We ran to the dorms, caps low over our eyes, but the commotion caused by the radiation leak was more than enough distraction to keep the eyes off us. People were screaming, tears running down their faces as they realized their loved ones were trapped on an irradiated level and were either dead or dying. Normally I would have felt sympathy, but right now my heart was just a lump of ice in my chest. Cage had killed Alex. And all he had done was try and help us. No. Try and help me save my Dad. I clenched my teeth, feeling nothing but hate for this place and the people in it.
"Tara?" Bellamy asked, glancing over at me. I ignored him and kept pressing on towards the dorms.
"Tara." He repeated, grabbing my arm and stopping me.
"What!" I snapped.
"He'll pay for what he did, but right now, I need you focussed." Bellamy said, shaking me slightly.
"Oh, I'm focussed." Focussed on killing Cage Wallace. Killing him, and then reviving him just to kill him again.
Bellamy glanced at the ceiling as though he were dealing with a particularly difficult child. The action annoyed me more than it should have.
"Look, I'm focussed, ok? Let's get our friends and get the hell out of this damned mountain. If I ever see it again, it will be too soon." I extracted my arm from his grip and continued my determined march toward the stairs. Right before the entrance to the stairs stood a little girl.
"Excuse me, ma'am." She chimed up, reaching up to tug on my sleeve. I turned to dismiss her, but paused when I saw her eyes. Green eyes. Alex's eyes. The resemblance between the two was uncanny.
"Have you seen my brother?" She asked.
"I-" My voice broke and just like that, my heart broke all over again, pain flooding in where the ice had been. I squatted down to her level to talk to her. "I haven't. But you know, I'm sure he loves you very much."
She rolled her eyes at that. "I know that." She smiled. "You don't think he's up there, do you?"
"No, I'm sure he's not." I told her. "Best go find your mom. Maybe she can help."
The girl ran off, her brown curls bouncing off her back as she ran. Bellamy approached and put his hand on my shoulder. In that moment, the only thing I wanted to do was lean into his comforting touch and mourn, but we didn't have time. I pulled myself to my feet.
"I'm fine." I told him. "I will be fine."
"You will." Bellamy nodded. "You're stronger than you know, Tara."
Together, the two of us climbed the stairs to level 5, holding our guns in an active shooter position. Bellamy motioned with two fingers, indicating for me to take the right side of the door when we entered. Kicking the door open, we rushed in and were relieved to see no live members of Mount Weather present.
"Tara, Bellamy, thank god." Monty rushed forward and pulled me into a tight hug. I returned it with enthusiasm.
"I'm so glad you're ok!" I told him, looking him over from head to toe.
"We won't be for much longer unless we get out of here." Bellamy said.
"There is no exit for this floor." Jasper said, shaking he head.
"Uh, guys?" Harper said, peering through the door. "Guards are coming."
"We need to secure this door." I said, releasing the clip from my gun to check how many bullets I had. It was fully loaded. 15 rounds.
"Fox is still out there." Jasper panicked. "They took her right before the breach."
I shared a look with Bellamy.
"I'll get her." Bellamy said, taking off for the stairs. "Secure this door behind me. Do NOT let anyone through."
"We can communicate through our earpieces." I told him. "Hurry."
He took off through the doors, running up the stairs just as a group of about 20 guards turned the corner from below.
"Here!" Monty shouted, handing me a piece of metal, broken off from one of the bunk beds. I threaded it through the door handles, effectively locking the doors, while Harper smashed the keypass scanner.
"This won't hold forever." She said to me, and I nodded.
"We need a barricade." Monty said. "Something easily defensible."
"We don't have long to build it…" Jasper said, looking around. I grabbed a table and flipped it over onto its side.
"No time like the present." I said, throwing more stuff onto the pile. The rest of the kids started helping and within a few moments we had constructed a semi usable barricade.
"Can we rig any quick traps?" I asked Monty. "Something that will get them to retreat quickly?"
Monty pursed his lips in thought, before his lightbulb moment.
"We're going to need water. And a lot of it." He said. Outside the guards rammed against the door. The bar holding it was going to give at any minute. Quickly I grabbed 4 of my friends and we rushed to fill buckets with water.
"Throw it on the floor by the door." Monty instructed as he pulled the smashed keycard scanner by the door off the wall. Beside us the door threatened to break as the force of whatever they were using to ram it was taking its toll on our makeshift lock.
"When they step in the water, I'll lower the wire." Monty said. I shook my head.
"I have a gun. I will be here by the door. You get behind the barricade."
"Tara, you can't…"
"Monty, I have to. I can't watch you die." Not again. I thought back on the horrible video footage I had seen of the experiments. His eyes were still black, and his arms covered with fading bruises and scratches. Harper looked about the same, and again I was struck by just how horrific the tortures were that the two of them had gone through. It made my time in the harvest chamber look like a vacation in comparison. But Monty looked at me with determination. His experience had not broken him. It had only reinforced his will of steel.
"We'll do it together. You shoot, I'll electrocute." He said in a tone that left no room for debate. I nodded, pressing my back against the wall by the door. Hopefully the soldiers would all rush in towards the barricade, and we could get as many as possible on the water before sending the electricity into it. I looked to Jasper and gave him a reassuring nod as he positioned himself and his gun behind the barricade.
"Remember," He told the group of poorly armed teens. "They won't kill us. That gives us the advantage."
The bar holding the door shut snapped as 10 guards, some in hazmat suits, some not, came crashing into the room. I recognized Emerson in the lead. Clearly he had found another uniform as his too big clothes were still draped over my frame.
"Now!" Jasper yelled, and Monty dropped the wire into the water. 7 of the guards in the water collapsed as electricity coursed through the water and into their systems. I took aim with my gun, but as I went to pull the trigger, the image of Alex's little sister flashed up in my mind.
Have you seen my brother?
These men were brothers...fathers… I didn't want to kill them. I only wanted to kill Cage.
"TARA!" Monty yelled, pulling me to the side and snapping me out of my reverie, just as a guard had leaped to grab me. Lost in my own thoughts, I hadn't seen him coming. Shaking my head, I took aim at him, and shot him in the leg. It wouldn't be fatal, but he wouldn't be coming after us again any time soon. Pleased that I had found the middle ground in my moral dilemma, I shot 6 more times, hitting 4 more guards in the leg.
"Retreat, retreat!" Emerson shouted, running back towards the door with his men. I took aim at him, but the shot went wide. He spun around, eye's locking on me and the clothes I was wearing.
"You…" He started to say, but never got to finished the sentence as his men grabbed their wounded brethren and hurried out of the dorm.
"Quick, seal the doors!" Jasper shouted, and Monty threaded the metal beam he had been using to defend himself through the handles.
"We did it!" Came the cheers. I wanted to cheer along with them, but felt hollow inside. I had nearly been taken because of my hesitancy to kill. Maybe Bellamy was right. I needed to focus.
"Tar, you ok?" Monty asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as I sunk down to the ground.
"It's been a hell of a day." I told him, my voice breaking as I filled him in on everything that had happened. When I was done, he didn't say anything, but he wrapped me in a tight hug and held me close in a way I didn't know I needed. I was so lucky to have him as my friend. I took a deep breath allowing the small act of comfort to act as a balm to my broken heart when a voice cracked out over the radio.
"I'm speaking to the kids who just killed 10 of my men and wounded 18."
"That's Cage." I said, handing the radio to Jasper.
"I thought we'd try something a little different this time. There's only 20 minutes of oxygen in Maya's suit. I know she's a friend of yours. In 20 minutes you friend will either suffocate or burn. But you can save her, all you have to do is surrender. She's right outside the door." Cage continued. I jumped to my feet and peered out the small glass window. Outside, Maya stood in a hazmat suit looking properly terrified.
"Quick, get her in here!" I said, pulling the metal bar from the door, and ushering her in.
"Maya, are you ok?!" Jasper asked, rushing to her side. She pressed her lips together and nodded, the very picture of someone who was trying hard to be brave. Anger coursed through me and I grabbed the radio from Jasper.
"Why are you doing this?!" I hissed at Cage. "She is one of your people! How do you even sleep at night?"
"Ah, Tara." Cage's voice slithered. "I was wondering when I'd hear from you. Tell you what. You give yourself over to me right now, and I'll add an extra 20 minutes of oxygen to Maya's suit. Give your friends longer to decide."
I clicked the button to speak, but I was speechless. I would do it. I would have to. Jasper would never forgive me if Maya died. At least with 40 minutes instead of 20 she would stand a chance. Before I could agree, Harper grabbed the radio from my hand, shaking her head violently.
"Think about it. It won't help. We'll figure this out now. Whatever happens, we are getting out of here together." She handed the radio to Monty who took great joy in telling Cage where he could shove his extra 20 minutes.
"Listen to me." Maya said, rushing over. "Bellamy is going to smuggle more guns in through the trash chute."
"If we can get guns in, we can get out!" Jasper exclaimed, a smile spilling over onto his face, but Monty shook his head.
"I disabled the trash chute! I didn't think we'd be trying to open it ourselves."
"Can we fix it?" I asked and Monty nodded.
"Hurry!" Jasper ushered us towards the trash chute to work. "We don't have time to spare." He clutched Maya's gloved hands looking at her with love and worry.
"I won't let you surrender." She whispered to him. A faint smile touched my lips at her undeterred optimism. Maybe we would find our way through this yet.
"Screwdriver." Monty instructed, holding out his hand to Harper. She passed him a Phillips head and he immediately got to work prying off the cover. I plugged in a soldering iron and got to work mending the wires that had been cut. Even working as fast as we could it seemed like only mere moments had passed before Maya glanced at her oxygen clock and said, "19 minutes have passed."
"They'll get it open." Jasper told her before turning to us. "You'll get it open, right?!"
"Screw this." Monty said, throwing down his tools, and slicing through a blue wire at the back.
"What did you do?" I asked him, peering in.
"Cut power to the modem."
I shook my head in awe and horror. "Someone pass me a damn crowbar." I shouted. Either it would be enough for us to force the shoot or all was lost anyways. A crowbar found my hands and together Monty and I pried the door open.
"There's someone in there!" Monty shouted, and I quickly pulled my gun on the person emerging.
"Bellamy!" I exclaimed in joy!
"Quick, get her in here!" He instructed. Together we got Maya into the chute and sliding down towards non radiated air. "C'mon now, the rest of you. Go. go!"
One by one the rest of the teens slid down the trash chute, escaping the floor, until it was just Bellamy, Monty and I. I ran over and grabbed the radio from the ground where Monty had thrown it.
"20 minutes is up." Cage's voice cracked through. "And I had so hoped to appeal to your morality. I guess we're going to have to do things the hard way. Just think, Tara, you could have given her more time. You could have saved her. Unlike poor, poor Alex."
My hands clenched into fists, but Bellamy grabbed the radio away from me before I could say anything I would regret.
"What he doesn't know will definitely hurt him. Maya is alive. Focus, Tara. Live to fight another day." Bellamy looked me deep in the eye as if he could impose his will on me through sheer pressure alone. I nodded once. I was already focussed. I had learned that lesson the hard way when Monty had saved me from the guard's tackle.
"I'm with you." I released a deep breath, handing the radio to Monty. "Let's go save our friends."