FLARES ━ BELLAMY BLAKE ( 1 )

chapter forty-nine

     Clarke paused and glanced around, making sure that everyone was listening intently.

     "There is a catch. There's a backup generator inside the mountain. If the lock is still functioning when that backup generator kicks in, we'll never get that door open," she revealed gravely. "We'll never get our people back."

     "How much time do we have?" Sergeant Miller asked nervously. "Until the backup power kicks in?"

    "One minute," Clarke answered, not giving exactly a desired response. "That's the window."

     "Small window. Why don't we just take out the backup generator too? Bellamy's inside, why not have him do it?" he suggested, eyes flitting to the diagram of the mountain.

     "Leaving them without power for that long would kill them all. And, as I said, that's not the mission," Clarke reiterated before her eyes went distant. "And besides, we lost contact with Bellamy."

     Taylor's stomach lurched. "What? We did?" Monroe questioned, shocked. Taylor nodded after her question. "When?"

     "After he took out the acid fog," Clarke said simply, evidently trying to push her feeling on the matter deep down.

     When Taylor heard the news, it had only made her more determined to get into the mountain.

     "Bellamy's a warrior, he'll be fine," Lexa assured, Taylor glancing over at her with a mix of shock and appreciation.

     "As the Commander said, once the door is open, the shooting will start," Clarke carried on with her detailed run through of the plan. "And they'll throw everything they have at us. But that's what we want. We want them looking at us. Because while we're fighting at the front door, Indra's team will be escorting the prisoners out the back. Right through the rear tunnels."

     Clarke's hand landed on the spot where the mines came out of the mountain, Taylor thinking back to when she was drawing it out for Raven. Octavia was on that team, which gave her stomach a slight jolt as well.

     But she knew she couldn't be distracted from the task at hand.

     "Once all our people are free, they'll sound the retreat. We'll be back home before Mount Weather even knows they're gone. And that's it, that's the plan," Clarke finished finally, stepping aside to let Lexa take the reins once more.

     "The mountain has cast a shadow over these woods for too long. They've hunted us, controlled us, turned us into monsters," Lexa spoke with confidence. At the last part Taylor could see Lincoln shift beside her. But the effect of Lexa's words on the room was clear. "That ends today. Thanks to our alliance with the Sky People, the mountain will fall. As Clarke said, we spare the innocent. As for the guilty...jus drein jus daun."

     All of the Grounders began to chant with Lexa. Even Clarke joined in, but soon enough all of them were chanting except for Taylor and Lincoln.

     And that was the same sound that soon echoed at the base of the mountain.

__________

     Mount Weather was looming over her, a threat over her head now that she had returned. They had been standing in front of the doors nearly all day, waiting for the power to get shut down.

     As she stared at the concrete doors, all Taylor could see was the kind of suffering her friends were going through inside. The faces of her friends who might have been dead.

     "It's taking too long," Clarke pointed out, torchlight illuminating her worried features.

     "It takes as long as it takes," Lexa replied simply, not taking her eyes off the door. She had learned a lot more patience in leadership than Clarke ever had. "What do we do when it's over?"