Been Through Way too Much || bellamy blake

Human Trials

The wet soft ground squished as I shuffled back to Finn and Murphy. The map lead us to a small settlement a good distance from the Ark. I let the two guys scope out the west side, and I covered the east. All I saw were women doing simple chores as children laughed and played games. There were some men scattered around but didn't match the look of the Grounder we captured. There were no prisoners of any kind. Things seemed like a typical camp. 

"Anything?" Murphy asked when I crouched next to them.

I shook my head, my wet hair sticking to the sides of my face. "Nothing. It's just a regular camp."

"I count 26 Grounders." Finn said as he looked through the scope of his gun.

Murphy set his down. "I counted 28. These people don't look like warriors."

"Are we sure this is the right place?" I questioned, a pit forming in my gut. I opened the map again and traced the way the Grounder told us, trying to keep the shield from smearing from the rain. "I didn't see our friends."

Finn glared at me. "It's the right place. They could be underground or something. We wait till dark, and then we go in."

"We go in? Finn, we don't even know if our people are here yet." Murphy countered.

"They're here. Or they were when that Grounder took Clarke's watch."

I frowned at the map, a part of me wishing I had better knowledge of the woods. "How do we know he was telling the truth? He could've said anything to get us off his back or get revenge for kidnapping him."

"This is it, Athena," he snapped.

I shared a glance with Murphy. We unfortunately thinking the samething. Finn was losing his mind, and I didn't trust he'd do the right thing when it came down to it. If it was the world or Clarke, he'd let the world burn.

"We're probably too late," Murphy said. "I mean, they're probably already dead-"

Finn grabbed at Murphy's arm, forcing me to shove myself between the two of them. I glared at him and held back getting more in his face. It took every fiber of my being not to explode on him. 

He turned his attention away from me and looked through his gun again. "How much ammo do we have?"

"We are not killing these people." I stated, tightening my hold on my shotgun.

"Then by all means, let yourself be killed." he muttered as he scanned the camp.

Murphy shook his head and did the same. "I liked you better when you were the peacemaker."

For the next few hours, we remained crouch in our spot, silently watching the Grounders go about their regular lives. Regular lives with no signs of anything suspicious. The night sky provided us the cover Finn wanted, and he beaconed us to follow him. While I had no interest shooting them, I'm sure if they saw strangers in their camp, they wouldn't hesitate to attack us. I readied my gun in case. As we approached the enterence, Finn broke away and snatched a burning torch.

"What are you doing? This isn't part of your plan!" Murphy whispered.

"Well, I'm changing the plan." Finn responsed and hurried to a shack.

I was quick to follow as he peaked through the window. "Finn, what are you doing?"

"It's their food. This'll do the trick." he said, dropping torch inside.

"No!" I tried to reach for it before it could hit the ground, but I felt Murphy grab my arms and pull me away.

Instantly, the structure went ablaze, the flames multiplying. Murphy's grip was tight as he guided me towards a secluded area for us to hide. A female Grounder emerged from a building and began to scream, a bell ringing along with her. More Grounder's appeared as they frantically tried to put the fire out with water.