Beautiful Crime | John Murphy

Chapter Forty Two

"Hold your fire! They're back! Open the gate." Bellamy yells out, and a few seconds later the gate opens for us. Clarke goes directly over to Finn. "Shut the gate." I order them hurriedly, afraid that they might just walk in, and take him.

"You can't be out here." She tells him as she pulls him away. We all walk further into camp, and while Clarke goes to hug her mother, Bellamy who has now joined us pulls me into his arms. I refuse to let go for a while, but eventually has to, and by that he knows it is bad news.

"What did she say?" Abbey asks her daughter. Raven joins us as well, and other people starts to gather around. "Is there a chance for a truce?"

"Yes," Clarke says looking down. "What's wrong?" Finn asks her, but it looks like she can't get herself to remove her gaze from the ground.

I walk over to her, and rest my hand on her arm. I look up at Finn with sad eyes. As much as I dislike him he doesn't deserve to die. "They want you, Finn," I tell him. "If we want a truce, we have to give them Finn," I say looking at the others.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raven asks with anger as she looks at the two of us. "That's their offer." Clarke says refusing to meet her eyes. "That's not an offer," Raven says. "It's punishment. For what happened at the village. Blood for blood," Finn adds.

"That's insane," Bellamy says moving closer to me. "If we refuse?" Abbey asks looking at Clarke. "They attack," she answers.

"Say we give him up!" Someone from the crowd that has gathered around us say. "Get rid of him." They say, and try to move closer to us. "Easy, people." One of the guards say trying to hold them back.

"Give him to the Grounders." A guy says walking up behind Raven. "Back off!" Raven screams pushing the guy backwards. Bellamy holds back the guy before he can do anything back, and Clarke grabs a hold of Raven. "Hey, Raven. Raven, listen to me. Nothing is gonna happen to him. I promise, ok?" She says trying to calm her down.

"I'm not dying for him." An older guy says walking forward. "Spacewalker burned three months of oxygen from the Ark. He should've floated a long time ago. Throw him out!" The guy tries to grab a hold off Finn, but before he can do that Raven attack him. "Back off!" She screams as she punches him. A guard tries to take her, but she turns around, and punches the guard, which causes two others to grab a hold of her, and drag her away. "Let me go," she says as they pull her inside.

-

"Hey, man," Murphy says as we walk over to Finn who is sitting alone. We sit down beside him. "Byrne actually gave me a gun. I guess we really are screwed, huh?" He says in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Finn dosen't seem to care. "Look, we kicked their asses last time. We'll do it again."

"A lot of people died last time." Finn looks over at Murphy slightly angry.

A few seconds later Clarke, and Bellamy walks up to us."Hey," Bellamy says. "We're reinforcing all defenses. Doubles on the perimeter. No one's getting past that wire."

Finn stands up, rubbing his hands together. "I'll see where they're thin," Finn says.

"No," Bellamy protests. "You should head inside. B corridor will be easier to defend if it comes to that."

"I'm not gonna hide." Finn looks at them both as if they are crazy to think he would do that, but right now it is actually the best thing he can do.

"Right now, we have to think about keeping you safe. I'm gonna talk to Lincoln." Clarke says before beginning to walk away. "Come on. Finn," Bellamy says, and after a little while Finn follows Bellamy to the B corridor.

"Hey. Any orders for me, princess?" Murphy says jokingly, and I just roll my eyes. He stands up, and I do as well. Clarke turns around to face him. "Stay away from me." Is all she says, but very rudely to be precise. "Just trying to be helpful." Murphy says defending himself even though he doesn't have to.

"You were both with him at the village." Her tone dosen't strike me as a good one. Murphy takes a few steps forward. "I tried to stop him," he says. "Not hard enough." She glares at him, and I am seconds away form punching her in the face. "You know, you want to start blaming people, Clarke? He was out there looking for you."

She begins to walk away, but I scream out for her which makes her turn around again. "Honestly. I am sick, and tired of you thinking you are all high, and mighty. Murphy didn't kill anyone, and neither did I, so I think it's time you put the blame where it belongs. You are no better then Murphy, and me. We all have done things to survive down here, so I say you shut up, and take a look at yourself before you speak badly of others." Her mouth falls open.

I ignore her, and plant a kiss on Murphy's cheek who is looking at me proudly. "I'll see you later. I'm just going to check on Lincoln." I tell him before walking past Clarke who I know will follow after me eventually, since we are going to the same place.

When I come in Octavia is adjusting the pillow behind Lincoln's back. "Hang on," she says as she hits at it. He is leaning forwards, coughing. He leans back down carefully. I walk over to him, and touch the restrainers around his wrists. "He's not a Reaper anymore. He doesn't need to be restrained." I tell Abbey. "Yes, I do," he says letting out another cough.

"Just tell us," Abbey says. "Is there a way to make peace?" His eyes travel across the room. "Did she leave riders behind?" He questions. "Two just outside the gate," Abbey reveals. "They're waiting for Finn," he explains what all of us has figured out for ourselves. "You don't have much time to decide."

"She can't expect us to just hand over one of our own people. Would she do that?" Octavia asks as she walks over to Lincoln. He looks up at her. "She wouldn't let the rest of her people die to protect a murderer. If you don't do this, she will kill everyone in this camp."

"There has to be something else that we can offer," Abbey almost begs hoping there is another way around this. "Finn took eighteen lives. The commander's offering to take just one in return. Take the deal," he says, and when you look at it that way it is a fair deal, but we could never take the it. He is one of us. It is too personal.

"How can you say that?" Clarke asks. "Finn was the first person to come to you to offer peace. He's your friend." He gives her a slight glare. "He massacred my village," he says in a cold voice. "Some of the dead were my friends, too." I take a hold of his hand, and give it a squeeze, partly for his sake, and partly because of my guilt. "But that wasn't Finn. You know that's not who he is," Clarke says trying her best to defend him. "It is now," Lincoln says not even looking at her. "We've all got a monster inside of us, Clarke, and we're all responsible for what it does when we let it out."

"What will they do to him?" Abbey asks looking at the ground.

"Fire. Because he killed the innocent, it starts with fire." His eyes are glued to his stomach. "Starts?" Clarke asks with fright in her voice. "They'll take his hands. His tongue, his eyes. And anyone who grieves will have a turn with the knife. At sunrise, the commander will end it with her sword. But I've never known anyone to survive until the sword." He takes a deep breath before finally looking up, and meeting her eyes. "He killed eighteen, he will suffer the pain of eighteen deaths."