Esperança 》B. Blake

1.15

[C H A P T E R  F I F T E E N]
Killer Friends

☆☆☆

AS THE TEAM MADE THEIR WAY through the dense woods, Roseline had come to regret that she didn't bring her jacket with her. All she was left with was a dark blue tank top that did nothing to stop the early morning breeze from hitting her skin. The sun still hadn't come up yet, so she couldn't even rely on the sunbeams to keep her warm. Instead, she held her mallet close to her chest as she whipped her head around at every sound in the trees.

"Look! Over here!" Jones called out through the darkness. Everyone piled to the edge of a steep hill to look down to where Jones was pointing his flashlight. Down at the bottom on a wiry bush, a belt hung over the thin branches. Bellamy seemed to recognize the belt immediately and demanded the rope, which Jasper happily gave over. The team watched as Bellamy began to unravel the rope and tie it to a tree, his movements rushed.

"What are you doing?" Finn questioned, finally making his way to the front of the group.

"We need the rope to get back up," Bellamy deadpanned, not looking up from his task. Taking a flashlight from Jones, Bellamy stuffed it in his pocket, threw the rope down the hill, and slid down the side with ease. He quickly snatched the belt off of the bush and shined the flashlight over it.

"It's hers. Let's go." He shoved the belt into his pocket and swiped the flashlight across the forest floor as everyone took turns making their way down the rope. Jasper was eager to go first and once he was down, others followed with ease. The rope rubbed at Roseline's still healing hands but she gritted her teeth through the pain. She needed to help Bellamy find Octavia, and her blistered hands were most definitely not going to stop her.

She hopped down and made her way to where Bellamy, Jasper, and Finn were crouching by a rock. Roseline saw Bellamy's bloody fingertips along with the blood splatters on the rock, and her heart dropped.

"Someone else was here," Bellamy murmured, his eyes glancing at the footprints embedded into the mud.

"The prints are deeper going that way." Finn pointed toward their right before looking at Bellamy with realization. "They were carrying her."

"If they took her, then she's alive, right?" Roseline piped up from beside Jasper. She made sure her voice sounded hopeful, but she knew there was no denying her pale skin and jittery fingers.

"Like when they took me," Jasper added distantly. Roseline grimaced, remembering his beaten body tied up to the large oak.

Bellamy stood up swiftly and continued his march as the rest of the team made their way down to them. The others then had to jog to catch up with his pace. Roseline almost wanted to ask him to slow down, but she knew it was a bad idea the moment she thought of it. Instead, she followed the man through the cold void, a mallet in one hand, and a fist in the other. 

Soon they reached a place deep in the woods that made Roseline's skin crawl. Finn stopped the group as Bellamy swung his torch around to get a better look at what was in front of them. Hanging from the trees were corpses of people in various stages of decay. The smell made Roseline gag and it didn't help that she watched as rotten pieces dropped to the forest floor. Flies swarmed the place, and there were a few birds picking at what remained of the bodies. They swayed in the breeze and the light from Bellamy's torch gave them eery shadows that made Roseline want to hurl into the bush next to her.