Kings // c. griffin

Twenty

Isaac was peering over the top of the wall, looking ahead at the dark forest. It looked so much more dangerous at night. He chalked it up to the fact that he couldn't see anything, but for some reason the darkness beyond the trees was slightly frightening, the wind that rustled through the trees was a raspy whisper, egging him on.

His foot tapped nervously against the ground, his arm wrapped around his chest. Next to him stood Monty, who was also staring out into the forest. Isaac looked over when the leaves crunched a few inches to his side and noticed Octavia had walked up to them. "Hey," she said.

Monty gave her a slight nod as Isaac sent her a tiny grin. "Still no sign of your brother or the others, yet," Monty told her.

Octavia shook her head. "I don't care," she said.

Isaac frowned, knowing that she was lying, but choosing not to say anything about it. She was angry with him and Isaac understood that. He sighed, turning as a voice reached his ears. "Jasper, tell us again how you stayed so calm?" It was Harper. Monty, Octavia and Isaac watched as Jasper recalled what happened at the bridge for a group of people (most of them girls). "I would have been terrified."

Jasper grinned. "Fear is only a problem if you let it stop you, right?"

Isaac raised his eyebrows at the boy. "He took that from Finn," he observed, slightly perturbed with the fact that Jasper was taking credit for the incident at the bridge, and the fact that it was seen as something he should be proud of. He supposed somebody had to take credit, but looking past that what happened at the bridge was nothing short of wrong in Isaac's mind. Jasper had shot the grounders without warning. he had believed he'd been saving Clarke and Isaac, but was that really the case? His nerves could definitely have gotten the better of him. And even so, he was so bothered by the fact that the grounders had brought warriors hidden in the trees that he'd overlooked on small little detail -they were doing the same thing. A precaution, however wrong, was still a precaution. Maybe the grounders were nervous that something would happen. Which it did.

The point being, Isaac was not happy with what Jasper did.

"When I saw the grounders in the trees, it was like nothing I had ever felt," Jasper went on. "Pure animal instinct took over. One pull of the trigger, two grounders were dead."

"Pure animal instinct?" Octavia snorted under her breath, her eyes landing on Isaac for a moment before she looked at Monty. "More like pure pants-wetting panic."

"You don't really know what you're made of until a moment like that where it's kill or be killed and there's just nothing between you and the tip of a spear." Harper nodded along with Jasper's words, gazing at him like he was freaking Jesus come down from the Heavens.

Isaac kept his stony gaze ahead, locked on Jasper, as Octavia groaned loudly. She shifted in he spot, making to get up. "Alright, I'm putting a stop to this."

Monty stopped her, putting a hand on her arm softly. "Come on, let us have this," he pleaded.

"Us?" Isaac asked. He didn't take his eyes off of Jasper, but the way he cocked an eyebrow let on how he was feeling.

Monty nodded. "Look at him," Monty said, gesturing with his hands. "The boy is a folk hero. They even gave us a bigger tent."

Isaac grunted, biting his lip. "That tent is stained with blood," he muttered distastefully, under his breath. But both teenagers heard him.

Octavia looked like she was about to respond when a clatter reached everyone's ears, and suddenly the entire camp was on alert. "Someone hit the trip wires!" Miller called out, panicked. He propped his gun against his shoulder but suddenly Isaac put his hand on Miller's upper arm, giving him a stern look.