Soft dirt pressed into my palms and smudged onto my bare knees. It felt grim, but I liked it. Another girl and myself dug deep into the earth forming a small crater, we had been digging holes all night for landmines.

I felt bad for everybody, because with Finn, Clarke, and now Monty gone Bellamy wouldn't let anybody rest. Behind his eyes I detected fear hidden behind a brick wall of dictatorship and authority. Bellamy didn't want anybody else to die, so it was his way or the highway.

"Come on. These foxholes aren't gonna build themselves!" Bellamy called out moving closer to me but heading towards Raven. I could hear what they were saying. "Better hope those landmines work. All the gunpowder we're wasting, we could be making more grenades."

"You want to come over here and test one?"

I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes. Shouldn't a mechanic test their own equipment?

I suppose you could say my sympathy ran out for Raven a few hours ago.

"Cute. I need this entire section mined by morning. Then you finish the south field."

"I'm talking to you." Raven burst out.

Her voice dropped and I could only guess the topic of conversation was her ex-boyfriend and the girl that stole his heart.

Bellamy and I had already argued about going back out and searching for them and Monty. Bellamy had kept shutting me down, adamant that nobody left camp in the coming hours.

I yielded with a headache and got on with helping out to make things easier. Keeping busy and being useful also helped my sanity.

Just as my partner and I agreed on the depth of our hole, an unexpected gunshot rang through the air.

I shot to my feet. A collective gasp ran through the crowd.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?"

Sterling fumbled with his gun, a shocked and dumb struck look upon his face.

My feet carried me quickly up to where he sat rigid against a tree. Exhaustion already leaked into his eyes and left red trails in their wake.

"You okay?" I asked resting a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded blinking harshly in a failed attempt to swipe away the tired sting that pleaded for his eyes to close.

"Hey... What the hell is the matter with you?" Bellamy barked striding up the small hill.

"I'm sorry, man. I fell asleep. I've been on watch all day."

"We've all been on watch all day! That bullet was one less dead grounder."

"Bellamy, you're scaring people. Stop." Octavia murmured.

"Stop? They should be scared! The bomb on the bridge bought us some time to prepare, but that time is up! The grounders are out there right now, waiting for us to leave and picking us off one by one when we do! Clarke, Finn, and Monty are gone, probably dead, and if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp! This camp is the only thing keeping us alive! Get back to work!"

Bellamy's eyes drifted to mine as he marched off. Octavia's blue eyes then caught mine. She urged me with her eyes to go after her brother. Hesitation kept me crouched before Sterling; the possibility of another argument made me weary.

"Eden, please. He needs you and he'll listen to you."

My shoulders dropped as I sighed. "Sterling, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"Okay," I murmured below my breath and got up.

The Dropship seemed the likely place for Bellamy to be, since it had been turned into the place for talking strategy; storing bullet cases and gun powder; and for treating the injured. It had easily become the core of camp. And we all knew it would be our last line of defence against the Grounders.

I brushed the covers away and quietly stepped inside. Bellamy stood hunched over the drawn map, hands flat against the table, shoulders periodically rising and falling.

Being a leader was proving to be harder than anybody cared to ackmowledge. The longer we fought with the Grounders, the harder it became to be a 'good leader'. Choices became more difficult and the consequences morphed to life and death. Bellamy was a tough, strong minded person, but things were beginning to take their toll on him just like things were already taking a toll on me and others.

"Bell?" I trod carefully edging closer.

The muscles in his back and shoulders tensed then unclenched. I got closer and ran my hands over his back and up to his broad shoulders.

"Are you okay?" My fingers massaged into the muscle hoping to relieve a little stress.

His fingers locked with mine, he twirled me so that I stood between his warm body and the table.

"I'm fine."

"You're a shit liar, Princess."

"Princess?" A traitorous smile broke out over his face. "We're back to that?"

"Yeah, if it puts a little smile on your face."

"You always put a smile on my face."

"Good. If only you could do the same for me," I flaunted a teasing smile.

"Cute."

"Jokes aside, I wanted to check you were okay and cooled off."

Bell shrugged. "There wasn't a problem. Everybody needs to focus and be alert right now, but people aren't trying hard enough. The Grounders are coming and people are acting like death won't be a consequence for lack of effort. We can't even finish a fucking row of landmines quickly."

"Bellamy. . . Everybody is trying their best. Running on no sleep is difficult even with Grounders lurking in bushes waiting for us; but you can't explode at people like that, it's not how you get results."

"There's no urgency. I want to go after Finn and Clarke too, but having basic lines of defense for a war that might happen without them takes top priority."

"Okay. You're the leader you have to do what you think and people accept it because they follow you. Just don't be afraid to feel emotions you think a leader shouldn't show."

Bellamy brushed a strand of my hair away from my collar bone. "I wish you'd take your own advice. I can see that you keep forcing yourself to be alright. To be happy."

The encouraging smile that displayed across my cheeks faltered.

Footfall drew our eyes to the entrance of the Dropship. A glum, unimpressed Jasper halted by the entrance.

I withdrew my arms from around Bellamy's neck, like I'd been caught kissing a boy by my dad. It wasn't embarrassment but more the fact that we were in the same situation as everybody else and we were caught in an intimate moment that not everybody had.

He traipsed in with annoyance dripping all over his face towards the ladder to the next floor.

Bellamy moved away from me missing my outstretched hand trying to hold him back.

"Don't you think I want to go after them, too?" Bellamy had said the same thing to me earlier.

"If it was you out there, you think Monty, Clarke, or Finn would hide behind these walls?"

"No. They'd go after me. Then they'd be dead, too. I am doing what I think is right for the group."

"It's funny, you didn't think that way when Octavia went missing."

That wasn't fair. Vi was his sister, and anybody would do anything for family over people we'd known for less than a month.

"Where are you going?"

Jasper swivelled and mock saluted. "More gunpowder for your minefield... sir." He scaled the ladder swiftly and left Bellamy silent.

I felt bad for the both of them.

"He"ll come around, but you really need to think about going to find Clarke, Finn and Monty." Bell went to speak but I stopped him. "Think about it. I'll go see if Jasper is okay."

I climbed the metal rungs fully aware that Bell's eyes were following me up.

Obviously, Jasper had heard me and anticipated my head to pop up through the hatch. Even though visibly pissed, he offered his hand to ease me up.

I stayed silent giving Jasper time to simmer down and collect his thoughts. He fiddled with a couple bullets before grabbing the gunpowder and facing me head on.

"I'm not mad at you."

I hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he gave a firm nod. "And I'm grateful, you stayed by my side, when I found out Monty had gone missing. I also heard you arguing with Bellamy about sending a search party."

"Any good friend would have been by your side." Jasper looked disheartened so I cracked a weak joke. "Plus, you gave me your goggles which was the main reason I stayed."

A tight lipped smile stretched over Jasper's face.

"Bellamy will change his mind. I promise. Then we'll get Monty and the others back."

"You can't promise that."

"Yes I can," I assured him. "I always keep my promises."

Whether Jasper believed in me came across unclear, nevertheless I believed that we'd get the trio back and they'd ultimately be fine.

"We need to get back to those minefields, before Bellamy throws a fit." Jasper stepped down onto the first rung.

"He won't throw a fit."

"He threw a pretty big one earlier."

"He's just stressed."

"Aren't we all?"

Yes.

I followed Jasper closely until he suddenly stopped half way and I almost smashed his head with my boot. My eyebrows dipped in confusion, whilst my mouth parted ready to reprimand him for not going fast enough.

"He stopped breathing. I was... I was trying to help him." Murphy's voice stopped me.

I peered down to see Jasper nod, continue down the ladder then freeze again. With my upper body still not through the hatch I couldn't see a thing. One second Jasper clung to the ladder beneath me, the next minute he jumped down and lunged for something.

A scuffle sounded beneath me. I tried to take another quick step down, but Jasper's panicked voice froze me.

"Eden, don't move! Murphy, just put the gun down."

Murphy had a fucking gun! Did he have it trained on Jasper? Or me? I didn't want a bullet buried to the bone in my leg.

"He tried to kill me. Hey, don't move." Murphy sounded a bit frantic and chaotic.

"What the hell is going on down there?"

"Shut up, Eden. Shut up!"

"Ok. Ok. It's cool." Jasper whispered.

"No, it's not. You know what'll happen to me if you tell Bellamy."

Tell Bellamy what? I never thought it would be this frustrating to not see what was going on. All I knew was Murphy had a gun and it was either trained on Jasper or me.

"Tell Bellamy what?" Bellamy's questioning voice crackled through a radio.

"Give me the radio, Jasper."

"Murphy has a gun. He killed Myles. And―"

A sudden thud made me jump.

"Murphy, what the hell are you doing? Murphy! Murphy! Open the damn door!"

"You try to be a hero, Jasper and Eden die."

In a split second decision I took a step down. My boot brushed metal.

A hand wrapped around my ankle.

The unexpected grip startled me and I momentarily loosened my grip on the ladder. A harsh force yanked me off the ladder by my ankle. I cried out as I fell.

The back of my head cracked against the metal floor and my tailbone smashed against it too sending pain up my body and straight to my skull.

"What did you do? Let me talk to Eden." Bellamy's angry voice sounded drowned out like everything else.

Ringing ran through one ear and around my mind then out the other ear. I winced trying to roll over but Murphy kept me still. My vision swam in and out of a void. Murphy looked like himself, then it seemed like somebody had put a blurred filter over my eyes.

"Oh Eden." Murphy laughed. "She can't talk right now but I'd be happy to pass on a message when she wakes up. I'd say 'if' but I don't think I hurt her bad enough."

Everything went black like somebody had turned off all the stars in space.

●▪︎●

One by one the lights turned back on. A blunt thud pounded in the back of my head and my whole body felt stiff and sore.

I ripped my eyes open fighting against the dull light illuminated in the room. Involuntary twitches jumped around my body, I had to swallow a pained groan as I remembered what had happened.

"Good you're awake. Get up." Murphy yanked me by my arm until I stood directly behind Jasper by the shut Dropship door. "You two and Bellamy are switching places."

Jasper stood in front of me with his wrists bound behind his back and cloth tied around his mouth so he couldn't speak.

Murphy jabbed his gun into the centre of my back enforcing his dominance over the situation.

My heart hammered against my chest to the point where I thought it would rip through for Bellamy to see as he traded positions with Jasper and I. Pure anger raged through my body; I was livid that Bellamy would even think of putting himself in danger like this and I wanted to cry because if there wasn't a plan to get him out then he'd die.

Murphy wasn't playing around.

I reached my bound hands forward to squeeze Jasper's reassuringly whilst the whirring of gears erupted unlocking the Dropship door. It clanged against the ground, drops of light poured in through the parachute covers.

"Ten seconds, or I'll put one in Jasper's leg and one in your girlfriend's shoulder. One..."

Nothing happened. We could hear people outside and rapid voices, but no footsteps.

"― four. . . Five. . ."

"I'm here."

My heart stopped.

Bellamy's stern voice wrapped around my heart. His worried eyes ran over my body then held my eyes.

'Are you okay?' He mouthed. I wanted to shake my head because I wasn't okay with what he was doing, but I nodded anyway to give him peace of mind.

"Move!" Murphy barked.

Jasper and I began to walk. Right as I was blinded by the light, I felt myself being yanked backward and saw Jasper being shoved forward.

I landed hard behind Murphy and could only watch as the doors clanked shut. The finality of the sound resonated through the room. Three of us were trapped together, at least one of us was bound to get hurt.

"Eden? I need you to focus if we're gonna get out of here. You still have your knife?" Bell whispered. His thumb brushed over my cheek once he helped me sit upright and removed my gag.

"Yeah." I motioned to the strap on my waist.

"Cut your ties when he's not looking."

"Hey! Don't touch her! Back the fuck up. Don't talk." Murphy barked out a string of commands pointing his gun straight at us.

Bellamy shot up with squared shoulders, I saw the fire behind his eyes. "We had a deal! You let Eden and Jasper go, and you get me!"

"Deals get broken. That bitch deserves to be in here just as much as you"

Bellamy charged forward like a raging bull. A bullet bounced off the metal by my head. I flinched and Bellamy halted.

"Bellamy? Bellamy!" Vi's panicked voice came from the walkie talkie.

"Enough! You both do what I say. I call the shots. So, Bellamy start tying a noose." Murphy chucked a pile of seatbelt straps to the ground.

"Murphy, you can't be fucking serious. We can just talk ab―" Another fired bullet shut me up.

"You don't have choices. Now, do what I said."

"Bellamy? Are you and Eden ok?"

"You want her to know you're both alive? Start tying."

"Bellamy! Do you copy?" The fear poisoning Octavia's voice, matched the fear swirling with the dread in my mind.

What was I supposed to do?

Maybe Bellamy could sense my despair because he stared at me with reassuring dark eyes. "We're fine. Just a misfire. Now stop worrying about me and get back to work, all of you... And tell Raven to hurry her ass up."

"All right, that's long enough. Tie those two ends together."

Bellamy did as Murphy said, making a tight knot with the straps.

"All right. Now get up and toss it over."

Bell glanced my way, before standing up and and throwing the noose over a pipe. "What do you want me to say? You want me to apologize?" A pang ran through my chest at the remorse that swept over Bellamy's face. "I'm. . . I'm sorry."

"You got it all wrong, Bellamy. I don't want you to say anything. I want you to feel what I felt, and then... Then I want you to die knowing I'm going to kill Eden next."

"You're a fucking psychopath," I sneered.

"Nowhere as psychotic as you."

"Fuck you, Murphy."

My teeth ground over each other as a blooming pain spread over my cheek. I fell back onto my arm at the force of Murphy's punch.

I saw Bellamy's feet move away from the noose through the curtain of my hair, only for Murphy to hoist his gun up again in Bell's direction.

"Uh uh. Stop. Don't act brave now. Stand on it. Put it over your head." Murphy stepped in front of me to stand directly in front of Bellamy as he stepped on the tiny stool.

Now out of Murphy's line of vision and attention, I seized my knife from my waistband and slid it out.

"This is insane. The grounders could..."

"Put it over your head."

With my blade awkwardly secured in one hand I began sawing at my restraints. As soon as I had these stupid things off, I'd make Murphy wish he never came back to camp and tried to hurt Bellamy or Jasper.

"Happy now?"

"You're so brave, aren't you? I mean, you came in here thinking you're just gonna turn this whole thing around, that you were stronger than me, and maybe one of your friends would come and help you. Well, what are you thinking now, Bellamy? Hmm?"

'That you're a fucking dick and he's going to beat the shit out of you,' I mouthed with venom.

"You know, I got to hand it to you, Bellamy. You got 'em all fooled. They actually look up to you, almost as much as they look up to Clarke and surprisingly Eden. Yeah, well, we know the truth, don't we? You're a coward. I learned that the day you kicked out the crate from beneath me."

Murphy must have dreamt of the many scenarios his revenge could play out from the moment he got back took camp. Maybe he even thought of revenge whilst the Grounders tortured him. It must have always played in the back off his mind, maybe even the front, like a constant itch and now he was scratching it.

"Isn't that what you said? That you were just giving the people what they wanted, right?"

"You think they're just gonna let you walk out of here?"

The last tether snapped leaving my wrists to fly apart from the force.

"Well, I think the princess is dead... but I know the king's about to die, so who's really gonna lead these people, huh? Me, that's who."

Cold, calculating eyes swiveled to me. My wrists flew together to try and fake having my wrists still bound.

"Eden. Eden. Eden. You could have led the camp, being the Queen Bee and all, you're unaware that most of the girls in camp liked you or looked up to you. Meanwhile, your personality clicked with the boys, but I'm gonna kill you so it doesn't matter."

I spoke to people around camp and shared jokes and laughs but I never thought they'd view me as a true leader. Yeah, I've lead training sessions or made decisions in small groups but that didn't warrant being camp leader.

"Remember when I told you that not everybody is your friend down here." Murphy laughed cynically.

"How could I forget?" I rolled my eyes.

"You fucked up big time. But I told you to look out for liars so it's only fair I give Bellamy the same advice."

What?

"Bellamy, I hate to tell you this but your girlfriend is a liar. What was it that Kieron said? A lying, psychotic, murderer."

Each word punched me in the gut. What was he talking about?

"Don't talk about Eden like that."

"Ah ah ah." Murphy pulled on Bellamy's noose. "In fact, let's get your sister listening in on