Chapter 31:
Clarke sped away from the group still recovering from one bomb and drove toward potentially more bombs and the chaos they would bring. She tried not to think about Lexa because that would be selfish at a time like this, but she couldn't keep the thoughts out of her head; the worry that another bomb could go off any second and that Lexa could be near kept pushing its way into her muddled brain. She continued in the direction of the city center where the trials were supposed to take place later that day. She saw small groups of people running in different directions away from the site. She guessed the cat was out of the bag and grounders and sky people alike were rushing toward their newly acquired homes or off in other directions toward the woods surrounding the city.
Off to the right, she saw a giant burst of light and felt the shake of another blast. The car veered off the road and ended up in a ditch as debris crashed into it. Clarke shielded her face from the windows as they broke and glass rained in on her. She took a second to check herself over before climbing out of the driver's side of the car and looking in the direction of the blast. The bomb must have been in one of the houses as she was still in a residential part of town.
"They want us to think there's no safe place to hide." She said to herself and looked around. Most people had stopped in their tracks when the blast occurred. A few people rushed toward one of the two houses that looked like they could have been the bombsite to see if there was anyone inside that needed help. Clarke guessed that if there was someone inside, they were beyond help. She saw the rest of the people start to run away from the homes and it looked like they were headed for the outskirts of the city as well, giving up the idea that their homes were safe.
She ran too, but in the direction of the city center hoping to find Wick or Lexa to get an update. She found Wick staring down at something that looked like a bomb and she knelt beside him.
"Clarke? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Bombs are going off, Wick! People are dying! How many more do you think there are?"
"I don't know." He admitted and then snipped some wires. "These are remote. They're all on the same frequency and connected together, but I'm too busy disarming them individually to figure out what the frequency is and disable them. I need Raven or another engineer."
"Maybe I can help." Kane stood in front of them. "I was an apprentice for a time. Tell me what you need me to do. I can do more than just help evacuate people."
Wick looked over at Clarke. She nodded.
"The bomb construction is the same. I've gotten to 6 already and they've all been mostly the same. You need to lift this part and unscrew the cap." He instructed and handed Kane his screwdriver. "Here are the wire cutters." He passed them over. "The only difference between them so far has been the-"
Another bomb went off. It blew Clarke back a few steps, but she regained her footing and looked in the direction of the blast. It came from the floor of the president's office. She knew that location all too well.
"The only difference…" Wick repeated as he and Kane refocused on the task at hand. "Is the wire color. They wanted us to make a mistake and cut the wrong one, but if you look closely, you'll see it's connected to the power source here. On each bomb, it's the same regardless of whatever color wire they used. Cut here and here." He ordered. "Just like I did." He looked over at Kane. "And you'll be fine."
"Where are the others? How many more?" Kane asked.
"I don't know how many yet. I'll be able to tell once I tap into the frequency, but they've been about 100 yards a part so far. Go that way. Take a group of people and fan out. You'll find one soon enough."
"Then, get the people out of there and diffuse it, Kane." Clarke finished. "Wick, what do you need?"
"Some equipment I have at my house. I'm on my way." He stood and started running. "Keep your radio on." He yelled without turning around.
"Kane, have you seen Lexa?" Clarke asked before Kane started to run off too.
"She was-" He started and then stopped himself. He looked in the direction of the last bomb blast. "I saw her inside." He motioned with his eyes. "But that was a few minutes ago. I'm sure she got out and-"
Clarke was running before he could finish his offer of encouragement. She ran past more people running in the other direction and if she had been able to be rational in that moment, she might have followed them, but her main concern at the moment was finding Lexa. She knew she was putting herself above everyone else in that moment, but she couldn't help it. There was no stopping her from finding Lexa. Everyone else would have to do without her until then.
She arrived at the entrance of the building. It was still standing as the blast took mainly the right side of the second through fourth levels and the entrance was more to the left. She swung the door open and rushed inside. To her left, everything appeared normal. A few items that had been sitting on a desk were now on the floor, but other than that, if she hadn't seen it herself, just by looking at that side of the building, she wouldn't have known a bomb had gone off. It was the sound that drew her attention away after a few seconds. The first floor was creaking and about to give way. She didn't have much time to try to find any survivors. She lunged in the direction of the stairs that were still mainly intact and pushed debris aside as she needed.
"Lexa!" She shouted over the sound of the collapsing building. "Anyone!" She heard no reply. When she got to the next floor, she pushed aside the door that had broken off its hinges and saw two women cowering in a corner. "Come on! This way!" Clarke yelled at them and then helped pull them both up. She had to push them toward the door and then in the direction of the stairs. "Go. Run." They hesitated for a moment until she pushed the older one again. "It's going to collapse. You have to go now." Clarke urged. Finally, they both nodded and ran back down the stairs.
Clarke continued looking, but the air was smoky around her. She began coughing and wondered how much longer she'd be able to look as the creeping sound was growing less faint and more frequent.
"Lexa!" She shouted again and both hoped and didn't hope for a reply. Her head moved from left to right and she turned around at least ten times looking for any sign. When she found none, she started rushing toward the staircase again to go up to the next floor, but there were two large, steel beams blocking her path. She felt the ground lurch beneath her and it was enough to drop her to her knees. There was no way she'd make it up those stairs. She'd have to go all the way down the stairs and back up the other staircase that was near the back of the building and there was no guarantee it wasn't blocked. The time it would take to do all of that… another lurch. She looked up and saw that the ceiling beam was about to give way.
Before she could stand again to start running, she felt hands grip her under her arms and help lift her up. She turned to see Lexa staring back at her through a face covered with soot and scrapes. She breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around the other girl.
"No time, Clarke. We've got to go." Lexa ordered and pushed Clarke in the direction of the stairs. Clarke started and then turned when she couldn't feel Lexa behind her.
"What's wrong?" She asked her and then took a few steps back toward her.
"My leg. Something fell on it." Lexa shared.
Clarke looked down and saw a giant gash in Lexa's thigh.
"Hold onto me." Clarke wrapped her arm around Lexa and helped her hobble toward the stairs. The ceiling beam gave way a few seconds after they moved and they got down the stairs as quickly as they could.
"I knew you'd come in after her."
They both looked up after reaching the first floor and saw piercing eyes staring at them behind a gun pointed in their direction.
"Brooklyn." Clarke said.
"Where's my cousin? He should have been here by now and since he's not, I can only assume you two had something to do with that."
"He's alive if that's what you're asking." Clarke shared. "But he won't be able to help you anymore."
Brooklyn smiled.
"That's fine. I don't need him anymore anyway. You just saved me some time actually."
"Are you going to kill us now or what?" Clarke asked her.
"Oh, I'm going to kill you. Just not today. It'll be more of a show to kill to so-called leaders of our newest group of immigrants in front of the crowd. Really show them who's in charge if you know what I mean." She took a step to the side and continued pointing the gun at them. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get out of here before this place goes down."
They started to walk toward the entrance. Clarke held onto Lexa and kept her eye on the gun and Brooklyn at the same time.
"If you don't want to kill us now, why did you blow this place with Lexa inside?" Clarke asked.
"I would have settled for one of you. When I saw her go inside, I took my chance to take her out, but she just wouldn't die, would she?" Brooklyn looked at Clarke. "Then I saw you go in after her and I worried you'd end up getting yourself killed and I couldn't lose both of you so I had to improvise." Brooklyn followed them with her glance as they made it outside. "Looks like I might only end up with one of you anyway though. That's a lot of blood your girl is losing there, Clarke."
Clarke looked down at Lexa's leg and Brooklyn was right. Lexa was bleeding heavily. Clarke looked up at her face and saw that beneath all that dirt, she was a pale white. She needed medical attention and fast and Brooklyn wasn't likely to provide it.
"I'm okay, Clarke." Lexa got out looking a little delirious.
"She's not a very good liar, is she? Let's go." Brooklyn looked around to see that while there were people outside, none of them were paying attention to them because they were running or helping other people trapped by the most recent bombs. "Should I set another one off now? Just to cover our exit?" She asked them, but wasn't really asking them. She pulled out a small device from her pocket and held it in her free hand.
"No!" Clarke yelled! "We'll go with you! Just stop this!"
"You're going with me no matter what. That's what being a hostage means, Clarke." Brooklyn explained.
Clarke looked behind Brooklyn and saw Indra standing there watching Brooklyn, waiting for her chance to strike, but she had no gun; only a sword. She made eye contact with Clarke and they exchanged words without exchanging words. Lexa caught Indra's eye too and Clarke felt her hand on her back. Clarke remembered that's where she kept her gun. She'd forgotten it in the hurry to find Lexa. Lexa lifted it out from behind Clarke's back without Brooklyn noticing. She fired it once at the ground behind them causing Brooklyn to turn her attention back to them and Indra took that as her signal. She reached for a smaller knife at her side and threw it at Brooklyn while Clarke grabbed Lexa and pushed her to the ground just in case Indra missed.
She didn't. It hit Brooklyn square in the shoulder, but it wasn't enough to knock her over entirely. Her body turned with the force of the knife and she fired in Indra's direction; hitting Indra in the arm, but she stood her ground. Another bullet flew in her direction, but she dove out of the way. Clarke regained her footing and lunged at Brooklyn, but Brooklyn swung around just in time and held the gun to Clarke's head.
"Not so fast, Sky Girl." Brooklyn winced and reached around to remove the knife from her shoulder. She turned back around to see Indra standing and she pushed Clarke in front of her so she could aim the gun at both of them. "Clarke is coming with me." She told Indra. "You can have the other one. She's basically gone anyway, but if you try to stop us, I will turn around and shoot your commander in the head and she'll definitely be gone."
"Indra, it's okay." Clarke told her. "Help Lexa."
"No, Indra! Don't let her take her." Lexa tried to yell from her spot on the ground. She was reaching for Clarke's gun, which was too far away.
"Indra, let me go. Save her." Clarke told the woman in front of her.
Indra had a choice to make. Her Commander, the one she'd sworn allegiance too long ago was dying, but had given her an order to resist. She could yell for support. Maybe soldiers would come, but maybe they wouldn't make it before Brooklyn shot Lexa. She stared at Clarke for a moment before nodding and stepping to the side, letting Brooklyn pass while grasping at Clarke's arm to force her forward.
Clarke turned back and nodded in gratitude at Indra before looking down at Lexa, who looked to be in tremendous pain. She mouthed 3 words while meeting her eyes. "I love you." They turned a corner and Lexa was no longer in sight. Clarke put her head down. She would die, but Lexa would live. Indra would see it that. Even if she were gone, Lexa would mount a defense and take Brooklyn down eventually. Clarke looked up knowing her death like this wouldn't separate the people as they had thought earlier, but would in fact unite the people under Lexa to fight Brooklyn and anyone else that might stand against them. She smiled knowing everyone would be okay. This was her purpose.