The 100: Rump In The Ground

After a long while, Alaric managed to appease his sister, and things calmed down.

"So... are we good?" Wells asked quietly from his seat not too far away from them after things became more calm.

"With you, yes. With your father and the council, no," Alaric said neutrally, not revealing any anger.

"He's right. Thanks for thinking about me, Wells." Clarke said as she looked at him from her brother's chest. "You covered for her so I wouldn't be mad at her."

"Clarke... Mom did wrong. But you can't hate her for life; she was cornered between duty and her family. While doing her duty, she must have had stupid ideas that the council would maybe be more lenient in their judgment, since Dad still hadn't said anything at the time. Obviously, she was wrong." Alaric said softly as he kissed her head while caressing her back. "At least that's what I would like to believe."

"I don't know, Alaric. I don't know what to think about this." Clarke said sadly as she rubbed her face against his neck, smelling him and feeling his warm body against her.

"It's okay, baby. We don't need to think about it right now. We can wait until she comes down to hear her part." Alaric said as he took her chin to make her look at him. "Okay?"

"Okay." Clarke said softly with a few tears running down her cheek as she moved closer to him and kissed his lips.

"Good girl." Alaric said as he embraced her.

Wells was a little irked and wanted to ask about their relationship but knew now wasn't the moment for that. Instead, he took the chance to look for Finn to distract them from their mother's matter.

"Hey. We should probably leave now if we want to look for Finn." Wells said quietly from the side.

"Finn!" Clarke said as she remembered him. "Yes, let's go. We can't keep wasting time."

Clarke hurriedly got up from her brother and took his hand as she made him stand too. She then smiled and kissed his lips again. "Let's go."

They descended the dropship to the entrance and found Jasper and Monty there.

"Are we ready to leave?" Monty asked with the spear that was left of the two that Alaric made previously.

"I'm sorry, Monty, but you're not going." Clarke said as she looked at them both. "Like hell, I'm not. I'm not afraid."

"I know, but you're too important. You were raised on Farm Station and recruited by engineering." Clarke said, trying to appease him.

"So?" Monty asked, not understanding what she was trying to say with that.

"So, food and communication." Clarke smiled and pointed at his head. "What's up here is gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark, and I'll bring Jasper back."

Monty had no words to that.

"Hey. I'm still going, as Monty said. I'm not afraid either," Jasper said as he made up his mind while taking the spear from Monty's hand. "I'm ready."

"Let's go." Alaric chuckled, seeing that Jasper was still willing to come.

"Come on." Clarke sighed and said with a smile as she walked to the exit.

"See you later, partner." Jasper winked at Monty.

"Don't get yourself killed, man." Monty cheered him up as he patted his back.

"Are we ready to leave?" Octavia suddenly appeared as they left the dropship, and she grabbed Alaric's hand.

"Yes, let's go." Clarke's lips twitched, and she continued moving.

"No, you are not going anywhere," Bellamy said as he appeared. "No way. Not again."

"I'm not asking for your permission, brother," Octavia said as she pushed more of her body into Alaric. "I'm going anyway, whether you like it or not. I'm not afraid."

"It's dangerous out there, don't you see it? Octavia." Bellamy said, trying to reason with her. "It's not about being scared or not."

"Yeah? Because from how I see it, you are scared, Bellamy." Clarke said suddenly. "You want them to follow you, and right now, they would only think you are the only one of us who is scared, as even your sister wants to go."

"Octavia." Bellamy said after he sighed, seeing the people around waiting for his decision.

"Not fucking way, I'm going, and that is final." Octavia said, not hearing anything more of it.

"Fuck. Murphy, come with me." Bellamy instructed as he looked around at the teens. "Atom, group up some guys and start making the wall while others keep watch just in case. Is that clear?"

Murphy and Atom nodded to him.

-------------------------------

After a few hours of hiking, while walking through the woods, the group stopped to rest beside a river where they found fresh water that would be useful for the camp.

"Brave princess. We have been rushing through the woods without finding anything at all." Bellamy said as he rested on a stone beside the water and drank from a makeshift canteen.

"How are you sure that spacewalker is even alive?" Bellamy chuckled mockingly. "You don't survive a spear through the heart."

"He is alive. Finn screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste." Clarke explained as she was drinking water beside her brother and Octavia.

"Yeah, she's right. We heard it clearly from afar." Jasper added.

Bellamy did a tsk and took another sip of water. "Then, what do we know about them?"

"Nothing. They seem to use the vegetation to blend and attack you from places you wouldn't think. I threw a spear at something atop a tree; something fell from it, but we didn't stop to see." Alaric chuckled and said to him. "We had other priorities, like making it alive."

Alaric then grabbed and kissed Octavia, who was beside him, to the annoyance of her brother.

"Mhmm" Octavia moaned, enjoying it as she eagerly returned the kiss.

"But there is something." Alaric said as he separated from Octavia's lips. "Why did they throw the spear at him that was across the river and not at us as we were closer? The spear flew from the same direction from where we were."

"Yeah. That's weird they didn't attack until Finn crossed the river? It's not like we were being quiet, and they didn't know we were there." Jasper nodded.

"They waited for us to cross. The river's a boundary." Clarke added.

"Which means Mount Weather is off limits." Wells sighed. "Whoever they are don't want us to cross the river."

"How are we gonna get those supplies?" Clarke continued, worried about it. "What are we gonna do for food?"

"We'll hunt," Bellamy said simply with a shrug. "We don't need them. We can hunt and fish," he continued as he pointed to the river and the woods.

"Well, good luck feeding almost a hundred mouths." Alaric chuckled to the annoyance of Bellamy.

"Hey, let's take a dip." Octavia said as she grabbed Alaric's hands and moved him into the water.

"Come here, baby." Alaric said as he grabbed Clarke to make her come along with them into the water.

"Wow. It feels good." Alaric exclaimed as he enjoyed the water.

"Yeah!!" Octavia cheered with a smile. "Bellamy, come here!"

"I don't think so," Bellamy denied his sister with a smile.

"Don't be a party pooper, get in here!" Octavia insisted.

"I'm going in!!!" Jasper called out as he entered into the water.

"Yeah!!" the guys cheered.

"It feels good, right?" Alaric said as he grabbed his sister's hips and moved her closer to him.

"Yeah. It's good and relaxing." Clarke smiled.

"Oh yeah." Alaric said as he kissed her for a moment.

"Mhmm" Clarke enjoyed it.

"Come on, let's try to swim." Octavia said as she splashed water on them both while they kissed.

"Guys! I found something." Wells called out to everyone. "It seems they carried him here."

Alaric grabbed the pistol that he left nearby, away from Bellamy and Murphy, as he exited the water.

"We're close," Clarke said as she observed the place.

"I think they moved him this way." Wells continued as he pointed a direction with drops of blood along the river.

"Alright, let's go." Alaric said as everyone was grabbing their stuff.

...

After walking for a while:

"Hey, how do we know this is the right way?" Murphy started wailing like a kid.

"We don't. The young chancellor thinks he's a tracker." Bellamy mocked.

"It's called Fourth-year earth skills." Wells shrugged him off.

"Hey, keep it down, or should I paint a target on your backs?" Alaric said to Bellamy and Murphy as he readied the pistol. "We don't know if we've already been found."

Bellamy groaned at that as he looked at the pistol like he had lost a girlfriend to someone.

"Aaaahhhh!" A distant moan.

"What the hell was that?" Jasper said quietly from their side, already holding the spear ready with both hands.

"Alaric?" Clarke said as she looked at him.

"Yeah, let's go." Alaric said quietly as he showed her that he was ready with the gun.

"Octavia, don't move far away from us." Bellamy said to his sister as he took his knife in hand.

Octavia scoffed and walked closer to Alaric and Clarke as they moved in front.

"Damn" Bellamy said as he followed.

"Finn. Oh, my God." Clarke exclaimed as they walked into a clearing with a big tree in the middle with Finn tied to it.

"Finn?" Clarke said to him as she moved a few steps.

"Wait!" Alaric stopped his sister. "We need to be careful."

"What?" Clarke asked doubtfully.

"It has to be a trap. Why leave him tied visible to everyone?" Alaric said quietly to everyone.

"Jasper! Pass me the spear." Alaric said to him.

"Here!" Jasper said as he passed it to him.

"Alright, let's see." Alaric said as he walked, poking the apparently clear ground ahead of him. This was so weird, like trap soldiers did in the wars of leaving someone alive to bait the rest of his group, so he didn't want to take any chances.

"What are you doing?" Murphy chuckled, seeing him poke the ground as he walked.

"Checking for traps, genius." Alaric shrugged him off.

"There is nothing in there; this is stupid." Murphy laughed as he walked past them closer to the tree.

"See?" Murphy mocked him, but just as he moved another step, the ground fell off, and there was a trap under it.

Alaric grabbed his hand just in time before he was skewered by the pointy sticks in the trap.

"I think you owe me a life." Alaric chuckled to Murphy.

Murphy was scared, almost shitting himself, seeing the trap that almost killed him. He looked at Alaric and nodded to what he said. "Thanks."

"Alright." Alaric said as he started poking the ground around it, checking if there were more traps.

"What the hell is this?" Bellamy said as they approached closer to the tree, looking at Finn tied there.

"We need to get him down." Clarke said once they were under him.

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines." Wells said as he moved to it.

"I'll help you." Jasper followed him.

"Go help them," Alaric said as he looked at Murphy.

Murphy sighed and followed them both.

"There's a poultice on his wound." Clarke said as she inspected Finn.

"Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells said, wondering.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing." Bellamy said, observing around the place.

"Alright, get him out of there." Alaric said to the three.

"Hurry up, Murphy." Wells said as he was untying Finn with him.

"Be careful." Clarke called out.

*Growl* Suddenly, there was a distant growling.

"What the hell was that?" Murphy said as he looked around from atop the tree.

"Grounders?" Bellamy said in wonder as he looked around between the trees.

*Snarl* A big cat that seemed to look like a panther appeared and started running toward them.

"Alaric." Clarke quickly called out for her brother.

"On it." Alaric readied the spear, wanting to see if he could stop it without wasting bullets.

He gripped the spear strongly and threw it at the cat; it grazed past the head of the cat, penetrating his shoulder bone where his neck met, well into his body.

*Hisss* The big cat cried out in agony as it tumbled to the ground, wailing in pain.

"Fuck!" Alaric cursed. He didn't want to waste bullets, but having no choice as the cat wanted to get up again from the floor, he moved closer to it and shot it in the head.

The big cat fell and didn't move again. Its body twitched a few times before going quiet.

Alaric checked out the magazine, and there were only four bullets left in it along with another one in the chamber. The pistol was a FN FiveseveN cal. FN 5.7mm with a 20-round magazine.

"Well done," Bellamy said as he observed the corpse of the big cat. "We have food now."

"You were amazing, baby." Octavia cheered as she also looked at the black panther.

"Awesome." Clarke smiled at him as she took his hand.

Alaric chuckled and gave her a kiss. Then, he took the bullet casing from the ground and stored it in his pocket.

--------------------------------------

Dropship Camp

It was nighttime by the time the group came back to the camp.

The delinquent teens were around the camp, roaming around apparently doing nothing more than chatting, having at least made a big campfire beside the ship to warm everyone.

*Distant, overlapping chatter*

"They're back!" Someone suddenly yelled to everyone.

"Over there." Another one called out as everyone started looking at the incoming rescue party that was returning.

"You made it back!" Monty welcomed them with a smile. Then, he saw Finn that was being carried by Wells and Jasper. "Is he…"

"He's alive. I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandages." Clarke said to him as she entered inside the dropship to check his wounds; Octavia followed her to help her.

Bellamy and Murphy then dropped the panther corpse on the ground that they had been carrying all the way back.

The teens got near it as they observed it, exclaiming at the sight of the big animal. "Oh!" "Oh, ho ho!"

"Who's hungry?!" Bellamy yelled with a smirk to the teens.

"Yeah!" The teens cheered eagerly to that, as they hadn't eaten anything yet since they came. "Bellamy! Whoo!" They clamored for him as if he did a great feat.

"Hey!" Alaric called out to Bellamy as he smiled at him. "Remember to save me a whole leg from the panther."

Bellamy and Murphy were silent to that.

"I have girls to feed," Alaric said to him as he brought him down from the pedestal that the teens were putting him on.

Alaric then moved inside the dropship to help with Finn.

*Tsk* Bellamy made an irritated sound after looking at Alaric's back. Then, he looked at Murphy who shrugged his shoulders to him.

The teens didn't care about their interactions; they were looking at the panther with love to get fed a piece of it.

"Prepare the panther," Bellamy said to Murphy. "Let's eat!!!"

Murphy nodded and called a few guys.

"Yeah!!!" The teens cheered to that, making way as they moved the panther beside the campfire.

....

A while later:

"He's stable for now, but without medicine…" Clarke commented after a while to Alaric as she accepted the meat on a wood stick that he passed to her.

"Well, he will need to fight to stay alive while we look for something that could help. Monty knows about plants, right? He talked about that thing that can calm people; maybe there are others that could work to treat his wounds, like the paste they put on him. What could it be?" Alaric commented as he chewed the meat on hand.

"Maybe Monty could know something about it, hopefully." Clarke said with a sigh, eating from the meat.

"Guys..." Octavia appeared with a stick with meat on hand too. "They're taking off their wristbands for food."

"What?" Clarke said, looking surprised. "Why?"

"Must be Bellamy and Murphy's thing." Alaric said, shrugging.

"Sorry... I don't know why he is doing that." Octavia said worriedly as she sat beside them both.

"Don't matter, let them do it. While we have this thing on our wrist, they will know that something is wrong." Alaric shrugged. "Anyway, they would need to crash the Ark even if they want to or not. Eventually, they would come."

"Your brother is being an asshole, putting at risk of death all the people in The Ark, Octavia." Clarke said as she continued eating.

Alaric chuckled.

"He can be a bit of an ass. But he isn't bad; he must be doing this because of something." Octavia retorted quietly.

"Alright, he can play the king of the forest for all I care, while he doesn't look for troubles with us." Alaric shrugged.

Octavia was happy with that as she leaned on his arm while eating happily. Clarke harrumphed but didn't comment anything more, chewing silently the food as she took his brother's hand with her free hand.