Chapter 22:

"You were the one who came after me!" I screamed as loud as I could; and have been for the last twenty minutes. Last night Alex and I stayed up way too late talking about today. Breakout Day. I didn't get up until noon and avoided Adonis by going for a run around the wall surrounding the city. I thought he'd be gone by the time I came back, but I was still cautious when I entered the house. Still, I was dead wrong. Adonis was waiting for me when I got back. Thankfully Alex stuck around in case things got physical; which they did. It only took five minutes for that to happen. And only because I told him he was lucky to still have his life. I guess that's something you shouldn't tell the guy you just shot. But he is; I totally could've killed him. It's also a good thing that last night I told Alex what really happened, that night. And I can tell he's impressed with my capability to lie. Adonis is still yelling at me, as I'm thinking all of this.

"Come on, Don." Alex said, "You were so drunk I was surprised you could even stand."

"So you're both trying to tell me that I got drunk and then hunted her down?" Adonis pointed at me as Alex stepped in between us. He doesn't need to protect me; I can handle myself just fine. But I'll let him play the role of the protective brother. Just this once. None of this lying stuff would've worked had Adonis actually known what happened. Then I'd really be in for it.

"For the hundredth time," I yelled, "Yes!" What more can I say to this guy? We continued to argue for another twenty minutes. The whole time, Alex was just backing up what I said. In the end, we agreed to disagree. But Alex got him to agree to not try and kill me or Caleb. Poor guy; maybe someday he'll know that he's not totally crazy. He finally stormed upstairs, mumbling something as he went. I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat down on the couch; Alex did the same. "That…actually went pretty well."

"Yeah," he agreed, "Problem is, we still got ten hours to kill." We both looked at each other, and mentally agreed, that a nap is the first thing we should do. The late night, the argument with Adonis, the run I took this morning; all of it just sucked the life right out of me. But I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. When I woke up, the sky was dark; like the sun had just set. Guess I was out a lot longer than I thought. I walked down the stairs as Alex was getting the packs ready at the bar. "It's about time you got up. Caleb should be here soon."

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"About five hours. You've got time to go back to sleep, if you need too."

"No, thanks. I've fought wars with a lot less sleep than this." I tried to make my voice light and fluffy, like it was no big deal. I don't think he got it. Laid out on the bar were our four black back packs; each had a patch with 'Mt. Weather' on it, on the front of the bag. "You've got a really nice life here. You sure you're ready to leave it all for a group of strangers?" His hands stopped moving and he froze. He sighed and then looked at me. He had the same look on his face as he did when I first met him; like everything he had was fine, but his curiosity got the better of him. Not only does he want to get away from his dad but he's bored with the way things are.

"Yes, Yachara, I am." He glanced down, "Now are you going to help me with these packs or not?" At first he was serious and then he smiled.

"Yes, but first," I grabbed the bag closest to me. I found the corner of the patch and then tore it off of the bag. I then put the bag down and slapped the patch onto the counter. Then I looked at Alex, daring him to do it to. So he did. Once all of the bags were missing their patches, I put the patches in a pile on the counter. I pulled a hunting knife out of my pocket, one of the one's I carved my name into, and then drove it into the center of the pile. Then, we spent the next hour getting the bags ready; packing them full of guns, clips, a small medical kit, some glow sticks, and some MRE's.

"And since I think you're going to do something stupid, I'm putting a blanket and a small two person tent in yours." Alex told me as he shoved them into my bag. I don't think I'll need anything else but the guns. But what's a little extra weight when I'm kicking Mountain Men butt? Caleb showed up a little while later, dressed in black clothing like I told him. None of these guys has ever done anything like this before. Sure Alex and Adonis have their MM training and Caleb learned a lot from Bellamy when he was with the hundred, but nothing beats experience.
We started to go over the plan as Caleb did a quick once over in his bag. The only way we knew Adonis was still alive was when a girl walked into the house and headed straight for his room. I think that took all of us off guard, based on the looks we were passing around. But we brushed it off and kept talking; running the plan over and over. Eleven o'clock. Time to move. We were putting our packs on when Adonis came down the stairs.

"Let's get this over with," he said as Caleb handed him his pack.

"Okay," I exchanged looks with Alex and then continued, "Before we go, I want to remind everyone that once this is over… you can't come back. So if you'd like to grab something, now's the time to do it." As I spoke, Adonis put a small silver box into his bag.

"I'm good." He said.

"Yeah, I've got everything I need, too." Alex told me. I looked at Caleb and he nodded.

"Okay, then. You know your mission and you know what the goal is. So Alex and I will see you two in about an hour and a half, on the eighth floor of Mount Weather." Everyone nodded and then put their packs on. Alex and Caleb started heading for the door, with Adonis and I right behind them. I felt a hand on my arm, bring me to a stop. Then Adonis turned me toward him. I was preparing for him to break the deal he made with Alex, but then he leaned closer to me and whispered, "Take care of him." Then he walked away. Was he really concerned for his brother's life, or was he saying goodbye? I stood there in the house, taken off guard by what he said. I snapped out of it and ran outside to find him. I searched, but in the total darkness of night I could barely see Alex.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." I replied as I stared into darkness, "Did they already leave?"

"Yeah, and we should too." He replied, thinking he'll see his brother again. But I'm not so sure. We started walking toward Alex's car. The whole way there I was thinking about what Adonis said and not what my mission was. Which is not a good thing. In the past, when I haven't been in the right state of mind going into a battle, I've lost. And this time I can't lose; the stakes are too high. The amount of lives that could be lost is too high for me to lose this battle. The clock read '11:30' by the time Alex shut off the car. Right about now, Jade and Lincoln should be taking out the two guard posts. Inside the mountain however, there are the two guards at the gate and then two more on level eight. Everyone else is off duty and sleeping on the eleventh floor. Alex handed me my pack and then we started for the stairs. We went four levels, two stairs at a time, but then had to stop. Apparently Alex has a bad knee, he didn't tell me about, so we had to go a little slower. But we're making good time. At the sixth floor, Alex told me to go ahead and take out the guards. So I did.

I walked up to the eighth floor door and peaked in the window. A twenty foot long hallway, white as can be, separates me from the two guards. I pulled out a knife and then through the door open. I just started walking down the hall, at first. "No one's allowed on this level, at this time." One of the guards told me. Ten feet from the door and he pointed his gun at me. "Miss, I'm going to need you to turn around." Seven feet. "Miss!" Five feet. With both guns on me, I rolled forward onto the floor and I stopped moving two feet away from them. As they pulled the trigger and fired bullets at nothing, I stabbed one of the men in the thigh and then moved on to the next. I stood up, grabbing his gun with one hand and slitting his throat with the other. He fell to the ground with his finger still holding down the trigger. With my hand on his gun, I turned it, redirecting his aim into the other guy. Two down, zero to go. A split second later, the stair well door opened. I saw Alex's face just as the shooting stopped.

"You are so lucky these walls are sound proof."

"I know, right." I replied with a grin.

"You have a gun, why not use it?" he asked.

"Everyone knows, when you're on a mission, up close killing is better," I explained, "Bullets are for revenge kills. This is not revenge, this is business."

"I can see that." He glanced down at the two men.

"Come on," I took the card from his hand and swiped it at the door. It opened and we headed inside. Alex started with the ones right next to the door, while I headed down by where Clarke's cell was. I had five open before Clarke finally opened her door and came out. "Took you long enough."

"Well I had to be sure." She replied, "Did they get the letter?"

"I hope so," I said, "Otherwise, it's gonna be a lot harder to get out of here. But, in the mean time," I pointed to the key card in her hand, "Why don't you open some doors."

An hour later, the quarantine door opened. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked as Lincoln, Kane, Finn, and Adonis walked in.

"Heard you guys needed some help," Finn announced when he saw us.

"About time," Alex walked up to them and handed out key cards. Then he spent the next five minutes showing Lincoln how they worked. Shortly after that, Caleb showed up. He walked up to Adonis and tapped him on the shoulder. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Adonis gave his card to the person next to him. Then they started walking toward the exit at the other end of the hall. I ran behind them. "What are you guys doing?" Caleb turned to me.

"Something's come up that we need to take care of." He replied.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry we'll be fine. Just have to tie up a loose end. But I'll meet you outside the mountain." Without another word or before I had a chance to protest, he and Adonis left. I still have no idea where they're going. But I can't think about that now. Jade and Bellamy walk in through the other door. Bellamy stops to talk to Clarke, as Jade heads for the first locked door. So Bellamy's alive. I'll let you know later if that's a good thing or not. Alex gave Jade a card as I started taking a head count. There are supposed to be sixty-three of them, not including our little rescue group. With only twenty-one cells left to open, I started heading for the one cell Jacobsen doesn't want me to touch: Anya's.