Gravity → The 100 [1]

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE
LEFT BEHIND

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     Aspen didn't know how long they ran. Long enough for her legs to flare with pain. Long enough for her lungs to burn desperately for air. Long enough for her tears over Jasper to dry and for blind panic to take its place. They had stopped at first, hearing Jasper scream, but they hadn't been able to stay. There was no way of knowing where the other strangers on earth had taken Jasper, and they needed to get back to the camp and warn everyone else. They were not alone on earth, and the strangers were clearly not very friendly. Jasper was gone, but the other kids sent down to earth could be saved, as long as Aspen and her group got to them in time. She just hoped whoever had been watching them hadn't already attacked the camp.

When they finally neared the camp, exhausted and dehydrated, Aspen heard all the screams and shouts and thought briefly that they were too late. She needn't have worried. When she cleared the trees, she saw that her people were perfectly fine. They were just chaotically cheering on two boys fighting in the clearing below the ridge where Aspen was standing. She shook her head in disbelief. She had mistakenly thought there would be some sort of order when they returned, but apparently not. She started easing herself down into the clearing, using various roots as footholds to keep from slipping, then went still when she finally realized who the two boys were. Murphy and Wells. Wells was still limping on his bad ankle, and a knife was in his dominant hand. A hand, Aspen realized a second later, that no longer had the wristband right below it. Murphy, bloody and dirty from his fall to the ground, wasn't wearing a wristband, either.

As Aspen watched, trying to catch her breath, Murphy flew up from the ground and went at Wells again, shouting something at him that Aspen couldn't make out through all the shouts of encouragement. Wells easily sidestepped him—Aspen saw a hint of training in the way he moved, and wondered idly who had taught him how to fight—and then he had Murphy twisted around until his back was to Wells's chest, the makeshift knife pressed to Murphy's throat. The shouts grew louder, and Aspen burst into movement. Clarke and Finn were already making their way down the incline, so Aspen followed their footsteps, not wanting to lose her feet and fall.

"Wells!" Clarke shouted, her voice rising over the shouts. The group of delinquents quieted once they noticed the group they had sent out for food was already back, though with one less person. An ache formed in Aspen's chest. Clarke made her way over to Wells and Murphy, so Aspen, figuring she had the fight handled, collapsed onto a nearby log and lowered her head into her hands. Her lungs were still burning. She needed water, badly. "Let him go!" she heard Clarke order, and then a grunt as Murphy was shoved away. Aspen glanced up through her blonde strands of hair to find Murphy once again in the dirt. Murphy was quick to bounce back up again, but to Aspen's shock, Bellamy blocked his way.