I could only watch as Clarke, Finn, Raven, Bellamy, and a dozen or so people left the camp and headed in the direction of the crash. Jasper had spent the night telling his harrowing tale of saving us from the Grounder ambush as if he was some kind of hero, so now, most of the group looked at me like I was a traitor. It actually made more sense to me why Octavia had bonded so deeply with Lincoln since, not only was she an outsider among her own people before, but she was also considered a traitor for falling in love with him, just as he was to his own people because of her. From the moment Lincoln first saved her, they were tied together, just like I was tied to him now.
Despite being a pariah with most of the camp, Monty was one of the few that still treated me the same. I spent the day with him making ration packs since Jasper had been upgraded to a guard. Although he was happy for his friend, I could tell that Monty missed the dynamic duo.
"So... have you talked to Bellamy about the, you know, light show thing?" Monty asked quietly.
"No. He hasn't really been my favorite person to talk to recently," I replied.
"Have you had any problems with it?"
"No, actually, I've been able to heal some of my wounds with it," I answered honestly.
"I guess that's good... but you should still tell him about it, or at least Clarke."
"I'll think about it... she has something more important on her plate right now though."
"Yeah," he agreed softly, thinking about the crashed ship.
We kept working on ration packs for the day, dividing up nuts, onions, and stripes of jerky. A few hours after sunset, the group that had left returned with no survivors, but they did have a few pieces of salvaged tech. Bellamy explained to everyone that the entire ship had been destroyed, but there were things that they could use, so they would send another group tomorrow to bring back more things that they could use. Raven and I drank for an hour or so, but unfortunately, the alcohol that I had stashed away ran out sooner than either of us would have liked. She went back to her tent which left me alone, worrying about Lincoln, Katye, and my own future.
Unlike the rest, I had a fairly good idea of what we were going to face in the future, even if I did not know the specifics. I did not remember the Exodus ship crashing, yet I did know that the whole Ark would come down at some point, if Katye had not been placed up there. That was my biggest question that kept haunting my mind.
Who was Katye, before and now? I had not met her before this, yet I had been placed in this world because of her. She was the one that really knew about this show, so she would know what could be changed safely and what could not be. If she was someone on the Ark, there was a good chance that she was already dead or would be soon. If she was a Grounder, who could she be and how would I find her? There were just too many 'what ifs' in my head, so it made it hard to figure out what I should do.
Eventually, I fell asleep a few hours later and, when I woke up, the group heading back to the crash site was about to leave. Bellamy, once again, placed me under 'camp arrest' with Monty, Jasper, and two more promised to watch me closely. I spent the day stitching together hides to make blankets and then I settled back in my tent to practice my Stone Cover spell until I went to sleep.
Again, a group went to the crash site and collected more salvage while I was stuck on ration duty. It was getting annoying but considering that I had just been punching numbers in a computer in my past life, I could not complain too much. I still had my unique powers, and they were growing by the day which sooner or later I was going to need to save myself and those around me.
When night fell, I got an unusual prompt telling me to go to the wall and look around. Despite the dark sky, most of the camp was still up and chatting while they waited for the salvage group to return. Jasper was still reliving his glory from 'saving' us at the bridge as he retold the story to a couple of people by the fire. Rolling my eyes, I stopped by Monty and peered around into the darkness of the forest.
"Hey, no sign of your brother of the others yet," Monty said.
"Hey, I don't care," I replied as I saw a familiar white flower.
"Jasper, tell us again, how'd you stay so calm?" Harper asked by the bonfire. "I would've been terrified."
"Fear is only a problem if you let it stop you, right?" Jasper replied.
"That's not even his line. Finn said that," I muttered to Monty.
"I saw the Grounders in the trees. It was like nothing I ever felt. Pure animal instinct took over. One pull of the trigger, two Grounders dead," Jasper continued.
"'Pure animal instinct'? More like pure pants-wetting panic," I scoffed.
"You don't really know what you're made of until a moment like that when it's kill or be killed and there's just nothing between you and the tip of the spear."
"Okay, this has to stop," I sighed, ready to shut Jasper up.
"Come on, let us have this," Monty said grabbing my arm.
"'Us'?"
"Look at him. The boy is a folk hero. They even gave us a bigger tent," Monty said with a proud smile on his face.
"Fine," I started but then tripwire was snagged outside of the walls, and everyone heard the clattering of metal on metal.
"Somebody hit the tripwire!" one of the guys guarding the wall yelled.
Everyone with a gun rushed over, but I was scared because it might be Lincoln.
"Which wire? Was it a Grounder?" someone asked loudly which was followed by more murmuring from the crowd.
"I got nothing, Connor?" a guard asked.
"Nothing," said the other next to him.
"Something moved!"
"There, there, there!" a guard shouted as he fired a couple of bullets. "I think I got him."
"Let's go!"
The two boys slid out from their spots and headed for the gate, but I went as well. Lincoln must have just been here to place that flower, so there was a chance that it was him who they were shooting at. I wanted to believe that he was far too sneaky to get caught on tripwire, but everyone makes mistakes at some point.
Despite being brave enough to shoot at someone outside the walls, the two boys fell behind me with torches in their hands once we were outside of them ourselves. I did not care about them, and I hurried in the direction they had shot. I nearly let out a sigh of relief when I saw the shaggy hair which meant that it was not Lincoln, but someone was lying motionless on the ground. Slowly, I eased myself down and touched the person hesitantly, but the moment I did, he scrambled away from us, frightened. As bloodied and beaten as his face was, I could still recognize him.
"Murphy?" I asked with shock.
"Please... The Grounders... they did this to me... they're coming..." he pleaded weakly.
Seeing the cockroach character of all cockroaches being reduced to such a state was unsettling to say the least and I could not help but freeze up. It only lasted a moment though and I sighed, moving forward. Murphy tried to back away more, but he was clearly exhausted and in a lot of pain since he could barely move.
"I'm not going to hurt you Murphy," I said softly. "Come on, help me get him into the camp."
"But Bellamy said that he was banished," one of the guys said.
"Banished or not, he is still one of us and will die from all of these wounds! He said he was with the Grounders, so Clarke and Bellamy will want to see what he knows," I argued.
That seemed to convince them, and the red-haired boy passed over his torch to the other and helped me pick up Murphy. We put his arms over our shoulders and carried him back inside the camp while the other guy took up the rear, lighting our way back as he watched the trees. As usual, murmurs quickly started spreading out through the crowd as we headed for the dropship, but I ignored them. We eased Murphy down against the back wall and I stretched my body.
"Watch him until Clarke and Bellamy get back. I'll get you some water, Murphy," I said.
"Thank... you," Murphy said weakly.
After I got Murphy a cup of water, I headed back to my tent. Lincoln had tried to draw me out of the camp, but after finding Murphy, a prompt popped up that told me to wait in my tent for Bellamy's arrival. Once again, I could not sleep, so I spent the time practicing my Stone Cover spell and even ended up making myself a ring that I could control or break apart as I needed to. Hopefully, I would not need to use it in a life-or-death situation, but since I had already had a few of those, I would rather be safe than sorry.
By the time that morning rolled around, my mind was exhausted enough to fall asleep, but I did not stay that way for long. Someone barged into my tent, and I was about to throw the knife that I kept under my pillow when I realized who it was. Bellamy was wide eyed with surprise at my quick reaction while I sighed and put the knife away.
"What is it?" I asked.
"How are you feeling?" he asked in reply.
"Tired, but otherwise, fine; why?"
"You helped carry in Murphy yesterday, right?"
"Yeah, and...?"
"The Grounders sent him here with a virus to infect us. Derek just died from it... another mark for your boyfriend's book," he said, seeing Lincoln's journal poking out from under my pillow as well. "Get up. Clarke needs to examine you."
I sighed again while he stormed out of my tent. I grabbed my knife as I stood up and tucked it into my belt before I followed Bellamy. He led me over to the dropship where I found several more people who were clearly sick with blood dripping from their eyes, ears, and noses. Clarke looked pale and dizzy, but she was stubbornly trying to take care of everyone else. She walked up to us, covering her nose and mouth, while she looked me over for symptoms.
"Ok, we're done," Clarke said weakly as she leaned back against the ladder. "No visible signs of swelling or bleeding."
"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."
"No way; look at this place. She'll get sick just being here."
"Do you want to stop the spread, or not? 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 replied.
"Really, Clarke?" I grumbled.
"I'll let you know if her condition changes."
Bellamy gave an annoyed nod then headed out of the dropship. As I watched him leave and looked around at the sick people, it was easy to see why Lincoln had tried to get me out of the camp. I was not sure if my healing ability could save the whole camp, but I now understood why Tori had given it to me in the first place. Death loomed over this band of misfits at every turn, so if I was going to start changing things, I needed a strong way to prove myself to the group.
"Octavia," Clarke said once Bellamy was gone, "I need you to sneak out again. Lincoln is our best hope of fighting whatever this is."
I had been hesitating about revealing my powers, but with Clarke sick and people already dying, I had to do something. "I might have another method, but I need somewhere private to show you in case I can't use it a lot."
"Octavia, we don't have time..."
"Please, Clarke, trust me," I said earnestly.
She sighed, "Fine... There is a spot on the second floor that we can use."
"Alright, we'll try this and then I'll go to find Lincoln," I promised.
She nodded her head weakly and I started up the ladder. There were a few people up on the second floor, but they did not look as bad as those on the first. I helped Clarke up the last few rungs, and we walked over to an empty corner. I pulled the makeshift curtain closed while Clarke sat down on something and leaned back against the wall.
"Now... don't ask me any questions until I'm done. This takes a lot of my focus," I instructed.
"What are you... fine, no questions," she started to ask, but my stern look made her stop.
I placed a hand on Clarke's forehead and closed my eyes while I tried to focus on my healing ability, just as I had done for Jasper. It took a few moments, and I could tell that Clarke was about to lose her patience, when I felt the familiar drain on my energy. Her body went stiff, no doubt seeing the light that the ability also produced, but I kept going until I felt myself getting lightheaded and I stopped, sitting down across from her. Although the color had returned to her face and she seemed less weak, she was now staring at me in shock.
"I'm not going to be able to do that for everyone," I sighed with disappointment.
"What was that? Why do I feel better?" she asked.
"Since we landed on Earth, hell, since I left my hole in the floor, something about me changed. My healing is not that strong yet, but I discovered it when Jasper was hurt and used it to help heal him when the wound got infected. I never told you, or anyone, about it because I did not have an explanation for it, but things aren't looking too good, and we can't lose you too."
"I always wondered how you got across the river that day, but there was always so much going on that I had let it slip my mind... How could you hide this from everybody?"
"Would you believe me if I just told you that I suddenly developed strange abilities that allow me to heal with light or control stone? And even if you did, once it got around camp, I would be more of a pariah than I already am," I replied, pulling out my knife and making it float with my power.
"I take it that Bellamy doesn't know," Clarke sighed.
"Why do you think I've been keeping it a secret? He is so overprotective that he'd assume that these powers will kill me," I chuckled lightly.
"We don't know if they will, Octavia," she reminded then sighed, "We'll worry about when we make it through this crisis. If you can't do this for the whole camp, then go see Lincoln and get the cure."
I nodded my head and agreed, "I'll be back as quick as I can."
Despite the quarantine, I still did not have a lot of trouble sneaking out of the dropship and camp. Half of Bellamy's usual guards were sick, so it was far easier than normal. It had not even been a day, but our group was already crippled which worried me. What if the Grounders used this chance to attack? We would not even be able to put up a real fight right now, and it would only get worse before it got better in camp.
I ran as fast as I could through the forest, not caring about how much noise I was making. It did not take too long, and I finally slowed down when I saw the trees that hid the entrance of his cave. I slipped into the hole and could see a firelight around the corner.
"Lincoln?" I called out as I walked towards the light.
When I stepped into the main chamber, Lincoln rushed over to my side with a concerned expression. Immediately, he started checking me over for signs of the blood fever without saying a word.
I pulled one of his hands off as I looked him in the eyes and said simply, "You knew."
He grimaced and looked away as he replied, "I tried to get you out of there. Did you not see the flower?"
"I saw it... right before I found the kid your people sent to infect us. People are dying, Lincoln. Clarke sent me here for the cure."
"There is no cure," he said, shaking his head and walking away.
"So, you were just gonna let my people die? You were gonna let me die?" I asked, following the familiar prompt though they were my questions as well.
"The sickness passes quickly. Few are immune. We use it to soften the battlefield. I'm not surprised you are one of the strong ones," he asked, cupping my cheeks.
"The battlefield?" I asked without needing the prompt to telling me to do so.
He stared at me for a moment before he revealed, "They attack at first light."
It was exactly as I had feared. There was no way that we would be able to fight off anyone in our current state, even if I did show off my powers. We would be massacred if we tried to fight back, yet I also knew that somehow the camp had made it out of it.
"You have to help me save them," I said to him.
"I can't. I tried. My people think I'm a traitor now."
"Because of the bridge? You were just trying to make peace."
"It's not the bridge," he replied, giving me a complicated expression.
"Because of me?" I asked with realization then sighed as his silence told me everything.
"That doesn't matter now," he said, picking up my chin. "I'm leaving, Octavia, right now. I want you to come with me."
"And go where?" I asked, though I had lost control of my body like what had led me down that ravine where Lincoln first saved me.
"East to the sea, then across it. There's a clan, allies of the Woods. They'll take us."
"I can't just let my brother get killed."
"There is nothing you can do to stop that now."
"I can warn them."
"Octavia, they'll kill you. If you're there at dawn..."
"I won't be. Just wait for me here. I'm coming with you," I promised as I moved towards the exit.
"Wait," Lincoln said, closing the distance between us, then kissed me passionately.
It only lasted for a moment or two before I pulled out of his embrace and headed out of the cave. I did not look back, not that I could even if I wanted to right now since my body was still on auto-pilot. After a couple of steps though, I was happy for that because a new prompt appeared in my eyes, and I had a big decision to make.
::Final choice: After warning the 100, you can choose to follow Lincoln to the other clan and have a peaceful life, separated from the plotline of the story. Your safety is guaranteed, but your powers will be removed. Another Octavia and Lincoln will be generated to replace your positions in the world, so there will be no repercussions to the main plotline. Staying means that you will have to continue fighting your way through this world. This is the end of your tutorial session; the prompt will no longer appear after this moment.::
A/N: Officially the end of the prompt and auto-pilot! I know you all have been hating it, but I had my reasons and the fact that I used it will play into the MC's future development incase no one read the comments between me and Alberto_Hernandez9 on the previous chapter.