Chapter 2
It took more than a day to study the process of transporting her memories. There was not much to do on her part but Clarke wanted to make sure that she would not miss anything. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes and therefore she read the book thoroughly. She knew that if there was even a small error on her part, it would cost her dearly.
Ever since she found the book and realized the chance she got, she had been having second thoughts. Many things could go wrong even if she got back in time. Things can easily be messed up if she made a mistake. What ifs surrounded her mind, making her falter in her steps.
Clarke shook her head to clear her mind. She would not back off now. She will do this for Lexa. She will make sure that she lives.
Clarke injected the nightblood serum in her forearm before she could back out of the plan. It took a few moments but she could feel the serum flowing slowly in her body. She waited for a while before she pricked her finger with the knife she had on her. She needed to make sure that the serum was working, as she desired. Black blood oozed from the cut made and it made her lips curl into a small smile. The serum had worked. It turned her blood into nightblood.
She activated the Flame in her. It took a few seconds to orient herself. Nevertheless, she steadied her posture. Now the only thing remaining is to activate the chip. She took the chip out of the case and looked at it intently.
"Alright. Its now or never. There would be no going back." Clarke muttered to herself feeling nervousness catching up to her. She closed her eyes to center herself and before she could doubt herself anymore, she activated the chip inside her by following the directions written in the book. She was grateful that the password for activating the chip was mentioned in this book and she did not have to make guesses like they had to previously with the flame.
For a moment, nothing seemed to occur. She could hear the chirping of the birds, rustling of the leaves and the usual forest sounds. Everything appeared to be normal. It was as if nothing momentous was going to happen. As seconds ticked away, Clarke became more worried that something was wrong. Somehow she made a mistake in the following the instructions of the experiment.
Just as she was about to reach out towards the book, Clarke felt a sharp pain in the back of her head causing her to screw her eyes shut. She clutched her head with both of her hands as though it would elevate the pain. The pain was coming from where she had placed the flame and the chip. She was swaying from side to side. She slowly sat down on the floor of the cave with her back against the wall so that she could remove the weight from her trembling legs. Her breathing had become erratic. It was as though she could not get enough air inside her lungs. She was starting to get lightheaded.
She did not know when she had laid down on the ground. However, when her eyes squinted for an instant, she found herself sprawled down on the floor. She immediately closed her eyes as another wave of pain hit her. Moans left her throat. She tried to contain her screams but whimpers left her lips.
It could be minutes, hours or days since Clarke started the process of time travel before she lost consciousness. Her heartbeat slowed down as time passed and then ended.
Meanwhile in the medical bay of Mount Weather, Dr. Tsing had re-sewed Clarke's stitches and had just left the wing. Clarke felt an electric current pass through her body. It seemed all the cells in her body were burning. An intense pounding in her head started. Blood had started dripping from her nose. Clarke clutched the bed sheets under her in pain.
A low groan left her lips when she opened her eyes and the room came into view. She wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and found that it was black. Her blood had transformed. It didn't surprise her because the book had mentioned it could possibly happen after she taken the chip and activated it.
Clarke looked around her surroundings to orient herself as to where or for that matter when was. As she turned her head to side, she found the Mount Weather guard besides her. She realized when she was.
'I had hoped for more time but I will not complain.' thought Clarke.
At this point of time, people in charge of Mount Weather were very suspicious of her. She could not stay here much longer. If she did then she would be killed to keep the delinquents in line and unsuspecting of their crimes. If she had gone further back then she could have helped everyone to get outside by staying undercover inside. But that is not possible. She needs to escape before they kill her.
Furthermore, she needs to go now and stop Finn from killing the grounders for no reason. That massacre caused a lot of suspicion and misgiving by the grounders. Even before that, the grounders did not have any fondness towards them. However, things could have been salvageable if not for that massacre. Looking back, she should have known that if given a chance the alliance would have been destroyed by either of the side. It had been built upon blood and death. The only reason it held that long was out of sheer necessity to bring down a common enemy.
She did not know how long she had been laying here for or when the doctor would come back to make her rounds. Undeniably sometime must have gone by since the doctor had stitched her wound. For all she knew by now last time, she could have already left the Mount Weather with Anya. It surprised her that she had been able to hold in a scream but was thankful that she had not drawn attention towards herself.
Clarke got off the bed and went towards the ventilation that led to the cages. She made sure that nobody was watching her and left the medical bay. She reached the harvest chamber in few minutes.
It was same just like she remembered but there was one difference. Clarke saw Dr. Tsing standing near cages. Clarke was glad that the rattling noise from the cages masked her exit from the vent. She quickly hid from the other woman's sight.
Monty and Bellamy had mentioned about the doctor's cruelty on the trek back from the mountain. This woman was instrumental in finding the bone marrow cure for the radiation problem. This woman is responsible for many deaths and would be responsible for many more including her friends. Lincoln had briefly mentioned that she was the one that marked him for the Cerberus project that turned him into a reaper. The doctor was ready to sacrifice the 47 before and would have done anything to get on the ground. And she would do that again.
As far as Clarke knew, mountain men required the doctor to find a permanent solution for their radiation problem and there is a possibility that she may have already found about bone marrow extraction by now. If she was killed then it might slow them down but it would not stop them. There might be other doctors in this mountain who would be able to work in her place. Would killing her amount to changing everything too much and too soon?
The decision was taken out of Clarke's hands as Dr. Tsing turned around. She was facing roughly in the direction where Clarke was and searching as though she had seen someone. The grounders in the cages had already spooked the woman.
Without giving the doctor any time to call reinforcements, Clarke tackled Dr. Tsing on the ground. This forced all the air out of the doctor's lungs. Taking advantage of the woman's disorientation, Clarke straddled her. She used both of her hands to start strangling the doctor. She made sure to put pressure on the windpipe so that no screams for help could escape Tsing's mouth.
Despite the pain, woman tried to dislodge the other girl off her by thrashing from side to side. Dr. Tsing tried to pry Clarke's fingers away from her throat. The doctor was desperately gasping for air. She tried to claw into Clarke's wound but the grip on her esophagus remained tight. After a few moments, the thrashing was slowing down. It seemed that fight was draining from the doctor.
"Tell me something Dr. Tsing would this bleeding project come to an end if I just killed you now?" Clarke's voice had been low but everyone nearby in the cages could hear her. Whispers broke out around them. She released the pressure on the doctor's throat a bit so the other woman could talk.
Tsing immediately drew in fresh air in her lungs but then there was a flash of fear in her eyes as understanding dawned on her. "No… It wouldn't stop. There are other doctors who can continue the project. Let me go. There is no need to kill me." choked out Tsing desperately.
Clarke let out a fake disappointed sigh, curled her digits around the doctor's neck, pressing, closing with more strength than before, and said, "Thought so. Tell me where a detailed map of this mountain is so that I can get out of here. Tell me now!"
'It will also help to break in later.' Clarke thought while smirking internally. She had thrown her the map before but it only contained the basic areas and no exit points. Maybe Tsing will be able to provide her one that illustrated ways to get in and out of the mountain and all the high security and restricted areas.
"Inside the desk." The doctor gasped out in reply. Clarke did not release her grip on the neck. Then all of a sudden, she pulled back and Dr. Tsing started coughing at the released pressure on her neck. Clarke immediately banged the doctor's head against the cage hard. It caused the doctor to pass out clutching her head. Clarke made sure that Tsing was actually knocked out before moving away from her.
She ripped out a pipe and went to the cage where Anya was being held. Clarke looked into other woman's eyes and promised, "I'll get you out of here." She proceeded to break the lock on the cage with the pipe. It took a few tries but she was successful and then helped the grounder out of the cage. Even though Anya looked weakened, she stood on her legs without any support. However, she wearily looked around her.
Clarke quickly moved towards the lone desk in the chamber ignoring the unconscious woman on the floor. She searched the desk for the map and anything that could be useful. She found few maps but they were not as detailed as she had hoped. It showed the layout of each floor in the mountain meticulously. It, however, did not show the tunnel passages or area around the mountain.
Unbeknownst to Clarke, Anya eyed the doctor's knocked out form in frown and a moment later took the unconscious head in her hands. She twisted it with a surprising force that loud crack resounded in the room. Clarke whipped her head at the source of noise and found that Anya had killed Dr. Tsing by breaking her neck.
Anya looked into Clarke's eyes defiantly, daring her to protest and muttered in a gruff voice, "Jus drein jus daun." Everyone in the cages started cheering and repeated the chant of 'Blood must have Blood' in trigedasleng.
Clarke held the glaze unblinkingly and replied after a while in a calm tone. "Hide the body in your cage so that the mountain men would waste time in searching for her." Anya widened her eyes at the unexpected response but complied. Soon the body was stored in the cage. Try as she might but Clarke could not bring herself to feel for the doctor's death especially when moments ago she herself was contemplating to kill the doctor.
Placing the procured maps in a plastic bag, Clarke gestured Anya to move towards the door, which marked 'End containment area.' However, Anya hesitated and looked around the room. Nonetheless, she followed the other girl.
They both were dropped into a mining cart after the door closed behind them. Clarke quickly jumped out from it and went towards the nearby pile of clothes. She changed her clothes and shoved the plastic bag containing maps inside the pocket of the stolen jacket. She gathered another pile of clothes and shoved them in Anya's hands.
Glancing at the clothes for a moment, Anya stated to Clarke with determination, "I will not leave my people behind."
Clarke needed Anya so that she could help her form an alliance between their people. For that to happen, they have to get out of this mountain. "Get dressed." Clarke ordered. Anya narrowed her eyes at the command. Before she could open her mouth to protest, Clarke said, "I am not asking you to leave them behind. But tell me, how are you going to accomplish your task alone? They'll kill you even before you reach those cages. As much as I want to stay, I am going to get help. Will you come with me or not?"
With that, Clarke left. She won't force Anya to come with her. There is no way she would be able to drag the other woman away if she was stubborn and determined to stay.
Clarke had taken the familiar path straight towards the reapers as she had done before. Similar to the previous timeline, the reapers surrounded her. The two mountain men in hazmat suits using a tone generator held them off just as she was hoping when she had heard their footsteps few tunnels ahead. They were taking her back inside to the harvest chamber. When they turned around a corner, Clarke decided to strike.
She kicked the man who was on her right in the back of his knee and pushed him towards the other man in left. Clarke snatched the gun from his hand and without any hesitation fired it at both the men. It didn't matter whether she aimed to kill because the bullets tore open their suits. They slowly started burning due to radiation.
She pulled off their masks just to be sure that they would be killed and started searching their pockets. Clarke found tone generator and a radio. One of the guns she acquired from the mountain men was a sleeping dart gun. They wanted her alive it seemed. The other though had bullets in it. She quickly placed the radio in the plastic bag besides maps she had acquired. She removed one sleeping dart from the gun and then placed the gun inside the bag. She did not want to use the dart again on Anya but it was better to be ready. Her idea to acquire a tone generator was successful.
Clarke held the tone generator in one hand and gun in other. She ran away from there because she knew that soon more mountain men would come. She managed to create quite a bit of distance between herself and the bodies she had scavenged. Suddenly there was a loud thud behind her. Clarke swiftly turned around and pointed the gun towards the source of noise.
"So you decided to join me." Clarke let a small smirk out at the figure in front of her.