We're Coming Home (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

XIII - We Are Grounders II

Everything was so quiet, so still. No wind rustled in the leaves. No animals scampered across the dirt. Nothing. Even the air was thick, stifling. Heavy with the promise of war. Every breath I took exacerbated the buzzing of my nerves.

As we departed from our camp to chase a mysterious village by the sea, an army of Grounders after us, I couldn't help but feel I was right to be nervous. At least, I had my bow and a good number of arrows in my quiver. I wasn't defenceless, and that was a big step up from the whole Murphy situation.

I looked back at Bellamy. He was walking a few steps behind me, his gun held tightly in his hands. His face was the picture of concentration, but there was fear too in the crease between his brows and the tightness of his jaws. His eyes met mine and I offered him a small smile, the best I could do at the moment. He returned it, if ever so slightly.

We stopped abruptly. I looked around, searching for any sign as to why, but I saw nothing. Just the stillness of the trees.

"Why are we stopping?" Raven asked weakly. She was lying on an improvised stretcher, her wound too serious for her to walk.

"I don't know," Finn answered.

Shouts echoed from the head of the group, and Jasper started yelling about Grounders. I nocked an arrow and pushed my way to the front. Drew was dead on the ground with a wicked-looking blade embedded in his face. Bellamy joined me, and we both squinted at the woods, trying to spot the enemy.

"I don't see anything!" I whispered, scanning the branches.

"Me neither. Damn it. Everyone, back to camp!"

At the speed we were going, it didn't take us long to get back to the dropship. We ran in, a crowd of scared, screaming teenagers and I climbed the platform so I could see over the wall. Bellamy and Clarke were already there, squinting at the darkening woods.

"Where are they?" Bellamy asked. "Why aren't they attacking?"

Clarke's eyes widened. "Because we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do."

"What are you talking about?"

Ignoring Bellamy's question, she turned to Finn who was looking at her from the ground. His hands were stained with Raven's blood and I averted my eyes. She didn't deserve that.

"Lincoln said scouts would be the first to arrive," Clarke said.

"If it's just scouts," Octavia replied, "we can fight our way out. That's what Lincoln would do."

"We're done doing what that Grounder would do," Bellamy scowled, jumping down. "We tried it and now Drew is dead. You wanna be next?"

"That Grounder saved our lives!" Finn protested. "I agree with Octavia. For all we know, there's one scout out there."

"Or twenty!" I argued.

"With insanely good aim," Jasper added. I raised my hand, as if to say see .

"Clarke, we can still do this!" Octavia insisted.

We all stared at Clarke, knowing she would be the one to make the decision.

"They're looking to you, princess," Bellamy said. Something deep inside me twinged in annoyance at the nickname. I rolled my eyes at myself. I needed to sort out my feelings. "What's it gonna be? Run and get picked off out in the open or stand and fight back?"

She looked at the woods, her hands clenched together. I didn't envy her. To have the lives of dozens of people in her hands, knowing that if she made the wrong decision, we would all die? It was a terrible responsibility to have. Her face set, she jumped down the platform.