𝟐.𝟏𝟔

────「TO WAR」────

     The explosion sent Sheda and I flying backward, falling onto the ground a couple of meters away. The next thing I noticed were my ears killing me. I moved my head to the side to see Sheda lying on his back a few meters away from me.

- "Sheda!" –I yelled- "Sheda are you alright?"

I crawled next to him as best as I could, it was like everything was in slow motion, my head spinning as I checked his breathing: he was alive.

- "Sheda, please say something!"

- "I can barely hear you." –he yelled back, barely hearing him but I knew he was screaming.

- "You'll be fine in a couple of minutes." –I paused, motioning to his body- "Are you hurt?"

- "I'm fine, I'm fine."  –he scanned my body as he sat back up- "Are you okay?"

- "Yeah." –I looked towards the village- "Fuck, Octavia!" –I stood up as fast as I could, feeling my head spinning and nausea; my back was killing me but I only had my sister in my head- "Octavia!" –I felt my voice break- "Please, no."

- "Who's Octavia?" –Sheda questioned confused, standing up next to me, holding me up.

- "My sister, she was with Indra in the village, I...I can't... I need to find her."

- "I'll help you." –Sheda placed his hands on my shoulders- "We have to find Heda, Oreth, and Ion too."

I nodded as I felt the tears forming in my eyes but I wiped them away with my hands and started moving towards the village. If Octavia is dead, someone will pay this with their life. Once we made it back, everything was in ruins, wreckage; people were screaming for help, burnt bodies on the ground everywhere and even fragments from others, the smell made me sicker than I felt, placing my hand in front of my mouth.

- "We'll find them."

- "And after that, I'll slit the throat of whoever did this."

I started walking around, trying to find Octavia, screaming her name but receiving no answer. I clenched my fists on each side of my body and I moved around the ruins, the bodies, and the fire. Sheda moved in another direction screaming for Ion and Oreth, as we both agreed it'd be better and we'd cover more ground faster.

- "Octavia, please, answer me!"

- "Sam?" –Octavia appeared from behind some ruins- "Oh my God, Sam!" 

- "O!" –I screamed as the tears started running down my face- "I thought I lost you."

- "I was so scared," –she hugged me and I did the same- "I thought you were dead."

- "How?"

- "I was outside the village standing watch with the other seconds. You?"

- "I was practicing target shooting with Sheda." –I broke the hug to look at her, caressing her cheeks with my thumbs- "I haven't been more scared in my whole life, O."

- "Me neither."

- "Have you seen Oreth and Ion?"

- "No. Have you seen Indra?"

- "No. But we'll find them, I promise."

Octavia hugged me again and I smiled, my heart at ease again. I looked around, knowing we had a lot to do. Many people were trapped and in agony. I was angry and sad, but I needed to keep a cool head to be of actual help to the people around us. A voice among the rest resonated with me, furrowing my eyebrows, thinking I was hearing things as I faced Octavia again.

- "Is that...?

Octavia nodded with a smile on her face, pulling me with her, soon able to see the owner of the voice who rose as he heard us, his eyes landing immediately on me as I felt a smile pulling on my lips-

- "I know it's not the time for a happy reunion, but I'm so glad you're back with us, Lincoln."

- "I'm glad you're alive, Sam. We thought..."

He looked down as I understood was his words left unsaid meant. I squeezed his arm, telling him I was okay. I had no clue where he came from but a familiar face was always welcome. We got back to work, Lincoln pointing in front of us, explaining he could hear a faint voice from under the wreckage. I kneeled, placing my head on the ground, and, soon enough, there it was. I nodded at him, standing up and moving to the other side of the rock, pulling on it with his help. I had no clue who it was but I hoped we'd be able to help.

- "Do you hear someone?"

I heard Abby's voice but I had to focus on the rock not to crush my fingers, Octavia answering her instead. Clarke, damn, we need to find her too. Lincoln and I tossed the rock to one side and a face was revealed. Indra. Lincoln started to pull other rocks to the side so that we could take Indra out of there while Abbie and Octavia came back next to us.

- "Indra, you're gonna be fine, we got you." –I kneeled next to her.

- "These rocks are too heavy." –Lincoln looked at me- "I'm gonna have to pull her off."

- "Take a deep breath, Indra," -I looked at her- "this will hurt."

She did as I told her and Lincoln pulled her out of the hole she was in but, as soon as he got her out, she started moving.

- "Sen ai daun, Ripa!" [Put me down, Reaper!]

She then stood up as Octavia and I looked at her. Indra was looking around when a gunshot was heard and she fell to the ground.

- "Are you fucking kidding me!?" –I yelled as we all threw ourselves to the ground.

- "We need cover."

- "That way, go!"

Lincoln pointed behind Octavia, seeing wreckage big enough to cover us from the gunfire. Lincoln carried Indra behind some barrels while Octavia and I found cover behind the wreckage, finding Nyko a couple of meters away from us, hiding with a couple of other people. His eyes immediately went to Indra. She was bleeding badly, Nyko screaming to him to press her wound to stop the bleeding but Indra kept pushing him away. I wasn't 100% sure why she was acting like that but we didn't have time to get picky about anything.

- "We are trapped."

- "We need to get the shooter down." –I faced Octavia and she nodded- "I hope Sheda is alive." –I whispered more to myself than anything else.

- "I say we use the Sky Girls to draw fire."

- "You got a problem?" –Octavia faced one of the other seconds.

- "Yeah. You are the bringers of death."

- "Well then don't piss me off or you may very well be the next one."

- "Sam..."

- "What? He had it coming." –I shrugged my shoulders- "If they don't wanna help, then we will have to get rid of the shooter on our own, you know that."

- "There's someone here!"

Abby shouted suddenly, turning to look at her, seeing she was moving some rocks behind her and a metal sound could be heard. She tried to get through the existing hole but a failed gunshot aimed at her made her move backward.

- "I gotta get down there."

- "We need a distraction."

Suddenly, a Grounder started moving around the ruins, trying to escape and moving in zig-zags, making it harder for the shooter to hit him. Clever. That'd do. Lincoln took that opportunity to take Indra over his shoulder and started running in our direction.

- "Octavia, Sam, come on."

Octavia nodded and moved behind him and I followed; we somehow made it to where Nyko and other Grounders were, well protected by a lot of wreckage. Lincoln put Indra down and Nyko immediately started taking care of her.

- "What are we gonna do?" –a Grounder asked- "We can't move."

- "I'm going for the shooter." –Lincoln was quick to answer- "I'll sound the horn when it's done."

- "Alright my friend." –Nyko patted his shoulder before getting back to Indra- "Be safe."

- "I'm going with you."

- "No." -Lincoln pushed Octavia back down- "Nyko needs you here."

- "And you need help, Lincoln." –I argued back- "I'll go with you."

- "Sam..."

- "Nyko doesn't need me and you are Indra's second, O. I have to make sure the asshole shooting didn't kill Sheda, and if he did, I'm going to kill him myself." -Octavia looked at me, at Lincoln, and finally nodded- "Don't worry, I'll take care of your man, although he's hard to get rid of."

- "Just like you." –Lincoln gave a small smile.

- "Yeah, maybe that's why we get along so well."

- "Follow me and stay down."

- "You got it."

I looked at Indra and Nyko one last time before moving right behind Lincoln. We knew it would probably take us all night to get to the shooter but Lincoln knew the woods like the palm of his hand, which meant we could save some time and take cover all the time. Someone was going to pay for this.

     Raven's voice came in through my earpiece as she guided me through the process to irradiate level 5 with the instructions President Wallace had given us; we had to get the air from outside, inside, reversing the air-filtration system that way. I hoped it'd work but, at the same time, I hoped it wouldn't come to the point to with we'd need to use it.

- "How do we know if this is even working?"

An alarm started sounding while a robotic woman's voice announced there was a containment breach just as I finished my question. Huh.

- "I'd say it's working." –Raven chuckled on my earpiece- "Now get out of there before someone finds you."

I made my way back to the corridors of Mount Weather where Maya was looking for me.

- "They've taken another one of your friends."

- "Show me."

Maya guided me through the hallways until I heard someone screaming. That's Fox. We need to help her. The screams were coming from an open door at the end of a corridor. I made a sign for Maya to stay behind while I walked towards the noise; when I got there, Fox had gotten rid of the two men and was running towards the door, followed by both of them. When she saw me, she froze. I pointed my gun at her and she placed her hands in the air in surrender and started to move back against the wall. I quickly moved the gun and shot both men before taking off the helmet.

- "Bellamy!" –Fox's voice was trembling and she quickly ran to hug me.

- "You okay?"

She didn't answer; instead, she started sobbing and crying so I hug her tightly, letting her know everything was okay. We needed to get out of this hell. Maya came inside the room and looked at us and the two dead men. I felt sorry for her, caught in the middle of her people and us just because she knew what they were doing to my people was wrong. But I was thankful she was on our side.

- "Come on, we have to get her someplace safe."

I nodded and let go of Fox as we walked away from that place, closing the door. Maya guided us to her house, agreeing Fox would be safer there for there was no reason for anyone to look for her there. However, once we got there, there was someone inside.

- "Dad, you're home."

- "Yeah, the drill bit broke again."

Fox followed Maya inside and I closed the door as Maya's father rose from the sofa he was lying on when he saw us. I knew he was Maya's father but I'd have to do something about it if he gave us any problems. His eyebrows furrowed as he focused back on his daughter asking what we were doing there as he incorporated.

- "Look, they're in trouble. We just need someplace safe to stay."

- "They need to go, now."

- "Let me explain."

- "Why don't you explain where you got that uniform from." –he looked at me before continuing- "Maya, you know how dangerous this is. What are you doing?"

- "What Mom would've done." –Maya was clear with her intentions and her father sighed, looking at me.

- "I need you to leave."

- "Sorry, we can't do that."

- "That's okay," -Maya glanced at me- "he's gonna help us."

- "Really?" –I scoffed- "Because I'm not getting that."

- "My parents were part of a movement that was against using outsider blood." –she spoke and turned to face her father- "My mom refused the treatments and it killed her. She was willing to die for what she believed in."

- "Maya, you were 5." –his father argued softly- "I couldn't leave you alone."

- "I'm not a little girl anymore."

- "They were willing to kill you. If you get caught..."

- "We won't if you help us." –Maya interrupted him.

- "Please." –Fox pleaded beside me- "They're killing us. We don't have anywhere else to go."

I was looking at the scene in front of me half worried half moved; Maya was willing to risk her life for us, people she barely knew. She reminded me of Sam. They'd be good friends. If Sam's still alive...

- "Just this once," –Maya's father's words pulled me out of my thoughts, thankfully- "just for one night." 

Maya smiled gratefully and took Fox with her to the bedroom and I moved to follow them after thanking him, but he stopped me.

- "You know they'll never stop, right? If the rumors are true and your bone marrow can get us back to the ground, they'll never stop."

I nodded, knowing he was right, but I couldn't afford to think about that right now; first, I needed to get everyone out of this mountain and then we'd worry about them coming back for us, although they wouldn't have many options now that we knew they were after us, so avoiding them would be easier.

     We had been walking for hours. My feet were killing me but my determination to get the shooter was stronger. Lincoln felt the same way, walking in front of me in silence, pointing out from time to time a hidden rock or branch so I wouldn't twist my ankle. I was jumping the last set of branches between us when I heard leaves crushing somewhere near us; Lincoln noticed too and got down.

- "You think the shooter got help?" –I whispered taking my knives out.

- "Could be." –Lincoln whispered back as he scrutinized our surroundings- "It can't be." –he mumbled getting up and moving towards the noise.

- "Lincoln."

Clarke? Wait, what? How? Hearing her voice out here confused me.

- "Clarke." –Lincoln's voice denoted the same emotions I felt- "Commander, what...?"

Lexa appeared from behind Clarke and I moved beside Lincoln.

- "Sam?"  –Clarke's voice sounded relieved- "You're alive!"

- "Well, yeah. Not because they didn't try, though... but, what are you both doing out here?" –I questioned, saying the situation was suspicious, to say the least- "How are you alive?"

- "Yeah, Octavia said you were..."

- "You've seen Octavia?" -Clarke interrupted Lincoln.

- "Yeah, she's alive too."

Clarke sighed relieved. There's must be something I'm not seeing here.

- "The few that survived the explosion are being pinned down by a sniper. Sam and I are on our way to take him down."

As if on cue, more gunshots were heard as Lincoln explained the situation.

- "Come on, we need to get to the high ground."

Lexa started moving without saying anything else. I looked at Clarke trying to depicter how this was even possible; she looked at me and started to move after Lexa. Lincoln was probably thinking the same for he looked after them before making me a sign to follow him. We kept walking for hours in silence; I was lost in thought to even mind the silence.

How did the Mountain Men know we were here and why a missile? Did they find Bellamy? No, he'd never say anything about this, especially knowing Octavia was going to be here. He's too stubborn to get caught. But none of that explains how Lexa and Clarke escaped and why they looked like midnight criminals.

The sun was rising when we finally made it to high ground, which was an inconvenience for us since there were significantly fewer places to hide from the shooter. We kept walking when a bullet flew right in between Clarke and me, forcing the four of us to take cover behind a massive rock as the shooter shot again.

- "So much for the element of surprise." –Lexa sighed looking at us.

- "I'll draw his fire." –Lincoln offered.

- "I'll help." –I stated and Lincoln nodded.

- "No. I will."

Clarke moved to the end of the rock and started shooting towards where the snipper was. I looked at Lincoln, who nodded and started moving a little to the left and I took that as my cue to run forward among the undergrowth, hoping Clarke would distract him long enough for at least one of us to make it behind the snipers' position to surprise him from behind. The gunshots stopped right before I could make sure I was out of the snipers' sight, so I threw myself to the ground, waiting for a sign. I heard the rustle of leaves from someone walking a couple of meters in front of me and I prepared my knives. As I was carefully tilting my head to see who it was, I heard Lincoln grunting and his sword colliding with something metallic. He's got him. Yes, that's my bro.

I quickly rose from the ground to see a man in full camouflage gear fighting Lincoln back, which I considered ironic looking at the difference between both men; Lincoln pinned him to the ground and got his knife out ready to kill the man when he used a Reaper Repellent, making Lincoln fall back in pain. Oh, hell to the no. As Lincoln fell to the side, the snipper got rid of him and tried to strangle him, putting a knife to Lincoln's throat. I moved fast enough to get behind him without him noticing when Clarke appeared in front of us.

- "Drop the weapon." –the snipper told her.

- "Just let him kill me, then take him out." –Lincoln spoke and I had to stop myself from saying something to him when he spoke again- "Clarke, please."

Before Clarke could answer I placed my knife in the snipper's neck that was showing from below his helmet, making him scream in pain while letting go of Lincoln and falling to the ground, covering his wound.

- "Sam!" –Clarke yelled- "What are you doing?"

- "I don't know... saving my friend?" –I shrugged my shoulders- "Getting revenge."

- "I had it." –Clarke argued, she was pissed and I didn't get why.

- "Oh yeah, what were you going to do? Kill Lincoln?" –I scoffed as I cleaned my knife on the grass around me- "If so, you need to get your priorities straight, princess."

- "I had to do it." –her voice was almost a whisper.

- "You wanna kill him?" –I asked her as I stood up, seeing a glimpse of a plea in her eyes- "He's still breathing."  -I pointed at the man lying on the ground- "Go ahead, end him."

- "Clarke, no."

Clarke ignored Lexa's plea and moved next to me, looking down at the snipper; she pointed her gun at him and shot him, putting an end to his suffering.

- "Let's go back." –I placed a hand on Clarke's shoulder and looked at Lincoln- "I need to find my friends."

Lincoln nodded and started walking back to the village as I followed him. Lexa moved to Clarke and I heard her ask whether she felt better after killing him, Clarke answering no. I knew something was still missing, but my priority was getting back to the village and finding Sheda, Oreth, and Ion, and making sure O was still alive.

     After leaving Fox safe with Maya's father, we both started working again on a plan to get our friends out of the room they had been confined in. We needed weapons and a way for me to get them to my friends. It proved to be more complicated than it ought to, Maya offering herself as bait but I wouldn't let her, she was already risking enough. I'd figure it out on my own but I still needed a way into the room.

- "How do I get to level 5? They are watching every door."

- "Maybe not. The mess hall has a trash chute."

- "A trash chute?"

- "There's one on every level. Best part? No radiation alarms. The hatches leak like crazy so they put in these airlocks just to be safe."

- "You're a natural-born revolutionary."

- "My mom was the revolutionary," -she smiled- "I'm just trying to do what I think is right."

- "Meet back here in 30 minutes."

I left Maya and started walking towards the armory following Maya's instructions. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes when I caught a conversation on my walkie about her.

- "This is President Wallace talking to the people who killed 10 of my men. I thought we'd try something a little different this time: there's only 20 minutes of oxygen in Maya's suit and I know she's a friend of yours. In 20 minutes, your friend will either suffocate or burn, but you can save her; all you have to do is surrender."

Fuck. I started moving back already with a plan in mind to save her. I assumed they would bring her to where my friends were so I chose to get there using Maya's plan for the guns. I found the trash cute in Level 3 and climbed inside it, making my way down to Level 5 as fast as I could. Once I got there, I could hear Monty, Jasper, Harper, and Miller's voices, as if they were trying to open the door but couldn't so I started kicking it as hard as I could with the space that I had, getting it open after some failed trials.

- "Bellamy!"

- "Get her in here." –I looked at Maya- "Come on."

- "Go, go, go."

I got Maya's hand and pulled her in with me, both of us falling as the hatch closed behind. Once we hit the floor, I realized Jasper had come with us; he quickly moved up to Maya and took her helmet off, allowing her to breathe, and hugged her tightly. The door from the room we had ended up in opened, revealing Vincent -Maya's father-, to whom I had explained my plan previously.

- "Dad?" –Maya run up to him- "What are you doing here?"

- "What your mother would have done."

Jasper smiled looking at them as they hugged, he then faced me and started chuckling as he came to hug me.

- "Hey, listen to me." –I started as we broke the hug- "Clarke is coming with an army of Grounders."

- "What?"

- "We have to keep all of you safe until then."

- "Don't tell me Finn finally got his peace talks."

I was caught out of guard for a second. It's true, they don't know anything that's been going on outside this mountain. I sighed.

- "Something like that." –I decided to leave the subject for another time- "Come on, we have a lot of work to do."

The less they know now, the more focused they'll be. I was starting to sound like Clarke. No, but this is different. I shook my head. Finn was nothing to them and Octavia and Sam are my family; it's not the same. I clenched my fists at the sides of my body. I hope they are still alive. Both of them.

     It was nighttime when we finally made it to the village, people from the Ark were there helping, seeing as some survivors had been rescued and were already being taken care of. As soon as we got there and Octavia saw us, her eyes sparkled as she moved towards us.

- "I'll leave you both to it." –I smiled at Lincoln who chuckled softly.

- "Thank you, Sam." –he hugged me and as I gave him a questioning look as we moved apart- "For coming with me."

- "Whenever you need me, big bro." –I smiled- "I'm gonna find Sheda and hopefully Oreth and Ion."

- "Good luck."

Octavia hugged me tightly for a second and then moved towards Lincoln. Cute. I looked around, fearing the worst but trying to remain composed. At least Sheda has to be alive, that snipper can't have killed him. I sighed as I moved around the ruins, checking the people and the bodies, not finding any of my friends.

- "Samantha!" -I vaguely heard my name as I was focused on my thoughts and not breaking a foot while walking around- "Samantha, it's me!" -I turned my face towards the voice. Sheda. I ran up to him, almost falling twice and hugging him as I got next to him- "Well now, this is new."

- "Sorry." –I quickly apologized letting go of him as he chuckled- "I thought for a second the sniper got you and I was ready to start a war of my own."

- "I found cover as soon as the gunshots started. We all quickly learned that you and Lincoln had gone to get him and once we heard the horn we all breathed again, so thank you."

- "I'm happy you're alright."

- "I've met your sister, she's been leading us and helping everyone since the snipper was down."

- "I take you approve."

- "Wouldn't expect any less from Indra's second."

- "I'm afraid to even ask... have you found Oreth and Ion?"

- "Yeah..." –his voice went low and his eyes moved to the ground.

- "Where?"

- "Come with me."

I followed him around until we got to a Grounder who sat with their back to us and another lying on their lap.

- "Ion? Oreth?"

Ion looked up at me with teary eyes while he held Oreth; she was badly hurt and had her eyes closed, but her chest moving up and down showed me she was still alive. I kneeled next to them and took Ion's hand in mine, squeezing it. Then, I looked down at Oreth; I had known her for less time than Ion, but she had been so kind to me, seeing her like that made me angry and sad at the same time.

- "Oreth, it's Sam. The snipper is down, we'll get you some help now."

- "Samantha..." –Ion spoke- "She's not going to make it."

- "But..."

- "It's fine." –Oreth's voice was a whisper, forcing me to look at her again- "I'm glad you are alive."

- "I'm so sorry, Oreth."

- "I have faith you'll become the greatest warrior, Samantha."

- "Call me Sam."

- "Remember who you are and what you stand for." –she opened her eyes to look at me- "Don't let the world change you. I'm glad we got to meet, Sam."

- "I promise you, Oreth, they will pay for this. I will avenge you."

- "Ai gonplei ste odon."

She closed her eyes and her head fell to the side after a moment. A tear fell down my face as I placed my forehead against her chest. Sheda had kneeled beside me and placed a hand over my shoulder.

- "Come on, Samantha."  –Ion spoke as he stood up- "We need to help the others."

I looked up at him and then at Sheda. They were both looking down at me and I knew they were feeling the same way I was, only probably worse. I straightened up my back as Sheda got up. I took off my jacket and covered Oreth's face and torso with it.

- "In peace may you leave this shore, in love may you find the next, safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again, Oreth." -I sighed and stood up as the two Grounders looked at me, confused- "It's what we say when one of us dies."

They both nodded in understanding.

- "Now what?"

- "Now?" –I looked at Ion and then at the horizon- "Now we go to war."