Chapter 6
“What’s happening Mommy?” Madi keeps repeating, without receiving an answer. In seemingly the middle of nowhere, Clarke puts Madi down. “Mommy?” Clarke picks up leaves and twigs to reveal a hole in the ground in between two large trees.
“Madi, I need you to be very brave right now. Okay?” Clarke asks, picking up Madi and putting her in the hole.
“Mommy, please.”
“I need you to stay here, and stay quiet okay? They can’t find you.” Clarke turns around to wipe the tears from her eyes so she won't show Madi her fear.
“I’m afraid,” Madi admits.
“No, shh baby. Tell yourself that you are not afraid. Say it.” Clarke tells her.
“I am not afraid.” Madi repeats.
“Ok, little one, good job keep saying that. Lie down.”
“I am not afraid.” Madi says again, lying down.
“Madi. Here, take this. Remember how to use it?” Clarke hands her the hand gun from her waistband. Madi nods. Clarke replaces the leaves and twigs and she can hear Madi whispering to herself “I am not afraid.” Her stomach flips thinking of young Octavia needing to do the same thing, when she was even younger than Madi.
Clarke hears someone screaming. Her bear traps must have gotten someone. She sprints to the edge of the ridge. He is stuck with spikes through his abdomen. She can almost hear Madi’s little voice telling her to not let him suffer. Just like when they are hunting or fishing, she always insists on a quick death.
With her rifle pointing at his head, it would be quick. A noise deeper in the forest sends her attention away from her target. More of the invaders arrive. To steal her village, her and Madi’s home. Maybe even kill her or both of them. No, Clarke won’t let that happen. She aims again, fires multiple shots, killing a few men. She can’t hear exactly what they are saying, but they are looking in her direction, and she can assume.
They pull out a giant weapon, and shoot it at her. The ground explodes around her, like the missile at Ton DC. A rock strikes her side. Finally getting to her senses, Clarke stands up and runs. Her head pounds and her eyes blur, but she keeps running. As well as she can with an open wound in her side. She wants to run and swoop Madi up and keep her safe in her arms. She knows that she needs to run in the opposite direction. To lead them away from the little girl, because she knows they will catch her and they do.
She is brought to an old church. Her and Madi used to play here. They would play hide and seek, and without fail, Madi would always hide under the same pew. Clarke would walk around the whole church pretending she didn’t know where she was. Madi would giggle, but Clarke still wouldn’t let up, and kept searching for her. It seemed like such a peaceful place. The whole village did.
Following her capture, she remembers Lincoln and how when they brought him for questioning, he pretended he didn’t speak English. It worked for him, why not her? Clarke wonders. She refuses to utter a single word. Even when one of them hit them. Then again, Clarke remembers, they tortured Lincoln.
“Hey! Hey! Stop, we need her!” Another yells, pushing him away from Clarke.
“None of us is here without Shaw,” a woman tells the man that hit her, pushing the men away from each other. She’s their leader, Clarke observes.
“None of us is here without me, either.” The man responds. “You remember that,” he adds as they break away. The woman pushes him back.
“You have a role to play. We’re all upset over the people we lost today. Take a team and sweep the woods,” she demands. He goes without another word. The woman walks around Clarke.
“You see this?” She asks, pointing to Clarke’s blood that has spilled onto the carpet.
“Blood alteration,” the man they called Shaw says, “like they had on Eligius 3. Two suns, no sunscreen needed.” He recalls. So they did know about nightblood, Clarke thinks. What else do they know?
“Must be how they survive down here.” The woman assumes. “Bring me my med kit,” she says into the radio.
Clarke can hear the men, even the one from before who hit her, over the radio. As long as she listens, she can be sure they haven’t caught Madi.
“We got off on the wrong foot, you and I,” the woman begins. “We had no idea anyone was alive down here. How could we have? We were just trying to get home. Imagine our surprise when we found out there was no home for us to get back to and then your people started killing mine.” She doesn’t know anything, Clarke realizes. “Surely you can understand why I’m upset.” A man talks again on the radio, dragging Clarkes attention, and gaze, to it. “Just like you were upset when we took your village. I don’t blame you. When a fascist government tried to take my home, I wanted blood, too, and I got it.” Again, someone checks in on the radio, and takes Clarke’s attention. They were nearing where she had left Madi. She can feel her heart rate pick up, can this other woman tell? Can she tell that she is anxious?
“She might not even know English.” Shaw says to the woman.
“No, she does. Every time someone checks in on the radio, she listens. She wants us to believe she doesn’t speak English so we might let something slip,” the woman responds. “We’ll figure out who you are trying to protect and then we’ll get more information out of you.” Clarke still remains silent.
“There’s movement in the woods!” Someone shouts through the radio. All three of them stop to pay attention.
“Stop!” Clarke finally shouts. “Stop, she’s just a child.”
“She speaks.” The woman says, but doesn’t seem very surprised. “Fire at will.” She tells her men.
“Please! Stop!” Clarke thrashes around in her restraints.
“We’re passing by a lake on our left side, and bushes on the right.” A man says over the radio.
“Stop! I know where they are. She’s leading them into a trap. That’s our summer hunting grounds.” Clarke yells. “Your men will die! There’s bear traps all over those woods. Let her go and I’ll tell you anything you want.”
“Stand down.” The woman finally says. Clarke feels like she can finally breathe.
“If I stand down, she’ll get away. I have the shot lined up.” The man tells her.
“Falk if McCreary disobeys, shoot him in the leg. Harris, if Falk disobeys, shoots him in the head.” The woman commands.
“Standing down.” McCreary finally relents.
“Good choice. There may be bear traps around your position. Check it out and report back. Over.” The woman tells them.
“Son of a bitch. Another bear trap. Almost stepped right on it.” McCreary reports.
“Report to base camp. Over and out.” The woman puts her radio away.
“Thank you.” Clarke says sincerely. This woman just saved her daughter's life.
“Thank you for telling the truth.” The woman sits back down in front of her. “How many more of you are there?”
“None, it’s just the two of us,” though Clarke is telling the truth, the woman looks suspicious.
“How did the world end?” The woman asks.
“Which time?”