CHAPTER THIRTY:

"I LOVE YOU."

The tunnels were dark, the only light being the torch that Lincoln held in his hand covered glove as he ran, but with a limp, through the tunnels with Finn, Y/n and Clarke right behind him. One of his hands was clutching the injury Clarke and Y/n had fixed up while the other hand tightly held the torch. Y/n kept her hand in Finn's as they ran through the tunnels, turning corners, running straight, turning more corners.

As they turned another corner, bats flew straight past them and forward, their squeak-like noises echoing throughout the tunnels. When Lincoln stopped in his tracks, the teenagers did the same, doing the same thing as they glanced around like he did. Handing the torch to Finn, the grounder brings out a makeshift book, opening it up and letting Finn see as they look at one of the pages.

"Wait. If you never been down here, how'd you map it?" Finn questions.

"Spoils of war." Lincoln replies.

Meanwhile, the Griffin twins found themselves looking out at the distance, hearing distant shouting and a light coming from the end of the tunnel. The sisters shared a confused glance, wondering what could possibly be down there as their curiosity got the best of them.

"What is that?" Clarke asks, catching the guys attention.

"Reapers." Lincoln realizes.

As quickly as he could, the grounder grabbed the torch he handed to Finn earlier, leaning down and sticking the fire into a small pool of water that was dripping with more water each second that passed. Dipping the fire into the water, the light that the group had was gone, leaving them in total darkness. Claiming they needed to go that way, Lincoln began heading forward where the shouts were coming from.

Finn shakes his head. "This can't be the only way. Check the map."

"If you wanna get home before Tristan slaughters your people, this is the only way." Lincoln informs.

As the teenagers followed, the group soon stopped behind some walls, peaking over and seeing what Lincoln claimed them to be Reapers on the other side, all seeming to cheer as they circled around something. Y/n's grip on Finn's hand tightened a bit when she had grabbed it earlier, feeling him give her a reassuring squeeze.

"Y/n. The carts." Finn whispers, staring at the carts ahead of them.

The said girl followed his gaze, seeing sheets covering something inside the carts. However, what made her tense up, fear coursing through her was the sight of a leg sticking out of it, blood on the what looked to be dead skin. Clarke noticed her sister's expression and followed her gaze, eyes widening at the sight.

"What the hell is this?" Y/n quietly questions.

Lincoln turns to them, ignoring her question. "The tunnel on the right will lead you to the woods near your camp." The grounder hands Finn his book. "Take this."

"What are you gonna do?" Finn asks as he puts the book into his jacket.

"I'm gonna lead them away. Wait until they follow me, then run." Lincoln instructs, holding out a sword to Finn. "For Octavia."

"Wait a second. If they catch you, they'll kill you." Clarke reminds.

"Worry about yourselves. Most of Tristan's rangers will be at your gate by nightfall, but he'll send riders ahead, scouts. All of you have to be gone before they arrive." Lincoln explains.

Finn peaks out from where he crouched in front of the grounder, watching as one of the reapers rise up to their feet, grabbing a rather large hatchet as he began to make his way over in their direction.

"One of them's coming." Finn observes in panic.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Y/n questions, stopping Lincoln from moving yet.

"In my book, there's a map. Chart a course to the Eastern sea. There's a clan there, led by a woman called Luna, a friend. Tell her I sent you." Lincoln informs, unsheathing a large machete.

Finn grabs his arm before he could leave. "Thank you."

"Just get Octavia outta there." Lincoln demands.

And with that, he runs to the reaper who had turned back around. Sensing something behind him, the reaper turns around and spots Lincoln, swinging his hatchet at him only to get sliced in the throat by the grounder, falling to the ground and laying lifeless. All the reapers went quiet as they looked over and instantly began following after Lincoln who turned down a small tunnel and away from the teenagers.

Still holding Y/n's hand in his, Finn began running with the twins right behind him. However, Y/n suddenly stops, her hand releasing from Finn's making him look back, seeing she was staring at one of the carts as an arm was sticking out from underneath the sheets that the reapers had put overtop.

"Did you guys see that?" Y/n asks.

"Y/n, we need to keep moving." Clarke ushers.

Ignoring her sister's words, Y/n steps towards the the cart and moves the sheet out of the way just as the arm goes up. The three all step back at the sight of a very skinny man laying underneath the sheets, his eyes widen as he reached out to them, almost silently asking them to help him.

"They're alive." Finn whispers.

Hearing a growl to his right, the boy looks over, seeing the reaper Lincoln had supposedly killed earlier and it was right behind Y/n. Quickly moving her out of the way and to Clarke, the Collins boy goes to attack but the reaper was stronger and faster it was able to pin Finn to the ground, beginning to choke him.

Clarke held Y/n back from doing anything as Finn looks to his left, seeing a large rock laying there. Quickly, he reaches out and grips it, bringing it up and slamming it against the side of the reaper's face, pushing him off him. The Griffin twins watched with wide eyes as he slammed the rock against the reaper's face a few more times before it laid still, the sound of the other reapers shouts being heard.

"They're coming back." Clarke pants out.

Rushing over to Finn, Y/n helps him up before the three were running off again before they would be caught. The shouts of the reapers echoed throughout the entire place as the teenagers ran, eventually finding themselves in the forest. Even when they were out of the tunnels, they continued sprinting in hopes of getting back to camp sooner than later.

They ignored the pain in their calves from all the running they had been doing since the night before, and continued. Finn was leading the way as they only ran one way. They didn't know if the reapers would follow them out of the tunnels, but they didn't wanna risk it. After knowing they were far enough, the teenagers stop, loud and heavy pants escaping them.

"This doesn't look right." Finn comments, frantically glancing around before bringing out the book Lincoln had gave him.

"What the hell was that back there? Why-- Why would they keep them alive?" Y/n pants out, fear coursing through her.

"I swear to God, the more we learn about this place, the less we know." Clarke states through a pant.

Hearing the sound of splashing behind them, the Griffin twins turn around, seeing Finn crouched down in front of a small puddle, but it was deep enough to put your hands underneath. Y/n frowned when she saw the blood on his hands as he frantically tried to wipe it off of him.

Clarke rests her hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'm gonna go check over there. I'll be right back."

Nodding in response, the e/c eyed girl watches as the blonde jogs to the direction she pointed out, hoping maybe she could see if the camp was close by, but also making sure to stay close to them. Meanwhile, Y/n crouches down beside Finn, murmuring the word 'hey' over and over as she grabs his hand, making him stop and look at her as half the blood was off his hands.

Y/n knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"He would've killed us. You did what you had to do. We all have." Y/n tells him.

"I should've fought for you." Finn whispers.

Y/n shakes her head. "Finn..."

"Y/n." Finn quietly begins, and they stare into each other's eyes. "I love you. I'm in love with you."

The girl's eyes widen as they stare into each other's eyes. Y/n opens her mouth, but no words come out as Finn waits for a reply. Of course, she felt the same, she just had no idea what to say. She's never felt this way before about anyone, as the only people she's ever really known much outside of her family was Wells and his father.

"I lo--" Y/n starts.

However, a loud explosion in the distance cut her off, making their heads snap to the source of the sound, looking in that exact direction. Clarke's footsteps could be heard from behind them as she rushed over, stopping just a few feet right behind them while panting.

"It came from the camp." Clarke realizes.

"We're too late." Y/n adds.

With that, they ran to the sound of the explosion, seeing their camp just ahead of them. As they got closer, shouts could be heard from inside which sounded like Miller's voice as he confirmed it was the three. The gate was open by two boys and the three teenagers all rushed inside as everyone crowded near them, but gave them just enough space.

"Hey, we heard an explosion. What happened?" Clarke questions.

"Murphy happened." Bellamy informs.

Jasper rushes and hugs Clarke, then Y/n. "Thank God! Where have you guys been? Where's Monty?"

"Monty's gone?" Y/n asks.

"Y/n, Clarke, we need to leave, now. All of us do. There's an army of grounders, unlike anything we've ever seen, coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run." Finn explains.

"Like hell we do." Bellamy protests. "We knew this was coming."

"Bell, we're not prepared." Octavia reminds.

"And they're not here yet. We still have time to get ready. Besides, where would we go? Where would we be safer than behind these walls?" Bellamy questions.

"There's an ocean to the east. People there will help us." Finn informs.

"You saw Lincoln." Octavia realizes, getting a nod.

Bellamy raises his brows. "You expect us to trust a grounder? This is our home now. We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall in this ground! Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they're yet to realize one very important fact: We are on the ground now, and that means we are grounders!"

After his words, practically everyone in the camp cheer in agreement while raising their rifles, showing they all agreed with what he said.

"Grounders with guns!" A boy announces.

Bellamy nods. "Damn right! I say let them come!"

"Bellamy's right." Y/n agrees. "If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this. And God knows, in this world, we could be faced with something even worse tomorrow."

Clarke steps forward. "But that doesn't change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die tonight. So pack your things. Just take what you can carry, now."

Everyone all seemed to agree with the blonde as the crowd dispersed, all going to pack their things. The Griffin twins exchange a nod before looking at Bellamy who shook his head a bit, seeming to disagree with it.

"Help me." A voice cries out.

All their heads snap to the source of the voice, seeing Raven limping out from behind the, blood seeping onto her hand as she clutched her side. Finn's eyes widen upon seeing his best friend in this state as he rushed forward with the others, leaning down and picking her up bridal style in his arms.

"Murphy shot her." Jasper informs, a look of realization on his face.

"Get her into the dropship." Clarke instructs.

Finn does as told, still holding his best friend in his arms as he ventured towards and inside the dropship while Raven quietly cried in pain. The Griffin twins exchange a glance before they went to grab supplies in hopes of helping Raven, but Bellamy grabbed their arms, making them stop.

"Clarke, Y/n, leaving here is a mistake." Bellamy tells them.

"The decision's been made." Clarke replies.

"Crowds make bad decisions. Just ask Murphy. Leaders do what they think is right." Bellamy informs.

Y/n nods, sighing. "We are."

And with that, they walk off, leaving the Blake boy to himself as they prepared themselves to leave the camp.