When the person you love is hurt by someone, what would you do, and how far would you go?
I paced outside the bunker, unsure of my next steps. I was weak with emotion and needed to pull myself together if I was going to save the 44 inside the Mountain. Octavia suggested we go through reaper tunnels and strike when they open them to feed the reapers. It was a good plan, but something in me could agree. I needed to know that Lexa was safe, and for all we knew she was dead. I couldn't think of my next steps because I was clouded with the emotions that Lexa told me to bury. How could she do it? I looked at Lincoln who was waiting beside Octavia for his assignment.
"You need to take me to the path where you were attacked. I need to know that the Commander is safe before I proceed into the mountain" I spoke with a leveled voice I didn't know I had. I knew Octavia would protest, because she hated the Lexa, and she was anxious about every minute we wasted, we could be too late for Bellamy. I knew he would be okay, Bellamy was a leader, a survivor like me. Like all of us, we were all leaders in one way or another. Octavia stood and looked pissed.
"Clarke, you're wasting our damn time. and Bellamy doesn't have forever. The radio connection was cut, you said it yourself. They know he's in there, fuck the Commander we need to move now" She spoke with the same venom as before, when she found out I knew about the missile.
"I need her Octavia, she makes me strong. She's the love you have for your brother, she's like my Blake. I need to make sure she's okay. I can't breathe without knowing she is out there, possibly dead" I was taken back, and frankly a little scared. I had never admitted my feelings for anyone like that, and Octavia knew better than to challenge me when my heart was fully in a decision. She simply sighed and nodded, whispering something to Lincoln. I turned my back to her and looked at the path that Lexa took when she turned her back on me. I gritted my teeth and began to walk towards it.
"Clarke" I turned and looked at Octavia. She looked bothered with something, and I knew she was also worried about Indra. She cared, but we had been in survival mode for so long, that caring was the last thing we thought about. I nodded.
"I'm coming. Lincoln is going to run to Camp, grab more weapons and be back here in an hour. We have an hour to find her Clarke" She started walking towards me and I simply looked her in the eye, I appreciated what she was doing. She knew that if I found Lexa dead, I wouldn't know what to do. I would break. All she did was nod back.
I didn't know what I was going to find, and I think that's what scared me the most. I remember in the tent when I told her I could see through her, and that Lexa was above it all. If she could only see me now, scared, broken and unsure of anything. Emotional, and weak. What would I find, and would I be okay?
"Stick with the path, and keep your heads low, the monsters are out to play" Lincoln called as he began to run down the opposite path. Octavia looked at me and checked how many bullets she had in her side pistol. I noticed she wore Bellamy's necklace, and felt a twig of sadness. I was so worried about Lexa, what would I do if Bellamy died? He was my other half when it came to anything Ark related. He was the force, and I was the reason. Much like Lexa and I, and I smiled at the compassion. They were much alike, but so different. Octavia looked at me oddly.
"How can you smile at a time like this Clarke?" She looked sick, and concerned. I just looked at her and a twig broke ahead of us.
"Stay low to the ground" Octavia whispered "Lincoln told me that they have poison bullets that slowly kill you, but it turns you into a monster. It only takes roughly four to five minutes for the poison to take effect, and a couple hours to kill you. By that time you might have already killed yourself." She finished solemnly.
We stayed low to the ground, and kept hearing twigs cracking ahead of us. I pulled out my pistol, just in case the men saw us. I looked at the trees around us and saw bullet holes, and blood on the leaves. I pointed to it to Octavia, and she nodded. We heard footsteps ahead of us, and ducked behind a tree. I closed my eyes, and listened as the steps got closer.
"We captured the Commander's mother, and her apprentice of the camp. A couple others gave us trouble, but we took them out. We killed all that we could find sir, but they fought back and we lost many soldiers." A man grumbled into the walkie-talkie. "I know you wanted them for bone marrow, but they couldn't be subdued." My heart stopped and Octavia let out a cry. The man stopped walking and the leaves crunched under his boots at his halt. He looked around, obviously looking for where the noise came from.
"Good work Emerson, and Lexa and Clarke?" Cage's voice pour out of the black device and I felt sick. I closed my eyes and waited for Emerson to find us and kill us. It was only a matter of time. I could feel my heart race, and my neck sweat. I looked up at him, hiding in the bushes and the tree. He looked tired, but ecstatic at the same time. I was weak, and about to pass out when Octavia took my hand. She pointed to the other tree beside us and made a walking motion with her fingers. We were about to move when we heard Emerson's voice again. We froze.
"Lexa has been shot sir, it's only a matter of hours before she's dead. I shot her 3 times, she should only have an hour. As for her follower, well she'll be dead in minutes. Clarke is by the bunker door, I'm on my way to take her out. It seems she isn't as smart as we took her for sir" He chuckled and kept walking down the path that we had just walked. His voice became distant and soon we could hear his footsteps. I couldn't move, I didn't want to move. Lexa was dead, Indra was dead, my family and the people of the ark dead, for what? So they could live on the ground.
"Clarke we have to move, NOW, PLEASE." Octavia's plea broke me out of my frozen gaze at the ground. I looked up at her and choke back my tears, and our crawling became full out running. We heard the groaning and cries of the grounders ahead of us, and I started crying. I saw the blood on the leaves, and I stopped running. I could hear Lexa's voice and it stunned me. Octavia looked back and screamed.
"Clarke let's go NOW." I looked at her, but couldn't move. I couldn't face what was ahead of us. I couldn't move. Her words sounded so far, so close, and so sweet. Her voice was pained, but freeing. She was free. So unlike the Commander I had known. Octavia grabbed my arm and we began to run once again towards the 15 grounders that were laying lifelessly in front of us. Octavia ran to Indra and shook her.. Beside her laid Lexa. My mind went into overdrive and I dropped beside her.
"Lexa?" I said wildly, and touched her face. She was bleeding from her shoulder and her chest. She opened her eyes and revealed her beautiful grey eyes that I stared at so many hours ago. That I longed for, that I needed. I touched her face and she was cold to the touch, and I got angry. She was clearly giving up, and I was pissed. She smirked when I began to shake her, and that made me even more angry. I began to yell at the girl who was dying before my eyes.
""LEXA, WAKE UP, DON'T YOU DIE ON ME I NEED YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" I looked over at Octavia who was holding Indra in her arms. Indra was dead, and I couldn't save her, but I could save Lexa. I needed to save Lexa.
"THE MOUNTAIN MEN HAVE KILLED HALF THE CAMP. PLEASE WAKE UP, I NEED YOU. Please don't die… I-i-i love you Lexa." I shook her more, and gunshots went off behind us. Octavia turned and shot back, screaming wild grounder growls. We were past angry, we were livid. I turned from Lexa, kissed her cheek and hid behind a tree at shot at one of the guards. I hit him in the shoulder, and ran to him. I pulled out my knife and put it to his throat while Octavia killed the other 3 guards with ease.
"Give us the antidote to the poison bullets you use, or I will slit your throat and hunt down every single person in the mountain" I said belligerently. I needed answers and I wasn't going to be defied. The man laughed and I stabbed him in the hand, much like a book I read about the man named Jesus. Octavia walked over to me and broke his leg with her hands. "One more time, give us the antidote" He looked me in the eye and smiled.
"The antidote is reaper blood." His lips curled into a smile, he spit in my face and I slit his throat. I was in no mood to be defied. I looked at Octavia who looked horrified, and I looked back and Lexa before looking back at Octavia. I looked at Lexa, who was bleeding rapidly, and loosing color. She was dying, and I had to save her, and I knew what I had to do. I looked at Octavia in the eyes and said coldly without a breath...
"We need to go to the tunnels"