Fearless (Bellamy Blake - Book 1)

Chapter 47

It doesn't take long for us to abruptly stop walking, and I literally bump into Bellamy's back. His reflex is to apparently reach back and grab me to stop me from falling over, something I'm grateful for, but he doesn't look back at me to explain why he just stopped.

I manoeuvre around his body and his hand drops along with my jaw at what I see ahead of us.

"Fuck." I breathe out, staring at the dozens on skeletons scattered and hanging in the trees before us.

The smell is rather rancid, and its evident the skeletons have been hanging for years as the bones are dirtied and broken, some even have limbs missing all together, something that creeps me out further.

"I don't speak Grounder," Finn says quietly, "but I'm pretty sure this means 'keep out'."

"Let's get out of here." Some kid from the group voices.

"This is crazy."

"I'm out of here."

"Me too."

I turn my head and watch a few of the kids turning back and leaving and it sparks annoyance in me. I get that seeing skeletons strung up ahead of you is terrifying, but Octavia is one of us and she deserves to be searched for as best as possible, just like any one of them would be.

"Go back if you want." Bellamy calls out without breaking his gaze from the skeletons. "My sister, my responsibility." He says a lot quieter before stalking further ahead, brushing past the hanging bones.

I huff out a breath and mumble, "cowards," before following after Bellamy.

"I'd walk into hell to find her." Jasper says as he follows behind me.

"I think we just did." Finn tells him, and I swallow thickly before quickening my pace to walk beside Bellamy.

It takes him a moment to notice me but he quickly glances down at me. "You should've headed back to camp." He keeps his voice quiet, either because of the possibility of Grounders, or he doesn't want the others to hear our conversation. Either way, I keep mine down too.

"Why?" I scoff quietly, trying to take my mind off of the tunnel of former bodies surrounding me, "I'm not afraid."

Those words instantly remind me of Charlotte, and a pang of hurt hits my chest at the thought of her. I force down the wave of emotion that hits and try to focus on finding Octavia.

"I know you're not." Bellamy admits, "But we have no idea what we just got ourselves into, and I'd be a lot more comfortable finding my sister without worrying about what might happen to you."

"You're worried about me, Blake?" I smirk slightly.

He looks over at me with such seriousness and determination and the smirk falls from my face.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asks so quietly I barely hear him and have no idea what to respond. Bellamy glances over his shoulder briefly at the rest of the kids that followed us into hell. "Besides, Octavia is troublesome enough, now throw you into the mix and I've got a lifetime of running around after the two of you, never knowing when the next disaster will strike."

I chuckle at his smirk, "You can count on it."

We've been out for so long that the sun has started to rise and our torches are long gone, their use no longer necessary. I've dropped back from beside Bellamy to the middle of the group, Bellamy, Finn and Jasper ahead of me.

Despite the nerves, fear and slight adrenaline that course through my veins, I yawn. The noise is rather loud, deep, and definitely unladylike and un-human.

I mean, can you blame me? I only got a couple hours sleep, the only reason Bellamy is still wide awake is because his sister's life is on the line.

"What the hell was that?" Jasper frantically asks, whipping his head around as if a Grounder was going to attack him at any moment.

"That was Chris." Finn tells him nonchalantly and without even looking back at me, focused on looking at the ground ahead of him. "Don't worry you get used to it eventually."

He knows me too damn well.

I don't bother replying but instead quicken my pace to get to the front of the group where Finn says something to Bellamy.

"We lost the trail." He admits, scanning the ground for any signs.

"Keep looking." Bellamy pushes, Finn shakes his head but does so anyway.

"Wandering around aimlessly isn't the way to find your sister, we should back track."

"I'm not going back." Bellamy snaps, facing Finn. I position myself between them with a hand on Bellamy's arm.

"Bellamy, if we've lost the trail then we need to go back and find it. It's daylight now," I tell them, "it'll be easier to see but we need to move fast, we're easier targets like this."

"Hey, where's John?" Roma asks. I turn to face the small group and scan the area, Mbege was gone.

"I just saw him a second ago." Jasper whispers.

"Spread out." Bellamy says as I start to walk away from the side of the group, a frown on my face. "He couldn't have gotten that far."

The moment those words left Bellamy's mouth, something dropped onto the ground right infant of me. A small squeal of surprise escaped my lips as I jump back, staring down at Mbege's body. His throat has been slit, blood sticking to his skin and his clothes and his eyes are still wide open, and staring right at me.