Bellamy looked up from his conversation with Murphy as his sister entered his tent. Murphy saw Bellamy's face change and he nodded at Murphy as he motioned for him to leave.

'What did you do to Atom?' Murphy snorted in amusement as he noticed Brinley creeping outside Bellamy's tent.

'Sounds like someone's in trouble.' Murphy snickered.

Brinley motioned for Murphy to be quiet so she could hear the conversation between the two siblings.

'Atom's fine.' Bellamy crossed his arms.

'Then why did he blow me off?' Octavia growled at him.

Bellamy supressed a smirk. 'Maybe he's just not interested.'

Outside the tent, Brinley rolled her eyes. 'Not interested my ass.' She scoffed when Murphy motioned for her to be quiet.

'You can't keep everyone away from me!' Octavia exclaimed, exasperated at her older brothers actions.

'Atom had to learn. You disobey me, you pay the price. He paid the price, now we're good.' Bellamy's tone was firm.

'Now I'm paying the price! So, next time you decided to go on a power trip, leave me out of it!'

A scream of pain interrupted their conversation and Octavia's face fell as she rushed out of the tent.

Brinley pulled Murphy against the tent behind her so her hot -headed friend wouldn't see them, but Octavia breezed straight past them her mind set on helping Jasper.

Brinley let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed, only for the tent to open again.

Bellamy's eyes landed on Brinley who mentally cursed her bad luck. Caught. She looked to Murphy only to see him halfway across camp, a huge smirk on his face.

'What the hell are you doing?' Bellamy angrily questioned the wide-eyed girl.

Brinley growled, looking over Bellamy's shoulder.

'Screw you Murphy!' Murphy's laugh echoed across the camp, only fuelling Brinley's annoyance.

Brinley looked back to the man in front of her, slowly stepping away from him. 'I'm just gonna-'

Bellamy caught her arm. 'You aren't going anywhere sweetheart. You and me, we're gonna have a talk.'

Ignoring Brinley's protests, Bellamy pushed her in front of him into his tent.

'Get your hands off of me!' She pushed his hands off of her arms. 'You wanna talk, then talk.' Brinley crossed her arms, mimicking his own stance.

'Stay away from my sister.'

Brinley wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. 'Excuse me?' She asked in disbelief.

'You heard me. Stay away from Octavia.'

'And why the hell should I do that?'

'You're a bad influence on her.' Bellamy got out through clenched teeth.

'A bad influence? You've got to be kidding me.'

'I'm not. You helped her and Atom sneak around behind my back sweetheart, I'm not going to stand for it.'

Brinley rolled her eyes, tugging at her hair in annoyance. 'She's allowed to have a life sweetheart. She's seventeen years old, let her live.'

'I want her to live her life, but that doesn't mean she needs to be reckless, especially here.'

'So it's okay for you to have your fun, but god forbid Octavia does too?' Brinley asked, staring pointedly at the bra in the corner of his tent.

'She's my little sister-'

'- She can take care of herself. She isn't a child anymore, she hasn't been since the day they threw her into the skybox.'

Brinley began to leave the tent, but Bellamy's words stopped her.

'Stay away from my sister. I mean it.'

Brinley turned to face him again. 'One day you're going to realise that every time you pull a stunt like you did last night – stringing Atom up for anyone to find – You're pushing her away, and you're only able to push her so far until she decides that she doesn't need you anymore. Stop suffocating her, let her make her own choices.'

Brinley closed the tent opening behind her.

*****

Brinley sat beside Octavia, who was holding Jasper's hand.

'You okay?' She asked quietly.

Octavia shrugged. 'I'll be fine. I just can't believe Bellamy would do that. All my life I've just wanted to be normal, and the second a guy treats me as a person and not as the girl hidden under the floor, he drives them away.'

Brinley smiled sadly at Octavia. 'He's your brother, O. He's protected you your whole life, that's just what he does.'

Octavia frowned. 'You agree with him?'

'Hell no.' Octavia laughed at her response. 'But I can see where he's coming from. Some of the people down here, they've done terrible things.'

Octavia nodded. 'I know. Atom stopped one of the kids in for murder from following me up into the second level of the drop ship.'

Brinley bit her lip. 'Oh.'

'It's so weird, knowing that some of the people we're being forced to live with are in for rape or murder. I wish I knew their names so I can stay well away from them.' Octavia snorted, glancing down at Jasper's face, tense even in sleep, she sighed.

Brinley swallowed the lump in her throat, looking down at Jasper briefly.

'Yeah. Me too.'

*****

Brinley wandered around the camp, not sure where she was going. Bellamy had left Murphy in charge of the camp and he was grinning wickedly as he ordered everyone around. Brinley didn't want to spoil his fun so she stayed away from him, leaving him to his own devices.

A loud crack sounded from near where she was standing and she tensed, watching as a girl stomped away from the drop ship where Jasper had woken up and was now moaning in pain again.

'Hey kid.' Brinley called. The girl tensed and turned around.

'What?'

'Where are you going?'

'For a walk. I can't sleep with the dying kid screaming.'

Brinley frowned. 'He's not dying, and it's dangerous out there.' Brinley gestured to the darkening sky and the ominous forest in front of them.

'I'll be fine.' The girl shrugged.

'Let me come with you, Atleast then I know you won't get eaten by grounders.' Brinley saw the look of terror on the girls face. 'Sorry. What's your name?'

'Charlotte.'

'Well hello Charlotte, I'm Brinley.'

The two began their walk; Brinley frowned at the obviously young age of the girl, wondering how on earth someone so young could be sent to the ground.

'How old are you Charlotte?' She questioned in curiosity.

'12. How old are you?'

'18.' Brinley replied after a moment. 12. She's so young.

'18? Shouldn't you be dead?'

Brinley let out a shocked laugh at her innocent question. 'Yeah kid, I guess I should be.'

'Do you know the blonde girl, Clarke?' Charlotte asked after a few moments of silence.

'Clarke?' Brinley asked, surprised at the question.

'Yeah, her.'

'I've known her since we were kids. Why?'

'She told me that being down here is our second chance. Do you think she's right?'

Brinley thought carefully before answering. 'I think it could be. Down here, we can be who we want to be. The things we did on the Ark that they locked us up for, the don't matter so much anymore – we can be anyone we want and do anything we want.'

Charlotte nodded. 'I think you're right.'

The pair walked in silence for a few minutes before Charlotte walked in front of a tree seconds before an axe came hurtling towards her, sticking in the tree she was just up against. Charlotte looked up at Brinley who had pulled her backwards after hearing footsteps against the forest floor.

'Who the hell are you?'

Brinley wanted to scream. Of course it's him, she thought angrily.

'I'm Charlotte.' Charlotte answered, looking up at the man wide eyed. Bellamy looked down at her as he pulled the axe from the tree, his expression turning sour when he saw who was with Charlotte.

'I almost killed you, why aren't you back at camp?' Bellamy directed the second part of his question to the older brunette.

'I couldn't listen to the guy whose dying anymore.' Charlotte answered simply before Brinley could open her mouth.

'There's grounders out here. It's not safe for a little girl.' Atom spoke, now standing behind Bellamy.

'I'm not little.' Charlotte frowned angrily and Brinley's lips twitched into a smile at her defiance.

Bellamy's expression softened as he fought back a smirk at her attitude. 'Okay then, but you can't hunt without a weapon.' He passed a knife to Charlotte, who looked at Brinley, who nodded, before taking it from his hands.

'Ever killed something before?'

Charlotte shook her head no.

'Who knows, maybe you're good at it.'

He gestured for the two girls to follow him and Atom.

Charlotte looked at the two males in interest she tugged on Brinley's arm.

'Yeah?

'Whose he?' Charlotte gestured to Atom who was walking ahead with Bellamy.

'That's Atom. You can go say hi if you want, he's nice, I promise.'

Charlotte nodded making her way inbetween Bellamy and Atom, speaking to Atom curiously.

Bellamy fell back and Brinley pretended she didn't know he was waiting for her to reach him.

'Hey, what were you thinking bringing her out here?' Bellamy questioned as they trailed behind the others.

'I didn't bring her out here. She was coming out here alone.' Brinley crossed her arms.

'And you didn't think to stop her?' He frowned.

'I tried, but she was determined. I came with her so I could make sure she was safe.' Brinley refused to look at him.

The two walked in an uncomfortable silence before Bellamy spoke again.

'You didn't listen to me earlier.'

Brinley frowned in confusion. 'What?'

'I told you to stay away from my sister, and you didn't.'

Brinley glared at Bellamy. 'You didn't seriously think I was going to actually listen to you, did you?'

Bellamy sighed angrily at the humour in her tone. 'I don't want her hanging around with you.'

Brinley scoffed and began walking ahead, fully intent on leaving Bellamy behind.

'I know what you did.' He called, as she got further away.

Brinley froze.

'What?' She whirled around to face him, shock on her face.

'I know how you ended up here.' He smirked, knowing he had her.

'That's impossible.' Brinley growled.

'Your father kept it pretty quiet, but some of us in the guard still heard things, rumours, about the councillors daughter who went crazy.'

'And you just assumed that it's me?' Brinley asked warily.

Bellamy smirked. 'It's either you or Clarke, and well, everyone knows what Clarke was locked up for. That leaves you.'

'You're lying.' Brinley's mouth felt dry.

'Am I?'

Brinley's heart was pounding.

'Why should I care?' She asked, her nervous tone making Bellamy realised he'd won.

'Because I wonder what my sister will think of you when I tell her.'

Brinley glared at him though her heart felt like it was going to explode. 'You wouldn't.' Her voice shook.

'Wouldn't I?' Bellamy cocked his head as Brinley's shoulders dropped in defeat.

'Screw you.' Brinley hissed out, feeling sick.

Before Bellamy could reply with a snarky comment, Atom and Charlotte came running up to them. It was only then that both Bellamy and Brinley saw the thick yellow fog coming towards them.

'What the hell is that?' Bellamy breathed out.

Brinley watched the way the birds above them were flying away from the fog and swallowed thickly. Not a good sign, she thought.

'Run.' She whispered. Bellamy looked at her.

'Run!' She screamed.

A horn began going off, making the group look around in confusion. Charlotte had grabbed Brinley's hand as they ran. Bellamy was ahead of both Charlotte and Brinley and Atom was behind, ushering the girls ahead.

'Come on! There are caves this way!' Bellamy called to his group.

Charlotte started to fall behind and Bellamy noticed it from the corner of his eye, reaching for her hand, pulling her with him.

Brinley heard a thump behind her and turned to find Atom sprawled on the ground. 'Atom!' She whispered as she reached for him.

A small tug on her hand pulled her forward, Charlotte's hand gripped tight in hers kept her from reaching Atom.

'No, stop, Atom.' As Brinley spoke she breathed in the fog and began coughing violently.

Bellamy shoved Charlotte into one of the caves, following behind her.

Brinley made sure Charlotte was safe as she turned to go back for Atom but Bellamy stepped in front of her pulling her inside. 'He'll be fine. Hurry up.'

Bellamy began coughing, as the fog got closer, pushing Brinley and himself into the cave where Charlotte was currently sitting on the cold ground.

'What's happening?' Charlotte asked the two adults, fear seeping into her voice.

Bellamy glanced at Brinley who kept her eyes carefully trained on Charlotte, her chest tight.

'I don't know.'