Chapter 21
The next day, Raven and Miller showed up. Raven hadn't told him what to expect, just that they'd found something they wanted to explore. Miller had agreed when Raven also stated that it could help if the world went to shit again.
Raven stood in front of the secret door. Miller was looking around, wondering where they were. He'd never heard of another bunker, but that place didn't look like one and the doorway was open. A hiss had him turning back around quickly, looking for the source. His eyes widened when part of the wall seemed to melt back into itself.
"Come on, Miller, come see what Sol found!" she said, excitedly. He followed her into the dark hole in the wall and saw two doors. Raven didn't hesitate and opened the right-hand one. She stepped through with Miller on her heels. He stopped and looked around in amazement.
"What is this place?"
"One of Sol's great, great's helped build underground bunkers for when the world was destroyed. Don't know why it wasn't used, but Sol had the family papers outlining it and where it was and how to open it - sort of."
"Sort of?"
"There were a series of riddles we had to solve to figure out where we could find an entrance and how to get in. We found it yesterday - well actually, we found this place almost a year ago, but we only got inside yesterday."
"And no-one else knows?"
"A few do, Me, Jake, Sol, Rory, Clarke, Octavia, Monroe, Harper, The Commander, Anya and Indra all know of it. The Commander should be coming down in a few days to see it. Come on, I'll show you to the monitoring station in a small command centre. Sol and Monroe should be there." Miller followed Raven a short way down the corridor and entered a room with monitors and filing cabinets in it.
"Hi, Raven," Sol said, getting up. Monroe was engrossed in her reading so she only gave a backwards wave and carried on reading. Miller was looking around.
"This is some set-up!" he said.
"Wait until you see the map we found of this place!" Sol said, grinning.
"Why? How big is it?" Raven asked.
"How big is the eastern USA?" Sol asked in reply.
"HOW BIG!?" Raven almost screeched.
Sol went to one of the computers and pulled up a schematic onto one of the big monitors.
"The monitors are touch-screen so you can zoom in and out," Sol said. Raven went straight to it and touched one section, the one she's looked at the day before with Octavia. With one touch, the monitor zoomed in on that part.
"Vehicle hub," Raven said, reading the name of the place.
"Vehicles? Really?" Monroe said, her head popping up and around.
"Yeah," Raven said, still engrossed in the map.
"So how big is this place?" Miller asked.
"The bunker is a series of interconnected ones stretching all the way from St Louis, to Chicago, Atlanta and Texas and going all the way to the coast."
"That's huge!" Miller said in shock.
"I know. It all needs to be checked as well before the Arkers figure it out - or the other clans. The Commander wants this place kept for in case ALIE blows the world up again and I agree. This place is for everyone."
"How many?"
"Around 800,000."
"Oh, thank God!" Miller said.
"Yeah, most of those who remember seemed to express the same sentiments," Sol said.
"The main Command Centre for all the bunkers is in this section though. Before we go, we want to go check it out."
"So we monitor the door and let people in and out while you explore?" Raven said.
"Yes. Tomorrow, you can do the same with whoever takes over from you." Raven smiled. She wanted to do some exploring.
"When will we explore this place in its entirety?"
"After the Commander has seen some of it. Search teams will be sent out in all directions. If you go on one, don't get bogged down in one room. Catalogue what it's for and move on. Later explorers can do a more thorough search of individual rooms. This place needs to be mapped out first so we don't get too lost looking at the various rooms." Miller nodded.
"Come on, Monroe, let's explore." Monroe got up grinning at the other two.
"Have fun!" she said as she left with Sol.
"I'll have more fun tomorrow when we can explore!" Raven grumbled under her breath and Miller chuckled and sat at a monitor, looking at what Monroe had been reading and starting to read it himself. Raven watched as he got absorbed in whatever he was reading, sighed and sat down at another computer and booted it up. Soon she too was lost in coding.
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Four days later the Commander arrived and wanted to see the bunker now that it was open. Indra escorted her and her bodyguard, Gustus, to the bunker. Indra noticed the Commander and Gustus both seemed to stiffen slightly at going underground. Gustus didn't remember but the Commander did. Neither of them liked to be underground, Indra could understand that!
"Welcome to the bunker, Commander," Clarke said as the Commander made her way to the secret door. The Commander nodded and Gustus was looking around him. Clarke gestured to the door and Gustus pushed to the front to check it out first. He stuck his head in the doorway and then pushed open the door to the right. He was shocked to see so much room inside. When the Commander had informed him of a place underground where they could live if another praimfyre happened, he was assuming it would be small enough for just a few people, not a great long corridor!
He walked in and the Commander followed and then Indra and then Clarke. Sol was there to greet them.
"Commander, welcome," Sol said. She showed them to the first monitoring station.
"This is where we have to monitor the doorway, Commander. The first time we opened the door was the only time we could do it from outside. Someone has to stay here to let people in and out. For now, only those who either remember, or were here first are used to man this place and only two at a time."
"Do you still intend it for the clans as well?"
"Yes, Commander. Your people have always been here, but those on the Ark know how to make the machinery work. We need both groups to make this work, Commander." Lexa nodded.
"So what are you doing now?"
"At the moment, Raven and Miller are checking out the main command centre. It's in this bunker section and it monitors ALL the other bunker sections. After that, we need to start exploring. We need to find the farming places, the hydro plant - that's where we get the water from - and the main engineering section. If we can get this bunker up and running, we can explore and move around better. Right now, we need people who can keep their mouths shut about this place. Clarke and I have been discussing using some of the prisoners who are due to come down. We'll ask them if they want to live in the valley or not. After that we can figure out who will keep quiet."
"Would they live here?"
"For the most part, but I want them all trained in your ways too so it would be half and half, but they would be living here. If they went to Orchard Park or Tondc, people would question it, so we think it would be better for a group of them to live here."
"Do you think that's wise? We have gotten to know you, Sol, and we already know Clarke and the others, can they be trusted?"
"That's a question we still have to find the answer to, Commander. At first I thought one of us would have to move in and be in charge."
"You?"
"Yes, but I don't like being underground now, it's too much like the Ark, all tunnels and rooms, no sunshine or weather."
"You'll be missed too, Sol."
"I know, but I can pass that off as being at Orchard Park."
"Sol has become one of those I trust, Commander," Clarke said.
"I know, I trust her too, she and the other three have shown themselves to be friends of the clans. They are trusted to behave and not just think of themselves or their people."
"I see those in Tondc as my people, Commander. That's where we live and it's where I feel at peace with myself," Sol admitted.
"Do you want to be Trikru?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Then you shall be, once everything has died down and the rest of those on the Ark are down and in the valley."
"Mochof, Heda," Sol said, bowing.
Clarke took over and gave the Commander a short tour of what they'd found already and how big the bunker was.
Sol however, was thinking about Mount Weather. If Clarke, Raven, Monroe, Harper and Octavia with maybe Miller went to check in that direction, she'd have to send others out in other directions to search. She'd have to ask Clarke which ones could be trusted with the secret of the bunker and use them. Maybe some of the Trikru warriors they knew would be able to help them chart the bunker.
She wondered if Monty could be made to remember. Raven had said he was instrumental in bringing the mountain down the last time and she knew the reason he hadn't been triggered before then was because his mother was still alive and he would remember killing her. Now he was down, he could be triggered and be another one who could help them check it out. Jake was due to arrive in the next two days to have a look around as well. With both Raven and Jake, they had engineering covered and with Raven and Monty, they had the electronics and computers covered. Sol hoped there were more people they could use. The bunker was massive and it all needed to be checked out.
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Over the next four days, Clarke and Sol checked out each person in Orchard park and Clarke would pick those who she thought could keep quiet about the bunker. They would be the core of their explorers. There were only six that Clarke was sure about. They decided that it was time to bring the prisoners down and sort them out. Those Clarke knew from last time who did the jobs needed to survive, would be checked out by both Raven and Clarke. They would be easier to pass off as being elsewhere.
Sol and Clarke contacted the Ark and told Kane it was time to send the prisoners down. He agreed and they signed off and they organised a team to go with them to the dropsite and wait for the ship to go down.
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On the Ark
Kane called Hunter into his office and told her that Clarke and Sol had requested the prisoners. It was the beginning of July and it was summer, it was the best time to send them down. Kane told Byrne and she helped put the prisoners aboard the ship and then she left to check the cargo to load on the other ships. Once Byrne had gone, Miller and Hunter looked at each other and went for the hidden ones.
"Hey," Hunter said when she got to Granary Station. "Grab everything you've got, today's the day we go to the ground!" There was a stir of whispers and then everyone ran to grab their clothing, bedding and the food that was left. Soon everyone had their things wrapped in blankets. Hunter sighed, she hadn't thought of that.
She led them all quietly to the airlock and Miller let them in.
"Find a chair, put your stuff under it and then strap in," she told them. She directed some of them upwards to the other floors where there were still some seats left. She was almost done when Kyle Wick came in.
"Hey, Wick, strap in, we drop as soon as Miller gives the command centre the go-ahead," Hunter told him. He nodded and grabbed a chair near the back.
"Everyone here?" Miller asked.
"Yeah. We need to check if the straps are tight enough and then I need to strap in." Miller nodded and went up to the top deck to start checking there. Hunter checked those on the bottom deck and then met Miller on the middle deck and helped to finish checking the straps.
"My turn," Hunter said and went back to the bottom level and found a seat and strapped in. Miller made sure the straps were tight enough.
"You're all set. Tell Nathan I'll be down as soon as I can and that I love him."
"Will do." Miller nodded and turned to leave just as Kane and Bellamy came in.
"Strap in Bellamy." He nodded and sat in the seat next to Hunter.
"Hunter, tell Clarke that I couldn't save Charlotte's parents. One of Jaha's people slipped past us and he floated them before we could stop him. Charlotte's going down with you." Hunter nodded. Miller checked the straps and then both Miller and Kane left and closed the door.
They heard the engines start up and then the ship dropped into freefall until the thrusters kicked in.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
On the ground
"There!" Drew said, pointing to a small speck in the sky. He followed it with his binoculars until it vanished behind the tree line. "Looks like it landed in the right place," he said and Sol started the Ilana up and moved off towards the ship.
They came upon the ship, still smoking and Sol and the rest hopped out and Sol banged on the door.
"Open up!" she yelled. She stood to the side and the ramp came down. Hunter and Bellamy stood there waiting.
"Welcome to Earth!" Sol said, grinning. Both Hunter and Bellamy walked down the ramp looking all around them.
"Colour!" Hunter said, grinning. "I can finally see the true colours!" Sol laughed.
"Are you Hunter?"
"Yeah, that's me," she replied.
"I'm Sol. Come on, let's get everyone out and sorted."
Once everyone was out of the ship, Clarke and Sol led them to the valley.
"This is the valley where the Arkers are going to live in. It's a sunken valley and that's it's official name. Once inside, the sides of the valley will start to rise high above the ground level. They top out at over 70 feet and there's a spectacular waterfall at the other end, also 70 ft. The only way in or out is at this end. These lands are not our lands, only this valley has been given to the Arkers to live. It's around 200 square miles so there's plenty of room for everyone. If you are staying in the valley, then please, don't leave it. This is the land you will live on. Use it wisely and don't chop down all the trees or kill all the animals or pick all the fruits, berries and nuts, otherwise you won't have anything left. Only this valley is for Arker use, outside of here, it's Trikru lands and Broadleaf lands. You will be killed as invaders if you don't have a good enough reason to be outside of it!" Clarke said.
"We are trying to get some clan people to show you how to hunt, forage, plant and grow your crops, how to build for warmth in winter and cool in summer. They'll show you what to watch out for. There are predators on the other side of this river, but further up, the river is wide enough that they don't cross. They don't like to swim. Only by letting the clans teach you can you survive. Down here, it rains, it snows in winter and the sun can be relentless at times and the temperature changes are quite dramatic. We get minus numbers in winter and high twenties in summer. This first year is going to show you how brutal the Earth can be, but humans have overcome that time and time again. Don't let yourselves be the last of the Arkers because the adults were too proud to accept help!" Sol said.
"With all that said, welcome to your new home."
Sol and Clarke led them a little way into the valley, pointing out berry and nut bushes and trees, fruit trees and any ground vegetables they could find. They showed them which trees were which and which trees were good for finding deadfall for fires and which were good for making furniture and other stuff. It was a quick and dirty guide to their first experiences on the ground.
"We've found some tents you can use. As we said, we're trying to get people to come teach you how to build your own houses and other buildings."
"Other buildings? Like what?" asked Angelo.
"Like a storehouse, granary, workshops, animal barns to keep them safe from predators and others as they are needed. No doubt they'd want a hospital and probably a school," Clarke said.
"So what do we do until the others come down?"
"Some of us will be staying with you to show you how to do some things. They will be arriving tomorrow. Until then, Clarke and I will be staying. We'll show you how to hunt small game for your food tonight. We'll show you how to make fires and how to build them properly so you don't burn down the entire valley. Fire is dangerous, it can destroy everything it touches including people! You need to be as safe as you can. Alright, we'll divide you into groups. One group stays here, one group goes with Clarke and one group goes with me. I'll teach those who want to know how to hunt small animals with snares and with spears, though using spears on small animals is overkill, it may be the only way you can get meat."
"Who wants to learn to hunt?" Several hands went up. Sol chose twenty to go with her. It was a big group but with nearly a hundred people, they needed to be kept busy.
"I'm going for fruits and berries and some nuts, who wants to come?" asked Clarke. Again, several more hands went up. Clarke also picked twenty.
"Okay, Angelo, Wick, you're in charge until we get back. You can explore the immediate area, but don't wander off! We don't want you falling into the river or getting stuck down an unexplored hole in the ground," Clarke said.
"Those of you who brought the ration packs down, go get them and bring them here," Hunter said. They took the ration packs out of their blankets and put them in a heap on the ground. "Those are for everyone. Don't take any until it's time for the meal and then we'll share them out as well as the food Sol and Clarke are bringing back."
"I'll make sure they don't get eaten," Wick said. Sol nodded and led her team off to the north. She showed them the trees she could find vines amongst, how to make a snare with them and where the best place to put one would be. She made several snares and had four people waiting downwind of the snares, end of the vines in hand, ready to tighten it if an animal stepped into it. They waited for about half an hour, all keeping very quiet as they watched a rabbit hop into the first snare. Sol yanked the snare tight and it caught the rabbit by it's back foot. The rabbit screamed and Sol quickly despatched it. She bought it back and set the snare out again and had another person have a go at catching their next meal.
Clarke was picking in some broad grasses and tough reeds from along the river. She showed the others how to make small baskets and soon everyone was copying Clarke and made the little baskets themselves. Next, Clarke showed them how to recognise when berries were ripe and which ones would be ripe right now. Nuts were a little harder to know but Clarke picked some she'd been shown in her previous life. Soon everyone was picking berries and nuts and some of the fruits on the trees. They picked cherries and plums from the trees and wild strawberries and gooseberries from the bushes. Clarke had cautioned not to take them all at once, but to make them last as long as possible because you never knew when you'd need them closer to winter.
When everyone got back, The meat was cooked by Sol over several fires she had built and started. She'd shown four others who hadn't gone out how to do it. They built and started the other fires under Sol's supervision. Soon everyone had something to eat. Clarke and Sol had brought fifty small plastic cups with them so they had to share, but everyone was soon full and had something to drink. They all lounged around the area, chatting and laughing about things they had in common.
"Hey, Hunter?" asked one of those that were hidden for their own safety.
"Yeah?"
"Are we pardoned for our crimes?"
"No idea. Clarke?"
"Yes you are. Those who were hidden once you turned 18 have done their time and are no longer criminals. Those who were still in prison, are now pardoned by me. Screw up again, though and the punishment will be whatever Kane deals out! I'm in charge of the Sunken Valley clan - that's those living here from the Ark - and I'm also the Ambassador for us. I will be living in their capital city once everything settles down and I'll put Kane in charge here. Make no mistake, I'm still the leader, he's just my stand-in while I'm away."
"You won't live here?"
"No, as the only one the clans will deal with when it comes to official clan business, it's up to me to be there to talk to them. There will be no more elections to find the next Chancellor, in fact, there won't be another Chancellor. That's a title that belongs on the Ark. down here, the leader of a clan is called Heda. Kane will be given another title and only I can change that. No-one else has the right to take over. I'm the only one who can appoint someone to look after the clan in this valley. They won't like it, but if they want to live down here, they have to abide by the clan laws - all of them."
"What about you, Sol?"
"I won't be living here either. I've made my home in one of the Trikru villages. I've lived there for the last year and it feels like home more than the Ark ever did!"
"Can we live elsewhere?"
"That depends on your work ethic, your moral ethic and how you interact with the clans. If you think you can go off and find your own patch of land, then you're wrong. You have to prove yourselves to the clans to live among them."
"How?"
"Learn their ways, learn their languages - or at least the language of the Trikru. Be respectful but don't back down when they challenge you, and I don't mean in a fight. They like to bluff-bully you, don't back down and you'll earn their respect as well. Show them you want to live in peace with them and integrate with them. Don't look down your nose at them because they don't use technology. That's what got the world into the state it is today. Why would they want to replicate that? They are people who just want to live in peace by simple means. They ride horses, not cars, they use swords and bows, not guns and missiles. Show them your peaceful intent but learn their weapons as well. Most people our age are already considered adults by them. An adult to them is someone who has been trained in one of their jobs, whether it's as a warrior, a clothmaker, tailor, shoemaker, blacksmith, baker, hunter or scout. It doesn't matter what the job, once it's mastered to the satisfaction of the person training them, they are adults. Some of the 13 years old around here are adults. Down here, it's your deeds, not age that makes you an adult." They were quiet for a few seconds before they started whispering to each other.
"I think I'd like that," Angelo said. "Being treated as an adult and not shunted off to the side because of our ages."
"You have a way of doing that. Learn what you can before they come down and if you show them you know how to do things, the Arkers can either learn from the clans or from you. They'll have to make the choice between someone from another culture or someone they still consider a child, but came from the same culture as themselves," Sol said, shrugging. Several people smiled at the thought of teaching adults how to do things.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
After everything had settled down they put up the tents Raven and Sol had dug out of the basement building in Arlington. There were three twenty person tents and twelve ten person tents. They would use the ten person tents and put up the others once they'd decided where to have the village.
The next morning, Monroe and Raven returned with some more clothing and tools. Monroe would take charge of everyone and get them working on their new village. Sol had been watching a young girl. She seemed to keep to herself and seemed scared. She went over to her.
"Hey, I'm Sol, what's your name?" she asked gently.
"Charlotte," came the reply.
"Hi, Charlotte, Can I sit beside you?" Charlotte looked at her nervously.
"If you want," she said, scrunching up slightly and holding tighter to her legs. Sol sat down.
"Are you okay?" Sol asked.
"I saw my parents floated and when I went back to our quarters, the reclamation team was already there, going through my parents' things. I lost it and attacked a guard. They put me in prison. I miss my parents!" Charlotte was on the verge of tears. Sol put her arm around the girl and gently pulled her into her embrace. Charlotte let it happen and soon she was in floods of tears. After a while the tears stopped.
"You okay now?" Charlotte shook her head.
"I just want to sleep without reliving it. Every night I see them and it never stops." Sol made a decision.
"Come on, you are coming with us. There's someone I want you to meet, okay?"
"Where?"
"In the village I live in. Don't worry, you won't be alone. Bellamy will be coming with us as well."
"Why?"
"Because his mother is there." Charlotte looked at her.
"How?"
"She was sent down with myself, Jake Griffin, Clarke's dad and Raven Reyes. Rory and Jake were sent down rather than floating them."
"Why?"
"We don't know, but it was the best thing that happened to me," Sol told her.
"Okay," Charlotte said in a small voice. Sol smiled at her.
"Come on," Sol said, getting up. Charlotte rose with her and followed Sol wherever she went.
"Raven, you staying?"
"Nope, I've work to do. Monroe's staying though." Sol nodded.
"Monroe, we've shown them the berry and nut bushes to use, how to build a fire and how to hunt with snares and clean them before cooking them. I didn't teach them how to cook the food though."
"Alright, I got it. I've brought some spears too so we can go hunting boar or deer."
"There's a herd of deer on this side, but the boars are on the other along with a group of panthers."
"Deer it is. I've brought some more containers for water. We still need to find a water pump, but until we do, we can use a bucket on a rope. It worked well for us," Monroe said.
"Good. Wick can help you , but get the others working. There's two large tents to put up when you find a good place for the village."
"No problem," Monroe said, turning away and getting things organised.
"Bellamy!" Sol called. "Come on, we're going to my village!"
"Why?"
"Because your mom's there!" His head snapped up and he grinned.
"Octavia?"
"She'll be back in a few days. She didn't know you were coming down now. When she comes back, she'll come see you." He nodded.
"When are we going?"
"Now. We help unload the Ilana and then we head off back to my village."
"What's the 'Ilana'?" asked Bellamy.
"You'll see!" Sol said, grinning. Another group went with them to get the items from the Ilana. They stopped and stared at the hovercraft.
"Is that real?" one boy said.
"Yup. This is our vehicle for getting around. That's OUR vehicle, not yours. This does not belong to the Arkers, it belongs to the Trikru okay? We use it because we know how."
"Can we get one?"
"No, this is a prototype and was the only one."
"So what do we use?"
"Your feet," Sol deadpanned. A few people grumbled but Sol wouldn't move on the subject. They took the items off the Ilana and Bellamy and Charlotte climbed aboard. The others walked back to the camp with their goods and started working with Monroe to find a new site for their village.
Raven and Sol climbed back aboard the Ilana and Raven drove them back to Tondc. It took quite a while but they got there by midday. Raven parked it just outside the eastern gate and they all got out. They walked into the village and Bellamy and Charlotte were looking around at everyone and everything. A woman came out of one of the tents.
"MOM!" Bellamy shouted and ran towards her. Rory's head whipped around and her eyes grew in surprise to see her son.
"Bellamy? Bellamy!" she said and ran to meet him. They both grabbed each other in a big bearhug, Rory started crying. She had her son back and with her daughter also on the ground, they were all safe.
"I missed you mom, they said they'd floated you."
"I know, honey, but I'm safe down here." Bellamy pulled back to look at his mother.
"You don't look any different but at the same time, there's something different about you."
"I'm happy, Bellamy. For the first time since Octavia was born, I'm happy. This is my life now and I love it!" Bellamy smiled. He had his mother back and soon his sister, he could breathe easier now. Sol walked up to Rory.
"Rory, I'd like you to meet Charlotte. She lost both parents to floating and she's having trouble adjusting to it. She has nightmares about it." Rory took one look at the girl and pulled her into a big hug.
"Charlotte, down here, we make our own memories and families. I've always got room for another kid in my life. I'm not trying to replace your parents, there's no way I could, but if it helps, you can always come to me with whatever's bothering you, okay? I'm here for you whenever you need me for whatever reason. I've got two children and I've been helping with the other children in this village. You are safe here and between all of us, we can come up with something to help you." Charlotte looked at her and hugged her.
"Thank you," Charlotte whispered. Bellamy knew what it was like to think his parents were dead so he had a little bit of sympathy for her.
"Hey, kid," he said. Charlotte turned around to face him.
"Welcome to the family, kid," he said, smiling. Charlotte smiled back.
Sol arranged for a couple of beds to be made for Bellamy and Charlotte in Rory's house. Over the fall and winter, they'd all had small houses made. Rory and Jake would share one until the Ark came down and then he would go to Sunken Valley to be with his wife. Raven and Sol shared the other. Raven was still in two minds whether to join the Trikru or not. She loved them and had fit in very well with them, but the fact that they didn't use tek was something she was finding hard. If it wasn't for the llana, she didn't know what she would do.
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Two days later, Sol and Clarke entered the bunker and immediately set to work looking for detailed maps of the entire bunker. Sol knew that Clarke didn't want her to help with dealing with Mount Weather, but she could at least give them a start by sending Clarke and a few of her trusted people to see if there was a way in from the bunker.
In the end, Clarke chose Octavia, Harper, Miller, Monty and Murphy - if Murphy wanted to go. To disguise what they were doing, Clarke had Drew lead a team of the ones who came down with Clarke, in one direction and they allowed Bellamy to know about the bunker as long as he promised not to tell the Arkers. It would be used if another nuclear war happened. They'd told Bellamy about some stories that had been handed down from the survivors of the war which had been verified in those early days which said that not all of the nuclear weapons had been used and not all of the nuclear power plants had been destroyed either. He agreed, especially when he found out that both his mother and sister already knew about it. Bellamy would lead the other team. Sol had sent Clark west, Bellamy north and Drew south. They had each taken a couple of the now working vehicles to get around. Sol had told Bellamy to try to find the Entrance near Chicago, Drew to find the one down near Jackson and Clarke was to see how far the bunker system went out west.
Hunter would take another couple of the tunnel rats who didn't want to live in the valley with her to check out the eastern part of the bunker system. Sol thought that it wouldn't go much further east as they were almost on the coast as it was. Each team was given a week. Sol hoped that would be enough time for Clarke to find what she was looking for. Once the teams had set off, Sol sighed and took her duty in the monitoring station on door duty.
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Clarke was driving the only vehicle they took. On the way the other five who were already triggered, decided to wake Monty up. The reasons for not waking him up before were no longer an issue, mainly that his mother was still alive but he would have remembered killing her. They drove until midday when they stopped for a meal beside one of the ornamental parks. There weren't any plants in it yet, but a few statues and decorative objects were there and they stopped near one of the water fountains that had been installed and, more importantly, worked.
"Monty, remember when we were on the Ark and Sol and Raven wanted to trigger me, Octavia and Kane?"
"Yeah?"
"Well we want to trigger you now. The reason we didn't before is that you'd remember some horrible stuff and it would have impacted how you acted. We couldn't take the chance then," Clarke said.
"Why? What happened?"
"I'd rather trigger you than tell you, but I'll warn you, it really was bad." Monty gulped but nodded. Clarke nodded back and looked at Harper. "Any ideas?" Harper nodded and turned to Monty.
"Mount Weather," she said, but Monty didn't respond to it. "Cage Wallace." Again nothing. Harper stopped to think about it. "Dr. Tsing." That was the catalyst and he reared back as memories assailed him.
"What the fuck!?" he said.
"It's okay, Monty, we've all been through this. We all remember the last time."
"We died," he said.
"We did," Clarke said.
A while later when Monty had processed his memories he began to ask questions.
"So what are we really doing?"
"We're going to see if there's a way into Mount Weather from this bunker. Sol's great-great grandfather - or whoever it was - was a military man who was part of the team who built these bunkers. Mount Weather was also military so it may have a way from there to here. We have to find it."
"And what then?"
"We see if we can get in and get the clans out."
"What about the radiation?"
"This time, we won't be on the inside except to get the clans out. Jasper is in the valley, Monty. I don't want him to remember if we can't save Maya. I'd rather he never knew if she died." Monty nodded.
"How are we doing this?"
"I have no idea other than find the way in first and then try to figure it out from there." Monty nodded again. There were a few seconds of silence.
"Okay, if everyone's finished, let's get back to finding the way in."
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Several hours later, they compared the maps Clarke had drawn from memory of the mountain and the schematic of the bunker that Sol had provided. Octavia, Monty, Harper and Miller added any details Clarke didn't know of or had forgotten.
"Alright, this is as close as we can get it. This should be an entrance to the mines under Mount Weather.
"Reaper tunnels? You want to enter the reaper tunnels?" Octavia asked.
"Hope not, but I want to find them so we can avoid them. Did any of you hear anything in there about this bunker system?"
"No," Monty said. "Even when Raven and I looked through the computers when Farm Station moved in, I never came across anything like that."
"Then they may not know of it. I hope it's in some out of the way corridor they don't use," Clarke said.
"Yeah, but wouldn't they know every door in the place?"
"Not really, remember those rooms the clans were held in? I bet those had a very different use at first. I think it's a bit like the Ark, a reduction in population means some parts of their compound are no longer used, or used for something completely different. I doubt they have a capital crime law like the Ark did, but for some reason, there's more rooms that they needed for the population and the military place had only about three hundred people in it at one time."
"So over the generations it was just forgotten about?" Monty asked, a bit dubious about it.
"Maybe. If you were the first gen inside that mountain, would you have that information available for anyone to access or would you place it under heavy encryption and top secret?"
"Yeah, I would. I'd also make sure only a handful of people knew about it," Monty said.
"So there's no-one alive now that was then. Maybe the info just got forgotten about. Hiding files is not that hard. The problem is that you have to know a file is hidden to find it." Monty nodded.
"And if they didn't know about it, they wouldn't go looking for it," he said, getting it now.
"So, where do you think we are under the surface?" asked Octavia. Clarke studied the map some more.
"I think this area here where the corridor bends, is the base of the mountains. It may have been safer to go around the mountains rather than tunnel through them and bring some down on the workers," Clarke said. "We'll follow the corridor around and see where it leads. We may have to go up and down some corridors until we find the right one," she continued.
They nodded and kept an eye out for side corridors that seemed to bend.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
It took them another day before they found one that dead ended in a foot thick steel door. They got out of the vehicle and Murphy studied the door.
"There's a keypad here," he said, pulling open a panel on the wall.
"Think you and Raven can open the door and be able to close it again?"
"Probably, given time, but it would be better if we had the passcode," Monty said.
"Alright, but that means going back and asking Sol for it and she may not know it."
"So we go back now?"
"No, we're supposed to be looking for the western most extent of the bunker so we'll keep exploring and in a week we'll be back at the entrance, looking for the code," Clarke said.
"That's fine with me," Monty said. "I'd rather have Raven with us."
"I'd like some weapons, too," Miller said.
"Not Ark or Maunon weapons, Miller. The Commander won't have those. We can use clan weapons or wait until we've gotten in and steal some to use. Lexa cannot complain if we use their own weapons against them, but she can if we find some then go in."
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
A week later, they returned to the entrance and talked to Sol.
"There's a keypad by the door we think we need to enter," Clarke said.
"A keypad? There was nothing in the diaries about that!" Sol said.
"Any idea what the code could be?"
"Not really, the only number we've been using are the summer solstice dates," Sol replied.
"Let's see, 20, 6… no, 20, 06. Could be 20, 21, 22? I'm not sure," admitted Clarke.
"We may have to try various combinations," Murphy said.
"I think we need more people. We have no idea what's on the other side of that door and we need people to stay in this bunker by that door just in case the maunon finds their way through the door if we open it," Harper said. Clarke sighed.
"This is harder than I thought. We need to talk to the Commander and with Anya and Indra."
"We don't have much time until the Arkers come down," warned Octavia.
"I know, but if we can get them into the valley and settled, we can still figure this place out without them knowing about it."
"How much time do we have before we were taken last time?"
"At least two months. This is the beginning of July and we came down in September last time."
"How long until you can talk to the Commander?"
"Around a week. I'll have to go to Polis to see her and right now, I wouldn't be let in the gates, never mind get to see her."
"Even though you're our leader?"
"They still see us as invaders, only the first four have been welcomed into the Trikru, the rest of us are still too new on the ground."
"So what do we do?"
"We go see Anya and Indra and they can send a messenger to the Commander and hope she comes down and we have a good talk about everything." They left the bunker and walked the mile back to Tondc.
Bellamy's, Drew's and Hunter's teams were sent out again. This time, Bellamy's would go room to room in one section and move along until they had explored that section completely. Drew's would inventory each room and Hunter's would look for various rooms in each section. She would be looking for engineering, water or hydro rooms, residential, and farms in each section. A count would be needed to find out just how many people the bunkers could hold. Sol would use those three teams to explore the bunker completely from one end to the other and north to south. Clarke's team would be off 'exploring' everytime someone asked about them. It was the only thing Sol could do to help them.