What is this? A quick-ass update and it's not a filler?
Yes! I put my TV shows on hold pretty much all day just to give you guys this chapter. My withdrawal symptoms are sky high. But that's how much I love you.
Bold=Swedish.
T H I R T Y E I G H T | BROS BEFORE HOES. HA!
What they had built was secure, it held onto the hope they all desperately needed. Everything was finally looking up for the Hundred, luck seemed to be on their side. While bullets and automatic weapons were scarce, Carter and Raven had managed to double up the ammo as well as create a few explosives to surround the camp. Clarke had gathered enough medical supplies to deal with minor to moderate injuries as well as accustomed herself to working under pressure. The people on the wall had become more vigilant and aware, if there was even a slight rustle in the woods; they saw it. Only, every little movement outside the wall, made the people on watch a little trigger-happy. A routine had come into place and a head count was done at night to make sure everyone was safe and present. They were getting enough food-- especially meat-- to last them for weeks, making sure no one needed to leave the camp unless they were ordered to.
Only, one cocky asshole ruined it all.
As Carter watched the meat-house wither away into nothing but charred flakes of flesh and bone she couldn't help but notice the security they had mustered up around them, had crumbled. People now had to leave camp in order to restore food, and every day that passed meant a closer day to when the Grounder's finally attacked. It set them on edge. What if the hunters were attacked? What if they were taken hostage and tortured like Murphy was? Questions similar buzzed around the crowd but no one had answer. Not only did their food burn in that fire, but apparently their hope did too.
Murphy had quite animatedly pointed out who was behind the fire. A boy Carter had no business with but recognized his face. They were told how the boy was warned about putting too much wood on the fire, yet he did it anyway. It was fair to say, at lest two thirds of the camp wanted to punch the guy's face in.
Murphy actually did punch him in the face, but Bellamy managed to break it up before any true damage could be caused. And for the first time ever, Carter found herself rooting for Murphy. The dude that tried to stab her.
It was quickly concluded that any able body that could be spared needed to go out and hunt. Carter saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally leave the camp and not be dragged back, so of course she volunteered herself. She tested the weight of the spear in her hands and shuddered as she remembered the one that pierced through her foot, the limb tingled at the memory too.
"Are you kidding me? There's no way you should be going." Carter sighed and turned to face Bellamy, not at all surprised that he would object to the idea of her leaving camp.
"And why not?" She asked, somewhat bored. They had the exact same conversation on so many occasions, she wondered why he still bothered. She always got her own way in the end.
"Your foot for starters. You might think it's back to normal but it's still healing. It hurt you when we went on that trek to the depot, imagine what it would be like if you had to run on it all day, over rough terrain."
"Thanks for the concern Doctor Blake, but I'm sure I'll be fine." Carter retorted, looking back down at the spear. This could be fun.
"Don't push yourself Carter, you're only gonna end up hurting your foot eve more. Just stay here, you're probably gonna be more help in camp then you are hunting." Bellamy sighed, seemingly exasperated. He knew the way these went with Carter, if he was stubborn and demanding, she'll do it anyway, but if he took a much less un-Bellamy-like approach. Just as Carter was about to voice her offense he had left her, another voice spoke up.
"He's right, Bambi." Finn, She grumbled inwardly, knowing the voice as well as she knew her own, I should have known. "You can't hunt to save your life, you'd be better here, where I knew you were safe."
Bellamy tensed in the corner of Carter's eyesight and she frowned before turning her attention towards her best friend. "You better choose your next words carefully, because so far, you've successfully landed a blow to my ego."
"It needed the wounding, maybe now you can fit through a door." Finn smirked and Carter growled.
"Watch it, Collins. Otherwise I'll kill you, your children and your grandchildren."
"That logic is so flawed."
"I'm gonna floor you in a minute." Carter quipped, proud of herself for the quick comeback. Finn's eyebrows raised in shock for a moment before a childish grin pulled at his lips.
"Anyway," Finn snapped himself back into the moment. Now was probably not the most appropriate time for him and his best friend to joke around. There was more pressing matters to deal with. "Bellamy's right. you should stay here."
"Yeah, don't think your ditching me with the mines!" Raven piped up from behind and Carter quirked a brow at her friend who lowered herself down the Drop ship ladder from one of the upper floors. "I'm gonna need all the help I can get."
Carter glanced down longingly at the spear. She really wanted to leave the camp, but now was definitely not the time for her to be selfish. The camp would be vulnerable with most of the males out hunting. She couldn't leave it anymore defenceless by leaving too. With a defeated sigh, she begrudgingly handed the wooden weapon to Bellamy.
"Fine. I'll stay."
***
"Hey, Sparky!"
Carter jumped at her name being called, almost dropping the mine she held delicately in her hands as sye did. She was beginning to get used to people abruptly calling her name and didn't startle as much. However, this one time she had been so wrapped up in concentration, she didn't expect someone to interrupt her. She took a sharp intake of air as the mine slipped through her fingers and quickly scrambled to catch it before it landed on the floor. Once it was safely back in her grasp and still inactive, she turned her head and glared at the one who made her concentration waver.
"You idiot! Do you wanna blow us up?!" She exclaimed, gesturing down to the explosive in her hands and he grimaced. He thought she was just sat on the ground thinking, not planting a mine.
"Sorry, I didn't know." He weaved his eyebrows up apologetically and Carter's scowl softened. "Uh, I've got something you might wanna hear."
Carter's attention peaked but she looked back town the explosive and knitted her eyebrows together. She had a job to do. "Can it wait until I've planted this?"
Monty pursed his lips and held her gaze. "It might have something to do with why we can't contact the Ark."
At that second, she forgot about the importance of the mine, she forgot how temperamental it was-- even if it was inactive-- and without wasting another second, she placed the weapon down on the dirt and stood up, brushing the dirt off her pants. She looked back up to see Monty hadn't moved and she shot him an impatient look. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
He nodded quickly and began to lead her to the Drop ship, where the radio was currently residing until it could be fixed, and sat down in his usual seat, Raven was also stood beside the radio looking slightly bored. Carter stood beside her friend and waited not-so-patiently for Monty to explain what he found.
"Alright, so I was doing a little digging at the crash site," The Asian boy began to explain, switching his gaze between both girls so he knew they were listening. "You know, see if I can find a reason as to why they crash."
"Right, did you find anything significant?" Carter asked, clenching and unclenching her fists out of nerves. If he found anything that could disprove her theory, then any hopes of her father still being alive would dwindle into nothing.
"Yeah," He nodded, gesturing downwards to a small electronic box on the table. "I found the data log. Wanna hear something weird?" He began to move the positions of the metal conductor, changing the normal radio noise to something Carter had never heard before. It was interference, sure, but she had never heard it so jolty before. It unnerved her.
"Sounds like interference." Raven shrugged, brushing away the concern.
"Wait, it gets weirder," Monty added, allowing for the stuttering interference to become background noise. "When the signal hit, their nav. system went nuts. They never got it back and then boom-" Carter shuddered involuntarily. "It was like something was jamming the signal."
Carter frowned. "Wait, something down here did that?" Monty nodded. "Impossible. Grounders don't have the intellect on electronics to be able to come up with a jammer, and it wasn't us..."
"I know, that's why it's weird." Monty nodded.
"But... But I thought it was because the thrusters never kicked in on time, they didn't have enough charge to support their landing." Her knees went weak. What Monty found had disproved her theory. "I thought it was because of a forced launch."
"You're not wrong," Monty murmured, sparking Carter's hope again. "It's true, there was too much wrong with the launch that there was a chance they would have crashed regardless. But this," He gestured down to the interference on the data log. "This is what really brought them down."
"That is weird." Raven agreed, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "But it also makes no sense. There's no one down here apart from us and the Grounders." Before either engineer's had a chance to answer her, she began talking again. "Pull the drive-in speakers."
"What?" Carter deepened her frown, wondering if she had misheard her friend.
"You're gonna strip it?" Monty asked.
"We need every component we can get our hands on if we're gonna make these walkies." Raven explained, her eyes slowly moving in the direction of the radio. "And I need the radio."
"No way," Monty quickly stood up. "How are we supposed to contact the Ark?" As if to prove her point, Raven pressed the button which turned the radio on and the annoyingly familiar sound of static came through.
"The Ark's not there."
"You don't know that!" Carter piped up, standing between Raven and the only thing left to contact her father on. "Give them time. If I'm right with my theory then they're gonna need time to get the power together to contact us. There is no damn way I'm not gonna be there when they do, I'm not giving up on them."
"Yeah, my family is up there!" Monty agreed animatedly.
"You're listening to a hole in the sky," Raven lowered her gaze sympathetically. "I'm sorry." Without another word, she ripped the wires out from the back, ultimately killing the radio of it's power. As the red light died away, Carter's shoulders shrank and her expression became one of dejection. Before Raven could do further damage, loud murmuring sounded from outside the Drop ship, signalling that the hunter's were back. The dark haired girl dropped what she was doing and made her way out of the tent and letting the mere dusk light illuminate the inside for a second before the drape fell back in place. Though Carter wanted to know if her best friend had made it back safely, she figured Raven would be the one to come in and tell her otherwise so with an element of sadness, she picked up all the material-- including the data log-- that would help build the walkie-talkie's and made her way up to the second level without a word.
If she was right and her dad was alive, he's going to think she gave up hope. That she thought he was dead, Raven made sure of that. With a sad sigh, she hung her head. "I'm sorry, dad."
***
This was it.
For once, he got to play the role of the hero instead of the villain. Just knowing that there could be survivors trapped in the Service bay was enough to make up his mind. He had to save them; he needed to save them. This was Kane's one chance of redeeming himself from his sins in his past. Sure, he managed to save the Chancellor from dying the the Earth Monitoring room but it wasn't enough. Enough people had died, he didn't want anymore dying just because it was 'risky'.
"Hey!" A voice hollered from behind him as he took lengthy steps through the dark halls. Kane slowed his pace, but didn't stop and turned his head to see Wick jogging up to him. He handed him a pouch with something moderately heavy inside. "You'll need this battery to get into the bay," Kane checked inside the pouch and clicked it around his waist as Wick pried off the vent cover, grunting as he did. He stuck his head inside and shrugged. "Ah, it's not that hot. Sinclair doesn't know what he's talking about, it's a little warm." Wick shook his hand in a so-so fashion for emphasis.
Kane smiled and quirked an eyebrow. "So you're not gonna talk me out of going?"
"Nope." Wick answered simply. "If your anything like your daughter, getting through that vent will be as easy as breathing to you."
"... Carter worked in the vents?" Kane frowned. He never knew what kind of responsibilities her job entitled, he was always too busy shunning it to notice. Guilt panged in his heart.
"Oh yeah, she was the only one on my team who would go up there." Wick saw the conflicted look on the Councillor's face and pursed his lips. "She's a brave girl, sir, stubborn too. You have nothing to worry about."
Kane nodded his head in appreciation before focusing on the task he was about to do. Crawling through the vent will be as easy as breathing, eh? He mused, leaning into the vent on his elbows. It was hot in there, there was no denying that. It felt like a wall the second he stuck his head in, just like an oven. As he began to crawl through, dead set on getting to the Service bay when he heard Wick call to him.
"When you die can I have your shoes?" Are all engineers this insensitive? The Councillor thought with a small smile. In a way, he could understand why Carter loved being an engineer; her personality fit right in with them.
Kane grinned. "They're much too stylish for you."
***
She must have been sucked into her work longer than she thought as when she looked up, she could see the dark sky outside. With a gentle sigh, Carter looked back down at the two walkies she had managed to make. It was no walk in the park, and it was definitely the hardest thing she made on earth yet, but that was because all the compartments were so damn small and fiddly. But finally, she had done it. She had made two walkies all on her own and now all she had to do was test them.
That's when it hit her.
Where's Raven? She hadn't seen the dark haired girl since she decided to go see if Finn was back from hunting. Just as she was about to go and search for her, the girl in question dashed up the ladder, an ashen expression on her face.
"Raven?" Carter frowned, noticing how upset her friend looked. "What's up?"
"I'm so sorry, Carter." She breathed, keeping her gaze on the ground.
"It's okay, I mean keeping the camp safe is a priority, even if we do need to dismantle the radio-"
"- I don't mean that." Raven cleared her throat. finally plucking the courage to look up at the engineer. It was then Carter noticed the guilt that was held heavily in Raven's eyes and it only further confused her.
"You're not making an ounce of sense," Carter stood up and made her way over to the mechanic. "Where have you been? I've managed to make two damn radios in the time you were gone."
"I was waiting for Bellamy." Raven swallowed hard.
"Oh?"
"I didn't know, okay?"
"What?" Carter was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion at Raven's vagueness and she was pretty sure she couldn't scrunch her eyebrows up further, even if she tried. "Raven, talk properly."
"I kissed Bellamy." Raven murmured, and even though her voice was barely audible Carter heard it. She took a sharp intake of air and a heavy weight pushed itself against her chest. Carter quickly tried to mask the feeling that had stuck her but Raven must have saw it because her eyebrows knitted together. "I'm so sorry, Carter, I... I didn't know you two had a thing, I just thought it was harmless flirting. I never would have done that otherwise, I would never want to hurt you." She paused, struggling with words. "I... I was hurt, okay, Bellamy said some stuff earlier and I misunderstood it." She swallowed again. "I went to his tent to do more than just kiss him-- I thought it would help getting over Finn." Ouch. "But he stopped it. I said that we had to be quick before you noticed I was gone and he pushed me away. He said he wasn't going to do that to you... I didn't know Carter, I swear."
Carter swallowed the lump in her throat. "Uh... It's... It's okay," She forced a smile, desperately ignoring the crushing feeling on her chest. What is with this feeling? It hurts. "It's not like we... um... we didn't ever-- we just... uh..." She frowned. "Wait, is Finn back yet?"
Raven was taken back by the sudden conversation but answered anyway. "No. He's still out there with Clarke." The guilt was still evident in her voice but now there was distaste too. Then it all clicked for Carter. Raven was hurt, thinking Finn was screwing Clarke again. Knowing that she didn't do it because she liked Bellamy held no comfort for Carter, she still hurt at what Raven had just confessed to. But why? It's not like there was ever a real thing going on between her and Bellamy.
She just liked him. A lot. She thought there was a chance he liked her too.
But that idea had just been quashed.
"Hang on," Carter straightened, pulling herself from her thoughts. A new found panic in her tone. "Finn wasn't just with Clarke. They were with this other kid too, Myles I think... there's no way they'd fool around if there was someone with them..." Her eyes widened. "Something's wrong." She didn't wait for a reply, she jumped down the hatch, paying no mind to the ladder, catching the attention of Monty.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
"No," She shook her head, chucking him a walkie. "I'll fill you in when I've found Bellamy, grab a pack and a gun and meet me at the gate in five." With that, she rushed out of the Drop ship, ignoring his cries of protest.
Her best friend's life could be in danger, there was no way she was stopping for anyone. Unintentionally, she felt anger towards Raven. If she hadn't been so hooked on 'moving on' and told Carter that Finn didn't return, she could be out there, searching the woods for him at that moment. But no.
She rushed into Bellamy's tent-- apparently never feeling the urge to knock-- to see him sat on his bed, his hand in his hands. Her heart panged a little as she tried not to think about Raven and Bellamy making out in there, so instead she cleared her throat, gaining his attention.
He looked up and stood upon seeing her, the same guilty look on his face as Raven. "Carter I-"
"- I'm not here for that." She rushed out, harsher than she intended to. "Finn, Clarke and Myles aren't back."
"Just give them time, I'm sure Finn is looking out for them." Bellamy tried to reassure but the blonde shook her head defiantly.
"No. Finn knows not to be out there after dark. He's not an idot." She bit her lip as her eyebrows weaved together. "Something isn't right."
"Okay." Bellamy nodded, grabbing the gun from his bed. "Then we'll go look for them, have we got walkies?"
"Yeah, three," Carter nodded. Remembering the two she made and the one Raven had made as a demonstration. Just as she was about to leave his tent to go to Monty, he grabbed her wrist and her heart panged. Why was she acting so pathetic?
"Carter, can we please talk?"
"There's nothing to talk about." She muttered. "It happened and there's nothing you can do to change that."
"Let m-"
"-Look, can we have this conversation after I've found my best friend please? He's my main priority." She sighed, exasperated. Bellamy reluctantly nodded and let go of her wrist, allowing her to lead the way. When she got to the gate she noticed Raven and Octavia stood there was guns too.
"I want to help." Octavia answered Carter's unanswered question and in turn the blonde smiled. It had been a while since she had a good, real conversation with her. It was good to know she was still there though.
"Thank you."
"So, what are we going to do?" Monty asked, hoisting his pack up further.
"Split up." Bellamy responded from behind Carter. "Cover more ground. Raven and Octavia can go straight up, you and Carter can go left and I'll go right."
"Wait, who are you going to pair with?" Carter blurted, spilling the words out before she could stop them. Even if she tried, she couldn''t hide the concern on her face.
He smiled slightly. "I can hold my own." There was a pause before he nodded opened the gate. "We're wasting time standing around here, we need to get going now."
The three groups split up and headed their separate ways. Carter struggled to see through the blanket of darkness. Apparently in the midst of her panic, she couldn't grab a flashlight. She allowed Monty to communicate with the others on the radio while she kept an eye out for movement, though seeing her hand in the dark was challenge. She listened to the soft crunch underneath their feet as the earth protested under their weight. Every now and then, one of them would step on a twig, startling each other, but apart from that both engineers remained vigilant.
Until Monty began to play around with the radio.
"Hey Carter, do you hear this?" Monty whispered, holding the radio closer to the blonde. She frowned in concentration but straightened up the second she heard the same stuttered static as before.
"You should tell the others." Carter murmured. "The static is getting louder, maybe we're near the jammer?"
"What should we do?" Monty asked, his voice slightly shaky. They both stopped for a brief moment as Carter thought over a plan and then she looked up at him with wide eyes.
"You carry on going forward, let me know if it gets stronger or not. I'll go look over there, see if I can find the source of the jammer." She explained slowly. Monty wanted to reject the idea straight away, Carter didn't have a walkie on her so if something was to happen none of them would know. But he knew her stubbornness and he also had no better plan of his own, so with a discontented sigh, he nodded his head. "I'll be within shouting distance." She reassured, patting her friend on the shoulder before they split ways.
She kept to the closest thing she could tell was a path and followed it down, looking for anything that looked remotely like a jammer-- not that she was entirely sure what an Earth one looked like. If it was anything like the one's she was familiar with, it should have a satellite attached to it. The further down she went, the narrower the path got and rogue branches snagged at her bare arms. She was too busy worrying about Finn to remember to grab her jacket. Dammit Carter. She hissed everytime something scratched against her skin but she pushed on. Not only did she need to find the signal jammer, but she also needed to make sure her best friend was okay.
He would do the same for her.
She pushed her shoulders inwards, hoping the branches wouldn't do as much damage but they still cut along her forearms and biceps. Once she had managed to push through the barbaric shrubbery, she stumbled into a clearing. Resembling a deer, she glanced around with wide eyes. Weird, she mused, this place looks familiar. Before she had a chance to figure it out, a voice pierced though the silence and she immediately cocked her gun into the darkness, alarmed.
"Monty, can you hear me?"
That voice. It belonged to Bellamy but no one was around. She was about to walk further away from where she stood when something glinted in the bushed. Hesitantly, she stopped closer to it, her whole being was on alert as her heart thumped in her chest, trying to break out. Splitting up was beginning to look like a really bad idea...
... Scratch that, splitting up was a bad idea. Carter suppressed the gasp as she recognized what it was lying on the ground. One of the walkies.
Monty's walkie.
"Monty, Carter, where the hell are you?" The voice came from the radio and Carter tightened her grip on the gun. If Monty's radio was there, then where was Monty? She span around, wildly pointing her gun at the trees and bushes, looking for any sign of her friend or her foes.
But nothing. Not even a breeze.
Carter quickly bent down and picked up the walkie, her eyes still trained on the area surrounding her. "This is Carter," She spoke shakily into the radio, her voice a mere whisper.
"Carter?" Bellamy's voice sounded like one of relief. "Are you and Monty okay?"
She swallowed the bile in her throat and clenched her eyes shut as she spoke the next words,
"It's just me. Monty's gone."
A lot of shit just went down, so sorry if it was all a little rushed! I had to get this out of the way because we're hitting climax of the season now!
I have also made a cover and chose the name for the next book. Thank you Dangeroustoast I loved Notorious that much I used it and now, you'll forever have the privilege of titling my next book *smiles*
Thank you for reading as per usual, a fucking love you all just for sticking around! It means a hell of a lot :D