Darcy: There will be more.
AntiLight17: Thanks so much bro, and you should give writing a shot. You get better the more you do it.
Inhaled Atoms: I'm glad you liked it man.
Silentmayhem: We might see something like that, but there will be plenty of conflict between May and Lexa.
This is it, the Season 2 finale. Thanks to everyone who's stuck through this journey with me. I am deeply grateful for the support of each and every one of you.
(Empty Expanse Of Water. John Murphy.)
They'd been on the boat for so long Murphy was starting to wonder whether they would actually find land again. They had no food, no drinkable water, and hadn't seen the drone since yesterday. Given the circumstances, Murphy figured that he'd prefer to drown rather than die of dehydration.
The moonlight reflected off the calm dark water in the night. It was actually rather nice to look at all things considered. There were worse places to die.
Jaha still leaned over the front of the boat, staring out over the horizon, hoping that land would come into sight. Maybe he really was delusional.
"Yo Ahab," Murphy called to Jaha. "Come get some rest."
"I'm fine," Jaha replied weakly.
What a moron. He hadn't slept for days. Murphy was shocked he didn't pass out on the spot.
"Fuck this," One of the two other guys in the boat said. "If you're not going to sleep, you can row."
Murphy still couldn't remember the guy's name. He knew he should feel bad about that. You were supposed to know the names of your travelling companions.
"Get back on that oar Craig," Jaha ordered.
Craig, that was his name.
"Or what?" Craig asked provocatively. "We don't even know if we're going in the right direction anymore. We followed that drone across the open ocean. Hell, we deserve to die out here."
"It's okay," Murphy interrupted. "I can row."
Jaha looked at Murphy for a moment, obviously trying to determine his level of exhaustion.
"Hey," The guy in the back of the boat said. "Land."
It sounded shocked. His voice was quiet and disbelieving.
"What?" Craig asked turning around to look.
Murphy raised his own eyes to the horizon. Sure enough, a shadowy mass loomed in the distance. It was still far off yet, but there was land, and that meant, there was hope of survival.
On the dark land, a single pinpoint of light shone. It was probably what the man had spotted first, the pinpoint. Gradually, said circle of light grew larger, illuminating them in the boat.
It took a few more moments before everything sunk in. Then, they all cheered in excitement.
Finally, all the pain and suffering paid off. There was a point to that endless journey. They had found it.
"How does an island of light sound to you John?" Jaha asked excitedly.
Craig quickly picked up the oar and began paddling with renewed vigor. The destination was within their grasp. They had a chance.
The boat made it another five feet before disaster befell them.
Something rammed into the bottom of the boat. The whole rickety structure wobbled back and forth dangerously, threatening to capsize. Murphy could feel the vibration of the impact through the hull. To make things even worse, the guy at the back of the boat dropped his oar.
"Damnit," He swore.
"What was that?" Craig asked.
Murphy glanced around with concern in his eyes. This could spell disaster, depending on what that was. If it was a rock, then things probably weren't too bad. But, if it was something else, like say, a mutant shark, then they were in serious trouble.
"Get that oar," Craig commanded. "Get that oar."
The guy leaned out for the oar, tipping the boat slightly toward the water on that side. Murphy shuffled over on his bench to the other side, not wanting to be anywhere near that black water.
Then, the boat was rammed again. Only, this time, the guy reaching for the oar fell in.
"Help!" The man cried.
Murphy leaned over to give the guy a hand up.
"There's something in the water!" Craig shouted. "Get the oar!"
A screeching sound came from the water as some creature snatched up the guy in the water. He screamed in pain as blood permeated the surrounding liquid. The tip of a scaly tail just became visible out of the water as the man was dragged away.
Murphy rolled over back into the boat just as he felt a screaming sensation of pain travelling down the length of his tricep. He looked down to see a tear in his arm. It must've been one of the giant crocodile's teeth.
"Shit," Murphy hissed in pain.
"Where is it?" Craig shouted fearfully. "Richards! Richards!"
So that was the guy's name. Murphy remembered now.
Jaha leaned over Murphy and used a strip of cloth to tie around his arm as a tourniquet. It would help slow the bleeding temporarily.
"We need to row," Jaha ordered Craig. "Now."
Damn, even Jaha sounded scared. If this was a test of their faith, Murphy sure hoped they could pass, because this was serious now.
The boat rocked again as a spine shoved its way through the hull.
"It's back!" Jaha shouted, "Hold on!"
"Where is it?" Craig asked.
He was totally petrified. Murphy could tell, even while he was lying on the floor of the boat in pain.
"Row Craig," Jaha ordered.
"Where is it?" He asked again, still terrified.
The giant croc slammed into the boat again. This time though, the boards cracked under the impact. Water slowly trickled in.
"Row! Row!" Jaha shouted.
"We're going to sink," Craig murmured to himself. "We're all going to die. We're all going to die."
Craig was totally useless.
"I'll fucking row," Murphy spat, struggling to sit up.
The croc rammed the boat again, breaking another small hole in the hull of their dingy.
Jaha pushed his way forward to the front of the boat, grabbed Craig by his jacket, and tossed him overboard.
"What the hell are you doing?" Murphy asked incredulously.
Murphy struggled forward, trying to move towards the water to help Craig. As useless as he was, he didn't deserve to die. Jaha held Murphy back with a strong arm while Craig disappeared beneath the glassy surface of the water.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Murphy screamed, slapping Jaha's hands away from him.
They waited for a few seconds. For those few seconds, there was silence, actual calm.
"Hold on," Jaha whispered. "I think it's gone."
He was right. The giant croc had seemingly disappeared.
Jaha picked up the only remaining oar and began to row, while Murphy still sat in shock.
"Why?" Was all Murphy could bring himself to say.
"So we could live," Jaha responded.
Their righteous quest for the COL which had begun with so many, was now down to just two.
(Mount Weather. Maynard Draiman.)
The Shadow led me into the basement of Mount Weather. It was a strange sort of experience where I was seemingly riding around in my own body. The Shadow was in nearly complete control apart from the capacity I still had to control my mind.
The basement was much like how I imagined it would look like on the inside of a nuclear powerplant. The walls and ceiling were thick concrete with the water pipes and ventilation system exposed for all to see. Yellow paint lined the bottom half of the wall, further adding to the powerplant aesthetic.
Based on what I was aware of, the delinquents were housed on level five. I didn't know if they were still there or not, as I hadn't been in contact with Bellamy for many days and Clarke wasn't willing to tell me much of anything.
I could faintly smell the radiation in the air, just as I always could. But from what I was aware of, Mount Weather was supposed to be secure from all outside radiation. At some point, they had obviously spung a leak. That meant there must be a safe location the citizens remained in.
My basic plan was to find some guards and beat them until they told me where to go. It wasn't exactly like the more nuanced plans I would come up with in my proper state of mind. There was certainly a time and place for intricate and clever plans, but that time wasn't now. We only had so much time and our intricate plan had already failed, not that it was my fault.
I walked around a narrow hall then turned a corner into a more open room. It looked like a maintenance room, nothing too spectacular. Inside, there were five men all wearing hazmat suits. Evidently, they hadn't had the marrow treatment. Since the power was out, the radiation wasn't being filtered out, and they needed to protect themselves with the suits.
This was the point where I would normally remain unobtrusive and attempt to take out the guards slowly and quietly, one at a time. But, with the Shadow in control, I did things a little differently.
"What's up guys?" I asked animatedly.
The five guards turned nearly simultaneously in my direction, levelling the barrels of their rifles at me.
"I wouldn't do that ya'll," I suggested.
They fired on me with no remorse.
In response, I quickly dove behind a nearby section of piping, thick enough to withstand the barrage. I snuck behind the pipes for a short distance before I heard the shots stop. The men then began walking forward, attempting to surround me. Since I was in a narrow hall, they would come at me from both sides and fire, giving me nowhere to run.
Shadow Maynard had a counterplan ready though. I jumped high into the air and using my hands and feet, pressed against the walls on either side of me. Thankfully they were close enough together that this maneuver was an option to me. I suspended myself in the air, preparing to jump at which ever guards ran towards the side of the hall I currently faced.
The hall was filled with bullets as the guards opened up. It took only a second for them to realize that I wasn't actually there.
With a high-pitched war cry, I flung myself at the guards who faced me. I landed right on top of the nearest guard, jamming Lucille right through his chest. Rather than attempting to pull the blade out, I continued forward, using leverage to split his upper body in two halves.
The other two guys there still stared in shock, not moving quickly enough to react. I quickly beheaded them both.
Then, the other guards on the other side of the hall finally got their shit together and fired at me. Once again, I ducked out of the way, slipping my way down the outside of the maintenance tunnel. Both guards dashed out as well, still firing straight at me.
I jumped off the ground and planted a sidekick into the further man's gut. As I landed, I turned on the closer man who's back was now facing me. I round kicked him in the head, sending him promptly to the floor with blood leaking from the large dent in his skull.
The guy on the ground who I'd sidekicked gasped in pain. He moaned as radiation leaked in through a hole in his suit.
"Where's everyone?" I asked sharply.
The guy stayed silent. Credit to him for his fortitude. I sniffed the air, trying to determine if he would crack or not. In the end, it seemed to me that he probably wouldn't, but it was worth a try to see.
I jammed Lucille into his shoulder, twisting the blade back and forth painfully. He screamed in pain while Shadow Maynard grinned sadistically.
"I could make yer life a lot worse," I said.
He just kept screaming. He really was a fortuitous guy. Considering that I was unlikely to get any answers, I stabbed him in the heart.
The man gasped in surprise, then gave up the ghost. I chuckled lightly and bent down to the guy's body.
I removed the suit and stuck my fingers in the gaping wound in his chest. Blood soaked my hand quickly. I then wiped two fingers along each of my cheeks. Now, they'd know I was someone to be scared of.
Also on the guy's body, I noticed a cord and in his ears a pair of earbuds. I traced the cable back to its source, a small iPod looking object. It was much newer, but similar in function.
I took his iPod and earbuds, then looked at the music he was playing. Loaded up on the device was The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson. The guy had good taste in music. A quick scroll through his playlist confirmed this. There were quite a few other metal songs on the playlist.
I smirked lightly and pushed the earbuds into my own ears. Then, I lowered the volume as much as possible, not wanting to blow my ears out with the music.
The opening drum pattern of The Beautiful People pounded its way out as I walked confidently from the maintenance room in search of some guards who would actually tell me where my friends were.
(Mount Weather, Reaper Tunnels. Octavia Blake.)
She sat with her back against one of the two large metal containers eyeing Roan and Raven sitting on the other side of the tunnel.
Raven woke up only a few minutes ago and still wasn't feeling entirely there, for obvious reasons. For that matter, Octavia wasn't feeling that great either. Her right shoulder still hurt like a bitch from the arrow wound.
Octavia flicked her eyes to the broken-down door leading into Mount Weather. She had wanted to follow Maynard immediately, but Roan managed to convince her to stay until Raven awoke and was capable of leaving as well. It was just safer to move together rather than separately.
A buzzer, signaling something or other, rang out loudly throughout the small alcove. Seconds later, the trash chute above their heads opened up and an object fell down.
"About damn time," Octavia muttered, thinking it was Bellamy.
She stood and looked into the container behind her. Inside was not Bellamy. It was a girl, one of the hundred. Octavia recognized her as Fox. She was definitely dead.
Then, as though she couldn't catch a break, determined footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Someone was running right toward them.
Octavia and Roan each drew their swords and stood protectively in front of Raven, who struggled to get to her feet. She leaned against the wall and aimed her rifle out in the direction of the approaching footsteps.
The footsteps didn't belong to someone she expected. Clarke Griffin appeared around the corner and stopped in surprise at seeing Octavia.
"Octavia," Clarke acknowledged. "You stayed."
"Fuck you," Octavia returned. "Of course, I stayed, I know where my loyalties lie."
Then, Clarke seemed to notice the others standing with her. Then, her face grew confused. After all, there was one person missing from the group who Clarke would expect to see. A moment afterward, her face grew even more confused when she saw the door.
"What happened?" Clarke asked.
"Maynard ran inside on his own," Roan answered. "He busted the door down. Seemed pissed when he left. I think the Shadow might be controlling him."
"Why haven't you gone in?" Clarke asked, making for the door.
Octavia blocked her path, standing strongly in front of the blonde.
"We were attacked by reapers," Octavia explained. "I got shot and so did Raven. Jackson had to perform emergency surgery to remove the arrow from her leg. She just woke up."
"Our people are dying in there and you chose to stay out here and lick your wounds?" Clarke asked incredulously.
"What were we supposed to do?" Roan shot back. "Leave Raven out here to die."
"Clarke," Raven interrupted as she leaned heavily on the wall. "Why did Lexa sound the retreat?"
Clarke couldn't meet anyone's eyes. She stared at the ground, totally lost to the world.
"She made a deal with Mount Weather," Clarke explained. "Freed the grounders. Now we're on our own."
"What about Lincoln?" Octavia asked. "There's no way he'd have gone along with that."
"He didn't," Clarke returned. "They took him."
Clarke charged forward again, making for the entrance. Roan placed himself next to Octavia, blocking Clarke from entering.
"What are you doing?" Clarke asked. "We need to go in there!"
"Not until Raven's ready," Octavia responded with a shake of her head.
"I'm ready," Raven said with a slight rasp to her voice. "I can walk."
"Raven-" Roan turned towards her exasperatedly.
"Holy shit," A familiar voice breathed in shock.
Octavia turned to see Bellamy alongside Jasper, Monty, and a girl she didn't recognize.
"Bellamy," Octavia whispered.
She practically jumped on her brother, wrapping him in a tight embrace. They held for several seconds before she let go, relieved that he was alive.
Octavia then turned her attention to Monty and Jasper.
"I knew it," She quipped. "You two are too scrawny to drill."
Monty and Jasper both chuckled as she hugged each of them in turn.
Her attention then rested on the fourth member of the party. The girl wore a blue hazmat suit, meaning that she was obviously a Mount Weather citizen.
"Where's your army?" Bellamy questioned to Clarke.
"Gone," Clarke answered. "Just like yours."
"This is all we have," Raven jumped in. "Plus, Maynard, who's wandering around inside somewhere."
"Well that explains the door," Bellamy commented, glancing back at the shattered hinges.
"Guys do we have a plan?" Roan questioned the group at large. "We can't just charge in there not knowing what's going on."
"Not really," Bellamy answered. "We need to talk to Dante. Maya says he's in quarantine."
Jasper and Monty grabbed Clarke in one big hug simultaneously. Octavia stood stone faced, unable to accept any happiness that Clarke felt. The two then hugged Raven happily, though one at a time. They eyed Roan with suspicion, unwilling to trust the stranger completely.
"Who's that?" Jasper asked Clarke quietly.
"That," Roan answered for himself. "Is Roan, one of the Furlan. Maynard invited me."
"Furlan?" They questioned together.
"We have a lot to catch you two up on," Raven said.
The girl in the hazmat suit, Maya Octavia guessed, started beeping. More accurately, her oxygen tank did.
"Thirty minutes," Jasper whispered in obvious concern.
Octavia thought she even sensed some affection in his tone. Maya meant something to Jasper, a great deal of something by the sound of it.
"We just changed it," Jasper continued. "That can't be right."
He mumbled to himself as he walked around Maya.
"It's her last tank," Jasper said.
"Okay, we'll find you another one," Clarke said, approaching with certainty in her eyes.
"All the supplemental oxygen is on level five," Maya said.
"Then we have to get you to level five," Jasper said.
"Five isn't safe for any of us," Maya replied.
"We'll take the trash chute," Jasper insisted. "It'll work."
"To get in maybe," Bellamy countered. "But Maya's right, every soldier in the mountain is there apart from a few patrols. We'll never make it out."
"We can do this," Jasper said.
"You guys go for Dante," Octavia gestured to Bellamy, Clarke, Monty, and Raven. "We'll help Maya." Octavia pointed to Jasper and Roan as well as herself.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Roan said.
Raven grumbled to herself, obviously not wanting to go with Clarke. Too bad for her, Octavia wasn't going with Clarke either.
(Mount Weather, Dorm Room. Skylar Artinakis.)
They were all chained to rail above their heads. Skylar tried her best to keep pressure off her bad knee, coming up with creative ways to stand that would allow her to do so. The Mount Weather guards drilled into one of the delinquents while he screamed in pain.
Skylar stood nervously, concerned that she would be next. Next to her, Wick bore a similar expression. Elena was still unconscious. The explosion had really knocked the Furlan off her feet. She would probably be quite sore when she came to.
Then, Cage and Emerson burst through the door with four more captives each with bags over their heads. The guard stopped drilling briefly while the guy on the table moaned in pain.
Cage appraised the victims like a farmer looking at his cows. Skylar really wanted to punch him in his smug face.
"We take any losses?" Cage asked Emerson.
"Not as many as they did sir," Emerson returned. "But I'm the only one left who's been cured. Some of the kids are still missing. If you'd like, I can take a team of hazmats. We'll sweep the other levels."
"No," Cage returned. "Already got guys doing that. We can't risk you if you're the only cured one left."
Emerson looked away as they started drilling again. For someone who seemed so in favor of this plan, he was awfully squeamish about it.
"In forty-eight hours, we will all be on the ground," Cage continued. "Take off their hoods."
The guards complied, removing the hoods one at a time. The first captive, Skylar recognized as Monroe, though she couldn't remember the girl's first name. The second was Sergeant Miller.
"Dad?" Miller junior asked in shock.
"Nate!" Miller senior jumped forward, trying to get to his son.
One of the guards promptly whacked him over the head with the stock of a rifle.
"No! You bastards!" Miller junior shouted angrily, jerking uselessly against his restraints.
Under the next two hoods were Abby Griffin and Marcus Kane.
"What is wrong with you people?" Kane muttered to himself.
"Where's my daughter?" Abby asked.
"She's talking about Clarke," Emerson explained to Cage.
Cage stalked towards Abby a few steps, looking down on her with faux sympathy. He smiled sadly. Skylar really wanted to punch him now. She wanted to punch him so many times that his head caved in backwards.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Cage said.
The guards took the new captives and chained them to the wall. Now they couldn't escape either.
Skylar kicked at Elena's shin, trying to wake her up, but to no avail. Elena's strength would allow her to escape with ease, then she could take out the guards. Elena didn't budge at all. She was still out like a light.
The guy on the table stopped screaming a few seconds later, but they kept drilling and injecting syringes into his body, withdrawing the maximum amount of marrow possible.
"He's dead," One of the techs said.
"It's okay," The second one responded. "We've already got the marrow."
"We need another one," The first tech called for help from the guards.
Skylar prayed it wouldn't be her. She wanted anything but to be selected.
"She's next," One of the guards pointed to the slumped form of Elena.
Skylar was sure that, were Elena awake, she'd whoop some ass. But she wasn't awake. She was still asleep. Plus, if she woke up, there was no telling what sort of brain damage she could have that would impair her ability to fight.
Skylar was scared. She was afraid of what they would do to Elena. She couldn't defend herself, so Skylar had to do it for her.
"No!" Skylar shouted. "You can't!"
The guard looked to Skylar with some surprise. He looked like he was considering just socking her in the face for her insolence.
"Please," Skylar begged. "Take me instead."
She couldn't believe she was doing this. So terrified just moments earlier, now Skylar was sacrificing herself for Elena.
"Your funeral," The guard said, sending shivers down her spine, then unchained Skylar.
Her friends around her, Abby, Kane, and Wick all protested. They fought back. The guards simply withdrew shock batons and applied voltage to the problem.
Skylar barely paid attention though. She stared at the operating table like it was a thousand miles away. Had she just volunteered to face the end of her life?
They strapped her down to the table roughly, making sure there was no chance she would escape. Skylar's eyes filled with tears, but she did her best to remain strong. Maybe her sacrifice would be worth it if her friends got to live just a little bit longer.
She stared at Elena, keeping in mind why she was doing this. They couldn't take Elena. The Furlan was the key to their escape, and though the mountain men didn't know it, her marrow was useless to them. Then there was the importance she held to Skylar, but that wasn't something Skylar could quantify.
The tech ripped a hole in her pants, granting easier access to her quad. Skylar breathed harder and faster, trying her best to remain strong.
Then, the drill pierced her skin and strength was no longer possible, and neither was it a concern. Skylar didn't care about strength anymore. She just wanted the pain to go away.
It felt like fire, a million times worse than when her knee had shredded. This was serious. Any pain or suffering Skylar had experienced up to this point in her life was made obsolete by the sheer agony of the drill.
Skylar screamed.
(Mount Weather, Quarantine. Clarke Griffin.)
The door to Dante's cell was left open. Through the journey to the prison, Clarke's group hadn't even encountered a single guard, probably because it was deemed too risky to send patrols out. Or they could've been lucky.
Dante rose to meet them as they walked in. Bellamy and Monty led the way, taking up positions next to the door. Raven limped in behind them, gritting her teeth to bear the pain in her thigh. Clarke entered last, walking straight to Dante.
He recognized her immediately. Clarke didn't recognize him though. Sure the physical features of the man remained unchanged, but his presence and demeanor seemed harsher and more paranoid.
"Hello Clarke," Dante said.
"Sir we need your help again," Bellamy spoke for them.
Dante glanced at them suspiciously, like he didn't trust them. Or maybe it was that he didn't trust his own people.
"It's okay," Monty covered for the latter possibility. "I took out the camera from the junction box in the hall. We can talk freely."
"No one's watching anyway," Dante returned. "Thanks to you, they've all been recalled to level five."
"You're not," Clarke observed pointedly.
"No," Dante said. "I'm not."
"Please," Bellamy said. "We don't have much time. We need a way to get our people out of this mountain without killing everyone."
Dante stared at Bellamy with cold unflinching eyes.
"He's not going to help us," Clarke said.
"You cut the power," Dante said. "Risking the lives of everyone in this mountain, my people, even the ones who helped you."
"We knew they'd be safe on level five," Clarke stalked towards Dante. "We made sure not to destroy the turbines so you could repair them. We're the good guys here, not you."
"Why don't you both cut it out with the self-righteous routine?" Raven questioned sarcastically.
"Tell me," Dante ignored Raven completely. "If we released your people and theirs, what would have happened to mine?"
Clarke eyed Dante for a moment then turned to Monty.
"Can you get us into the command center?" Clarke asked. "We need to see what's happening on level five."
"Let's go," Bellamy ordered the group, walking out the door.
"Move it grandpa," Raven ordered, pointing the barrel of her rifle at Dante and gesturing for him to follow Bellamy.
(Mount Weather, Maynard Draiman.)
I jammed my way down the hall, unable to keep myself from headbanging to The Beautiful People. I'd played the song on repeat for the past twenty minutes, though eventually I would have to pick something else to listen to. It just sounded so good.
It was the first time I had listened to music for many months, so it was already a wonderful experience. But being in touch with the Shadow while listening somehow amplified the experience.
I wasn't exactly sure why this was, though I figured it had something to do with the Jungian concept that the Shadow was the source of creativity. By definition, the Shadow was that which we didn't understand, and, to accomplish something creative, one had to reach into the unknown for a certain period of time.
Listening while in touch with the Shadow was like being high. It was practically a religious experience, like I could hear my interpretation of the lyrics in its truest form, while also completely comprehending the purpose and value of every instrument being played.
I heard footsteps in front of me. They were a ways down the hall. Homing in on the sound, I determined that there were six guards. So, one more than last time. Also, it seemed that the guards were trying to escape to somewhere.
They couldn't hear me. They didn't know I was coming. So, there was obviously another reason why the guards were running.
I sped up, working to catch up to them. Yet, I managed to keep my footfalls quiet along the ground.
The guards came into my vision a few seconds later. Not wasting any time, I launched myself off the ground toward the furthest one back.
I slammed into his upper back, landing on top of him as I came down to the floor. The scent of spilt blood hit my nostrils. I'd definitely smashed the guy's face when I'd landed on his back.
The other guards turned and fired their rifles. I was struck by multiple bullets while I dove for the next guard, using his body to shield me from the shots.
Two of the guards promptly took off while the other two killed their companion with their guns. I chucked the dead body in their direction, sending both living guards to the ground like bowling pins.
One of the two running guards fired randomly backwards as they both disappeared around a corner up ahead. I was smacked a few times by the bullets as I gave chase. I ignored the pain, knowing that I would be just fine.
Around the corner, the further guard smashed a button repeatedly with his fist. The closer one fired more rounds in my direction. A few clipped my legs, but still no serious injuries.
A bell dinged and I saw what the guard was trying to do. He wanted to escape in the elevator. The further guard sprinted inside while the closer one dashed after him. Then, the close guard fired a single shot into the control panel outside the elevator, making it impossible for me to use it again.
The door began to close just as I caught up to the closest guard. I grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face against the wall. His skull shattered in a bloody explosion while the elevator closed and ascended. One guard had escaped, but that was okay. There were still two living men in the corridor behind me.
I headbanged my way back down the hall as The Beautiful People gradually came to a close. This time, I didn't reset the song. Rather, I allowed it to keep playing. Next up was Silvera by Gojira. Now that was one hell of a tune.
The two guards struggled their way to their feet. The first man to his feet noticed my approach. He shouted something unintelligible and fired on me.
I stumbled back slightly as the first bullet hit me. Then, I laughed out loud as more shots just smacked into my skin harmlessly.
I ran the shooter through with Lucille while I hummed along with the hook of the song.
Time to open your eyes to this genocide
When you clear your mind you see it all
You're receiving the gold of a better life
When you change yourself you change the world
I chuckled and paused the music while the final guard stared at me in shock.
"I'm lookin' for my friends," I said. "Where're they at?"
His mouth opened and shut like a guppy a few times before he seemed to register what was going on. I smelled him piss his pants. Nice.
"Level five," He stammered, unable to say anything more.
"Thanks man," I said genuinely.
I started up the music again while I grabbed another guard's rifle off the ground. I pulled the trigger on the final guard, putting a single hole through his forehead.
Then, I made my way back down the hall with a rifle slung over my shoulder, prepared to make my way to level five. The Shadow side of me danced along with the music and sang loudly but surprisingly on pitch.
(Strange Island, Beach. John Murphy.)
Jaha collapsed into the water as he struggled to pull the boat in. They were both exhausted, but Murphy was considerably worse thanks to the slash on his arm. The boat grounded against the rocks of the shore.
On the shore, built into thick rock, stood a dark, imposing lighthouse. A single beam of white light illuminated the surroundings.
"John," Jaha panted as he walked back towards Murphy with an extended hand. "Let me help you."
"I don't want anything from you," Murphy returned.
"Come on," Jaha encouraged. "You're a survivor. We both are."
"Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel better Chancellor," Murphy said sardonically.
"Our destiny is out there John," Jaha pointed towards the blackness that made up the interior of the island.
Murphy leaned back, meeting Jaha's eyes coldly. There was only so much the Chancellor could say in an attempt to convince Murphy of his righteousness. The fact remained that he had tossed a man off the boat to certain doom.
"And what about Craig's destiny?" Murphy asked.
"We sacrificed the few to save the many," Jaha answered certainly.
Murphy looked away shaking his head. Jaha was definitely delusional. There was no question of that.
"You know you're right," Murphy said as Jaha walked away. "I am a survivor. Which is exactly why I am done following you."
Murphy clambered from the boat and faced Jaha. The former Chancellor would surely get him killed. His denial of reality and of basic principles made him dangerous to everyone around him.
"I'll go my own way," Murphy stated resolutely. "You can go wherever the hell you want."
Murphy turned his back on Jaha and walked down the rocky beach, searching for someplace to take shelter. Pain wracked his body with every step before he collapsed on the ground spluttering.
"John," Jaha spoke concerned.
He placed hands on Murphy, rolling him over so as to see his face.
"Get the hell away from me," Murphy spat.
"You've lost too much blood," Jaha continued, ignoring Murphy's words. "Stay still."
A whizzing sound approached from overhead. It was somewhere around, and if Murphy wasn't mistaken, it sounded much like the drone they had chased after earlier.
"Did you hear that?" Jaha asked, climbing to his feet.
Out of the blackness, a drone appeared. It aimed the camera at Jaha while he spoke to the machine.
"Please, whoever you are we need your help," Jaha begged.
The drone turned away from Jaha and flew inland.
"Wait," Jaha cried as the quadcopter gradually got further and further away.
He turned back to Murphy, almost regretfully. Murphy was a smart guy. He could play to Jaha's ultimate desire to locate the COL. It would give Murphy what he wanted as well, a chance to be free of Jaha.
"I can't make it," Murphy said. "Just go. We both know you want to."
"I'll come back for you John," Jaha said as he glanced after the rapidly disappearing drone.
With that, Jaha dashed off towards the black forest beyond the beach.
"Your promised land sucks!" Murphy shouted angrily after him.
(Mount Weather, Command Center. Raven Reyes.)
"I told you there's no one here," Dante said to Clarke as they walked towards the command center.
Raven brought up the rear still. She couldn't muster up the necessary muscular power to walk much faster than she was going right now. It hurt like hell.
"Forgive me if we don't take your word for it," Raven quipped.
"Why aren't you with your people on level five?" Clarke questioned.
"After what I've done, they can be free," Dante answered solemnly. "I can't."
Clarke stared at Dante with a curious expression while Monty removed the control panel from the door outside the command center. He went to work on breaking them in while Raven stood back and watched. She could've done that, but today, she was on trigger duty, not tech duty.
"Deliverance comes at a cost," Dante continued. "I bear it so they don't have to."
Raven wasn't sure what to make of that comment. She didn't think that Maynard would particularly agree with it. He would tell Dante to bear the burden of his life and nothing else, but Raven wasn't so sure. Something in her felt that the idea made sense, but maybe that was because she wasn't properly thinking it through.
"It wasn't Cage," Bellamy spoke up for the first time since they left the prison cell. "It was your idea to make the deal with the grounders."
They all stared at Dante except Monty who still worked on the panel. Raven didn't know what to think about that idea either. Dante nodded, signaling that Bellamy's hypothesis was correct.
"We're in," Monty said as a beeping sound came from the panel.
Bellamy opened the door and stepped in with his pistol leading the way, while Raven stood just behind him with her rifle. There was no one inside the darkened room.
"It's clear," Bellamy said. "He was telling the truth."
They filed in through the door with Clarke coming last. She shut the thick door behind them, locking them inside.
"Let's get these monitors up and running," Clarke ordered.
Raven grumbled while she and Monty set about accomplishing that task. Leave it to the stupid people to order the smart people around.
Clarke shifted around nervously while Bellamy glanced around the room trying to hide his own emotions. Raven felt their pain, but she imagined hers was worse. Maynard was out there in the mountain somewhere, wandering around, potentially in danger. He could've been captured by the mountain men for them to drill into his bones for marrow. Raven doubted that was the case, but it was a factor she couldn't stop thinking about.
It took a few minutes for her and Monty to set up the command center. When they did, the monitors flickered into life, displaying all the camera feeds around the mountain.
"Command center's live," Monty said triumphantly.
The first feed they all noticed was to the top right. It displayed the dorm where Skylar Artinakis lay on the table while guys in lab coats jammed a drill into her right leg. The sight sickened Raven. She wanted to shoot each and every one of those guys in that room.
"Oh my god," Clarke whispered in horror.
Raven tore her eyes away from that frame to witness another shocking sight, something she thought she wouldn't see. It was a picture of a corridor on level two, and there kicking against an elevator door, was Maynard Draiman.
"Maynard," Raven breathed with relief and nervousness simultaneously.
Bellamy's eyes flicked towards the spot Raven looked at as well.
"What's he doing?" Bellamy questioned.
Then, the door gave way to Maynard's powerful kick. He leaned into the door, meaning that there was no elevator there. Maynard must've been staring up an empty shaft.
"He's going to climb the shaft to level five," Raven realized, knowing it was just the stupid daring stunt Maynard would pull off.
Monty tapped at the keyboard, attempting to move pan the camera around unobtrusively in the dorm. They saw more people chained to the walls. There were the expected delinquents, but then there was also Elena, Wick, Abby, Kane, and Sergeant Miller.
"Mom?" Clarke questioned disbelievingly.
Bellamy snatched a walkie talkie from the table and thrust into Dante's face violently.
"Tell them to stop!" Bellamy ordered. "Now!"
"I won't do that," Dante replied stoically.
Clarke's eyes continued roving around the panels while Bellamy and Dante stared daggers at each other. Raven looked over the monitors as well, considering whether or not she should put her gun in Dante's face and force him to give the order.
"Emerson," Clarke noticed quietly.
The blonde snatched the radio from Bellamy's hand and spoke into it resolutely.
"Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail come in," Clarke spoke.
"Who is this?" Emerson radioed back almost instantly.
"You know who it is," Clarke replied. "Give the radio to the President."
On the monitor, Emerson turned around and walked from the crowded mess hall towards the dorm room.
Evidently, Emerson was using a second radio to contact Cage. He spoke into it while he walked. At just the right moment, Monty pulled up a feed showing Cage standing in a corridor.
"This is President Wallace speaking," He said.
How pretentious of him to call himself the President in the third person. Raven wanted to shoot him more than anyone.
"I have your father," Clarke radioed.
Cage's back was to the camera, making it difficult to see what exactly he was thinking or feeling at the moment. You couldn't really get a good read on someone over a video feed.
"If you don't let my people go, I'll kill him," Clarke stated.
"How do I know you have him?" Cage questioned.
Clarke shoved the radio in Dante's face.
"Stay the course Cage," Dante spoke, probably trying to keep himself alive.
"You won't do it," Cage said quietly.
"You don't know me very well," Clarke replied.
That was certainly true. He didn't know that Clarke elected to sacrifice an entire village full of people to keep their intelligence a secret. Following through with a threat, especially one that killed just a single man, was nothing compared to that.
Cage said nothing in return.
"This ends now," Clarke continued. "Release my people."
The way Clarke said, 'my people', irked Raven even more. She thought she owned them. That was the only reason you used the word my or mine. It denoted ownership.
"I can't do that," Cage returned.
"It would mean the end of our people Clarke," Dante explained.
Clarke shocked Raven as she turned around and aimed her pistol directly at Dante's head. Her face bore an expression showing that she would not be afraid to pull the trigger.
Bellamy instantly backed away from Dante, trying to steer clear of the slightly unstable Clarke's line of fire.
"Clarke we need him," Bellamy reasoned.
"And I need his son to believe me," Clarke returned.
Dante stared at Clarke with no fear. He stood his ground, facing his death standing up straight with his shoulders back.
"Don't make me do this," Clarke radioed.
Cage raised his walkie to his mouth, preparing to respond, then he lowered it. He shuffled back and forth, looking between the camera and the people in the mess hall. Cage raised his walkie again but lowered it after a moment's thought. Then, he raised it one final time.
"Dad," He said. "I'll take care of my people."
"None of us has a choice here Clarke," Dante said.
"I didn't want this," Clarke said.
"Neither did I," Dante replied.
Then, with no preamble or further words, Clarke pulled the trigger on Dante. He grunted in shock and pain as blood welled up in his chest and tears welled up in Clarke's eyes.
He fell to the ground, unable to remain standing as his heart stopped beating.
Raven and Bellamy each eyed Clarke with concerned looks, though for different reasons. Bellamy was likely worried for Clarke's sake. Raven was worried for her own sake. If Clarke was this unstable, then there was no telling when she would turn on Raven.
"Listen to me very carefully," Clarke said to Cage. "I will not stop until my people are free. If you don't let them go, I will irradiate level five."
Cage stood in silence while they watched him, wondering if he would speak again.
"Cage listen to me," Clarke said. "I don't want anyone else to die. Stop the drilling, and we can talk."
On the camera Emerson approached Cage and the two men conversed in quiet tones. Though it was tough to tell over the cameras, Raven thought that Cage looked pained, like he couldn't bear what had happened to his father.
"Emerson's coming for us," Raven said as Emerson left Cage's side.
"They deactivated my keycard," Bellamy said. "Can you do that to his?"
"That one's easy," Monty said.
He made a few clicks on the keyboard while Cage finally moved from the spot he inhabited for the last twenty minutes.
"Where's he going?" Bellamy questioned, mostly to himself.
Cage walked straight out of the mess hall and down a neighboring corridor.
"He's going for the dorm," Clarke whispered.
Cage walked inside and eyed the prisoners within while the techs still drilled into Skylar's leg.
"Monty," Clarke spoke up again. "Can you irradiate the level?"
"Wait a second Clarke," Bellamy replied. "We need to think about this. There are kids in there."
"I know," Clarke shot back coldly.
"And people who helped us," Bellamy continued.
"Then please give me a better idea," Clarke said.
"Literally anything would be better than that," Raven interjected. "We could wait for Maynard t-"
"Always wanting to wait on Maynard," Clarke replied harshly. "Think for yourself for once Raven."
"No, you think for yourself for once," Raven scoffed. "You can't come up with anything other than kill everyone?"
"I don't see you coming up with anything Raven," Clarke pointed out.
"I was going to tell you but you interrupted me," Raven said. "Let the others get onto level five and take out Cage."
"How do you know they'll do that?" Clarke asked.
"What would you do if you were them?" Raven questioned in return.
On the monitors, Cage spoke to the techs, directing them to remove the unconscious Skylar from the table. Then, he pointed at Abby. He went to the dorm to take his revenge against Clarke.
They pulled a struggling Abby towards the table and strapped her down, readying the tools for marrow extraction.
"What have I done?" Clarke whispered to herself.
"Act first and ask questions later," Raven answered. "You never think things through Clarke."
"Clarke if we do this, there is no going back," Bellamy insisted.
"Figure it out," Clarke ordered Monty just as the techs drilled into Abby's leg.
(Mount Weather, Level Five. Maynard Draiman.)
Finally, I made it to level five. Using my left leg to stabilize myself, I pressed upwards and stood in front of the elevator door, preparing to burst in.
I didn't know what would be on the other side. There could be a million guards waiting to unload on me, or there could be a couple of preschoolers. I readied the rifle in my right hand and Lucille in my left. This way, I would be able to attack from a distance then get in close to slice and dice.
I headbanged along to The Beautiful People again as I exhaled slowly.
Then, with a raucous bang, I kicked through the elevator doors.
"What's up bitches!" I shouted manically.
There was no one on the other side of the elevator. My conscious side shook its head at my Shadow side's stupidity, but I continued on anyway, dancing and singing along with the song.
It wasn't very much later that people were attracted to all the noise I was making. Three guards walked around the corner with confusion on their faces. Those expressions were amplified as they saw a guy with a gray mohawk dancing around with a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. That wasn't something you'd see every day.
"Drop your weapons!" The first guard ordered as he raised his rifle.
The Shadow raised my hands obstinately.
"Put them down or we will fire!" The same guy said.
"Do it!" I shouted back. "Come on then!"
The other two guards looked confused, but the first one obliged me. He fired three rounds at my chest.
I stumbled back and winced slightly in pain. Quickly though, the wounds healed over leaving blood staining my cloak and shirt, but no real damage.
"What the hell," The guard breathed.
"That the best ya got?" I asked provocatively.
All three guards opened up on full auto. I brought my arms in front of my face, using them to shield my still vulnerable head from the bullets. Slowly, I approached them just as they ran out of bullets.
It hurt like hell all over, but it was worth it to see the looks on their faces. My clothes were chock full of bullet holes and red blood smeared my skin beneath the holes.
They eyed me like one would eye a demon. I promptly shot all of them.
Shadow Maynard wasn't exactly subtle. He wasn't going to sneak through the mountain. He was on the hunt, looking to kill anyone who walked by.
I cackled uproariously as I looked over my clothes. They couldn't do a thing to hurt me, not now at least.
Nothing I wore now, except my underwear would ever be useable again. Even my boots and socks were full of holes.
As I took my next step forward, I cried out in pain. I looked down to my right leg. There was a visible break in the shin bone. Visible, as in the bone stuck out from my skin.
I collapsed to the ground, clutching at my leg. Evidently, the bullets must've done some serious work on my right leg. I crawled to sit back against the wall by the elevator. No one would come down here if they knew what was good for them.
Using my right hand, I tapped at the wound gingerly. Lances of pain speared up my right leg. Each time I touched the site of the break, I tried to determine how long it would take the wound to heal. It didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon.
Then, I noticed something else. On my right hand, which I used to probe the wound, there was a suspicious lack of something. It was my ring finger. I only had half of a ring finger. Blood soaked my hand, making it difficult to see well, but as I touched it with my left hand, I realized that the right ring finger was indeed missing.
"Bastards shot my finger off," I grumbled as I moved the stump around in discomfort.
It felt like the rest of the finger should still be there as I experimented with the missing extremity.
My interest in my missing finger momentarily distracted me from the pain of my broken leg. But, when I looked at it again, the pain came right back.
I would have to do something about the leg, or else infection would set in and I'd probably die. I psyched myself up as Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine came on. Then, I pressed down against the bone, shoving it back into place.
Now, I just needed something to keep the bone from falling out of place. I removed my cloak and shirt, using them as makeshift bandages. The strap attached to my rifle was perfect for holding everything in place.
I pulled my boots off and chucked them on the ground, figuring that shoes filled with holes weren't much use to me.
Now barefoot, I slowly struggled to my feet, being extraordinarily careful with the amount of weight I placed on my right leg.
I hissed as I put weight into the leg, but with the support from the strap and bandages, it wasn't nearly as painful as it had been earlier.
Shadow Maynard was pissed now. It was time to go on the hunt again.
(Mount Weather, Level Five. Roan.)
"This is taking too long," Jasper said nervously.
The kid had paced back and forth for as long as Maya had been gone. Roan was not familiar with Jasper, obviously, but the kid seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and he cared about Maya. She was tougher for Roan to understand, but Maya still seemed reasonably capable. He was most familiar with Octavia, though only slightly more than with the other two. Out of the three, the younger Blake seemed to be the most competent.
Roan himself hadn't found much room to say or do anything once they had reached level five. Once safe, Maya had rushed off to get help. Jasper said they had to kill Cage for her to survive, which seemed reasonable enough given the situation.
"What if she got caught?" Jasper questioned.
"We'd have heard something," Octavia assured him.
"What if she couldn't find Sergeant Lee, or I don't know, maybe the protocol changed?" Jasper asked. "What if he got caught?"
Roan thought Jasper was questioning pointlessly. He was causing himself extra pain and suffering for no good reason. There was a time and place for concern, but such concern should be rational and calm.
"Jasper, a warrior doesn't worry about things he can't control," Octavia said.
It was decent advice from Octavia, though not entirely correct in Roan's mind.
"Come on in here," Maya's voice spoke from the doorway.
The door creaked open to reveal Maya and a young man, who must've been Sergeant Lee.
"Thank god," Jasper breathed.
He dashed forward and wrapped Maya in a tight embrace.
"Anyone see you?" Jasper asked.
Then, Sergeant Lee turned around from the door and spotted Octavia and Roan. He drew his gun while Octavia and Roan each drew their swords.
"Lee put down the gun!" Maya ordered, shoving the guy's hands down.
"You didn't say there were outsiders," Lee said accusatorially.
"She's not an outsider," Jasper held his hands out placatingly.
"What about him?" Lee asked.
"They're with us," Maya hissed.
Then she turned back to face them with a stern expression on her face.
"Cage is in the dorm," Maya explained. "They brought another group in from the Ark, more marrow. They're not even trying to fix the dam."
"How many soldiers with Cage?" Jasper asked.
"Six," Lee answered. "Why?"
"Just get me close," Jasper said, handing his rifle over to Maya. "They'll be happy you found another eight doses of marrow."
Jasper looked around the room, "I need a-"
Octavia shoved just the item he was looking for towards Jasper. In her hand was a short, curved knife.
"Aim for the throat," She said. "Slash, don't stab. Make it deep."
Octavia walked out of the small room having said her piece.
"Let me go with you," Roan offered.
"You don't have the right marrow," Maya explained. "Better if you stay here."
Lee cuffed Jasper while Roan grumbled to himself.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Lee said.
"Me too," Jasper responded.
Maya walked straight up to Jasper with tears in her eyes. Roan turned his back and joined Octavia, figuring it would be better to give them their privacy.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Indra," Roan said.
Octavia said nothing, preferring silence to talking about that.
"You know, the teachers aren't always right," Roan continued, trying to find any response in Octavia. "Sometimes they just aren't willing to let the student flourish on their own."
Octavia still said nothing, letting her thoughts stew over Roan's words.
"Maybe this is for the best," Roan said. "You can improve without being told who to become."
Octavia just shook her head and remained silent for a long moment.
"I don't want to talk about it okay?" She said.
(Strange Island, Beach. John Murphy.)
The light blinded Murphy as he woke. It was late morning now, judging by the position of the sun and the twittering birds. He raised a hand in front of his face, blocking out the light as he slowly sat up.
The lighthouse he saw last night stood tall and imposing just at the edge of the shore. It was a sturdy structure with solar panels attached at the top to power the light.
Murphy crawled to his feet and made his way towards the lighthouse further inland. It would be a decent place to set up camp, easy to find again, and there would probably be some supplies around there.
A sharp clank sounded across the beach as his foot rammed into some metallic object beneath a small hill of sand. Murphy bent down and brushed the sand aside to reveal a solar panel.
Then, he heard music. Honest to god, he heard music. It was real and it was familiar. He could only get the hint of a melody in the distance, but it sounded like Sand by He Is Legend.
The irony wasn't lost on Murphy as he followed the sound as quickly as he could.
It took only a minute or so of walking through the forest before he came upon a sturdy looking metal door. A diamond shape was built into the structure, likely for aesthetic purposes.
Murphy knocked against the door five times with his fist. There was no answer. So, he decided to find a way in himself.
Murphy jammed his fingers into a small gap in the door and pulled. To his shock, the door opened with ease and He Is Legend filled his ears.
Inside, automatic lights activated themselves, illuminating a small entryway with a staircase leading down into the bunker.
At the bottom of the stairs was possibly the coolest place Murphy had ever seen, and it couldn't have appeared at a better time.
There was a nice living room, a garage filled with wines and two motorcycles, a room with a pool table, a private cinema, and best of all, a full bar.
"Promised land," Murphy murmured to himself with a big smile on his face.
He spun the two ball on the table and walked with a skip in his step towards the bar. There, lay many MREs. Murphy had found food, water, and shelter just like that. Surviving on this island was going to be easier than he thought.
He tore into one of the packs eating ravenously, then poured himself a small glass of whiskey. He drank and danced slightly to the music as Sand came to a close.
Then, Murphy spotted the best part of this miracle spot. Hanging on the wall in the corner of the room were two beautiful electric guitars with all the gear he could ever want sitting beneath them.
Leaving his lunch and whiskey behind for the moment, Murphy practically sprinted towards the guitars. One was a Fender Stratocaster. Murphy couldn't tell what year or model exactly. He was no expert on that subject. The second was a seven string Ibanez.
Murphy practically snatched up the Strat and plugged it in. He fiddled with the settings for only a few moments before getting them just where he wanted them.
Murphy jumped up and frantically sprinted around until he found a way to turn the music off.
Then, with the bunker silent save for the slight feedback from the amp, Murphy began to play.
He played the outro solo to Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. It was the greatest guitar solo ever, two minutes of pure gold. It was beautiful.
As the music took him, Murphy felt hot tears streaming down his cheeks. They were tears of joy, and Murphy didn't even care. With the music, his soul was complete.
Losing his ability to see thanks to the sheer level emotion pouring out of him, Murphy continued to cry, and the guitar cried along with him.
(Mount Weather, Command Center. Clarke Griffin.)
In Clarke's honest opinion, Monty was taking far too long to build the irradiation program. She didn't know anything about programming, but there was no way it could take him this long.
Clarke paced back and forth nervously. She felt she had to move. Bellamy and Raven eyed the monitors, watching the security feeds.
"Well that's not good," Raven commented.
Clarke whirled around to see what she was talking about. It took only a few moments before Clarke noticed what Raven was talking about. A young couple had stumbled into the closet Octavia, Roan, and Maya hid inside. They were making out, oblivious to the outside world.
Then, the couple noticed the others and ran screaming down the hall. Octavia and Roan sprinted after the couple where two guards stood watch.
"Now what?" Bellamy asked.
Clarke watched as Octavia launched her sword at one of the guards while Roan kicked the second one back into the wall. He stabbed the guy in the chest just to be sure he was dead.
Three more guards approached them on a different monitor.
"They've got to get out of there," Bellamy said.
The three sprinted away, obviously hearing the other guards coming. It was better that they hid rather than fighting.
It seemed though, that Maynard hadn't gotten that message. On a different monitor, Maynard limped along with his one broken leg. Ten guards appeared at the other end of the hall all armed with rifles.
Maynard appeared to scream something provocative and probably obscene at the guards, but Clarke couldn't hear through the screen. The guards opened fire as Maynard protected himself from as many shots as possible. Using his rifle, he managed to take out three of them before he ran out of bullets. He chucked the rifle at one of them, cracking the guard's skull thanks to the sheer force of the throw.
Then came a banging on the outer door.
"He's here," Clarke said, noticing Emerson on the cams now.
"Jasper," Monty said. "They caught him."
Clarke now saw Jasper, led into the dorm by a guard with cuffs on his wrists. Her mother still lay helpless on the extraction table.
Chaos erupted on the mess hall camera as Octavia, Roan, and Maya entered. People dashed about screaming and flailing. It took only seconds before guards had their sights trained on the three. They were quickly surrounded and ordered to their knees.
A gentle beep came from the computer and Monty stopped coding.
"Why are you stopping?" Clarke asked incredulously.
"Because I did it," Monty answered. "All we have to do is pull the lever. Hatches and vents will open, and the scrubbers will reverse, pulling in outside air."
Clarke stared at the lever Monty pointed to, then looked back at the monitors again. Emerson pulled materials from his backpack outside the door.
"He's going to blow the door," Bellamy realized, pulling his gun and aiming at the door, ready to shoot when it opened.
She looked at the cameras again. Octavia, Maya, and Roan were surrounded, Jasper was caught, her mother was slowly dying on the table, and Maynard now lay on the ground, laughing as a guard held a gun to his head.
"My sister, my responsibility," Bellamy whispered to himself.
Clarke looked around the room to her companions with tears in her eyes.
"I have to save them," Clarke said as her voice broke.
Raven eyed the monitor showing Maynard and the now five guards surrounding him. She stared frozen in place, unable to take her eyes away, unable to think.
Clarke rested her hand on the lever and hesitated for a moment. The lives at stake for this decision overwhelmed her, yet the choice seemed obvious. There was only one path forward.
Clarke pulled the lever.
(Mount Weather, Level Five. Maynard Draiman.)
One of the five remaining guards held his gun over my head. At this point, I was pretty much resigned to my own death. In addition to the many other bullet wounds, I had been shot at least fifty times more. I couldn't even move due to the pain.
It was genuinely the worst feeling I'd ever experienced. Blood soaked my skin as fire seemingly filled up my veins. The fact that I'd made it this far was unbelievable. I'd been unbelievably lucky to not get hit in the head, heart, or stomach.
The guard aimed his rifle at the center of my forehead with a cold look on his face. This honestly wasn't the way I'd imagined going out, not exactly. But it was as good a death as any. I had always wanted to die fighting for what I believed in, no matter how painful. It seemed that I had gotten my wish.
My thoughts idly drifted to my companions who were probably inside the mountain with me now. I hoped they were all okay and at least had a chance to escape.
I thought of Raven, her smile, her laugh, and her brilliant mind. She was strong, she would survive this, I was sure of that. Hopefully my death wouldn't hurt her too bad.
As I kept slipping, I wondered if there was an afterlife. Was there something beyond this world really? I didn't know for sure. I didn't know anything for sure. For whatever reason though, that thought didn't terrify me, it put me at peace.
My focus turned to the music still playing in my ears. How the iPod style object hadn't been shot was beyond me. It played the bridge section of Lateralus by TOOL, one of my favorite songs. I relaxed and closed my eyes, letting the music fill my mind.
Embrace my desire to
Embrace my desire to
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected
Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired
To fathom the power
To witness the beauty
To bathe in the fountain
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral of
Our divinity
And still be a human
My mind slowly drifted to another thought. Of all things, a quote popped into my mind. The brain near death was quite a thing to experience.
'Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.' Marcus Aurelius.
I smiled, allowing myself to accept death.
That's when the alarms blared. They were impossibly loud, shocking me from my trance like state.
It took only moments for me to realize what was going on. The uncomfortably clean smell of the area was replaced by a more familiar smell, an irradiated smell. The alarms activated as a warning of radiation infiltrating the mountain.
I opened my eyes to see the guards standing around me. They coughed and spluttered as the radiation instantly took effect. I smelled the death approaching them yet found no trace of that scent on me.
Guns clattered to the ground as the five soldiers collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. Their screams drowned out the sound of the alarm and the sound of Lateralus in my ears.
I was a lucky man to even be alive.
I passed out.
(Mount Weather, Level Five. Bellamy Blake.)
The mess hall was filled with the bodies of the dead. Bellamy looked on them with shock.
It was still unclear to him whether Clarke should have pulled the lever or not. They had killed each and every person in Mount Weather to save their people. Was that right? Bellamy wasn't sure.
They had used their ultimate power to save everyone. Octavia, Roan, and Maya would've all been killed. Clarke wouldn't have come to a compromise with Cage over the marrow. Maynard would have been shot and killed as well. He, Clarke, Monty, and Raven, likely would've survived. They could've escaped from the mountain, but everyone else would have died on their side.
Bellamy shook his head, clearing his mind. It was what it was. The decision had already been made. Now, they had to live with the consequences of that decision.
His three companions stared along with him. Monty looked equally horrified, while Raven did her best to keep tears from falling.
In the end, it was Raven who moved first. She walked straight through the mess hall and out another door in search of the corridor where Maynard likely lay dying. He didn't blame her for that. She deserved to spend as much time with Maynard as she could. Plus, there was always the chance that he could survive, but he hadn't looked so good over the monitors.
Clarke followed Raven, but turned a different direction, heading for the dorm room where their people were held imprisoned. Bellamy followed and Monty behind him. No one spoke. No one had the heart to.
As they rounded the corner towards the dorms, Bellamy saw Jasper kneeling on the floor with Maya's body cradled in his arms. His face was streaked with tears and his eyes were red as beets. He looked up at them with a broken expression, one of horror and disgust.
"What did you do?" He croaked.
"We had no choice," Clarke replied hoarsely.
"I was going to kill Cage," Jasper said as the tears came faster. "If you had just given me one more minute it would've all been over."
"Jasper," Bellamy said reasonably. "They never would've stopped."
They looked at their broken friend on the ground below them for a moment. No one had the heart to say anything else.
"We have to go to the dorm," Clarke spoke finally.
Jasper cried over Maya as they walked past him. Monty spoke with his friend in hushed tones for a moment before coming after them.
Inside the dorm, the prisoners were freed. Kane stood next to a gaunt looking Abby, holding her by the elbow. The Millers embraced strongly, father and son unwilling to let the other go. Skylar held a young Hispanic woman with gray streaked hair in a hug. Bellamy guessed it must've been Elena who she hugged, but he wasn't sure.
"Mom," Clarke breathed.
She dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Abby with tearful eyes.
"You did good," Kane complimented with a nod.
Bellamy set his eyes on Kane as he lay a hand on Bellamy's shoulder.
"Let's get these people home," Kane said.
"Yes sir," Bellamy nodded.
(Mount Weather, Level Five. Raven Reyes.)
She fell to the ground as soon as she laid eyes on Maynard. Her weak leg just couldn't support her weight anymore. Raven needed to take some time off to recover. Maynard probably would need some time off too, judging by his appearance.
Raven crawled towards him and rested her weight just over his bare chest. His skin was smeared with blood, he had no shoes, and his pants were full of holes. There were many more tattoos covering his skin where he'd been shot.
"Hey," Raven whispered desperately.
He needed to be alive. She couldn't live without him.
Raven grabbed Maynard's face in her hands and gently shook him up and down.
"Wake up," She said, her voice breaking as tears came streaming down her cheeks. "Please, wake up."
Raven dropped her forehead against Maynard's chest while he remained totally silent. He was still breathing thankfully, and his heart was beating slowly as it always did.
The sight of his broken right leg nearly caused her to throw up. The bone was visible, sticking out just through the skin. On his right hand, the top half of his ring finger was missing. A bloody stump was left in its place.
"I love you," She whispered. "Wake up. I can't do this without you. You mean more than anything to me. I can't lose you."
Seemingly in response to her words, Maynard took in a sharp breath and his eyes flew open. The calculating gray eyes looked deadened and exhausted, but they showed signs of life.
Raven cried harder, but now because Maynard was alive. He was okay. Raven hugged him and refused to let go.
"Hey," Maynard croaked, barely audible.
She just cried, too relieved to say anything.
It was a long while before Raven regained her composure enough to speak. She stared into his eyes for a long moment. Each of them conveyed their full love for the other without words. Words paled in comparison to the moment shared between them.
"I thought I lost you," Raven whispered.
"I'm right here," Maynard replied with a small smile. "I'm okay."
"I'm so glad you're okay," Raven said softly as she kissed him on the forehead.
"Me too," Maynard said. "What happened?"
A whole new emotion descended on Raven as she remembered what had happened in the command center. She had let Clarke pull that lever and kill all those people.
"Clarke irradiated the mountain," Raven answered.
Maynard's face remained unreadable as he thought that over.
"I could've stopped her," Raven murmured. "I could've done something. I-"
"Hey," Maynard interrupted. "It ain't yer fault."
"But it's my fault," Raven whispered. "I didn't do anything because I thought you would've been killed."
"I won't hold that against ya," Maynard returned with a cough. "Ya had an impossible choice, and, for what it's worth, I'm glad I'm still alive."
Raven chuckled wetly at Maynard's weak attempt at humor.
"Me too," Raven replied.
Maynard winced in pain, then poked two fingers inside a hole in his neck. He hissed as he removed a small bullet from the wound. The skin rapidly closed over but left no black line as his other wounds did.
"Glad I got a thick neck," Maynard quipped as he tossed the bullet aside. "That probly woulda killed me otherwise."
Raven laughed lightly as she wrapped her arms around Maynard just happy that they were both alive to see another day.
(Camp Jaha, Front Gate. Clarke Griffin.)
They finally reached camp Jaha again early the next morning. Clarke walked near the back of the convoy, watching as the others entered the gate.
She had already made up her mind on this subject. Clarke wasn't going back. She couldn't stay in camp Jaha any longer.
Clarke had done too much wrong, made too many errors of judgment, and caused too much death. She opposed everyone, the whole time insisting she was right regardless of the circumstances. Clarke needed a break. She needed to be alone, protect them from herself.
Their convoy entered camp with Abby and Kane leading the way. Abby lay on a stretcher while Kane walked beside her, holding her hand. Next came the Millers, junior and senior walking side by side. Then, it was Octavia and Lincoln, seemingly connected at the hip. Elena carried Skylar through the gate with Roan walking just behind them. A broken Jasper entered alone, staring at the camp with a far away look in his eyes. Maynard and Raven, each carried on a stretcher, held hands as they were taken through the gate towards the medical tent. Maynard still wore his pair of tac pants filled with bullet holes and nothing else. Bellamy stopped and waited by the gate while Monty wrapped Clarke in a tight hug.
Bellamy turned back towards Clarke and walked towards her, now that the two were alone.
"I think we deserve a drink," Bellamy commented.
Clarke remained silent for a moment as she looked over camp Jaha. What she was about to do wasn't easy. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but it was necessary.
"Have one for me," Clarke said.
"Hey," Bellamy replied softly. "We can get through this."
Clarke struggled to get the words out, shaking her head and gritting her teeth.
"I'm not going in," Clarke said.
"Clarke," Bellamy said, turning towards her. "If you need forgiveness, I'll give that to you. You're forgiven."
His words were almost enough to make her stay.
"Please come inside," Bellamy said.
"Take care of them for me," Clarke returned.
"Clarke…" Bellamy trailed off.
"I see their faces every day," Clarke said. "It's just going to remind me of what I did to get them here."
"Clarke," Bellamy said. "You didn't have to make that decision alone."
Clarke watched the smiling Maynard and Raven as they were taken into the medical tent. She saw her mother speaking with Jackson. She saw Elena holding Skylar in her arms. Clarke couldn't let them take responsibility for this.
"I bear it so they don't have to," Clarke quoted Dante's words to Bellamy.
"Where are you going to go?" Bellamy asked.
"I don't know," Clarke answered honestly for what felt like the first time in a long time.
Bellamy stood staring at her, unable to say anything.
Clarke stepped up and kissed him on the cheek, then hugged him tightly.
"May we meet again," Clarke said.
Then she turned her back on Bellamy and walked toward the forest where her destiny awaited.
The end.
So season 2 is complete! Thank you all so much for supporting me throughout the production of this story. I never imagined I would get this far or be this successful in writing it.
This chapter was a heavy one, and overall, I'm quite proud of how it turned out. Also, interestingly enough, even with all the heavy scenes I've written thus far, the one that got me closest to crying was the one this chapter where Murphy found the guitars and played Comfortably Numb. Maybe it's because I made up that part of his character that I feel more attached to that scene. I honestly don't know why, but I found it interesting.
As I mentioned in S2E18, I am going to write a small interlude section filling the gap between Seasons 2 and 3. It should be quite a lot of fun, and I'll get to delve more into the history and workings of the Furlan. Of course, there will be conflict as well, so stay tuned for that.
Further news, I think I am decided on the future plot after season 3. I think I'm going to take the story in a completely different direction with a whole new plot. Season 4 will begin largely the same way, but will have a completely different plot. Season 4 will also be the final season I write, as I think I have created a suitable ending. My plan is to add some more politics and more depth in terms of the conflicts between groups of people. There won't be as much, man v nature plot. Tell me what you think about that, and feel free to PM me some ideas if you have any.
Anyways, this AN is getting quite long, but I thought that I had to share some of the inner workings of my brain with ya'll regarding my plans for the story.
Thanks for reading.