Radioactive

Chapter Eight

I hear a thunk of something digging into a tree and a thud of something forcefully hitting the ground, but all I can do is stare at Charlotte. A groan from Murphy pulls me out of my daze, and I quickly storm up to Charlotte and drag her to the nearest tent just at the top of the hill. The same tent that has Wells' fingers in it. I quickly cover them with the cloth that they are wrapped in and open my mouth to say something to the little girl in front of me, but the sound of heavy footsteps stops me.

I push the girl behind me as I pull my knife out of boot and hold it in front of me while keeping one arm out to keep Charlotte behind me. I sigh in relief as Clarke, Finn, and Bellamy come into the tent. "Murphy's not coming is he?" I ask, looking at to Bellamy, but someone calls out before he can answer. "Bring out the girl, Bellamy." Murphy. I tuck my knife into the belt loop on my pants and wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. "Why Charlotte?" I hear Bellamy ask the little girl in question. I close my eyes, not ready for her reason why. "I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me." I spin around and face Bellamy as I see his face fall. "What the hell is she talking about?" Clarke asks, furious. "She misunderstood him." I all but growl at the blonde. "This isn't his fault." I finish, casting a pointed look to Bellamy as he stays kneeled in front of Charlotte. "Charlotte, that's not what I meant." He says, trying to talk sense into the little girl. "Bring the girl out now!" I lean my elbows on the table and put my head in my hands. If I knew this much drama was going to happen, I would've voted to stay on the Ark. "Please, don't let them hurt me." I close my eyes at the fear in the young girl's voice. "If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up." I hear Bellamy say, and immediately delve into my thoughts to try and think of something. A plan starts to form in my head as the silence stretches on. "Now you stay quiet." He says, frustration clear in his voice. I feel the table shake as someone else rests on it. "Those are your boys out there." Finn says, and I can hear the blame in his voice. "This is not my fault!" Bellamy yells. "If she had listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall." Bellamy continues to yell. I slam my hands down on the table and straighten up. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I yell. Everyone looks at me with varying degrees of surprise. "It's not Charlotte's fault that she was forced to grow up this way!" I yell out, and see Clarke open her mouth to spout something off, but I glare harshly at her and she keeps her comments to herself. "This isn't Clarke's fault because how the hell was she to know that they were going to react this way? All she wanted was justice for her friend, I know how that feels." I say quieting down and casting my eyes to the floor. Even just thinking of Matthew still hurts.

I take a deep breath before looking back up at the group and continuing. "Should she have kept her words to herself, probably, but she has to live with her decisions just like the rest of us do." I say, casting a small glance to Charlotte. "This isn't Bellamy's fault because he can't control these people based on fear anymore than he can control the weather." I say, now looking to Bellamy with a pointed look. "So everyone just shut up and listen, I have a plan." I take my hands off the table and look to Finn. "You and Clarke take Charlotte into the forest and find somewhere to hide. There are some caves out there that can be easily overlooked, especially at night." I say, earning a nod from Finn and Clarke. I look to Bellamy. "Me and you will go out there and distract Murphy and his boys for as long as we can to give them a head start." I then look back to Finn. "We will meet you in the caves at dawn and come up with another plan about what to do next, okay?" Everyone looks deep in thought as they go over the plan, and I keep looking from person to person, waiting for a reaction. The silence is interrupted. "You wanna build a society, Princess? Let's build a society. Bring her out!" I look to Bellamy with a silent question, can we pull this off? The look in Bellamy's face pretty much zaps any hope of saving little Charlotte. "No! Please, Bellamy." The girl begs, tears rolling down her face. "Charlotte, hey, it's gonna be okay." Bellamy says, and looks to Clarke and Finn. "We are gonna follow Carter's plan, so just stay with them." He says and ducks out of the tent. I lift the flap of the tent open to follow but pause. "Finn?" He pauses in lifting the back of the tent up. "Take care of her." He nods and then disappears from sight. I take a deep breath and walk out from the false protection of the tent.