CASTLE WALLS. 

[ 04. CHAPTER FOUR : NO KUMBAYA, EH? : ❝yes, i killed him. yes, the love of him killed me. i was murdered by love and now by love will my corpse be desecrated, blood to dry on my skin, my open mouth to stay open and coinless, uncarried anywhere but along the dry roads, past the makeshift tents and the wild warriors celebrating. don't let love drive its spear into your belly as it did to me. you may have been named after battle, but you were always better than that.❞ ]

•••

"What's the rush?" Bellamy called to Clarke as the group trekked through the forest, holding up his gun. "You don't survive a spear through the heart."

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells calmly ordered.

"Well, why don't you do something about it, huh?" Murphy snapped, pushing Wells' chest.

A hand gripped Murphy's throat tightly and the others looked at Ajax, the boy's eyes blazing with anger. "Why don't you stop antagonizing everyone?"

"Jasper screamed when they moved him." Clarke interrupted, Ajax quickly letting go of Murphy's neck. "If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy reached out, grabbing Clarke's wrist. "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go."

Clarke jerked her wrist out of Bellamy's grip, glaring at the tall boy. "The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm dead. Got it?"

"That can be arranged." Ajax smirked, which was replicated by Bellamy.

"Brave princess." Bellamy commented.

"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" Finn cut in, walking up behind them. "You call this a rescue party? Got to split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me." The blonde followed him, sending one last look to the four boys behind her.

"I'd love to shove his nickname up his goddamn ass." Ajax scowled, not very fond of the long haired boy.

•••

As the four males walked together with Clarke and Finn walking ahead, Ajax noticed that Wells wasn't taking his eyes off the blonde.

"Guess we got more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Bellamy spoke, noticing the look too.

"We have nothing in common." Wells sighed, finally taking his eyes off Clarke.

"No? Both came down here to protect someone we love." Bellamy shrugged, glancing at Ajax before looking back to Wells. "Your secret's safe with me. 'Course, for you, it's worse. With Finn around, Clarke doesn't even see you. It's like you're not even here."

"Don't worry." Ajax looked over his shoulder at the darker boy. "You're much prettier than the spacewalker."

•••

After Finn and Clarke had found an alarming amount of blood on some rocks by the river and also Jasper's goggles, the two had taken to leading.

"Hey, how do we know this is the right way?" Murphy sighed, doubtful of the two.

"We don't." Ajax shook his head. "Spacewalker thinks he's a bloodhound."

"It's called 'cutting sign'. Fourth-year earth skills." Wells defended, looking around. "He's good."

"You want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your backs?" Finn snapped, glaring at the boys who had talked.

Ajax glared, wanting to rip the kid's head off his shoulders. Finn sighed, looking at a tree branch that had blood on it and then crouched down, Clarke following his lead. They shared a look after seeing that some pebbles also had specks of blood on them.

"See? You're invisible." Bellamy commented, looking at Wells.

"Stop torturing the guy, Bell." Ajax rolled his eyes, feeling sympathetic.

•••

The group rushed through the woods after hearing a loud groaning noise. They stopped when they came across a pale body tied to a tree. It was Jasper.

"Oh my god." Ajax whispered, his eyes glued to Jasper's weak form.

Clarke surged forward, desperate to get to Jasper and help him, but as she took a wrong step, the ground collapsed beneath her and she was almost impaled by spikes if it hadn't been for Bellamy and Ajax's hands grabbing onto hers. The two men effortlessly hauled her up out the pit and onto her feet, Finn checking her over after the two had let her go.

"We need to get him down." Clarke said fearfully, her eyes back on Jasper.

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines." Finn volunteered, already walking up to the tree.

"I'm with you." Wells stepped forward, but Finn cut him off.

"No. Stay with Clarke." Finn ordered, Ajax narrowing his eyes. "And watch him." He directed that next statement towards Bellamy, who copied Ajax's action.

"You go up there, Murphy." Ajax slapped the kid's back, who coughed slightly at the force.

"There's a poultice on his wound." Clarke pointed out.

"Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing." Bellamy suggested, his voice gravelly.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us." Ajax sighed, sharing a look with Bellamy.

•••

"Be careful." Clarke said worriedly as Finn and Murphy worked on cutting Jasper down from the tree.

There was a noise from behind Wells and Ajax and everyone turned as they heard it. Ajax slowly reached for his quiver to notch an arrow in case it was an oncoming threat.

"What the hell was that?" Murphy furrowed his eyebrows, staring into the open space.

"Grounders?" Bellamy choked, looking scared of the potential threat.

Then they saw it. A huge panther in the shrubbery. It let out a roar and charged towards them. Clarke called for Bellamy to use his gun, but he found that he didn't have it. Gunshots fired from behind them and they turned to see that the gun was in Wells' possession. The panther disappeared for only a moment before it was leaping at Bellamy. An arrow went straight past Bellamy's chest and lodged into the panther's neck at the same time a bullet pierced its brain.

Ajax sighed in relief at the fact that his best friend was okay. He surged forward, wrapping his arms around the smaller male in joy. Bellamy returned the hug gratefully, thankful that Ajax had a hand in killing the jungle cat. Bellamy turned his head and looked at Wells.

"Now she sees you." Bellamy smirked.

And that's when Wells turned and saw that Clarke was staring at him.

•••

Wells and Finn carried the limp form of Jasper over the camp threshold, delinquents looking at them in concern for one of their own. Ajax and Bellamy crossed over next, hauling the dead panther in a sheet. They dropped it to the floor, pulling it back to reveal the corpse which would be their food for the night. People looked at in awe, never having seen one before.

"Who's hungry?" Bellamy yelled, a smirk on his lips.

The delinquents cheered, excited to have a meal for the night. The two males shared a look, proud of each other in that moment.

The two and Murphy worked on carving up the panther into sections for everyone to eat. They made a rule; food for wristband. Although some were reluctant, most were eager to get rid of the link to the Ark just so they could cease the rumbling in their stomach.

Ajax helped Miller, one of Bellamy's soldiers, in removing the wristbands. Since he didn't have a wristband, the older male had already eaten his share of the food, so he was happy to remove wristbands for the people. Ajax's head turned when he saw Finn come up and take two sticks.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait." Murphy smirked slightly, a chuckle passing through his lips. "What, you think you play by different rules?"

"I thought there were no rules." Finn deadpanned, glaring at Murphy and walking away to join Clarke.

"I wanna stick his head up his ass." Ajax growled, cracking his knuckles.

"It's already up there." Murphy chuckled again. "The task is getting it out."

The conversation was interrupted by a sharp connecting of bones. Ajax turned to see a boy on the floor by Bellamy, who looked at his knuckles. Ajax pieced it together, knowing that Bellamy had punched the kid. Bellamy turned to Ajax and the two shared a look, the latter winking at the olive skinned boy before turning back to the task of taking off wristbands.