Chapter 39

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

Liam

In the 12 years Addison and Liam have been friends, he's never seen her snap as bad as she had done with Murphy. The look in her eyes when she aimed that rifle at Murphy's tortured and beaten figure was a wake up call for Liam. There was no empathy, only anger, and that's what truly terrified him the most.

She effortlessly pulled the trigger without thought, without question. The second time she tried to go after him, is the moment where Liam knew for sure that the girl he called his best friend on the Ark was gone. She's become unhinged, barely controllable.

The deadly and murderous glint in those once innocent and sweet eyes makes his stomach churn just at the memory.

"Hey," a voice to his right greets. All thoughts are pushed aside, his eyes turning away from the flames that dance in front of him to Raven.

He smiles softly at the girl, lifting his chin off the top of his clasped hands. She takes a seat next to him on the bench with a small sigh, keeping her hands tucked in the pockets of her signature bomber jacket.

"I heard what happened," she finally looks away from the fire, meeting Liam's eyes that never left her. "How is she?"

"She's..." Liam trails off with a sigh of his own, unable to find the right wording.

"She's Addison?"

He's quick to nod in agreement, releasing a sarcastic and airy laugh, "Yeah. She's, uh...she's Addison."

Raven chuckles under her breath, "How are you doing with that? Heard it was pretty bad."

Liam averts his eyes back to the fire, listening to it crackle and pop from the wood it consumes. He didn't want to lie her, but he didn't want to tell her truth either. He doesn't want nor think Raven should have to be concerned with everything she's got on her plate, but it's nice to know that someone cares.

Addison's not in her right mind and Dawson's been too occupied with his posts. Raven's here, but does he really want her to know? A part of him does, but another doesn't.

"That bad, huh..." her voice brings Liam back again.

"Uh..." he clears his throat awkwardly, keeping his nervous and embarrassed eyes moving around different spots on the fire, "I-I—"

Raven chuckles, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it."

At the action, he glances at her with a small smile tugging on his lips, "I just have a lot on my mind."

She turns to face him more, removing her hand from his shoulder, and sticks it back in the pocket. "Let's hear it. What does Liam Montgomery have on his mind?" Liam mimics her position and faces hers, raising a brow in silent question. "Come on," she smacks his shoulder, a smile playing on her lips, "I've got all night."

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Hours had gone by and they still sit by the fire, talking in hushed whispers to not wake anyone. He found it hard to talk so quietly when he's telling stories to someone like Raven that has to tease and joke about every little thing to make things more interesting, and to just purely give him a hard time.

They went from deep conversations to reminiscing about funny memories on the Ark. "Okay, okay, okay, wait..." she attempts to catch her breath from laughing so hard before trying to continue, "You did what?"

Liam hums, changing his position so that he fully faces her, and laughs along with her, just not as loud. "I'm serious! He was so mad."

She rocks her head back, letting a loud laugh escape her lips, "I can't believe you stole your dad's shock baton and managed to shock him."

"That was an accident!"

His outburst only caused Raven to laugh even harder, and him to join in. She's something...

"That's what they all say," she teases. Liam continues to chuckle with a shake of his head, no longer trying to be quiet. His attempts died the moment Raven started to uncontrollably laugh.

He mimics her words in a funny voice, earning a playful shove from Raven. Their laughter finally dies, and that's when they decided to call it a night. They stop outside her tent and look at one another, a smile coming to Liam's lips, "Thanks for tonight, Raven."

"I'm free whenever you need to talk. Just ask," she responds with a smile of her own before ducking inside her tent.

Liam continues to smile at the tent's entrance, replaying the girl's words, before turning to go his, only for the tent flap to open up again.

"For the record..." she starts, poking her head out, "I had a lot of fun, too."

Liam couldn't comprehend what happened that night, but all he knew, is that the mechanic is all he could think about until his eyes shut for the night.

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"Good morning to you, too." Dawson teases, coming from the direction of his post. "Why are you so giddy?"

"Huh?" Liam slowly looks up from his spot on the bench, the same one he and Raven spent hours on.

Dawson's once short hair has grown out significantly, his blonde hair now wavy and to the point where he's constantly running his finger's through it to keep it out of his face. He lifts a dark-blonde brow, rifle clasped loosely in his hands, "I said, why are you so giddy?"

Liam's brows immediately form a confused line, "What? I'm not giddy," he mocks Dawson's choice of words, and goes back to weapon making.

"Right...and I'm not a boy."

Liam spares him a small glance, brown eyes narrowing unamused.

"Clarke! Where's Clarke?!"

Liam snaps his head over his shoulder in the direction of Connor's voice, his and Dawson's brows furrowing as they glance at one another. He picks the spear up from his lap and sticks the point in the moist dirt, getting to his feet, and follows after Dawson's slightly stumbling figure.

Multiple delinquents begin coughing that makes Liam's head turn their way; each one's hunched over, puking out dark liquid that he recognizes—blood.

"What the hell is going on?" Dawson asks, coming to a halt near Raven with Liam coming on her unoccupied side.

Liam takes in Clarke's pale, sickly figure; dark brown circles rest around her eyes, dried up blood streaks starting from each eye that end where her jawline disappears.

As if a switch went off, Dawson's hunched over and retching up blood, too.

"Raven, Liam, get away from us." Clarke orders sternly, coming to Dawson's side to try and help.

"What?" Raven asks, Liam grabbing ahold of her arm when she makes a move to get closer, and pulls her back.

"Raven," he calls under his breath.

Clarke steadies a weak Dawson, "I'm okay..." he breathes out, the rifle that was once in his hands having already been dropped to the ground.

She ignores his protests and continues to help steady him, her blue eyes bouncing to the two uninfected teens, "They're the ones who brought Murphy in." She ignores Dawson's protests and continues to help steady him, "Come on...we need to get you inside the dropship."

Liam raises his arms and clasps his hands on the back of his head, "This is bad..."

"No shit," Raven breathes out, the two glancing at one another in worry as the sound of coughing and the occasional retching of the sick fill camp.

"Stay out here, and don't follow." Liam tells her, knowing full well she thinks similar to his best friend in situations like these.

He doesn't wait for a response before he's marching up to the dropship at a quick pace, joining Bellamy's side just as he begins the walk up the ramp.

Bellamy's the first to enter, Clarke's head snapping to the two and a hand that's holding a rag out in front of her, "Stay back."

"Did he do something to you?" Bellamy's quick to ask, Liam catching sight of a sick Dawson.

He's leaned up against the wall in the corner between Derek and where Clarke tends to Murphy, head hanging low with drops of sticky blood falling from his chin.

"He didn't do anything to her," Dawson weakly answers for Clarke.

He lifts his head up enough to see them; his face has paled significantly, dark brown circles around his eyes, and dried streaks of blood from his eyes, like Clarke.

Liam sighs, tearing his eyes away from him, and inches closer to Clarke, "Do you know what this is yet?"

"Biological Warfare."

"Oh, jeez..." Liam breathes out, hands resting on his hips as he looks at Murphy; a large puddle of blood lays in front of him, blood dripping down his chin from his mouth.

"You were waiting for the Grounders to retaliate for the bridge? This is it," she tells Bellamy.

"And Murphy's the weapon," Liam answers for Clarke, who looks his way and nods.

Liam sighs heavily, taking a seat in one of the dropship chairs. The sickness has already attacked Dawson and Clarke, he doesn't want it to get anyone else he cares about. He wouldn't be able to be the strong shoulder for Addison in the times she would need him.

"Is this your revenge, helping the Grounders kill us?" Bellamy asks loudly, anger clear in his voice.

"I didn't know about the this, okay, I swear..." Murphy's voice wavers and stutters.

"Stop lying!" Bellamy shouts, "When are they coming?"

"Yelling isn't going to help, Bellamy." Dawson states from the corner, coughing and spits the blood onto the floor.

"Clarke." Liam calls with a look, silently telling her to do something that doesn't infuriate Bellamy anymore than he already is.

She sighs with a nod, "Murphy, think, alright? What can you tell us that's useful? Did you hear anything?"

Liam listens intently, slowly getting to his feet to inch closer, "They are vicious, cruel."

"You want to see vicious?" Liam is quick to stop Bellamy from inching any closer to Murphy, mumbling a low ''hey'.

"Hey, don't." Clarke beats Liam, and that's what stops Bellamy from fighting against Liam's arm. Bellamy immediately stops in his tracks, "Whatever this is, it spreads through contact."

Liam removes his arm from in front of Bellamy, glancing over at Clarke, "If we find out who's had contact with him, I can find them and bring them here. Away from everyone that isn't infected," he flickers his eyes to a sickly Dawson before they land back on Clarke.

Her lips part to speak, but Finn's voice travels. "Clarke?"

"Finn, you shouldn't be in here. No one should."

He breathes heavily, coming to a stop on Liam's other side, "I heard you were sick. Clarke, what is this?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Liam glances at Finn, who in turn, flickers his eyes to him.

"I don't know, some kind of hemorrhagic fever. We just need to contain it before—"

Liam jumps, snapping his head to Derek. He coughs and throws up a tiny bit before his body starts to shake, like he's seizing.

"Hey, don't touch me." Liam looks over at Clarke and Finn, "You could get sick. Wash your hands now," she demands.

"AH! AH-OH!" Derek begins yelling, still trembling when he gets to his hands and knees to continue throwing up blood.

"What the hell is happening to him?" Finn asks just as freaked out as Liam and the rest of them are.

"She doesn't know, Finn!" Liam yells in panic, eyes widening at the sight.

Derek gasps and coughs one last time before his body falls limp to the ground. Liam's eyes remain wide, his body unable to move as Clarke slowly kneels down to check his pulse.

"Is he..." Bellamy trails off in shock, voice barely audible.

Clarke looks up at him, a sad look in her eyes, "He's dead."

In Liam's entire 17 years of being alive, he's never witnessed anyone die. The closest thing he can relate to, is seeing Addison's mother get sicker and worse every year until the day he got himself arrested.

He could only imagine what plagues Addison at night, and even on a daily basis, to have her screaming and snapping like she does. He finally understands her a little bit more now.

The sound of liquid hitting the dropship floor snaps Liam out of his shock stare on Derek, "What do we do?" Finn asks, holding his hands in front of him.

Clarke looks at Liam, the wheels turning in her head, "Quarantine. Finn, round up everyone who had contact with Murphy," she repeats Liam's idea to Finn. "Bring them here."

Finn nods and is quick to leave the dropship, "Do you think this'll work?" Liam asks softly, folding his arms over his chest.

"Only one way to find out," she responds.

"And everyone they've had contact with?" Bellamy asks, eyeing Clarke.

"Well, we have to start somewhere," she replies, "Conner, who was with you when you found him?" All eyes move to the sickly boy on the floor that mirrors a now passed out Dawson's position, "Who carried him in? Think," she demands.

He takes a few seconds to answer, "The first one there was Octavia."

Liam's eyes go bug-eyed, his heart stopping. "She was with her..." he whispers to himself, backing away slowly to comprehend what he had just heard.

"Who?" He doesn't answer Clarke, his brain conjuring up every negative thought that enters, "Liam, who was with her?"

"Addison."

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