CROSSFIRE | BELLAMY BLAKE [2]

Chapter Sixteen - Survival of the Fittest.

Octavia and I were situated at the side of the room, observing the group of Grounders who were entering the room. Indra glanced over, meeting my eyes briefly. I spoke to Octavia earlier, worrying about this very moment, how this would all go down south. Octavia glanced over at me, a face washed with worry. I gave her a firm nod, telling her to hold her head up high. These people could sense weakness and we couldn't afford to appear weak.

"Alright," Marcus made his way through the crowd, trying to achieve silence. "Quiet down." He passed Indra, gesturing for her to join him. "Indra, please."

I could feel the distrust coming off of everyone in this room and to make matters worse, a voice of an ignorant guard leaned forwards and spoke. "Don't worry. My shock baton has your backs."

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to even respond to the man, but Octavia had other ideas. "How about you stick it up your ass instead?" She remarked, not glancing back at the guard as the words escaped her mouth.

I snorted, making Octavia grow a smile small. "I know we don't have a lot in common," Marcus started his speech. "But we do have a common enemy and a common goal. For us top reach it, to get our people out of Mount Weather, we need to work together." He looked over at Indra, "Ogeda: Skaikru en Trikru." Indra gave a nod of her head as a sign for him to continue. "Our survival depends on us sharing your knowledge."

I began to zone out, my attention gathering towards the angry looking grounder who was approaching Murphy. I watched from my spot as the Grounder knocked the cup of water from Murphy's hand, causing Murphy to retaliate by pushing him back.

"Mr. Murphy!" Kane shouted, Murphy didn't look, but instead he stood head to head with the Grounder who matched him. "Apologize to that man"

"For what? He was the one who came at me," He snarled.

"Work detail?" This caught Murphy's attention and he snapped his head around to look at Kane. "I just told you, I didn't do it-"

"Care to make it three?"

Murphy hesitated and I expected him to scoff in Kane's face and get himself arrested once again, but this wasn't the case. He was acting like the bigger person, merely walking away from the Grounder, but then, the Grounder turned to him as he left and whispered. Though the room was silent, it was still difficult to hear. Murphy spun around and punched the Grounder out, causing an uproar. Kane yelled at Murphy to stop and in just a few seconds, war broke out in the tiny room. I tried my hardest to break up the fights along with Octavia, but the Grounders just piled up on me.

Thankfully, the fighting had come to an end, and now Grounders were in the center of the camp showing their stuff in hand to hand combat, impressing a lot of us.

"Impressive, aren't they? What doesn't kill them makes them stronger." Marcus looked over at Octavia and I.

"That's one way of looking at it." I muttered.

"Chon yu nes?" Indra called out, looking for a volunteer.

Octavia got off of her log, walking up to Indra with confidence. "I am." She replied with determination thickening her voice. "We're suppose to train together, right?"

"Octavia-" I called for her.

"Only warriors train here." Indra mostly ignored her comment.

"I saved your life."

"And now I'm saving yours."

I sighed and walked over to Octavia who was huffing out of frustration. "Octavia, what are you trying to achieve? You wouldn't be able to win against them."