[edited 3 January 2017]

•••

, her face stoic. It's not like she wanted to leave Jasper behind, but there was no way in hell that she wanted to be impaled to a tree. She shot forwards, easily taking the lead.

Behind her Clarke hesitated, not wanting to leave Jasper either. Finn stopped, and grabbed her, panting, "Clarke!"

The two began to run again and soon caught up with Monty and Octavia. Raine was a few meters ahead. However, she skidded to a halt when Monty tripped, landing on the ground roughly.

"Monty!" she hissed, "Get up!"

"We gotta go!" Finn cried, dragging the boy to his feet. Raine was frozen, her eyes glued to the scattered bones on the ground. Monty recoiled, his eyes wide, and Finn asked, "Who are they?"

Clarke was silent as she picked up the skull, her eyes wide with fright. The skull was deformed; the top half of the skull being almost twice as large as the bottom half. "What are they?" Clarke corrected Finn.

Octavia took a shaky breath, "We are so screwed."

A blood curdling scream ripped through the air, and Raine spun around, knowing immediately that it was the boy. "Jasper." She whispered, and without a second thought took off, sprinting back to the creek.

"Wait! Wait!" Finn called, taking off after her. Clarke dropped the skull and raced after her friends. Finn caught up to Raine, who was about to go bounding down to the creek. He grabbed her bicep, "Stay in the trees!"

She glared at him, and then looked back across the river. Her stomach dropped; Jasper was gone.

"He was right there." Finn spoke in surprise.

"No... where is he?" Monty almost cried, fearing for the life of his best friend.

Clarke's mouth was dry as she stated, "They took him."

•••

There were shouts as the group neared the camp and Raine shot ahead, thinking that it might be the same people that took Jasper. A scowl came across her face when she saw Wells holding a knife the Murphy's throat, Bellamy standing back and watching.

"Wells!" Clarke yelled frowning. Wells glanced at Clarke, surprise to see her back so soon. "Let him go!"

"And you." Raine hissed out, storming over to Bellamy. He looked at her with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Hello, Mist."

She scoffed, "You're going to get us all killed! We need to survive, and for that we need all these people to be alive."

Bellamy rolled his eyes, "I thought no-one was in charge."

She stepped forward, so their chests were touching, "Then stop acting like you are."

She turned around in time to see Wells throw Murphy to the ground, Murphy twisting so he was facing Wells. He lunged at the boy, but Bellamy pushed past Raine and grabbed the boy, "Whoa, whoa hey. Enough, Murphy."

Raine sneered, "Looks like you need to learn how to muzzle your dog."

Bellamy ignored her, whereas Murphy spat, "You bitch!"

Before anyone could react, Bellamy's eyes landed on his young sister, her arm around Monty as she hobbled down the slope. "Octavia! Are you alright?" he asked, rushing over and taking her weight from Monty.

"Yeah." She winced, breathing heavily.

"Where's the food?" Bellamy asked, seeing that the teenagers were empty handed.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather." Finn spoke.

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy exclaimed angrily.

"We were attacked." Clarke replied, and Raine nodded.

"Attacked?" Wells questioned, his brow furrowed. "By what?"

"Not what." Finn said tiredly, "Who. Turns out that when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't last grounder."

"It's true." Clarke told everyone, and the crowd started to murmur. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here – survivors. The good news is that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."

Raine nodded her head in agreement, "But the grounders will, and you want to know why? Because we're a bunch of teenagers who don't know shit about our own damn planet. We need to stick together to survive, or at least put our grudges aside and pull our heads out of our asses and realise, that down here, we're on our own. And compared to the grounders, we might as well be walking around blind."

It was a blanket of silence had fallen over the camp; no-one dared move in fear of challenging the girl. It was so silent that Raine could hear everyone breathing. Wells looked around, noticing how there were only five teenagers, not six.

"Where's the kid with the goggles?" he asked, and a shadow crossed Clarke's face.

"Jasper was hit." She breathed out eventually. She looked to the ground, "They took him.

"And now he's probably being roasted over a fire – because of you!" Raine yelled, pointing angrily at Bellamy.

He laughed, "Me? You're the ones that went out, unarmed."

She scoffed, "At least we went out. The truth is Bellamy, that I think you're a coward. You've got a sea of people willing to die for you, and what do you do? Absolutely nothing."

His jaw clenched as he looked over the girl, the rude, stubborn, determined girl. "Watch your mouth, Raine."

Her name on his lips made her want to vomit. Too furious to respond, she turned her back to him and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Raine was filled with anger, and she knew that once she started, she wouldn't be able to stop.

"Where's your bracelet?" Clarke frowned, grabbing at Wells wrist. Sure enough, Raine could see the boy no longer sported the large silver thing. Wells pulled from her grip, turning to face Bellamy.

"Ask him." He spat, nodding at Bellamy. Octavia looked at her brother in horror.

"How many?" Clarke said menacingly, walking towards the boy.

It was Murphy who spoke up, "Twenty-four and counting."

As much as Raine hated Bellamy, she had to hand it to him. Only he would find a way to take them off, and convinced everyone else to follow. Now that she knew there was a safe way to take them off, a little voice in her head told her to join the twenty four.

Clarke's face dropped in horror, and she shook her head, whispering, "You idiots. Life support on the Ark is failing! That's why they brought us down here! They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them... you're killing us."

Bellamy shook his head, "We're stronger than you think. Don't listen to her; she's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same?"

The crowd was agreeing with Bellamy, Clarke's words evaporating into thin air. Bellamy continued, "We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm, it makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes, I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors. The grounders should worry about us!"

Raine could feel herself slowing beginning to agree. She was not a prisoner – she was not a criminal, and if taking off her bracelet showed her mother and Ark that, then she would happily line up. The crowd cheered in agreement, and Bellamy stepped back, a smug smirk on his face. Clarke stormed off, Monty following.

"What do we do now?" Monty asked.

The blonde was quick to respond. "Now, we go after Jasper."

•••

Raine was standing outside the dropship, staring bitterly at where her pile of wood used to sit. She had no doubt that it was Bellamy who took the wood to build his giant tent. She narrowed her eyes as he walked over, "You took my wood."

"What?" he asked, seeming to be surprised.

"The pile of wood that I collected earlier. I left it here, and now it's gone. Where did you take it?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Now why would I do that?"

She scoffed, "Because you knew I was going to use it later."

He held up his hands, "You sound like a sociopath. You think I'd steal your pile of wood to make you angry?"

"Well, if wasn't you then who was it?" she barked, embarrassment starting to set in. Bellamy was right; she sounded crazy thinking that he would steal a pile of wood just to anger her.

"Look," he sighed, bending down and picked up a stick. Holding it out, he spoke, "I'll help you build a shelter if you want."

She snatched the stick, staring at him. "No way in hell."

He gritted his teeth, "Whatever. Don't come crying to me when you have no shelter and it rains."

He turned and stormed off, leaving Raine holding the piece of wood. Bellamy marched over to his sister, bending down beside her.

"She annoys you." Octavia told her brother in amusement.

Ignoring the comment, he spoke, "What the hell was it?"

"I don't know. The others said it looked like a giant snake." Octavia replied, wincing as Bellamy tied a piece of rag around her leg.

"You could've been killed." He said flatly, the same time Raine, Clarke and Wells walked over. Raine was still holding onto the wood, seeing as it was her only form of defence right now. She hadn't made a knife yet; she would do that when Jasper was back safely.

"She would've been if Jasper hadn't jumped in to save her." Clarke told Bellamy.

"So I suggest you hurry up, because we have a boy to save." Raine added.

"Are you guys leaving?" Octavia asked, beginning to get up. "I'm coming too."

"No, no. No way." Bellamy placed his hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down on the log. "Not again."

"He's right." Clarke nodded, "You're leg's just going to slow us down. I'm here for you." Clarke said to Bellamy.

Raine's eyes shot open and she gasped, choking on air. Coughing roughly, she asked, "Did I hear that right?"

"Clarke, what are you doing?" Wells asked, glancing between the two. Raine felt a bit better, knowing that she wasn't the only one to think Clarke was crazy. Granted, it was the Chancellor's son.

"I hear you have a gun." Clarke said, looking directly at Bellamy.

"A what?" Raine exclaimed, her voice dripping with shock. She watched as Bellamy silently lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing the black hand gun. "Oh, great." She muttered sarcastically, and the boy glared at her.

"Good. Follow me." Clarke told him, leaving.

"And why would I do that?" Bellamy turned to face the blonde.

"He won't." Raine said, mostly to Wells. Bellamy heard the comment, and resisted biting back at the girl.

Clarke smirked, "Because, you want them to follow you, and right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

Bellamy thought for a moment, Clarke raising her eyebrow to challenge him. She then turned and walked off, Raine and Wells following. Bellamy turned to the boy beside him, "Murphy, come with me. Atom, my sister doesn't leave this camp, is that clear?"

"I don't need a babysitter." Octavia protested.

Raine called over her shoulder, grinning with gleeful sarcasm, "We're burning daylight, Freckles!"

Murphy smirked lightly, "I believe she's talking to you, Bellamy."

Bellamy found himself smirking also. "Let's go." He told Murphy, leading the way. Raine walked casually through the forest, Bellamy working to catch up with her. When he did, he wrapped a hand around her bicep, stopping her.

"Here." He spoke, holding out a small knife. When Raine glanced up at him, he continued, "I have a feeling you might need a little more than a stick to fight off the grounders."

"Why, I'm honoured." She told him sarcastically, taking the knife from his hand. She slid it into her pocket, before turning around and jogging up to Wells and Clarke.

"Since when are we in the rescuing business?" Murphy grunted.

"The Ark thinks the prince is dead. Once they think the princess is too, they'll never come down." Bellamy told him.

"What about her?" Murphy nodded his head at Raine.

Bellamy looked at the girl. "I have a feeling she come around sooner or later. But as for Clarke's bracelet, I'm getting it... Even if I have to cut off her hand to do it."

•••

"Hey, hold up." Bellamy called, and Raine had to bite her cheek to stop herself from snapping at the boy. "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart." he added, waving his gun around carelessly.

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells spoke, cutting Bellamy off. Murphy placed his hand out, pressing it against Wells' shoulder.

"Why don't you do something about it?" Murphy hissed, and Raine groaned at the stupidity radiating around her.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him. Now, I don't think I was imagining that." Raine bit at Bellamy.

"If the spear had struck his heart, he would have died instantly." Clarke confirmed Raine's words. "That doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy seized the girl's wrist tightly, holding up her bracelet. Raine's grip on the piece of wood tightened. "As soon as you take this bracelet off, we can go."

Clarke ripped her hand from his grip, "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead, is if I'm dead." She said, dangerously low. "Got it?"

Raine clasped a hand over her heart in mock sympathy, "Poor Bellamy."

"Brave princess." Bellamy sneered at Clarke, ignoring Raine's comment.

"Why don't you find your own nickname?" Finn spat, appearing out of the woods. "Call this a rescue party? Let's split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me."

Raine could see Wells wanted to go, so she rolled her eyes and said, "Wells can go with you, too. I'll go with them."

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked, her brows drawn together.

"I can handle a bunch of monkeys throwing shit." Raine said, glancing at Bellamy out of corner of her eye. He clenched his jaw, but didn't say anything.

"Alright, let's go." Clarke spoke, smirking slightly, nodding at Wells. He seemed relieved, quickly joining the girl's side. Finn shot him a look, silently telling him to 'back off'.

"I'm not a monkey." Murphy spat at Raine, but Bellamy shook his head.

"Let's just find this damn kid."

•••