Chapter 13

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"Hey, wake up." Addison stirs with a groan, her eyes slowly opening to find Clarke hovering above her. She removes her hand from the younger girl's shoulder and stands up, Addison's dark brows scrunching in confusion. She rapidly blinks the sleep out of her eyes, looking around the old vehicle to find the boys are gone. "The fog's passed," Clarke says softly, moving around the vehicle.

Addison nods slowly and closes her eyes again, feeling a sharp pain erupt throughout her head. She groans, cradling her head in a hand, "I shouldn't have drank that whiskey yesterday...or it's from my

concussion."

Clarke chuckles softly, offering the girl a hand. Addison gratefully takes it and gets pulled up, her bones cracking and popping. She groans softly, welcoming the sensation of her body being able to move freely. "I don't think it's the concussion. You shouldn't be having the sharp pains anymore," Clarke replies with a small smile.

"Then the alcohol hates me, as usual." Addison's eyes land on her jacket that's draped over a seat, practically calling her name. She raises her brows with a smile, grabbing it off the seat and slips it on before following Clarke up to the surface.

A cool breeze immediately hits her face, instantly cooling her off. She closes her eyes, soaking in the coolness of the air as she takes a deep breath, smelling the familiar scent of the tree/moist dirt smell she's come to love.

"Let's go. Jasper's waiting," Clarke urgently tells the group, shrugging her backpack on and starts walking in the direction of camp.

Addison glances at the boys before following after Clarke's fast moving pace. After a few minutes of silence, Finn beaks it. "Last night was pretty intense," he says glancing between Addison and Wells. "You and Clarke ever—"

"No. Not like that," Wells answers Finn coming question.

She raises her brows, flickering her eyes between Finn and mini-Chancellor quickly, "I am so not listening to this."

Dawson chuckles from behind Clarke, glancing over his shoulder at the girl. Addison quickens her pace and sighs, "How're you doing?" He asks once she reaches his side.

"Other than the fact that a memory I would've liked to have kept buried a little bit longer surfaced...I'm doing great," she gets out in one breath.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," he says quietly.

She turns her head and looks up at him with a blank face, watching his facial expression change. "You have no idea what I did, Dawson."

He sticks his hands in his pockets, keeping his eyes forward, "Trust me...I do." He meets her eyes with what she can tell are saddened eyes, his voice being soft spoken, "It's hard to live with something like that. Knowing you've taken away someone's life...forever."

Her eyes widen slightly in shock, "Is that what you got arrested for?"

Dawson nods, "Yes." He sighs, returning his eyes to the dirt path Clarke's leading them down.

"What a pair we make, huh?"

Dawson releases a small laugh, "Yeah, I guess we do."

They continue down the path, the entire group having gone silent. Addison's mind keeps wondering to Dawson and what had caused him to take a life, like she did. Was it out of desperation and selfishness of getting caught like she had done? Or was it to save the life of a loved one?

She didn't realize how long she'd had been pondering about Dawson until her head tilts up, seeing Wells is now in front of her and the boy that's on her mind. Her brows scrunch with a tilt of her head, looking over her shoulder to find Clarke and Finn. Dawson was still by her side, walking silently like the rest of the group.

"Trapped in a hundred-year-old car by toxic fog." Finn pipes quietly, "Whew. Last night was pretty...what's the word...fun?"

Clarke sighs, "It wasn't fun."

"Yeah, she's right," Addison turns around and walk backwards, "It wasn't fun at all, Finn. It was awful and..." she trails off, searching for the right word.

"Irresponsible." Clarke finds the correct word she was searching for.

"Yes, irresponsible." Addison nods, agreeing with her choice of words. "Irresponsible and uncool on Wells' part."

She facing forward again, her back to Finn and Clarke again. "It was," Clarke says quietly before she clears her throat, "We should've left the second the fog cleared."

"Even if the fog cleared, we'd never make it back through these woods at night." Finn states matter-of-factly. Clarke remains silent, so Finn continues, "You were kind of rough on Wells."

"Hardly." Clarke answer quickly.

Addison slows her pace down and answers before she can stop herself from getting in the middle, "I agree with Clarke."

"He's a pretty straight-up guy," Finn defends Wells.

"Straight-up guys won't bring up what he brought up last night." Dawson's voice was hard as he glances over his shoulder at Finn, defending the girls.

Finn sighs softly, "I'm sorry that he did that to you, Addison..." he meets her eyes, knowing exactly who Dawson was taking about, but she averts them to Dawson, "But, Clarke, he loves you. You know that, right?" Clarke doesn't respond, "But every time your dad comes up, he won't give you a straight answer. Makes me think he's hiding something," he points out.

Addison thinks Finn might actually be onto something, now that his information is sinking into not only Clarke's head, but her own. Clarke is Wells's best friend, and Addison knows that he'd do anything for her, whether Clarke knows it now or not.

"So, I gotta ask you...how sure are you that Wells is the one who turned in your dad?" Finn asks her.

Dawson and Addison glance at each other, stopping in their tracks before they both look at Finn and Clarke who stopped too. "100 percent, alright? He's the only I told." Clarke answers, looking around the forest, having found it more interesting than the current topic.

"Then answer this...is he the only one who knew?" Dawson asks her, her eyes flickering between the three of them in thought.

"AAH!" A girl screams, startling Addison.

"Who was that?" Clarke asks quickly, Addison's brown eyes darting all around the forest.

The screaming continues, getting louder and more terrified by the second. "I think she's someone we need to find," she meet all of their eyes, "Now."

And with that, Addison sprints off in the direction she heard the girl screaming, ignoring their shouts of protest. It didn't take her very long to find out where the screams were coming from. Her feet plant themselves on top of the small hill, her eyes looking down at Bellamy, who's stood next to boy that's on the ground.

With parted lips and wide eyes, she quickly jogs down to the oldest Blake. A little girl that doesn't look much older than 12 is closest to Bellamy with two other older boys and an older girl further back, watching. "It's Atom," Bellamy says softly when Addison slows her pace into a walk.

Her eyes sadden, listening to Atom's soft pleas for Bellamy to kill him. Atom's eyes are clouded with extensive burns covering his body from head to toe and his body trembles from the pain as he gasps for air. "Clarke can help him," she responds quietly, keeping her eyes locked with Bellamy's soft brown eyes.

She quickly averts them back down to Atom, straining to hear what he's trying to say, "I—can't—breathe." Atom struggles to get out between gasps.

Addison kneels beside him, hushing him quietly. "Ssh...it's ok, Atom."

"Don't be afraid," the little girl says in a calm, steady voice. Addison eyes move up to the young girl and Bellamy, her eyes landing on the knife that's now in Bellamy's hands, a knife she figure the girl must've slipped into his hand to do the job—to fulfill Atom's wish.

Bellamy looks at the knife silently for a moment, conflict-ion in his eyes until they bounce over to the other three delinquents. "Go back to camp." They instantly listen and walk off, his eyes going back to the little girl, "Charolette, you too."

The kid, Charlotte, stays a few more seconds, her eyes drifting to Addison's before she slowly walks off into the woods, following after the group of three. Bellamy kneels down beside Atom, his eyes never leaving his once brown eyes, "K-Kill me," Atom gets out again, staring up at Bellamy, who grips the knife tightly in his hands.

Atom tilts his head to the side, exposing his neck for Bellamy. He freezes in hesitation, his hand shaking slightly. Addison rests her hand on the blade, lowering it. "Bellamy..."

"No." He attempts to say in a stern voice, but it only comes out softly, his voice wavering. "This is something I have to do," he continues strongly, his voice no longer wavering.

"What's Octavia going to think?" His eyes snap to Addison's, "What is Octavia going to say when she finds out you took a life," she elaborates.

Bellamy shakes his head, "I won't tell her and neither will you."

"You're right," she replies softly, his face dropping in confusion when she agrees with him. "You won't tell you her you took his life..." her eyes drift to Atom, "You'll tell her I took his life."

"Addison, I don't care if you've done this before...you're not doing it." Bellamy states sternly.

"Watch me." Before he had anytime to process her words, the knife's ripped out of his hands.

"Addison—"

"You won't be the only one who carries this burden." His brows scrunch in confusion, "Did you ever think about your sister?" He remains silent and his jaw clenches at the mention of her. "Octavia will carry it, too...no matter what you tell her happened."

"If you think I'm going to let Octavia be involved with you, you're wrong. And killing someone else isn't going to get you more liked by me," he replies harshly.

"We can talk about this later when someone isn't dying right now, but since you brought it up..." she situates herself to face him more, "I know it's no secret that I care about Octavia, and if caring about her means caring about you, then so be it." Addison replies quickly and wholeheartedly honest, watching the anger slowly slip away from his face the more her words sink into his head. "Even though I may not particularly like you, Bellamy Blake, I don't want you to do something so morally wrong and have to live with it for the rest of your life."

He stares at her in silence, shock written all over his face at her response. They stare at each other, not sure of what else to say to one another. "Bellamy, please..." Atom whispers out more clearly, breaking their stares.

He looks down as Atom begins coughing. Addison glances over Bellamy's shoulder at Clarke, and Dawson, who's by her side. Having sensed their presence too, Bellamy looks at them. The blonde-haired duo glances between the brunette-haired duo with wide and shocked eyes. Clarke quickly walks over to Bellamy's side, throwing her backpack to the ground at her side.

Dawson comes to Addison's side in front of Bellamy, staring down at Atom with while Clarke kneels down by Atom's head, "I heard screams," she looks down at the boy with wide eyes, her hands hovering above him.

"Charlotte found him and he sent her back to camp," Addison moves her eyes away from Dawson and to Clarke with a hopeful looks, mouthing, "Can you save him?"

She looks him over, her eyes flickering between Bellamy, Dawson, and Addison. She gives her head a small shake, and Addison looks down in sadness. This isn't the dream she thought it was going to be when the door to the dropship opened to reveal Earth for the first time—this is like a bad dream she desperately hope doesn't turn into a nightmare.

Clarke releases a breath, preparing for the next move. "Ok," she whispers, "I'm gonna help you, alright?"

She starts to hum a lullaby, gently grabbing the knife from Addison's hand. "Clarke..." she ignores her, brushing her fingers through his hair. "Clarke," Addison tries again softly, resting her hand over the Clarke's that grips the handle of the knife, "You don't have to do this."

She shakes her head, her lips pressing together, "I have to do this," she repeats Bellamy's words, not sparing neither Bellamy, Dawson nor Addison a glance. Her blue eyes stay on Atom as he coughs softly.

"Clarke." Addison tries again, but more sternly and gets her attention this time. Clarke stops humming as her eyes meet Addison's, her blue eyes soft and sad, yet full of a hidden determined strength—a strength to not let any one of them do what she's about to do. "If you do this, the burden and guilt of taking someone's life will be with you forever."

Clarke immediately nods, "I know...but I have too," she responds quietly, her voice cracking.

"Clarke—"

"I won't let a burden like this fall on anyone if there's something I can do about it," she cuts her off sternly, making it known that she's already made up her mind.

"You haven't taken a life yet, and I won't let you start now." Addison inaudibly speaks, removing her hand from Clarke's. She pitches Atom's nose and clamps his mouth shut, like she did with Avery Williams.

"Addison..." Dawson tries grabbing her attention, but she ignores his attempts.

He reaches for her arms and grabs them for her to stop, but she simply shakes him off, shaking her head and mumbles a quiet 'no'. Her eyes squeeze shut, hearing Clarke starting to hum the lullaby again as Atom's breath gets taken away from him. All of a sudden, he starts gargling. Addison snaps her eyes open, looking at the knife Clarke slowly retracts from his neck with wide eyes.

No. She didn't want anyone she's come to care about have to carry such a burden like she do does. She didn't want Clarke's name on that list, but now it is—the list of people who have taken a life.

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"We've gotta get to Jasper," Clarke tells them softly, "I'll need boiled water to make the medicine."

"Get Clarke whatever she needs," Bellamy orders a group of delinquents.

Wells leans over to Bellamy, lowering his voice. "I better get this grave dug."

Bellamy nods and he walks off to do so. Addison stands between Dawson and Bellamy, watching the delinquents scurry to get Clarke what she needs. She still couldn't believe what had happened in the forest a few hours ago. With a shake of her head and a small sigh, she whispers, "I can't believe another one of us is dead," her eyes scan the living delinquents. They don't realize how much their numbers are dwindling, and that scares Addison. "I'm gonna go..."

Bellamy nods with pressed lips and Dawson motions with his head towards the tents, "I'll come with you."

She nods, walking into the direction of the tents, "You didn't have to come, you know."

"I know," he shrugs like it's no big deal, their eyes meeting. "What you did earlier—"

"I don't want to talk about it tonight, Dawson." She cuts him off harsher than intended, but he ignores the town of her voice nods with a small sigh.

They stop in front of the opened tent she's been residing in, "My tent's that one." He points to one across the path that's three down to the right from hers. "If you ever need anything, I'll be there, ok?"

She smiles softly with a nod, "Thanks, Dawson."

He nods and gives her shoulder a squeeze before he walks to his tent, disappearing inside. She scans camp again, ready to duck into her tent until a voice calls out to her. "Addison!" Familiar arms wrap around her, getting pulled into their chest.

She wraps her arms under theirs, burying her face in his chest with closed eyes. Liam pulls away, holding her at arms length with a worried look. "I'm ok, Liam..." she presses her lips together in a forced smile. The corners of her lips form a more convincing smile, easily reading how unconvinced he is. "I promise. I'm just—" she cuts herself off with a heavy sigh, "I just need to sleep it off."

He nods, "Are you sure?"

"We'll talk tomorrow, but right now, I need to sleep. Desperately," she replies with a small sarcastic chuckle, getting out of his grasp.

"I don't think you should sleep yet," he says quickly, grabbing her wrist and starts dragging her to the dropship.

"Liammm...I'm not in the mood, please." She groans, trying to free her wrist from out of his grasp. All she wants to do is curl up and forget about the consequences Atom suffered from the acid fog. How burned his skin was...what it did to his eyes.

He glances over his shoulder with a small smirk, "Someone's been waiting for your return."

"Who, you?" She raises a brow, scoffing, "You've already seen, Liam. Can I go now?"

He continues dragging her until they enter the dropship and come to a stop at the ladder. He gestures with his hand up the ladder, "Just go, Addison." He says with a small laugh.

She rolls her eyes and reluctantly starts the climb up the ladder. Soon, her head pops up out of the hole, seeing Octavia, Monty, and Finn sitting around and Jasper still laying in the same place she remembers him being at last.

"Smooth," Monty starts coughing, passing something to Octavia.

Addison smirks to herself and rests her elbow on the floor, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, "Is that an alcohol cough I hear?"

Everyone snaps their heads to her in surprise. "Addie!" Octavia shoots up from her spot, coming towards the girl with a wide smile.

She grabs Addison's hand and pulls her up, Octavia's arms wrapping themselves around her once her feet touch the metal floor. Addison releases a small laugh and wraps her arms under hers, "Hello," she chuckles softly at Addison's high pitched greeting and pulls back.

Addison grins and looks to her left at Monty, who holds the bottle of alcohol, "Is it any good?"

"You don't need anymore," Finn laughs out.

She chuckles at his comment, "That's probably for the best, huh?" He nods with a shrug of his shoulders, still chuckling softly. "Is that the same bottle from car?"

"Yeah, apparently we didn't drink it all." He replies with a funny face.

Addison smiles and moves her eyes to Octavia, whose are already boring into her brown ones. "Have you tried it yet?"

Octavia shakes her head, "I was about to, but then I saw you."

Addison's heart skips a beat at her response, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. "Come on, you gotta try this stuff." Addison drags her back to where she was at and sits them down.

Octavia takes the bottle from Monty and takes a sip, barely making a face. "Disgusting. Love it," she passes it to Addison.

"Woah...no," Finn reaches over and takes it from her hands, "This wasn't your best friend last time."

"On the contrary," she disagrees with a raised brow, laying her arms across the top of her knees, "It's exactly what I needed then, and it's exactly what I need now." Addison extends her hand out, "Bottle. Now."

He sighs and reluctantly leans forward, handing her the bottle. She rocks her head back, ready to taste the bitter, dark liquor that'll help her forget about today, until a new not new voice speaks.

"Can I, uh, get a hit of that?"

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