A Whole New World | Octavia Blake [1]

Chapter 22

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The group of five wait under the red tent, the air thick and muggy from their heavy breaths. Addison smashed between Bellamy, on her left, and Finn, on right. She sighs in annoyance, brushing strands of hair out of her face.

"Really..." Bellamy dryly draws out, her eyes flickering to his.

They widen, a quiet chuckle escaping her lips at Bellamy swatting her hair away from him. "Sorry," she presses her lips together to contain her laughter.

Bellamy just sighs, re-situating the tent above them. "How long are we supposed to wait?" Jasper asks quietly from Finn's other side, Addison's contained laughter disappearing, reality setting in.

"Will this even work?" The girl, who's name Addison learned is Monroe, asks from beside Jasper.

"We'll find out," Finn replies, turning his head forward once again.

"No, we won't." Bellamy shifts, poking his head out. An irritated sigh seeps between his lips, "There's no fog."

Addison pops her head out at his words, seeing no acid fog. She confusingly lifts the tent from a top her, welcoming the cool air. "Maybe it was a false alarm?" Finn hypothesizes, moving out from under the tent with the Jasper and Monroe.

Addison gets to her feet, searching the forest, "You can't mix up acid fog with anything else. It's a weird orange-yellow colour, nothing else that consistency is that colour," the brunette points out matter-of-factly.

"Try telling that to whoever blew the horn," Finn glances at her, his brow shooting up and shoulders shrugged slightly when she meets his eyes.

"They're coming back," Bellamy says, Addison averting her attention to the forest again, now searching it for the Grounders.

Her already confused eyes move away from the trees and to Bellamy, becoming even more confused when she doesn't see what he saw. The forest is quiet—no birds, no wind or the gentle rustling of leaves scraping against one another. "I think he's alone," Jasper says quietly, his wide eyes stare straight in front of him.

Addison follows his line of sight and finally sees it—a Grounder, alone. "Now can we run?" Monroe asks just as quiet, Addison's eyes drifting to her from the Grounder.

"He doesn't see us." Bellamy says louder in realization, "I'm going after him."

The brunette snaps her head to the him, her brows raised, "Bellamy."

"And what? Kill him?" Finn asks.

"No. Catch him," Bellamy corrects, drifting his eyes to Addison, "Make him tell me where Octavia is, then kill him." He stands up, following after the lone Grounder.

"How do we know he's not leading us to another trap?" Jasper quickly questions, glancing between Finn and Addison.

She sighs softly with a shrug of her shoulders, "We don't," she simply responds, flickering her eyes down to Jasper, "But what choice do we have?"

Jasper remains silent, nodding ever so slightly. She quickly and silently follows after Bellamy, careful not to step on any twigs that could snap under her boots. She joins him at his hip, Finn, Jasper, and Monroe just as silently following after the Grounder behind her and Bellamy. The Grounder soon leads them to a more open part of the forest, Bellamy gesturing to a bush and some large rocks near to hide behind.