Chapter 3
Clarke groaned as her eyelids fluttered. Her body felt like lead except for her head which felt like there was a jackhammer going at it near the base of her skull. Sound came back before vision. There was still a constant high-pitched ring, but through that, she could hear the sounds of screaming and an odd popping noise. It was almost like gunfire but more hollow. Shapes began to emerge through the black spots in her vision. Flames danced to her right where what appeared to have once been a tent was quickly becoming nothing but a pile of ash.
As she struggled to lift her body off the ground, Clarke took note of the bone-deep ache that seemed to have settled through the entire left side of her body. She must have landed on that side for the whole thing to feel like one big bruise. Glancing behind her, the blonde struggled to comprehend what had once been a portion of their wall. The section had seemingly been blown inward. The blast must have been what had sent her flying.
Turning back towards the center of camp, Clarke saw only chaos. There were people running every which way. Those who had some semblance of composure had grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon and were grouping up as they searched for their enemies through the haze of smoke. But there didn’t seem to be any direct attack being mounted against them. Clarke’s brow furrowed as she watched the scene unfold. As members of the 100 scurried around in a panic, the strange popping noise would go off, but it didn’t seem to be coming from within the camp. Two other sections of the wall had been blown apart just like the one behind her. Whoever had orchestrated the explosion seemed to be content to not physically enter their camp yet. But that didn’t mean the attack wasn’t still ongoing.
With each pop that Clarke could make out over the yells of the group, someone dropped to the ground. There were no cries of pain and no blood that she could see. They simply went from standing and panicking, to laid out on the ground and not moving. It didn’t make any sense. But as Clarke’s mind worked in overdrive to try to sort everything out, some instincts took over. She was directly in front of a breach to the wall. Standing up and making a run for it would only silhouette her in the light from the fires burning all over the place. She needed to move, but she needed to stay as low as possible.
Shifting into the lowest crouch she could, Clarke started moving towards where the most people were gathered. They all needed to get into the dropship. The walls had survived their crash landing onto the ground. They may be their only chance of surviving whatever the hell was going on right now.
Moving as quickly as she dared, Clarke made her way to where she heard more than saw Bellamy trying to give orders to attack. She grit her teeth and stood up fully to sprint the last bit between them. Leave it to Blake to try to mount a counterattack against an enemy they couldn’t see.
“Hey!” Clarke’s voice came out rougher than she anticipated. She must have inhaled a good amount of smoke and debris when the wall blew in. Still, everyone in her vicinity, including Bellamy, paused and turned towards her.
“Clarke! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Bellamy. But none of us are going to stay that way if we don’t get into the dropship. Now.”
“The dropship? What are you talking about? We need to fight back!”
The small group gathered around the two leaders shifted nervously. Most of them were still scanning their surroundings for a threat. But it was clear that everyone was waiting to hear what the move was going to be.
“Fight back against who, Blake? In case you didn’t notice, there isn’t a soul in sight. Yet something keeps dropping us like flies. We need cover. Now. Or there isn’t going to be any of us left to fight.”
Whatever argument Bellamy was about to make back was cut off by Miller hitting the ground next to him. There was some sort of dart sticking out of his neck. The scene had a desired effect in Clarke’s favor. Someone shouted ‘get to the dropship’ and everyone was off.
People were knocking each other over in their haste to make it to what had been deemed to be safety. Clarke took a few steps to follow, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. She realized that she probably had suffered a concussion from the blow. Struggling to keep her feet under her, she staggered towards the dropship door.
The mass movement of the group towards the ship didn’t go unnoticed by their attackers. Shapes moved out of the shadows just beyond the gaps in the wall. Whoever they were, they clearly didn’t want the delinquents making it onto the ship. One of them tossed some sort of canister in the direction of the fleeing group. As it hit the ground, thick red smoke began to pour from it. The effect was immediate to those in the vicinity. They dropped and didn’t get back up.
Clarke took a deep breath and held it. Her body ached and was shaking. She could see the door but no matter how many steps she took, it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. She wasn’t going to make it. One knee hit the ground. Then the next. Her lungs burned from lack of oxygen, but the air around her was still tinged with pink. Inhaling would certainly mean she was done for.
Her eyes met Bellamy’s as he stood at the entrance, hand on the lever. He needed to seal the door if those who made it in stood a chance. But he was staring at her in horror, frozen and unable to do what he had to. She tried to nod at him to do it, but she wasn’t so sure he could see her clearly enough to know what she was trying to say.
Suddenly, Raven appeared behind him. She spat something at him that Clarke couldn’t make out and then she was off, racing towards the blonde. Panic seized Clarke’s heart. Raven was running back out from safety for her. The attackers were closing in from the sides. They wore strange black suits with tubes going to the masks that covered their faces completely. Many were stopping and checking the bodies of the 100 that had fallen victim to the darts and gas. But there were still more advancing towards the ship, and towards where Raven was still running for Clarke.
She tried to hold out a hand to get the mechanic to stop. She shook her head desperately. But Clarke knew it was no use. Raven wasn’t going to let Bellamy seal that door without getting Clarke inside of it. Even if she had to die trying. Clarke hated her for it in that moment. But she knew that if the roles were reversed, she would do the same thing. She had no moral high ground on Bellamy’s desire to risk everyone for Octavia.
Raven dropped down beside Clarke, holding her shirt over her mouth to try and filter the air. She didn’t say a word, just looped one of Clarke’s arms over her shoulders and stood back up, pulling the blonde with her. With Clarke leaning heavily on the brunette, the pair rushed as fast as they could towards the dropship. They were almost there when Raven let out a yelp and dropped to the ground next to Clarke.
Clarke staggered and fell next to her. She saw the dart in the back of Raven’s thigh and her stomach dropped. Raven was lying face down in the dirt and not moving. Before Clarke could concentrate enough to check if she was breathing, Bellamy was there. He scooped the limp brunette up and over his shoulder before reaching back down and yanking Clarke back to her feet.
The trio stumbled the last few steps up and into the dropship. Clarke pulled the lever without looking back. The world around her was spinning. Her lungs burned as she tried to suck in air that was thick with smoke and sweat. The door sealed and darkness settled over those huddled inside the safety of the dropship walls.
“Raven,” Clarke gasped out, searching through the blackness for Bellamy.
“I’ve got her Clarke. Let’s move further in.”
Clarke followed the sound of Bellamy’s voice. Her vision slowly adjusted as flashlights were clicked on here and there. As shapes came into focus, Clarke automatically began taking note of who all had made it inside and what condition they were each in. The leader and medic that was ingrained into who she was as a person couldn’t help starting to organize what efforts were going to be needed in the wake of the attack. But even as she did this, it was almost subconscious because consciously her primary focus was on Raven.
Bellamy had settled the brunette onto a makeshift hammock. Clarke brushed past him and crouched next to the girl. She could hear Bellamy telling her that she was okay and that Clarke needed to lay down too, not worry about the others right now. But it was as if he was speaking to her from far away, his words muffled. She focused on her friend who lay unmoving next to her. She was going to kill her if she wasn’t already dead. How dare she run out of safety like that for Clarke, who’d already lost too many people she cared about. How could she think that it would be better to try to save Clarke’s life at the cost of her own?
Reaching out slowly, Clarke’s hand trembled as she brushed brown hair to the side to reveal the skin on Raven’s neck where her pulse would be if she was still alive. It was almost as though she was watching her own actions from outside of her body. Clarke could see the shake in her own fingers as she gently pressed them against warm skin. It took only a moment before she was sure that it wasn’t her imagination. Raven’s heartbeat was steady and strong under her fingertips.
Clarke choked out a sob of relief. Now that she could feel the proof of life, it was as if the haze had lifted. She could see the flush on Raven’s cheeks and the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive. Whatever she’d been shot with was merely a sedative of some sort. A sedative. Shit.
Clarke quickly stood and rolled Raven partially over, scanning the backs of her legs for the dart that had rendered her unconscious. Panic began to set back in when she couldn’t find it. The longer it stayed embedded in the skin, the more likely it would be that the effects lasted too long.
A warm, strong hand clasped Clarke’s shoulder from behind, steadying her while turning her until she was face to face with Bellamy.
“Breathe, Princess. I already pulled the dart out before I laid her down. I may not be a doctor but even I know that thing shouldn’t stay in her.”
The panic subsided. The dart was out. Raven was alive. Clarke realized that she needed to step it up. While she’d been busy worrying about only Raven, others who made it to safety could be needing her help.
“Right. Good. I’m just gonna check on everyone-”
She took a step towards the remaining members of the group but it was as if her body could no longer support itself. The adrenaline she’d been running on was fading. Her head felt like it was exploding from the inside out. The entire left side of her body ached with each thump of her heart. Her throat and lungs still burned from whatever she had all breathed in. She was shaking and her visions suddenly went hazy again.
Bellamy caught her as she fell.
“I’ve got you, Princess. You did good. Just rest for a bit. I’ll take care of everyone.”
As the world darkened around her, Clarke felt Bellamy place her on some blankets in the corner near where Raven laid. Her last thought before she fell into unconsciousness was 59. That was how many bodies her hasty subconscious counting had calculated inside the dropship. 100 sent down. 102 with the surprises of Bellamy and Raven. 97 after deaths were subtracted. 96 if Octavia was considered gone. They’d started today with 96. Now there were only 59. Darkness claimed Clarke and she didn’t try to fight it. She had felt something awful was coming. And it had.