Chapter 34:
"She must have had another EMP." Raven explained from inside Lexa's hospital room. Abby was running around the first floor of the hospital trying to help people without power. Raven and Bellamy were sitting on the floor of the room. Clarke was standing next to Lexa so she could keep an eye on her.
"You said that was unnecessary." Clarke reminded her.
"It was." Raven started. "She didn't need it. If the first one would have gone off, it would have wiped out the whole place just like this one did."
"She didn't trust York to handle it."
"Obviously." Raven shared. "She really is a bitch."
"What are we going to do?" Clarke asked the room.
"There's nothing we can do. Everything's been wiped. It'll take a lot of work to get the plant up and running again. Wick and I can't do it ourselves. We'll need help and sleep, Clarke. We need sleep. We haven't stopped since-"
"I know. I know." Clarke felt Lexa's hand on her arm.
"Raven, can anything be done to fix it today?" She asked.
"Today? No way! It'll take weeks. I mean, I'm just guessing here. I don't know what their setup is like, but I can tell you it's not something we can just fix. There's no switch to flip because even the switch is dead."
"Then, all we can do is help anyone that needs it today." Lexa explained.
"I can check on Octavia and Lincoln and then try to help Abby out." Bellamy stood.
"As long as that help doesn't involve giving anymore blood." Raven told him.
"We need to regroup." Clarke explained. "Let's meet at the house and start trying to figure out-"
"Clarke, just help your mom." Lexa said. "There's nothing else we can do right now."
Clarke looked down at Lexa's face, which had more and more color returning to it despite the fact that without lights, it was harder to see and without machines, Clarke was worried Lexa might take a turn.
"She must be on some good pain meds to suggest we don't take action today." Raven stated. "I'm out. Gonna grab Wick and help where we can until Lexa snaps to and changes her mind."
Raven and Bellamy left the room.
"Lexa-"
"Clarke, I'm going to be fine. You need to go help your mom. We can deal with the power after we know who's alive and who's-"
"Dead?" Clarke asked her.
Lexa tried again to sit up and Clarke decided not to try to stop her this time.
"York and Brooklyn and the trials can wait. We can figure out what to do with this city once everything calms back down. The important thing is that we're no longer at war."
"I know I should help, but I don't want to leave you."
"My leg feels fine and-"
"My mom gave you pain killers."
"I want to go home, Clarke. I don't want to be here when I can't do anything to help these people. I can hear them calling out in pain, but I can do nothing to help them. With the power gone, there's nothing I need here that I can't get at home."
"Except for a doctor, Lexa."
"I will have someone send for Atami or another healer later… after."
Clarke knew she was referring to the time after they'd get the full body count for the day. There would be more deaths. Abby could only do so much now. She'd never really worked without some kind of power before.
"I'll take you home and then I'll come back."
"No you won't." Lexa told her. "You won't want to leave me once we're there. You stay here and I'll have someone else take me and we will talk about how you left with Brooklyn earlier."
"I left with Brooklyn so she wouldn't detonate another bomb and kill more of people." She recalled the mountain when Lexa made the choice to save her people over Clarke. She had to admit to herself that she understood more than ever Lexa's decision. "I also had to so Indra could get you here. It was the only choice."
"It was dangerous, Clarke."
"I also ran into a building after a bomb went off to find you, Lexa. I love you. You're just going to have to accept that that means sometimes I might risk my life to save your life."
"Clarke-"
"No, we're not arguing about-"
"Clarke!" Lexa stopped her. "I don't want to argue. I wanted to thank you."
Clarke wasn't sure what to think.
"Raven was right. Whatever drugs my mom has you on are working."
"This is not a joke." Lexa replied with a straight face.
"I know." Clarke started to wipe the dirt off of her cheek. "You rarely joke."
Lexa seemed offended for a moment before she let out a small smile.
"You saved so many people today. They would have been lost without you." She told Clarke. "Go save some more. I'll be okay."
"I'll get someone to take you home and I'll be there as soon as I can." Clarke kissed her gently and walked out of the room to go back to join the real world where people were crying out in pain and dying because the machine that was breathing for them no longer worked.
Clarke, Abby, Bellamy, Kane, Raven, Wick and Octavia sat in what used to be an office on the empty third floor of the hospital. It had been several hours and the exhaustion was reading on everyone's face. Clarke was leaning back against the wall and Octavia was sitting next to her. She had gashes all over her body and a wound on her head that had been bandaged.
"How's Lincoln?" Clarke asked her.
"He'll be okay. He's still asleep, but Abby said he's going to be fine. We're just waiting for some swelling to go down." She looked over at Clarke. "Lexa?"
"She'll be okay. Bellamy really came through today."
"For both of us." Octavia looked over at her brother and referenced the fact that he'd given his blood to her as well.
"So, what now?" Bellamy asked.
"I vote for sleep." Raven shared.
"Amen." Wick agreed.
"I'll stay behind and keep an eye on the patients." Abby offered.
"You're human too. You need sleep, Abby." Raven told her.
"I'll stay." Clarke offered.
"Clarke, Lexa needs you. Go home. I'll check on everyone and then sleep in one of the empty rooms upstairs. It's fine. I'd prefer it. I don't think I can sleep anywhere else. I'd be too worried they'd need me and I wouldn't be here to help." Abby shared.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. Go be with Lexa. Octavia, you need to get back to bed and Bellamy, I want you to stay here overnight too so I can keep an eye on you. We'll get you setup with a room. Octavia, I assume you want to-"
"Stay with Lincoln? Yeah." Octavia interrupted.
"Okay." Abby stood. "Bellamy, no arguing from you."
"Understood, doc." Bellamy agreed. He was still a bit woozy and lacked his usual fire.
"Is there a car outside we can take?" Clarke asked Wick.
"Most of the cars had computers running them so…"
"So they don't work anymore either?" Clarke asked.
"Not right now. We can probably fix some of them up, but we're walking tonight." Wick explained. "Makes more sense than trying to find one that would work. We'd waste more time and energy doing that."
"Great. My legs barely function right now." Raven added. They started walking, leaving Kane behind with Clarke.
"Kane, thanks for today."
"For what?"
"You saved a lot of people today." Clarke told him.
"So did you, Chancellor." He acknowledged with a gentle smile. "Come on. Let's get out of here."