabs my arm.
"You're okay. It was just a dream." He says. I nod still shaken up. Octavia and Clarke are both still sleeping. "Same one about your family?" He asks.
"No. This one was about you." I say. He looks at me confused. "A grounder got you and I couldn't save you." I explain. He smiles at me sadly and wraps an arm around me placing a kiss on my forehead.
"I'm not going anywhere, okay?" He says.
"Sounds good to me." I whisper laying my head on his shoulder no longer tired. The dream about my family was scary and awful but it had already happened, the one about Bellamy was worse, because it could happen.

After a bit Clarke and Octavia wake up and we continue walking.

We walk until it's light out and after a few more hours Octavia stops infront of the statue of Abraham Lincoln.
"This is it. Which way to the village?" Bellamy asks.

Octavia freezes.
"Tay?" I ask placing a hand on her shoulder.
"The reapers came from there. I couldn't save him." She starts to cry and Bellamy hugs her.
"It's okay."

"I'm sure he's safe. He escaped them before, he could've again." I say to her. "We'll find him." Octavia nods.
"It's this way." She says starting to walk.

I hear a gunshot in the distance, causing my heart to drop.
"Finn." I mutter as we start running towards it.

I hear a lot more. We run even faster. They could be getting attacked right now. The gunshots don't stop.

Bellamy gets there first and stops. I stop next to him and look up. Finn is holding the rifle and Murphy is pulling on him, trying to get him to stop. There are so many dead bodies around him. I take a sharp breath, unable to let it out. Finn turns to us and freezes.

One of the grounders jumps out and runs to a boy on the floor. Octavia runs over to them.
"What the hell did you do?" I mutter as I step forward seeing that he killed half the village.

Finn steps closer to Clarke. I reach for my gun slightly, genuinely scared of him.
"I found you." He says. Clarke stares at him shaking her head. He didn't find anything except the trigger and an innocent village.

Finn seems to catch the hint and steps back.

I walk over to where Octavia is with the dead boy and a man. I kneel down next to them. I look at the boy and see multiple bullet holes. I take a shakey breath. He was just a boy. An innocent child.

"I'm so sorry." I say to the man. He stares at me for a few seconds.
"Sky people." He answers in clear pain. I stand up.
"This shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry." I say before walking over to Finn.

I grab the rifle from his hands and pull it away.
"Nova-." He tries.
"No!" I say leaning close to him. "Children. Finn. You slaughtered children and elders. They are people!" I turn away from him putting his gun strap around my shoulder.

"Let's go." Bellamy says putting a hand on my back. I nod wanting nothing more than to get out of here.