Even though I was part of the meeting, Pike and his advisors decided that it would be for the best to keep me inside Arkadia for the time being and only send a group of "volunteers " to take care of the village. Those volunteers were no other than my friends, who from what Pike said were willing to prove themselves and that no one should deny their right to be part of this operation, not even he could deny it. To be fair, while I understand why Pike does it, I still think it's a bad idea to attack a defenseless village just for the sake of it. Then again, despite being a great teacher and one of the few people that won't judge you for what you have done, what happened to the farm station changed Pike, transforming him into a warmonger.
If sending my friends to a massacre in a village wasn't bad enough, I had this feeling that something would go completely wrong ever since I first heard about this mission, and while I tried to warn Pike, he simply shrugs it off. The more I stay in Arkadia the more it seems that rather than being part of it, I was instead a prisoner, with slightly better treatment than anyone else, if nothing else.
Taking one last look at my departing friends, I saw Zoe showing a sad smile before she quickly followed behind Pike. Sadly, they didn't manage to escape when Octavia knocked Bellamy out, nevertheless, Sergey and a few others managed to hide inside an undiscovered section of the station at least for now.
Just as I was about to make my way toward the cells where Bellamy and Octavia were kept, I heard someone calling my name. I quickly turned and to my surprise, Anya was hiding in the dark standing next to a shed, away from prying eyes. The first thought that came to mind when I saw her wasn't how she managed to sneak inside Arkadia when tens of guards were guarding every single meter of fence and gate, and yet, Anya still found a way to sneak inside the camp undetected.
When she saw me dumbfounded in the middle of the road, I swear a small smirk appeared on her face before she vanished in the dark.
As soon as she disappeared, I rushed into the dark hoping to find her there instead of finding Anya alone, I was surprised to find her together with Octavia.
Before I could open my mouth, Anya put her hand on it, stopping me just in time for a pair of guards to pass by.
"This might be the first time your mouth almost brought you a fate worse than death."
I could only roll my eyes at her remark. Though she wasn't wrong, if I would manage to speak when the guards pass by, they would have been able to hear me thus finding both girls together with me.
"That might be true. So now, why in the seven hells are you two here together, moreover when one of you should have been locked while the other should be inside Mount Weather?"
"Mount Weather fell into Pike's hands. Almost all of my warriors were killed and the night blood boy has become a hostage in Pike's hands. Thankfully, Abby force Pike's men to leave him otherwise she would stop treating them. As for Octavia..."
"I broke out, as soon as overheard Pike's conversation with Bellamy. My brother left with Pike to kill innocent people. After Bellamy and Pike left, Kane somehow got his hands on the key that opened my cell and with his help, I managed to leave the prison area before I stumble across her trying to sneak inside."
"Sorry Octavia for putting you in jail."
"Don't worry, Leon I understand why you did it, besides, I'd rather be locked than free knowing that I will kill Pike at the first chance I got."
"So what are you two doing now? Leave the camp and go where?"
"I've come here to tell you that a bunker is no longer a safe place. Even though I know what would happen to me, I'll go back to Polis to warn Lexa."
I could understand why Anya was going to Polis, after all now that Pike got his hands on the bunker, he had missiles in his arsenal, and let's be honest, no one would be able to stop those missiles once they are in the air. As for Octavia…I don't know what to do with her. Sure, she wants revenge for Lincoln, but what is she willing to sacrifice in order to attain that revenge?
Octavia looked at me for a few seconds, noticing my questioning gaze before she let out a tired sigh.
"I want revenge, no one would change my mind on that, but I'm neither a fool nor crazy to attack Pike here nor when he's surrounded by his soldiers. There will be a time in the future when I would kill him, even if that means I will die afterward."
"I won't stop you, Octavia and you know why, but please remember that you have a brother that loves you and would suffer if you were to die."
"That brother has already died, Leon. This Bellamy is no longer my brother, otherwise, he would have done what he and Pike did to these people. They weren't here to attack this place, they were here to defend it and yet this place became their grave."
"As I said, you do you and I do I. "
"See you later Leon and don't die."
"Don't worry, I won't die so easily. The one who should be worried should be me not you."
Unknowingly to the three of us a man saw and heard everything before he quietly left us alone, but not before murmuring something seemingly to no one in particular.
Meanwhile, the team led by Pike reached their target just in time for the night to properly settle, thus offering them the sweet advantage of moving undetected. Sadly, not everyone was here out of his or her own volition, however, no one would admit it, at least in front of Pike's loyalists. As for Monroe, she was the only one who argued with Bellamy the whole way, and yet he managed to shut her up with a single warning.
Nevertheless, no one said anything about Monroe being useless or annoying, after all, besides Pike and his soldiers, she and Bellamy were the most experienced soldiers that followed Pike to Sector 4. Miller, Harper, and Monty weren't exactly happy with what Pike forced them to join in, but alas, they were more tame than Zoe.
Despite being hard to see, the team made their way to the village from where the little boy was supposed to live, and yet, not even a single soul was seen or heard. Even though it was strange and possibly an ambush, Pike decided to bite the bullet and order everyone to make their inside the village as slowly and steadily as possible just in case the grounders were waiting for them in an ambush.
"I don't hear anything. Maybe they left, after all, you and Pike did massacre all of their warriors."
"You think they would do that, Monroe? Maybe the time spent with Leon down south didn't exactly make you a better soldier if you still have such hopes. Hello? Is anyone home?"
"Maybe they saw our lights and left, or maybe the girl is right, they must have abandoned their home."
"Wishful thinking, Hannah. The grounders hadn't abandoned anything since we met them, besides do you think they would have left their homes. Neither did the Azgeda when we landed and neither would these grounders."
Hannah turned her head over her shoulder and caught Pike's eyes. He pointed in one direction with two fingers and she did the same in the other direction. Pike's council alongside Leon and Byrne decided that the best way to tackle this village was to use a spearhead formation that could be easily broken into two smaller ones if needed. Now, Pike took half of the soldier while leaving Bellamy the other half to cover more ground and quickly finish their mission. Unfortunately just as both Pike and Bellamy concluded that the whole village was abandoned, the familiar galloping noise echoed out in the rain, seemingly coming from somewhere close to them.
"Contact, there's someone at our rear!"
Not too long after Pike's shout was heard, a grounder shouted something before all hell broke down on them.
"Bellamy! Get them out of there! It's a trap!"
A faint voice that seemed familiar to him, sounding a lot like Octavia's warned Bellamy just in time for him to dodge an arrow.
"Take cover! Now!"
Albeit it was too late, Zoe hope to at least diminish their losses when she saw the ground lighting up in a cloud of burning gas. By some lucky chance, Bryan dragged her behind some cover just in time for the dangerous cloud to raise where she stood a few seconds ago. All around the village, the ground lit up a bright orange color, too bright to be a simple fire, and yet nothing as extreme as nuclear fire. There was another shout from the woods, however, no one could clearly hear it amongst the shouting and burning. Out of nowhere, one of the arrows of fire hit her vest, and while it didn't penetrate it did light up her vest, forcing her to throw the only thing that kept her alive away. Seeing that all hell fell on them, the only thing she could do was to cover Bryan and the guard before she too gets away from the village.
"Bryan, Joshua, you two leave, I'll cover you!"
"Are you sur…"
"Go!"
Zoe didn't have the nerves or disposition to argue with Bryan as she start unleashing lead at the hills just as another set of arrows landed extremely close to them. Thanks to fighting in the dark, without any night vision, she didn't know if her bullets were hitting someone or if it was simply suppressing them, nevertheless, Zoe continue to unload her bullets in the general direction from where the arrows were being shot them.
As soon as Bryan and Joshua made it to the other side where Bellamy and the rest of his team were, Zoe saw Bryan shouting something to Bellamy before all of them fired at the hills. Seeing her window of opportunity, she lowered her gun ready to sprint towards them when everything starts getting blurry and the air become unbearably uncomfortable to breath. Around her, she could see a cloud of green smoke enveloping her surroundings
"Motherfuc…!"
She couldn't finish her sentence when out of nowhere, the roof of one of the huts collapse to the side and onto her head. The last thing she saw before she was knocked out was the shadow of the metal sheet and her eyes involuntarily closed shut.
Meanwhile, Bellamy ordered his team to fall back as soon as he saw the green smoke from inside the camp. Bryan and Joshua quickly followed behind him while Monty and a few others were proving covering fire. On the other side of the village, Harper was shouting for help, struggling to carry out a wounded woman. Amidst the smoke, chaos, and shouting, Bellamy managed to see Monty dropping everything and rushing toward Harper. By the time they made it out of the danger zone, he took a proper look at his team only to realize that Monroe was missing.
This was the worst thing that could have happened. Anyone other than her would have been fine, but not Monroe, especially when Leon was quite fond of her. Turning his head towards his team, he saw Bryan and Joshua holding Hannah from going after her son.
"Bryan, where is she?"
"Who?"
"Where the hell is Monroe?"
Before Bryan could answer, Joshua already pointed at the place they were hiding just a few minutes ago.
"She was covering us when we ran. Over there, but it's full of smoke now, I don't know if she made it…"
Only a fool would have rushed into the middle of all that poisonous smoke, but something inside of him force him to do this, otherwise, only a god might keep all of the alive. Not wasting any more precious time, Bellamy threw his gun to the side and dashed into the smoke, hoping that she would still be alive. Even though the hut was that deep into the smoke, it was still quite hard to breathe, even if it was quite close to the edge. As soon as he reached the hut, he saw the lower half of a body covered by metal sheets and a gun nearby.
She was unconscious, bleeding thanks to the sheet and above all the poisonous gas has already been inhaled to some stupid degree. If that wasn't worst enough for him, she was also non-responsive, thus Bellamy had to carry the girl out by himself while also trying to keep the poison from going into his lungs otherwise, both of them would die. A second later he managed to free her, Bellamy picked her up and dashed towards the rest of his team where the air was clear, barely the arrows that fell where Monroe had been left unconscious.