Opening my eyes, I realized that I was still in the cave which made me sigh with relief. I pushed myself up slowly while my left arm screamed in protest, but a hand quickly helped me the rest of the way up. It was Clarke who then placed a hand on my forehead and sighed with relief.
"Your fever is down finally," she said.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"A couple of hours."
"And Jasper?"
"Alive, thanks to you. I cauterized the wound, but it could still get infected. We need medicine," she sighed.
"There is bound to be some kind of plants that can help him; we just need to find them," I replied.
She gave me a weak smile and nodded her head, agreeing, "You're right."
I leaned back against the cave and looked around. Monty was sitting by Jasper's side who looked to be asleep while Finn watched what I guessed was the exit.
"How far are we from camp?" I asked.
"A couple of hours hike," Finn answered as he walked over to us.
"Do we still have light?"
"Maybe three or four hours," he replied.
"Then we should head back," I groaned as I pushed myself up to my feet.
"We don't know if there are more Grounders out there and you need to rest," Clarke said.
"There are, I'm sure of it, but what do you think Bellamy will do when we don't get back today? When I don't return? They still think we are alone, Clarke! They don't know that they are in danger!"
My words were a sobering truth, and something that none of them could argue against.
"I'll carry Jasper," Finn offered.
"I can help you," Monty added, quickly.
"Do you need any help?" Clarke asked as she stood up.
"I should be f..." I started while taking a step, but I stumbled into Clarke's arms when my right foot touched the ground. "Okay... maybe a little," I chuckled.
She smirked and pulled my arm over her shoulder. Finn and Monty picked up Jasper and they followed us out of the cave. Thankfully, no Grounders attacked as we made our way back to the dropship, but the chanting of 'Fight!' over and over in the distance gave me a sinking feeling.
"Clarke, go ahead... this can't be good," I said.
"Monty!" Clarke called over.
He hurried over and replaced her as my crutch, so that she could run ahead. It was not much further, but we were all tired and it was nearly dark. Getting back to the dropship was the most important thing on my mind, yet I knew that our day was still not over.
"Wells! Let him go!" Clarke shouted.
Monty helped me around the bend just in time to see Wells throw Murphy into the dirt. Immediately, Murphy scrambled to his feet and charged at Wells, but Bellamy stopped him.
"Whoa, hey! Enough, Murphy!" Bellamy yelled then he looked over my direction and ran towards me. "Octavia! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It's just some scratches," I replied as he took over helping me.
"Where's the food?" Bellamy asked.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather," Finn said as he walked up with Jasper in his arms.
"What the hell happened out there?!?" Bellamy demanded.
"We were attacked," Clarke said.
"Attacked? By what?" Wells asked.
"Not what. Who," I said. "It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."
"It's true," Clarke agreed. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."
"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will," Finn said as he walked past the rest and headed towards the dropship.
"Where is your wristband?" Clarke hissed, grabbing Wells forearm.
"Ask him," Wells said, pulling his arm out of her grip and looking at Bellamy.
"How many?" she growled.
"Twenty-four and counting," Murphy said with a smirk.
"You idiots," Clarke scoffed. "Life support on the Ark is failing! That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"
"We're stronger than you think," Bellamy said to the crowd, pulling away from me. "Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good! How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!"
The surrounding crowd cheered, "Yeah!"
I could only sigh at Bellamy's attempt to curry favor with the mob that was our group. I vaguely remembered that he had been the one to really organize everyone in the early stages since Clarke was not ready to step into the leadership role at first. I could try and encourage her, but until something drastic happened, I honestly did not believe either of them was ready for what was ahead of us.
The position of Octavia did not make it possible for me to step into the leadership role at this point, but it was not like I really wanted it either. I knew the story well enough to know that Clarke and Bellamy could grow into great leaders in the future, so I just needed to trust their decisions. My priority should be myself right now. Even if no one else realized what I had done at the river, I did.
Somehow, I had teleported across the river which meant that I had used one of the powers that Tori had given me. The Five Elements that I had asked to control were Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Space which came from one of the stories that he read to me growing up. My favorite was about a warrior who had gone on a journey to master all five, but it was not until he met his princess that he was finally able to break through the last two elements that he had yet to fully master. It was a cute story that we would often reference even in my teenage years, so that was why I assumed that he would know what power I wanted.
I followed Finn towards the dropship despite my obvious limp. When Bellamy came over to help, I pushed his arm off of me and gave him an annoyed look. Clarke was shortly behind him, but when she offered to help, I did not refuse. I knew that this could cause problems between Bellamy and me down the road, but he was being a fool and I wanted no part of it.
Wells ended up following us and he helped me up the ladder to the second level. Finn and Monty had laid Jasper out on a couple of blankets. Clarke brought up some clean water and all of us gathered around Jasper. She cleaned off the blood and dirt off his chest but seeing the inflamed red skin around the wound was a likely sign that it was infected.
"Monty, think... What plants have antibiotic properties?" I asked, grabbing the cloth from Clarke, so that I could wipe Jasper's face.
"There are a lot: garlic, ginger, echinacea, goldenseal, clove, certain seaweeds... I can go on, but it doesn't matter if we can't find them," Monty replied.
"What if we made some sketches of what to look for? We could split up into a couple of groups and search," Clarke said, piggybacking off my idea.
"And what about the Grounders out there?" Finn asked.
"So, what? We let Jasper die? The wound is likely to get infected, if it is not already," I said.
"She is right. We need this for Jasper and Octavia. Her wounds aren't life-threatening, but they could still get infected as well. Not to mention that we would likely need them at some point for the others in the camp," Clarke agreed with me.
"I'll get some charcoal and something for you to draw on," Wells offered as he stood up.
Clarke looked ready to say something rude, but I placed a hand on her shoulder and shook my head.
Once he was down the ladder, I said quietly, "I know you hate him, Clarke, and I'm not going to tell you to stop, but you need to learn how to live with him. We don't have a lot of choices down here and we need every person's help."
She sighed and nodded her head.
"How is someone raised beneath the floor not a total basket case?" Monty asked.
I smirked, "Who says I'm not?"
The others gave a light chuckle which eased the mood. Wells returned a few minutes later with some supplies. I told the others that I would watch Jasper, so they stood up and gathered around a makeshift table. Monty was able to describe over a dozen plants that could be helpful, but it was Wells who could describe where they might find things and completely dismiss others that did not grow within our region. When they had a couple of sets of drawings, it was decided that Clarke, Finn, and Wells would search for the plants in the morning while Monty would stay behind and try to figure out a way to contact the Ark. He was not happy about it, but he did not argue either since he knew he had the most expertise of the group.
Jasper woke up during the night and, with the constant groaning coming out of his mouth, it was clear that he was not doing good. Clarke did what she could, but we had absolutely nothing that could help him, or even ease his pain. Unfortunately, this meant that the entire camp was forced to endure until he finally fell back asleep.
At first light, Clarke organized two search parties with Bellamy's help, using me as a negotiating chip since I would need the medicine too. The camp was left in the hands of a young man named Atom and a few other of my brother's goons. Those that stayed behind started building a wall around the campground and other defenses.
Most of my day was spent with Monty and Jasper inside the dropship since moving around hurt. Atom had been told to keep an eye on me while Bellamy was gone, but I just used that to have him carry up some fresh water to where we were staying. With Monty working on the bracelets and Jasper in and out of consciousness, I decided to try working on developing my powers, specifically healing.
I had teleported across somehow out of instinct which validated Tori's promise of granting me powers, and Jasper needed help. I had no idea how to use my powers, but now that I was mostly alone, I had the chance to experiment a little. Placing my fingers near the wound, I could feel the fevered skin which made me grimace, but I still had to try. Jasper had not hesitated to jump into the water and help me, so I could not either.
Thinking back to Tori's words, he made a point of saying that I needed to infuse my intent into the elements. When I saw Jasper hit by the spear, the only thing in my mind had been that in my mind was that I needed to get to him. Maybe that was the key, I had to focus completely on what I wanted, and only that.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on healing the wound on Jasper's chest. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was trying to visualize the wound healing shut. Nothing really happened at first, and my mind slowly started to wander. His biggest problem right now was not the hole in his chest, but rather the infection that has slowly spreading through his body. It was with this thought that I suddenly felt a drain on my energy, like it was transferring into Jasper. I kept it going until I felt lightheaded, but instead of slumping against the wall, a set of hands caught me.
"Want to explain the light show?" Monty asked. "Or maybe how you crossed the river when Jasper was hit?"
"I don't know, honestly," I sighed then brought the story that I had concocted last night. "I've just felt different since we landed on Earth, even more than when I was put into the Skybox. After seeing him get hurt, I just wanted to get to his side more than anything and then I was there... Just now, I was worried about the infection, and I felt my energy draining away, but I could not stop."
"Are you trying to say that you have developed some kind of superpowers from what? The radiation?"
"I don't know, Monty. I was sixteen when I first stepped out of my room, and nothing has quite felt the same since. I mean, it was the first time I had ever seen the moon with my own eyes, so I thought it was that or that I was separated from my family, but since we landed... the feeling has only gotten stronger and then the river... I wanted to try for Jasper's sake and see if there was something that I could do. You can't tell anyone! If Bellamy hears about it, he will freak out!"
"But what if other people start doing the same thing? Am I just supposed to keep it secret when you grow a second head?"
"I don't feel sick. The cut in my shoulder and thigh hurt, sure, but that is it. Please, Monty, unless I get sick or someone else starts showing unusual abilities, can this stay between us? At least until I figure them out and tell Bellamy myself."
"You're going to tell him though, right?"
"Give me two weeks and I will tell him unless something changes," I promised.
He gave me a hard look but nodded his head. He helped me over to my bedroll which was nearby, and I laid down. Whatever I had done, it had taken a lot out of me and all I wanted was to sleep. At some point, Clarke's and Bellamy's groups returned, but without any luck finding the herbs that we needed. Jasper's condition had not improved, but he had not gotten any worse either, which was a little encouraging.
The next day, the groups went out again, but I decided to leave the dropship today. I could get around a little easier, and after my success with Jasper, I wanted to try more, but I also needed to be away from prying eyes. I knew Monty's character well enough to know that he was trustworthy, so I just needed to focus on results for now. If I could not use my power with some bit of control by the time that Bellamy found out, he would likely flip out and try to tell me not to mess with these abilities. I would not listen, of course, but I would prefer to limit the amount of problems that we would have in the future.
Atom had his eyes on me when I first came out of the drop ship, but with me just getting some water and sitting by the fire, he slowly got distracted by things around camp. I waited for a while once he was busy then slipped off into the woods. It was dangerous to sneak off alone, but I remembered that they did not lose too many people to the Grounders until the war officially started and that Finn had found several hiding spots not too far away. My hope was to find the bunker that Finn and Clarke would later use, but I would settle for a small cave, so long as it was not too far away.
After wandering around for half an hour, I stumbled across a cave. It was not small since there was a long dark tunnel left to be explored, but without a torch or flashlight, it would have to stay that way for now. Thankfully, the cave had an offshoot cavern that was about ten meters wide and other than the small hole in the roof, it only had one way in. It was not the best of locations, but it would sure my purpose well enough, so I went about cleaning the area.
The ground was covered in a fine layer of dirt which helped as the first element that Diego, from the story that inspired my powers, had mastered was Earth. As a child, his father had taught him how to make shapes out of the dirt then compress them until they changed to stone. Diego had taken a week to learn the first spells, but my early success with the most difficult branches of my power made me hope that I could get lucky.
The first step of that method was to pick up a handful of dirt and squeeze it as hard as I could. I needed to focus my mind on the end result which was turning dirt into stone. I felt more than a little ridiculous sitting in a cave, playing with dirt, but when I was ready to give up and I opened my hand, I found a rock sitting on my palm. There were grooves that matched my fingers perfectly, so it was pretty hard to deny that I had done it. Encouraged by my continued success, I spent the rest of the day working on the first spell that Diego had learned, which was Stone Knife. Once I learned it, I would be able to make stone knives and shoot them at my opponents. It was not the strongest of spells, but I could use it to catch someone off guard in a fight and it was just the beginning of what I would be able to do.