whatever the hell we want || j. jordan

~ chapter 1.4 ~

We rushed Jasper into camp.
"Dropship! Now!" I yelled out at everyone, trying not to look at Jaspers bloody, mud-covered body.
"He's alive. I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage." Clarke ordered. Finn nodded and ran to help her. We got him into the ship and Clarke checked out his poultice and his wound. I could tell that it wasn't looking good.
After hours and hours of him moaning and groaning as Clarke tried to nurse him back to health, the rest of the camp got restless. They were yelling, saying how they wished he would die already. I tried to shove the anger down.
"Can someone just shut him up?" Another delinquent yelled. I stormed out of the dropship.
"How about I shut you up, huh? Go float yourself." I flashed him a not-so-nice gesture and turned to go back inside. I found Clarke talking to the still unconscious Jasper.
"Don't listen to them. You're gonna make it through this, okay? Promise." She turned to me.
"I'm gonna get clean water. Keep an eye on him." I nodded, glad to have a quiet minute. I reached out and took his hand, swearing not to leave him.

***

"The Grounders cauterized the wound. Saved his life." I awoke to the sound of Clarke's stern doctor voice. I hadn't even noticed that I was sleeping. I still had his hand in mine and I had been propped up with my other arm. I quickly dropped his hand before anyone noticed. I'm sure they had.
"Saved his life so they could string him up for live bait. Garden of Eden this ain't," Finn butted in. Clarke ignored him.
"This is infected. He could be septic. Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark? Monty?" Monty shook his head. Wells walked in, trying to help to be Clarke's hero. She wasn't having it.
"How's he doing?" Wells leaned over Jasper's body.
"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke sighed, turning away from Wells and continuing her confusing medical work.
"Hey, I'm just trying to help."
"You want to help? Hold him down."
I stood. "Me too," I stepped even closer, leaning over him and holding down his shoulders. "I'm not going to like this, am I?" Jasper's groans turned into screams. Octavia came running in, yelling at Clarke.
"You're killing him!" Finn reached out to stop her.
"She's trying to save his life."
"She can't. He's a goner and he's making people crazy," Bellany interrupts, having silently walked in.
"In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the Arc. Down here, every life matters. I've seen my mother do stuff like this dozens of times. If I say there's hope, there's hope." Clarke shot back at Bellamy.
"This isn't about hope. It's about making the hard decisions. He's been like this for three days. If he's not better tomorrow, I'm gonna kill him myself."
I glared daggers at his back as he walked out of the dropship.
"What a jackass. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." I sat back down, defeated.

***

Clarke started to play with the Grounders poultice. "This stuff they made the poultice from, it's got antibiotic properties. If we can find what it is and make a tea from it maybe-"
Wells interrupted, taking it from her. "It's seaweed."
Clarke snatched it out of his hand. "Yes! Well, then there must be a water source nearby."
"Yeah, it would have to have a slow current, lots of rocks. The water would probably be more red than green." Wells added.
Finn perked up. "I know just the place."
All three of them walked out, leaving Jasper alone. I almost called out after them, but I figured it would only make trouble. I turned to Jasper again. He'd stopped groaning during their conversation but no one noticed. I panicked, realizing what that could mean. I didn't know the first thing about saving lives, but I did know how to check his pulse.
"There's still a heartbeat. And he's still breathing." I whispered to myself, sighing in relief. Suddenly, everyone started running into the dropship.
"What the hell? I thought you wanted to get away from the screaming boy!" I leaned down out of the second level, looking from the hatch. That's when I saw the yellow fog outside.
"The air got heavy and everyones skin started burning," A boy explained.

***

Hours later, the fog was still out there. People were getting agitated with each other, but mostly Jasper. They started grumbling about it when Murphy finally spoke up.
"That's it. I'm ending this right now." He got up on the ladder and started to climb. Octavia and I exchanged a wild look and ran to the hatch.
"It only locks from the other side!" Monty called out. Murphy got impatient.
"Open this door right now!"
We all looked at each other, trying to think of ideas. Monty ran to the hatch, shutting it and sitting down on top of it. Octavia and I tried to rip pipes off the walls of the dropship. I finally got one loose and struggled with it.
"No rush, I'm fine here." Monty called out to us, being bounced up and down by Murphy trying to open the hatch. I finally pulled the pipe loose and stuck it under the handle, locking it.
"I know you have work to do, Monty, but I think you'd better stay sitting on that thing." Octavia said to him, prompting an eye roll from Monty.

***

I'd finally just left Jasper's side for some sleep, the first I'd had in 2 days, when I woke up to yelling. I panicked, imagining the worst, and sat up from the seat I was sleeping in. And there he was. Jasper, sitting up. It took me a moment to process the fact that he wasn't dead.
"Jasper?" I managed. He turned to me just before I flung myself into his arms. At this point, I'd given up on what the rest of the group thought of me. Realizing that he was still injured, I pulled away. I was blushing as I started to move back but he held my shoulders, looking me in the eyes. He reached out to touch my dark brown hair, now a mess from the lack of sleep. I grabbed his hand, but the moment broke when I realized that there were 4 other people there, watching this in real time. I backed away.
"I'm glad to see you alive." I sat down next to Monty. Expecting looks of confusion, all I got were looks of "I called it". I couldn't bring myself to look back at him, even though I could feel his eyes on me.

sorry for cranking out so many chapters at once i just dont want to sleep and im feeling motivated to procrastinate my homework
<3