Too impatient to wait, Clarke found Raven two days later while the mechanic was on the job, fixing a regulator on the Ark's air filtration system.
"Found a way to help me out yet?" Clarke asked casually as she stood near Raven, arms crossed in front of her impatiently.
Raven rolled her eyes but glanced at Clarke over her shoulder. "Look, unless you want to die in some unfortunate incident where you're ejected from the Ark in a space suit with not enough oxygen in the tank attached to you and no way to propel you into the Earth's atmosphere, I suggest you give me some time."
Clarke grumbled, wanting very much to stomp her foot, but she refrained. Instead, she said in a barely-controlled voice, "Raven, I'm serious. I don't want to leave them down there without help for any longer than I have to. I need you to work on this as if someone you love is down there and can't survive if you don't make it to the surface, too."
"Someone I love is down there," Raven responded with a frown. "He's the only family I have."
"Then you know how important this is," Clarke insisted pointedly.
"Yeah, I do," Raven said. "And because I do, I'm gonna need you to back off and trust me when I say I'm looking into it."
Her eyes narrowed at Raven, Clarke shook her head, "The only people I trust are either dead or on the ground."
"How about trusting the person who's going to the ground with you?" Raven asked bluntly as she watched for Clarke's reaction.
Stunned and speechless, Clarke stood blinking. Her mouth had gone dry and it was several long seconds before she managed to respond. "You're going with me?"
"You better believe it," Raven confirmed. "If something went wrong down there, it won't be just a doctor they need. They'll need someone to fix stuff, repurpose it, put it back together. You know, if we survive."
Clarke grinned but it didn't reach her eyes; those were solemn and determined. "We will. I know we will."
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With a groan, Bellamy blinked his eyes until his vision cleared. He was completely alone in some strangely sterile, white-washed room.
"Where the hell am I?" He murmured under his breath as he rubbed at the back of his head and tried to get his bearings.
There was a bed, but he wasn't on it. There was a chair and a desk and a door. And a single piece of framed art on the wall, the only thing in the room besides himself that was anything but blindingly white.
His eyes stalled at the painting, taking in the differences between it and anything he'd ever seen Clarke draw. But when that thought became too painful, he glanced again at the door and realized that whether it was open or locked, it still had a window.
Pushing himself up, he was about to take a look outside the room when he noticed an IV attached to his arm, sending an unknown liquid coursing through his body.
In a panic, he ripped the needle out and threw it on the floor, covering the now-bleeding patch of skin with his hand as he stalked to the door, checked to see if it was locked, and looked out the window.
What he saw filled him with terror.
Without thinking, he grabbed the IV pole and thrust it through the glass, using it to clear out the shards the best he could. Quickly, he picked one up to use as a weapon, reached through the window, and opened the door before crossing to the room across from his.
Just a few moments before, he'd seen Octavia in that room, struggling with someone in a green suit and safety mask who he'd been sure was trying to sedate her. But now there was only the masked person. Octavia was gone, and Bellamy was beside himself. In an instant, the unknown person was in a chokehold, and he had the shard of glass pressed against a vulnerable throat.
"Where's my sister?" Bellamy demanded.
The girl he had hold of nearly whimpered, but stayed strong, saying in a shaky voice, "Calm down, Bellamy. Octavia is just fine."
"How the hell do you know my name?" Bellamy challenged, tightening his grip rather than loosening it.
"I-I don't know," the girl said fearfully, "It was on your chart."
Nothing she was saying was making sense. His chart? It sounded like he was in some sort of medical facility, but how could there be a functioning medical facility on Earth?
"Where am I?" Bellamy asked, his words deep and gravelly.
"Mount Weather," the girl responded, barely above a whisper.
When he heard those two words, Bellamy abruptly let her go. His eyes filled with shock as he stumbled backwards. "What did you say?" he asked breathlessly.
"Mount Weather," the girl answered, this time in a voice that was much more confident.
Something from the little bit of information they'd been given about where they were supposed to land came back to Bellamy like a wispy memory. Mount Weather was where there had been a facility that should have been stocked with supplies. Supplies they'd said. Not people.
Was he seriously expected to believe that there were people who had made to the mountain haven? Who had survived the apocalypse?
"Your arm is bleeding," the girl said, interrupting Bellamy's thoughts. "Here, let me take care of that for you."
Still in shock, Bellamy allowed her to take his arm, clean it, and bandage it. His brow furrowed, though, and he couldn't help but ask in bewilderment, "How did we get here?"
"A patrol found you where you crashed," the girl explained, "They brought you back here to take care of your wounded and keep you safe."
"Safe from what?" Bellamy couldn't help but question.
"The outsiders," the girl responded, looking up from his arm and into his eyes. "Others who survived the radiation, but did so at a price. They're more like animals than humans. They fight each other and hunt us. Many were disfigured by the exposure they experienced. Even now, several generations after the bombs, our patrols have found two-headed babies left to die in the forest."
The words she'd spoken were too horrific to process. Bellamy felt bile rise in his throat. He swallowed it down before he could be sick and asked gruffly, "What's your name? And where's my sister?"
"I'm Maya," she said with a slight smile, "Your sister was just given her last dose of vitamins and released to the dining hall. I was coming to get you next."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Nothing about the situation they were in felt right to Octavia. Sure it seemed like they were safe enough, but what had happened to being outdoors in the wild? She'd been cooped up and locked up her entire life. She didn't like the thought of being stuck inside a mountain now, even if it was supposedly for her own good. Maybe there'd be a way for her to break away and see for herself the effects of spending even a couple of minutes on the outside.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw her brother exit the elevator between levels. She didn't even notice the girl with him until she'd pushed away from the table and jumped up to launch herself at him.
"Bell!" she cried in relief and excitement as he caught her in his arms, squeezing her tightly. "I was hoping you'd be released soon!" she exclaimed aloud before murmuring into his shoulder near his ear, "What do you think of this place, big brother? Pretty freaking creepy, right?"
"Hmm…" was Bellamy's non-committal answer. He was alert, on edge, trying to understand their new surroundings. "Maybe. I'm not sure what I think yet."
From the other side of the dining hall, Wells managed to catch Bellamy's eye and nod at him once. Bellamy returned the gesture and glared at Murphy. Why was that idiot sitting next to Clarke's former best friend?
Shaking himself free from his reverie, Bellamy turned his gaze toward his sister fondly and said, "Come on. I'm dying to try whatever they have that passes for food here. They don't have protein packets like the Ark, do they?"
"Nope," Octavia grinned, bounding back toward her seat as she looked at him over her shoulder, "So far that's the one thing I know for sure they got right! The food…!"
Murphy watched the siblings warily as he stuffed a slice of chocolate cake in his mouth, mumbling under his breath, "Something's gonna happen to those two. If I didn't value staying alive, I'd bet my life on it."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Back on the Ark, Abby was once again in a meeting with Kane and Jaha. It didn't seem to matter what they did or how much they planned, there was no way that anyone was going to leave the space station alive. They looked at schematics. They had Wick in and Sinclair. Neither of them was Jake but they'd both worked with the talented - and now deceased - head engineer.
"What are we looking at?" Jaha asked wearily. "How long do we have before we have to do something, make a decision?"
"A couple of months, give or take," Sinclair answered. "Wick and I can buy you a little bit of time, but days at most." He paused before asking hesitantly, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir, what will you do about the lack of exodus ships? How will you determine who will die in space and who will die on the ground?"
"Lottery," Kane suggested, "Random names from each nation, each station will be drawn and those whose names are picked will be the ones who attempt one last adventure. And the rest of us will hope that they survive to carry on our memory."
"You sound as if you're staying here, Marcus," Abby said, looking as if she wanted to protest even though she also knew it would do her no good.
"Someone has to stay, Abby," Kane reasoned confidently, "And, as I know very well, I am the one among us with the least necessary skill set. Whatever happens, you and the Chancellor go to the ground."
Abby opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Jaha took her hand in a regal, though comforting, manner and said, "He's right, Abby. You're too important. If we're going to have any chance of surviving down there, we're going to need your assistance."
Inhaling deeply, Abby nodded and thought about what he'd just said. Was she really all that critical to the situation or did they want to keep her quiet for another reason entirely? She'd just have to wait and see.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Just as she was getting ready for bed, Clarke heard a knock sound on her door. She wrapped her ragged yet still slightly fuzzy robe around her and peeked out the door just enough to see Raven there, waiting impatiently to be invited in.
Clarke just looked at her with a blank expression for a moment before her brow furrowed in question.
Without waiting for a response, Raven scuffed her feet on the floor outside and said, "So I think I found what we're looking for. You gonna let me in or not?"