Picking Up the Pieces

9. Mob Mentality

Four graves. Four bodies. Four less survivors. 

Although Wells could be somewhat finicky and precarious he was still one of the hundred. He would be one less person to have children. One less person to live freely. One less person alive. Down here, all life is valuable. 

The fact that Wells was killed by a grounder ensured that everyone was stressed out. We were all working ourselves to the core, trying to fight the scared shitless feeling we all felt. We were all building or hunting or making weapons in what seemed like an endless cycle. Myself, I was in the weapons category. Sharpening rocks and scrap metal into makeshift knives, making spears and so on. Every so often I look at Bellamy, sometimes bossing people around and sometimes letting his dominant caring-ness shine through. Like with Charlotte.

Charlotte is a little girl, twelve or thirteen maybe, who Bellamy has taken under his wing. It's adorable really, to watch them interact. He's so sweet and caring around her, he dotes on her every word. He's always helping her or talking to her. You can tell he loves being around her. My theory is he misses being Octavia's heroic big brother. She doesn't depend on him anymore and I think that hit him hard, so he's taken on the big brother role once again.

Octavia and Jasper come back into the camp with concerned looks and bad vibes. Octavia whispers something in Bellamy's ear and he nods. He looks to me and motions to follow. I drop the knife I'm currently crafting and make my way to Bellamy's tent.

When I enter I see Clarke already there, a knife and two fingers on the table.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Check it out." Jasper says. "Are those...?" They look like..."Wells'? Yeah." Clarke tells us. "That knife was made out of metal from the dropship." I tell them. "It's not like there's a grounder supply store lying around. The only place anyone could've gotten metal was camp." I say. "Who else knows about this?" Bellamy asks. "No one. We brought it straight here." Octavia informs us. "Do you know what this means?" Clarke asks. "It means the grounders didn't kill Wells, it was one of us." "So there's a murderer in the camp." Jasper states. "There is more than one murderer in this camp. This isn't news. Keep it quiet." 

Clarke starts to try to leave but there is a wall in her path. A tall, handsome wall who happens to be my boyfriend. They get into a heated argument, which isn't new. Clarke then picks up the knife and reads out the initials carved into it. 

"J.M. John Murphy." "Hold up Clarke." I tell her. "Not you too. You can't possibly be on his side." "I can and I will. Although Murphy is a disgusting, revolting, putrid, horrid, disturbing, nasty,-" "The point Jada?" Bellamy says. Oops. "Right. Although he is all those things, there's nothing saying he did it. Because for one, there are more people in this camp with the initials J.M. John Mbege? Josephina Merritt? And two, this camp is filled with liars and robbers. Someone else could've stolen the knife." "That's Murphy's knife." Octavia says softly. "He made it on the first day, I remember, and he hasn't let it out of his sight since." Jasper adds. "The people have a right to know." Clarke says and exits the tent. This is not going to go well.

Clarke goes and attacks Murphy. She accuses him of murdering Wells and a crowd draws. Although O, Jasper, Bellamy and I stand behind her, I certainly don't believe this is the way to be handling this. Murphy calls us out. 

"Bellamy, gorgeous, you really believe this crap?" I have to bite my tongue to stop from screaming that I don't. We stay silent. The fight rages on and more and more people start to believe us. Bellamy calls him out and Murphy walks up to us. 

"Bellamy, c'mon man, I didn't do this." Murphy pleads. "Bellamy, he didn't do it." I whisper. "We found his fingers on the ground with your knife." Bellamy tells him. Murphy turns away.

Clarke goes on about society and our lives on earth, thinking she's doing the right thing. She rallies the crown and with every word she draws them in. She excites them. She talks about the rules until one voice speaks out.

"I say we float him." John Mbege. The guy that Murphy treated like dirt.

"That's not what I'm saying." Clarke tells him. "Why not? He deserves to float, it's justice." He retaliates. "Revenge isn't justice." Mbege starts to to rile the crowd even more, chanting "float him".

"She's gone too far. They're out of control. We have to stop this." I whisper to Bellamy. "There's nothing I can do. They've decided that they want this twisted form of justice. Mob mentality." "There's always something, Bellamy. Always."

Murphy starts to run but they smash him to the ground. Kicking and punching at him. Clarke tries to stop it but I realize that what Bellamy said is true. Mob mentality. She took it too far and now she can't control it. The carry him away and the mob follows. They throw him on the ground and beat him like the world depends on it. Before my very eyes I see the beginning of our own nuclear war. Destruction and chaos unfolding everywhere. A rope is thrown over a tree branch and a noose is tied. Murphy is hoisted into the air, tied up like in the stories I've read. A public hanging.

Clarke runs up to Bellamy and starts screaming that he could stop this and that they'll listen to him. But he and I know that nothing can stop this. We just have to deal with the fact that this happened.

"Bellamy, you should do it!" Mbege shouts and starts chanting "Bellamy". The crowd follows suit until almost everyone is chanting. "You don't have to do this." I tell him. "I do. They'll loose all respect for me if I don't and more chaos will unfold." He tells me. I nod. "I trust you." Clarke keeps pleading with him but it's no use now. She's telling him to stop, not to do it. I kiss him on the lips and he steps forward. Murphy keeps shaking his head, telling him not to do it. But it's inevitable.

 Bellamy steps up and Murphy is screaming at him, as best as he can, telling him to stop. Bellamy takes a deep breath, looks back at me and slams the platform from under Murphy. He falls and the rop tightens around his neck. He writhes around, struggling to breathe. Clarke starts screaming at him,shoving him, asking him "how could he". He yells back that this is on her. I scream at her that this is all her fault and she should've kept her mouth shut.

Bellamy runs back to me and engulfs me in a hug. I comfort him as he comforts me, tears streaming down both of our faces. The tears are evidence that we are all only human and we face tough decisions.

Finn appears and screams to cut him down. Mbege tries to hold him off with a giant nail but Finn is relentless. They continue to scream along with everybody else. Octavia is holding Charlotte back until Charlotte screams the loudest, above all of the fighting, above all of the chaos.

"Enough, okay?! Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did." And we all fall silent.

Dun dun dun! So here is chapter nine! I don't know, I kinda liked it:) This chapter was interesting to write because I never really thought about the initials thing until I re-watched the episode, for example. 

I actually had to study mob mentality last year so it had a big part in this chapter because I knew about it and the power of words. It was fun to incorporate it into this story.

I'm going to start doing questions and answers of the day! So I'll add a question to the end of every chapter (and they won't always be about this story but this one is relevant) and I'll answer it and you guys can leave your answers in the comments:) So here is the...

QOTD: New cover (and title!), do you like them or do you prefer the old ones?

AOTD: Well, I'm in favour of the new ones but because I made them soo...

I love you all so much!