Hey, this is just a one shot that wouldn't leave me alone. Enjoy, Samdagger.

Escape

By Samdagger

Chapter 1

Bellamy Blake crept along the tunnel on his way to the prison so he could talk to his sister, Octavia Blake. With his sister in the prison, he could only see her once a week so he found another way to talk to her by using the corridors and tunnels behind the walls of their home.

He stopped to listen in case anyone else was moving around behind the scenes. So far in the eight months since her discovery, he'd used the tunnels only in the last four months. He often berated himself for not thinking of it sooner, after all most of the kids used the tunnels for one reason or another and at 23 he should have remembered them.

He moved on and turned the corner and came to the place he always ended up, a small maintenance panel with a pipe beside it for air. That pipe was thin enough that he could hear anything said on the other side of the wall. It was a design flaw that he utilised to speak to his sister. The official visits were monitored so they couldn't talk about anything secret, so they used his visits to the maintenance panel. It was ironic that the pipe passed through one of the cells on Octavia's level. Most of the kids in that section knew of it and each of them had a visitor on a specific day at a specific time. With twelve kids in that section, they could have several visitors through that cell each week. He made it to the section of pipe he needed and waited.

In the prison, Octavia made her way to the cell at the end of her section and tapped twice on the pipework. The only problem they had with the pipe was that it ran close to the ceiling and to be able to use the pipe, they often had to lay the bed on its side and stand on the edge. Octavia was doing that as she tapped on the pipe and waited for the corresponding four taps. It was a simple system they used so that they could be fairly certain it was someone who wanted to talk to them and not one of the guards.

Octavia heard the returning four taps and sighed with relief.

"Bell?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm here." She heard his muffled voice and was calmed by it.

"Anything new?" she asked.

"Yeah, there's some talk of something being wrong with the air supply," he said.

"Is there?" she asked, worried what it meant to those in prison. They'd be the first to go as they didn't live past their 18th birthdays.

"I don't know, I think right now, it's just a rumour, but one of the junior engineers has said that a few months ago, actually around the time you were arrested, another girl was arrested, Clarke Griffin. Her dad was the Chief Engineer, but Jaha had him killed and imprisoned his daughter just for knowing what her dad did. She's in solitary somewhere."

"Wait, so there's a girl from the privileged locked up in here just because she knew something Jaha didn't want others to know?" Octavia was incensed at Jaha's paranoia.

"Yeah. Look, O, these rumours aren't going away like most of them do, so I think there's a good chance it's true."

"So what happens to us, the prisoners?"

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that they'll see you as expendable. If they want more clean air for themselves, you may be sacrificed before you reach 18."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm trying to find a way to get you out, but it's not easy. With us in a self-contained life supported environment, there's nowhere to go."

"So what now?"

"That junior engineer is looking into it. I won't compromise them by saying who they are, but they are definitely on our side. Someone they love is also imprisoned and that gives them the impetus to help."

"Alright. Any idea how long?" Bellamy knew she meant how long until they were killed.

"No, not yet. I think there may be a few more months before it's made public. Just sit tight. I'll pass on anything I find out."

"Okay, brother, I love you," Octavia said.

"I love you too, Octavia. Stay safe," he said.

"You too." She heard three taps and knew he was finished and on his way back to his quarters. Octavia sighed and climbed down from the bed, set it upright again and remade the bed. She walked out of the cell and met up with Nathan Miller, another prisoner in her section.

"Anything?" he asked. Octavia nodded glumly. She looked around and then went and leaned on the railings. He leaned on the rail as well, right beside her. They both looked out at the levels on the other side of the prison.

"Air supply may be compromised," Octavia whispered.

"Dad was right," Miller whispered back. Miller's dad was one of the guards and they lived among the privileged because of it.

"Do you know Clarke Griffin?"

"Yeah, her dad was Chief Engineer."

"Rumour is he was killed because he found out about the air supply. She's in solitary and has been for at least eight months," Octavia whispered, still not looking at him.

"Eight months? Shit!"

"Maybe she knows something."

"Yeah, but we can't reach her. There's no way to get to solitary, it's on the other side," he said, vaguely waving towards the other part of the prison.

"There's someone else who thinks it's true and is looking into it. Bell never said who, just they they had a loved one in here."

"So we wait?"

"That's all we can do, Miller."

"I know, I just don't like waiting around to die."

"No-one does, but for now, we wait until Bellamy has something." Miller nodded and wandered off to his own cell.

Bellamy had gone back to his quarters and waited until he could go to work. He had the afternoon/early evening shift that month. He didn't mind that shift, it let him sleep in and gave him the late evening off as well. He picked up his janitorial supplies and went to find out where he was cleaning that week. He put his cart into one of the slots used for that purpose while he went into the conference room and sat down. After around ten minutes, his supervisor came in, followed by their section boss. A stir ran through the room, it was a rare occasion when a section boss came to these mundane routine meetings.

"Alright people, settle down. Section boss Edl has something to say." He stepped aside and let the section boss take over.

"The council has decreed that each section is to be inspected and inventoried. I have no further information on why they are doing this, but we need our section to be cleaned thoroughly. To that end, I'm afraid that you need to change your routines for the next two weeks. I've redone the rosters and areas you'll clean so please, don't yell at me if you're doing a section you've never done before. All sections are scrambling to steal cleaners to help them. If one of them approaches you, report it to either myself or your supervisor. This section is to be inspected first in two weeks. No-one is to go to another section before THIS ONE has been cleaned and the inspection is finished. You can be moved after that, so don't worry if you find yourself in a completely different section." Section boss Edl stood back and the supervisor began handing out assignments.

Bellamy found himself assigned to the guards offices at the other end of the section than he usually worked and he was working alone. He had to report to the guards and then carry on with his job.

He knocked on the door and waited for one of the guards to let him in.

"What do you want?" one of the guards asked when he opened the door.

"I've been reassigned to clean these offices as per Section Boss Edl's orders, Sir," Bellamy said, holding out the order. The guard looked him up and down and snatched the order from his hand and quickly scanned it. He grunted and threw it back at Bellamy and then turned his back and shut the door, locking it, leaving Bellamy on the outside. Bellamy sighed and knocked again.

"Fuck off!" he heard through the door.

"Sir, I need to clean these offices as per the Council's orders, Sir," Bellamy said.

"I said fuck off or I'll arrest you for harrassment!" Bellamy sighed once more and went back to report to his supervisor what had happened.

He reported it to Edl and Edl reported it to Security Officer Kane. Kane came down immediately and told Bellamy to follow him. When they got to the office, Bellamy again knocked on the door and asked for entry.

"I'll rip your fucking tongue out if you don't fuck off!" the voice roared through the door. Kane had heard enough.

"If you try that, I'll have you arrested for assault! Now open the door or face the consequences for insubordination!" The door opened and the guard looked shocked at seeing Kane there. He panicked and tried to close the door, but Kane was pushing it back, it was an even match so Bellamy put his shoulder to the door as well and then Kane managed to slip inside. He immediately pulled out his shock baton and used it on the guard. As soon as the guard hit the floor, Kane cuffed him and propped him up against the wall.

"Watch him," Kane said to Bellamy. He nodded and looked around the room. Kane was looking through the filing cabinet that the guard had been rifling through. Bellamy saw files laying on the floor where they'd been thrown, pages scattered around. He looked over to the monitoring station and saw a video was playing. He looked closer and saw it was a video of the ground, from amongst the trees. He watched as a camera panned around and caught an automatic gun firing at something. The camera panned further around and saw several people fall from being hit with the bullets. Bellamy's eyes widened and he cast a quick glance at Kane's back before watching the video again. It played on a loop. It started with a view of trees and bushes and a few small animals. Bellamy guessed it was taken from up a tree as it looked down to the ground and not out at the ground.

The camera moved when it detected anything big approaching and the video cut to another camera watching several humans walking through the forest. They all looked wary and kept looking around them. The next moment the gun began to fire and they went down. A few of the humans ran away, but most were killed. There was no sound on the video so Bellamy checked and saw a headphone jack plugged into the speaker. He watched as the video looped around again and this time, Bellamy moved his gaze to the unconscious guard. There weren't supposed to be people on the ground. They'd been told all their lives that no-one survived other than themselves, so how could there be people on the ground?

What if the data was wrong? What if the radiation wasn't as bad as they thought it was? What if people did survive? If they did, then the land was theirs by right. Bellamy's people had fled the land and they couldn't really claim it was theirs anymore when there were clearly people on the ground. If their ancestors stayed and lived through the radiation, then the land was theirs, they'd earned the right to them. Those that fled, left it behind. Bellamy wondered if the council and Jaha knew that all along or if it would be as big a shock to them as it was to him. He'd have to talk to his contact in engineering to see if they could re-run the numbers and see what they came up with.

Kane turned around and saw Bellamy was watching the guard so he turned around and saw the video. He gasped when he saw the people on the screen. He hurried over and shut it off before turning around and looking at Bellamy who was still watching the guard.

"Help me get him up and out of here," Kane ordered. Bellamy lifted his right side while Kane got his left. Together they lifted him up and carried him out. Just outside the door, Major Byrne saw them.

"What's going on, Sir?" she asked as she saw the guard cuffed and incapacitated.

"He was going through the office, looking for something, Major. I don't recognise him, but I recognise this particular uniform. It belongs to Guard Hill."

"But he's in the medbay, Sir," she said.

"Yes, so how did this man get his uniform?"

"Do you want me to look into it, Sir?"

"No, take him and strip him of the uniform, find him something else to wear. It doesn't have to be much, Major, he's to face charges of impersonating a guard and treason for looking through confidential files." Major Byrne nodded and called for a couple more guards to help her.

"Mr Blake, could you come back another time to clean?"

"I don't know, Sir. I'm supposed to clean the guard offices in this section for the inspection and inventory as per section boss Edl's instructions."

"I know, but those files need to be looked at by us and only us. I can't allow civilians inside until I've done a thorough investigation into what's going on." Bellamy nodded.

"I'll return to my supervisor and ask him what I do, Sir," Bellamy said.

"Thank you," Kane said. Bellamy got his cleaning cart and went back to his supervisor and after telling him what went on - minus the video - he was told to go help in another part of the section until Kane gave him the go-ahead to clean the offices. Bellamy nodded and set off for his new assignment.

Two days later, he had an official visit with his sister so Bellamy sat in the visiting room waiting for his sister. He looked around at the guards. Ever since the incident, two days prior, he'd started to take note of the guards and came to the conclusion that either there were more guards than he thought, or there were more guards in his section than usual. There were definitely more guards in the prison room than usual. Normally there were either two or three, depending on how many visitors were due, but today there were five. When one looked at him, he just nodded to the man and looked away. It would be tricky to talk to his sister today because of so many roaming guards.

Octavia came in and sat down. She too noticed the increase in guards. She looked at Bellamy who gave the tiniest of head shakes, so she didn't query it. They had a little small talk while the guards were roaming around and when an argument started at the far end and all the guards went over, Bellamy quickly told Octavia to meet him at the pipe as soon as visiting was over. He'd meet her there. She nodded and they went back to small talk until the end of visiting. Octavia was taken back to the cells and Bellamy made his way back to his quarters. Bellamy was lucky, his quarters were in a dead end corridor that only had three other families living there and the others were quiet and kept to themselves. Instead of going to his own door, he made for the maintenance hatch halfway down on the right. The quarters on either side of it were empty so no-one would be checking up on any noise he made while opening it.

He walked the tunnels until he came to the prison and saw his contact there. It must be her turn to talk to her boyfriend. He walked up to her.

"Raven!" he whispered. She looked around, and frowned when she saw him. She tapped three times on the pipe and moved towards Bellamy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Something's going down, Raven. Something serious. I saw Kane arrest someone wearing a guard's uniform and he wasn't a guard! Then I was in the guards office in my section and a video was playing. It was from the ground, Raven! It showed people on the ground without suits, walking along and then an automatic gun opened fire and killed them!"

"What!?" Raven hissed. Bellamy nodded.

"I figure that the radiation wasn't as bad as people thought. Do you think you could re-run those numbers and see what you come up with? When Kane saw the video, he was as surprised as I was. He doesn't know that I saw it."

"Yeah, it'll take me a couple of days, but I'll get in touch with you when I have. I've got to go before Sinclair wonders where I am." Bellamy and Raven swapped places and she left to go to work. Bellamy went to the pipe and waited for Octavia to give the two knocks to signify it was okay to talk.

Octavia moved into the cell as soon as Finn Collins came out.

"What's your hurry?" he asked.

"Talking to my brother," she said. He nodded and walked away. Octavia knocked on the pipe twice and waited. She knocked again and this time she got four knocks in return.

"Octavia?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

Bellamy told her everything that had happened and everything he'd thought of about the whole incident. He then told her of the video he'd seen.

"People?! Seriously? How?"

"I guess they could survive the radiation. I think it wasn't as bad as the scientists thought if there are people living on the ground."

"So what does it mean?"

"I don't know. It may mean that they can live on the ground, but maybe we can't. What if our bodies can't take that level of radiation, but because they lived there, they can?"

"And what if it means we can live there as well?" Octavia countered.

"I know. I asked my contact to re-run the numbers to see what they come up with."

"And if the scientists were wrong and we can live on the ground, what then?"

"I have no idea, O, but it may be a good thing if there really is a problem with the air."

"How long until your contact knows?"

"A couple of days."

"Alright, we wait until we get the numbers and then try to think of a way to find out if we could live there."

"Okay, I'd better go."

"Stay safe, brother."

"You too," Bellamy said and gave three knocks before he left. Octavia remade the bed and left the cell. Once more, Miller was by her side almost immediately.

"Anything?" Octavia nodded and they assumed their usual position of leaning on the railings to talk.

"Bell saw a video of the ground in one of the guards offices. It showed people walking on the ground without suits." Miller was hard-pressed to keep himself composed.

"Really!?" Octavia nodded.

"He also said that there was at least one automated gun on the ground which opened fire and killed them."

"Shit!"

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

"He thinks the numbers for the radiation or the length of time it would take to be safe enough for us is wrong. He's having someone he trusts looking into it."

"What then?"

"If it's true and the numbers are lower then they said it would be, then we need to find out how much radiation we can stand. If we can get to the ground, we may be able to live there. We just have to find a way there and to avoid those automatic guns."

"Who would know?"

"I don't know, we need a doctor or someone to tell us."

"Well we can't just ask Dr Griffin, can we?" Miller said with a chuckle. Octavia looked at him.

"Griffin? Like Clarke Griffin?"

"Her mother." Octavia thought about it.

"You said you knew her, if her mother's a doctor, what did Clarke want to become as an adult? Doctor or engineer?"

"Oh, doctor, most definitely. Everytime Jake - her dad - would start to talk about engineering, you could almost see Clarke's eyes start to glaze over!" Miller was laughing now.

"Do you think she'd know how much radiation we can survive?" MIller stopped laughing and looked at her.

"Maybe?" he said, cautiously.

"We need a way to contact her," Octavia said.

"How? She's in solitary for one, and for another, she's on the opposite side of the prison!" Octavia thought about it some more.

"We need to talk to Harper," she said.

"Why Harper?"

"Because she knows these tunnels like the back of her hand. Maybe she knows someone else who does as well and can keep their mouth shut." Miller nodded and looked around for Harper McIntyre. He spotted her talking to Roma Bragg.

"Harper!" he called. She looked over and he motioned for her to come to them. When she arrived, she took up position next to Octavia at the rail on the other side to Miller.

"What's up?"

"This is a delicate question and I need you to think about it first, okay?" asked Octavia.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you know a way to talk to people inside solitary from the other side of the walls?" Harper stood still as she thought about it. She knew a way to solitary, but it was a hard and difficult path.

"I do, but it's not easy," Harper said slowly.

"Is there anyone on the outside who you trust to get there and can keep their mouth shut about what we talk about?"

"Well yesterday I would have said Zoe Monroe, but that's her on the opposite side, leaning against the wall talking to Megan Pass," Harper said, pointing to the two girls. "Now, well... there's only one other I can think of and that's Rowan Drake."

"What's she like?"

"A loner, quiet, can be trusted to keep quiet."

"Think she'd help us?"

"Depends on what you want and what's in it for her," Harper replied. She was curious about the whole thing as well. She had no idea what they were talking about nor what they needed to get to solitary for. Octavia looked at Miller who nodded. She turned back to Harper. She knew Miller would stand watch to make sure no-one came too close. Octavia told her everything she knew about the air supply and the ground.

"So what do you need Rowan for?"

"Clarke Griffin is the daughter of Dr Abby Griffin. She was to become a doctor herself as her profession. Maybe she knows how much radiation the human body can stand and how much we can. The only thing is she's locked up in solitary and we can't reach her."

"You're thinking of going to the ground? How? We're in prison!"

"No idea right now, but with the air supply not working correctly, we may have to, it may be the only way to survive." Harper thought about it.

"Alright, how are you going to get in contact with her and tell her what you know or what you want her to ask Clarke?"

"My brother can do that, I just have to persuade him it's for the best, he can be a stubborn bastard when he wants to be," Octavia said with a smile.

"Okay. She's often found in the tunnels near the farming section." Octavia nodded.

"Good, I just have to wait a couple of days before I can talk to him again." Octavia sighed, it would be a long while before anything actually happened at this rate!

Two days later, Bellamy had talked to Raven and then made his way to talk with Octavia. It wasn't his turn but he really needed to tell Octavia what Raven had found out. He waited until the person using the pipe had finished and then asked if Octavia could be told he was there. The boy nodded and soon he gave three taps and left. Bellamy took his place and waited.

He soon heard two knocks and he replied with four.

"Bellamy?" Octavia said.

"Yeah, listen, my contact re-ran the numbers and they come up with a lot less radiation and a time of only 90 years needed before the world would be safe enough to return to it!"

"Fuck! Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"So what now?"

"I have no idea, but my contact has said that lethal levels of radiation would be about 400 to 450 rem."

"And our current levels?"

"They say it's around 375 rems."

"So that would be okay for us?"

"I have no idea. We need to talk to an expert in this."

"Well we can't go to medbay and ask, Dr Griffin's on the council!"

"Anyone we can talk to?"

"We could try Clarke Griffin, she was going to be a doctor when she left school, so she may already know."

"I thought you said she was in solitary?"

"She is. Harper said that there's one person still free that she trusts to keep quiet about everything."

"Who and what do you want them to do?"

"Rowan Drake. Harper says she likes to hang out in the tunnels near the farming section. Apparently she knows her way around this place as well as Harper can. Harper says there's a way to solitary, but it's not easy to get there. Harper swears Rowan knows the way."

"And what do you want her to do?"

"Talk to Clarke and ask her if she thinks we could survive on the ground." Bellamy thought about it. If he could make contact with her then that would be another person who knew, the less people who knew the better the secret could be kept, but if either him or Raven were compromised, it would be another person who could help.

"Alright, what does she look like?"

"Harper says she's 5 foot 8, short light brown hair, brown eyes and has a scar on the back of her upper left arm. Harper never said what caused it."

"Okay, so if I find her, what do I tell her?"

"Ask her to visit Harper in the prison on an official visit within a couple of days. If she doesn't show up within three days, we'll assume she doesn't want to help us. We can't tell her everything until we know she's in."

"Got it."

"Anything else?"

"The rumours are becoming more urgent. Rumours are now circulating that the air problem is terminal and will break down completely within a year."

"We really need to find a way out of here, Bell. It's getting too dangerous to stay here much longer. I doubt anyone's been released back into society in the last few months."

Bellamy nodded to himself, no-one had been released on their 18th birthday for the last six months. Most of the people knew that the council would be desperate enough to start purges to keep the air for themselves.

"I'll try to find a schematic of this place and find a way to get you out of there. You may have to live in the tunnels for a while until we figure out how to get to the ground."

"We may not have a choice, Bell, a lot of kids here are due to turn 18 within a few months, Clarke included."

"Then I'd better find Rowan then," Bellamy said.

"Yeah, as soon as you can please."

"Stay safe," Bellamy said.

"Stay safe," Octavia replied and Bellamy gave the knocks and left.

Octavia went back and talked to Miller and Harper about what she'd been told.

"So we could survive on the ground?" Harper said, frowning as she tried to get her head around it all.

"I think so. Bell's gonna contact Rowan and ask her to visit you, Harper, in the prison. I know there'll be guards there, but if you can, tell her what we need her for." Harper nodded.

"So are we bringing both Clarke and Rowan in on all this?"

"Yes, we need them both. Clarke's one of us and if we can persuade Rowan to come with us, then that's her reward for helping us."

Bellamy found his way to the farming section through the tunnels and then moved through them until he found a girl sitting by a vent, watching the plants under the light of the artificial sunlight.

"Rowan Drake!" Bellamy whispered. She turned to him.

"Who wants to know?"

"Bellamy Blake, my sister's in prison." Rowan's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah, I remember the fuss when she was found. What do you want?"

"I want you to go see Harper in the prison - officially. She's got something to tell you, or rather ask you."

"What?"

"I can't say until you've decided to help Harper," he told her.

"Why should I?"

"Because we're all in trouble and if you don't help us, we have no way of finding a way to either stop it or figure out how to avoid it."

"Who's we?"

"Everyone, those in prison and those outside it, adults and children." Rowans' eyebrows rose again.

"Alright," she said. "I'll go visit Harper."

"You need to do it within two days, Rowan. If you wait longer, she'll assume you don't want to help and find someone else."

"Understood," Rowan said. "I'll go visit her tomorrow morning." Bellamy nodded and then moved off. Now it was down to Harper and Octavia to figure things out. He couldn't be any more involved than he was. He was 23 and if found out, he'd be killed instead of prison.

Rowan sat down and waited for Harper. She looked around at the guards. Today there were four of them spread around the room. One of them stood at the far end, watching everything while the other three were roaming around the room.

Harper came in and sat down. They weren't allowed to touch so they just nodded to each other and said hello. They made small talk until the guards were out of earshot and then Harper came to the point.

"We need you to find a back way to solitary. I know the way to the outer walls, do you?" Rowan nodded. "Good, we need you to go see Clarke Griffin and talk to her. We need to know if 375 rems is survivable."

"What's that?" Rowan asked.

"Radiation levels. Until we know the answer, I can't tell you why, but if it's survivable, you can join us."

"Doing what?"

"Right now, nothing, but if you agree, then get ready for anything." Harper sat back as she saw a guard walking slowly towards them.

"So how's school going? What subjects are you doing right now?" Harper asked. Rowan frowned and then cleared her face of expression as a guard passed her from behind.

"Oh, we're learning about the second world war," she said. The guard passed them by and out of earshot.

"So, will you do it?"

"I want to know what's going on," Rowan said.

"After we know what Clarke says, we'll let you know." Rowan nodded.

"Alright, I'll do it tomorrow. It's Saturday so no school." Harper nodded. The bell went for the end of visiting and Rowan left to go to school and Harper was led back to her cell.

Harper wandered back out of her cell once the guards had left and went over to Miller and Octavia.

"She's doing it tomorrow," Harper said.

"And then?" Miller asked.

"If we find the answer is yes, then we tell her and Bellamy and we figure a way out of here. We find a way to the ground," Octavia said.

"So we wait," Miller said, more a statement than a question. Both girls nodded as they leaned on the railing watching the other kids on the other side of the prison.

Rowan found her way to the other side of solitary confinement. When the prison was built, there was a flaw in the way they put in the pipework. Because the prison had been built near the maintenance areas, most of that area needed pipes running through it. Most pipes were run along the ceiling to keep them out of the way, but in solitary, they ran along the ground. They ran along the sides of each cell in solitary and just like those in the other areas of the prison, if you knew how, you could talk to people through them. Rowan checked each pipe for any noise coming from them until she found one.

"Hello?" she said and waited for a muffled voice to return her greeting.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Sarah Meier," came the reply.

"Do you know where Clarke Griffin is?"

"Yeah, two cells along," Sarah replied.

"How old are you?"

"17."

"How long until you turn 18?"

"Eight months."

"Okay, I need to find Clarke."

"Thanks for talking to me," Sarah said. "I've been here for almost two years and no-one's visited before."

"Sorry," Rowan said.

"It's okay," Sarah said. Rowan had a thought.

"Why are you in solitary?"

"I killed one of the guards."

"And they put you in solitary for it?"

"To keep me quiet about what he did. He was a predator and the other guards covered for him." Rowan was incensed.

"Hang tight, Sarah," Rowan said. "You won't be forgotten." Sarah sighed in relief. At least someone would know and could tell others what happened. Rowan moved two cells down and waited until she heard movement.

"Clarke Griffin?"

"Yeah?" a muffled voice replied. Rowan sighed in relief.

"Are you Clarke Griffin, daughter of Abby Griffin?"

"Yeah, has something happened to mom?" Clarke asked, fearfully.

"No, I need to ask you a weird question."

"What is it?"

"Is 375 rems survivable?"

"What?" asked Clarke. "I understand the question but it's such an oddball one."

"So what's the answer?"

"Yes, it's survivable. Why?"

"I have no idea, one of the other prisoners asked me to ask you if it was survivable."

"Do you have a context for that?"

"Nope. That's all they would tell me."

"Can you come back and tell me what's going on if you do find out?"

"If I'm allowed to. Look, Clarke, right now what I'm doing is dangerous. If I'm caught, I'll be in prison too."

"I get it, but try please."

"I will, I have to go now. Oh, there's a Sarah Meier two cells up from you and she's lonely. Have you found a way to talk to each other?"

"No, I don't know how?"

"Were you taught morse code? Most of us were." Clarke's eyes widened.

"I never thought of that! Thanks."

Okay, I'm going back, I'll stop and tell Sarah you'll try to communicate with her. I think even just knowing someone tapping on a pipe means they are thinking ouf her would help her."

"Okay, I hope to talk to you another time."

"Bye Clarke," Rowan said.

"Bye stranger," Clarke said. Rowan moved off. She knew it was the right thing to do, if Clarke knew her name, she could give her up if she was caught. Self-preservation was something the kids learned early on. She stopped at Sarah's cell and told her that Clarke would try to make contact through morse code. Sarah thanked her and Rowan moved off.

She sought out Bellamy who had been hanging around the farm section in hopes of meeting up with Rowan again and getting the answers needed.

Rowan met up with him and only nodded at him. He nodded back and moved off. He went straight to the pipework on Octavia's level and waited for the person using it to finish.

He banged four times on the pipe and told the cell's occupant who he wanted to talk to and then waited. He heard two taps.

"Octavia?"

"Yeah?"

"Rowan made contact. She said yes, it's survivable." Octavia was elated.

"Yes!" she almost shouted.

"Now what?" asked Bellamy.

"You need to get hold of the schematics and find us a way to the ground, Bellamy."

"How many?" he asked.

"All of us," Octavia replied. "Anyone left behind will be killed." Bellamy couldn't argue with that.

"I'll try to find a way, Octavia and I'll be coming with you but it may take a few days to figure it out."

"I know," Octavia said.

"Hang tight. I'll send Rowan to visit one of you. Who does she visit?"

"Me," Octavia said. "It'll be nice to see someone else other than you," she joked. Bellamy chuckled.

"Okay, she'll visit you tomorrow. Do you remember her description?"

"Yeah, brown hair and eyes, tall."

"Good, I'll give her your description too." He gave three taps and left and Octavia went back to tell the other two.

Over the next week, Bellamy and Raven searched the schematics for ways out of the prison. They finally found a way if they could cut some pipework, unfortunately the pipe they needed to cut was one of the main air pipes into the main command centre, but it was the only way to get the prisoners out. The way to the ground was fairly easy but it meant having to open one of the main airlocks and using the vehicles there.

In the prison, once Bellamy had told them where they could escape from, Octavia, Harper and Miller started quietly getting the kids ready by telling them that the rumours of the air supply breaking down was true and that they'd be the first to go. Rowan had been brought into it and she was going to the other side of the prison telling people throughtout the pipework of what was happening and what was being planned. They all were getting ready - just in case.

Raven had found places to break into solitary as well and with a couple of people who were lockpickers agreeing to help, they would free everyone in solitary and take them with them. All they would have was the clothes on their back, but if they could make it to the ground and survive, they would find ways to survive there.

The rumours were announced as true and the leaders were trying to find a way to fix it or extend the air supply until they could fix it. All those in prison knew they would be killed to save on air so everyone agreed to try to go to the ground. It would be better to die trying than to wait until they came and killed them.

One the day Raven and Bellamy had agreed upon, they moved the cutting tools they needed to the back of the prison. Bellamy would cut the pipe on one side and Raven on the other. As solitary was on the other side, Raven did that one and Rowan picked two people she knew were lockpickers and when Raven had finally cut through the pipe, those two were the first through. Rowen was there to meet them.

"Murphy, Connor, you ready?" they both nodded and Rowan handed over two sets of lock picking tools she'd stolen from evidence. She led them to solitary confinement and Raven cut the pipe there and then went back to help the others move out of the prison to the place they needed to be to use the vehicles.

"This way," Rowan whispered. She went through the pipe into the corridor to solitary. Murphy and Connor followed her. She sent Murphy to free Clarke and Connor to free Sarah. While they were doing that, she walked along looking for others. There was one more, a boy.

"Hey, want to get out of here?" she asked him.

"You have no idea," he said.

"What's your name?"

"Atom."

"I'm Rowan. Murphy, come here, there's another to free." Murphy went to free him while Rowan took Sarah and Clarke to the pipe. When all three were free and everyone gathered, Murphy went first and then the rest with Rowan last. She moved past Murphy and led them to the airlock. One hundred prisoners were huddled together, keeping quiet, knowing one wrong sound could get them all killed.

"This way!" Raven said, motioning for Rowan to join them. She told everyone to hurry. Once she'd opened the airlock, an alarm would sound in the command centre and the guards would come running. They all stood, ready to run. Raven punched in the combination to the lock and the door opened setting off the alarm. There was no need for silence now.

"GO, GO, GO!" Raven yelled as she ran in front of them. Murphy and Connor and Atom as the back, made sure thay kept moving. Raven sprinted for the large people carrier truck and showed the first person she could grab how it worked and then had them pile into it. Raven went to another and filled that up. Nick started up his truck and was ready when Raven opened the outside door. She then sprinted for her truck and started it. Nick was already driving towards the door and out into the fresh air and kept going down the mountainside. Raven followed and soon they were at the bottom of the mountain where they stopped.

"Where to?" Nick yelled to Raven.

"East!" Raven yelled, pointing along the river. Nick nodded and moved the vehicle towards the riverbank and followed it until they found flatter ground and moved off through the trees along the ground until they came to a large clearing. They stopped and everyone got out, looking around.

"We did it!" Raven said, hugging Finn, her boyfriend. "WE DID IT!" she yelled. That was the catalyst for everyone to realise they were free and they could breathe the air. They ran around yelling and shouting in joy to be free from Mount Weather at last!

XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX

Never said it was the Ark! Samdagger.