On the Run ~ON HOLD~

Chapter 25 Fire!

"Let's get this party smoking."

Thea rolled her eyes as Del threw more wood onto the fire. Thea, Del, Murphy and Octavia had been assigned to work in the smokehouse. They were preserving the meat they had hunted to be stored for winter. Del, of course, was being a jackass.

"Del, chill with the wood man. We don't want it too big, it'll catch the place on fire."

"Yeah maybe just try to knock it down with some wet leaves." Octavia added.

Del wasn't happy about being told what to do.

"You get that from your boyfriend, grounder pounder?" He sneered.

"Hey—" Thea was ready to shut him down but another voice interrupted her.

"They're right." It was Murphy. "A hot fire's not gonna preserve the meat as well."

"You can't take the heat, get out of the smokehouse. You should be kissing our assess for being allowed back in this camp. Just keep working." Del directed at them.

Thea fumed. She was going to kick that boy's ass one of these days if he didn't get over himself. 

"Douchebag," Thea muttered as Del left the smokehouse.

"You're brother couldn't get you a better job?" Murphy asked Octavia before turning to Thea, "Or you? You're pretty close with Bellamy, why did he stick you here? I would think anything would be better than working in the meat furnace."

Thea shrugged as she hung up a slab of meat. "Probably. That just means someone else would have to do it."

Murphy stood there, observing to two girls for a moment as they worked.

Suddenly, without a moment's notice, the fire caught onto the side of the wooden building and exploded into flames. Octavia yelled out as her hands were caught in the burning flames. Without thinking, Thea grabbed Octavia and shoved her towards where she thought the door was.

In the split second that it took to shove the other girl, Thea was surrounded by a wall of flames. She could vaguely hear Octavia among others screaming her name but they sounded far away.

She frantically turned, reaching out to where she thought the door was only to be met with a wall of flames. She screeched as the fire burned the skin of her hands. Stumbling around and disoriented, Thea tripped over something and fell to the ground.

This is it, she thought, this is how I die. What a dumb way to go.

Before she could accept her fate, however, a pair of hands reached through the flames and pulled her out. As her unknown savior pulled them from the fire, she could hear her name being called out by many people. But one voice stood out in particular. Bellamy. She could hear his desperate voice and he shouted her name as she looked up to realize it was Murphy who had dragged her from the fire.

As the boy dragged her farther away from the flames, the others came rushing to her side. She coughed as the smoke that had filled her lungs was replaced by fresh air.

"Oh my god, Thea, are you okay?" Clarke dropped to her knees by here side, quickly followed by Bellamy and Octavia.

A crowd had gathered around while others desperately tried to put out the fire. Thea vaguely noticed the grateful nod that Bellamy sent Murphy as she was scooped up and brought to the dropship, the others in tow.

Once she was placed on a flat surface, Clarke began to asses her injuries.

"Her hands have second degree burns as well as her arms and a small area on her leg. And there are minor burns over the rest of her body not to mention the smoke inhalation." Clarke diagnosed out loud for the others to hear.

Clarke had allowed Bellamy, Octavia, Murphy, Finn and Raven in and had shooed the others out so they could have some privacy. Thea winced as Clarke pulled the singed fabric away from her body.

"Sorry, but I have to get this off. Finn, will you go get some water for me?"

Finn nodded and ran off as the others stood around anxiously. Murphy was attempting to clean his own wounds with a wet rag and he winced as he did so.

"Thea, you could've been killed." Octavia scolded as she stepped closer.

Thea let out a chuckle which turned into a groan of pain. "Is that a thank you for saving your ass?"

Octavia reluctantly smiled. "Thank you." She said quietly. "But next time, don't almost get yourself killed for me."

Bellamy looked torn between his sister and the other girl. He wanted to scold Thea for putting herself in danger but on the other hand, he wouldn't have wanted Octavia to be in danger either. Undecided, he kept his mouth shut.

Thea managed to tug at Clarke's sleeve and get the girl's attention. Thea pointed over to Murphy who was wincing as he cleaned his wounds. Clarke shook her head.

"He saved me, Clarke. I would be dead if it wasn't for him. It'll only be a minute and I can wait. It's not like I can get much worse." Thea attempted to joke.

Clarke just sent her an unamused look before sighing and handing over the wet cloth to Raven while she headed over to the boy. Raven resumed gently wiping Thea's wounds as Clarke forced an uncooperative Murphy to sit down and let her look at his injuries. 

Bellamy still hovered close, worried more about her state than he was about the lack of food that now threatened to haunt them in the coming months. Everything had been lost. Every bit of what they had spent days and weeks gathering was gone. But he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. All he cared about was that his sister was safe and Thea was alive. And as long as she stayed that way, he would be okay. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to this girl. This annoying, tiny little girl who had somehow managed to steal his heart over the course of a few weeks. As long as she was okay, he could make it.