Breaking Point
Rayleigh's POV
Days have come and gone to which I don't even know how long I was in this pure white prison. My body was so weak that I barley left the bed. The only thing keeping me alive was Cassie coming by and hooking me up to a fluid IV and a blood bag. Although, that was the bare minimum she could do. Zasha kept a vigilante watch at my bedside when she could, sneaking in and out of my room through the hidden door.
As much as I hated to admit it, Cage's words kept echoing in my mind on a never-ending loop. "The only survivors of your people are the ones inside this mountain. When you helped your sister escape, you led her to her own death. There are no survivors from the Ark. The man you love is never coming to save you, the only way you'll ever see him again is when you finally die."
The only way I could ever escape from those words was to give in to the exhaustion and go deep into my subconscious mind; which is something I did when I was back on the Ark. I knew I could imagine something much better than what I was going through.
I awoke in a lush, green field, the sun beating down on my skin. A sweet-smelling breeze blew my hair behind me. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me, warm lips trailing kisses down the side of my neck. I leaned back against his shoulders, tilting my head back and closing my eyes.
"Look at me." he whispered, his breath warm against my ear.
My eyes fluttered open as I turned in his direction, meeting a pair of beautiful brown eyes that I've missed looking into. My heartbeat picked and I felt my lips curl into a smile. I wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head against his chest, sighing heavily. He returned the embrace, his chin resting on the top of my head. "Bellamy." I sighed, breathing in his scent. "I've missed you."
"Not as much as I've missed you, Ray." Bellamy whispered, kissing the top of my head.
I looked up, gazing into his eyes. My face inched towards his and I met his lips, every nerve in body igniting.
Third Person POV
Mount Weather
Cassie led Maya, Monty, and Jasper down a dimly lit hallway with flickering lights. "Rayleigh's room is just up here." she informed.
"How can we be sure you're telling us the truth?" Monty asked, still skeptical.
Cassie stopped in front of a door and opened it, motioning for them to go inside. Jasper and Monty walked inside, their eyes widening and jaws dropping as they saw Rayleigh laying in the bed, and someone they didn't know sitting beside her.
"Who're they?" Zasha asked, standing up, her eyes focused on Monty and Jasper.
"It's okay Zasha." Cassie assured. "They're friends of Rayleigh's."
Jasper approached the bed, noticing a wrap around her forearm. "What's that?" he lightly touched the wrap.
Zasha sighed, "Just a few hours ago, Cage came in with Lorelei and she filled a large bag with her blood." she informed.
"That would explain why she's so pale." Monty noted. "I knew she'd never abandon us."
"Cage is trying to break her." Cassie informed, her and Maya stepping up to the foot of the bed. "The only reason her body hasn't completely shut down is because I've been giving her a fluid mixture containing vitamins. She's pushing through for you guys."
Jasper tucked loose hair behind her ear, processing the sight before him. "Dante said she escaped with Clarke." he muttered.
"Another lie." Zasha rebuked. "She let her sister escape alone. Cage threw her in here after she willingly surrendered."
"Rayleigh would never surrender." Monty stated. "She's our leader."
"And that's why she chose to stay." Zasha replied, her eyes meeting Monty's. "A leader never abandons her people." she took a deep breath, focusing on Rayleigh. "She chose to stay so she could make sure you and your friends lived. Consider yourselves lucky, she'd die for you."
"If Clarke got out, we can, too." Monty noted.
"You'll never make it." Cassie informed. "Ever since Clarke disappeared, security all around the mountain has been increased."
"We're not leaving." Jasper stated, taking Rayleigh's hand. "I won't leave the others behind. It'll mean they end up like Rayleigh, or worse."
"What choice do we have?" Monty asked.
"We volunteer." Jasper answered. He squeezed Rayleigh's hand once. "Recover Ray, I'll take care of them until then." he promised.
Rayleigh's fingers gently clasped Jasper's, a light whimper escaping her.
Rayleigh's POV
I laid on the lush grass, watching the clouds roll across the sky. Bellamy ran his fingers through my hair, his body next to mine. I knew it wasn't real, but anything was better than what was really happening to me.
I turned my head to the side and gazed into his brown eyes, my heart fluttering in my chest. I reached out to caress his cheek, his skin warm against my palm. "I need you Bellamy." I whispered.
He leaned down and captured my lips with his own, pulling my body up to meet him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself closer to him, while his arms snaked around my lower back. I opened my mouth wider and his tongue slid past my teeth as mine did the same to him, my fingers twisting the ends of his hair.
Bellamy pulled away first, holding me against his chest. "I'm always here." he told me, caressing my upper arm. "I've never left you."
"I'm tired." I admitted.
"Don't give up." Bellamy advised, adjusting my body so I was across his lap. "Our people need you to fight." He kissed my temple before touching his forehead to mine. "I need you to live." his lips brushed over mine as his hands roamed my back.
I turned my face slightly and deepened the kiss, running my fingers through his dark hair. I pulled away, sighing heavily. "I love you." I whispered, meeting his eyes once more.
A smile crossed his lips as one of his hands moved to cup the side of my face. He pecked my lips lightly. "I love you too." he replied, caressing my cheek.
Reality came back into focus. I awoke in the white prison, slowly sitting up and wincing at the pain in my ribs. I bit my lip, suppressing the tears that were threatening to spill over. I reached up and caressed the necklace charm, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
"Okay Bell." I whispered. "I'll try and stay alive a little while longer."
The door to my room opened and I gasped, scooting back against the pillows as Cage, Emerson, and Lovejoy entered. "Looks like she's starting to fear us." Lovejoy snickered.
"Guess she's starting to break, sir." Emerson noted.
I narrowed my eyes into a harsh glare. Cage just scoffed. "Well, what I have planned for her next should finish the job." he stated. "Take her."
The two security guards approached either side of my bed and pushed me off, grabbing my arms and lifting me off the floor. Since I haven't eaten in God knows how many days I wasn't up to fighting strength. Emerson held me in a vice grip as Lovejoy shoved a cloth over my nose and mouth, everything going black in seconds.
Third Person POV
Mount Weather
Jasper recruited Monty, Miller, and Harper for a job that catered to their criminal backgrounds. They formulated a plan to break into Dante's office in order to find out the truth.
"We have to hurry." Jasper reminded. "Today, Monty."
"I'm going as fast as I can." Monty replied, picking the lock to Dante's office.
Miller kept glancing at each camera around them. "Relax." Jasper assured. "Maya's decontaminating the surveillance room. No one's watching. We got this."
"If we can get that door open." Miller added.
The lock clicked and Monty grinned, turning to look at the others. "Ye of little faith." he chuckled, opening the door and slipping inside.
"That's my boy." Jasper praised. "Come on, let's move. Harper, watch the hall."
Harper sighed heavily, "Why do I have to watch the hall?" she asked, slightly disappointed.
"Monty's good with computers and Miller's a thief." Jasper defended.
The lone girl raised an eyebrow, "Why can't you watch the hall?"
"I'm the mastermind." Jasper grinned. Harper scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Just go watch the hall." Jasper told her, slipping inside the office as Harper turned her back and kept watch.
Monty knelt behind Dante's desk and found his computer, a grin spreading across his face. He opened the lid and clicked the mouse, a login screen popping up. Miller lowered his head. "It's password protected." he sighed.
"We'll see about that." Monty chuckled, cracking his knuckles and working his hacking magic.
"And they said we wouldn't amount to anything." Jasper smirked, shaking his head. He continued snooping around the office, while Miller looked through various files and Monty was busy hacking into Dante's laptop.
"Damn, I'm good." Monty gloated as he pulled up surveillance pictures of Camp Jaha. "They're alive." he told the other two boys, going through all the photos. "That looks like Alpha station."
"It is Alpha station." Miller confirmed, grabbing a few important documents he found. "Now what?"
"Now, we get a plan together." Jasper voted.
Rayleigh's POV
When my senses returned, I found myself sitting on a metal chair in an unknown, dark room. "Where the hell am I?"
"You'll see soon enough." Cage answered, gripping my shoulders tightly, making me wince. He held a walkie to his mouth, "Bring her in Lorelei."
A door opposite me opened with a rustic screech and I jumped up, ready to attack if I needed to. My body relaxed when a familiar girl stepped through the door. "Rayleigh." she sighed, running up to me.
"Harper." I met her and embraced her tightly, sighing in relief. "You're okay."
"I knew you were still alive." Harper said, pulling away. "No offense, Princess, but you've looked better."
I chuckled, "It's so good to see you." I hugged her again.
"Alpha's on the ground." she whispered in my ear. "We have people out there."
"I knew it." I whispered back. "Clarke will find them, and we'll be outta here soon."
Lorelei Tsing entered the room and nodded her head. Cage held me back as Emerson grabbed Harper and led her back the way she entered. The light's suddenly came on, revealing 47 cages lining the two side walls and a metal exam table was in the middle.
"What the hell is going on here Cage?" I growled, struggling to free myself. Tsing opened one of the cages and Emerson gripped Harper, lifting her into one. I struggled more, "No, leave her alone." I turned to Cage. "You want me. Let Harper go. I won't resist, just please let her go."
"I told you I was going to break you." Cage reminded. "That's exactly what's gonna happen." He grabbed one of my arms and Emerson grabbed the other, shoving me towards the exam table.
I reared back and kicked Cage in the legs, using my free arm to slug Emerson. Despite being weakened, I kept up a strong front and put up a decent fight. However, I fought one wave of dizziness and Emerson took that opportunity to shove me into the metal table, where I split my forehead on the edge. Blood ran down the side of my face, making the dizziness worse.
"Strap her down." Lorelei ordered.
Emerson kicked me in the ribs a couple more times before stepping on my throat. "If you resist," he glanced at Harper, who was cowering in a cage, tears falling down her cheeks. "she dies." He pulled me up by the front of my black shirt and threw me down onto the exam table, maneuvering my body so I was on my stomach. Emerson moved to strap my legs down first.
I moved my head so I was looking at Cage, "How very 50 Shades of you." I noted. "You really get off on torture huh?" That earned me a punch to the jaw, my lip splitting. "You really are one sick bastard."
After strapping down my legs, Emerson cuffed my left arm then my right. I craned my neck and bit his arm, latching down as hard as I could. He reared his elbow back into my eye, making me let go. "Lock her neck down." Cage ordered, moving to stand in my line of sight. "If you had just escaped with your sister, you would've saved yourself this torment."
"Then you'd be doing this to one of my friends." I noted, blood slowly pooling in my mouth from my busted lip. "A leader does what's best for her people, even if that means enduring any amount of torture thrown at her."
Emerson strapped a large, leather choke collar around my neck as Cage just smirked down at me. "Anything else, sir?" Emerson questioned.
Cage shook his head, but turned to Lorelei, whispering something in her ear. She pulled away, "You really wanna break her, don't you?" she asked.
"Break the leader, her followers will loose their will to fight back." Cage noted, giving me a smirk.
Harper banged on her cage, "Please, let her go." she cried. "Let us go! We just wanna go home."
Cage walked up to her, glancing between the two of us, "So do we." he informed.
Dr. Tsing injected some kind of drug into my neck, instantly making me tense up. A burning sensation coursed throughout my body and I struggled against the restraints. I tried to regulate my breathing, taking deep breaths and exhaling slowly. Cage looked down at me, "Now, we're gonna have some fun." he chuckled.
I spit blood right into his face, glaring at him. "You're one sick son of a bitch, getting off on torturing young girls." I spat. "Pretty sure whatever you're planning on doing to me was illegal a hundred years ago."
Cage took a suture needle and gently ran it down the side of my face. My nerves ignited and it felt like someone was slicing me with a butcher knife. I bit my lip so hard blood dripped down my chin, suppressing the scream building in my throat.
"What did you inject her with?" Harper asked.
"Just a little something to increase her nerve sensitivity." Lorelei answered, cutting the back of my shirt. The cool air felt almost like frostbite against my bare skin, making my toes curl. She lightly pressed on the soft tissue on the back of my left hip, which felt like someone was pounding on it with a ten pound weight.
"Please, don't." Harper begged, gripping the grate of her cage. "Don't hurt her."
"Close your eyes Harper." I told her. "Just close your eyes. Everything's gonna be okay."
A sharp pain radiated down my entire left side as Tsing pressed the blade of the scalpel into the tissue. "The hip has the largest marrow pocket." she informed. "We'll begin the aspiration there."
"I don't need to know the details." Cage told her, standing by the door Harper came through. "Just do it."
I heard the whirring of a drill and fisted the blanket underneath me. Lorelei shoved the drill end into the cut on my hip and my entire body tensed, like I was being cut by thousands of knives from every direction while standing in the middle of a roaring bonfire. Harper screamed, begging them to stop. I closed my eyes and tried to will myself into my subconscious, but even that couldn't be done. Tears fell down my face as my body was engulfed in fire and pain. Finally, I let out a scream that could only be made by someone close to dying.
"I'm sorry Bellamy." I cried. "I can't do this anymore." Even with my eyes closed, the pain never stopped. All I could do was wait for it to stop, to wait to die.
