FLARES ━ BELLAMY BLAKE ( 1 )

chapter forty-six

     "Fine. Tell me about the dam. Can we cut off their power?" Clarke inquired, looking up at the board.

     "Maybe," Raven answered, fiddling with the marker as she eyed what they were working on before Clarke arrived. "I'm still playing with a few things."

     "And the problem with power arises when we consider what Bellamy said," Taylor spoke, Clarke shooting her a confused look as she idly picked up one of the completed tone generators. "A plan that involves not killing everyone."

     Disregarding her point entirely, Clarke pressed the button on the tin generator, seemingly pleased at the replication. "How many of these have you made?"

     "Only two so far but—" Raven began, the loud slam of Clarke slamming the device the the table interrupting her.

     "Two? That's not enough. There'll be Reapers everywhere," Clarke said incredulously, brows furrowed in frustration.

     "Would you rather try yourself?" Taylor asked, going unanswered as Clarke stared at the floor in thought.

     "High frequency tone generators don't grow on trees, Clarke," Raven rebuked, stepping a few steps closer. "We've been scrounging for parts and it's only us —"

     "Raven. I am about to leave for Tondc. Lexa and the heads of all twelve Grounder clans are waiting for me to tell them we're a go. Only we're not a go. Because they still have acid fog and we only have two tone generators," Clarke ranges without taking a breath, the pressure cracking at her falsely composed expression.

     The desperate look in her eyes almost frightened Taylor. Raven understood just as well as Taylor why she was snapping left and right.

     "Hey, we'll be ready. We will," Raven assured. The radio crackled and Bellamy's voice could be heard through the connection. Taylor's head snapped up and her feet immediately started for the table.

     "Ark Station do you read me?" he said through the radio. "Is anybody there?"

     Clarke picked up the radio and wasted no time in laying into him, worriedly telling him, "Bellamy, you're late. Every three hours means every three hours."

     "Are you through?" Bellamy responded quickly, whatever had made him late clearly out of his control. Clarke looked back at Raven and Taylor, annoyed and a little guilty. Taylor grabbed the radio from her hands momentarily, pressing down the button herself.

     "She is. How's the acid fog search coming?" Taylor asked, Clarke nodding slightly nervously. They had all hoped he had found it, but with everything going on, the chances were more slim.

     "Haven't found it. It's going to have to wait," he reported back. Confusion washed over Clarke's face, the girl immediately grabbing the radio again.

     "What? No, nothing is more important than that," she told him earnestly.

     "Our friends are. They started taking them from the dorm, one at a time, every few hours," Bellamy explained, Taylor feeling sick at the thought. Jasper, Monty, everyone they knew slowly dying for their blood.

     "Taking them where?" Raven questioned.

     "I don't know," he responded. "We tried to follow them, but they went to a classified level. Maya borrowed the schematics of the vent system from her boss. We're still trying to find a way in. Her brother's gone missing too."

      "What would they want with her brother?" Clarke asked, not pushing down the button, the question more rhetorical than anything.

      "We're going to make him mobile so he can talk to us from anywhere," Raven announced with a nod, an assuring bonus in the bleak situation.