Fireheart | Raven Reyes [O.H.]

18 | biological warfare

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chapter eighteen!
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
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ARES CAN ADMIT that there's probably something wrong with him. As they make the tedious trek back from the Exodus ship crash site back to camp, still solemn from what they'd witnessed, Ares finds he doesn't feel the same haunting sensation that seems to plague everyone else. He's bored. Not even the wreckage had fully interested him— sure, they'd found a few severed body parts and hydrazine, but what about answers? What about the guts of the ship which could tell them why it had crashed and destroyed a perfectly good field?

His brain is always in need of something to occupy it. It's a near-painful, constant hunger, like his mind itself is ravenous for entertainment. It's why he has always liked fights and puzzles. In a brawl, you run solely on instinct. Your brain is an empty slate and it's just you, your fists or weapons, and your opponent. But puzzles are the opposite. They require all of your brainpower intermixed with logic. When he can feel the gears turning inside of him as he's solving a problem, he feels on top of the world.

Before Ares can decide to burn down the camp just to see what would happen, the universe throws him a bone. Nate comes sprinting up to their group the instant they're within sight of the wall, the darkness of dusk nearly obscuring the sheer panic on his face.

"What?" Blake asks, instantly on high-alert at the sight of his expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's Murphy," Nate answers breathlessly. It sounds like he's been moving non-stop since they'd left. "He's back."

"What?" Blake's eyes nearly bug out of his head. "And you just let him in?"

"He said he was running away — that the Grounders found him and tortured him—"

He cuts himself off when he hears Ares snickering, pausing to glare at his friend's lack of sympathy for the kid. Tortured by the Grounders? Seems about right for all he'd done to terrorize the camp. Ares can't find a single cell of his that feels sorry for Murphy.

Blake, ignoring Ares as usual, turns to the Gunners that had accompanied them, including Kiernan. "Rest, and then see Ortega or Miller for your assigned posts. Don't engage with Murphy."

Ares is shocked for a moment until he remembers that he technically helped to found their little guard system. He'd even coined the term Gunners. It almost makes his stomach twist to be in charge of other people. The thought of people coming to him for reassignments and to hear how they should do their jobs... he hates it.

"Where did you put Murphy?" Clarke asks, all traces of sorrow and mourning gone from her pale face. Her voice is a bit scratchy from lack of use.

Nate points in the general direction of the dropship. "We didn't do anything to him, but Derek and Connor are on wa—"