READY, AIM, FIRE [B.BLAKE]

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Movement at the main gate!"

       From the guard posts on top of the walls, in his section, Miller's eyes widened as he saw what he thought he saw—something very much impossible. He squinted his eyes, trying to see clearly with all the rain, but as the figure advanced, there was no mistaking who it was. "Open the gates! Open the gates now!"

       Hazel collapsed on the slippery mud in front of the gate, her body spent. She was barely conscious when Miller's strong arms grabbed onto her good arm, gently shaking her, "hey, hey! Stay with me, Hazel, come on! SOMEONE GET A STRETCHER!"

       "I have to get to camp," Hazel mumbled.

       "You're here, Hazel. Fucking hell, you're here, Bellamy's gonna shit himself," Miller said to the girl, and then leaned slightly away from her to yell, "WHERE'S THAT DAMN STRETCHER?!"

       In the drop ship, Jones ran around frantically trying to find the stretcher while Clarke talked to her mother on a barely-functioning radio, attempting to save Finn's life.

       "I need a stretcher! Clarke, where did you guys put the stretcher?" Jones exclaimed, running around the drop ship, looking in highly unlikely places. He was lifting up a chair when Clarke screamed at him.

       "Jones, get the hell out of here! Can't you see I'm busy? Finn is dying!"

       "Hazel is going to die if I don't get a stretcher!" Jones yelled back.

       Clarke's head snapped to the boy as she processed what he said and sucked in a sharp breath, "what did you just say?"

       "We don't have time for this, Clarke!" Jones pleaded. "She's barely breathing, her lips are blue, and she looks like she's two heartbeats away from death."

       That was enough motivation for Clarke to jump into action, grabbing the stretcher from behind Finn and handing it to Jones, who immediately ran back into the storm. Clarke turned back to the radio through which her mother was speaking, "what's going on, Clarke?"

       "Nothing, Mom! Just tell me how to save Finn!"

       Outside of the dropship, Jones and Miller lifted Hazel onto the stretcher and carried her into the dropship. At the sight of her nearly-lifeless body, Clarke choked on her words and her hand that was gripping the knife in Finn's body began to tremble.

"Where do we put her?" Miller asked, scanning the room crowded with delinquents. Clarke was doing the same, her face growing with stress and concern.