Chapter 21

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"Dawson, Liam, go back to camp." Bellamy orders, "Make sure everyone stays working."

Liam's brows knit, "The more people you have helping to look for your sister, the faster we'll find her. You know that, right?"

"Yes, I know that. But I don't trust anyone back at camp to keep an eye on things," Bellamy defends, scanning their surroundings.

"What about Clarke?" Dawson asks, glancing at Addison in confusion. "Don't you trust her?"

The brunette girl sighs, waving her torch around, "We don't know how long Clarke'll be gone with Raven."

"Exactly, and that's why you two need to watch over things." Bellamy agrees with Addison, each stepping over the log that lays in their way.

Liam and Dawson both sigh, reluctantly nodding and follows their orders nonetheless. "I'll see you guys when we come back," she tells the boys, slowing her pace down to bid them off.

"Since when have you and him become buddies?" Liam asks with knitted brows, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "Didn't he try and to hang you a few days ago?"

Addison nods, "Yes, but I don't care about that anymore. I don't even care that that guy—" she points to the boy with a bright flashlight in front of them, "—had me strung for Bellamy to go through with it. All that matters to me right now, is finding Octavia and making sure she's safe back at camp."

"That's John Mbege," Dawson informs them, "We're from the same station."

"Right, another boy named John. Hopefully he's not as crazy, besides trying to hang people," she mumbles, glancing at Liam and Dawson, "You two better start going back."

"Addie—"

"I'll be ok, Lee." She cuts him off with small, reassuring smile.

Dawson snorts, "Yeah, girl's got nine lives." He teases, Liam chuckling softly.

Addison rolls her eyes, "Whatever, just go." She pushes them back, watching Dawson's torch fade away. She shakes her head , chuckling at the two under her breath before resuming her search for Octavia. Addison jogs forward, catching up with Bellamy. "They're on their way back to camp," she informs, the two meeting eyes.

He nods, both going back to searching. Within minutes, a voice shouts. "Look! Over here!" Mbege.

Her and Bellamy are quick to come to his side. Mbege shines his bright flashlight back down a steep drop, Addison peering down with squinted eyes. "What is it?" Bellamy asks, leaning over the slope more.

"Right there, you see it?" Mbege shines it back to a bush, "Is that Octavia's?"

Bellamy's posture straightens, "Rope."

"Bellamy, what is it?" Addison asks, not being able to see what they're seeing.

He bends down with the rope, tying it tightly to a nearby tree, "It looks like a piece of torn fabric from someone's clothes," he responds quickly, finishing the knot off.

Her eyes widen, moving back to the edge. Mbege flashlight still shines on it and finally, she's able to make it out. Bellamy was right, it's a torn piece of fabric from someone that fell from where they're standing on top. Her heart pounds in her chest harder, nerves flooding through her veins at the thought of Octavia possibly falling this far.

"Hey, Mbege. Shine it all the way down," she tells him, bending to rest her hands on her knees.

He immediately moves it past the bush and further down the steep drop. Even with how bright Mbege's flashlight is, she couldn't see how far the drop ended. Only darkness. Her lips press together, nodding to tell Mbege she's done

She slowly straightens her posture, Mbege moving the bright beam back to the bush. "We need the rope to get back up." Bellamy states, tossing the rope down near Addison to the right of her. She glances at him as he holds his hand out towards Mbege, "Flashlight."

He sets it in Bellamy's hand, the Blake putting it in his jacket pocket before his and Addison's eyes lock for a brief moment. "Be careful," she tells Bellamy with a small waver in her voice.

Bellamy nods, breathing heavily before he goes down the steep drop. He comes to quick halt in front of the bush, his hand grabbing the torn fabric. "It's hers! I'm going all the way down," Bellamy states, disappearing down the slope.

Addison's heart pounds even harder against her chest, the image of Octavia falling flashing through her mind. She immediately sticks her torch out behind her, waiting for someone to grab it. "I'm not holding it out for you guys to look at," she tells the group in annoyance when no one grabs it, keeping her eyes locked on where Bellamy's figure disappeared.

Someone's quick to grab the torch from her hand after her comment, her legs bending to grab the rope. She grabs the thin rope, warily stepping over the edge with a tight hood in the rope. Addison makes her way down, letting the rope slowly slide through her hands as she's careful to not misstep and tumble down herself.

"Ah—geez," she stumbles to the ground, not seeing the sudden small drop in front of her.

Addison's grip on the rope quickly disappears, seeing Bellamy bent down next to something on the ground. The flashlight shines on his hand, a dark red coating the tips of his finger.

Her breath hitches in her throat as she bends down beside him, eyes locked on what she knows is Octavia's blood. Jasper joins Bellamy's unoccupied side, Finn quickly coming to Addison's other side, but she doesn't make the effort to look at either of them. All she can see is her blood coating the rock and mud around it. Finn's bright torch lights up the scene more, showing more blood and bigger, deeper footprints in the mud that didn't belong to Octavia.

"Someone else was here." Bellamy states to them.

Finn takes a step towards the closest footprint, shining the torch's light on it more. "The prints are deeper going that way," he points in front of them. Addison finally moves her eyes away from the blood, looking out into the darkness where the footprints lead. "He was carrying her." Finn finishes, her head snapping to him.

"If they took her, she's alive." Jasper glances between Bellamy, Addison, and Finn, "Like when they took me."

Her heart sinks to the mud, the thought of Octavia being a prisoner terrifying her. What they did to Jasper nearly killed him, what's right say they're not doing the same to her right now?

Addison shakes her head of those thoughts, standing to her feet. "Then we gotta go, now." Finn, Bellamy, and Jasper move first at her words, the other delinquents following after.

"Here," a girl says, catching Addison's attention before she could move after them. The girl extends a torch to her, Addison immediately grabbing it from her and nods, assuming she's the one who took it from her earlier.

Addison immediately hops into a jog, coming to the front with Bellamy, Jasper, and Finn. The trek drew long, her feet starting ache and arm becoming sore from holding her torch up in the same position for a long period of time. She continues waving it to her side that's exposed to the unknown forest, paranoid a Grounder's going to jump out and attack them.

She turns the upper half of her body behind her , scanning with her torch to the side until she slams into a body. A hiss escapes through her lips, the bruise on her neck letting her know it's still there. Her hand moves up to the bruise, gently covering it until it's pain quickly subsided.

Addison's brows furrow, realizing they had stopped moving. She removes her hand from her neck, slipping around Jasper's body and freezes at the sight. The path is lined with human skeletons—some tied against trees, others hung up by low hanging sturdy branches.

"You've got to be kidding me," she mumbles under her breath, her eyes bouncing from human skeleton to human skeleton.

"I don't speak Grounder...but I'm pretty sure this means keep out." Finn says in mix of fear and shock

"Let's get out of here. It's crazy," a boy pipes up, the same auburn haired boy she figured out earlier was trying to get Octavia to stay with him and Atom almost two weeks ago.

"I'm outta here," another one says to the group.

"Yeah, me , too."

"I'm out."

Addison finally averts her eyes from the skeletons, turning her body halfway and faces the group. She meets their eyes, watching as they back away, "Go back if you want." Bellamy tells the group with a raised voice, "My sister, my responsibility." He mumbles under his breath.

He marches forward down the skeleton path, showing no fear of what the Grounders could do to him if he were to get caught. For Octavia, Addison would endure walking through a narrow path lined with skeletons. She raises her chin, marching after Bellamy down the eery path, waving her torch around warily at each skeleton she passes.

"You might need some light," she says just as warily from Bellamy's hip, "Here."

He gratefully takes her torch, picking his pace up now that he has light. Addison glances over her shoulder, Finn, Jasper, the two girls, Mbege, and auburn haired boy following after them.

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The eery trail full of skeletons seemed never ending to Addison, eternally grateful to make it out of that patch of forest alive. Never again does she want to venture into that section again, unless it came to finding someone she cares for. When the group of eight finally broke through the skeleton filled trail, time seemed to roll by faster.

The night sky had quickly disappeared, dawn soon breaking that turned into broad daylight just as quick. The torches have been long forgotten about, tossing the extra weight aside when they no longer found them useful. With each step Addison's feet ached more so than they did hours prior, her feet begging her to sit down, but she couldn't. Not with Octavia's life in danger.

Her deep brown eyes scan the forest floor, looking for the footprints that lead her and the group to where they are now. Finn sighs, breaking the silence. "I got nothing. We lost the trail," he informs.

Addison presses her lips together, continuing to look, hoping she or someone else can prove him wrong. "Keep looking," Bellamy demands.

She shakes her head in confusion, step over some branches that litter the forest floor, "I don't get it. There's no way a person can just disappear like that," she snaps her fingers to make a point.

"Apparently Grounders can," Finn responds. "Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister," he tells Bellamy, "We should backtrack..."

"I'm not going back." He interrupts with a hard voice, both him and Finn stopping in their tracks.

Addison lifts her head, flickering her eyes between the two in annoyance, "Can you two stop—"

"Hey, where's John?" One of the girl's cuts Addison off in worry, her eyes glancing between Bellamy, Finn, and Addison.

Addison spins around in circles, now searching the forest for Mbege. "I just saw him a second ago," Jasper says through heavy breaths in fear.

"Spread out. He couldn't have gotten that far," Bellamy orders, everyone starting to disperse.

With heavy sigh, Addison faces forward, jumping with wide eyes when Mbege's body lands a few feet away from them. She rushes to him, kneeling down beside his lifeless body. His throat's slit, lips parted, and brown eyes open, staring dully at the dirt underneath their feet.

"They use the trees," Finn says knowingly.

Addison's eyes shifting from Mbege's body to the tree branches hanging above her, "I am really disliking this planet the more we're on it," she breathes out, her eyes bouncing from tree branch to tree branch, mimicking what she did with the skeletons.

"We shouldn't have crossed the boundary," the auburn haired boy says.

The girl that asked about Mbege's whereabouts speaks, "Now can we go back?"

Addison shifts her gaze back down to Mbege's body, her head hung low and hands resting on her thighs. "There," Jasper says fearfully.

She snaps her head to Jasper, who's pointing at something with wide eyes. A large tree stands in her way of what he's pointing at, her brows knitting, "Another one," the auburn boy says with just as much fear as Jasper did. This time Addison's able to see it—a Grounder.

Her eyes widen, watching him run around them, circling with a large rounded shield in one hand and a spear in the other. Despite how terrifying the situation is, she couldn't help but admire the Grounder's clothing that perfectly matches their surroundings.

"We should run," Finn breathes out.

The closer he draws, the more she can him. His clothing becomes less intriguing and more terrifying, wearing masks and bones in their clothing that she hopes are animal.

"Addison, get up." Bellamy snaps, but she remains frozen in fear, her eyes staying glued to the Grounder that moves closer. "Addison!" He grabs her arm, lifting her off the ground.

She snaps out of it, quickly moving her eyes between Bellamy and the Grounder. Bellamy pushes her in a direction, Addison sprinting after the rest of the group. Each step her boot makes contact with the ground, her heart pumps just as fast, fear of getting caught and ending up like the skeletons she saw. Her lungs start burning with each breath, her legs growing tired, but she urges them to keep moving, not once looking to see if a Grounder is near, afraid she might trip and give herself away.

Bellamy pushes past her directing them down a shallow slope, "Let's go! Let's go!"

"What are we gonna do? They keep heading us off!" The auburn boy shouts.

"Just keep running!"Finn responds.

Addison weaves between the trees and jumps over the logs with ease, thankful for the many times Octavia would drag here through the forest at a dead sprint in excitement. "I can't run much longer!" She slows down, glancing over her shoulder at Jasper. His hands are on his knees, trying to get air flowing through his lungs again.

"I'm not stopping for him!" The dark redhead runs past her, Bellamy halting, too.

"I'm sick of running anyway," he says angrily in response to the boy.

Addison bends down, copying Jasper's actions in order to catch her breath. Finn runs up to Bellamy's side, grabbing his shoulder as she scans the forest for killer Grounders, "Hey, what are doing?"

"They know where she is," he states in a hard voice.

One of the girls gasps, taking off in a random direction, "Diggs, where are you?"

"Roma!" The auburn haired boy, Diggs, yells back, Addison immediately breaking into a run after her.

"Roma, stop!" She yells at the girl, picking her pace up, "Roma!"

The girl continues to ignore Addison's calls, both girls stopping in their tracks at the sight in front of them. Diggs is caught in one of the Grounder's traps, his body being held up by a wooden stake attacked to a large flat piece of disguised wood. Addison eyes widen, her lips parting in horror with heavy breaths. Roma then screams, running around Diggs's dead body.

"Wait! Roma," Bellamy calls.

"Could be more, stop." Finn comes to Addison's side with the other's, his eyes just as wide as hers.

Swallowing the dryness in her throat, she slowly takes a few steps back, "There's no way he just happened to stumble upon the trap," she breathes out, glancing at Finn.

"She's right...they were leading us here," Jasper fearfully agrees, "It's the only direction we could run in."

Finn backs away too, coming to Bellamy's side as does Addison. "Hey," he looks around in confusion, locking eyes with Bellamy, "Where'd they go?"

A loud, painful groan is then heard in the direction Roma ran in. Addison snaps her head, "After Roma." The eldest Blake says, running past Addison in that direction.

She hops into a sprint after him, "Bellamy, wait up!"

He ignores her, his pace only quickening. She groans, continuing to follow after him with heavy breaths. "AAH!"

"ROMA!" Addison shouts just as loud, her pace quickening, despite the burning in her lungs.

"Ad-Addison..." Bellamy breathes out, trying to catch his breath, too. Addison slows her pace down, tears starting to pool in her eyes.

"We can't stop, Bellamy. Too many people have died already," she whispers through heavy breaths. "You want to do the same thing as me, match sure she's ok." Addison refers to Roma.

Bellamy nods, "I know, but we can't run ourselves down or we'll never be able to find her or Octavia." He says softly, grabbing her shoulder, "Ok?"

She reluctantly nods, following after his quick moving figure when he moves. They trek around for a while until the girl who gave Addison her torch the previous night stops beside Finn. "That's her. Roma!" She whispers shouts.

Addison comes to a halt beside her, her eyes finding Roma's figure behind a tree. Bellamy immediately rushes forward, his eyes widening. Addison moves closer, only to find her speared against a tree. "They're playing with us," Finn breathes out.

"Ya think?" Addison questions bitterly, her jaw clenching when she looks at Finn. Another one dead—seven of her people dead; three within the last 20 minutes.

"They can kill us whenever they want," Finn whispers, glancing around the forest and ignores Addison's stare.

"Then they should GET IT OVER WITH!" Jasper screams into the forest, "COME ON!"

Addison's eyes widen, rushing to him and yanks his arm, "Shut it, Jasper." She snaps under her breath, but he keeps yelling over her.

"WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!" He takes a deep breath, "YOU WANT TO KILL US..."

"Bellamy!" The girl shouts, Addison's head snapping in the direction of a Grounder running towards them.

Addison angrily grabs Jasper by the collar of his shirt, "Are you happy they're gonna kill us now? Like you wanted? You just got Octavia killed, too!"

He shifts his gaze down to her, his eyes wide with fear and instant regret. She presses her lips together and shoves him back, grabbing her knife as she glances at the incoming Grounders. A horn then blows, the Grounders immediately retreating. Addison recognizes the horn, the same one that blew when her, Wells, Clarke, and Finn were getting seaweed for Jasper.

"Acid fog..." she whispers under her breath inaudibly, searching the forest.

"That horn. What does it mean?" Jasper asks, Addison and Finn's eyes meeting knowingly.

"Acid fog." Finn states, immediately grabbing a tent out of the bag he's carrying.

The girl glances at Addison, "We have to run."

"You can't outrun it," she breathes out to the girl.

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