SIXTEEN
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The raven-haired girl pressed her ear against the door, trying to figure out whether it was safe to leave the cramped room. She had no idea how long she had spent in that tiny storage closet, possibly a whole day, but seeing as that steel door was her only defence against getting chipped, she would gladly stay there for as long as she needed.
The thunderous banging against the door had ceased hours ago, but Aura had no idea whether it was a ploy to make her feel safe so she could be lured out, or whether ALIE had truly given up in trying to chip her.
“Come on Aurelia. It’s fine. ALIE is far far away.” the girl muttered to herself as she placed her hand on the metal pole which wedged the door shut. “Probably.” She took a deep breath before pulling at the pole, wincing as it clattered against the metal of the door. She went still as she listened out for any movement on the other side of the door, then continued her movements when she knew she was in the clear.
The second she opened the door a crack, she froze, her ears picking up the sound of footsteps going down the hallway. From her position she couldn’t see anyone right on the other side of her door, so she concluded it wasn’t ALIE trying to target her, and judging by the otherwise silent ark, she concluded this person probably wasn’t a chipped psycho either.
She widened her eyes in shock as she watched a grounder stroll past her door, an unconscious Jasper hanging over their shoulder. “Seriously?” she muttered, “We can’t catch a damn break.”
She made sure to stay out of sight as she slipped out of the room and followed after the two, occasionally stopping to press against the wall like some kind secret agent on a mission.
Eventually she reached the airlock, and realised the grounder had already tied up several of her friends who were still unconscious. Before she could figure who was missing from the group, the grounder started to turn towards her, causing her to dodge out of sight before starting to rush away, her feet light as she hurried down the hallway.
“A bow would be great about now,” she muttered as she rushed towards the weapons room several doors down. “Or a gun.” She almost let out a scream as she entered the room, finding Sinclair sprawled out on the floor, his skin a deathly pale.
Aura prayed as she inched towards him, hoping that he was just unconscious, but the pool of blood laying around his body wasn’t too convincing. She crouched down as her hand reached towards his wrist, and realised with a heavy heart that there was no pulse.
“I’m so sorry Sinclair.” she murmured softly, “May we meet again.” She wiped away a stray tear as she stood up and moved towards the weapons boxes, more determined than ever to kill the stranger who was going after her friends.
After rifling through several empty boxes and drawers, she finally found a handgun stashed in one of the drawers in the corner. She tucked it into the back of her waistband, before grabbing a screwdriver and climbing onto the workbench.
She quickly got to work as she began to unscrew the grating of the vent. From her brief encounter it didn’t look like the whole group was in the airlock, so she figured someone else was working on a plan whilst she tried to work on a backup. Normally the girl would storm into the situation recklessly, but one wrong move this time, and her friends would choke to death in the room designed to vacuum out air.
Aurelia carefully placed the grate down on the table, before reaching up and grabbing onto the sides of the vent. She carefully heaved herself up with a grunt and climbed inside, her movements making more noise than she would have liked.
The toes of her boots banged against the metal as she began to crawl forward, causing her to curse to herself. She quickly pulled them off and dropped them back into the room, before finally making her way down the vent, and hopefully towards the airlock. Keyword: hopefully.
As she quietly made her way towards the airlock, her ears picked up the sound of familiar voices. “Clarke?” she thought to herself, unable to see since the next grate was a couple of meters in front of her. She froze as the vent creaked slightly, praying that no one had picked up on the sound. A few moments later she resumed her crawling, and finally reached the opening in the vent.
When she finally peered through, she realised that it was in fact Clarke, accompanied by Bellamy who was threateningly holding a rifle. But the most surprising part was that it wasn’t a grounder standing opposite them like Aurelia had initially thought, but Emerson dressed up in grounders clothes, his knife pressed against Octavia’s throat as he snarled at the other two.
“Take out the clip, and throw it down the hall.”
Aurelia patted down her pockets, realising in horror that she had lost the screwdriver somewhere along the way in the vent. “Shit,” she murmured to herself, gripping onto the screws with her fingers in an attempt to loosen them. Her clammy fingers didn’t allow for it, instead making it harder for her as she sighed in frustration.
The clattering of a gun forced the girl to look back down through the grate. “Bellamy you moron, what are you doing,” she muttered, watching as he walked over to Emerson defenceless with his arms raised in the air.
She paused for a moment as the glinting of the rings around her neck caught her eye, before she hastily pulled it off from around her neck. She quickly got to work as she used the edge of the ring to try and somehow loosen the screw, the sight of everyone getting tied up one by one not really helping the girl. “I’m never doing this again,” she muttered as she moved onto the last screw, realising Emerson was holding a gun at Clarke’s head as he choked her, the light above the airlock blinking red as the doors shut with a thump.
“Airlock 5, oxygen venting,” the voice on the P.A. spoke monotonously.
“Screw this.” Aura tossed the necklace back over her neck before the gripped onto the last screw, using all her strength in her fingers to loosen it, her fingers still slipping slightly as she tried to grip onto it.
“Airlock 5, oxygen venting,”
“I told you to beg!” Emerson roared as everyone in the airlock began to pass out one by one, their lungs constricting as the oxygen left the room.
“Please!” The blonde cried out as the man held her in a chokehold, forcing her to watch the scene in front of her.
“Do you have any last words for your friends?” Emerson jeered as the final screw came loose. Aura quickly but silently shifted the grate down the vent, before grabbing her gun from her waistband and jumping out of the opening, landing to the floor with a thud.
“Yeah. Not today bitch,” Aurelia responded, before unloading two bullets into his leg. As he cried out in pain, his grip on Clarke loosened, allowing the blonde to move her hand towards his neck.
“Acende superius.”
Aurelia rushed towards the airlock and frantically pressed the buttons to open up the doors, her hands pressed up against the glass panel as she peered inside. One by one they began to wake up as Aura rushed in, and she quickly moved to release them all from their handcuffs. She finally stumbled towards Bellamy and fell to her knees, realising in horror that he was still unresponsive as he laid across the floor.
“Bellamy?” she called out as she released his handcuffs, before moving her hands to his shoulders to shake him. “Bell?” Her breaths became shallow as she cupped his face with both hands and continued to shake him, tears springing to her eyes. “Bellamy Blake I swear to god I will end you,” she warned with a wobbly voice, tears threatening to fall down her face.
Suddenly, the boy gasped loudly as he opened his eyes, causing the girl to sigh loudly and fall back on her hands. She moved to her feet and stepped away as he continued to cough violently, two hands aggressively running down her face as she tried to steady her breathing. She didn’t even turn around when he called her name, and instead, tears began to fall down her face. If she had lost Bellamy, she well and truly would have given up on everything.
“Bambi?” he called again softly, and this time, she did turn around. Her eyes fell on him momentarily, before she marched towards him and punched him in the arm.
“You’re such an IDIOT Bellamy Blake!” she exclaimed as she continued to punch him in the chest, each one getting progressively weaker and weaker as she began to cry harder.
“Come here,” he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, not letting go even when she continued to struggle and punch him.
Eventually, she gave up before wrapping her arms around his waist, the full weight of everything that happened finally crashing down on her shoulders. She didn’t even notice that everyone had left the two alone, the feeling of his hand running through her hair being the only thing she could feel in that moment.
“You’re an idiot,” she mumbled, her head still laying against his chest.
“But I’m your idiot,” he responded with a slight chuckle, his voice still wavering slightly as his arms tightened around her.
“Damn right.”
For a brief moment in their messed up lives, they felt peace in each other's arms.
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I made a really dumb venting joke whilst writing this chapter and I full on cackled to myself for about ten minutes.
My writing also seemed really repetitive here, sorry if it reads badly ://
Also sorry to those who wanted Aurelia to be chipped.
Word Count: 1664
(Not edited)