We were escaping.
Raven's idea to pit the two sides against each other was working perfectly, thanks to Murphy. He had stirred the pot even more than before, turning McCreary further against Diyoza by telling him about the cure that he and his men had been left out of.
The minute the violence started, we would be able to slip out of here easily unseen.
For now, it was a waiting game.
Echo had gone to tell Diyoza that McCreary knew, which left the rest of us waiting in the church for the moment all hell broke loose.
A soft glow was cascaded across the room by the candlelight, and with it came an almost undetectable sense of nerves.
The guards speculated nothing of our escape, they sill watched us with the same distaste and contempt as always...everything was working out perfectly.
So, when the call came through one of the guards' radios, we all knew what to do.
"Code Blue, boys and girls. You know what to do."
Diyoza's call sent all of her men rushing out of the church, presumably to take up arms against McCreary and his men.
The minute the door had shut behind them, we were all up on our feet, and that included Shaw, Echo finally agreeing to spare his life.
I sprung to action, grabbing the supplies we would need to remove the collars. Emori had figured it out when her and Murphy were hiding out, that being part of the reason they had returned. Them selflessly coming back without a doubt saved our asses.
"Aves, you first." Raven ordered, pointing to the chair in front of her. "You can take off mine when I'm done with you."
"Shaw." I called, pulling up another chair. "Sit down. I'll take care of yours while Raven does mine."
He gave me a thankful look as he rushed into the chair in front of me. "I apologize in advance." I muttered. "I'm still learning."
Shaw gave me a nervous smile as Raven let out a low sigh behind me. "Same goes for you Aves, can't promise anything."
"Do everything I do." Emori instructed, her hands hovering over Murphy's collar. "First, the panel, gently like this."
I gently lifted the panel on Shaw's collar, Raven doing the same to me.
A sudden zap caused me to jerk, which resulted in me accidentally shocking Shaw.
"Sorry." Raven muttered, "Hand slipped."
---
Five minutes later and we had almost all the collars off of everyone in the church.
Raven, Emori and I made quick work once we knew how to do it.
I was in the middle of working on the last one when Echo walked in, a slightly worried look on her face.
"What's going on?" I demanded, looking up from what I was doing.
"Diyoza's telling them about the cure." she explained, stopping by one of the windows where Murphy and Shaw were watching from. "Diffusing the bomb with the truth."
I let out a quiet curse as I looked back down at the collar. "This is going to screw us."
The girl I was working on, Ella was her name, looked up at me with worried eyes.
"It'll be okay." I lied, shifting my eyes as Murphy made for the front doors.
"Where the hell are you going?" I called, the worry cracking through my voice.
"Taking care of things!" he replied, waving his hand in dismissal.
A frustrated sigh slipped from my lips as I finally finished with Ella's collar. "You're good." I advised, giving her a light pat on the shoulder.
"Is everyone else done?" I questioned, looking around the room for anyone who was still collared.
I found none, aside from Echo who had finally sat down to allow Emori and Raven to work at her collar.
Mere minutes after Murphy had disappeared outside, gunshots began ringing off into the night.
Instinctively, I jumped away from the windows, fearing the gunfire was directed at us.
The doors flying open a few moments later almost caused me to hide under the table.
But it wasn't Diyoza or even McCreary's men...it was Murphy.
"Let's go people," he called. "I did my part."
The gunfire that was still assaulting the calm night was directed at each other...Murphy had stirred the pot once again.
"All right!" I announced, briefly noting that Echo was now freed of her collar. "You all know where the meeting point is. If anyone get's split up. Go there. We'll come find you and bring you to the cave."
Everyone gave small nods of understanding, but before we could leave, someone else entered the church.
"Good, you're all here." Kane breathed. "We need to get Abby and Diyoza and get to the transport ship. The other defectors are there already."
"Abby will be fine." Echo assured. "They won't hurt their doctor."
I nodded as I reached for my bag, giving Kane a quick look. "Whatever happens to Diyoza is not our concern. We're leaving."
Those seemed to be the signalling words, as now everyone began to move toward the back door.
"What about the other defectors?" Emori wondered.
"There's no time." Echo answered. "Move out!"
A small group of us still remained in the church when Kane called out to us again. "Is peace your concern?" he questioned. "Bellamy and Clarke negotiated a surrender. I've been working on a settlement for everyone in the south woods. Without Diyoza that all goes away."
I felt my body tense up as we all let out regretful sighs...we messed up.
We needed Diyoza now, as much as I hated to admit it.
"Whoops." Murphy muttered, echoing all of our thoughts.
"I'll go with you." Shaw offered, stepping toward Kane.
Echo shook her head. "No way." she took a few steps toward Shaw. "Octavia would never surrender."
"How would you know what she would do?" I argued, but deep down I had a surfacing feeling that she was right. Something wasn't adding up.
Echo shot me a quick glare, but ignored my comment. "Raven, take him and go right now, or I'll slit his throat."
Shaw's face darkened. "Stop talking and do it already."
"Shaw," Raven snapped, grabbing onto his arm. "Let's go."
With one final glare toward Echo, Shaw allowed Raven to pull him toward the back door.
My eyes met Kane's for a quick moment, and I gave him an apologetic look. As much as I wanted to put my trust in him, I couldn't...not anymore.
With his defeated look still etched in my mind, I turned and followed after the others.
The night air was cool as I emerged outside. The sereneness of the forest was disrupted only by the gunfire that was still echoing through the valley.
Emori caught up to me a few moments later, and I looked to her in confusion. "Where's John?" I wondered, looking behind her in hopes of seeing him.
She gave me a conflicted look as she threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "He went with Kane."
I felt my heart clenched as I turned back toward the church. I couldn't just leave him there.
"Avery!" Emori snapped, grabbing onto my arm. "You can't, okay? It's too late."
I looked between her and the church for a moment, finally letting out a defeated sigh. I knew she was right, going back now was a death sentence.
We had to go.