𝙏𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 ━━ John Murphy ¹

𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

↳˳⸙;; ❝ 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎

Wells showed no signs of waking up.

If Amelia hadn't found him when she did, he would have been dead, that much she was sure. It's a fact that kept Amelia up long into the night. The what if's running around in her head on a never-ending loop. Sleep couldn't even find her in Murphy's comforting hold.

Clarke never left Wells's side, eyes constantly red and puffy from how much she had been crying. She barely spoke at all, giving one or two-word answers when spoken to. It was hard to see someone so outspoken and confident close off that hard, but it was to be expected.

The whole camp was tense, eyes darting to the world beyond their walls. Everyone was snappy, tempers brought to the surface at any little inconvenience. It's was starting to wear on Amelia after the fourth person that had freaked out over the trees rustling in the wind. Murphy kept her distracted when he could, giving her hard labour work to keep her busy.

For a while, it worked. Nothing got time to move faster then being too busy to check it. But being at the wall made it easy for the thoughts to come flooding back. For her to remember finding Wells, covered in his own blood. Practically dead in her arms.

The only good thing that had happened following Wells's attack was the fire it lit under everybody's asses. If there were still some people left that didn't fear the grounders before, they sure did now. It was hard not to, with Wells's blood still staining the grass just outside the main gate.

Perched on top of the wall, Amelia wraps the newest log up with some fried wires. There wasn't a single person idle, people darting around the incomplete camp. Most people were building the walls, hauling logs to different parts of the wall or tying them up if they weren't strong enough.

Amelia's spot gives her a great view of everyone as they come and go from camp. Of the people laughing at their friend, or those so lost in their task they block out the world around them. It also lets her see Connor, who collapses while carrying one of the logs on his way to her section.

Concern quickly washes over her, and Amelia quickly climbs down to see what was going on.

"Hey!" Murphy calls, having also seen it happen. Unlike Amelia, however, he looks unamused, face morphed in anger, "You think the grounders are just gonna sit around and wait for us to finish the wall?"

Amelia quickens her pace, knowing that if Murphy was in a bad mood he would have no patience for the other boy. And the last thing she wanted was for something that could possibly be minor to escalate into something much worse.

"Maybe we should let the little girl do the lifting for you, huh?" Murphy continues, gesturing to Hadley's shadow. The young girl watches on awkwardly, shuffling a bit as she avoids any sort of eye contact.

"I just need some water okay? Then I'll be fine," Murphy doesn't say anything back, which is worse than if he were to snark or yell back. He walks away, not noticing Amelia as she quickly closes the distance.

Amelia drops down next to Connor, hand outstretched to rest the back of it on his forehead. It's hot to the touch, and this close up she can see that his breathing is erratically fast. Quickly pressing her fingers to his carotid artery, Amelia curses when she feels his pulse is much quicker than normal.

"Amelia?" Murphy sounds confused, having returned without her noticing. He still seems irritated, but not as much as he was before. His hands are hovering at the top of his pants, but he quickly drops them when he notices her gaze flicker there. Amelia has a sinking suspicion of what he was going to do, and the guilty look on his face doesn't make it any better.