Chapter 20:
"What!?" Octavia stood. "What are you talking about? He's fine."
"There were anomalies in his blood Dr. Harker couldn't account for so he ran more tests and discovered heightened numbers of some kind in an area… I don't know the specifics, but he said it relates to aggression."
"Reaper." Lexa said under her breath.
"So? What about it? Aggression isn't a sickness."
"It is here. We don't tolerate violence of any kind."
"He's not violent!" Octavia walked toward York. "He's sitting down to dinner and he's not leaving."
"Octavia!" Lincoln stood.
"What? You're not leaving because you may or may not be more aggressive than other people. By that definition, everyone here would have to leave."
"That's true." Clarke stood. "What makes Lincoln different? Most of these people are warriors who act first, think later."
"Can we speak privately?" York asked her again.
"Just spit it out!" Octavia yelled. Lincoln pulled her arms back and held onto her before she could do something to York.
"Lincoln cannot procreate. His tests results show the likelihood of him having children is-"
"What?" Octavia asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Clarke asked.
"Carolina told you of our population issues. She explained the diseases, the reasons for the tests in the first place. We must begin to rapidly reproduce or we risk dying out here."
"What does that have to do with us?" Wick asked.
Clarke thought about it.
"That's why they wanted us here in the first place." She started piecing it together. "How many are left?" She asked point blank.
"Not many."
"What are you guys talking about? There's a ton of people here. You saw them when we were here the first time, right?" Raven questioned.
"York?" Clarke pushed.
"We have about 150 left."
"What? That's it?" Kane asked, standing.
"Of those, we only have about 10 kids. Many of the adults can't reproduce. Something happened when the small pox came. People lost the ability to have children and it affected their children. Some of the kids old enough to be tested showed the same results."
"So you only want people here that can have kids?"
"It's not that. It's just we only have a certain amount of resources. We have to allocate them and the more people we have, the fewer resources per person and-"
"The rest would just be wasted?" Kane put together. "How dare you present this place as a paradise, lure us here and then-"
"It's my fault." Clarke spoke up. "I should have learned more about it. I should have stayed longer, discovered more."
"This is not your fault, Clarke. The fault lies with them." Lexa said.
Clarke walked over to York.
"The dead cabinet members, your parents, Carolina's husband…"
"Victims of the pox or died of symptoms from it that remained long dormant."
"The day we took the tour. You insisted on our path through the city."
"We staged it." The voice was from Carolina. She'd made it to the backyard.
"I thought you had an appointment." Clarke said.
"I did. It ended early. I thought I'd make my way over here to make sure York stuck to the plan, but given what I'm hearing, it's clear that is not the case."
"Mom, I'm sorry. I just didn't-"
"Want to lie to them? You were never cut out for this job, York. Leave us." She ordered and York walked off. "Clarke, I'd like to speak to you alone, please."
"Kiss my ass, lady." Raven stood. "You need to talk to everyone or risk me-"
"Carolina, you staged the tour, the entire trip. The school, the hospital… that's why there's really only one hallway that's active there. That's why you wouldn't let us go out on the city when we got here… why I rarely see anyone when I do."
"That's correct, Clarke. You shouldn't have found out like this."
"What was your plan?" Kane asked her.
"My plan was to integrate you into our society and pair those of you who can reproduce up with one of our citizens."
"That's why you wanted York with Clarke." Lexa stated.
"York was my first choice, but not my only. I underestimated her dedication to you and vice versa." Carolina explained. "It's no matter. You two can be together. As Commander and leader of your peoples, I can't just send you two packing."
"You're not sending any of us packing." Octavia told her and took Lincoln's hand.
"We need only those who can help us re-stabilize our population and those who can help us dictate the others through transitions. All others would be wasted as your man said earlier, Clarke." She referred to Kane.
Clarke took another step toward Carolina. She was only inches from her face.
"You should be very careful now, Carolina. We have the numbers now. You have 150 and we have 260 people here already. Many of them are trained warriors."
"Trained with swords, which we've already confiscated."
"You've taken our swords?"
"Yes, I sent men out last night to take every last weapon including the guns your people brought that you thought you'd hidden from me, Clarke. To think, I thought you came here in peace." She giggled at herself.
"We did."
"And you were invited here in peace." Her tone shifted to being laced with anger. "And then you started with your conditions and your distrust and I wondered if you would really ever belong here and I was right."
"You're crazy, lady." Raven told her.
"You stole our weapons!" Indra returned. "You will return them to us immediately or I will end you!"
"Hod op!" Lexa ordered. She took a few steps toward Carolina. Clarke took a step sideways to make room. "Clarke, I know you believe talking can solve problems, but I think-"
"Do it!" Clarke told her and watched how quickly Lexa's fist responded to it. There was immediate contact with Carolina's jaw. Indra moved quickly too. She moved to pick up Carolina as she tumbled backwards to hold her in place for her Commander to take another shot.
"You can do whatever you want to me, but the citizens will revolt against you and they have your weapons and you are in our city. You are defenseless. You can still join us. It doesn't have to be this way."
"Just people like Lincoln have to go?" Octavia questioned.
"I can speak with the representatives. Perhaps we can make an exception for him given his relationship to your leaders."
"But others like him?"
"We cannot support them. Just putting on this charade for you has cost us precious resources. We need your people to help us build our fuel and water supply back up. We need people to work in the plants and help with the crops and yes, help us by producing more and more people to continue this civilization. If not, we will die off. Humanity will be no more."
"Our people were doing just fine before you got in the way." Indra said in her ear.
"You call that fine? You were living like cave men? War paint spread across your faces, living by torchlight and fighting with each other all the time? What is that? That is not living."
"I've heard enough." Lexa said. "Kill her." She ordered Indra.
"Come Octavia. You will inflict the death blow." Indra ordered and Octavia started walking. "I think it will surprise you what we can do without our weapons." Indra told Carolina as she held her tighter.
"No!" Clarke spoke up. "Lexa, we can't kill her."
"We cannot let her live, Clarke. What she has done warrants her death."
"Maybe, but not this way."
"What other way is there?"
"We can't just keep doing things the way we used to do them." Clarke looked around at the group. She stared for a moment at Kane. "We can't just kill people like we did on the ark or because they commit a crime. We need to arrest, hold trials, have people serve out punishments."
"You belong here, Clarke. Your ideas are how we live." Carolina spoke. "You can rule by my side. Perhaps Vice President is more the right position for you. You could be our next President."
"The only side I will rule beside is Lexa's." Clarke retorted. "Indra, take her inside. Tie her up."
"I'm going to kill York for defying me!" She kind of shouted before being smacked in the back of the head by Indra.
Indra didn't even look at Lexa before starting to move Carolina toward the house with Octavia in tow. Clarke wanted to take a moment to think about how Indra took her order without consulting Lexa and how far they'd come, but there was no time.
After Carolina was safely inside, Clarke sat back down at the table with the remainder of the group.
"We have to get our weapons back." Bellamy informed.
"I'm going to go with Octavia." Lincoln walked toward the house presumably to ensure Indra didn't order Octavia to kill Carolina against orders.
"We can't leave." Kane explained. "It's already getting colder and it's doubtful she'll give us the supplies we need to get us close to home. We'd have to take them and they have our weapons."
"Plus, you'd be taking from people who actually need the stuff." Wick said.
"What?" Raven asked him.
"If what she's saying is true, their supplies are already short. If we took what we needed, we'd be leaving these people without."
"So what? They lured us here to try to get us to mate with them. That's not just gross, that really pisses me off."
"Raven, we can't just take their stuff." Wick argued.
"Then, what the hell are we supposed to do? I'm not staying here, Wick."
"We must fight." Lexa sat her hands on the table and clasped them together.
"Lexa, we-"
"Clarke, we have no choice. We must fight for our weapons first." She looked at Clarke next to her. "We will not kill if we can avoid it." She told her.
"What's the plan?" Bellamy asked Lexa.
Lexa said nothing in response. She only stared at Clarke.
"Maybe I can talk to Carolina. We can come to an understanding." Kane offered.
Clarke stared back at Lexa.
"We tried that before." She referenced. "With the mountain men. I tried to get them to be reasonable. They weren't. They continued to kill our people." She paused and looked around. "Lexa's right. First, we need to get our weapons back somehow."
"And after that?" Kane asked.
"We take the cars and the planes and as much fuel as we can and we get the hell out of here. We go back to how it was." Bellamy offered.
"We can't go back." Clarke clarified. "We can't just go back to how it was before, Bell. We all barely survived how it was before. I know I barely made it through. Raven almost died, my mom, you. We lost people. Jasper won't even talk to me. Monty's just been going through the motions since what happened. Neither of them even wanted to come here with us."
"Well, turns out that was a smart decision on their part." Raven said.
"If we go back, the alliance will break." Lexa shared. "It will not survive this. We will most likely be at war. Clan versus clan. The Sky People will be attacked. The other leaders will come after Clarke and I because we led this decision. They will torture her in front of me before they kill her and then they will kill me." Clarke looked over at Lexa and took her hand. "It will be of no matter because after watching them do that to you, I will cease to exist by the time death comes." Lexa stood and walked back toward the house.
"Can you guys just give us a minute?" Clarke asked and went to follow her, but noticed York in the shadows of a large tree next to the house. She turned to see that the rest were engrossed in conversation and motioned for him to join her where others could not see. "York, why are you still here? Carolina will have you killed for what you told us. You should get out of here."
"She wasn't always like this." He started. "When my parents died, she took me in. She was normal. It wasn't until we discovered the numbers; the dwindling population and we started to struggle that she started to change." He paused. "I'm sorry. I should have told you there were strings attached. I just hoped the strings weren't that bad."
"You need us to make babies!"
"Yeah, but we weren't going to force you. The idea was that it would happen naturally. Your people and our people would somehow start coupling off. That's why she wanted you to be with me. I'm still able to have kids. She hoped you and I would be able to have the first baby together. It would help to create a bond between your people and mine."
"Well, that's not happening."
"I know that. I figured she'd get past it and I'd find someone I actually want to have children with someday. No offense."
"None taken." Clarke looked over her shoulder at the sound of a door opening and saw Lexa standing there.
"You!" She walked quickly toward York.
"No, Lexa! He's on our side." Clarke explained and stepped between the two of them. "You are, right?" She turned to check in on York who nodded.
"He's with her."
"No, I'm not. I mean, I was, but I didn't know she was going to-"
"You would betray your own mother?" Lexa verified.
"She's not really my mother. My mother died a long time ago and when Carolina told me her plan this afternoon, I knew I couldn't be a part of it."
"What plan?" Clarke asked and then turned so that she and Lexa were both facing him.
"She didn't tell me about it until after you were already here."
"Just tell us, York."
"She was going to try it the natural way at first, but after some time if it wasn't happening on its own, she was going to make you. She was going to tell you more tests were needed or something like that and the men would… donate." He looked at the ground. "And the women would have the donations implanted." He paused and then looked back up. "Dr. Harker is having a wing of the hospital prepared just in case. He's fixing beds with straps and bindings to hold the women down who won't cooperate and he's having a few of the researchers we have left manufacturing excessive sedatives too."
"Oh my God."
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"What will you do now that you do?" Lexa asked him.
"I'll help you however I can."
"Where are they storing our weapons?" Clarke asked. "And how did they get them in the first place?"
"The tunnels."
"Tunnels?" Lexa asked.
"There are tunnels connecting every building in the city including the homes. They were built after the first round of bombs to hide people from the initial radiation. They've been updated several times since. Carolina sent members of the police force to the tunnels and through the hidden doors in your homes to find whatever you brought with you. They exited the same way."
"Does anyone guard them?"
"No. We don't have the man-power for something like that. It took all night just to get the weapons." He looked at Clarke. "They are at the hospital. 3rd floor. We don't use it. They're locked, but not guarded. I have the key, but if we're going to get them, we should do it now."
"Why?"
"Because Carolina will be missed soon. She has two personal guards. They're right out front and they are loyal to her." He motioned to the front of the house. "They'll come looking for her soon. They'll call it in first and then everyone will know."
"Then we move now." Lexa said. "Lincoln and I will take out the guards while Octavia and Indra move Carolina. We'll take her with us."
"Don't kill them, Lexa."
"Only if I must." Lexa nodded and walked off to go get Lincoln.
"Let's go get the others." Clarke pulled York toward the table and the rest of the group. They hashed out a quick plan that would involve them taking the tunnels to the hospital while York drove and met them there. To get to the third floor, he'd have to walk into the hospital and unlock the exit point from the tunnels so they could get in and then he'd keep watch while they grabbed the weapons and loaded them into the tunnels. They'd carry them back in batches, as there were weapons for 200 plus people.
Clarke wondered about Lexa and Lincoln. They should have been done with the guards. She walked around the front and saw the president's car, but no guards. Her concern started to grow. She walked back in through the front door and she saw Indra tying ropes around Carolina's legs. She already had a gag in her mouth.
"Octavia went out back. I will join as soon as this job is done."
"Have you seen Lexa or Lincoln?" Clarke asked her while looking around.
"Lincoln is out back with Octavia. The Commander went to her room a moment ago."
Thank God, Clarke thought.
"Lexa?" She asked when she walked into their room.
Lexa was standing at a mirror and when she turned around, Clarke saw she'd painted her face in her traditional war paint.
"I was hoping we could leave that behind." Clarke shared.
Lexa walked over to her and put her arms around her waist.
"I'm afraid we're at war again."
"Can this please be the last one?" Clarke pleaded. Lexa touched the side of her face and Clarke felt the metal of the ring she'd placed there so recently.
"That is my hope as well." Lexa leaned in and gave Clarke a quick kiss. "But we must protect our people now."
"I know."
"We will get our weapons and overtake the population."
"Without killing?" Clarke insisted.
"Clarke, people will die. You know that."
"I can't have anyone else die at my hand, Lexa." She took a deep breath. "It hurts too much. The missile, the mountain, outside the shuttle when we were being attacked and your people burned… that was all because of me."
"That was because of circumstance. That was war, Clarke. We will do everything to make this one our last." Lexa reassured. "But what will we do with the citizens once we take the city?"
"I can't even think about that now?"
"Start thinking, Clarke." Lexa told her and pulled back. "This will not take long."
They'd made it through the tunnels with the help of York's map. When they arrived at the exit, they stood and waited, prepared for anything that might happen next. Clarke took in Lexa who stood at the front of the group holding a knife she'd taken from the kitchen. Luckily, they'd dispatched the guards back at the house with some tight headlocks and then stored them inside the president's car after tying them up with cord they'd pull from the house.
Lexa looked right at home being back in battle. Clarke had to admit to herself that it was one of the things she loved so much about the woman in front of her. That fire would never go out. That strength would always be there and Clarke could count on that forever.
"How long are we going to stand here?" Octavia asked.
They'd left Raven back at the house with Wick to watch over the president and keep an eye on the guards in the car. Octavia, Bellamy, Lincoln, Kane, Indra, Lexa and Clarke were in the tunnels waiting for York. They hadn't told anyone else about the plan in order to prevent it from spreading throughout the city and concerning the clans. The door in front of them opened. Lexa readied her knife in case York failed or it was a trap.
"Let's go. Hurry." York told them in a hushed tone. Lexa climbed through first with Clarke close behind. "Here's the key. Weapons are in that room. You'll have to hurry. Dr. Harker was ordered to check this area out before he goes home each night. That could be any minute."
"We got it. Go keep watch." Clarke told him.
They shuttled swords, knives, guns and ammo through the small tunnel door and then York closed the door behind them. He'd meet them with the car a block away from the hospital, open the tunnel exit there and help load as many weapons as possible into the car and drive them back with Clarke and Indra.
Lexa would lead Lincoln, Bellamy and Octavia in carrying the rest of the weapons as far as they could and Clarke, Indra and York would join them after dropping off the other weapons to carry them back to the house.
It took about an hour, but the job was finally done. Carolina and the guards were then sat up in the living room of the house next door where Raven and Wick were staying. The two of them were provided guns and tasked with keeping watch for the first shift. Lincoln and Octavia slept on the floor of that house and would take the second shift.
"Morning will come soon and her people will be looking for her." Indra educated. "We should kill her and move on."
"We may need her." Clarke explained.
"Tomorrow morning, we will hold a summit of the clan leaders and representatives. We will make them aware of our purpose here and we will outline our plan."
"What is our plan, Lexa?" Bellamy asked.
"We will take the hospital first through the tunnels. York left the exit point unlocked last night."
"We'll lock everyone inside a room and leave you to guard, Bell." Clarke explained. Bellamy nodded. "We will do everything we can not to injure or kill anyone, but… do what you have to do."
"We will have the other clans lead raids in each city sector." Lexa pointed at a city map York had provided. "Here, here and here." She looked at Clarke. "We will lock up all citizens without harm until we can determine our next step." She outlined.
"For now, we wait for morning." Clarke told the group.
"Why not attack now? Catch them off-guard?" Kane asked.
"Because we are all exhausted. We need the support of the other clans and getting them together at this hour would cause suspicion. Tomorrow morning would be better." Clarke answered.
"Go to your homes. We will meet again at dawn." Lexa stated and rolled up York's map.
"Where should I go?" York asked.
"You can stay with me." Bellamy offered. "I'm on my own there anyway." Bellamy had been given his own house, as was Kane.
"I'll move the president's car and then mine and meet you there. Thank you." York replied.
"Don't thank me. I snore." Bellamy told him and they both walked out.
"Clarke, can I speak with you?" Kane asked when it was just Lexa, Indra and Clarke left in the kitchen.
Lexa looked at her.
"Indra and I will plan the meeting with the coalition." She and Indra walked into the living room.
"Clarke, we have to be extremely careful here."
"I know, Kane."
"What we're talking about is locking up innocent people until we can figure out what to do with them."
"What should we do? Kill them?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying, but maybe we should wait until-"
"Until what? Until they notice their president is gone? That we know about her psychotic plan to impregnate our women?"
"Until we can really think about our next step. Until we can plan what to do with these people. Until we can contact Camp Jaha and let them know what's going on."
"I'm not telling them anything until we get this place under our control."
"You don't just get to make a decision like that, Clarke. You're not-"
"In charge?" She walked toward him. "Yes, I am. I am in charge, Kane. It may not be what I want, but it's what I need." She took a deep breath. "I was born for this." She told him. "Now, get in line or get off the team and wait for us to take the city because we will take the city and then we will figure out what to do next."
She left the kitchen and met up with Lexa just as Indra was heading over to the house next door to check on the others before taking her position guarding the perimeter of both houses before Bellamy would relieve her later.
Clarke and Lexa entered their room and Lexa began removing her grounder, war garb while Clarke sat on the edge of the bed.
"Osir gonplei nou ste odon nowe, Klark." Our fight is never over, Clarke. Lexa removed her long, black jacket revealing Clarke's shirt she continued to borrow and continued to reveal her infinity flame tattoo.
"I know." Clarke responded with little emotion. "This was supposed to be our refuge."
"It can still be that."
"I don't see how."
Lexa moved to straddle Clarke on the bed and Clarke's arms went around her waist to hold her in place.
"You always see how." Lexa began. "That is your gift, Clarke." She held Clarke's face in her hands to force her to look up at her. "When I am unable to see things, you see them. You saw Bellamy's role in the mountain when I was ready to storm in. You saw Octavia's loyalty when I would have killed her."
"I saw this place as a new start." Clarke chastised herself.
"And you were right too. Clarke, you know I would tell you if you were wrong, but you weren't and you weren't the only one who made this decision. We all share blame in this, but we can share victory too." She pressed her forehead to Clarke's knowing she was getting black paint on Clarke's face. "We can take this place. We can make it ours."
"How?" Clarke asked desperately.
"That's your job." Lexa pulled her face back. She wiped the small amount of black off of Clarke's forehead. "I will direct the battle. You will direct our new nation."
Clarke's eyes grew big, as she pulled back further.
"That's a pretty big responsibility."
"One only you can handle." Lexa leaned in and kissed her.
"We can't. We need to get some sleep. We have-" Clarke objected until Lexa captured her lips again and laid her back.
"We may only have tonight. Tomorrow, kom wor!" To war