The scream ripped through the early morning stillness.
Lily shot up, her heart racing, breath caught halfway in her throat. Her body moved before her thoughts could form—she was already turning, her eyes searching for Jasper.
Panic tightened in her chest as her gaze locked on the figure a few feet away. But Jasper was lying there peacefully, his chest rising and falling in a shallow but steady rhythm.
He's alright, she thought with a breath of relief, and for a moment she believed she might have just dreamt the scream. But the rush of motion all around her made it clear that something had really happened.
The others were stirring in fits and starts—startled voices murmuring, blankets kicked off, limbs untangling as they looked around in panic.
"What is happening?" Monty asked from next to Octavia, who, with wide eyes, only shook her head. Clarke and Finn glanced at each other with terror before getting up to follow the others outside.
Lily felt her blood run cold in her veins as a dull pressure built in her chest. Her hands trembled slightly—not from the chill of the morning, but from something deeper, primal, instinctive. Her limbs felt too light and too heavy at the same time.
What is going on? she asked herself again and again, each repetition louder inside her mind. Was the fog back? Were the Grounders attacking? Her legs were shaking, but somehow she found the strength to follow the others.
They were all gathering outside, huddling close to one another as if proximity alone could offer protection. Some still wore the dazed expressions of sleep, others looked around frantically, eyes darting from tree to tree as if expecting something—or someone—to burst through the shadows. The tension vibrated in the air like a taut string, and voices overlapped in a mess of questions, gasps, and half-spoken names.
"Stay back," one of Bellamy's guys was saying, but Octavia was the one who pushed forward.
"Where's my brother?" she demanded, eyes locked on the boy blocking her path, as Clarke followed close behind.
"He's trying to figure out what happened," the boy replied, stepping in front of her with every move she made, keeping her from getting past him.
Lily let out a shaky breath. She didn't like any of this—something felt wrong.
"Who screamed?" Clarke asked.
"Roma," the boy answered. "She was supposed to be on guard."
The clearing was heavy with tension, every breath short and uncertain. No one dared to speak too loudly.
Lily stood still, her arms wrapped around herself, as if the pressure in her chest could be held in place with enough force. All around her, the others whispered in low voices, eyes flicking toward the trees. Someone mentioned Grounders. Someone else cursed under their breath.
"Where's Wells?" Clarke asked, looking around, her eyes wide with worry.
"Wasn't he on guard as well?" Finn added from beside her.
Lily scanned every face she could see, and there was no sign of Wells. Her body was trembling almost uncontrollably. Her nails dug into the sleeves of her shirt, as if she could anchor herself to something real. She had to do all she could not to let her legs give in.
Then a sudden rustling sound came from the side, and everyone turned toward it. Lily let out a shaky breath when she noticed Bellamy emerging from the woods, with Murphy, Roma, and two other boys behind him. But the brief sense of relief vanished the moment she saw Bellamy's expression. He was pale, and his eyes seemed darker, like a shadow had settled into them. Sorrow weighed heavily on his features as he looked at them all.
"What happened?" someone yelled from behind Lily, who took a step forward, her gaze lingering on Bellamy's frame. He didn't answer.
"Bellamy," Clarke said, walking toward him. "What is going on?"
Lily watched him take a deep breath before the same mask he was used to wearing slipped back into place.
"We've been attacked," he said, his voice loud and steady so that everyone could hear him.
Gasps erupted from the crowd as Lily pushed a little closer to the front, trying to hear every word.
"The Grounders killed one of us during the night."
Lily's blood turned to ice at those words. But before panic could take hold, Bellamy spoke again, more firmly.
Then he called out to four boys, telling them to check the woods and make sure no one was lurking nearby, while he ordered everyone to get back inside the dropship.
"Who died?" Clarke asked, stepping closer to him.
Bellamy didn't answer right away. Lily noticed how his jaw clenched, how his eyes briefly avoided Clarke's. That hesitation terrified her more than anything he had said.
"It's Wells."
Lily felt like her lungs had stopped the instant the name left Bellamy's lips.
Wells was dead? It couldn't be. It shouldn't have been.
She turned to look at Clarke—her eyes were brimming with tears, her head shaking in disbelief.
"No," Clarke sobbed, moving toward the woods. "Where?" she asked, and Bellamy tried to stop her, but she passed him anyway, followed by Finn.
Lily didn't move. Every limb of her body felt stuck, frozen between the cold air and the impossibility of what she had just heard. Her breath was shallow, her vision blurred.
This cannot be, she thought, pushing her blonde hair back with a trembling hand.
"Lily, go back to the dropship," Bellamy's voice made her look up. He hadn't spoken harshly, but firmly enough to make the others see that he had everything under control.
"But…" she said with a trembling voice, so she took a breath to steady herself. "Wells–"
Bellamy shook his head. "You don't need to see that," he said, looking briefly at his group just a few feet away. Lily didn't know what to do. She was scared of the Grounders hiding in the woods without them noticing, maybe ready to attack. But she knew Wells. He had been gentle with her, and now he was dead.
"Lily," he called her again, shaking her out of her thoughts. Her breathing was shaky and uneven as their eyes met. Bellamy looked at her for a moment before looking at someone behind Lily's back. "Octavia," he called for his sister. Lily just felt her hands shake as Octavia's steps approached them.
"What is it?" she asked her brother.
"Bring back Lily," he said to the girl, "and make sure no one leaves."
"Alright," Octavia muttered, gently taking Lily by her shoulders. "Come, Lily," she whispered. "We're going to be safe."
Lily let Octavia pull her towards the dropship, but the weight of another death felt so heavy on her heart. She was tired of losing people, of being scared. They had lost so many people in so little time. Would they ever be safe? Would they ever know the true meaning of being safe? She was not sure.
On the Ark, it was very easy to go against the law, and there was no pardon for even the smallest mistake. And now, even if they were free, they were surrounded by things and people that could kill them.
It was so strange to think that Wells was gone. They hadn't even spoken when they went back to camp the night before. I didn't say goodbye, she thought sadly. The same thought that she had when she lost her mother and Grace. There was no way of knowing what would have been their last moments. That was death, she knew, but knowing it didn't help with the void she felt every time someone died. And it would only get worse. That situation was bringing all of them closer, and who once had only been someone sent to Earth with her was becoming something close to a friend.
This shouldn't be happening, Lily thought as she pushed her blonde hair back with her shaky hands in a vain attempt to stop trembling, but there was no use.
The air was heavy with fear and shock. People were scared, knowing that Grounders had been so close to them during the night. And fear was making them restless—all of them. Some people said that they had to leave; others that they had to fight. But every idea seemed so stupid and irrelevant to Lily. That was the Grounders' home. They knew the territory better than they ever could.
When Bellamy got back, Murphy was behind him as they stepped into the dropship. Lily got up slowly from her sitting position next to the wall, worried since she could not see Clarke and Finn. But Bellamy seemed unharmed, so maybe nothing else had happened.
"What are we gonna do, Bellamy?" someone asked from the other side of the dropship.
"We need to leave!" another shouted, but Bellamy shook his head.
"We are not leaving," he said firmly, not caring who was starting to complain. "But we need to make this place safer and be sure that no one will ever come that close like it happened last night."
"What are we gonna do?" Octavia asked. On her face, a little frown had appeared. Bellamy and Murphy shared a look, then he turned and spoke again.
"We'll build a wall," he said in a strong voice. "All around camp, and we'll set guards and patrols during day and night. Something like what happened tonight is not going to happen ever again." People seemed to agree with his idea, and Lily noticed how they slowly got more confident and how their trust in Bellamy was growing with every word. "I'll arrange everything from now on," he kept saying. "I need people to come with me to find the wood we need. Nobody goes too far, and never alone."
Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.
"And while we are at it, I'll arrange a group that will take guard under Murphy. For the rest of you, stay inside the dropship until we are all back."
Lily too felt like agreeing with his plan, especially because she could not think of any other way to arrange the current situation. Many people were angry, like a group that was ready to go out hoping to find a Grounder to kill; others were terrified. Lily had even seen Charlotte crying silently in a corner of the dropship when Octavia was bringing her inside. A wall could really save them, or keep them safe. Or was it also an illusion? Lily dreaded finding out.
As they all started to calm down after Bellamy's speech, Lily got closer to the young man who was speaking with Murphy, giving other orders.
"Bellamy," she called. Lily felt her voice so quiet she wasn't even sure she had spoken at all, but Bellamy turned in her direction. His gaze, strangely, wasn't hard like it used to be. "Where's Clarke?" she asked, her fingers still trembling, but she was doing all her best not to show it.
Bellamy took a breath. "She, Jones, and Finn are burying Wells," he explained. And as she moved her gaze to look at the entrance of the dropship, he was quick to speak again. "No, Lily," he said, almost foreseeing her thoughts.
"Wells was Clarke's best friend," she said, looking down. "She must be devastated now."
"So what's the point for you to go there?" he asked, but there was no harshness in his voice, and his tone made her look up at him.
"She's my friend," she answered. "And Wells was my friend too."
"Lily—"
"I don't want to intrude on what you have to do," she said. Lily was not even sure if she felt brave enough to do what she wanted to do. But she hadn't been able to say goodbye to her mother or Grace. She wasn't even able to say goodbye to her father. But she wanted to do it with Wells, and support Clarke if she could, even if she was terrified of going out.
"I'll go alone," she kept saying, but he let out a breath, shaking his head in silence as his hands went to his hips.
"You really want to go?" he asked, after a moment of silence. Lily bit her lip, but finally she nodded her head. Bellamy studied her face, as if he was observing every inch of it, then he turned.
"Murphy, bring Lily to Clarke," he said to the other boy, who frowned, looking from Bellamy to Lily.
"Are you sure?" he asked incredulously.
"Do it," he said firmly, gesturing towards the entrance, before turning to Lily. "Stay with Murphy," he said, his voice quiet. Lily nodded, and with a last glance at Bellamy, she followed Murphy out of the dropship.
As she stepped outside, the woods had never seemed so dark. It was morning and it was a clear day, but the trees seemed threatening like never before. It was like she could not see properly. Has it always been like that?
"Come on, sweetie," Murphy's voice made her look at him, who was taking the knife from another boy sitting on the ground, looking closely at the trees. "We don't have all day." He then started to walk towards the woods. Lily looked down at her trembling hands once more, but then she closed her fingers into a fist and decided to follow Murphy. The path she already knew. She had taken it already in the last week, and yet everything felt so foreign.
"You look pale," she heard him say from a few feet ahead of her. "Why are you doing this if you're scared shitless?"
Lily looked at him as she followed. She was not ashamed of being scared; that was the most natural thing. "I am scared, but…" she lowered her gaze, "I just wanted to say goodbye."
"Dead people don't hear you," he said, but his tone was not aggressive, and it only made her frown in curiosity as she went back to look at him.
"Have you lost someone before?" At her question, Lily noticed his posture become stiff. Had she asked something too personal? Was she being too blunt? Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him stop in his tracks and turn to her with a dark glare.
"Who hasn't, sweetie?" he hissed, making her shiver as he stepped closer to her.
"I'm sorry," she was quick to say. "I didn't mean to—"
"I'm sure you are," he said, stopping right in front of her, leaning forward, but Lily didn't back away. "Pretty eyes and kind words. How far is this kindness going to take you, I wonder."
She had overstepped. She should have thought more before asking something. Murphy was unpredictable, and he seemed to hold in himself such rage that could burst out at any moment.
"I hope as long as I can go," she answered, looking up at him, her voice always calm. "I didn't want to make you angry," Lily said truthfully. "It was stupid on my part to ask you that."
He frowned at her words, observing her face closely, but he didn't walk away.
"You ask too many questions," he muttered, though his voice had lost some of its edge. "Not everything needs fixing, Lily."
Then he tilted his head slightly, a flicker of a smirk ghosting his lips. "And don't look at me like I'm your next patient. Come on."
She really felt sorry as she observed him moving away from her. She should have been more careful. Maybe she was some kind of privileged; at least she had the luck not to lose anyone by floating. But many of them had not shared her same experience, like Clarke, or Bellamy. Probably Murphy had the same experience. She didn't want to hurt him, but she dared not speak anymore until they reached the clearing where they had decided to bury Atom. Wells had chosen that place for the two kids who had died during the landing.
Clarke was kneeling on the ground, where they had already buried Wells. Finn was standing right behind her, while Jones observed everything from afar. Lily stepped into the clearing, passing by Murphy so that she could go and kneel next to Clarke. Lily's heart sank seeing her crying silently, her usual composure never leaving her even in times like that.
"I'm sorry, Clarke," she whispered after a moment of silence.
The other girl nodded her head, as another tear rolled down her cheek. "They didn't even let him have time to defend himself," Clarke said quietly. "They cut two of his fingers and then stabbed him in the throat."
Lily's lips tightened into a thin line, thinking of Wells alone in the woods surrounded by Grounders. She hoped that he did not suffer and she did all she could not to think about how scared he must have felt in those last moments. They had all been so naive to think that they could take watch on their own, but Lily too thought that it was enough.
If he wasn't alone, Wells could still be alive, she thought, touching the ground, freshly moved, where they had buried Wells.
"I've been horrible to him," Clarke whispered, making Lily turn to her. She was not understanding—weren't they best friends? Had something happened? "And he was only trying to protect me," then she quickly dried her tears, getting up from where she was kneeling. Lily didn't have the heart to tell her anything; she didn't know what had happened between them, and she didn't want to speak out of turn, like she had already done with Murphy before.
As Clarke got up and walked away, Lily shared a look full of sadness with Finn, before he turned to follow Clarke. Lily observed where they had disappeared for a moment, wishing for all of that to be a nightmare, and that she had yet to wake up. But she wasn't, because she was not dreaming, and the fear and the pain filled her once more.
"Come on, sweetie," Murphy's voice came from behind her. "We've been out here long enough." Lily touched the ground once again, closing her eyes thinking about Wells, but she didn't think only about him. In her mind were images of Atom, the two boys who had died during the landing, her mum, and Grace, Clarke's father, Bellamy's mother, and whoever Murphy might have lost. So much death in their lives—they had already lost so much because of the Ark and because of what they didn't know about the Earth. She hoped that all those people had finally found some peace in a world that seemed so eager to make them all suffer in one way or another.
Lily got up to follow Murphy, when something caught her eye.
"Where are you going?" Murphy asked her as she made her way towards a thick rhododendron bush bloomed with pale pink flowers.
"Can you give me your knife?" she asked after she had knelt down next to the flowers.
"Yeah, why would I do that?" he answered, just a few feet from her.
"Will it change the nature of your answer if I tell you?" she said, looking up at him. Murphy was looking at her and then he briefly looked at the flowers, before scoffing.
"This is seriously pointless," he scoffed, kneeling down with his knife in hand, reaching out to cut one flower, and quickly pushing it onto Lily's legs. Her eyes widened as she looked at him getting up, putting back his knife in the back of his pants.
"Can we go now?" Lily nodded her head before pulling herself up, brushing the dirt from her knees. Then she walked back to Wells' grave to put the flower down, moving as gently as she could, like her presence was disturbing him somehow.
"Goodbye, Wells," she muttered, caressing one last time the dirt of his grave.