"This is all that's left of my people. Can you save them?"
A week after we decided to ask our people for help preparing Arkadia for the grounders, Luna alongside some of her people appeared at our gates asking for help. Right now, I was inside the room and look around between the ten survivors from her clan, all lying in beds, barely moving. From what Clarke and Bellamy told me, this was not even a third of how many people Luna's rig had, but now, this is what she had left and to be honest, I felt somewhat bad for her, considering how much she hated the violence the clans used to solve their problems.
Despite having the highest dose of radiation in her body, Luna was more worried about her people than about her own body, then again, from the way she still holds, maybe just maybe this Nightblood might have so uses against radiation.
"Don't worry Luna. We'll do everything we can, you have my word."
Luna weakly nods at Clarke, before lowering herself onto the bed, laying on her side, and closing her eyes. As soon as she went to sleep, we took that as our cue to leave her and her people to rest. Just as I was about to leave the room, my walkie-talkie crackles to life. "Leon, do you copy?"
"Yeah, did something happen?"
"Bring Clarke with you and meet us in the hangar bay."
"Copy that."
As soon as the walkie-talkie went silent, Clarke turned to face me. "You heard him, right?"
"Yes…something must have happened for Raven and Bellamy to have us in the hangar bay."
"I take it, it's related to what happened to Luna and her people. Something about these radiations doesn't add up. Worst come worst, we would simply have to abandon the station and head back to Mount Weather before the radiations get to us too."
It didn't take us long to reach the hangar bay, and as soon as we step into the room, we saw Raven, Wells, and Monty working on the computers, trying to figure something out. Each screen displays a different chart, map, or list of information, and soon afterward Raven turned toward the rest of us.
"So, Luna's rig is here, and if the fish in these waters are dying, well, basically, we're screwed if we stay here any longer."
"I don't understand, Raven. A.L.I.E said we had six months."
"We don't have that much."
"Clarke does have a point, Raven, however, A.L.I.E could have lied as well, so then how long do we have?"
"It's hard to say, Leon. Radiation is dispersed by jet streams and carried by ocean currents, so it's not an exact science, but the leading indicators are small species die-offs: fish, and insects. Based on the new data, I'd say we have give or take…two months of survivability…probably even less."
"The Ark won't be ready by the time the wave comes."
"It'll be close. If we triple the man-hours and work around the clock, we should be able to achieve a hard seal before the black rain comes. We just have to decide who gets to live here, after all the Ark can only hold one hundred people and whether we like it or not, the grounders would have to sacrifice almost all of their people for a place inside the Ark. Take into consideration that some of our own people would also have to remain here, and that number shrinks even more."
"Raven, we're not talking about the list again. I'll talk with the clans once we are sure the Ark could hold their people."
"Princess, Leon, and Raven are right, we are running out of time and if we don't tell the grounders now, then we won't have any chance of helping them in the future. We have to make a plan for the day we go inside Mount Weather, we close the doors, drill for it, make sure that we have all of the guns and ammo we can hold, and agree on protocols for dealing with the grounders who are pissed off they're not let inside the bunker. You asked me to be in charge of rationing, and I am doing it, but choosing who gets to live or die is your specialty."
"Clarke, you are my friend and all that, but it's the truth. Once Mount Weather closes its doors, no living being would get inside the bunker, that includes us too if we aren't inside by the time the doors close. Raven and Wells made sure of that. That means that for the next five years after the bunker is sealed no one would get in or out."
Our words hurt her, and because of that, she closes her eyes, trying to hide her pain. When she opens her eyes again, Clarke was about to argue once more, when suddenly an engine fires up behind us, causing all of us to look around in confusion.
"No one's scheduled to take the rover out for a spin."
We all run over to the rover, which was parked just outside the doors of the hangar bay, and as soon as we got there, we saw Jaha in the driver's seat. Before the man could drive further away, Bellamy, Sergey, Miller, and I surrounded the vehicle reading to retaliate if the man chooses to run away.
"You don't have the clearance to take the rover, Jaha."
"I need to make a run. It's important, now more than ever."
"All supply runs go through me, and shouldn't you be working on the patch to sector 5?"
The man in question nodded at us before he turns the vehicle off and climbs out, looking between the four of us with a calm expression.
"A patch for a ship that can only save a hundred people? While our people are safe inside Mount Weather, you still want to put everyone's life at risk for the people that killed our own people?"
To be honest, everyone was shocked hearing those words from Jaha's mouth, since other than Abby, Kane, and Byrne, we didn't spread this sensitive information to anyone else, fearing that this would make everyone abandon the project, refusing to help the grounders at all.
"Why are you kids surprised? I think you people have forgotten that I am an engineer, we have no way to generate water. The harder number is almost every single grounder clan. Can you really sentence our people to a possible death just for a slight chance of saving a few grounders?"
"We don't have a choice! They deserve a chance just like we do!"
"What if you do? What if I told you there might be a fallout shelter less than a day's drive from here, a fallout shelter built to sustain thousands?"
Clarke shake her head, thinking of the two days of options that all of us ran through, trying to figure out a way of saving as many people as we could. We even tried with Sam and sadly they could barely even hold their own people inside the military bunker, not to mention that they had to survive using homemade parts of their stuff.
"We've been through the Chancellor's files. All of the bunkers you considered for us were listed as compromised or unviable, other than Mount Weather, of course."
"Those were government bunkers, Clarke."
Jaha pulls out a tablet, passing it over to Clarke. , before she look down at the screen where an article entitled "Is the apocalypse coming? Take a look inside of the cult of the Second Dawn." ( A/N: I can't remember for the love of god how the article looked so I made up one. )
"A doomsday cult?"
"That's right, the Second Dawn."
"They built a bunker?"
"Their whole theology was based on riding out the end of the world."
"And why didn't you consider it?"
"We couldn't prove it existed."
"You found it, didn't you?"
"We can't be sure unless we check it out."
Clarke looks over at me, and this was the first time in the past week seeing her considering this a possible solution. To be fair if this can help the grounders, that would be a good thing if not, then we simply waste a day or two trying to figure out something that might have been a fool's dream. However, Raven and Bellamy didn't share the same enthusiasm as Clarke did.
"No. No way. We need that rover for hauling pieces of a 3-ton patch we're building-"
"We can't give the rov-"
"Yeah, but if he's right we don't need a patch. We would save the grounders without Arkadia!"
Raven glances over at Jaha, and then over at us. "Can I talk to you guys for a second?"
She takes a few steps away, creating distance between all of us and Jaha, and as soon as we were out of earshot, she turns towards Bellamy and me. "Can you please remind Clarke what happened the last time Jaha went looking for salvation?"
"A.L.I.E!"
"A.L.I.E!"
"Exactly, so sorry Clarke but this is a big no from me. Despite being a good engineer Jaha's crazy."
"Our best engineer is right, Clarke. While I had to admit he does have a point and a possible solution, I don't want our friends to die."
"Sorry, Clarke, I stand with Sergey and Raven."
"Same here Clarke."
"Sorry, princess."
Soon all of our friends said the same thing more or less, choosing to repair the Ark rather than risk everything for something that might have just been false. Clarke turned and looked at me, almost pleading for my help, and while I would have loved to save some of the more friendly grounders, our friends were right. However, that didn't mean we couldn't take a shot and see if this was just a farce.
"Raven, if that bunker is real, we can save a lot more than 100 grounders. If it's not, we've lost another day. Worst come worst, we simply go back to Mount Weather."
Clarke sighs and glances over at the rover, then down to the various groups of people repairing the ship, before turning back to Raven. "What if they go? I'll stay and prepare myself for the discussion with Roan and the clan heads while finding you more volunteers to cover the loss of the rover."
Raven considers this, before breaking down and sighing. "You know what, you guys do what you want. I've got a ship to seal."
She turns and heads inside alongside Wells, Monty, Harper, and Bryan, leaving Sergey, Bellamy, Miller, and me behind. Clarke hands me the tablet, but not before showing us a sad smile. "Bring me back good news. Please."