I´ve changed some small stuff (mostly language, a little bit plot) in a few chapters. Sorry. don´t mean to be flaky, just small stuff. just having fun with this, but want to improve my language. Approaching the end. Would love feedback on the whole present tense/past tense issue. I am struggling...
Chapter 23
Bellamy, Lincoln and the freed grounders are about to head out. Raven and Octavia should have been in contact by now. Bellamy is worried and contacts Raven on the walkie-talkie again. No answer. He knows that they won´t have it on the whole time – there were guards around – but they needed their friends´ manpower to be sure a win from the inside of the mountain. It was really difficult to know how many soldiers they had, or how much resistance the mountain would put up. After all, only a portion of the people that lived there were guards. Like Bellamy had found out during their brief visit, most were just ordinary people.
Bellamy could still hear the sounds from the battle by the front entrance. He hoped Clarke was ok, but mostly he was worried about Octavia. Answer dammit! He tried the connection again. He could hear only static.
Jasper hates to leave the two of them in that situation – at least he has a mission now - five minutes later he is using the key card to open the steel doors to the room containing his friends. He is surprised there are no guards but who is he to complain. The remaining teenagers are huddling or hiding towards the back of the massive room
"Don´t worry guys, it´s me" Jasper motions to them to join him, and he hears sighs of relief coming from all around him. "We have a situation. Murphy and Monroe saved me from certain death just now, and they are part of a larger attack on the mountain men. They came to save us"
Everybody gathers around as he explains the events of the previous hour and that they need to contact Raven or Bellamy to find out what is going on,
"Where is Monty?" a young girl asks.
"I don´t know" was Jaspers muted reply. "But let´s try to find the others before we are too late" he said as he opens to door they had been shut behind for weeks.
That is what he said. What he thought was. Let´s get revenge on these mountain bastards
Murphy had managed to get Monroe breathing again – most former child fighters were excellent at first aid - but time was not on their side. Apart from the distant sound of the gunfire from the entrance, it had been eerily quiet since Jasper had left. At least Clarke and Lexa seemed like they were holding their own.
He thought about his and Monroe´s current situation. Jasper had done a good job with the bandages. It still hurt like a bitch but at least his wound had stopped bleeding. Monroe´s condition was another story. She was dead to the world; his small nudges gave no response. She was still breathing though, her pulse sluggish but strong.
Hopefully Jasper would free the thirty-eight, - or the thirty-something, how many were left? Then they could team up with Bellamy and the others, hit the mountain men from the inside, defeat them all and THEN Bob´s your uncle. He shrugged - piece of cake.
Who was he kidding? He couldn´t even stop being sarcastic in his thoughts! He looked at Monroe´s still form and filed it under coping mechanism. She probably didn´t have long.
He wondered if Raven was still outside with the others. He hoped so.
Jasper has taken the lead. He is in front of the thirty-plus strong group as they head out of their former prison. They had hatched somewhat of a plan just seconds before. Jasper had decided not to completely follow Murphy´s instructions. One small group was to go to get Murphy and Monroe out of the mountain to get medical attention on the Ark. Most of the former prisoners went to search for Bellamy and Raven.
Jasper was part of the large group as they hurried down one of the corridors, corridors that looked more like tunnels. He wanted to be the one to save his former child fighting comrades, but the teenagers had started to look up to him. It was his time to lead. And then they got lucky! Jasper saw a pair of walkie-talkies hanging next to one of entrances. Yes!
He quickly assembled that battery onto the device he got from Murphy, gets it going again and shouts into it. "Bellamy! Raven! Can you hear me?"
Raven and Octavia have been on the move for a few minutes. Raven had felt a panic that she didn´t expect when Bellamy conveyed the information about Jasper, Murphy and Monroe. Murphy had gotten under her skin - that was for sure. No time to ponder about that, she motions to Octavia to turn to continue down the corridor where Bellamy had thought Murphy and Monroe were holding up.
Not even Octavia hear the guards coming up behind them.