Chapter Ten – Five Months Since Moving to the Bunker

The plan went into action promptly at 0400 hours the next morning. The group had painstakingly put the plan together, knowing it was a risk – while also knowing they couldn't leave their people in those repugnant prison cells any longer.

Clarke was tired and yet buzzing with energy. She and Bellamy had stayed up late last night enjoying each other's presence and touch, knowing that today brought with it untold levels of uncertainty and danger, and wanting to hold onto the last few moments of peace they still had left. But now it was time for what was sure to be conflict and danger, and Clarke's insides hummed with a feeling of dread mixed with a slight feeling of excitement. She would never welcome fighting or battle, knowing all too well the physical and emotional toll they took each time. Yet she knew it was necessary here and now. And she knew that without a doubt, she and her people were the good guys here. That thought provided untold comfort to her now.

Clarke and Bellamy had risen promptly at the scheduled time and met Monty, Harper, Murphy, and Emori in the corridor. Wordlessly, the group made their way to the hidden armory. Monty's skills at unlocking doors were put to the test as the tool as the minutes sped by and the door didn't budget. Clarke kept scanning the hallway, hoping they wouldn't be discovered.

"What's taking so long?" Murphy hissed impatiently, and Clarke couldn't help but feel some of the anxiety in his tone stirring in her own chest. Despite the fact that she knew Monty was no doubt doing his best.

"I wish Miller was here," Monty sighed in frustration. "He was always better at this than me. He's the one who picked all the locks at Mount Weather."

"You got this, Monty," Harper encouraged, giving a supportive squeeze to his arm.

The encouragement seemed to work as less than a minute later Monty finally succeeded in picking the lock, and the group entered the armory. The room was not vast by any means, but it was well-stocked and like everywhere inside the bunker, quite orderly.

"Swords," Bellamy noted as he took stock of the weaponry, the undeniable hint of excitement in his voice causing Clarke to smile. "Octavia will love that," he added fondly, and Clarke nodded and moved to join him.

"Everyone ready with their assignments?" Clarke asked, as the group armed itself. When everyone answered in the affirmative or nodded, Clarke turned to Harper and Emori. "Hurry. Your part will take a while."

Harper and Emori had been tasked with hiding the guns and ammunition in a few pre-determined spots throughout the bunker. Once they were finished with that, the rest of their job would be to patrol the bunker and ensure no trouble from any Second Dawn members who weren't inside their rooms when the doors were locked. As the two set out, Clarke heard Harper say to Emori, 'I like working with you' and Emori respond, 'You're not so bad yourself.'

Clarke turned to the others remaining. "Onto the next step."


The next phase for Bellamy was to accompany Monty and Raven to engineering. An engineer named Michael could often be found inside engineering at night. The bunker's systems tended to run well without incident and didn't need 24/7 monitoring, but Michael was diligent and enjoyed being inside engineering at all hours, "just keeping an eye on my machines," as he would tell anyone who would listen.

So the group was ready for him. They knew Michael would be surprised to see Raven and Monty this early – and he'd be even more shocked to see Bellamy, given that Bellamy hadn't set foot inside engineering since his initial tour back when Skaikru first moved in.

"Monty! Raven!" the engineer enthusiastically greeted with a smile, as soon as the doors slid aside. He was holding a mug of tea. Michael then spotted Bellamy, and it was clear he began to sense that something was amiss. "What are you doing in engineering so early? And why is he-"

As Michael spoke, Bellamy strode up to him, grabbed him, and placed a cloth over his mouth. The cloth had been doused with a chemical compound, courtesy of Abby. Michael barely struggled before he fell unconscious, his mug crashing and breaking as Bellamy caught his body and gently laid Michael down.

Meanwhile, Raven and Monty did a quick sweep of engineering to ensure they were alone. They then turned towards the computers.

"Okay," Raven said. "Let's get to work."

John Cadogan tended to rise early. His father and grandfather had both done the same, and instilled it in him as a good habit. The habit was also sometimes praised during religious services. Also, Cadogan tended to drink a lot of tea, so his bladder frequently woke him up as well.

As leader of the Second Dawn elders, Cadogan (and his wife) had a larger room than most. They had their own private bathroom too, but for reasons Cadogan could never explain, he tended to use the group bathroom down the hall, same as everyone else.

Just as he began to exit the bathroom, he heard a loud creak followed by a firm thud. He scrambled down the hallway, and his eyes confirmed what his ears had heard. The large blast doors at the end of the corridor had been sealed. `A glitch in the system?' he wondered. 'But Michael never lets anything like that happen.'


Cadogan shook his head and the last remaining grogginess from his sleep away. Skaikru. Their failed negotiations had to be the explanation for this. His heart began to pound as the enormity of the situation dawned on him. There was no way out of this wing of the bunker. If this wing was sealed, then surely Skaikru had found a way to seal all of the Second Dawn wings. Cadogan felt light-headed. Had they also sealed the hydrofarm and the supply rooms?

Damn you, Skaikru! Why did I ever let you in here?

He and the other elders had had good reasons, of course. Their population had been on a slow but steady decline for decades. There were several young people whose only marriage options at this point were their cousins, and that was alarming. The problem would only be worse for the next generation. The Second Dawn needed genetic diversity. And although Skaikru had been an unknown quantity, Cadogan was able to determine pretty quickly that they were not like the grounders, their leaders and people far more civilized and reasonable than those savages. He had hoped Skaikru would be more pliable, more similar to the Second Dawn members. There was the chance that, unlike the grounders who were so set in their ways, Skaikru could eventually - over a few years or maybe a few decades - meld with the Second Dawn.

Not today, apparently.

Cadogan swiftly returned to his room, got dressed, and walked up to the blast door to inspect it. He knew there was little use as once the doors were down like this, they weren't going to budge. And then the hallway intercom buzzed.

"It's Chancellor Kane and Clarke Griffin. We're on the other side of the blast door and we want to talk to John Cadogan."

Cadogan took a breath. "I'm right here," he said, pressing the button to reply and making sure he kept his voice even. "Okay. Let's talk."


"All the doors are holding. Including ours."

Monty and Raven were standing next to each other and looking at the same screens, but it never hurt to confirm what one's eyes saw. Although they didn't have radios or video feeds, the computer screens they looked at confirmed that "The Door Plan" (they never did come up with a better name) was working exactly as they had set it up.

"Good," Raven responded to Monty's words. All the wings that contained the Second Dawn members' bunks were sealed, along with the hydrofarm. There would be no bypassing them without the controls in engineering.

Harper and Emori jogged up to engineering and knocked on the door. Raven and Monty stood on the other side of it and asked them for their report.

"Okay," Harper panted, awkwardly holding onto her gun. Raven looked at her, knowing that Harper hoped to someday never have to pick up a gun again. "No one's in the hydrofarm. Three old people were in the great hall. Praying. They're harmless. They agreed to stay put and not cause trouble. Didn't see anyone else."

"Our people are still in place. And Clarke and Kane are talking to Cadogan now," Emori added.

"Thanks for the update," Raven said. "Everything's holding out here too."

"We'll get back to patrolling then," Harper said. With that, the two women left.

Monty and Raven walked back to their monitors. The readouts were the same as they were a minute ago. Monty paced the room, and Raven followed suit, the irritating pain in her leg forcing her to stop just a few minutes later. She sighed in resignation and moved to sit in a chair in front of the monitors, rubbing the top of her thigh and toying with her ponytail.

Raven glanced at the time. It was 0444 hours. Most of the Second Dawn people were probably still asleep, though she also knew they had plenty of early birds. Once when she'd actually tried to pay attention during religious services, she remembered the preacher praising the idea of going to bed and rising early. Which probably explained why Cadogan was already up and talking with Kane and Clarke.

Time continued to creep by. and the monitors showed no changes. All of the doors that Raven and Monty had sealed remained that way, and Harper and Emori's report had been good. Raven resumed playing with her ponytail and idly thought of how much she liked the way the engineering room was organized. It was the only good thing she could think to say about the Second Dawn. A quote popped into her head: 'A place for everything and everything in its place' – Sinclair had used that phrase a few times and it always stuck with Raven. Sure enough, she felt a stab of pain in her chest when thinking of Sinclair's loss. But with the mission at hand she forced herself to focus and push the feeling aside, back onto the heaping pile of other painful memories she'd rather forget.

Raven drummed her fingers on the table as she glanced over the screens again, checking that everything was still in order. Seconds later, she heard gunshots and instantly bolted up out of her chair. The sound of gunshots continued getting closer rapidly, and Raven was frozen in panic as the door to engineering was kicked open.

"Put your hands up and back away from the control panel!"

It was Andrew Cadogan, along with three other young men. Skaikru's concerns about Second Dawn members possibly storing guns in places other than the armory had been prophetic. The armed young men had shot out the locks to the door and kicked it open.

"Okay," Monty said calmly, backing away slowly with his arms up. "No problem."

"Right," Raven said, following Monty's lead and feeling her earlier panic ease at his calmness. She'd been through worse situations before. "So, uh, hey where did you guys come from?" she asked, attempting to stall them. "We thought we sealed all the wings with your rooms."

Andrew gave Raven a look of disgust but answered her question anyway. "We were in the rec room. Guess you didn't plan for everything, did you?" he sneered.

Raven silently cursed out Andrew and wanted to put him in his place, but upon Monty's look of caution she held herself back.

Andrew then turned to one of his men. "Go get Robert," he said, referring to the Second Dawn's best engineer. "He can get all the doors back open fast." He glanced at the nighttime engineer Michael, laying on the floor where Bellamy had put him under. Some of the tea he'd spilled now stained his pants. "Did you kill him?" he spat out.

"He's fine," Raven said, her tone showing no fear, just irritation. "He's just asleep. But uh…how exactly will you get Robert? Unless he also wasn't inside his room when we shut all the doors."

Andrew exchanged worried looks with his men, and Raven couldn't help but quirk her lips into a smile at having outsmarted them. They were just now realizing that she was right, and despite the fact that she was standing there with her arms up and four guns trained on her, she had to admit she felt pretty good.

"There were three of your people in the great hall," Monty added with a slight grin. "But none of them are engineers."

Andrew took a step closer to Monty. "Then you open the doors!" he commanded. "Do it or I shoot!"

"Except if you shoot either one of us," Raven began smartly, "we're not going to cooperate. And then you'll never get those doors open."

"Oh, we can make you cooperate," Andrew sneered. "We can find a few ways if we have to." He turned to one of his men. "Go get a pair of pliers! We can start pulling their fingernails and toenails off." He took a step closer to Raven and openly leered at her chest. "Or other body parts."

Revulsion was the only thing Raven felt at this point. She fixed Andrew with a death stare and toyed with the idea of making him pay once the tables were turned – as she knew they soon would be. The group had planned for this.

"Your supply rooms are cut off too though," Monty cut in. "Just so you know."

And then suddenly, noises were heard behind them. Bellamy, Murphy, Octavia, and Sergeant Miller rushed into engineering. Octavia was armed with a sword, the others with guns.

"Put your weapons down!" Bellamy commanded, his gun trained on Andrew. "Now."

Andrew hesitated, and Bellamy shot a bullet into the ceiling. Recoiling at the warning shot, Andrew and his men set their guns down in surrender.

"Hands in the air!" Sergeant Miller commanded, and the Second Dawn men obeyed.

"Took you long enough," Raven said to her team, a small smile on her face.

"Let's tie these guys up," Bellamy said, ignoring Raven's comment for now.

"How many of your people are out right now?" Octavia asked Andrew as she bound his wrists with rope and appeared to thoroughly enjoy it.

"How the hell should I know?" Andrew shot back.

Now that the situation inside engineering was back under control, Sergeant Miller turned towards the door. "We should get back to patrolling. Murphy, come wi—"

In the next instant, bullets shot out. Another Second Dawn man holding a gun charged into engineering, yelling "Damn you, Skaikru!" He fired bullets at the Sergeant and Murphy and the older man went down instantly.

Bellamy reacted quickly and shot the intruder in the leg. He fell to the ground with a thud.

Several things happened simultaneously. Raven yelled at Bellamy, "I thought you had this place locked down!" as Monty rushed up to the Sergeant and Murphy, Octavia following him. Murphy let out a string of curse words as he writhed on the floor.

"He's dead," Monty said, crouching over the Sergeant. "Shot right through the temple." Bellamy and Raven gasped at the gruesome sight, the Sergeant's brains and blood splattered on the floor.

"You'll be fine," Octavia said, addressing Murphy who was still cussing. "He got you in the arm."

Bellamy looked around the room. "Octavia, take Murphy to med bay." As part of their plan, Abby, Niylah, and Niylah's girlfriend Anne were stationed inside med bay, waiting in case of casualties. "I'll get back to patrolling."

Bellamy looked at Raven and Monty. "You two okay?"

"Yeah, never better," Raven said sarcastically.

Monty was still crouched next to the Sergeant's body. He and the others had already seen so much death – Monty himself had been forced to kill his own mother, and he still had nightmares over it - but that didn't make this any easier. Five months of peace had lulled them a bit, almost making them forget a world where bodies lay sprawled, staining the floor red. "Damn it," Monty breathed. "I liked him. And Miller's gonna…"

"I know," Bellamy said firmly, squatting down beside Monty. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all liked him. But we've gotta stay focused until this is over. Best thing we can do for the Sergeant now is get his son the hell out of that prison."

Monty nodded, and he and Bellamy rose to their feet again.

"I hope their negotiations are wrapping up soon," Raven concluded. "Come on, Kane and Clarke," she hissed into the air.


Clarke breathed a sigh of relief. There were no more surprise visits from members of the Second Dawn, and Skaikru truly had the bunker locked down now.

And John Cadogan realized it. With all of his people either incapacitated like Andrew or locked inside the wings with their quarters, he knew he was out of options. (Several people inside his wing were already in a full panic at the thought of not having breakfast on time). So he negotiated with Kane and Clarke. It had been decided last night that Jaha would stay out of this, thus enabling Kane and Jaha to later on play bad cop/good cop when needed. Having one of Skaikru's leaders seemingly uninvolved in this conflict would likely be beneficial to Skaikru.

First, Cadogan told Kane and Clarke that yes, indeed, 52 years ago, a group of twelve people had been allowed to leave this bunker and set out for another bunker the Second Dawn had built but never occupied. The Second Dawn referred to them, and their bunker, as The Unworthy. "They were like your people," Cadogan said, his tone emotionless. "Degenerates. Uppity women, people who had perverted sexual relations with members of the same sex, that sort of thing. Leadership back then was…softer and weaker. They wanted to avoid executions." He confirmed that the Unworthy had been permitted to leave with supplies. The Second Dawn had no external communications systems, and no idea if the Unworthy had ever reached the other bunker. They truly didn't care, viewing the Unworthy as dead to them.

Then Kane and Clarke discussed terms with Cadogan. Just as when Skaikru had first entered the bunker, and when Jasper Jordan's sentencing was being worked out, a binding document was created. Cadogan had honored both binding contracts before, so Kane felt certain he'd follow this one too.

The document spelled out all the terms. First, Miller and Jackson would be freed immediately. Secondly, there would be no retaliation against Skaikru for today's events. The document would acknowledge that today's events were necessary to free "unjustly imprisoned members of Skaikru since all attempts at diplomacy with the Second Dawn had failed. Additionally, no Second Dawn members were seriously wounded today, whereas one member of Skaikru was mercilessly shot and killed." Third, a small group of Skaikru would be permitted to depart – with ample supplies – for the Unworthy bunker. Fourth, there would be no more requests or insistences that any members of Skaikru follow Second Dawn dress codes. And fifth, Skaikru members would be allowed to partake in consensual sexual activity inside their rooms without any penalties or interference from the Second Dawn.

The binding document was signed. This time, Clarke's signature would join Kane's to signify her place as a Skaikru leader.

Even though she knew that she was almost certainly going to join the group leaving the bunker.

Bellamy found Clarke in the chaos, as he always did. He rushed up to her. "We did it," he breathed. He and Clarke had both been filled in on the key events.

She pulled him into a tight hug. "We won for now." As Clarke grasped him, she felt a somewhat unfamiliar sensation squeezing her heart. During the negotiations with Cadogan, Clarke had fought to remain razor-focused on the task at hand, and had mostly succeeded. But now holding Bellamy, she thought of what she could have lost. Sergeant Miller had been fatally wounded today – and it easily could have been Bellamy instead. The thought made Clarke feel vaguely nauseated and panicked. Nothing she had experienced today had seriously distressed her until now, with the thought of potentially losing him.

"I can't breathe," Bellamy joked at Clarke's tight grip.

"Sorry," she said, taking a step back. "I'm just so glad you're alright." She looked at his face and placed her hands on his shoulders. "H-how are you?"

"Doing okay," he responded. "It always feels a little weird when we survive something like this, and win. But…you heard what happened to Sergeant Miller, right?"

"I heard," Clarke said, looking down. "I feel horrible for Miller." She swallowed before meeting Bellamy's eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Same. And, uh, speaking of Miller…" At that moment, Monty and Harper approached Clarke and Bellamy.

"They gave us the keys to the prison," Harper said, the key ring jangling in her hands. "Let's go get our people."

"Yeah," Bellamy said. "I'll – I'll tell Miller," he offered.

Clarke looked at the expression on Bellamy's face and her heart again sank. She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "It will be good if he hears it from you. He trusts you." She took a breath. "It will be okay," she reassured him.

He nodded, though his eyes still looked agonized. Clarke's desire to solve problems compelled her to ask, "Is he a hugger? Maybe just hug him. That might be more important than any words you say."

Bellamy gave her a half-smile. "Don't know on the hugging thing. It's worth a try."


Miller sat inside his cell, oblivious to the activity inside the bunker. He had been dozing on and off for hours, courtesy of the drugs from Abby. He would wrap the blanket around himself and slump on his ledge, propped up against the wall. He'd lose consciousness for a few minutes or hours, then just be jolted awake either by physical discomfort or mental fears. He'd try to find another position to sleep in and drift off for a bit longer. His mind kept playing out every horrid scenario. When he'd been chained to the wall in Mount Weather, he'd used a few mind tricks to try to derail the train of terrifying thoughts. But it never worked for more than a few minutes.

And then suddenly, footsteps and the door to his cell creaking open.

It was Bellamy! And Bellamy alone. No Second Dawn men behind him.

"You're free," Bellamy said. "I came to get you out of here. Do you need help?"

Although he'd hoped deep down that this moment was coming soon, Miller still nearly leapt to his feet in jubilation. But an instant later, he sensed that something was wrong. Despite the dulling effects of the drugs, his mind was sharp enough to notice that Bellamy didn't seem happy enough right now. Miller's eyes had been slowly adjusting to the influx of more light, but he still sensed something was off.

He followed Bellamy out of the cell. "For real, I'm free?" he asked. His throat dry as he forced a gulp. "Is Jackson okay?"

"He's fine as far as I know. Harper's getting him out right now."

Again Miller sensed something was wrong. Bellamy wasn't looking at him. Instead he walked just a few paces ahead of him, leading him back through the corridor that would get them out of the prison area. The light in the corridor was dim compared to the rest of the bunker, but Miller could still see that Bellamy's gait was off just a bit too, perhaps not as rapid or as assured as it should be.

Miller's befuddled mind fought with itself. `Should I ask him what happened and how we got free? Or ask him to take me right to Jackson now? Or ask him what's wrong?'

Bellamy suddenly stopped and turned around to face him. As Miller squinted, still adjusting to the light, he took in Bellamy for a minute. Pain. There was agony and despair written all over Bellamy's face.

"What's wrong?" Miller asked. "Did something happen to Clarke? Or Octavia?"

"No. They're fine." Bellamy swallowed. He put his hand on Miller's shoulder. "I-I have to tell you something Your father was shot during the battle to get you out. He didn't make it."

Miller heard the words. His brain wanted to immediately reject them. 'Maybe it's the sedatives. They haven't worn off. This is all just a dream.' He just stood facing Bellamy, not sure what to do. He felt Bellamy put his arms around him and draw him into a hug. He heard Bellamy say more words such as how sorry he was.

And then there were footsteps. Harper had gotten Jackson out of his cell, and they were now standing before them. She had apparently told Jackson the news too, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

"I'm so sorry Nate," Jackson said, moving as fast as he could. Bellamy stepped back so Jackson could embrace Miller. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Jackson repeated, squeezing his partner tightly.

Miller stood there, accepting the embrace. Although he felt a bit light-headed, he was starting to realize that this was no mere nightmare. Could this be real? Would he truly never see father again? Never speak with him again, never again see the kind, accepting look in his eyes?

TBC