6 years and 7 days after Praimfaya
Graham stood up with an explosive curse, digging his fingers deep into the tangle of his hair.
He'd done what Octavia had asked and devoted every waking moment to testing all the angles and probabilities of their chances of escape. The odds still hadn't changed: it was either generations of solitude underground until their systems eventually wore out or risk certain death by drilling through the wall. He was sure that the caves were there, but if they proved to be yet another roadblock, if they drilled and still couldn't return to the surface, they would die.
Graham wanted to leave the bunker. He'd lived on recycled air and mechanically-harvested water his whole life; he didn't want to die in a cage. Not when there was a chance of freedom.
If he was alone, he would drill. But he wasn't. There were over twelve hundred people whose lives were also at stake, and he wasn't the type to take that kind of risk.
It wasn't his call, however; it was the council's. He was just an engineer – granted, he was the chief engineer – and his job was to keep people alive, not decide their futures.
"You've been clocking the overtime like crazy the past few days," Jeremy said, one of the few mechanics who'd made it on the list to survive in the bunker. He raised a curious eyebrow at Graham's obvious distress. "Everything all right?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah!" Graham pulled his fingers from his hair and attempted a cheerful smile. "Everything's fine."
He was a horrible liar, and everyone knew it.
"C'mon, man." Jeremy shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing in concern and the beginnings of suspicion. "You can tell me."
In other circumstances, Graham would tell him. Jeremy had a level head, he knew his stuff inside out, and was a damn good mechanic. He was no Raven Reyes, but he was a decent substitute. But the council had ordered secrecy of the highest level, and while Graham was a horrible liar, he wasn't a traitor.
"I-I can't," he managed, looking away. The unchangeable results of his many tests glared up at him from his screen, and he swiped them away a moment later, locking the files with his thumbprint on the corner of the screen. "Sorry, council's orders."
"Oh. Council's orders." Jeremy's voice grew bitter, and Graham remembered that the mechanic had lost his brother in the Praimfaya culling. "Right. Because every secret they keep is too important to share with us – the ones who are affected by their decisions."
"I'm sorry," Graham repeated, stepping back from his screen. He couldn't put off reporting back to Octavia any longer.
"Bullshit," Jeremy snapped, his jaw tight and his tears shiny with angry tears. "Whatever this is, it isn't good."
"It . . ." Graham hesitated, torn between keeping to his promise of silence and letting someone know that maybe, maybe they had a chance of getting out of here. "It might be, Jeremy. That's all I can say, but . . . just . . . don't" – he held a hand as he continued to back towards Engineering's exit door – "don't talk about this, all right? Seriously. I'll tell you everything as soon as I can, okay?"
"Yeah, whatever," Jeremy muttered, and the doors slid shut on his upset features.
~ ~ ~
Jaha stood in front of their potential escape route, eyeing the thick, whitewashed wall.
Behind the ten-foot concrete lay a myriad of life-sustaining wires and pipes . . . and maybe freedom. If their survival behind this was certain, he wouldn't hesitate to overrule the council and gather a group of those still loyal to him, even after the horrific events brought about by Alie, and bring their people to freedom.
For after everything he had been through, the survival of his people was still the most important. He would not hesitate to do whatever it took to keep them safe.
The walkie on his belt beeped with an incoming message.
"Jaha here," he said, unhooking the device and accepting the waiting connection.
"Engineer's got the results of his in-depth tests," Kane said, his voice crackling with the static that was a constant problem in the bunker. "Octavia's called a meeting in fifteen."
"Got it," Jaha said, already starting for the council room. "I'll be there."
~ ~ ~
"We've got a problem, heda," said Luc, one of Octavia's main guards. He was a few years older than her, with a mask of tattoos curling around his pale green eyes. "There's a group of people gathering outside the council room."
"What?" Octavia took a shallow, subtle breath of composure. This only meant one thing – someone had leaked about the possible drilling.
"Rumors grow quick," Indra said from her position by Octavia's side, Luc falling in on the side as the three of them made their way down the halls to the meeting she'd called. "The engineer learned of this from one of the first clans; the same person could have told someone else."
Octavia had known of that possibility, but she had hoped Graham had been the only one to put two and two together. Since all had been quiet the last few days, her doubt had withered, but now it sprang up again, full-fledged. And there was also the very real possibility that one of those who had heard Graham's findings could have slipped.
She knew how hope made someone foolish, so she wasn't so much angry at the threat of chaos as she was sad. They'd made it this far by staying together; as Wonkru. Why couldn't they continue like that? They all wanted the same thing – to live.
She was doing the best she could with the information that she had.
They rounded the corner and came upon a crowd thirty strong, all of varying backgrounds. Her first people weren't the only ones desperate and ready to go home.
"Damn it," Octavia muttered, as the crowd seemed to face her as one entity at her appearance. Her fingers twitched to hold onto the hilt of her sword, but that was the worst move to make in a situation like this. "They know."
Jaha and Kane appeared around another bend, from the lower levels of the bunker. Judging by their expressions, they hadn't been expecting the crowd and were just as surprised and confused as she was.
"What is this?" Kane asked of the crowd, striding forward.
A spokesman moved forward, and Octavia muttered another, sharper curse – he was mechanic, which meant he was from Graham's sector.
"Heard the council is keeping another big, bad secret," Jeremy Adams said, his voice laced with bitterness and past hurts. "Care to enlighten us?"
"The council was formed with the best future for you, for all of us, in mind," Kane replied, glancing at Octavia, who nodded her agreement. For now, she would let Kane try to calm the people, since that was his strength and her weakness. "If there's something we feel you need to know, we'll tel–"
"What? Like you told us about gassing us and then putting all but the chosen few out to die?" Jeremy challenged, his voice rising. Murmurs of assent followed his words, and he seemed to gain confidence from the support. "The council doesn't do what's best for all of us; you only do what's best for most of us."
"If we didn't, all of us would be dead," Jaha added coolly, fixing Jeremy's angry gaze with his practical calm. "Would you have chosen that, instead?"
"I wouldn't have chosen to let them" – Jeremy pointed an accusing finger at Indra – "take our people's place."
"Hey!" Octavia stepped forward, beating Indra to a reply. "We've all got our losses, Adams, so suck it up."
"You killed to get your position," Jeremy retorted, unfazed by her quiet anger and close proximity. He glanced at Kane and Jaha. "At least they were voted into position."
"I'm trying really, really hard to see what Clarke saw in you to put you on the list," Octavia replied quietly, now giving into the urge to rest her fingers on her sword hilt. "Because all I see is an ungrateful asshole."
She knew Kane had given her a reproachful look, but obviously diplomacy wasn't going to work. The only way people like Jeremy could be stopped was by prompt neutralization. It's what had saved them during the riots of the first year after Praimfaya.
"Fine," Jeremy said, leaning back. He smiled, and suddenly Octavia felt the cold grip of fear around her heart at the unsettled glint in the mechanic's eyes. "If they won't tell us, then I will . . . they're deciding whether we go home or not."
It was right at that moment that Graham came around the corner, and Octavia whipped her gaze over to him. His eyes widened with alarm, and he shook his head frantically, desperately.
"Did you tell him?" she demanded.
"He's too much of the council's bitch to do that," Jeremy scoffed.
"Is it true?" another one of the members of the crowd stepped forward, an ex-grounder with a grizzled beard and blue tattoos marching in stiff lines down his bare arms. He looked at Octavia, betrayal in his gaze. "Is there a way to go back that you didn't tell us about?"
Octavia hesitated, and that was enough to spark anger in the crowd.
"Liars, all of them!" someone shouted. The crowd had suddenly grown in number, now about fifty in strength. "Why would you choose to stay down here?"
"We've been trapped here for over a year after you said we could leave!"
"The way out is through a wall!" That was Jeremy again, raising his voice over the rest. "They think we shouldn't do it, that the risk is too much. I say, that's a price worth paying if we can go home, isn't it?"
"You idiots!" Octavia roared, trying to gather their attention. "If you drill through that wall and we can't go back, you'll kill all of us!"
But her words were drowned out in the roar of assent to Jeremy's words. The crowd turned on her and the gathered council members – Octavia, Indra, Jaha, Kane – as well as Graham and Luc. Octavia wanted to fight as her instincts told her too, but there had been enough bloodshed.
They were the last. If she killed anyone, she was killing the future of the human race.
But it seemed she didn't have to do anything; they were doing it to themselves, and all she could do was let them restrain her.
"The people are the council now," Jeremy told her, right before he locked them in the council room.
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Trigedasleng translations:
Luc: like we need to know what Heda stands for, right? Except in this case it's "chief" instead of "commander" because *Yoda voice* a Nightblood Octavia is not!
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I feel like the riot happened too soon?? But I didn't want the plot to drag, sooooo . . . I'm just gonna leave it as it is. What do you think will happen??? Will the caves prove to be their salvation, or will Jeremy have doomed them all?
Next chapter is gonna be LOOONNNGGG. Unless you want it split into two chapters?
TALK TO ME, PEOPLE!!!
Oh, and just 2-3 more chapters until the Bellarke reunion! And I promise, once they're reunited, THEY AIN'T LEAVING EACH OTHER'S SIDE AGAIN BECAUSE SERIOUSLY THEY'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT ALREADY AM I RIGHT?
Vote and comment, please!