27 | Seek and Ye Shall Find

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Winnie didn't appreciate the change of scenery as much as Viena wanted her to, mainly because the change in company put her in such a tight position that she didn't know what was right or wrong anymore.

"Where did you take him?" Winnie asked as she was carried by her elbows by two Grounders she had never seen before.

She was sure if she had saw these men when she was first banished from camp that she would have crawled straight back to the delinquents. Despite all her sayings about being tough, these people did not look like people and sent shivers down her spine and made her stomach flip. They looked at her as is she was the scum of the earth, utterly beneath them yet it surprised Winnie as they looked at Viena in the exact same way.

"I didn't take him anywhere," Viena replied, "The Chief simply believed that both of you had outlasted your usefulness."

The forest had not changed since she had been imprisoned. Winnie had thought that maybe it would look strange, like how each time you recall a memory it changes slightly, but the only difference was it seemed like it was missing some of its life.

"So why am I still here?" Winnie asked.

"Oh Winnie, for me, it was never about John Murphy or the other people from the Sky," Viena didn't look at her, just continued into the woods. The Grounders besides her tightened their grip and Winnie tried to catch a glimpse of their face behind the skull mask, to see if they had the same face scars as Viena, or if they were clean like Anya, "I am nowhere near done with you. You don't have nearly enough scars witch."





---


They had survived the night but not without fatalities. Murphy thought Winnie would have volunteered to dig the graves of the sixteen souls that had been lost to the flu but he didn't even offer. His legs were finally able to fully support him and he could manage a considerable distance before feeling like he was going to be either sick or faint, sometimes he felt both.

"I'm coming." He stated as the others prepared for the trip, both a combined hunting and search party. He could tell by the looks on people's faces as they left the dropship. He had made his mind up from the moment he came back to camp, his priority had to be her.

"No," Clarke put out a hand to stop him, "You're not, you're not nearly strong enough."

They were almost alone, except for Finn who had to agree with Clarke, "She's right, you know. Look at you, you fall down out there and you bleed and you bleed, we won't be able to carry you and Winnie back to camp if we find her."

The girl nodded, "We can find her Murphy just trust-"

"No!" Murphy exclaimed, "No, you can't. I'm coming. with you,"

He snatched a gun from the table so quickly and with such a sudden movement it tore at his side and pain shot through him, a wound reopened. He clutched at it and tried to discreetly bend over but the pain was evident, Clarke and Finn looked at him, "It's fine," Murphy continued with gritted teeth, "Let's go."

He staggered towards the dropship but everytime he put weight on his left side it was red hot pain that almost drove him mad. Yet he still walked.

Clarke had never seen him like this and if she was honest, had never expected any this kind of bravery, "Murphy, please." She reached out her arms to catch him, as he lost his footing and fell to the ground and between her hands.

"I'm fine!" He told her, "I'm fine!" The time his voice cracked. He pushed himself off his helper as if at arms reach, he can do it by himself, he doesn't need Clarke's charity.

"You're not Murphy." Finn told him remaining where he stood.

"I have to be," Murphy replied, "You think any of would actually save Winnie?" He tried to bring himself back to his feet, it took a while but eventually he managed, staring at Clarke trying to convey how much she didn't understand, "No, they would see her and they would run because if it is was anybody else that is what I would do."

"Who do you keep on talking about? Who is she?" Clarke didn't understand but she wanted to, Murphy didn't seem convinced.

"I'll deal with her, don't worry." Murphy shook her off and tried his hardest to put the gun strap around his body with only one hand.

"How many more times I am going to have to say this Murphy, you're not leaving this camp. I don't trust you, nobody does. I know you're hurting or however close you can get to that feeling but you're not taking a gun anywhere near my people," Clarke grabbed the strap around him and Murphy didn't protest, "But Winnie, despite everything, is one of my people. So you need to tell me everything because up til now you've been really quiet."

"Why should I trust you to get her?" Murphy asked with a set jaw and his fists clenched.

Clarke knew this wasn't the best answer but it was all she had, "Because I think Winnie was right, nobody needs to die and maybe if she was here we wouldn't be fighting a war. She doesn't need to die, she doesn't deserve it."

"How can you stand there and pretend that you didn't hang her! Pretend that you didn't hang me," Murphy's voice had grown hoarse from all the shouting and the only reason he stopped was because he had subconsciously raised his hands above his head and Clarke flinched in response. It reminded him of Winnie of how that is what Viena would make her into, how he had been half way there before he left. He hit the wall instead and his side hurt again. He wasn't strong enough, he knew that, "I can't trust you."

"Then at least it's mutual," Finn answered for her, watching Murphy let his weight fall against the wall and slide down it, "But it doesn't matter because we're going to find Winnie anyway."

Murphy shook his head at both of them. His tone shifting from anger to the kind of sadness that only he could have shown in that moment, "You can't even imagine what it was like."

"Tell us then. Help us to understand. Was it Anya?"

Murphy paused to think, not sure if he was even confident enough to say her name but he knew that he had to tell them. It was Winnie's life on the line, he couldn't be the knight in shining armour like she had been for him.

"Anya was there, she wasn't the worst," Murphy wiped his nose on the back of his hand, "She was hellbent on revenge for Lincoln, I don't know who-"

It was Finn's turn to be angry now. He paced away from the pair and ran his fingers through his hair, "I told Bellamy to stop, I told everyone to stop, they should have listened! We could have avoided all of this."

Murphy didn't take any notice of him, "She's called Viena," It felt like someone had walked over his grave, "She did it all. It was - like, it was like it was personal. Anya didn't seem to like her but she listened to her, they argued and-"

Murphy stopped mid sentence because he was thinking about this, "And she called her a witch, like she knew something."

The pair were silent, listening to the weight that Murphy gave his words until they shattered on the floor in front of them. Murphy put the gun back, he couldn't go back there. We wanted to the way a person might always feel a push to go back to an abusive partner because it started it out with love. Yer he couldn't for he forgotten his fear for a moment, the absolute fear of her.

Clarke had heard enough and she tightened her grip on the strap of her pack. "We'll get her back." She turned her back on the man she hated so much that it was almost hard to comprehend.

So it was Finn's hand as he began to follow her that Murphy grabbed, "Please," Finn thought he would let go after getting his attention but his grip only tightened, "Don't let her give Winnie the face scars. Please."


----


Winnie looked down at the young girl, she reminded her so much of Charlotte and a mix of loathing and pity mingled in her stomach. Too young to die, both of them. Winnie wasn't used to standing up and like Murphy she felt sick immediately. The food they had given her sat heavy in her stomach and she told herself she would not vomit, the food was too precious to be lost.

Viena didn't touch her now they were in this new place but her hands remained bound in front of her and the tears in her skin were still untreated and bled. She was no longer being abused but that didn't mean that she was no longer a victim. The way to the outside world was locked

"If she is to remain here then at least clean her," Anya did not have the same connection or twisted love for Winnie, "It makes me sick. You treat her not like a prisoner here, you let her roam without shackles and you give her scars. Your mother would not be happy with you."

"It is no concern of yours what my mother thinks and I think you have bigger problems then the witch, don't you. Your little cockroaches seem to be a lot cleverer than you give them credit for."

"I am handling it," Anya sneered. She switched to their own language so Winnie would not hear, "I know who their healer is, she will be coming soon enough."

Winnie despite her illness still stood by the young girl, there was burn marks, not bad but noticeable on her exposed skin. It seemed like something small, almost like an insect had attacked her as little cuts littered her skin. Winnie had never seen an injury like this but it wasn't those that were causing her pain. She shivered and Winnie tried to put a calming hand on her, cupping her jaw and trying to soothe her suffering.

"Your people did this." Viena told her.

Winnie couldn't believe it, "What?" The information swirled in her head and it didn't connect.

"Didn't you realise," Anya smiled menacingly, "You're standing in the middle of a war zone and your on the wrong side."

Winnie closed her eyes and uttered a small prayer as the girl groaned, it shouldn't be like this. All out war was never the answer to anything.

"I don't think I'm apart of any side anymore," Winnie answered, her people had not come for her.

It was useless to even think it was a possibility, they banished her and she had ruined any possibility of coming back when she chose Murphy. Did he even make it back to camp? Did he even try to make it back there. She had to believe he did because thinking the opposite would have been the real reason she died in this place. Suffering has to be a means to an end.

The worst part is that had it been anyone else here, she would have risked everything to save them. She no longer trusted her mind that told her the whole camp came before the individual, she knew Hell and the worst part was believing that it is going to be eternal.

"However," Winnie looked up at Anya who had made her way to the opposite side of the girl's body, "I will apologise for them. Nobody should have to die."

For a moment Winnie thought she might have connected with Anya as she gently stroked the little girl's hand but then when she wasn't gifted with a response Anya's mood relapsed, "All of you are going to die."

"That sounds like a stupid plan."

Winnie told her and Anya slapped her.

A metal ring on her middle finger caught Winnie's lip before she was struck down from her dizzy head and her off balance disposition and her lip split open further as her chin smashed against the ground. She didn't rise for a second and she laughed slightly, it had come to the point that anything was better than the taste of blood.

Her mind led her to remember all the tastes she had ever experienced. She couldn't remember anything before the hot water was poured down her throat, her taste buds had never really been the same. She tasted jaguar meat and felt ill but then she remembered something almost sickly sweet; John Murphy's lips against hers.

Then she remembered she had felt the sting of a hit exactly like this before, on her left cheek except it came from the calloused hand of Bellamy Blake. Before she could really dwell on either of these two memories, rough hands hoisted her up and she relived the more recent memory of the rope that hung around her wrists being tied against the wall.

"I prefer her when she was begging for her life," Anya told Viena as she tightened her bonds, "The witch will be tied up. If you must keep your pet in my house then you will listen to my rules and I don't want our new guests to think they have privileges." The women then moved towards the curtain.

At the mention of others Winnie felt an emotion stir within her, they had found more of the hundred and the thought of seeing any of them jarred her.

"She's not a pet," Viena replied, "And without her you would not have gotten your precious information so Anya, I think you owe this girl a lot more than you give her credit for. So shut your damn mouth or I'll shut it for you."

"Oh you are so lucky that I have bigger problems then Azgeda right now Viena," With a flare Anya pulled back the curtain to reveal Clarke and Finn kneeling in submission with their hands bound, "I'm going to make this simple," She turned to Clarke and pointed to the girl on the table, "This girl dies, he dies." And then the same wicked smile faced her again, "And if you finish quickly you can even treat this maggot over here."

Clarke didn't recognise Winnie with her hands above her head and her head rolling against her forearm, "Fancy seeing you here." Winnie told them as she felt the blood gurgle in her mouth and pool down her face.

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