sub rosa (Bellamy Blake x reader)

liii. god complex (4.08)

But it's too late. Baylis wakes from whatever medication your mother was giving him, screaming out in pain, "It stings! It stings!"

Your mom rushes towards the chamber, ready to pull it open, "Get him out of there!" But Jackson grabs her and holds her back, "Wait! It's not safe yet!"

As you wait for the radiation to get sucked out of the chamber, you all watch in horror as Baylis continues to scream. His screams turn to coughing up blood, thick and black, all over the glass around him, until he grows still, head slumped to the side. The computer behind you flatlines, indicating that Baylis is dead, killed by radiation, and soon, so will the rest of you.

Your mother's voice is a horrified whisper as she stares at the dead man in the chamber. "What have I done?"

-

It takes a few more minutes for the chamber to clear up, but as soon as it does, your mother pulls it open, and her and Jackson transfer Baylis from the chamber onto a gurney. She takes a final blood sample from him before covering his body, ready to bury him as soon as the black rain stops. You stare at the blood soaked chamber in front of you, and the sight of it makes you sick, reminding you what you've done in order to survive. Another death that you could have prevented, another kill that you had a hand in. Maybe you deserve the Wanlida title, maybe you deserve to be called a monster. You walk off in search of some rags and cleaner, and when you return, Raven has a video feed pulled up for the death wave heading your way. Though it's still 10 days out, it gets closer and closer with every passing second, reminding all of you of your impending deaths, especially now that Nightblood has failed.

You head straight back to the chamber and start to clean the blood from it, and seconds later someone appears at your side, jumping in to help. You look over and see Luna, who still looks bothered by the whole situation, but you nod at her in appreciation. You sit side by side and clean the chambers, as Jackson, your mom, and Clarke all pour over the blood analysis from Baylis. "Abby, take a look at this."

Luna turns to you, a stone bracelet in her hand, found at the end of the chamber. "The stones of his ancestors."

She hands them to you and you look them over, as Clarke questions what's on the screen behind her. "What is it?"

"Sodium polyethanol sulfonate. It's an additive used to prevent clotting. Looks like the radiation broke it down and caused a chain reaction."

You pass the stones back to Luna, your attention now on the conversation behind you, not sure you like where this is going. Clarke looks between Jackson and your mother. "What happens if we remove it?"

"We could save everyone."

Out of the corner of your eyes, you see the others perk up and come closer, listening in on the conversation between the medical staff. Murphy is the first to butt in. "You could? So, you're saying this can still work."

"Not without testing."

Raven turns towards your mother, angry and incredulous. "The last guy just died, screaming in agony, and you wanna try it again?"

Clarke turns towards her, already in defense of your mother, and this experimentation. "Give us a better idea, Raven. Please."

Murphy shrugs and gestures to the exit of the lab, "So what? We just go out there, hunt for someone else?"

Miller, whose head was down, leaning against the metal stairs listening to the chaos, lifts his head. "No one's going anywhere in this storm."

"Then we wait for it to pass."

Roan looks over at Murphy, refuting his argument. "When it does, there may not be anyone else to hunt for."

"Hunting for someone else to kill." Luna scoffs, looking everyone over. "What's the matter with you people? Even Baylis honored the dead, he wore the stones of his Rock Line ancestors. Who will honor him?"