***Lauren's POV***
Brightness. That's all I see. Am I dying? Is this the bright light that everybody is talking about? I open my eyes fully and see that the bright light is a lamp. Great.
I'm dressed in a white dress. What the hell? Where the hell am I? I see that I'm in a small room with a bed, IV machine, a camera hanging from the ceiling and a toilet in the corner. It looks like I was showered, I mean I feel clean. I feel clean but empty. Something is missing. My eyes go wide. I clutch my chest where my necklace would be. Suddenly everything flows back to me.
I sit back on to the bed. I calm my breathing. Bellamy. Clarke. Anya. Monty. Patrick. I need to get out of here.
I sit on my bed until something outside my door catches my eye. I smile. My familiar blonde friend is looking directly at me. She smiles and points to the IV machine. I take the needle and rip it out of my arm. Gross.
I then grab the machine and walk over to the door. She motions to the camera. I smile and smash it to pieces. I then smash the window so I can talk to her.
"Lauren!" She says to me.
"Open the door!" I call back to her.
She does and crashes her body into mine. "Where are we? What's going on? Where are the others?" I ask.
Clarke shrugs her shoulders. "Let's find out." We walk over to the cell with Monty's name on it.
What the hell? How do they know our names? Who even are they?" Clarke asks.
I shrug my shoulders. In Monty's cell is a girl in a body suit cleaning it. "Hey." I yell.
She turns around panicked. Clarke and I attack her. "Where are our friends? Where is Monty?"
"What are you doing? Stop I will be contaminated!" The girl screams.
"Where is Monty?" I yell while holding the girl.
"Lauren. Clarke stop. You're bleeding." She says. Clarke's wrist is cut and my hand is cut from the glass.
I give Clarke a look. "How do you know our names?" She asks.
"It was on your charts." The girl says.
Clarke is holding a piece of of glass to her neck and I'm leading. We all walk down different hallways until we come to an elevator. I start hitting the button but nothing happens.
"Key card. You need my key card." The girl says.
We step into the elevator. "Which level?" I ask.
"Who are you people?" Clarke asks.
"How many of us are here? Where are they?" I ask.
The girl hits the button and we soon arrive on level five. We soon come to a dining hall filled with people eating. Soon someone starts yelling something about a containment breach. Clarke and I give each other weird looks. What is going on?
Clarke and I get taken to the infirmary. Clarke sits on the bed directly next to mine. Our bodies are facing each other in between the beds.
Two people and the girl we attacked are standing in front of us. "Hello girls. I'm Doctor Tsing. How are you doing?" She asks us.
Clarke and I give each other knowing looks. Don't talk to the enemy.
The next one to talk is some guy who keeps staring at me. He looks at Clarke and I and back at the doctor. "Not much of talkers are you? Well that's okay because Maya has something to say anyway."
Maya, the girl we attacked, looks at us and says, "You guys were next in line. Another ten minutes and-"
She gets cut off but the guy. He clears his throat. Maya continues. "I'm not pressing charges."
I look at Clarke and give her a look that says, what the fuck? Clearly she understands because she returns it.
The old dude says. "Very well. You can get your treatment now."
Maya walks over to the bed next to us and lies down.
Ten minutes later and Clarke and I are in a office. There are paintings and art pieces everywhere. Clarke and I share a look. We both love to draw, we used to have competitions back on the Ark.
"My name is Dante Wallace. I heard you both like to draw." He says to us.
"Who told you that?" Clarke asks him.
"Your people did. They also said that you both were their leaders. Looks like we got a lot in common kiddos." He says to us.
"Where's my watch?" Clarke asks.
The old guy sighs. "I'm sorry, but we can't let contaminated items inside Mount Weather. We couldn't risk it. Our protocol is very strict, Clarke. We prioritize safety over sentimentality. We burned all of your clothes too, except for this Lauren. We kept it." Old guy hands me Bellamy's jacket. I smile at myself. I miss Bell.
"How many of us did you capture?" I ask him.
"Oh but Lauren here is where you are wrong. You're not prisoners. We saved you." He says.
"Sure feels like prisoners." I mumble to myself. Clarke smiles.
She then says, "Well, in that case, you won't mind if we leave. If there are forty eight of us here, we still have people out there."
"Patrol brought back everyone they found alive." He says.
"So where are they? I want to see my people." I demand.
Old guy nods his head. "Of course you do. I would too. You guys change and meet me in the hall." He then nods at his guards.
They bring in a trunk and leave. I look at Clarke and we open the trunk.
We both get dressed. "You don't trust them, do you?" I ask her.
She shakes her head no. "Good." I say. I then take one of the heels and rip them off. I hand them to her and she smiles. I break the other one off and stuff it into my jacket and smile at the familiarity.
We meet old guy and he takes us to a loud room. Clarke and him start talking. I ignore them and take in my surroundings. Hydroelectric power, but why. I listen in on their conversation.
They are talking about radiation. He says, "Very good. Your DNA ran through the same gauntlet as the Grounders. Only because radiation levels in space are even higher, your ability to metabolize that radiation is even stronger. Truth be told, our scientists were blown away by the efficiency of your systems. If not for that, your friends would still be upstairs in quarantine. Please. First give me the heel. You're not fighting for your life anymore, Clarke. You've made it. Welcome to Mount Weather."
Clarke hands him the heel. "You too Lauren."
I wait for Clarke. We both hand them over. Guards start to lead Clarke away. "Lauren wait I have something I need to talk to you about."
Clarke stops and gives me a look. "Go. I will catch up with you."
Clarke leaves and I turn back to the old dude. We walk back into his office where a middle aged guy is. The guy turns around and smiles at me.
"Lauren. Nice to finally meet you. I'm Cage." He says sticking out his hand. I stare at it for a few seconds before grabbing it and shaking his hand quickly.
"So why am I here?" I ask getting straight to the point.
They both smile. "Well you see my wife died years ago. She was beautiful as ever." He starts rambling on. I start walking around looking at the paintings. I start to listen back in. "You and her have something in common. Your last name. My wife's maiden name is Saunders."
I stop walking and freeze in my spot. "What?" I ask him.
"My wife's grandfather and your great grandfather are brothers. So this makes you my great niece. You're related to us." Old guy says with a smile. Cage is smiling too.
I am over whelmed. What the fuck? I sit down on the floor. They both stand in their spots. We sit in silence for five minutes. "I need to see my people now." I say to them.
Cage says, "I will take you." He walks over and sticks his hand out.
I reluctantly take it and let him help me up. Surprisingly my leg isn't hurting anymore. I have a nasty scar though.
Cage and I enter the elevator. "Must be hard to take it." He says to me. "I mean I never pictured having a second cousin who grew up on the Ark. Must have been nice."
I laugh. "Oh yeah it was great." I am still laughing. Cage looks at me funny. "My dad was an asshole who beat the shit out of me daily. My mom was a coward who killed herself. It was illegal to have a sibling but I have one and could tell no one and could barley see him. The only way to protect him and myself was to kill my dad which got me sent down here. So yeah it was great growing up."
He doesn't say anything. The doors open and I walk out. I go towards the noise. As soon as I get there I see people eating. Most people stop and then I hear someone say my name that almost makes me cry.
"L-Swizzle?" I turn around to see my old friend running at me.
I hug him. "Mon-Mon?" I ask. We hug even tighter. "I thought you were dead!"
He laughs, "No I'm alive."
I roll my eyes. "Well I see that." I look around and see familiar faces, Jasper, Fox, and Joey. I smile, but it soon fades. "Bellamy?"
Jasper comes over and sighs. "I'm so sorry Lauren. He didn't make it."
I nod my head and follow them over to a seat near Clarke.
"What did the president want?" She asks me lowly.
"I'm related to them. My great grandfather and something was related to his wife's grandfather or something like that." I say.
She nods her head. "Look." She hands me a map of the facility.
"There are no exits." I say to her. She nods her head.
"We have to get out of here." I say. "Go look for the Ark and any survivors." She nods her head.
"First we have to get a key card. Wait here I can get it." Clarke walks over to Jasper and Maya. I see her take the card.
She then walks over to me and we exit the hall and start to jog down hallways looking for exits. Soon guards are called and people are chasing us. "Don't stop." I say to her.
We finally come to an exit. "Not prisoners huh?" I say to her.
Clarke then goes to pull the lever that will lead us outside. "Clarke Lauren stop!" Someone yells.
We turn around to see Jasper there with his hands up. "If you pull that lever these people will die. Even the slightest amount of radiation can kill them." He says to us.
Maya is there holding us at gunpoint. We don't stand down. "Don't make me shoot you." She says.
Jasper steps in front of Maya. "Stop. Clarke. Lauren just stop for a moment."
"I don't believe them." I say to Jasper.
He sighs. "Why would they lie? Listen to me. We are safe here because of you. We're safe."
"Not all of us." I mumble.
Jasper then says, "I'm the one that fired the rockets. Should I not have done that? Clarke, when you pulled that lever, you saved lives. Don't throw that away by pulling this one."
Clarke and I give each other looks. I nod at her. Maybe he is right. Guards then come rushing and yell at us. We then are arrested. We get taken to the Presidential Office where old guy is waiting for us.
Old guy says, "Lose the handcuffs. There's some blank canvases if you'd like. I used to paint the ground, too. It's not just the ground. It's a memory."
"You've been outside?" I ask.
He nods his head. "Yes. Fifty-six years ago. For five minutes. I was seven when the first of what we call the outsiders appeared. Before that, we thought we were all there was. Imagine our surprise."
I scoff. "We don't have to imagine." I look towards Clarke.
He nods his head. "My father, this was his office at the time, believed it meant that the Earth was survivable again, and so, he opened the doors. Within a week, fifty-four people were dead from the exposure. My mother and sister among them. Loss, pain, regret. Time eases these things, girls, but the only time it's ever truly gone is when I'm painting." I zone out towards the middle and just barely listen. I'm way to into the art.
Clarke then says, "You didn't bring us here to talk about painting. Did you?"
He shakes his head no. I stare at the painting of blue and yellow swirls. It's beautiful. He then says, "I'm afraid I have bad news. Our patrols have swept the area and found no evidence of survivors, either at your camp or from the Ark."
My head snaps in his direction. "Bull shit." I say.
Clarke then says, "How can they be sure?"
He says, "They can't. I've ordered them to keep searching."
I step in. "I need to see it for myself."
He shakes his head no. "I'm sorry. I can't allow that. I'm doing this for your own good. It's not safe out there."
I shake my head no. Clarke then says, "The radiation has no effect on us." I nod my head.
Old guy says, "It's not the radiation I'm concerned about. You need time to grieve. These men will show you to your room." He looks at both of us.
I challenge him. "And if we try to leave?"
He sighs. "Please don't test me girls."
And with that we follow the guards out of his office. I look at Clarke and read her expression. I nod my head in agreement. We're getting out of here.
Hey guys. I just want to inform you on how I am going to be posting chapters. Each episode is going to have at least two chapters. One in Lauren's POV another is someone else's. Hope you guys enjoy. ~NG