FADE ━ BELLAMY BLAKE ( 2 )

chapter six

"It's okay, Taylor, I'll be fine. Thanks," Gina said before smiling and making her exit. It would be a quick trip anyway. Taylor sat down and Sinclair looked over her shoulder, guiding her as she clicked and typed through the several walls of security that the Mountain Men had set up.

Suddenly, the screen read 'System Access Locked' and Taylor removed both hands from the keyboard. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, we tried everything," Sinclair grunted, moving away from the desk in frustration. "Still completely locked out of the missile system. They had impressive security, I'll give them that."

Leo stood up and ran his hands through his hair. "And even I can't crack it," he let out in a frustrated tone. Across the room, Raven slammed a piece of machine on the table and let out a cry of pain.

"You don't have any idea where these could be, Leo?" she asked him, letting out a sigh.

"No, they don't usually let their experiments in on that kind of knowledge," he snapped, raising his eyebrows at her. He felt completely powerless and that didn't do anything to make him feel less so.

"I'm sorry," Raven mumbled.

Sinclair walked over to her and Taylor felt wrong listening in on what was clearly a personal conversation.

She tried to give Leo a reassuring look, but he faltered and she could tell the day was getting to him. But then, everything was interrupted by the static of the radio in Raven's hand. "Gina to Raven, come in," Gina's voice echoed over the radio.

"Go for Raven," Raven replied, steadying her voice from whatever emotional conversation she and Sinclair had just had.

"I got nothing. No launch codes," Gina revealed, defeated. "Guess their luck is still holding."

Taylor couldn't tell if she felt bad about the launch codes or not. "Okay — keep looking," Raven told her. It was their job, but Taylor couldn't be the person to help another Tondc occur, not like this. "I'll do the same."

There was some strange feedback and what sounded like a brief yell coming from Gina's side of the radio, and they all stopped what they were doing at the sound. Raven glanced back at everyone else with raised eyebrows, the radio raised to her lips.

"Gina? Gina? Gina, are you there?" she questioned, pausing in between each time she said her name. "Gina? Gina, do you copy?"

Taylor began to feel extremely unsettled — something was definitely wrong. Raven tried again, "Gina, what's going on? Gina, are you okay?" Everyone stared at each other in confusion, just hoping that Gina would respond.  "Gina?"

"Raven," Gina finally coughed out, sounding like she was most definitely injured. Her voice was far too shaky for her to be in good shape. "We've got a problem. A Grounder set off a self destruct sequence, he has the codes on his arm, you have to get them."

A shadow raced past the doorway of the control room, and without even thinking, Taylor dashed out of the room, whipping her gun out quickly, hot on the man's trail before anyone else. She could hear footsteps behind her, knowing that the others had followed her immediately as well.

Taylor pushed herself to her absolute limit, trying to catch up so that she could stop and fire a shot to stop him. He pushed out the front door of the facility and Sinclair came up beside her, passing her in just a few short seconds.

They burst out into the night air and Sinclair stopped for a moment and so did Taylor, unsure as to where the man had gone. That question was answered the moment that Sinclair hit the ground.
Taylor attempted to hit the man with the end of her gun, not truly wishing to kill someone, but she needed to get him off of Sinclair. The man dropped his knife and backhanded her and she fell to the ground, pointing her gun up at him.

Just do it, she told herself. Gina's life and the lives of everyone inside depend on this. Before she could finish her thought process, the man kicked the gun out of her hand and wrapped his hands around her neck. Sinclair was groaning in pain next to them and Taylor couldn't breathe.

She tried reaching her arms above her, to try and get his hands off of her, but he only squeezed around her throat harder. When the corners of her vision started to turn a startling black, she heard a gunshot and the man fell to the side.

Rolling over, Taylor gasped in air while Raven yelled, "Get the numbers on his arm!" Her and Leo had just emerged from the mountain and Sinclair quickly turned over the dead Grounder, searching desperately for the numbers.

Taylor was still gasping for air next to them and Leo crouched down, asking her, "Are you okay?" She simply pointed to the Grounder. That was the most important thing.

"Gina," Raven spoke into the radio desperately. "Gina we got the code. Gina, do you copy? Gina, do you copy?"

There was no response. Taylor's stomach lurched as she realized that Gina was likely dead as a result of whatever the Grounder had done to her. And as she looked at the dead man in front of them, she realized she could have been next.

"I'm going back in there," Raven announced, determined. Everyone knew she didn't have the time, especially with her leg.

"Raven, no!" Sinclair attempted to stop her, but she continued to limp forward toward the mountain. Leo and Taylor's eyes widened and they stepped forward with Sinclair to try and stop her.

"We can't just let them die!"

But they didn't have to stop Raven, because the explosion that erupted from the doors of the mountain did before any of them could. And all of them were far too close. The four of them were shot backward by the force of the explosion, Taylor flying through the air for a few moments where nothing seemed real before hitting the ground with a thud.

If any air was even still left in her lungs, it was knocked out of her.

Rubble fell from where the top of the door used to be and the ringing in her ears faded within a few moments. Sitting up in a daze, she looked forward at the plumes of smoke rising into the air. Tears started gathering in her eyes, partially because of the smoke and mostly because everyone inside was dead.

"Bellamy," Raven said into the radio, her voice teetering on the edge of a breakdown. "Bellamy, come in. The Grounders attacked Mount Weather."

"What are you talking about?" Bellamy's voice questioned from over the radio. Taylor looked to her right and saw Leo laying there, eyes closed.

"Leo?" she got out hoarsely, her voice barely working. The smoky air was not doing wonders for her lungs and she was finding that it made it difficult for her to breathe.

"It's gone," Raven sobbed. "It's gone. They're all gone. Sinclair, Taylor, Leo, and I are the only ones left. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Taylor fell back onto the ground, staring up at the stars that were obscured by the smoke. Raven's apologies and sobs were the only things in her mind as she fell into unconsciousness.