It's Been A Long Time

Chapter 17: Meetings and a Dangerous Escape

Clarke bit her lip as she watched Bellamy and the others discussed the plan in hushed tones. It used to be her everyone would turn to for answers, her who made the final decision, her who they counted on, now it was Bellamy. She tried not to feel a little jealous and left out, it had been six years after all, but watching all her old friends work seamlessly without her was pretty hard to stomach. 

"At least he listened to you and became a well rounded leader," She argued with herself, "He's taking everyone's opinion or idea into account. Doesn't that mean that you should step aside and let them do it?"  

But something in her wouldn't sit still.

"Clarke, Clarke?" Someone was saying her name. She shook her head to rid herself of the daze she was in. 

"What, oh, sorry." She mumbled, "What were you saying?"

Bellamy gave her small smile, "I was wondering if you have any suggestions? You've been here longer than us," His smile faded at the end and Clarke felt her heart sting a little bit. 

"Well, I can't be much help until we get out of here, but Madi and I," She nodded to the little girl who she loved with all her heart, "Have a couple of reserve shelters on the outskirts of the woods we can use if we want to- but there obviously isn't enough space for 1,200 people," 

Everyone grimaced at the thought of having to deal with 1,200 people and only a barren wasteland for a home. 

"Yeah...we've gotta get better at negotiations." Raven said, shaking her head. 

"I'm sure once we get the bunker open we'll be able to come around to something," Bellamy said, but even tt might've been too much of a hopeful stretch. 

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it," Harper interjected winning nods from everyone. 

"Okay, so Raven," Bellamy said, "Run us through what you need one more time," 

"All right, so we're going to have to sneak aboard their transport ship and knock out the    guards-"

"God, we sound like a bad action movie," Murphy joked, his sarcastic humor providing a much needed relief for the moment.

Raven laughed, "Thanks, Murphy." 

Then her expression returned to her default serious one. 

"Anyways, you're gonna have to take out the guards AS QUIETLY as you can. Quietly is important. Alerting anyone would be a very very bad idea." 

The group nodded, even six years later no one's forgotten that. 

"I estimate it's going to take me 5-7 minutes to crack their encryption, assuming they have a semi basic level for their time. I'll most likely be able to access their weaponry status, find a cannon big enough to make that bunker go boom, and get us the hell out of here before something bad happens,"

"And if you can't?" Harper asked, voicing the question no one wanted to ask.

Raven looked grim, "If I can't, they find us, and we all go boom. So let's not dwell on that."

Her words were final and the conversation came to an end. 

Bellamy looked around,  "We go when it's dark enough they wont be able to see us clearly, around 10:30 ish. Be ready." 

With a nod from everyone the meeting adjourned.

---

A few hours later, Clarke had told Madi to go to bed, but the young Nightblood refused.