Fallout [The 100]

39

I wasn't sure how long we'd sat there in silence. There was nothing Roan could say to fix this, and nothing I could say that would change anyone's minds. "It's time!" Clarke called. Roan stood up, and I watched him leave.

I remembered what Emori had said before, "better him than us." She didn't seem like the sort of person to do any big sweeping gestures to save the world. But, who could blame her. The world hadn't done anything for her. Now here it was again, dealing her another shitty hand. Just because Emori didn't want to save the world, didn't mean she wasn't worth saving.

I jogged downstairs. I could hear Murphy shouting before I even got to the launch bay. "Stop!" I called. Everyone turned to look at me. "Don't touch her. I'll do it." No one said anything. I held out my arm. "Test me, not her."

"Maia, I'm not going to do that," Clarke said calmly.

"If you're so sure it's going to work, then test me!" I shouted. I backed into the main room and glanced around. My eyes landed on the syringe of bone marrow, ready to go. I made a dash for it, but Miller was just as fast as me. He grabbed my arms and pulled me back. "Let me do this!"

"I can't." I barely had time to register what was happening, as he stabbed me in the neck with the sedative meant for Emori. My muscles went limp first, and then I blacked out.

★ ★ ★ ★

When I woke up, I was in the office again. "Wow, I'm really fucking tired of this room." Miller glanced over at me. I tried to sit up and realized I was handcuffed to the table behind me. "You have got to be kidding me."

He moved toward me. "Yeah, we don't need these anymore, it's too late." He unlocked the cuffs and I sat up slowly.

"I don't understand, Miller. You of all people?" I shook my head. "You were in Mount Weather, they used you same as they used me. How could you do that to someone else?"

"What they did to us in Mount Weather was to save the lives of a few hundred," he said. "We were trying to save the lives of thousands. And this wasn't only for our people. It was for everyone. I would think you would understand sacrifice after all this time."

"I do," I said angrily. "And I was willing to sacrifice myself. That's more than the rest of you can say."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Miller said. "It's over."

"It worked?" I asked surprised.

He let out a long sigh. "We'll never know. I guess your stunt inspired Clarke. She injected herself instead of Emori. Abby freaked out and destroyed the radiation chamber. No more tests."

I let out a breath that was half sigh of relief, and half a sputter of disbelief. No one was dead right this moment, but now we were in an even worse position. "I'm going downstairs," I told him.

Before I could head for the door, he grabbed my arm. "Maia, listen. I didn't want to kill Emori, okay? But I couldn't lose you. You're the closest thing I have to a sister. And I like taking orders from you a hell of a lot more than I like taking orders from Clarke."

I gave him a soft smile and pulled him into a hug. "I love you, but for future reference, if I'm shouting it's probably an order. I'd die for you all. If it ever comes to that again, let me do it."

★ ★ ★ ★

We were returning to the mainland. Kane radioed from Polis. They'd found a bunker, for once Jaha's crazy conspiracies paid off. 1,200 people were going to survive praimfaya.

I packed everything I could fit in two and a half backpacks. How I was going to carry two and a half backpacks through Polis was beyond me. But that was a problem for another day. I was not leaving all these clothes behind. And in my defense, I planned on sharing them with Raven and Harper.