Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE WOODS APPEAREDcompletely and utterly empty. Climbing up onto one of the guard platforms beside Bellamy and Clarke, there was nothing that she could visibly spot hiding between the trees. Both her and Bellamy searched for anyone in the scopes of their weapons, but there was nothing.
"Where are they?" he wondered, tense at the absence of their enemy. "Why aren't they attacking?"
"Because we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do," Clarke realized, her face winding up in frustration. Taylor lowered her gun and looked over to her with wide eyes, knowing exactly what she was trying to get at.
"What are you talking about?" Bellamy questioned, getting no answer as she whipped around and looked below her.
"Lincoln said the scouts would be the first to arrive," she continued, this time louder so that more could hear her. Finn was waiting at the bottom of the platform, expecting some answers from those above him.
"If it's just scouts, we can fight our way out!" Octavia exclaimed, rushing toward them to take a stand next to Finn. "That's what Lincoln would do."
"We're done doing what that Grounder would do," Bellamy dismissed, jumping down from the platform, Taylor following him quickly. "We tried it and now Drew is dead. You wanna be next?" He gestured to the body that was lying lifelessly in camp, the ones who brought him in having set him down in a hurry. The blade still stuck out of his face at a sickening angle.
"That Grounder saved our lives," Finn argued earnestly. "I agree with Octavia. For all we know, there's one scout out there." He looked between the three that surrounded him and up at Clarke, who still stood up on the guard post, clearly attempting to think things through.
"And for all we know, that's exactly what they want us to think," Taylor countered, shaking her head slightly and crossing her arms. "That we're safe if there's only one scout."
"One scout with insanely good aim," Jasper chimed in, pointing his gun at the trees from a different guard post than the one that Clarke was standing on.
"I think trying to leave again is a bad idea. They're more experienced fighters, ones we can't even see. We can't fight them if we can't see them. If they can pick us out in the open, they will," she said, pointing out what she had before they left the first time. "We're too vulnerable out there. Staying is our best chance."
Octavia looked at her with a troubled expression, stepping forward to stare at Clarke. "Clarke, we can still do this," she tried convincing. Everyone was looking up at her expectantly, all four of them searching for a definitive answer.
"Looking to you, Princess. What's it gonna be?" Bellamy asked, the rest of them now calmed down and looking at Clarke as well. "Run and get picked off out in the open, or stand and fight back?"
