𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

99. divided

Before I had managed to make it into the Ark following Pike's speech, I was stopped by Kane. He had instructed me to meet him in an hour in one of the vacant corridors. I had no idea what he had planned, but nonetheless an hour later that's where I was headed.

As I rounded the corner, my eyes fell on Kane and Octavia who were standing, speaking about something. Kane handed Octavia her sword and as I got closer I could hear their words.

Octavia was looking at Kane in shock, "You want me to go see Indra?"

Kane nodded, his eyes then turning to me upon my arrival, "With Avery."

I looked between the two of them, "What's going on?" I questioned, my eyes meeting Octavia's as she gave me a small shrug

"You girls," Kane explained, pressing a gun into my hands, "Are going to meet with Indra. I'd do it myself but Pike's watching everything I do now."

I looked back at him in confusion, looking down at the gun in my hand, "Why me?" I asked, briefly glancing toward Octavia, "If I walk in there holding a gun they'll-"

Octavia placed a hand on my arm, "You'll be fine Aves, I've got you."

Kane nodded, "It's safer if you both go."

I let out a small sigh, slinging the strap of the gun over my shoulder, "How do we even get out? The gates are being guarded like-"

Turning around, Kane lifted a piece of the wall, revealing a hidden passage that I assumed lead out of camp. Octavia and I shared a look before both of us stepped forward, looking into the passage.

"Crawl space door in 20 feet drops you outside the camp wall." Kane looked up, causing us to meet his eyes, "Get out there. You find out what the hell happened and then you report back here, you got it?"

I felt a grin come to my lips as Octavia and I slipped into the passage. A similar expression covered Octavia's face as she turned back to Kane, "We were born for this."

---

Octavia and I remained mostly silent as we headed toward the grounds where the Grounder peace keeping troop had been stationed. Our silence was mostly due to the fact that we were on high alert, but it also had something to do with the emotions we were both feeling.

We weren't far from our destination when I spoke up, "Pike's manipulating him." I muttered, my eyes scanning the forest, "It doesn't excuse what he did, but there's more to it than meets the eye."

Octavia nodded, her jaw clenching, "He needs some sense knocked into him. Pike can't get away with this."

I looked to her with sad eyes. She was right, but at this point it felt like us against all of Arkadia. I didn't have anything else to say at the moment, but if I had of, the words would have been knocked out of me in shock at what I saw next.

As we pushed through the final line of trees, the sight of a graveyard met my eyes. I felt my heart drop as my jaw slacked in shock. There, in front of us, were hundreds of murdered Grounders, men and women, young and old alike. It was clear no mercy had been shown. This hadn't been a battle, it had been massacre.

Octavia mirrored my devastation as the two of us slowly walked across the fields. The smell of death assaulted my nostrils as flies buzzed overhead, taking advantage of the decaying bodies. I felt like I was going to be sick as we continued through, each body I saw taking a toll on my mental state.

Bellamy had played a role in this.

I felt myself stumbling a couple of times as we neared the Grounder tent that had been set up. I was in utter shock at the sight in front of me. Maybe this is why Kane wanted me to go. He wanted me to see what Pike had done, incase there was ever any chance I was going to side with my boyfriend.