Red Lighter ✧ John Murphy

LVI - Another War

Chapter Fifty-Six

Clarke turned to Abby, and I could see the terror still lingering in her eyes.

"I have to do this."

Abby blinked, glanced down at the climbers, and then nodded. "Okay. I'll help you."

Clarke looked to me as well. "Venus, please help."

"Of course." I didn't miss a beat with my answer. The more people that helped, the bigger the chance that Clarke will get out of this alive.

Her eagerness to do this didn't stop Clarke from wincing and hissing in pain when she had the needle put into her arm a while later. But of course just about anyone would react badly, since the damn thing was huge.

Pike came back in, putting down the can he had been holding. "Balcony's greased. No one's getting in through here."

"Good. There's enough lamp oil to cover every window on the floor EXCEPT the Commander's chambers," Bellamy told him.

"Then that's where the fighting starts," Pike said, looking behind him at Bryan and then at me. "We dig in there."

Murphy went after me when I tried to follow Pike, grabbing my arm and making me turn to face him.

"I don't think you should go with them," Murphy said. "Just stay here with me. Help me with Clarke."

Murphy had to stay because he knew how to put the Flame in, and what to do to make it work properly. I, however, did not have to stay. I could help to defend Clarke.

"Murphy, I need to help them. You need to stay here with Clarke, and I need to protect her."

He looked at me as if he were in pain at the thought of not being with me, then yanked me into an embrace. I let out a sigh of content, then hugged him too.

"Remember what that feels like," I whispered in his ear. "You'll feel it again soon. I promise."

"I'd better. Otherwise I'll have to kick your ghosty ass."

I let out a throaty laugh, then pulled away and held his hands in mine. "I'll be fine, and so will you."

He nodded once, then turned back to Abby. He held my hands a little longer than he needed to, and when he let go, I wanted nothing more than to hold him tightly once again, but I needed to go with Pike, Bryan, and Octavia.

Miller joined us right afterwards once he was done oiling the windowsills. Octavia did too, and the room was filled with the sounds of her sharpening her sword. It was a little unnerving having her and Pike in the same room.

Bryan was sitting in a chair, and he looked terrible. He was pale and his skin was covered in a layer of sweat with his eyelids turning red.

"He's burning up," Miller said, but still continued to hold his hand.

"His wound is infected," I muttered, biting my lip. He couldn't stay here. He would die in the first wave. He needed to be where Abby could keep an eye on him.

"I'm sorry about the way things happened."

Pike patted his arm. "That was another war," he said, then took Bryan's arm and helped him stand. "You need to take him to Abby."

"I'm not letting you fight alone," Bryan insisted, but spoke more to Miller than to anyone else.

"And I'm not letting you die today of a god damn INFECTION," I told him, crossing my arms over my chest with my brow furrowed.

"And he won't be alone," Octavia said from in the corner, but her voice was strange. Her tone was dark and unforgiving.

Pike was clearly very unsettled.

"You see? Come on," Miller said, putting Bryan's arm over his shoulders and helping him to limp out of the room.

Pike turned to Octavia, and I could feel the tension in the air between them.

"If we're going to survive this, we need to stand together."

"NOW you say that," Octavia growled.

I felt the sudden need to go to the balcony, and saw that ALIE's people were on the floor below us. They grunted as they climbed, almost making it to the windows.

"They're here," I told them. "The first wave is small. We do this Bellamy's way, understood? Take them down, tie them up. No killing if we can help it."

I was armed with a gun and a knife, while Pike had one of the batons and Octavia had her sword. When I looked to see them, I saw the expression on Octavia's face right as she sliced her sword into Pike's leg, right below his knee.

"Octavia, no!" I shouted, but of course, I was too late.

Pike yelped loudly, and dropped, while Octavia yanked my arm and pulled me back as the men came into the room. They punched and kicked at Pike, and Octavia held the hand that was holding my gun with an iron grip.

"Let me go!"

"He deserves it!" she hissed.

Bellamy came running in, immediately questioning what Octavia was doing as he shot the three men that had made their way in. He ran over to Pike, and while she was distracted, I pulled my arm out of Octavia's grip. I glared at her angrily, while Bellamy lifted Pike up.

"She cut me!" he said, almost seeming hurt that Octavia had attacked him.

Other people came in through the window, and I recognized a few as Emori and Kane.

"Come on! We have to go!" Bellamy said, pulling Pike along with him.

"We can't give up the room!" Pike argued.

"We already have!" I hissed, then shut both doors. We pulled cabinets and dressers in front of the doors, leaning against the barricade we had made.

"I told you, you need to get yourself under control if we're gonna survive this," Pike reminded Octavia.

"Octavia, what the hell was that?!" I questioned immediately. I was angry with her for putting our lives in danger.

I stood by Bellamy, while she was on the opposite side of him. He had a more gentle approach.

"O, listen to me," Bellamy said, and she finally looked at him with a broken expression. "I know how you feel. I let my need for revenge put me on the wrong side. I don't want that for you."

Octavia was unwilling to listen to that any longer.

"You keep it closed, I'll get more for the barricade," Octavia stated, then ran down the hallway.

"It wasn't the wrong side," Pike said, tying a belt around his bleeding leg. "If the grounder army was still there when Lexa died, they would have attacked and you know it."

"I wanted to see things like you," Bellamy said. "I needed that. To believe that they were bad and we were good. I don't know what I believe in anymore. I just know that I have to live with what I've done."

I saw the expression on his face. It was broken just like his sister's.

I reached down and took his hand in mine, and he turned to me with a thankful look before squeezing it tightly.

"We'll make it through this. I know we will," he said.

And I nodded, even though part of me didn't believe him.