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Bellamy rushed into the dropship, a rifle in his hand. Aleta turned to him and shook her head. "Bellamy, stay back," she warned. "Did he do something to you?" He questioned in concern. He took a step toward Aleta but she took a step back. "Don't," she warned again.

"What the hell is this?" He asked, noticing the now drying black blood under her eyes. Clarke looked at Murphy and then to Bellamy. "Biological warfare," she began and he looked at her. "You were waiting for the grounders to retaliate for the bridge? This is it. Murphy is the weapon," the blonde continued.

"Is this your revenge, helping the grounders kill us?" Bellamy asked the boy. "I didn't know about this, okay, I swear," John defended. "Stop lying! When are they coming," Bellamy exclaimed. "Bellamy, calm down," Aleta said quietly. He sent a look her way before turning back to John.

"Murphy, think, all right? What can you tell us that's useful? Did you hear anything?" Clarke asked him. "They're vicious, cruel," the boy answered. "You wanna see vicious?" Bellamy asked, walking forward. "Hey, don't," Clarke commanded. "Whatever this thing is, it spreads through contact."

"Clarke?" Finn said, rushing into the dropship. "Finn. You shouldn't be in here," Clarke told him. "No one should," Aleta added, sending the boy a look. "I heard you were sick," Finn breathed, eyes on the blonde. "Clarke, what is this?" He then asked, looking around the dropship.

"I don't know, some kind of hemorrhagic fever. We just need to contain it before—" Clarke was cut off by Derek retching. He began seizing on the floor and Clarke walked over to him. Finn stopped her and she quickly moved away. "Hey, don't touch me. You could get sick. Wash your hands now," she told him. Aleta made her way over to where Derek was. He began vomiting blood. "What the hell is happening to him?" Finn questioned.

"I don't know," Clarke responded. Aleta squatted in front of him as he began choking on his blood. He then stopped moving and she frantically began feeling for a pulse. "Is he..." Bellamy didn't finish his question. "He's dead," Aleta confirmed, looking up at him.

Aleta stood and her head began to spin. She stumbled slightly but didn't fall. Clarke began talking to them about a quarantine. Finn left the dropship to do as he was told. "Connor, who was with you when you found him? Who carried him in? Think," Clarke said.

"The first one there was Octavia," Connor responded after a moment. Bellamy froze before quickly rushing out of the dropship. A few minutes later, he came back with Octavia. Clarke and Aleta grabbed rags and used them to cover their mouths and nose. Bellamy took one as well and stayed close, but not too close, to them.

The two girls began examining Octavia as more sick people filed into the dropship. "Okay. We're done. No visible signs of swelling or bleeding," Clarke said, turning off the flashlight that she held. "So you're saying she doesn't have it?" Bellamy asked. "I'm saying she doesn't have symptoms, but that could change. We need to keep her here just in case," Clarke responded.

"No way. Look at this place. She'll get sick just being here," Bellamy objected. "Bellamy, we need to stop this from spreading. We can't risk losing anymore people," Aleta replied. Bellamy looked at her, knowing that she was right, but still not wanting to listen. "Look. I'll keep her on the third level with the people who aren't symptomatic yet. Think of it as a way to stop her from sneaking out again," Clarke said.

"Screw you Clarke," Octavia spoke up. "I'll let you know if her condition changes," Clarke said. Bellamy was hesitant on leaving. "She'll be fine. Just go," Aleta assured. He turned quickly and left the dropship. Octavia made her way to the ladder. "Octavia, wait. I need you to sneak out again," the blonde informed.

••••

As time went by, Aleta began feeling progressively worse. Black blood slowly trickled out of her nose and she lazily wiped it away. She walked about the dropship, tending to as many people as she could. The girl coughed for the umpteenth time and stopped. She took a deep, and painful, breath and then released it.

She coughed again into her hand and when she pulled it away, she saw specks of black. "Great," she muttered. The air inside the dropship grew thick and she walked to the door. She stepped out onto the ramp and breathed in the fresh, clean air. More people were slowly beginning to die from the disease.

Clarke stood on the ramp outside as Aleta walked down. Bellamy was stood multiple feet away from them. His eyes glazed over in worry at the sight of Aleta. "Clarke, people are getting worse in there," Aleta mumbled. Clarke took a good look at her, concern in her own eyes.

"Yeah, so are you," she pointed out. Aleta sighed, "I'm fine." Clarke shook her head at the girl. "For now," she muttered. Bellamy began to speak, "You got enough food in there, water?" Clarke looked at Aleta who nodded. "Yeah. Some medicine might be nice," the blonde responded.

"Some medicine would be really nice," Aleta agreed. Bellamy looked down at the ground with a grin, "I'll see what I can do." Aleta nodded, although she knew that there was nothing that he could do. The two turned back into the dropship but stopped when Bellamy spoke again. "Octavia, you okay?" He asked. Clarke turned back to him and neither girl said anything.

Bellamy walked forward and Clarke stopped him. "Bellamy, wait. She's not here. I sent her to see Lincoln. Look. If there's a cure, he has it. I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't let her go," Clarke said. "If anything happens to her, you and me are gonna have problems," he informed. He then turned to Aleta, "How could you just let her go? You knew I wouldn't be okay with it."

"This isn't about you! We're desperate, okay? People are dying and we don't know what to do," Aleta defended. Bellamy scoffed and turned, walking away from them. "Bellamy," Clarke called. "Bellamy!" She tried again. "Just let him go," Aleta muttered. She coughed again and sucked in a sharp, painful breath. "Maybe you should take a break. Go lie down, you're obviously not doing good," Clarke suggested.

Commotion began to ensue among the campers as more people began showing symptoms. People were growing frantic and began shouting. Many delinquents pointed guns at each other and the whole camp was in chaos. Aleta stumbled backward in fear at the scene. Clarke quickly rushed into the dropship.

"Everybody stop! Calm down!" Aleta tried. The shouts were too loud and nobody heard her, not that they would listen if they had. Clarke came back out and stood next to Aleta, a rifle in her hand. She fired three shots into the air and successfully got everyone to quiet down. The blonde tiredly walked forward, Aleta hesitantly trailing after her.

"This is exactly what the grounders want. Don't you see that? They don't have to kill us if we kill each other first," Clarke said. "They won't have to kill us if we all catch the virus. Get back in the damn dropship," a boy said, pointing his rifle between Aleta and Clarke. Bellamy grabbed the rifle and used it to hit the boy in the face.

"And that's what happens when you give a gun to an idiot," Aleta muttered. The lightheadedness that Aleta had felt before came back. "Your quarantine isn't working," Bellamy said. She began to lose her balance and almost fell. Warm arms quickly wrapped around her body. "I got you," Elijah said. He then lost his balance and began to fall. "No I don't! No I don't!" He exclaimed before hitting the ground.

Aleta groaned in pain. "Where did you come from?" She asked in confusion. Elijah grunted in response. "You need to get away from me," Aleta mumbled, attempting to push away from the boy. Bellamy rushed forward and lowered himself to the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked quickly. "No, get away from me," Aleta weakly replied.

Elijah rolled away from the girl and Bellamy shook his head. "Finn don't touch her!" Aleta heard Raven shout but she was too lazy to see what was going on. "It was stupid for you to try to catch her," Bellamy said to Elijah as he scooped Aleta into his arms. Elijah scoffed, "Says the boy who's carrying her now."

"Put me down. You're gonna get sick," Aleta protested. "I don't care," Bellamy mumbled. "Well, you're an idiot. This isn't news. Now put me down," Aleta said, squirming around in his hold. He shook his head and began carrying her into the dropship. "I don't care either!" Elijah called, following the two in.

"Octavia will come back with a cure," Aleta heard Clarke's voice, which came out muffled. "There is no cure!" Octavia called, reentering camp. Bellamy stopped walking and turned to her. Aleta's head involuntarily rolled to the side. "But the grounders don't use the sickness to kill," Octavia added.

"Really? Tell that to them," Bellamy said, nodding his head to the dead bodies. "I warned you about seeing that grounder again," Bellamy continued. "Yeah? Well, I have a warning for you too. The grounders are coming... And they're attacking at first light," Octavia said. She walked to where Bellamy stood and looked at Aleta, ignoring her brother completely.

She took in her appearance, eyes holding concern, especially as she noticed the drying black blood and the same liquid still trickling down her nose. Octavia didn't try to hide her shock and confusion, but she quickly composed herself. "You're gonna be okay," she tried to reassure. Octavia moved a piece of Aleta's hair from her face and offered her a weak smile. Aleta didn't try to smile back, knowing that she wouldn't be able to. Octavia then walked over to where Finn stood with Clarke in his arms. Bellamy attempted to halt her movements but she pushed past him.

"I know I don't like you all that much but I don't want you to get sick. So please just put me down," Aleta whispered, her voice slurred. Bellamy either didn't hear her or ignored her words as Elijah placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on," he said. Bellamy gave him a curt nod and the two walked into the dropship.

Bellamy looked around before walking to an area of the dropship. He carefully laid Aleta down on a makeshift hammock. She settled into it and released a short sigh. Bellamy gently ran a hand down her face as her eyes close. He stared at her for a moment before exiting the dropship. Elijah looked after him, a knowing smirk on his face before sitting on the ground next to the hammock.

"You better hope I don't catch this sickness Ali, because you and I both know that it'll most likely kill me," Elijah told her seemingly unconscious form. It was quiet for a moment. "If you do get sick, it'll be your fault. Because you're an imbecile who doesn't know how to listen," she muttered back. Elijah crawled up onto his knees and looked at her. "Even in sickness, you still find a way to be a bully," he mumbled.

A tiny smile made it's way onto her face. "Do me a favor, don't die," Elijah says. Aleta barely lifted her hand to give him a thumbs up before falling asleep. "Please don't die," Elijah whispered.

°°°°

Hola mis amigos! It's been a while since I've updated this book and I'm sorry about that. I just wasn't really feeling this book. But now I'm back with (hopefully) regular updates. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please don't comment for me to update this book because I will not do it. Have a nice day and Merry Christmas! (For those who celebrate Christmas).