Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⃟
Bellamy Blake's biggest weakness is his sister. Octavia is the reason why he does most things. She's the one person that he cared about more than himself. Her protection always comes first, whether she likes it or not. He's determined to find her, and he's not going to stop until he does. Everyone knows it, and that's why they stick with him rather than letting him walk to his death. Losing one of their leaders isn't an option if they want to survive.
They're getting somewhere when someone spots a piece of cloth in a bush. It's on a lower level of land, a steep hill leading down to it. Bellamy holds his hand out, ordering sternly, "Rope."
One of the juveniles in the search party hands it to him. Finn pushes towards the leader with Jasper and Zarah in tow. His eyebrows furrow. "What are you doing?"
"We need the rope to get back up," he replies, tossing the rope over the edge. It's tied to a tree behind him, and he tugs to make sure it would hold. He looks to another juvenile with his hand out. "Flashlight." Bellamy uses the rope to stay standing as he goes down the hill. He grabs the cloth, examining it before looking up at them. "It's hers. I'm going all the way down."
Jasper bravely follows the leader, though his nerves are quite obvious. Finn is next to go down, holding one of the torches to have a better source of light than a flashlight. Zarah reluctantly follows, wincing when her aching feet hit the ground. She has yet to get used to the constant hikes through the woods.
"Someone else was here," Bellamy tells them from crouched over a rock. He has a few drops of blood on his fingers from the rock he touched. Footprints lead away from the rock.
"The prints are going deeper that way," Finn points out, though they don't seem to get where he's going with that. "He was carrying her."
"If they took her, she's alive," Jasper optimistically assumes. He has a soft smile on his face, showing his care for the Blake girl. It falters when he adds, "Like when they took me."
Bellamy isn't too sure, but he doesn't want to ruin the positive boy's thoughts. He stands up and walks in the direction of the footprints.
⃟
"You know," Zarah breathes out, breaking the silence that doesn't include the sounds of their footsteps, "Maybe the grounders aren't that big of a threat. Maybe the spear throwing was just to nonverbally tell us about territories."
A few heads turn to her in disbelief. Everyone seems pretty positive that the grounders are going to kill them and that they have to worry about them. When Jasper looked at her with raised eyebrows, she looks down with a small apology.
Her words don't ease any of their nerves. This is obviously grounder territory, and they are crossing it in a large group. It seems to remind them all of their fears of the grounders. However, she's not the only thing reminding them.
It sounds like a horn that rings through the air. It only makes looking at the scene feel more eerie. "Maybe it's decorations for a holiday?" She whispers in suggestion, only to get someone's elbow in her side to keep her quiet. The decorations she mentioned are tons of human skeletons hung by trees.
"I don't speak grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out," Finn tells them all in a hushed voice.
She goes to make a smart remark about her previous comment about territories, but she's cut off by a huge section of the search party. They're retreating, obviously fearful of becoming the new additions to the decorations.
"Go back if you want," Bellamy says to the remaining group. "My sister, my responsibility."
They all hesitate. Jasper, again, bravely follows the leader with a, "I'd walk into hell to find her."
"That's sweet. Let me see if I have anything like that to say," Zarah smiles before shaking her head. "I've got nothing except that hell sounds pretty fun." She follows Jasper's footsteps, seeming calm and content compared to the others.
⃟
The sun rises, and they still have no sight of Octavia. They have followed the tracks all night, but Finn finally sighs and tells them the bad news, "I got nothing. We lost the trail."
"Keep looking," Bellamy orders, desperate to find the girl. "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister," Finn tries to convince him, "We should backtrack—"
"I'm not going back," he sternly replies.
"No, you're right. Let's keep walking, hope we don't go the wrong way and end up in a trap. While we're at it, let's stop and ask some trees if they've seen her," Zarah sarcastically mutters, a little harsher than she intends to be, but she's a little on edge with no sleep.
A new voice cuts in, a feminine one that brings something else to their attention. "Hey, where's John?" It's Roma, one of the girls that she recognized exiting Bellamy's tent days ago.
They begin to look around, but Mbege is nowhere to be seen. "I just saw him a second ago," Jasper incredulously recalls. He seems more on edge now than he has since they left.
"Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far," Bellamy orders them all.
Just like that, Mbege is back. But he's dead, dropped at their feet from the trees. His clothes are coated in blood, his throat slit. "They use the trees," Finn states the obvious, looking up at the branches. All that lays on the branches are leaves.
"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary," another juvenile from the search party says in terror.
"Now can we go back?" Roma asks, glancing at Bellamy with fear in her eyes.
"There," Jasper cuts in, pointing out into the distance. A ground stood back, obviously staring at them. He isn't the only grounder. More of them are there. They are practically surrounded.
