For a moment, the world stopped spinning. The time to absorb the information that Octavia had said. The time for Abby to suddenly understand a lot of things and get angry. For Clarke, to be shocked and disgusted. For Bellamy, it was the little moment he needed to realize that he no longer knew his own sister. That he did not know this version of her anymore.
Then the world began to spin again. Abby stared at Octavia a long time after she let go of the first sentence that would become a bloody story.
"It's my fault they're all dead." She had said after claiming to be a monster and deserving to die. "The disease. It all comes from me. I killed them all."
"What do you mean?" Clarke had asked, glancing at Bellamy.
"The disease was wanted. Desired. They died because I wanted it. Because I asked for it."
Abby had wanted to throw up. She thought back to all those dead, to all the dead children... Something had inevitably degenerated.
But she had killed them. Each of them.
The world had started to turn again, but they were still frozen. Octavia stared at the floor, unable to look at the others around her. Clarke looked at Bellamy, who was looking at Octavia as if he saw her for the first time.
"Explain." Bellamy demanded.
Clarke thought that right now they should probably concentrate more on getting out of this perilous situation in the hands of the Miners. But on the other hand, she was also curious to know what could have caused Octavia to voluntarily kill the people she had sworn to lead and protect.
Octavia sighed, and reluctantly told the story.
--
It was a particularly painful evening. Everyone in the bunker was in a pitiful state. Completely mad. A man had gone crazy and killed his 10-year-old child. He had stifled the poor girl in her sleep, then wounded two guards when he had tried to open the doors of the bunker.
Abby was busy trying to resuscitate the girl with her assistants, to no avail, and Kane was talking to the injured guards. Octavia felt lonely, unaware of exactly what to do. She wanted a proper execution, but several people in the bunker were protesting. Mostly the friends of the man, actually. They said that he was not a bad person, that he had made a mistake and deserved to live... The remarks were ridiculous, given the situation. There were mistakes that could be forgiven, then the premeditated murder of a kid. It was not quite the same thing.
The problem was rather that the man and his friends had a good social position. They had a very good influence and more people every hour rallied to them, without really understanding all the details of the murder. Many thought it was just an accident or a mistake when, in fact, they had found evidence that the man had been thinking about his action for several weeks at least.
Octavia was alone in the office, wondering what to do. She should not have been there, making that kind of decision.
"Clarke and Bellamy were better for that!" She said to herself unceasingly.
She especially missed her brother at this time. He would have known what to say and what to do. All that... It was their role. Bellamy and Clarke, they were born leaders. They inspired people. They were something about them that made people follow them without a second thought. Not her. She wasn't a leader like them. Not this way, anyway. They were too different. Yes, Octavia could lead people. She could guide them. But not the same way. And she needed their way to lead right now, she thought. If at least Abby and Kane had been near her at that moment, it would have been perfect, almost as if Bellamy and Clarke were there... But they clearly weren't the people that came in the office.
Indra and Jaha entered, followed by a young man she didn't really knew. She thought his name was Kilhorn. Or Klihorn? No, Klhoirn?
Okay, she had no idea.
"Have you made a decision?" Indra asked her.
"No."
"That's what I feared." Jaha said. "Klosorn has an idea." He added, gesturing to the guy, who must not be more than 17 years old.
Klosorn stepped forward and told her about his plan. He was being trained by Abby and had recently teamed up with a friend, Tram, while caring for a woman who coughed a tiny amount of blood. Tram had said it had to be the lack of oxygen that was starting to be felt. But most of all she said it was definitely not a virus, having none of the other symptoms.
Klosorn then pondered what it would take to create a virus that would spit blood. Illegally, he had started to manipulate all the materials he could find, until he created a strange transparent substance, clear, odorless and liquid like water. The only difference was that a slight mist seemed to escape from it. He was now looking for a guinea pig to test this substance. What could she do? Had he managed to create something extraordinary? Had he managed to create a virus in the liquid state? Or was he created something else, something he did not understand. It seemed strange, but he had no pets to test the product on, and he was determined to find someone to taste it.
The plan was so simple. Octavia would say that the man was going to be imprisoned, but not kill. Then he would drink a "glass of water" and... who will live, will see.
And that's exactly what happened.
The next day a guard gave his meal to the man in his cell. Without suspicion, happy to be alive, free of all his chores and his daughter, he ate and drank his glass of water without any problem.
Nothing happened.
Indra, Jaha and Octavia were disappointed. But Klosorn was downcast. He began working on his substance once again without notifying anyone.
About two weeks later, a woman came to visit the prisoner. A dear friend. They kissed, spent a moment together, then she went back to her quarters. To her son, to whom she probably gives a kiss at bedtime.
The child died a few days later.
Klosorn was ecstatic. It only meant that the substance was not powerful enough to function on the adults, but that it was indeed an illness that they could transmit, but that did not kill them. He made his substance even more powerful, then spoke to Octavia, who gave him the green light. The glass of water was placed in the hands of the man, who died a few days later.
Octavia spoke with Indra and Jaha. It became every day more evident that they could not go out of the bunker on time. They would eventually die here below.
And then, there was an idea. They made a list of the people they could sacrifice. They asked Kolsorn to create more of his mysterious substance and pour it into the glasses of the target people. They would have a little more time.
Unfortunately, things did not go as smoothly.
They believed that once people died, they would no longer be contagious. And before their deaths, they only had to isolate them to prevent the others from falling ill. But they had never considered that the virus could be so contagious. That he would touch every person he met. That he would try to kill literally everyone.
The situation degenerated. An intimate friend of one of the targets was in charge of the water distribution. Quickly, the water became contaminated with the substance and they saw who created a natural resistance to the virus, and who were less fortunate.
Kolsorn was happy to see the effects of his virus. Until he gets sick and dies like the others.
At the very beginning, Octavia was happy. The plan worked well. She offered others a chance of survival, she thought. But as soon as things became problematic, she began to regret her decision.
What had she done?
--
They were speechless. Utterly speechless. Abby never expected that. Never imagined that. But now, she thought of one person who had doubts. Tram. She remembered all of her little remarks that she didn't really paid attention to. Now, she understood. Tram was suspecting this for a long time now.
Bellamy was shocked, but he could understand why Octavia had done this. He didn't agree, not even a little, but he could understand. And same thing for Clarke. It was awful, but they did things like this on the Ark before. The plan had never been to kill everyone. Just a few. Maybe it wasn't fair, but Clarke and Bellamy could both understand. Abby too, somehow, but she was way too sad to even try to understand her motives.
And for Clarke and Bellamy, they both knew what it was to take decisions like this. To agree with something that wasn't what they really wanted.
"Who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things."
--
Not too far away from them, a group was trying to figure out a way to save their friends. Kane, Raven, Murphy, Harper, Monty, Indra, Miller and a few others were watching the Miners going back and forth in front of their gate.
"We will need more people to get through them. Warriors. Everyone who can hold a gun and use it well." Raven said.
"So, you're not coming, huh?" Murphy joked.
"Quiet, Murphy."
"What are we gonna do?" Miller asks. "We can't just barge in there like 'Hi! Pew pew, we're killing every single one of you'."
"Got a better idea?" Harper questioned.
"We go get our warriors," Kane intervened. "Raven and Monty, you try to find a way to mess with their radio. Make them think we have another plan. That we will be coming from South, when we will be coming North. While they're getting ready on the wrong side, we attack and get them out of there."
"That sounds like a shitty plan." Murphy says. "No offence, but this could go so many wrong ways. This is not even a plan. That's like⦠not even half of a plan."
"Well, this is all we have. So, move and go tell Emori and your son that you're going to war."
"Sounds like fun."
--
Echo was breathing fast, her chest rising and falling as Gellert fall besides her on the bed. They were both red and painting but smiling.
"That was amazing." she said.
She presses her head on his chest and wraps her arms around his waist. She gives a little kiss on his heart as she hears him sigh and answer, "Yes, that was great."
He stroked her back with his fingertips as the door of the room opened, revealing an angry Maria.
Echo stood up half-heartedly, her chest naked and not at all embarrassed, just like her companion, who looked at his ex-wife with surprise.
"Maria, dear. To what, or who, do we owe the honor of your presence here?"
"Don't play games with me, Gellert." Maria snaps at him. "I can't believe you. You are here, following the ideas of your little slut, while the killer of our son is still alive! What has gotten into you? You've lost your damn mind."
"Excuse me?" Echo shouts. "How did you call me?"
"You've heard me, little girl. Stay out of this now."
Gellert sighed and stood up, leaving Echo fuming alone on the bed.
In all his nakedness, he advanced towards his ex-wife with a totally neutral look. Maria did not move backward as he kept coming forward.
"You think I don't care about what happened to my son? My heir? My blood?"
When Maria didn't answer, Gellert exploded. He slapped her right on the left cheek, hard. She stumbled back a little but didn't seem surprised. Echo, on the other hand, wasn't expecting that. And wasn't expecting Gellert to completely calm down in a matter of seconds and kiss Maria on the lips. And she clearly wasn't expecting Maria to let him do it.
What the hell kind of relationship was that.
"Never doubt me again. Is that clear?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, dear. You can go now. Jakob will be avenged."
"Of course."
Maria left the room and Gellert came back to bed next to Echo, who was still mostly speechless.
"Are you okay?" he asks her.
"We will win." Echo says. "The plan isn't stupid." She paused and looked at him. "And I won't tolerate if she speaks to me this way ever again."
"I know you won't. You're way too smart."
He leans to kiss her, but the door opens once again. They both shots an angry glare at the guards, who look like he dreams of being elsewhere right now.
"Sir, sorry to bother you, but they're using the radio once again. They're talking about an attack on the South side of the camp at dawn."
Gellert turned to Echo, who was deep in her thoughts.
"What do you think of this?"
"It's clearly a trap. They might attack everywhere but on the south side. I know them. They're planning something else. Any time now."
"Well, let's get our people ready then. We're at war. And get the prisoners ready. Execution is set at dawn."
He smiled and add: "That should be fun."
