𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓/𝟏.𝟖. 
☆ LIFE AND DEATH ☆
"𝓦𝓮'𝓻𝓮 𝓰𝓸𝓷𝓷𝓪 𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓭𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓭𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮, 𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓽 𝔀𝓮?"

☆꧁*꧂☆

   RAYS OF SUNSHINE coming through the entrance of the cave awoke Allaia. The sharp light blinded her at first, so she wiped her eyes, trying to adjust herself to the brightness. 

   She tried to move, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist prevented her from doing so. Only then Allaia realized the position she and Bellamy were in. Her head was laying on his chest and his hand was enveloping her in a tight, but gentle hold. His warm breath on her neck was gently tickling her skin. Alle smiled shyly and her cheeks reddened slightly. 

   Allaia gasped in astonishment when she became aware that the rest of her night went by peacefully, without any unwanted interference. Her nightmares didn't disturb her in her sleep. It was extraordinarily rare that Nixon's face didn't haunt Allaia in her dreams. She suspected Bellamy's unyielding grip on her body had something to do with it. Words couldn't define how grateful Allaia was that he chased away her horrors so easily; with almost no effort. For the first time in many days Allaia felt refreshed; full of energy for a change. 

"Bellamy." She whispered. "Wake up."

"Mhm..." He purred, tightening his grasp on her waist.

"Bellamy." Allaia hissed, nudging him with her elbow. "Come on. Get up you lazy ass."

"Do I have to?" He whined. His hand raked her hair softly. 

"Yes! Stop acting like a baby." She laughed. 

"Good morning to you too, love." Bellamy murmured straight into her ear, making her blush.

   He released Alle from his grasp leisurely, already missing the way her tiny body fit in his arms. Allaia quickly stood up, slightly flustered by their anterior proximity. Bellamy reluctantly got up as well, staring at her the entire time. She looked adorable; still a little flushed, with disheveled hair, crimsoned cheeks, and finally without the shadows under her eyes. 

   In the meantime, Lai woke Charlotte, and Bellamy approached the exit of the cave to make sure the fog was gone. The air seemed unpolluted, with no sign of yellowish smoke. 

"It's all clear." Bellamy stated, walking out of the cave. Allaia and Charlotte cautiously followed behind.

"Anybody out here?" He shouted. "Jones?"

"We're here." A voice called out, and the three made their way towards it. Soon enough, they met with Jones and the rest of the hunting crew.

"Lost you in the stew. Where'd you go?" Bellamy asked.

"Made it to a cave down there." Jones responded. "The hell was that?"

"Probably some kind of acid fog." Allaia replied. 

"Natural?" Other boy inquired.

"I mean, I guess it's possible, but I doubt that." Allaia shook her head. "Where's Atom?" She implied worriedly.

Jones silently glanced at her.

"Let's split up." Bellamy offered. "He couldn't have gotten too far."

   Allaia grabbed Charlotte's hand and pulled her along. Bellamy's gaze remained on the two, even though he and another guy were supposed to search in the different part of the woods. 

    Alle was growing anxious since they still haven't come across any traces which could lead them to Atom. Her intuition enabled; it induced an afflictive hunch arise in her mind. This unsettling feeling made her even more distressed. Lai prayed for Atom's sake that her instincts were mistaken for once. 

   Suddenly Charlotte let out a piercing scream, and frantically tugged on Allaia's sleeve which caused the older girl to glimpse at what Lottie was pointing at. 

   Allaia's eyes widened slightly and she gasped fearfully at the sight of Atom laying on the ground. Large blisters filled with abscess covered every part of his exposed skin which was burnt to an enormous degree. His irises became utterly white. The fog incinerated his eyeballs, procuring he had gotten entirely blind. Atom was barely able to breathe; each exhale he took was erratic, so the smoke must have damaged his lungs with its acidic qualities. It was a miracle he was still alive.

"O my God, Atom..." Allaia whispered.

   As tears full of sadness gathered in her eyes, Bellamy abruptly rushed in the direction where the shriek came from, petrified that something or someone may have harmed Allaia. A mere thought of her getting hurt terrified him to the core. He ran as fast as he was capable of; an image of injured Allaia persistently replaying itself in his head. When his gaze collided with Allaia's figure, he rapidly approached her and shakily placed his hands on her arms, carefully scanning her body for any signs of potential wounds. Alleviation filled Bellamy's body when he realized she was unharmed. Allaia's teary cast remained on the ground, so his eyes swiftly moved there. He froze as his eyes spotted Atom. 

"Son of a bitch. Atom." Bellamy mumbled. "Atom!"

   Allaia kneeled, slightly trembling, and Bellamy crouched as well. Atom was groaning; pain was  leaking out of his exhausted voice full of suffering. Bellamy glanced at Allaia, silently asking her if there was something she could do to help him heal. Instead of replying, she sighed frantically and shook her head. A tear ran down here cheek.

"Kill me." Atom murmured. "Kill me."

   Chokes overflowing with ache were coming out of Atom's mouth as he was desperately gasping for air. Charlotte unsurely drew near Bellamy and handed him the knife he earlier gave her.

"Don't be afraid." She advised by mentioning his own words.

Bellamy nervously swallowed his saliva. 

"Go back to camp." He ordered everyone. "Charlotte, Allaia... You too." 

Charlotte followed the rest, but Lai chose to stay.

"No way, I'm not leaving you, Bell." Alle protested. 

   Bellamy nodded and gripped the blade tighter since his hand was shaking slightly. He aimed the knife at Atom's throat, but he froze. A perspective of ending an innocent life, even in a merciful gesture, paralyzed Bellamy essentially. Allaia, seeing him in a such devastated state, intertwined her fingers with his to uplift him a little, and gently squeezed his hand. 

"Bellamy, please." Atom begged. 

   Suddenly Clarke emerged from the trees and gasped at the sight of burnt Atom. She quickly kneeled beside Allaia.

"I heard screams." Clarke admitted.

"Charlotte found him." Bellamy responded with a cracked voice. "I sent her back to camp."

   Clarke scanned Atom's body carefully, assessing if they could save him somehow, but she came to the same conclusion as Allaia — there wasn't any way to help Atom.

"Okay." Clarke whispered. "I'm gonna help you, all right?"

   Allaia used her free hand to caress Atom's hair since her other hand was still holding onto Bellamy's. Death was the best option in this case, but Alle wanted to make Atom's last moments of living as painless as it was possible. She was humming quietly into his ear as Clarke pierced Atom's carotid artery with the blade she earlier took from Bellamy. Blood started pouring from Atom's throat. Allaia kept singing silently and raking his hair until he took a final breath, and his head tilted to the side unwittingly. 

   Bellamy was watching Allaia the entire time with a heavy heart. He kissed her forehead tenderly, and gently wiped tears streaming down her face. 

"It's okay, angel." He whispered. "I got you, love."

   None of them knew though that little Charlotte was hiding behind the trees nearby and learning how to slay her demons. 

☆꧁*꧂☆

   IT WAS DUSK when they arrived at camp. Earlier Bellamy, Allaia, and Clarke had come across Finn and Wells. Chancellor's son and Bellamy carried Atom's dead body wrapped in a makeshift cloth all the way back. The whole journey lapsed in absolute silence. No one was willing to chat after their friend had just died in such an agony. 

"Hey, everyone, they're back!" Someone shouted.

"We've gotta get to Jasper." Clarke said to Allaia after they entered the camp. "I forgot to tell you, but we found something that could help him heal." She showed her the red seaweed. 

"Really?" Allaia's eyes glimmered with relief. "I'm only gonna need boiled water to make the medicine."

"Get Allaia and Clarke whetever they need." Bellamy ordered. 

"I better go get this grave dug." Wells muttered, reffering to Atom. 

"It's about time." Octavia walked out of the drop ship. "Allaia, they were gonna kill Jasper!"

"What?" Alle gasped with a panicked voice.

"Clarke, did you get the medicine?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah, I got it. Come on. Let's talk." Clarke tried to lead Octavia to the drop ship, but she noticed her brother and other criminals staring at something with wide eyes, so she quickly walked over there.

"Octavia, just stay there please. Stay back." Bellamy gently shoved her.

"Why?" Octavia implied. "Stop." She pushed him away and approached the stretcher.

   Octavia abruptly crouched and nervously pulled the jacket covering the corpse's head.

"Atom." Tears gathered in her eyes at the sight of her love interest laying lifelessly on the ground. 

"There was nothing I could do." Bellamy admitted inaudibly, worried about Octavia's reaction.

"Don't." She spat furiously and covered Atom's face with the jacket.

"O, O, please..." Bellamy whispered with a hint of desperation. He reached for her, but she ignored him and rushed to the drop ship.

"Octavia." Allaia grabbed her gently by her shoulder. "It wasn't his fault." She referred to Bellamy and glanced at him. "Acid fog damaged Atom's lungs and burnt his skin. It's a miracle he was still alive when we found him." She explained quietly.

"I know, I just feel..." Octavia's voice cracked. "We kissed yesterday and I... I felt something, you know?"

"Come here, Tavy." Allaia hugged her and patted her back. "If you want to talk, I'm here, okay?" 

"I'm fine, Lai, but thank you, you're the best." She wiped her tears, pulling away from Alle's hold. "We're gonna get used to people dying down here, aren't we?" She whispered. "Let's go help Jasper." A strained smile popped up on her lips.

   Allaia sighed heavily and anxiously glimpsed at Octavia. The bond Tavy made with Atom was the closest thing to the romantic relationship she'd ever had. His horrible death has truly shaken Octavia since she was beginning to genuinely care about him. 

   A sense of unpleasant guilt engulfed Allaia. Her intuition predicted Atom's end, but Allaia had refused to acknowledge it. A little desperately, she had tried to believe he has found a shelter or the fog wasn't as deadly as she suspected. Being right has been a curse sometimes. When your instincts internally evoke inauspicious feelings about a certain case arise in your gut, and those hunches are statistically correct, then you feel like you carry a heavy burden on your back. You're like a psychic who knows what's going to happen before everybody else. And when your mind accidentally foresees something terrible and you choose to ignore it or decline to believe it, you feel responsible for not preventing it from happening afterwards. 

That's exactly how Allaia felt about Atom's death. 

   Allaia and Octavia slowly headed straight into the drop ship to prepare medicine for Jasper.

Murphy cautiously approached Bellamy.

"Lose anyone here?" Bellamy inquired nervously.

"No." Murphy denied. 

"Jasper?" 

"Still breathing. Barely." Murphy replied. "I tried to take him out, but your psycho little sister—" 

   Bellamy rapidly grabbed Murphy by the collar of his shirt and aggressively pinned him against the nearest tree.

"My what? My what?!" Bellamy screamed.

"Your little sister." Murphy mumbled, shoving Bellamy off of him.

"Yeah, that's right." Bellamy hissed. "My little sister. Got anything else you wanna say about her?" He snapped.

"Nothing. Sorry." Murphy grumbled.

"Get him out of here." Bellamy demanded in a harsh tone, pointing at Atom's lifeless body.

☆꧁*꧂☆

   AFTER PREPARING MEDICINE for Jasper and giving it to him, Allaia stayed in the drop ship with Monty, Finn, and Octavia to keep an eye on Jasper, in case the potion on the basis of seaweed didn't work in a way they all hoped it would. 

   Monty took a decent sip of moonshine he made earlier. "Smooth." He coughed. 

   The alcoholic liquor was derivative on the good old recipe from the Ark. The bottle was handed to Allaia who hesitantly glanced at it. She had never tried alcohol before since she was kept under close surveillance in the Sky Box. The only experience Alle had with booze was when Nixon would come to her cell, utterly wasted, and behave even more violently. But today, Allaia needed a break from all negative emotion, stress and guilt which permeated her mind like a horrendous disease. She felt mentally sick and a perspective of getting rid of all those irksome feelings for just a moment seemed quite appealing to her.

   Allaia carefully drank from the bottle. Her face scrunched up in distaste when intoxicating liquor ran down her throat. 

Everyone chuckled at her reaction.

"Sis, you're so innocent." Finn laughed and Allaia glared at him, unamused.

   Octavia and Monty's eyes widened at the particular part of Finn's sentence.

"Wait. Finn, you're Alle's sibling?" Octavia inquired, quite shocked.

"Yes." Finn declared with a ting of pride in his tone. He put his hand around Allaia's shoulder.

"You look adorable together." Octavia giggled and took a swig of moonshine. "Disgusting. Love it."

   Before Finn managed to take a sip from the bottle, a voice called out. 

"Can I, uh... get a hit of that?"

"Jasper!" Everyone exclaimed and rushed towards him.

"Let's start with the soft stuff." Finn advised and helped him drink water by holding his head in place. "Welcome back, buddy."

"Was that a dream or did I get speared?" Jasper asked with a muffled tone.

"You'll have a very impressive mark to prove it." Clarke climbed up the ladder and looked at Jasper with a heartening grin. 

"Trust me, Jasp, girls are going to love your badass scar." Allaia laughed, kneeling next to him.

"My saviors." Jasper glanced between Allaia and Clarke with grateful smile. 

"Thank you for not dying." Allaia whispered with a hint of seriousness in her exhausted voice. "I wouldn't handle it."

"Me neither." Clarke added. "I don't think I could've taken that, especially today." She muttered.

"I'll try not to die tomorrow too, if that's cool." Jasper joked. His tone was extremely weak due to the amount of pain he has gone through recently. 

Everyone chuckled at his remark.

Octavia placed her hand on Jasper's leg, squeezing it reassuringly.

"Oh, hello." A sincere smile appeared on his lips at the sight of her.

    The quantity of relief Allaia felt was indescribable. She was immensely bothered by Jasper's life-threatening condition. Being surrounded by doubts of the criminals who refused to believe his state would improve wasn't helping her faith. Allaia could finally breathe in solace. 

   For the last few days, she's been on edge repeatedly. Her nerves were completely shattered. Danger lurking in every corner and Grounders' unknown intentions towards them were keeping Allaia uneasy. Death was their most probable fate since they were clueless about the place their ancestors used to call home. Allaia had always imagined Earth as a paradise, but the truth was so much bitter. 

Earth was more like hell than heaven. 

☆꧁*꧂☆

  IT WAS ALMOST sunrise; another sleepless night for Allaia elapsed. This time, Bellamy's touch wasn't present to chase away her dreadful dreams. It was embarrassing to bother him with her ridiculous paranoia. And even if Alle managed to find the courage to ask Bellamy if she could lay down next to him, she wouldn't be able to avoid the ocean of questions concerning why she couldn't sleep on her own. Lai wasn't ready to share her past with anyone, so she chose to take a walk around the camp instead.

   Allaia reminded herself Wells should have been on watch right now. She slowly headed to his post, feeling a cold, nightly breeze tickling her exposed skin. When Alle noticed his stance was empty, she frowned, and her intuition sharpened. With fright, she realized that her intuitive feeling returned once again, spelling something horrible. Her innate senses heightened instantly. More rapidly, Allaia desperately searched around herself, hoping she would come across a trace of Wells. 

"Wells?" She called out.

Silence.

"Wells?! Where are you?!" 

   A step backwards caused her to stumble across a small hill. Allaia turned around abruptly. She froze when her gaze spotted Wells — laying lifelessly in a pool of crimson blood with his carotid artery pierced and his fingers torn off. A terrifying scream escaped her lips. Her shriek was so deafening; full of pain and fear it awoke the entire camp. 

   With her hands shaking, Lai kneeled next to Wells' corpse. Her teary eyes widened, and her lip was trembling slightly. She couldn't breathe; every draft of air she took wouldn't gain to her lungs. A temporary paralysis overpowered her. The verge of a panic attack was approaching her unrelentingly. Loud sobs were quivering her entire body as she was staring at Wells with heartache. 

    Suddenly, Allaia was promptly pulled uppermost by a pair of muscular arms. Someone's hands clasped her cheeks tenderly. Her distant glimpse met with Bellamy's frightened eyes. They held so much anxiety and stress. He rapidly scanned her tiny figure, looking for even the slightest sign of any possible injuries in pure panic. Bellamy sighed with relief when he realized Allaia wasn't wounded.

   His eyes widened as his stare met with Wells' dead body laying on the ground. 

"I... I—" Allaia cried out. "He... he was dead when I... When I... found... him." She mumbled as she struggled to breathe.

"Baby, breathe." Bellamy tried to calm her down. "Angel, look at me." He ordered gently. "In... and out" He instructed softly as she inhaled and exhaled, but the gasps of air she took were still too uneven and erratic. "You're doing so good, baby. Keep going." Bellamy praised. "In... and out. In... and out."

   When Allaia's sobs finally ceased, Clarke and Finn came out from behind. Clarke fell to her knees as she caught the sight of Wells. Her cries full of pain could be heard from afar. After Finn made sure his sister wasn't hurt, he attempted to comfort Clarke, but her whimpers only intensified.

"I'm so sorry." Allaia whispered to no one in particular.

"You have nothing to apologize for, love. It wasn't your fault." Bellamy assured her and kissed her forehead fondly. "Come on, let's get you to my tent, okay, princess?"

   Allaia, still quite absent-minded, allowed Bellamy to lead her. His hand was wrapped around her waist, preventing her from collapsing. Her whole body felt so numb and weak, as if she had no control over it. Another death within a matter of hours. Allaia was falling apart; every time someone died, a piece of her would burn with them. 

How many losses would they be forced to endure?

☆꧁*꧂☆

   CRIMINALS WERE BUILDING a tall fence which was