𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

32. burn baby burn

There was a new sort of calm as I walked through camp two days after the explosion of the bridge. There had been no attack from the Grounder, or any indication that they were coming for us. The Mountain Men that Octavia had warned us about had also not made an appearance, solidifying Bellamy's assumption that maybe Lincoln was lying.

The illness had mostly ran its course and passed through camp. Most of those who had been sick had made a full recovery sans a handful who succumbed to the sickness. The victims of the illness brought our total death count up to fourteen, meaning there were eighty seven of us left.

We all knew that eighty seven wasn't many when taking into consideration how many Grounders were likely to be out there, but we were still positive we could put up a fight.

I had not spoke to Bellamy since our awkward hug a few days earlier. I felt like a little school girl as my eyes were trained on him and Clarke as they walked outside of the gates. Like I said, I had been avoiding Bellamy for over a day but for some reason I could not get him out of my head.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Finn asked, joining me as I gathered wood for the fire in the meat house we had built.

I turned to look at him, my cheeks heating up when I realized I had been caught staring at Bellamy. "Just thinking about the Grounders." I lied, praying he would buy it.

It seems like he did because he gave me a warm smile, "Try not to think about it." he advised, picking up a log that had fell from the pile in my arms, "Now what do you say we go see how Raven's doing?"

I nodded as I readjusted the logs in my arms, "I'm just gonna go take these to Octavia."

"Okay, I'll meet you at the ammo tent then, yeah?"

I gave my brother a nod of confirmation as he departed. I exhaled, blowing my hair out of my eyes as I looked back to where Bellamy was. Clarke was speaking to him but he turned his head slightly, his eyes catching mine. My heart sped up as he sent me a small smile. Instead of returning the gesture, I turned quickly on my heal and made my way over to the smoke house.

The whole way through camp I cursed myself over my teenage antics. Bellamy was Bellamy and I was Avery, Octavia's best friend, nothing more to him, nothing less.

"You can set it down there Avs." Octavia instructed, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. I hadn't realized I was standing at the smoke house until she spoke.

"Here," Murphy said, swooping in a taking the wood from my arms, "I got it."

I sent him a small smile, I still didn't know where the two of us stood and I didn't want to push my luck, "Thanks."

I turned to Octavia, "I'm gonna go check on Raven unless you need some help in here."

She turned from what she was doing and shook her head, "No you go, I'll be okay in here."

I gave her a smile before leaving and making my way to the tent where Raven was working on making us more bullets. As I entered the tent I could feel the awkward tension between Finn and Raven. Something that happened between the two of them after the bridge but neither of them wanted to tell me what it was.

It seems like I had caught them in the middle of a conversation as they both stopped talking and turned to look at me as soon as I entered, "Am I interrupting?" I asked, pausing at the entrance.

Finn let out a sigh as he shook his head, "No, I was just leaving. See you later Raven." he mumbled, brushing past me as he went to leave.

"Wait!" Raven called, standing up to face him, "We're good, we are. I just want you to be happy."

I looked between the two of them, starting to clue into what this was all about. It was becoming clear that they had finally severed any romantic ties that they had left, meaning Finn had chosen Clarke over Raven.

"Yeah," I muttered awkwardly, "I'm just gonna go."

"No, Avery-" Raven was cut off by a loud bang from outside the tent followed by people yelling. The three of us shared worried looks before rushing out to see what was going on.

As we emerged into tent we saw the meat house where I had just been up in flames.

My mind instantly went to my best friend and I immediately broke into a run, "Octavia!" I gasped, rushing towards the scene to ensure that my best friend was okay. Luckily as I neared I saw her sitting beside Bellamy who was checking her over.

"I'm okay." she promised as her eyes met mine. I sat down beside her, making sure that she was actually okay and not just telling me that.

"What happened?" I asked, looking at the fire that was getting increasingly larger by the minute, burning all the food we had left.

"I'll tell you what happened," Murphy spat, standing up and lunging towards another boy who I had seen leaving the smoke house earlier, "This is all your fault, she told you it was too much wood!" he yelled, shoving the boy backwards.

The boy shoved him back and it seemed for a moment a fight was going to break out until Bellamy stepped in, "That's enough!" he ordered, splitting the two boys apart. "Save it for the Grounders." he muttered to Murphy.

"Bell, what are we going to do now?" Octavia questioned, "That was all the food!"

Bellamy pursed his lips as he looked to the fire and then back at the group. By the look on his face I could tell he didn't know what we were going to do, meaning yet another obstacle we had to over come if we wanted any chance at surviving a Grounder attack.

No food meant no energy which meant there was no way we could put up any kind of fight. To put it frankly, we were screwed.

-an-

wow guys we are getting to the end of season 1 how crazy! im excited to begin writing season 2 but also sad because obviously a lot goes down and I also just love season 1 and everyone being together

anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter please vote or comment so I know to keep writing this story, it is sometimes hard to tell if people actually like what I am writing

-maddy xoxo