Ready, Aim, Fire

Chapter One

The worst part of being the only other person alive in what's left of camp, other than the absolute silence, is the smell. It's a mixture between burnt hair, animal and human alike, and burnt flesh. I've tried leaving the Dropship multiple times to scout the area, but the smell sends me into a gagging fit, and I don't have the heart to leave Raen by herself for too long.

I'm no doctor, but she's not looking too good. The skin under her eyes is dark with exhaustion while the rest of her face in unnaturally pale for her naturally dark complexion and clammy with fever. I also can't leave her because a few Grounders have wandered into the Dropship looking for any survivors, me and Raven, to stick their swords in. So, I've decided that staying to make sure no Grounder has the chance to get Raven is the best thing I can do for her.

"I call the next one." The mechanic says from her horizontal position on the floor, drawing my mine back to the present. I give her a concerned look, but she ignores me and pulls her gun in close to we chest before painfully rolling onto her stomach. I sigh as I hope down from the hammock and go crouch behind some of the supply boxes that have somehow managed to make it this far.

Raven and I have turned the past few hours into a game. Everytime she kills a Grounder, I have to poke my head out of the Dropship and scout around for any sign of the others, and everytime I kill a Grounder, both take a swig from the leftovers of Monty's moonshine. I have to get rid of the Grounder bodies no matter who kills it though, for obvious reasons.

Raven got shot by Murphy, who I hope is either dead or back getting tortured by the Grounders again. She was helping Bellamy and I when the psycho was hold us prisoner inside of the Dropship. Raven was under the floor working to get the door open when Murphy shot through it and hit her. Now, the bullet is still in her back and pressing against her spine. She can barely move, let alone handle a dead Grounder.

My eyes prickle with tears for the millionth time today as my thought once again drift to Bellamy Blake, how his dark, curly hair was soft in between my fingers as his lips worked against mine, how the freckles that ran across his cheeks and crossed his nose seemed to have become more prominent when her smiled, and how his eyes seemed to soften when he talked about his younger sister, Octavia, the only reason her came to Earth in the first place.

The sound of the parachute that covers the entrance of the Dropship being flung back causes me to snap back to reality. A Grounder walks into the Dropship, seething with anger as he gaze flies across the room, and I hold my breath as he heads towards Raven. I quickly, and silently, notch an arrow onto my bow string, getting prepared incase something goes wrong. I lift my eyes just over the top of the box so I can see Raven. The Grounder grabs her by the shoulder and rolls her over, and Raven quickly shoots him in the head, the gun going off with a bang. I come out from my hiding place, loosening my grip on the arrow but keeping it on the bow string, just in case.

"Well, that makes you six and me eight." I say, crouching down next to Raven to take in how exhausted she is. She lets out a pained laugh. "I'm catching up." She says with a half-hearted grin, and I can't help the small smile that appears on my face at the spirit of the mechanic in front of me. "Yeah." I say with a small shrug of my shoulders. "But, we both know I'm better." I say, playfully grinning at her. She shakes her head before letting it rest back on the floor. She heaves in a breath and closes her eyes. "You know the drill." She says, and I take in a nervous breath as I think about looking outside again.

I don't want to see, or smell, the burnt corpses again. I already know that the image of those bodies will forever haunt my nightmares, but I stand up anyway. "If the smell isn't too bad, I might take a walk around the perimeter to see what's what." I say, and Raven nods, keeping her eyes closed. "Shoot anything that comes through that door unless it's me" I say and head towards the door. "Knock twice before you come in." She says as I peek out from behind the parachute. "I'm the one who came up with that." I mumble distractedly, checking to make sure there's no one outside.