On the Ground

Human Trials

      "Move, move, move!" A guard yelled. Two guards dragged a girl between them. The girl was covered head to toe in mud and blood. I tried to push my way through the crowd. "Teams of 3! Secure the perimeter! Open the gate!" Byrne shouted. I finally pushed my way through the crowd. "How many of you are there?" Byrne yelled. The girl's head went limp again. I moved close to them. She turned and looked at me. I stopped dead in my tracks. "Wait!" Abby yelled. Byrne tried to block her. "Once the prisoner is secured." Byrne said. "Shes not a prisoner. Shes my daughter." Abby said. She leaned down to Clarke. "Clarke.." Abby said, pushing her hair back. "Mom?" Clarke asked. I took the place of one of the guards and helped Clarke. "Its okay Clarke. Its okay." I promised her. I brought her to medical and helped lay her down. Clarke was looking around, looking at her mother in shock. "Ill be outside. Let me know when you need me." I told Abby. I stepped out. Sinclair was outside. "Clarke has thought her mom was dead for months. This... this is great." I said, sitting down. My own mother no longer talked to me, my father didnt either really. Even almost all my friends are gone. "Will she be okay?" He asked. I nodded. "I think so." I said. Byrne walked past, going inside. "Can you go let Raven know? Please?" I asked Sinclair. He nodded and headed off to find her. Byrne came back out after a minute, muttering about Mount Weather. Mount Weather, the place we were supposed to land when we were sent down here. I waited until Abby stepped out. "Could you help clean her up?" Abby asked, wiping away tears. "Of course." I said. I stepped in. Clarke looked exhausted and upset. "Hey..." She said. Clarke pulled me into a hug, which I gladly excepted. "I was so worried." I told her. "They are all okay, for now at least." Clarke told me. I nodded. Jackson brought a bucket of water in for us and sat it down. I grabbed a towel and handed it to Clarke. She cleaned off her face the best she could while Abby and I tried to get the mud off her arms. After a while, I left to let Clarke sleep. She needed, badly. She told me about Anya, the Grounder she had met with before we blew up the bridge. With the help of a few guards, I went out to find her body. Byrne protested to me going out, especially in the dark but I ignored her. We found her, right where Clarke had been found. I placed a blanket over her and the guards moved to pick her up. "Be careful with her, please." I ordered them. We brought her back and set her somewhere where she would not be disturbed until Clarke could say goodbye. I headed back towards medical and saw Raven sitting outside. "Shes asleep right now." Raven told me. I saw her smile. We were all happy to have Clarke back. Now we just needed to find Finn and the others. 

    Clarke slept through the night and into the day. I didnt see a point in waking her yet, she needed to sleep and heal. I walked towards the tent again and surely enough, Raven was still outside. I saw Byrne going in. After a minute she came out, looking towards the gate. Someone was coming. Clarke came out after a minute. Raven hugged her when she saw her. I went towards the gate when I heard someone yelling to open the gate. Bellamy. He was helping a girl I had never seen before. Octavia was there too, helping a wounded Monroe. No Murphy or Finn. No Sterling. What? I rushed forward to Monroe. "Monroe, where are the others?" I asked, as someone helped her. "Sterling's dead. Finn ran off and Murphy went after him." She explained. Oh no, not Sterling. I looked up at Bellamy and hugged him. Clarke came rushing through the crowd towards him. I pulled Octavia into a tight hug. "I'm glad to see you again." I told her, making her smile. Clarke ran into Bellamy, throwing her arms around him. Bellamy gladly accepted the hug, pulling her closer. "Now, theres something I thought I'd never see." Octavia commented. I laughed and Raven joined us. "How many are with you?" Bellamy asked, looking around. "None." Clarke answered. "Wheres Finn?" She asked. "Looking for you." Bellamy responded. "Murphy?" I asked him. He looked over at me. "I promise, he's fine. He saved my life. Someone had to go after Finn though." Bellamy explained. "We need to get out there, find them. Finn isn't himself right now. He could hurt John." I said. "Right now, lets get you to medical." Abby told Bellamy. I went with them. I went to Jackson's side, helping Monroe. "Arrow to the leg sucks." She grumbled as Jackson cleaned her leg. My mother came in, helping. I moved away and to Bellamy. Bynre was there again. "We need to talk ma'am." She said to Abby. Abby looked at me. "Ill help Bellamy, go on." I told her. Bellamy sat on the table as I cleaned the cuts on his face, and washing the dirt off. "What happened to Sterling?" I asked him. He flinched as I cleaned another cut. "He tried to be the hero and save that girl, Mel. He fell." Bellamy said. I closed my eyes for a minute. Another one dead. "I want to talk to them." Bellamy said. I knew he meant Abby and the guards. "In the Ark." I told him. He got up, grabbing his jacket and walking off. Mel and Monroe were already being taken care of, so I left the med tent. I quickly found Octavia. She was pacing outside the Ark. "O, whats up?" I asked her. She sighed. "I need to get back out there. I have to find Lincoln." She explained. I stopped her from pacing again. "What happened to him?" I asked. She looked around. "Reapers. They showed up and took him. I've been searching for him since." Octavia said. Jackson rushed past us and into the Ark. 

    I stood with Raven at the edge of camp. Bellamy and Clarke decided that the only way to get Finn and Murphy back, was to after them ourselves. It took some convincing but finally, they agreed to let me go with them. "Hey. My moms in surgery and the team going after Kane just left." Clarke said. She handed Bellamy a pack. "Did you find Octavia?" Bellamy asked. "No, I found you." Octavia said, making us jump. She had her arms crossed. "I'm not letting you leave here without me." She said, refusing to move. "Octavia..." Bellamy started. "Finn and Murphy are headed for Lincoln's village. I've been there, have you?" She added in. "You done?" Bellamy asked, handing her a pack. "Whats this?" She asked. "Your pack." Bellamy said, smiling. "Lead the way." She said, jumping towards the fence. Raven stopped her. "Woah. Not so fast, Pocahontas." Raven touched her crutch to the fence, a spark flew off. She pulled out a walkie. "Shut her down, Wyck." Raven said. There was a beeping and the fence went dead. "Handled." Raven said, helping us out of the fence. 

     We walked until it got too dark to see. So we stopped for the night even though I could tell Clarke and Octavia wanted to continue. I kept my knife out and at my side the whole time. Crazy how this was still the one thing I had. I kept it through everything. I sat awake, across from Bellamy who was also awake. He tried to get me to sleep but I just wouldn't. Octavia slept peacefully on one side of the fire and Clarke on the other. I saw Clarke open her eyes and look over at Bellamy. He noticed. "Last time I saw you, you were closing the dropship door." He said quietly. She sat up, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Did you get any sleep?" He asked, noticing that she still looked tired. "Its okay, I'll sleep when we find Finn." Clarke said. Bellamy looked over at me. "You haven't seen him Clarke. Losing you, the others, the war. It changed him. He executed the Grounder that drew us the map. Pulled the trigger without even blinking and walked away." Bellamy told her. She looked uneasy. "That doesn't sound like Finn." Clarke said quietly. "I saw what he was capable of and I still let him go with Murphy and two automatic rifles." Bellamy said, blaming himself. Now I was worrying about Murphy even more. Finn could just lose it and kill Murphy! Murphy was good at getting under peoples skin and I hoped he knew to just keep his mouth shut now. "I'm sure it had to be done." Clarke assured him. "When we got back to the drop ship and no one was there, we assumed it was the Grounders." Bellamy continued. "Of course you did. You couldn't have known it was the mountain men. No one could have." Clarke told him. "How long until chocolate cake turns into being hung upside down and being drained for their blood?" Bellamy asked. "I don't know, but we don't have much time." Clarke answered. "First we find Finn, then our people in Mount Weather." Bellamy said. "And Lincoln." Octavia added in. "I think we've slept long enough." She said, getting up. I nodded and helped put out the fire. 

   Octavia led us towards Lincoln's village. Before I could ask how close we were, there were gunshots. They sounded close. We all took off running. The gunshots continued. I heard yelling. Lots of yelling. "Finn! Stop! Finn!" Murphy yelled. Murphy. The gunshots stopped as we cleared the trees. My mouth dropped open. Finn lowered his gun and looked at Clarke. "I found you." He said, smiling. Dead Grounders lay on the ground. Murphy had dropped his gun, trying to stop Finn. He now looked around, horrified. Finn had murdered innocent people. Octavia ran forward to a man and his kid. "No!" She said. The kid was gone. I ran to Murphy his arms open for me, wrapping my arms around him. "We should go." I said quietly. I didn't even want to walk back to camp with Finn. He had lost his mind. "Are you okay?" I asked Murphy, touching his face. He shook his head, still looking around. "Come on, John. Come on, we need to get back." I told him. Octavia sat on the ground still. "Go ahead back. Now. Go." She told us, glaring at Finn. I picked up Murphy's gun and slung it over my shoulder. "Nyko... I'm so sorry." Octavia said to the man on the ground next to her. I had to pull Murphy away.