Tertium

3. Earth Kills

Later that night, nobody could sleep due to Jasper constantly moaning in pain. Once they had gotten him back to camp, they laid him on a makeshift bed on the top floor of the dropship. Clarke said that he was stable, but she was still worried because his pulse was dangerously high and he was very feverish. As she tried to ignore the rude comments coming from the delinquents beneath her, Andy sat against the wall and once again found herself working on the communication system. This time it wasn't so bad because she was working with Monty, but if she was being honest, Jasper was making it kind of hard to focus. Andy watched as Clarke leaned over and grabbed Jasper's wrist- she was checking his pulse again. From down below, comments like "Somebody shut that kid up!" and "Can he just die already?" could be heard. As she set his wrist back down, Clarke pushed back Jasper's hair and said, "Don't listen to them." The boy let out another painful moan, as the young doctor continued, "You're gonna make it through this. I promise." As Andy worked, she forced herself to hold back the tears that were begging to fall. "I'm gonna get clean water. Keep an eye on him," Clarke said as she descended the ladder in the center of the room. Monty and Andy carefully set down their tools and moved closer to their friend. Andy grabbed Monty's hand and gave it a squeeze, "Everything is gonna be fine, Monty. I mean come on, this is J.J. we're talking about, he'll be better in no time." He gave her a small smile, but he couldn't tell who she was trying to convince more, him or herself.

The next morning, after spending all night cooped up in the small, dark room, Andy decided that she needed some fresh air and that some food would be nice too. As Andy made her way around the small camp, she heard the clink of metal coming from somewhere nearby. She followed the sound and stumbled upon two of the people that, at the moment, she wasn't very fond of. There, in front of her, stood Bellamy Blake and John Murphy. They appeared to be doing target practice as they took turns throwing their weapons at the trees around them. Andy watched as Murphy threw his knife only for it to bounce off the tree and fall to the ground. She let out a small, almost silent, laugh as he groaned in defeat. "It's that dang kid, alright," Murphy complained, "he's messing with my head." Bellamy rolled his eyes and prepared to throw his ax, "He's not gonna last much longer, better think of a new excuse." Andy decided that she'd heard enough of their negativity, and finally made her presence known, "Jasper is going to be just fine, so you can stop acting like he's gonna die because he's not." Bellamy ignored the girl as he threw his ax. It went flying through the air and dug itself into the tree. "That's how it's done," he said with a smirk.

"We searched a half-mile in all directions," Atom informed then as he and another boy approached the group. "No sign of Trina or Pascal." Andy's eyes widened in shock, "Wait, are you saying that there are kids missing?" Nobody answered her, and frankly, they were all acting like she wasn't even there. As Murphy walked over to pick up his knife, Andy heard him ask Atom about some 'special tree.' "Atom took his punishment. Let it go," Bellamy said. 'Punishment? For what?' she asked herself. It could be grounders," Atom suggested. "Yeah, or they could just be out having a little fun, " Murphy countered. "Lot of that going around recently." Another one of Jasper's moans echoed throughout the camp and as Andy looked towards the source of the terrible sound, she saw Octavia pouring out a bucket of dirty water. She was grinning from ear to ear when she saw somebody in the group. Andy followed her gaze and found that she was looking at Atom, who was struggling to avoid meeting her eyes. 'There must be something going on between them,' she concluded. 'But why won't he look at her?' Atom looked back to their leader, "Look, Bellamy, people are scared, and that dying kid," "He's not dying!" Andy cut him off. Atom continued as if he didn't hear her. "He's not helping the morale around here." "Morale will go up when I find them more food," Bellamy explained. The boy that was with Atom then asked, "And what do we do when they ask about Trina and Pascal?" "For now?" Bellamy began again, "Nothing. It's possible that they're just lost."