Survival Instinct » John Murphy

Meeting John Murphy

Chapter 1

Riding along on my white stallion with some of my soldiers in the woods wasn't an unusual thing. I was known as 'Gona', which meant in Trigedasleng 'Warrior'. I was one of the greatest fighters ever, hence why they gave me the name. I was given soldiers to follow my every movement for several reasons. First, I was the Commander's younger sister, meaning she always wanted me to stay safe. Second, I was extremely useful to Trikru with my fighting skills and helping to protect Lexa. And finally, Trikru saw me as one of their leaders. I wasn't the Commander and I wasn't a Nightblood so I couldn't become Heda but they did see me as a leader. That's what Lexa always wanted for me and it was something that I earned all on my own. The respect of my people was something that I earned the day I began fighting and leading them with Lexa.

I continued to ride along with black cloak over my armour, my curly, dirty blonde hair in braids and my war paint on my face. This was the Grounder look. This was my look. Just then, I suddenly saw a young man running through the woods. He had blood all over his face and instantly noticed he was Skaikru. His dark hair was a mess but his icy, blue eyes were perfect. He looked like he had just been through hell.

My soldiers suddenly pulled out their bow and arrows before aiming it at the young man just as he fell to his feet, begging for us to spare his life.

"Please don't shoot. I mean you no harm. I've just been banished from my people and I have nowhere to go," he said, pleading for his life.

My soldiers continued to have their weapons raised before Zachary, one of my strongest soldiers, began to get the others ready to shoot.

"Ready your weapons. And... fire!" Zachary ordered in Trikru.

"Stop!" I ordered back in Trikru, stopping them from releasing their arrows.

"Gona, if I may-" Zachary said before I cut him off.

"You may not. You will not fire. We will take him back with us to Lexa. Heda will know what to do with him," I explained.

Zachary nodded before they all put their weapons away.

"Search him," I said before my soldiers got off their horses and began searching the young man.

"Hey, what are you doing? Stop! Please!" he yelled.

I watched as they continued to search him before they were finally done. Thea, one of my most trusted soldiers, walked over to me and handed me a sharp blade.

"This was the only thing he had," Thea said.

I nodded before putting away the blade and looking back at the man.

"State your name," I said finally in English for the young man to understand me.

"John, John Murphy. But most people just call me Murphy," he said.

"Nice to meet you John, I'm Freya. And I'm sorry to say this but you're gonna have to come with us. Heda will be very pleased to meet you," I explained.

I then looked at my soldiers for a moment before saying...

"Tie his hands together. He'll walk while we ride," I said.

My soldiers nodded before they wrapped John's hands together and handing me the rope to walker him along. Once they did this, my soldiers got back on their horses before we rode off, riding slow so John could stay ahead of us.

After some time of riding, John's pace began to slow and I could tell he was becoming tired. We had been riding for a while but John had been walking the whole time. He was obviously tired.

All of a sudden, John tripped and fell to the ground. His face landed on the mud, adding more dirt to his face.

"Get up!" Zachary yelled at John, causing him to slowly arise to his feet.

"I need to rest," John stated.

"You will not rest, boy. We need to keep moving," Zachary said.

"I said I need to rest," John snapped.

Zachary jumped off his horse and charged towards John with his sword in hand, ready to kill John before I stopped him.

"Zachary! Enough!" I yelled.

He hesitated for a moment as he held the sword in his hand, pointing it at John.

"Put the sword down! We will let him rest for a while, its been a long walk," I said.

Zachary huffed before lowering his weapon and taking his horse over to some trees. The others followed while I got off my horse and began untying John's rope.

"Thanks," John said.

I nodded before finally releasing him from the rope.

"There's a river over there. You might want to clean yourself up," I said.

"How do you know I won't just run off?" John asked.

"It would be stupid to run off. You don't know where you are or where you're going, its better to stay with us, even you know that. My guess is that you are smart and good at surviving. You won't run off, John. I know it," I explained.

"You best hope you're right," John said before walking over to the river.

Once he left, I walked over to Thea, who was currently tying the horses to the trees to prevent them from walking off.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey. You let Murphy go?" Thea questioned.

"He won't go anywhere," I stated.

"You trust him?" Thea asked.

"Its not about trust, its about being smart, and I know John isn't stupid," I stated.

"Zachary's not happy about keeping Murphy alive," Thea said.

"I know, but its Lexa's decision about what we do with him and if anybody has a probably about it, they can come and say it to my face," I said.

"Understood. Shall I let them know?" Thea asked.

I nodded before Thea walked off to the other grounders just as John came back. The blood and mud from his face was gone and he now looked as fresh as a daisy.

"Hey," John said.

"Hey," I said.

"Everything okay?" John asked.

"Fine, just fine. See that you've got yourself cleaned up," I said.

"Yeah well, I want to make a good impression when I meet your Commander, right? The better I look and behave, the better my chances are of not being killed on spot," John said.

"She won't kill you. You'll be punished but, you won't be killed," I said.

"You can't be sure of that," John said.

"I can and I am. Being so close to her, I can make sure you won't die," I said.

"Why would you do that for me? I've done bad things, you don't know the stuff I've done," John said.

"We all have done bad things. That's why they call them the past. When I was seven I killed someone. It was the first time I had ever done it but that was what I was trained to do. I had been training since I was four. I was the youngest person to ever be trained. So yeah, I don't know what you've done, but I don't judge people. No matter what," I explained.

John smiled at me for a moment before I broke the moment.

"Rest up. We'll be leaving soon," I said.

I then walked off over to my soldiers, to discuss the apparent problem at hand...