𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

51. horror

I pulled myself into the room and shuddered, brushing myself off, "So many spider webs." I whispered, cringing just thinking about how many spiders we encountered.

"Avery." Clarke's voice was shaky, full of fear.

It was at this moment that I finally turned around, facing whatever had her so shaken up. The minute I did I forgot all about the dozens of spiders that might be crawling all over me. My heart dropped into my stomach and I felt like I might throw up.

In front of us, were dozens of bodies hanging by their feet. They were dressed in cloth underwear, it being the only thing on their pale bodies. I had to repress the overwhelming nausea that had washed over me at the horrific sight. Clarke and I were both wordless and we moved further into the room. As I took a closer look at the bodies hanging, I noticed tattoos on many of them, tattoos that the Grounders had.

"Clarke-"

Clarke spun to look at me, but I was unable to finish my sentence as a groan from further into the room rang out. The two of us turned and I was plunged into horror at what I saw once again. In addition to the bodies hanging, were dozens, if not close to hundreds of people locked in small cages. They were all dressed the same as the hanging bodies. Each of them looked exhausted, defeated.

Their cries echoed through the room as Clarke and I slowly walked past their cages, trying to figure out a way we could help them all. Clarke reached back, pulling me up so I was directly beside her. She kept a hold on my arm, a way to diffuse the fear that was running through both of our bodies.

Hands were reaching from cages on both sides, pleading for our help. I felt tears well in my eyes over the fact that there was no way we could help them-not now at least.

Clarke came to an abrupt stop at one of the cages. My eyes followed hers and my breath caught in my throat, as did Clarke's, "Anya?"

---

"We're going to get you out." Clarke promised to Anya before turning to me. I was staring at Anya, flashbacks of my brother and Bellamy's potential deaths caused by her people. I quickly shook those thoughts from my head knowing that we needed to help her, no matter what she did to us.

I quickly jumped into motion, the thought that we could easily get caught lingering in the back of my mind. "We need something to break the lock." I pointed out, my eyes scanning the room.

Clarke nodded as she stood up from her crouching position in front of Anya's cage, "You watch the door, I'll find something."

Giving Clarke and Anya one final look I moved towards the large door near the hanging bodies. I held my ear to the door, meanwhile keeping my eyes on Clarke who was searching the room for something to use to break the lock.

After a few moments of chaos, she found a small pipe on the wall, instantly prying it free. Rushing back over to Anya, she managed the break the lock. Seconds after she broke Anya free, I could hear footsteps coming towards the door.

Panic set in and I ran back to Clarke, "Someone's coming!" I whispered, almost running into Clarke in my effort for us to get out of there.

The sound of a key card being scanned filled the room. My eyes were wide as I made it to Clarke and Anya.

Realizing that we had no time to do anything else, Clarke shoved Anya back into the cage, "Come on." she whispered, pulling me in behind her.

We all curled up, trying to make ourselves as small as possible in attempts to go unnoticed. I reached out and closed the cage just as the door opened.

Dr. Tsing walked into the room. She paused, looking at the dangling bodies for a moment before continuing into the room.

The sound of her heels clicking against the concrete floors and the moans of the captives filled my ears.

Clarke and Anya sat silently behind me, all of us praying that she would just leave. Dr. Tsing moved across the room, grabbing what appeared to be a bag of blood before turning around, preparing to leave.

The rest of the captives, clearly agitated, hoping for release, began to bang at the cages, grunting in discontent. This caught Dr Tsing's attention and she turned back towards us. She looked around curiously before walking between the rows of cages, right in our direction.

Both mine and Clarke's eyes darted down to the broken lock that lay on the ground in front of us, if she saw it we were busted for sure. I clamped my hand over my mouth in attempts to quiet my breathing.

Tsing got closer and closer to us. Suddenly she stopped and my heart dropped. This was it, we were going to get caught. And when we did I knew I would never see my brother and friends again. It would all be over.