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"It's all clear," Bellamy tells the girls once the sun rises and the fog is gone. Leaving the cave is a relief, but seeing nothing but the green makes her worry for Alec. "Anybody out here?! Jones!"
"We're here," a male voice calls back. She assumes it's Jones. The three make their way away from the cave and towards the voice. There are four people making their way towards them.
"Lost you in the stew. Where'd you go?" Bellamy asks, his eyes on Zarah as she rushes to hug her friend.
"Made it to a cave down there. The hell was that?" Jones asks, putting the long metal pipe he holds in his hands down in the dirt like a staff. She assumes it's his choice of weapon to protect himself as they were pretty limited.
"I don't know," the Blake shrugs. "Where's Atom?" No one responds, and that seems to make him worry. "No one knows?"
"Relax," the Jade cuts in. While everyone's face is now showing some concern, hers shows she couldn't care less. Still, she eases their nerves, "Let's split up and look for him. He couldn't have gotten too far."
The search is fairly quiet so they could hear each other when they found something. They split up separately to cover more ground, but it doesn't take long for a child's fearful scream to pierce the air. It's to her left, and she knows it's Charlotte.
She takes her time to get to her, knowing Bellamy is already there. She is right. The little girl stands off to the side while he's sat by Atom. The sight almost makes her gasp, but she bites her lip to hold it back.
Atom is covered in burns. She has never seen anything like it before. She would've felt a lot better keeping it that way. She slowly walks towards them, her eyebrows furrowed. He's whispering something, and she couldn't hear it until she got close. "Kill me."
The whole group is now gathered around looking at their friend in horror. Charlotte is the only one who dares to get closer, but it's only to hand Bellamy the knife he gave her. "Don't be afraid," she mutters.
"Go back to camp," he orders them all, making sure his voice is unwavering and stern. The little girl doesn't dare to move, and neither does Zarah. "Charlotte and Klepto, you too." Charlotte leaves, but the teen doesn't. She watches as Bellamy slowly sinks to the ground by his friend, but doesn't dare to look at his face. She slowly reaches forward, pulling the knife away wordlessly.
She knows killing isn't her. She never did it unless she has a good reason to, like protecting someone in a count of self defense. This time, however, it is to protect someone from killing their own friend. She knows it will haunt her, but she'd rather it be her than someone else — even if she absolutely hates the person.
Before she can act, Clarke is knealing by Atom's head. "I heard screaming," she tells them, looking at the burnt man in pity.
"Charlotte found him," Bellamy replies. "I sent her back to camp."
The three share looks. They know he would never make it through, and the pain and torture wouldn't be worth it to him. Of course, the two that were already there knew that, but Clarke's confirmation makes them feel a bit better about their jump to respect his wishes.
"Okay. We're gonna help you, alright?" The blonde whispers to him, pulling his hair back gently to comfort him. She begins to hum a song, and he calms down a bit.
Bellamy watches carefully as Zarah pushes the knife into Atom's neck. She doesn't flinch or wince, nor does she show any obvious signs of caring. While anyone would deem her a psychopath, he knows she isn't. Because he catches the slight guilt in her eyes before it blinks away. Her careless attitude is a facade.
⃟
The camp gather around once they see their leader drag something in. At first some of them think they managed to hunt again, but then they see the resemblance of it to a human body. Their suspicions are confirmed when they see Bellamy try to keep Octavia away.
There's sadness written on her face when she pulls back the cover. Tears fall down her cheeks as she whispers his name, "Atom."
"There was nothing I could do," Bellamy tells her, but she quickly puts her hand up to stop his words.
"Don't." She covers the dead teen again and stands. She brushes her brother off and disappears into the dropship.
No one speak. Probably the shock of his death and how it happened, but maybe it's because the devastation written on their leader's face. He tries to hide it as he turns to Murphy. "Lose anyone here?"
"No," Murphy tells him. "Jasper?" "Still breathing," he replies before quickly adding, "Barely. I tried to take him out, but your psycho little sister—"
"My what?" Bellamy demands him to repeat, gripping the boy's jacket. Murphy only slips from his grip. He pulls him back in to get into his face. "My what?"
With an annoyed face, Murphy corrects himself, "Your little sister." He shoves the other off of him with a clenched jaw.
"That's right. My little sister. Got anything else you want to say about her?" The Blake asks.
"Nothing. Sorry," Murphy answers, keeping his answer short to not piss his friend off anymore.
His breathing is heavy as he steps back. Bellamy looks back, pointing to the body. "Get him out of here." And with a final glare to his friend, he walks away. His arm brushes against Zarah's, but neither of them look at each other.
She fixes her jacket and walks through the trees. Fortunately, the pond of water isn't too far. She collapses on the rocks more roughly than planned. She can feel a few scrapes that form through her pants, but she doesn't care.
She shoves her hands in the water to wash away the blood that got on them. It's not a lot, but she still scrubs until her hands are irritated and red. She bites her lip hard and cant taste copper, but the feeling inside hurts worse than that. The feeling of being a monster.
