Chapter Text
With a cold splash of water Murphy sat bolt upright banging his head against the tree he was sitting against. The grounders were packing up their skins and putting out the small fire they made. 'Oh right, I was caught.' Murphy reminded himself looking down at the ropes knotted around his wrists willing them to break. 'Bellamy banished me from the dropship saying he would kill me if I stepped foot there again. Oh and what did I do? Get blamed for Charlotte killing Jahas kid. Not just blamed but hanged for it.'
"Up" The largest grounder hissed at him, yanking him up when he was too slow. "Walk or die." He said, shoving him, with his sword on the small of Murphy's back, forwards into the centre of their group of four. The three grounders had an array of weapons. The one at the front of the group had a large bow on his back and a curved sword in his right hand. He had a bone mask the covered his mouth. The one behind had a mace like object that had a large metal spiked ball at the end of a chain. He had daggers covering his coat. The last member, aside from him, had two swords out and was walking away from the rest keeping a look out.
The trees started to become more sparse as they entered a clearing. There was a small pond in near the other end of the clearing. They continued walking towards it only to stop just before it. The Grounders placed all wooden weapons on the bank and all but one removed their clothes, wading into the water and cleaning themselves off. The on who didn't kept a look out and an eye on Murphy.
Once the two in the pond had finished they emerged and dried themselves with bits of spare cloth. Once they were dressed the one who was guarding him got up and stripped off as well, indicating to Murphy. The horror on his face when he realised they wanted him to strip and bath in a pond with them was readable to the party. They shared a disinterested look and one stood to the side of him. "Either you bathe unclothed or you bathe with them on and wear them the rest of the walk soaking Skyperson." He started to remove his shoes as best he could with his hands tied together and, with the untying of the ropes for a second, was stripped down to his undergarments. The grounder and he walked into the pond and cleaned themselves of the mud and blood from the days travels.
--
Murphy was dressed again and they were moving. His movements were getting sluggish as the day drew to a close and he saw the harsh glow of torches in the distance. As they walked closer Murphy's heart started to beat faster. There were Grounders all around him, glaring and growling. The crowd that had gathered around them dispersed as a young grounder woman with long blond hair and harsh features walked up to them. She looked at him, pacing around studying him. "You are a Skyperson." She said to him. He nodded to her, already preferring telling the truth to lying. She looked at him and nodded to the Grounders who brought him there. She told them something in Grounder and off they started moving towards a small hut. The larger grounder in the group pushed him into the hut and connected chains from the walls and floor to his neck, wrists and ankles. The grounder left locking the door.
--
The door war opened and a young man came in holding a cloth wrap an his arms. He walked over to Murphy and put the pack down. "You have information, we want it." He said holding out a pair of iron pliers.
"I'm not telling you shit."Murphy spat out at the grounder. The grounder smirked and nodded apathetically. He picked up the pliers and grabbed Murphy's left wrist yanking it towards him. He put a foot on Murphy's chest preventing him from moving too much. He held onto the pinkie fingers nail with the pliers and prepared to pull.
"How many in your camp?" He said. Murphy just glared. He gripped the pliers and pulled quickly, ripping the nail from the finger and discarding it on the floor beside him. Murphy screamed out in pain. "How many in your camp?" He asked again preparing with the ring finger. Murphy spat out some blood on the grounder from where he had bitten his tongue from the pain. The grounder pulled the second nail off drawing a piercing scream from Murphy.
The screams kept coming as Murphy refused all five times he was asked to tell the torturer how many people were at the dropship. In tears and shaking was how the Grounder left Murphy that morning, leaving him some water and food. Murphy picked up the water and gulped it down quickly, ignoring the metallic taste in his mouth and ate the meat he had been given.
--
The grounder had come back in the afternoon that day and done the same treatment on the other hand asking "What weapons do you have?" And the next day to work on the feet asking "What defences do they have?" and "How skilled are their fighters?" which all ended with Murphy sobbing and screaming but giving no answers.
This morning he had come in with his bag and instead brought out a knife and belt.
"You going to talk today skyperson?" He said picking up the knife. Murphy just smirks at him.
"Never." The grounder looks at him and presses the knife the Murphy's left cheek. The knife breaks the skin and sinks deeper and the grounder starts to drag it down Murphy's face. Holding murphy's face still he pulls the knife off his face after twisting it and hearing the scream.
"Let's start again. Who is in your camp?" He says putting the knife next to the previous cut. Murphy kicks out at him defiantly. The grounds hisses and stabs the thigh of the leg that kicked him. Murphy screamed having the knife twisted and pulled out and then it cut his face being dragged down next to the previous one. Murphy cried out at the amount of pain he had had in that small amount of time, teach him to kick the guy with the knife.
The Grounder put the knife to his throat and pressed in, missing all vital areas, but still causing large amounts of pain. Murphy choked out "There are about 90 of us...Just kids."
He was breaking.
The next day the Grounder had come back in after leaving Murphy with his daily meat and water after he had answered him. "What weapons do they have?" He asked crouching next to Murphy. No answer. He gripped the leather belt and struck Murphy's right side of his face. He asked again and got no response so struck his harder hitting the area around Murphy's eye causing it to start swelling. This brutal attempt went on for 10 minutes until Murphy, coughing up blood and unable to see because of the swelling, gave in.
"Knives and guns... just those..." He told the grounder. The grounder left the hut 'To go tell the commander probably.' Murphy thought bitterly. 'What would Bellamy do to me if he found out I had given them information... It's not like I'll see them again or that I care what the traitorous bastard thinks...' He mulled over why he was thinking of the man who banished him and caused him to be in this mess right now at this time.
The grounder returned with what seemed like a cup of water with a yellow flower in it. The grounder went up to Murphy and gripped his jaw opening his mouth and forcing the liquid down his throat, the burning sensation that followed it traveling down him was abnormal. He was retching in seconds but stopped himself from throwing up as he didn't get much food during the day and didn't know when his next meal would be. The chains attaching him to the prison had dug into him and cut away at the skin around his ankles, wrists and neck. The grounder left him.
--
He heard a creak of the door to the hut. Opening his one working eye he saw the open door, and then noticed his chains were undone. He took the opportunity presented to run as best he could from the hut and out of the camp. He ran forwards away from the camp until he saw a grounder in the distance in front of him and to his right. He continued to move avoiding the grounders around him and making his way the only direction he could. Day started to break and he hoped he was far enough away from the camp to walk. That was when he saw the familiar walls that surrounded a familiar ship. He walked up to it hands up and arms out showing he was weaponless and limps to the gates.