Explosives

Bellamy:

We worked all day, but it felt hopeless. We barely made any progress. We still didn't have any word from the bunker. We definitely didn't know what these people were capable of.

We arrived at a river not far from Polis and immediately began to set up camp. It was nice knowing that even though the rest of the world was destroyed some areas were still the same.

"How about you guys finish setting up while Murphy and I go get us some food?" If we wanted to go back and make some progress on the rubble we needed to eat and sleep well. It had been so long since I'd been hunting. Since we got here Clarke had provided all the food.

Clarke turned around scanning the surroundings. Clearly still worried about any threats. "Should I come with you?" She tilted her head to one side. As much as I wanted to say yes, I couldn't.

"No one of us needs to be here." I could see the pain in her eyes, but she quickly pushed it away. She nodded getting ready to turn away, I quickly grabbed her wrist pulling her into me. "I'll be back soon," I whispered into her ear.

She pulled away shooting me a small smile. I turned towards Murphy who had his arms draped around Emori. I cleared my throat, signaling that it was time to go. We grabbed some guns and ammo, turning to take off into the forest.

We slowly made our way across the forest floor. Murphy had changed so much since we last left Earth. Maybe it was because his life didn't revolve around surviving anymore. He actually had time to be a human being. We had our differences while we were on Earth, but that was all left behind when we got back on the Ark. All of our relationships changed. We became very close, but that happens when you spend enough time with the same group of people. We faced many ups and downs together. We became a family.

"How long do you think it'll take until we get into the bunker?" Murphy asked pulling me from my thoughts.

"I wish I knew. We need something to make this process go faster because at the rate we're going it'll take weeks." Weeks that we couldn't risk remaining so vulnerable. There was no chance that they wouldn't come after us, especially since we hurt so many of their people. When the grounders attacked Jasper, we were fully prepared to kill anyone that came in our way.

We walked around for hours with no sign of life coming from any direction. It was quiet. Too quiet.

Suddenly it hit me. I stopped in my tracks as Murphy ran into me from behind. We weren't hunting at all, we were being hunted. I slowly turned around, taking in my surroundings. Looking for any tracks. Nothing.

"Run," I whispered to Murphy as I tried to keep my cool, not giving anything away. My eyes were piercing Murphy trying to get him to understand.

"Why?" He stared at me his face filled with confusion.

I grabbed his shoulders. "Listen to me, we need to run." I paused making sure he understood what I meant. "I'll run this way, you run that way. Don't run directly to camp." He gave me a nod. I handed him the radio. "I'll try to give you enough time to get away, take the radio and don't come after me. Get to the bunker first." He opened his mouth to question me, but I turned around and began running before he could.

I turned around running deeper into the forest. Soon I heard footsteps coming behind me. I didn't turn to look I just ran faster. My legs went numb as I kept running. I could hear Murphy yelling from a distance, but I couldn't make out the words. The blood pounding in my ears made it difficult to hear anything other than my heavy breathing.

I caught sight of someone running my way in a distance, I quickly turned hoping I'd lose them as I quickly turned corners. My vision began to go dark as my body hit a level of exhaustion I hadn't encountered. Hopefully, Murphy got away, if one of us was going to get away I needed to make this last. I cut around trees, running in zig zags. I heard gunshots coming from behind me, but that didn't stop me.

I keep running until suddenly a burning sensation fills my body. A large explosive goes off not far from me. I could feel my body fly weightlessly in the air. My body flew straight into a tree. My body quickly filled with pain. A paralyzing pain. My vision became blurry. All I could see were blobs of people surrounding me lifting me onto what felt like a gurney. My arms and legs were quickly strapped down.

As they took me away all I could do was hope that everyone else got away in time. Slowly I could feel myself slip into darkness.

Clarke:

"We have to go after him. We can't just let them take him." I could feel my body shaking as the anger filled my body.

Raven tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "No Clarke, Bellamy doesn't want that. If we go after him we could all die. As long as they have him they won't come after us. That gives us enough time to break everyone out." She was right. We couldn't let Bellamy's sacrifice go to waste. He knew what he was getting into, this was a part of his plan. When did he become the head to my heart? The roles really did change, but I needed to be both if I wanted to get him out.

"Okay. Do you think we can put together anything to move the rubble out faster?" Innovation was always Raven's thing and I'm sure she had a better idea of what to do than I did. We needed to get our people out before it was too late. I can't lose Bellamy again.

"Well, Monty and I were talking and we think burning through the rubble will be faster than trying to move it. If we create a little bomb it'll clear out the big chunks, followed by a fire to take out the smaller bits and pieces." I looked at her face, full of confidence. If anyone could save us, it would be Raven Reyes.

"Can you make a few spare bombs? It's clear these people have weapons and we need to be prepared to fight back." Madi leaned forward, her face wet from crying. I grabbed her hand and gave her a small smile. She laid her head on my lap as I caressed her hair.

"I can make a few. But we'll have to use them wisely." I laid my head back against the wall of the Rover. Silence filled the air. Murphy was laying in Emori's lap. Harper was leaning against Monty.

Emori reached her hand out placing it on my shoulder. "We'll get him back Clarke." I nodded at her, holding back my tears.

Soon we reached the river again. We decided it was best if we had two people on guard while the rest slept.

"I'll stand guard. I won't be able to sleep much anyway." I leaned over into the back of the Rover grabbing a gun, tucking small knives into my clothes just to be safe.

Monty walked up behind me placing a hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to do this. I can stand guard." I shook my head as I moved up on top of the hood of the Rover.

Echo decided to stand guard with me. I couldn't help but think if she was as concerned as I was. "You know you can come sit up here with me." She turned to look at me, but her eyes never met mine. It was as if she was deep in thought. "I miss him too."

She moved up hesitant to make eye contact with me. "You know he saved my life." She took a deep breath. "Before Praimfaya I was going to take my own life, but he saved me." I leaned forward placing my hand on hers. Her face fell as she reminisced about the past 6 years of her life. "I owe my life to him."

I gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry Echo." I didn't have anything to truly apologize for, but I was sorry. "I know what it feels like to watch someone you love, love someone else." A single tear flowed down Echo's cheek, she quickly wiped it away with her free hand. She tightened her grip of my hand.

We quickly jumped up as we heard footsteps coming from behind, but it was only Raven. Her face filled with exhaustion. Echo and I silently move over so Raven could join us on the hood. Everyone else seemed to be fast asleep.

She makes her way onto the hood silently tilting her head up to look at the sky. I reach over grabbing Raven's hand. "Thank you." I tilted my head back mimicking her position.

"Thank me when we get our people out of that hole." She sat up looking over at me, her eyes bright with inspiration. "I think I know how to make our bomb." She hopped off the hood and moved to the back.

I quickly jumped after her, my gun draped across my chest. Raven created a mixture in an old tin can, similar to the one she had used to blow up the bridge. She held it carefully in front of her eyeing it carefully. "I got it." A smile spread across her face as she carefully pulled the can closer to her. "We should try it now. The sooner we use it, the sooner we get to our people." I looked around at everyone sleeping, but I nodded in agreement.

"Let me wake everyone up first, the last thing we need is for everyone to wake up thinking we're under attack." Echo and I turn towards the camp to wake everyone.

I sit on the side of Madi's cot slowly nudging her. "Wake up my little Nightblood. We have work to do." Madi shifted in her cot still trying to hold on to the depth of her sleep. As soon as she realized where she was she jumped up, her soft green eyes meeting mine.

"What happened? Are we going to get Bellamy?" I could see a sadness fill her eyes as I shook my head. She let out a sigh as her face fell.

I pulled her in for a hug, running my fingers through her soft hair. "We WILL get him back," I whispered in her ear. She tightened her grip around me.

We slowly pull away as everyone is up and ready to get to work. Quickly packing up our tents and cots, we all pack into the Rover. I gently pull out as Raven gently grips the can next to me. If the explosion is too small, we'll still have a lot of work to do. If the explosion is too big someone can get severely injured.

I carefully escorted Raven out of the car once we reached Polis. We didn't want to waste any of our explosive material by being careless. "Okay, I set it down on top of the hill. We should move out to the other end just to be safe."

Once we were a safe distance away we all awaited as Raven set up her target. We were safe, but the idea of anything happening to anyone in the bunker made me nervous. I turned my back to Raven, I was too nervous to watch.

As she hit the target surely there was an explosion. This explosion was unlike I had ever heard. It sounded like a loud scream echoing throughout the wasteland. Scraps flew around landing everywhere. No one said anything. Silence filled the air. I couldn't get myself to turn around. I just stared aimlessly in a distance hoping everything was okay.

Eventually, I found the courage to turn around. Everyone was staring at the fire that was left behind. Mesmerized by the damage this small can had done. Smoke and flames filled the air, but no one moved. We just stood to wait for things to clear out.

All I could do was hope that the rubble was cleared. That everything was okay. That no one in the bunker was hurt because of the bomb we set to explode. The memories of Praimfaya haunted me as I stood there watching the flames burn. At least this time I wasn't alone.