Hopeless - (Bellamy Blake - Book 2)

Chapter 16.

~*~

Since Finn wasn't planning on taking his eyes off the Grounder camp, Murphy and I agreed to take shifts in sleeping and keeping watch, both on the camp and Finn—in case he decided he was sick of waiting.

Murphy kicks my boot to get me to wake up from my much needed nap, and I'm delirious for about a minute, rubbing at my face. My clothes and hair are still wet from the drizzle of rain we were caught in earlier, but at least it helped wash the dirt off.

"Let's go." Finn whispers, training his rifle ahead of him as we make our descent down towards the Grounder camp.

We stop just outside of it, monitoring the area to ensure there are no patrols or night watchers, which there aren't. Further proof that they have nothing of value to us here.

I tread as lightly as possible on the ground, the mud creating slight squelches beneath our boots.

"What are you doing?" Murphy hisses, and I turn to see Finn grabbing a lit torch. "This isn't part of your plan."

My heart beats fast as Finn whispers, "I'm changing the plan."

"Burning this place to the ground won't help anyone." I hiss at him, but he's already jogging over to a hut near the centre of the village.

Murphy and I follow, constantly looking around us to make sure no one sees us.

"This is their food." Finn states, before throwing the torch through the glass-less window of the hut. It takes not even a second for the flames to catch and rise, heat washing over me.

"Shit." I mumble, the three of us quickly running to the other side.

A Grounder woman starts shouting and ringing a bell, causing the rest of the village to file out of their homes, rushing to preserve their food.
The guys and I hide behind some crates and plants, watching the chaos unfold.

"Distraction...not bad." Murphy says.

I stay silent, remembering when our food store was burned to the ground, and the struggle we faced afterwards.

"Let's go."

We follow after Finn, keeping to the shadows behind the makeshift buildings and huts of the village. I duck to avoid being seen by a passerby running with a bucket of water.

Oh god, she's just a kid.

I feel Murphy tug on the sleeve of my jacket, and continue on to the next house. We're about to move again when a door behind us opens, and someone shouts.

Before I can even blink, Murphy surges forward and hits the guy in the head with the butt of his rifle, sending him to the floor.

"Nice one." I say sarcastically.

"We need to run." He make a move, but Finn goes in the other direction.

"We can't. They'll kill our people." Finn grabs the Grounder and gets him to his feet.

"They'll kill us."

"Murphy's right." I say quickly, following Finn as we move towards the centre of the village. "We can come back when—"

I startle when Finn lifts his rifle in the air and shoots, the other villagers crying out and crowding together.