undertow | bellamy blake (book one)

18 | to live

Jovie stood on the side of the room with her arms crossed as she watched Bellamy continue to question the Grounder, never once getting a response.

"How do you even know he speaks English?" Jovie pointed out. She knew that she spoke something because she had heard them, but that didn't mean they understood English.

"Shut up," one of the boys next to her said. She raised her eyebrows as if to ask if he really just told her to shut up.

"What was that?" She said.

"Stop it, Jo," Bellamy snapped. He didn't have time to deal with her temper right now. Bellamy paced back and forth across the room as he tried to think about what else he could do to try to get some answers. It was someone banging on the hatch door that disrupted his thoughts.

"Hey! Open the door!" Clarke screamed. Miller walked over to open it and Clarke burst through. "Get out of my way, Miller! Now!" Clarke stomped over to the Grounder and held up the knife to his face. Jovie took a step forward, unsure what the girl was planning on doing with that knife. "What's on this?"

"What're you talking about?" Bellamy asked.

"He poisoned the blade! All this time he knew Finn was going to die no matter what we did. What is it?! Is there an antidote?" Clarke demanded. Jovie froze. She wanted to help the Grounder, but Finn was more important to her. If Finn was poisoned, they needed to find out if there was a way to save him.

"Clarke, he doesn't understand you," Octavia said.

"The vials. It's gotta be here," Bellamy said as he picked up the bottles that they found with the Grounder. "I'll get him to talk." Bellamy went to lunge for the Grounder, but Octavia quickly stopped him.

"Bellamy, no!" She begged.

"He wants Finn to die! Why can't you see that?" Bellamy screamed. It was because he had saved her, just like he had saved Jovie. "Do you want him to live or not?" He asked, directing his question at Clarke and then to Jovie.

"Clarke, you even said this yourself. This is not who we are!" Octavia said. She turned to Jovie and frowned when she saw the blonde had a hesitant look on her own face. "Jo, come on!" Jovie was stuck. She didn't want them to hurt him, but Finn's life was on the line.

"Please, just tell us how to help him," Jovie said to the Grounder.

"He was protecting me. He saved my life! Saved Jovie's!" Octavia continued.

"We're talking about Finn's life!" Bellamy yelled. There was a pause before Clarke made her decision.

"Do it."

"Just tell us!" Octavia begged the Grounder as Miller and Drew held her back. Jovie could barely watch as Bellamy grabbed one of the seatbelts from the dropship and cut open the Grounder's shirt to expose his chest.

"You're gonna show us the antidote or you're gonna wish you had," he told him.

"Bellamy, no. Please," Octavia said as she watched in horror from the side of the room. It was the first whip that made Jovie jump. She hated to watch this. After the second lash, she dropped to her knees in front of the Grounder and hastily sorted out the vials.

"Please. Which one is the antidote?" Jovie asked the man. "Just tell us and we won't hurt you anymore."

"Just tell them," Octavia backed up Jovie. When he remained silent, Bellamy reached down and put his hand on Jovie's shoulder.

"Jo," he whispered. She sighed as she stood back up and got out of the way. The lashes continued. Jovie didn't want to watch, but she found herself doing it anyway.