Chapter 6

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Liam dragged Addison as far from the river as possible, entering the woods and ducking under low hanging branches, until he stopped abruptly in his tracks.

He pulled Addie down with him behind a fallen log that's decorated in bright green moss. With heavy breaths, the best-friend duo looked around themselves, on high alert. Addison's nearly leapt out her chest cavity every time it beat, doe eyes wide as she swallowed the dryness in her throat.

She glanced in the direction she and Liam came from over Liam's shoulder, faintly spotting the small opening to the river they were at moments ago, celebrating Jasper's brave leap.

She stared at the opening. "Do you think everyone is okay?"

Liam swallowed the dryness in his throat and spared her a quick glance. He shook his head, resting an arm over the log as he scammed the woods, "I don't know."

Addison's knees dug into the moist dirt/grass mixture,  seeping into her pants. She put a hand on the log, anxiously waiting for something to happen. She preferred to be reunited with her newfound friend and/or Jasper miraculously surviving a spear to the chest.

Liam shoved her to the forest floor, whispering harshly, "Get down!"

Addison squinted at him, confused and irritated by the sudden push into the ground, until she heard it: quick footsteps —several of them. She absentmindedly shot it, but was roughly yanked by her left-arm back behind the cover of the fallen moss-covered log. "Let me go, Liam. That could be the others!" she whispered, then ripped her arm free.

"You don't know that, Addison. We're not alone out here. That could be whoever killed—"

"He's not dead."

"Addison—"

"No, Liam." She averted her gaze to the soil beneath them. "I can't let myself believe he is until I know for sure." Panic sank into her bones the closer the footsteps came.

Liam blinked a few times, contemplating numerous things as he looked in the direction the footsteps were coming from. "When I say go, run."

Addison's hand latched onto Liam's arm, her stare stern, "Are you a bloody idiot? Liam—"

"I mean it, Addison." His words were sharp, fear written across his face and in his dark brown eyes.

Addison's heart sank into her stomach. She couldn't just leave him like gum on the bottom of her boot, but she had no choice. The desperation his eyes held tore Addie's heart in half. She released a small sigh and a reluctant nod, then turned her attention back to the footsteps and twigs snapping like bones.

"Which way?"

Liam pointed behind him. "The dropship's that way." Addison nodded once again. She looked into her best friend's eyes with rapid heartbeats, Liam holding her gaze with a small, reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll find the others and meet you back at the dropship, okay?"

Tears sprung in her doe eyes. Addison wrapped her arms around him, and muttered into his ear, "I'm sorry about yesterday, Lee."

Liam secured his arms around her tightly. "I know, Addie .  .  . me too." They pulled back simultaneously when a twig snapped mere yards away. "You need to go. Now!"

Addison sprung to her feet, sprinting in the direction Liam had instructed her to go. She stopped, glancing at him over a shoulder, scared, as she battled her fight or flight instincts .  .  . she forced flight to win. For Liam.

With a little huff and a strong will to obey Liam's wish, she reluctantly continued, jumping (not so gracefully) over logs and dodging low hanging branches that occasionally marked her face.

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She ran until she couldn't. She was hunched over, hands on her knees and lungs burning as she scanned the woods, listening.

No footsteps were heard, only the ferns and branches swaying softly, and the occasional sounds of critters above. Addison moved to a tree, sliding down the rough bark that caught onto her jacket. She placed her arms atop her knees, hands clasped together.

All Addie could see was a spear being thrown into Jasper's chest. Monty's cries echoed the loudest for his best friend. The most she can do now is hope that Octavia, Clarke, Finn and Monty were able to escape like herself and Liam. Right now, Addison didn't have a clue on what to do.

If there's one thing she lacked above all, it was a sense of direction.

Addison held her breath when twigs began to snap, all thoughts and worry for Liam and the other's safety melting away. When she peered around the tree, there was nothing but plants and endless moss-covered trees. No animals, no people.

She exhaled a shaky breath as she straightened her legs and drew random patterns in the dirt, all while she looked around, alert. Then she heard it again.

Slowly standing, a stick in her left-hand, Addison prepared to hit whatever it was. Leaves scrunched on the other side of the tree, and she lunged out, stick above her head.

"Woah, woah, hey. Hey!"

"What the hell!" She steadied her breathing, heart racing. "You scared the hell outta me, Finn!" Addison threw the stick aside. "Where are the others?"

Catching his breath, from moving fast and having been scared by Addison, Finn gestured behind him. "Back there a ways. I went ahead to find you and Liam."

"Well A-plus, Rambo, for scaring the daylights out of me."

"Where's Liam?"

Addison's heart sunk. "We got separated. He led the the attackers away so I could escape."

Finn sighed, "I'm sorry about your friend, but we need to move. Now." He led the way back to the others in a brisk run/walk, Addison on his trail in huff-and-puffs —she wasn't built to run around the woods.

"How much further?"

"Just up here."

In a few brief minutes, they were walking up a slight incline over a three-foot diameter fir tree that's covered in bright green moss, Clarke, Monty and Octavia coming into view. Octavia was the only one not standing —she was seated on a rock, right-leg extended out as a hand covered the wound on the same side thigh.

"There you guys are," Clarke whispered. She looked at Addison, "Where have you been? We were starting to get worried. Where's Liam?"

"He's not here?" Addison descended the other side of the incline. She went into panic mode, heart leaping and stomach twisting as it sank —she can't lose Liam too.

While her father being stuck on a dying space station made her heart ache, the fear of losing Liam outweighed it. She spent the last year in the Solitary an emotional wreck, angry and grief-stricken from losing her mother to that stupid slow-killing sickness, and decided to add her father to the list. She was never going to see him again, just like her mother, Jane: kill two birds with one stone.

After seeing Liam since her arrest, she had hope to rebuild the humanity she lost due to grief and regret by Liam's helping, healing nature. Now it was just a kick to the gut.

"We have to find him," Addison muttered.

Finn intervened. "Look, we have to go back to the dropship. It's not safe out here. For all we know, they could be—"

"He's out there!"

"Keep yelling like that and we're gonna be dead too," Monty snapped, under his breath, upset about the fate of his own best friend, and rightfully so.

Addison flickered her desperate gaze to Monty and stepped toward him. "I'm sorry about Jasper, I am, but he's gone, Monty. But there's a chance that Liam's still alive and not a kabob like—"

Monty stepped toward her, threatened and fired up, "What did you say?"

"Hey, that is enough." Clarke intervened, stepping between the two. Her blue eyes met Addison's brown ones, "We will find Liam, alright? Just not right now. Finn's right. We're not alone down here."

A scream cut through the woods, startling the group of five. Monty spun around, whispering, "Jasper?"

A second, much louder and closer scream followed. "Liam. Liam!"

Finn covered Addison's mouth with a hand, hushing she attempts that could reveal their location more than she already had. "Be quiet. They haven't found us yet, but they will if you keep this up. I'm gonna let go, so don't hit me."

Once his hand was gone, she ripped herself out of his grip, tears burning in her eyes. Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat. Wordlessly, Addie walked up to Octavia and held out a hand, then quietly offered, "I'll help you walk back."

Octavia nodded once, took the brunette's outstretched hand, and was pulled up. She draped her right-arm over the smaller teen's shoulders while Addie wrapped an arm around Octavia's waist and held onto the raven-haired teen's hand to keep her arm in place.

Addison looked at the others, "Are we going or what?"

Clarke only nodded and led the way back. Nothing but the sound of their footsteps and the wind filled the silent void between the teens on the trek back. Addie and Octavia drifted further to the back, but Addison didn't mind.

"Are you hurt at all?"

"Besides the mild concussion and this," Addison flashed her bruised knuckles, "no. You?"

"Besides the bite from whatever that thing was yesterday, no."

They fell in silence again. Monty would occasionally look behind at them, as well as Finn, but they received nothing from Addison. She kept her gaze forward, ignoring the constant check backs.

One of the last few times, she did catch Finn's puppy dog eyes, to which Addison immediately averted her gaze elsewhere.

Cheers from the delinquents soon filled the air. Clarke's pace quickened, Finn on her trail. "Wells!" She reached the bottom of the small slope, looking at Wells and Murphy —the Chancellor's son had John freakin' Murphy in a headlock, a makeshift-knife from salvaged metal from the dropship. It made Addison softly scoff. You're an idiot, Wells. "Let him go!"

Murphy was shoved by Wells into the dirt. The boy-whose-temperament-is-worse-than-Addison's rushed at Wells, but was stopped by Bellamy. He grabbed his shoulders, "Whoa, hey. Enough, Murphy."

"Watch your step here," Addison told Octavia, accent ringing. "It's a bit slick." That instantaneously drew Bellamy's attention.

As the girls inched carefully down the incline —Addie's grip tightening and brown eyes trained on their feet—, Bellamy was rushing to them, worried etched onto his features. "Octavia, are you alright?" He had ripped his sister out of Addison's helping arms once they were on flat-ground, like she'd just burned Octavia.

"Yeah," replied Octavia, green eyes shifting to the brunette as Bellamy pulled her to him. She gratefully nodded a couple times, a hand covering her injury, "Thank you."

Addison pressed her lips into a small, forcible smile. She stuck her hands in her jacket pockets. Bellamy's jaw tightened. He ordered in a hard tone, "Stay the hell away from my sister, Anderson."

She flickered her annoyed gaze to him and scoffed, "Screw you." She then walked passed him, stopping beside Clarke —she was in no mood to banter with the eldest Blake. Glancing at Wells, the faintest of smirks graced her lips. She jutted her chin in Murphy's direction, "You should've kept him in a headlock, Chancellor. Maybe then you'd rid ourselves of one less problem."

Murphy went to lunge forward but was shoved again by Wells. A couple of other delinquents caught and helped steadied him. Addie didn't flinch —she merely stared at him with an ever-growing smirk.

Sadness and worry turned Addison into a fearless, antagonizing bully, especially to the ones she feuds with.

And for once, she was the tiniest bit grateful for Bellamy Blake's intervention. "Enough, Murphy." He looked away from them to Clarke. "Where's the food?"

Murphy obeyed. He ripped himself out of the boys' arms that caught him then crossed the little opening to where no one was at. "We didn't make it to Mount Weather," Finn had answered, meeting Blake's gaze.

Bellamy raised his voice. "What the hell happened out there?"

"We were attacked," replied Clarke.

Wells looked to the blonde for answers, "Attacked? By what?"

Finn was sat on a fallen tree that's at an angle. "Not what—who. It turns out when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."

"It's true." Clarke turned to look every delinquent in the eye, "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors." They grew loud with hushed, worried talk. Clarke talked over them in a raised voice, "The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."

Finn looked at the other delinquents, and stated in a quiet voice, "Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will."

Addie's head began to pound worse from the concussion. She winced under her breath, earning a subtle look from Clarke that she ignored. She merely folded her arms and shifted her weight onto one leg, then muttered, "Not now, Clarke."

Confusion etched itself onto Wells' face as he searched the crowd. "Where's the kid with the goggles?"

"Jasper was hit. They took him," Clarke quickly responded. Yeah, it sucked they lost someone, but Addison hardly knew him. He was nice, and that made Addison's shoulders slump a little. Her expression softened, thinking about Liam.

"Where's that boyfriend of yours, Anderson?" Murphy taunted. "He decide to finally bail?" He smirked, wiping the tip of his nose with his sleeve.

Addison glared at him —if looks could kill, he'd be dead a hundred times and then some. She unfolded her arms, jaw locking and unlocking. She was stopped from stepping forward, a pair of strong arms encasing her. "Let me go." She moved around in Wells' arms. "I said let me go!" Her pointy, boney elbow collided into his chest.

Wells grunted, releasing Addison.

"Addison!" Clarke was able to catch the brunette's wrist that had the wristband, "Don't. Okay?" She spun Addie sideways, "He isn't worth it." A ticked off Addison yanked her wrist free, glancing at a smirking-Murphy as she did so. "Where's your wristband?"

Addison didn't know what the hell Clarke was talking about, as the brunette still had hers on, but Addie didn't care enough to look —she kept her cold stare on Murphy.

Wells was the one to reply. "Ask him." And that piqued Addie's curiosity. She turned to them, both sets of eyes on Bellamy.

In a stern voice, Clarke asked, "How many?"

"24 and counting." Just hearing John Murphy speak fuelled Addison's pent-up frustration.

"You idiots," Clarke breathed out, turning her gaze to the crowd.

Addison tossed her hands up with a small scoff. The more time that past as she stood there, the greater chance there was for the built-up anger to consume her like a sink hole. "I'm down here." She backed away a few steps then spun on her heels and stormed off into the woods.

She wanted to—needed to—be as far from the dropship as possible, well-aware of the risk she was taking with murderous Grounders roaming, but she had no care.

In this moment, Jasper wasn't skewered, Grounders didn't exist, Liam wasn't taken or possibly killed, and the other delinquents weren't less than a 200-yards away —it was just her, the woods, and painful memories of the past.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she finally stopped. Brown hair with an auburn tent tied back in a low bun with curly strands that remained free that framed her face, brown eyes as soft as the blue sky through the trees, a smile that could turn anyone's bad day around, voice as soft-spoken and gentle as a light breeze .  .  . Addison's mother, Jane.

Addie would sit in her cell wondering how Jane might've looked the day she died. She couldn't imagine Jane being worse than she was the last time Addison had seen her a few months prior to Jane's death. Her usually light skin was sickly-pale, dark brown almost black circles around her dulling eyes, bones protruding in places that never should've been.

All Addison could do was hope Jane hadn't been in too pain, but she knew the truth —her mother was always in pain. The best she could realistically hope for was that Jane wasn't alone. No one deserves to be alone on their deathbed, no matter who you are.

If it was John Murphy, Addison would be by his side. Maybe not saying the kindest things to help ease him, but there nonetheless. Or Bellamy Blake.

Because that's the human in her. Without the three things that made-up Addison —pain, anger and hate—, she might as well end it all herself.

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