1 | fucking fantastic

5K 112 6
                                    

"Natstrecha, just the one I need," Tristan said before swinging the butt of his club into Jovie's head. She collapsed onto the ground, wincing at the sudden pounding in her head. Before she could get up to try to fight him, he tied up her hands.

"Get off of me," she spat out as she thrashed around.

"Get up," Tristan ordered, yanking her to her feet.

"Screw you!" She screamed. He looked like he wanted to kill her right then and there, but by the way that he said that he needed her, she figured he wasn't going to. She just didn't know why he needed her. She wasn't going to make it easy for him though. Instead, he just yanked her along with him as he rode his horse.

They traveled for a short while before Jovie saw that Tristan had two other delinquents tied up to one of the trees. She gasped when she saw one of them was Finn.

"Jo!" Finn exclaimed, trying to pull against the ropes that kept him tied to the tree. No one knew who was alive and who was dead. The war with the Grounders was chaos and after the ring of fire, the remaining delinquents had all gotten separated. Jovie had no idea whether Bellamy was still alive or not and that scared her. Knowing Finn was alive made her feel relieved, even if he was one of Tristan's prisoners too. At least she knew where he was.

"On your feet," Tristan said. Unlike Jovie, Finn and the other boy compliantly stood to their feet. Maybe it was because they were more likely to be killed than Jovie was. For some reason, Tristan wanted to keep her alive. As they were dragged by Tristan, Jovie stood close to Finn. She didn't trust Tristan and wanted to make sure Finn stayed alive too.

"Did you see Bellamy?" She asked Finn quietly.

"He got out," he told her. "We got separated though."

"No talking," Tristan snapped at the two. Jovie couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. All she cared about was that Bellamy had made it out. Where he was now was a different story, but that was something to worry about later. For now, she just had to figure out where Tristan was taking them and why.

After they had gone a decent amount, the other boy that was with them was starting to slow down.

"I can't. I can't go anymore," he said as he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Tristan jumped off his horse and approached them. Jovie went to lean down to help the boy, but Tristan pulled his knife out and held it up to her throat to stop her. She just glared at him in response. She probably should have been smarter with the way she was acting towards him, but she wasn't afraid to challenge him.

"He needs a break," she said.

"No, he doesn't," he said before looking down at the boy. "On your feet."

"I can't," he said.

"He can't keep up," Finn said.

"I said, get on your feet!" Tristan repeated. "Get up."

"He can't!" Jovie urged. Tristan ignored her as he suddenly pulled the boy up and slashed his throat with his machete, killing him right before their eyes.

"No!" Finn and Jovie screamed as the boy's dead body fell to the ground.

"That's one. I lost three hundred," Tristan said. Finn dropped to his knees, but Jovie stood glaring at the Grounder.

"We tried for peace," she reminded him. In fact, it was her and Finn specifically. Tristan didn't seem like the type that would go for peace, but that could have been the way that he could have avoided losing his people. 

"There will never be peace between my people and yours," he said. Jovie's eyes darted down when she saw him putting his hand into his pack. She thought he was going to pull out another weapon, but instead he pulled out a canteen. "Drink," he said as he handed it to her. "You're lucky. I need to keep one of you alive to talk to the Commander." He started to walk over to Finn with the machete in hand. Finn scurried back as Tristan approached him. When Jovie realized what Tristan was going to do, she ran after him.

"No!" She screamed. "If you kill him, I won't talk to your Commander." Tristan slowed down. He looked like he was debating what to do before he leaned down and pulled on Finn's rope to yank him back up. Jovie sighed. Although she was the one that was a prisoner, she had most of the power. Clearly talking to the Grounders' Commander was more important than killing the teenagers.

"Get up." 


Jovie felt herself starting to get tired as they walked behind Tristan and his horse, but she refused to slow down. Tristan wouldn't kill her like he had done to the other boy, but she didn't want him to think she was weak. She had already convinced them that she was strong, and she was, there was no doubt about that, but she had to maintain that image. There was something about her that they respected. She had earned the title Natstrecha by spying on them for so long without them even noticing. She had picked up on their strengths and weaknesses, adapting herself to be like them. She used the darkness as her shield. She couldn't waste that now by being tired of walking.

"Hey!" Jovie's head whipped up when she heard a familiar voice in the distance. At first she thought she might have been imagining it because she was so desperate to believe that he was still alive. It was when she saw him standing there in the woods with a spear in hand that she realized he was actually there. Before she could even react though, Tristan's horse started running. Jovie and Finn were thrown forward as they were dragged along the ground. She winced as branches stabbed her and rocks dug into her back.

She couldn't even see what was going on when they finally stopped and the two rolled over onto their stomachs. Jovie groaned as she tried to sit up to see what was going on. When she looked up she saw that Tristan was walking over to Bellamy who was now on the ground. He started punching Bellamy in the face, over and over again.

"Stop!" She screamed. She wanted to push herself up, but her body was sore from being dragged through the mud, literally. After making sure Bellamy was too weak to fight back, Tristan pulled him to his feet and dragged him over to where Jovie and Finn were.

"Get up," Tristan told them. They finally were able to push themselves to their feet, and all Jovie could do was stare at Bellamy. He just stared at her back, like he knew attacking Tristan was stupid but that he would do it again if it meant it could protect her. Tristan tied up Bellamy like Jovie and Finn then hopped back onto his horse.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asked Jovie quietly. She nodded her head, leaning her shoulder against his. What she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around him, but that wasn't an option at that moment.

"You have to stand on your feet. He'll kill you if you don't," Finn told Bellamy.

"I won't let him," Jovie said determinedly.

"You're putting a lot of trust in the fact that he needs you," Finn replied calmly.

"I know," she said simply. Bellamy was about to ask why Tristan needed Jovie when the sound of screaming from behind them filled the air. The three turned around to see Monroe and Sterling, two of the other delinquents, running full force towards Tristan. Tristan was about to machete them just as he had done to the other boy when a gunshot rang through the air and Tristan slowly fell to the ground, dead.

"What the hell?" Jovie mumbled. She stumbled to her feet to look around for the source of the gun when she saw Marcus Kane and a few other guards emerge from the trees.

"We're here now. Everything's gonna be okay," Kane said. Jovie just stared blankly at the man who enforced the laws on the Ark.

"How fucking fantastic," she grumbled.

havoc | bellamy blake (book two)Where stories live. Discover now