Feeling the Fire

Chapter Nine

Bellamy has us all leave for the village that night. I hoped Octavia had warned them.

"Take this," Miller's boyfriend tried to hand me a machine gun.

"They won't have guns, so I'll worry about close combat," I said.

He raised an eyebrow, "They'll all be maybe twice your size."

This particular village was known for their strength and weapons skills.

I hopped onto my black stallion as the others climbed into the rover.

"Keep up," Bellamy advised.

My horse could definitely go faster than the rover, but I just stayed close behind them.

We were shocked when we got there, "It's empty."

"Maybe they abandoned it?"

This was good. It meant Octavia had done her job.

But there was a light on the ridge as we slipped into the moonlit camp.

"Look out!" Octavia's voice cried from the ridge.

Flaming arrows flew past us to a bunch of logs. Then, as my horse galloped away without me in fear, I realized what it was.

"Everyone! Move out, now!" I shouted.

As the others evacuated, Bellamy looked at me, "A little fire scares you?"

"I'll explain later, just trust me on this," I pleaded.

He nodded and ran out of the smoke. I followed close behind.

There were people still in there. I was the only one who understood the danger they were in.

So I rushed into the fire again, trying not to breathe in the smoke. I got two more guards out.

Another one after that, who'd taken shelter in a mostly smoke proof shack, then three more on the other side of the village, also hiding from the smoke.

"Is that everyone?" Miller asked.

"No," I choked out, going back into the village.

The others I found were dead. Soon, I would be too. But I'd breathed in too much smoke and pushed myself too hard.

I fell to my knees, then collapsed to the ground. Someone pulled me out.

Someone was holding me upright as I coughed violently, "Run," I choked out, "Now."

They pulled me up and tried to climb back up the small hill, but they couldn't. I pulled their arm off me and shoved them forwards.

I then began to try to climb, but the fires reached the center of each pike of wood, exploding.

The force of the blast knocked the smoky air out of my lungs. My head hit the ground.

My ears were ringing. My vision was blurry. The same person that had pulled me out of the smoke helped me up the ridge and put me in the back of the rover.

Almost everyone was coughing, some more violently than others. At least the explosion didn't hit them.

I regained my breath, and grabbed a small cloth to wipe the black blood from my ears, nose, and mouth.

"What was that?" Bellamy asked. I realized he was the one who pulled me out of the smoke.

"I don't know what it's called," I said, "It's a type of tree sap, and when set on fire, it releases a toxic gas into the smoke. When all the smoke is burned through, it explodes."

The others winced at their own breathing problems.

"How did they know we were coming?" Bellamy asked.

"I don't know," I breathed, my voice still hoarse.

When we got back, I helped the others to the med bay. I was too weak to pull away from Abby's firm grip on my shoulder.

"Take it easy," she informed me, "That means no more running into fires, no more going into battle, and no more training this week."

"No way," I said.

She glared at me, "Yes way. You're in the guard, and that does give me the right to stop you from training or going on missions."

"I will go insane," I nearly begged, "Don't lock me up in here."

"I'm locking you up in here," she said, "I need to see the damage to your lungs from that smoke, and I need to check on your concussion."

I frowned.

"I will tie you to that hospital bed if I have to," she informed me, "Now lie down."

Reluctantly, I did as I was told.

The next few days went by in a blur. Abby had me stuck in the med bay, threatening to tie me to the bed if I didn't 'behave'.

"At least give me something to do," I said.

Abby told me to lie down and stop worrying about everything.

After four days, I was slowly going crazy, "Please, Abby!"

She hesitantly let me leave, "Anything else happens, you tell me, okay?"

I nodded. As I walked out the door, I came face to face with Pike.

"Abby," Pike asked, "Is she cleared?"

"No, but she won't sit still for more than five minutes at a time, so just tell her to take it easy."

I rolled my eyes as Pike closed the door to the med bay.

"Great," Pike said, "You're under arrest."

"For what?" I asked.

Pike answered, "For giving information to Octavia Blake and other fugitives."

Hand cuffs on, he walked me down to the holding cell, hand cuffs off, he threw me inside and shut the door.

"What happened?" Lincoln asked.

"I got caught for something I didn't do," I said. It was safer if all the grounder prisoners thought I was on Pike's side.

The grounder prisoners, Sinclair, and Kane. I guessed I missed something.

Bellamy showed up, "Why?"

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why warn them?" He asked, "They nearly killed you."

I nodded, "I just spent the last four days in the med bay wishing they succeeded." I cannot be expected to sit and do nothing for four days.

"I trusted you," Bellamy said, "Did they threaten you?"

"If they did, they'd be dead." Nobody threatens me.

Bellamy's face twisted in anger and sadness, "I thought you were my friend. Are you scared of them? Of Pike?"

"Whatever I did, it was of my own free will," I said. I didn't care if they blamed me at this point, "but yeah, I'm terrified."

"Of what? Who?" He asked.

I took a deep breath, "You."

He backed away a little as a tear slid down my cheek. Before the discussion got any further, Pike entered.

"The following prisoners will be sentenced to death for treason," the tension in the room rose.

Bellamy looked at me once again, silently begging me to do something.  It what? I'm in a holding cell. Perhaps he should have thought of that before turning me in.

"Kane, Sinclair, Lincoln, and Sky."

With that, Pike left.

"I didn't know-"

I cut Bellamy off before he could try to justify a single thing he'd done, "Maybe you should have thought of the outcomes before turning me in."