Chapter 28:
As much as Clarke wanted to see Lexa or even just talk to her before she put herself at risk again, she just couldn't. She had to remain completely focused and couldn't risk the pain that came with trying to talk to her.
When they left the bunker, she was covered so as not to be made and they moved as quietly as they could in case there were look outs watching the bunker entrance. They could feel the heat from the fire and hear the sounds of timber burning as they made their way onto the main street and down it to its natural end. Clarke and Octavia went to the right and located their cover Emori and Murphy had setup for them. Indra went in the other direction to find the cover they'd setup for her.
Kane was on his way with the majority of their population, but Clarke watched as grounder warriors and Ark guards began to trickle into the town as planned to get into their positions. The swordsmen of their group would be at the front line in case it got to hand to hand and the rest of the people would be behind and would escape if needed. Now, all that was left to do was wait and watch part of the forest in a controlled burn around them until the enemy made their move.
The heat from the fire was probably the one thing that kept her awake. She was exhausted and despite the fact that they were about to go into battle, it was the heat that made them all uncomfortable and kept them awake; though not necessarily the most alert.
It felt like weeks had passed, but it had only been hours before they started hearing the army move around them. They were clearly trying to be quiet, but it would be difficult to keep a group that size completely silent.
"It's happening, isn't it?" Octavia whispered.
Clarke nodded.
Again, they'd have to wait and Clarke hated waiting.
"We're good." Raven stated into the radio that Clarke held to her mouth, but had dialed the volume nearly all the way down so as not to be heard by others. "They're making their way around like we want. Looks like she left some behind though."
"How many? Can you tell?"
"It's still too dark, but at least a hundred; maybe more."
"We can handle that." Clarke told her.
She thought about the guards and archers that were stationed at the top of the bunker entrance hidden by the darkness for now and then by some light cover they'd setup once the sun rose, which would be happening soon.
"We're ready, Clarke." Octavia encouraged. "This is a good plan."
"I know. I just-"
"Wish that she were here?" Octavia checked. "I know. I wish he were here too."
Clarke heard heavy footsteps trying to be soft as Nerva's army, which sounded large, but she couldn't tell how large just by listening, move around them. They were silent and they were hidden well. Everything depended on them remaining that way. Murphy and others had setup barriers in between the buildings up and down main street. They'd done it very well apparently since Clarke and Octavia were hidden alongside two guards with guns, while Clarke had one of her own and Octavia had two swords and a couple of spare knives. They could hear the soldiers around them grumbling about having to walk all the way around the main street and somewhat around the fire as well just to get back to the entrance of the bunker. She heard a few complaints about Nerva's leadership, which was encouraging, but she also heard a few soldiers talking about how they believe she's right and that they should destroy all the other clans and take over the world. That was less encouraging.
Everyone was on high alert by the time the sun began to rise and shapes muddled by darkness began turning into soldiers with bows & arrows, swords, knives, staffs and just about every other weapon Clarke had ever seen a grounder carry. They were hidden on the outside of two long rows of vehicles that would allow them to walk toward the end of the rows and rows of soldiers Nerva had preparing to attack. The sound of the soldiers was just enough to drown out her call to Raven saying she was going in. Octavia nodded and gripped her swords in each hand and they crept along their cover. Clarke's heart was pumping hard. She'd been in battles before. It should really expect this from her by now, but every time she went through something like this, she felt as if it might rupture inside her chest.
When they made it to the end of their cover and ducked down so as not to be seen, Octavia pointed in the direction straight ahead and it was then that Clarke noticed one woman atop a beautiful white horse. She had long, red hair that matched the fire that was finally beginning to die down around the bunker. Her war paint was streaked across her face in white mostly with slight blue tint to it as if she was imitating Ice Nation. She had two swords; one hanging over each side and she was pointing at a grouping of soldiers that had been laughing and without even a word from her, they stopped.
She nodded at Octavia and took a few steps outside of their cover. She dropped her gun to the ground and Octavia picked it up for her and stowed it. Clarke knew that they'd just take it off her anyway.
"Nerva, you wanted Wanheda?" Clarke half-yelled and watched as every eye around her turned in her direction. "You got her."
"Hon daun Wanheda!" Take Wanheda! Nerva yelled and soldiers near Clarke grabbed her as she stood in place; not resisting.
"We should talk." Clarke told her.
"We need not speak." Nerva climbed off of her horse and placed two hands over one of her swords. "You made a mistake by identifying yourself and now I will kill you."
Cars were heard approaching from the sides and there were guards with guns aimed at Nerva's soldiers out the top. Her soldiers lifted their swords and watched the guards, but didn't take any action.
"Like I said, we should talk." Clarke repeated.
"You think your guns scare me? You don't have enough to kill every one of my soldiers."
"I don't think I'll need too. I don't think they're all as loyal as you think they are."
"If they're not, they'll die either way." Nerva returned.
"We can all exist peacefully. You don't have to do this." Clarke tried reason.
"The world is ending again and only the strong will survive." She paused and glared coldly at Clarke. "I intend to be the strongest."
"You don't have to kill everyone to be the strongest."
"Maybe not, but I want too."
Clarke knew everyone had been right about Nerva. There would be no reasoning with her.
"You know we'll fight." Clarke replied with confidence.
"You'll lose. Just the fact that you revealed yourself before the battle even began shows you're not the leader your people think you are." She scoffed. "I wonder why Akoni had any trouble with you at all."
"Akoni?" Clarke recalled the last time she saw his bloody body in that tent.
"He was one of mine. Did he not tell you?" She looked around and then back at Clarke. She recalled that Akoni had mentioned having allies. She'd just never put it together that this could mean he'd been working for Nerva. "He liked to believe he was in charge, but his soldiers were really my soldiers. He was supposed to find you and bring you to me, but he got greedy. I should have known his relationship with his sister; though nearly non-existent would get in the way." She paused. "Still… I wonder how you were able to defeat him given this display."
She removed her sword and held it out. Clarke could hear the guards move their guns slightly more into position. The arms around her tightened.
"You had a chance to end this." Clarke told her. "Remember that."
Just then another jeep sped into the crowd and the brakes squealed to a stop when it was only about ten feet away from Clarke and Nerva who had moved within a few feet of her. The soldiers around them had backed away from the jeep to allow it to stop, but then moved back toward it until they noticed two men with guns pointed down on them from the top and the door on the passenger's side opened and Clarke saw Bellamy climb out with his gun pointed. Jasper was behind the wheel and she could make out Monty in the back seat looking slightly nervous.
"This is your weapon?" Nerva mocked as she took in Bellamy who approached in full on guard gear.
"Bellamy, what are you doing here?"
"You didn't tell me you planned to use yourself as bait, Clarke." He told her and got slightly closer to them with gun pointed squarely at Nerva.
"If you use that, my people will kill her before your soldiers can kill all of them." She reminded him.
"How about I just take her away?" He tried and took another step.
Clarke was furious. Bellamy was supposed to be in Denver. He was not a part of her plan. He could ruin the whole thing.
"Bellamy, go!" Clarke ordered.
"Clarke, this is-"
"Bell!" Octavia yelled and revealed herself. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Bellamy's attention was taken away from Nerva as his head turned to see his sister and Clarke watched as Nerva pulled out his taser wand from his belt and before he could turn back, she had it on and connected to his neck. The electricity jolted through his body and he fell to the ground. One of her soldiers picked up his gun as he lay there trying to gather himself and Clarke heard Octavia yell and start to move toward them.
"Don't fire!" She yelled at her guards, but before she could give any further instruction, the taser had been placed against her skin too and she felt what Bellamy had just felt.
She could hear voices, but they were muddled and her vision started to blur, but she could swear she was in the little house she shared with Lexa before she returned to the world. She felt another jolt and saw Lexa standing over her in that house more clearly. She could see her mouthing "Clarke," but couldn't hear the words.
She was back in the world and watched Bellamy begin to stand before she saw the soldier that had taken his gun, point it at Bellamy's leg and fire. He gripped his leg in pain and Clarke could swear she could feel that pain herself as another jolt of electricity ran through her body. This was not how this was supposed to go. The plan had been a simple one. If they couldn't get Nerva to stand down, she'd be killed and Clarke would work to convince the rest of her army to stand down or die. She knew some would fight. There'd be no way around that, but Clarke's people had the advantage. She knew they'd kill who they had to and save those they could in the bunker. If there were others that still opposed them outside, they'd be dead once the radiation came if they didn't just give up and go away before that.
Because of Bellamy's unexpected arrival, she was now in extreme pain and barely hanging onto the world with the feeling that Lexa was trying to pull her into her own to check on her. She heard another shot and then more. She watched as Octavia used Clarke's gun to shoot as many soldiers as she could and then the guards in the jeeps started firing too. She could see Nerva's sword in front of her and the other one she had holstered at her waist and she knew what she had to do to get herself out of this. She closed her eyes and reached her mind out toward Lexa. She could feel more pain in her head now, but focused even harder on Lexa; attempting to somehow draw strength from her.
Moments later, she woke up in their small shared house. She'd accidentally transported herself here again.
"No, no, no." She repeated to herself as she looked around the house. "Lexa!" She yelled. "Lexa!"
Lexa didn't know where she was, but after a few moments, she knew at least that she was in a battle and the woman in front of her with a long sword and red hair was intending to kill her. She mustered her strength and dodged the swipe of the sword with a movement. She could hear gun shots around her and saw bodies falling to the ground, but the woman in front of her was still attacking. She moved away from the sword again and reached for the woman's holster to pull out her other sword and met the red head's sword with her own just above her head. It was then that she saw part of her small reflection in the metal and realized she wasn't herself. She was Clarke. This was real.
That realization made her falter and the woman in front of her regained her own composure at Clarke's apparent sword skills. She struck her and scraped Clarke's arm. Lexa felt the pain and the warmth of the blood, but began fighting back. She saw Indra off to the left waving her own sword and taking out soldiers as she did and Lexa knew this was Clarke's battle. This woman in front of her was Clarke's enemy; the woman who had intended to kill Clarke and their people. The Commander in her returned in full force as she grunted through every plunge of the sword and dive to miss Nerva's.
"You're better than I thought you'd be, Wanheda!" The woman told her.
"It's Heda!" Lexa asserted as Clarke and in one swift motion, she knelt, blocked Nerva's sword, grabbed a knife from a downed soldiers leg holster and plunged it into Nerva's calf. The woman yelped in pain and Lexa stood again.
Octavia was fighting to get toward her brother. She had long run out of bullets and she sensed the guards in the jeeps were about to run out as well and they were not ready for hand to hand.
"Raven, now!" She called into the radio and then threw it to the ground to resume her fighting.
Moments later, strategically placed bombs began going off in the middle of Nerva's eager army. Raven had placed mines in the ground far enough away so their people wouldn't be taken out too.
Just then, Octavia heard the sounds of yells coming from behind the mass of Nerva's army and recognized the cries as those of battle from the grounders. The others had arrived just in time. She heard the guns, but knew that there were swords and bows working the back of Nerva's army while their small force attacked the front.
"We've got to go." She yelled at the jeeps. The guards nodded that they understood. "Go back to the bunker!" She yelled as Jasper and Monty who had no idea what to do in their jeep since it had clearly not gone as they'd hoped. Jasper floored the car in reverse and drove away.
Octavia watched as the other jeeps turned and began moving back toward the main street. Soldiers began running to follow. She could see her brother on the ground gripping his leg in pain, but knew she could do nothing to help him now. She continued fighting for a moment; taking out an enemy before turning and running back toward the bunker leading them in that direction so that the guards and archers could take them out.
Indra killed two soldiers at once with a swipe of her swords before moving past their bodies to see Bellamy lying on the ground. She only had a second to notice him though before she was back fighting again. She made her way toward him though as she did and after putting the enemy down, she looked at him again.
"Can you walk?" She asked him with quickened breath as she used her sword to kill again.
"No." He confessed reluctantly as he tried to stop the blood that was rushing out of his leg. "I think it hit something. I can't stop the bleeding."
Indra noticed the amount of blood on the ground and the pallor of his skin. She knew he was likely to die. She knew there wasn't much they could do to help him and that she should keep fighting.
"It will make no difference, but here." She threw a small pouch she'd removed from her hip in his direction and continued her battle. "It's from a healer. Made to help stop the blood." She jutted a sword in the direction of a soldier.
She helped Bellamy because he'd helped her that day when Pike wanted to kill her along with the others, but that was the best she could do in the middle of a battle. She turned and watched as Octavia ran toward the bunker and knew it was time for her to draw more of the soldiers in that direction as well. She could hear their own people making progress toward the rear and took out two more enemies before making her way toward the street.
She watched out of the side of her eye as Clarke wielded a strong sword against Nerva and couldn't help think that her fighting style looked familiar.
Bellamy removed his hands from his wound and gripped the pouch at the same time, he pulled it open and stuck his hand inside feeling a paste against his bloody hand and pressed a large amount of it over his pants and his wound.
"It's you." A man stood over him. Bellamy knew it was one of their own. They'd begun to make it through the mass of Nerva's soldiers.
"Can you…" Bellamy held out the pouch for the man to take.
"You killed my wife and my son on that field." He knelt down on one knee and took the pouch from Bellamy. He tossed it aside and took a look around. Everyone seemed to be distracted and not paying attention to the two of them.
Bellamy realized that he couldn't feel the pain from his wound anymore. In fact, he couldn't feel anything below his waist. It was as if his body were going numb. He was cold. He felt very cold and his lips began to tremble.
"I'm sorry." Bellamy told the man above him.
"Your apology won't bring them back." The man reminded.
There was a sword flying in the man's direction and Bellamy tried to summon the energy to warn him in time, but he couldn't as the soldier behind the man ran his sword through the man's stomach, withdrew it, and the man fell on top of Bellamy's stomach dead.
Bellamy turned his head slightly and watched as Clarke continued to battle Nerva. He knew he'd been wrong not to trust her time and time again. He'd been wrong to show up today and he'd pay for that mistake with his life. He closed his eyes and thought of Octavia and begged whoever might be listening to the thoughts in his head that she might forgive him one day and that everyone else might too. He opened them one more time, looked at Clarke who now had Nerva on her knees and was holding a sword to her neck and knew their people were in capable hands. He closed his eyes once more for the last time.
"You've bested me, Wanheda. Take your reward." Nerva instructed her.
Lexa felt blood pouring from her nose; Clarke's nose. She felt the pain in her head that Clarke must feel when she pushes herself too hard. She started to tell herself to push it out of her mind and actually began to feel the pain lessen ever so slightly, but while focusing on that, she'd missed the fact that Nerva had managed to pick up the taser wand again and connected it with her leg. Clarke's body wavered slightly and then Lexa found herself in the house she shared with Clarke.
"No!" She said to herself realizing that Clarke must be back in her own body and there was nothing she could do about it. "No."
While Clarke had been in the city, she made a guess that the electricity from the wand had somehow shorted the AI in her head and caused her consciousness to switch with Lexa's. It had been a scary thought, but almost immediately after thinking it, she found herself with a headache, a nose bleed and a shaky set of legs, but with a sword in her hand facing Nerva. She had no idea what had happened, but she somehow knew Lexa was the reason the woman was on her knees. Clarke waved the sword at the wand before it could connect with her body again and then held the sword back to Nerva's neck.
"You could have come peacefully." Clarke told her.
"I've never been a peaceful person."
Clarke lowered the sword slightly to hover inches above Nerva's chest. She thought for a moment about what she should do. She knew she needed to kill her. Nerva would never agree to Clarke being in charge. She would only kill-
Before Clarke could finish her thought, someone from behind her had been pushed into her back and the sword she'd been aiming at Nerva was driven into the woman's chest. The person behind Clarke fell to the ground and Clarke removed the sword quickly. Nerva's body fell to the ground.
Clarke gasped when she realized it was done, but then she took a look around and noticed that no one had stopped fighting. It was time for the next part of her plan. She clutched the radio on her hip and was grateful it had managed to remain there.
"Everyone, back!" She commanded into the radio. "Everyone get back!" She repeated. She waited a few moments as she watched others around her fighting in pairs and sometimes sets of three, but basically ignoring her and the fact that she'd just killed their leader. "Raven, 60 seconds!"
"Got it!" Raven replied.
Clarke took off running toward the bunker, but before she turned around, she noticed her people in the crowd begin to back up the fight in the direction opposite the bunker. They needed to create space between them and the enemy. She was confident a minute was enough time as she ran toward the bunker still carrying the sword. She weaved in and out of the crowd and only had to defend herself once before making it to the main street. She ran behind the buildings on the left side where no one really was and could hear the guns firing at their enemy from the rooftops and the sound of the arrows whizzing through the air. She didn't turn around once. She knew she needed to make it back to the bunker and just hoped that everyone else would make it back too. When she rounded the last building before she'd be in the small grouping of trees that would lead to the bunker, her head turned slightly and she saw the giant ring of fire Raven had created.
They'd used the same approach they had to resort to before at the drop ship and setup a large ring of fire with smoke bombs added to it for effect. This way, her people who had hopefully backed up in time would now be able to make a run for the bunker as she had just done while Nerva's remaining army would be stuck at least while the fire burned. It would give them just enough of a head start so they could close the bunker door.
She rushed through the open door past four guards with guns who weren't shooting at anything yet, but would make sure none of Nerva's people made it inside. She noticed her people above the entrance though firing and guessed that the hundred or so of Nerva's men behind the bunker attacked when they heard the fighting break out and Clarke knew that would be over soon. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the bullets and arrows from above would take care of the people Nerva kept back there.
"Clarke, are you okay?" Abby rushed toward her daughter as soon as she'd made it inside.
"I'm fine." Clarke told her. "Where's Octavia? Jasper? Monty?" She began rambling off names.
"They're fine too." Abby confirmed and reached for the cut on Clarke's arm that Clarke didn't even know was there. "Octavia went to meet Raven in the comms room. They're monitoring outside. Jasper and Monty went to help setup the cafeteria as triage. We're going to have a lot of injuries start coming in." She reported.
Just as Abby said it out loud, Indra ran into the building and several people came in after her. Abby was immediately focused on directing the ones with injuries to medical and the cafeteria while Niylah came into view and started directing the ones who weren't injured into other areas of the bunker.
"Indra, did you see Bellamy?" Clarke asked her. She'd recalled watching him get shot, but then had no idea what happened after and she knew Octavia would want to know. That may even be why she ran to the comms room to see if Raven could tell anything from the monitors.
"I did, Heda." She returned. "He was on the ground. I do not believe he would have made it out alive."
Clarke closed her eyes for a moment and thought about Bellamy. She knew that even though Octavia was angry with him, she'd not only lost Lincoln now, but also her brother and despite their recent past, she did love her brother. This would likely be another setback for the poor girl. Clarke had no more time to think about Bellamy or any of their other potential losses because more people were beginning to pour into the bunker. She helped direct them where to go for several minutes before leaving them to check on Raven.
"Update?" She asked when she walked through the open door.
"Glad you made it out okay." Raven said back. She was sitting at the computer bank with Octavia staring at screens over her shoulder.
"How's it going out there?"
"The guys Indra and I brought back are out there working for us." Octavia informed. "They've talked to some of the leaders during the fighting, which wasn't easy, but there are a lot of people out there who don't want to fight." Octavia explained. They'd given each of the look outs Octavia and Indra had brought back radios and told them to find people they could trust in Nerva's group to convince them to stand down. Apparently, they'd been at least somewhat successful. "When the fire out there dies down, they'll go around the fight and head this way."
"How do we know they're telling the truth?" Raven asked them.
"For now, we just have to trust them." Clarke informed. "When it stops out there, we can talk to them more, but we don't have time now."
"Bell?" Octavia finally asked.
Clarke had been waiting for that question to come from her friend and she hated having to be the one to report the news to her.
"I don't think he made it, Octavia." She said softly and reluctantly. Octavia took a moment and then nodded before staring down at the floor. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too."
"We don't know for sure." Clarke tried.
"Sure." She replied, but knew Clarke was just trying to be nice.
