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I have shampoo in my eye.
Enjoy the chapter.
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Grace hasn't slept since Harper disappeared. Every inch of her was afraid that if she closed her eyes for even a second, another one of her people would disappear. She was pretty sure Miller could hear her moving around all night long and she was pretty sure he knew she got up just a bit to quickly when one of her friends screamed out at night. She could tell he was worrying, but she couldn't find herself telling him not too. She didn't want to bring it up first.
Letting out a short yawn, Grace pointed at one of the cards in Miller's hands. "Put that one down."
Miller does as he's told, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face when Monty let out a loud sigh. Miller turns to his redheaded friend, holding his hand up for a high five, one she eagerly returned. "I've taught you well."
Grace let's out a small laugh, both of them waiting for Monty to put down a card of his own. Instead of doing so, Monty just stares at the door in silence. Grace turns around slightly, catching sight of Maya and Jasper walking through the door. Isaac follows about a foot behind, obviously trying to keep his distance from the couple. Absentmindedly, Grace reaches over turns the volume up on the radio beside them. When they're sure the volume is loud enough that they won't be heard, she drops her hand to her lap.
"Anything?" Jasper inquires, his voice tinged with desperation. Miller shook his head quickly, the pit in Grace's stomach growing larger. "Keep looking. Whatever happened to Harper, someone must've seen something."
"How many places could she be? We're in a sealed bunker."
"Really? I never noticed," Grace let's out sarcastically. She catches everyone's worried expression— she was usually sarcastic when she was worried or tired. Or angry. She winces. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Jasper mutters. "There has to be rooms we don't know about, places that aren't mapped."
"Well?" Miller turns to Isaac. "Is it possible."
Isaac shares a look with Maya before shaking his head. "I doubt it, but maybe."
"Thanks, you're both big helps," Miller utters, rolling his eyes. Grace knows he trusts Isaac— maybe not Maya, but Grace figured he would come around eventually— and he was just worried about his friend.
Grace glances towards Monty, noticing he was now hunched over the map Maya had given them. She bites her lip, running a hand through her hair. She could feel the nervous sweat gathering on the back of her neck but they had taken the buckle Roma had given her before she even woke up in quarantine, and they never gave one to her afterwards. She was kind of getting tired of having it down, actually. And she missed the braids Bellamy did for her sometimes, back at the camp.
"Easy, Miller." Jasper chides. "They're on our sides."
"Yeah, you sure about that?"
"Yes. I'm sure," Jasper says. "She's both risking more than any of us."
She. That meant everyone saw the soft spot Miller had for Isaac.
"Really? Is she gonna end up in the kennel, too, if she gets caught?"
"That's enough," Grace chides. "Shut up, both of you. If Miller doesn't trust her now I'm sure he will in future but for now, shut up. My damn head feels like it's going to explode."
They all turn to her, besides Monty who only glanced at her in concern and then returned his attention to the map, Miller wrapping a protective arm around her waist and pulls her closer. "Have you taken a pill yet? I can get the bottle from your bag."
"It's fine," she whimpers, but Miller is already nodding towards the bag at the end of the bed they were sitting on. Isaac moves first, taking it in his hands and shuffling over. "Guys, seriously. It's only a headache."
"You can't think straight with a headache, G," Miller chastises, pulling out the bottle and popping open the lid. He takes one out and place it into her open palm, watching her intently. "What? I gotta swallow it for you too?"
"Shut up," Grace mutters, throwing her head back and almost gagging when the pill hit the back of her throat. She swallows it quickly after. Miller smiles at the girl, rubbing her back soothingly and smiling reassuringly. "Thanks."
"Course."
"I found something," Monty buts in, turning back around to face them with his binder in his hands. He points at a spot, moving closer and allowing everyone to see it. "That leads to an antenna on the ground, okay? If we can access the radio, we can send a message over the arkwide channel, tell them we're here."
"The only radio is in the command centre," Isaac says, nodding at Maya.
"It's on level seven, highly restricted," she explains.
"You got in before," Jasper says, Grace nodding in agreement.
"Only because it was scheduled for decontamination. That won't work again so soon."
"We don't need the radio," Monty informs them, his hands pressed firmly against the thin map. "We need the wires that run into it. Here."
Monty points towards a room Grace was actually familiar with. After the group had realized Harper was missing, Isaac promised to look out for her, but then he brought her to the warehouse to show her something. Despite it being an art warehouse, there was a big piano, kind of like the one that was in the mess hall, and since he was on duty he let her play it. Well, try to play it. He just watched her fiddle with the keys for a little while before offering to help, and then he sang her a song. He was really good, actually.
"The art warehouse. That I can get us into," Maya informs them. Obviously her and Jasper had been in there before, as well.
"Good. Now all we have to do is break through a two-foot section of wall, find the outgoing wire, and jack it to a closed system without being heard by anyone in the command centre or in the field."
"That's all, huh?"
"No."
Miller rolls his eyes while Grace lets out a breath. "We'll also need to steal some copper wire, the guard schedules, and a walkie-talkie— oh, yeah— and a big ass hammer."
Huffing, Jasper nods to Isaac. "Think you can get the schedules and the walkie?"
"Yeah, maybe the hammer too but something tells me Miller would like to do that one," Isaac smirks.
"Damn straight," Miller comments, nodding at the boy with a grin. "Grace can help me find the copper wire."
"Alright, let's get started," Grace says, nodding at the group. "We can do this."
She wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure them or herself.
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Grace follows close behind Monty and the others, completely silent. They wait until Monty stops in front of a picture, his flashlight shown right at it. "Right here," he starts. "The communication lines are behind this wall."
She watches as Monty lifts a statue and places it somewhere out of the way, pursing her lips. She would have helped but if she held something that weighed more than a dinner plate there was a high chance of her wrists splitting back open. She figured they were all just being cautious because the wound looked just fine to her, and it seemed to be almost completely healed. She could practically see the scars they were going to bare soon.
Jasper moves a desk out of the way, Miller placing his duffel bag somewhere and Maya helping Monty move a painting. The redhead turns when she hears Miller chuckle, sending him an amused smile when she realized it was because of the hammer in his hand. Monty turns, Miller gesturing towards the hammer. "Big ass enough for you?"
Monty nods, gesturing towards the wall. Grace steps forward to stop Miller from swinging.
"Wait. They'll hear you," Maya says.
"This was the plan. I knew it," Miller turned to the girl in disgust. "She's afraid of losing her blood supply."
"Look, you don't have to like me, Miller, and you can blame me all you want for what my people are doing, but I'm trying to make things right," Maya snaps.
"Then get the hell out of my way," He retorts.
Maya glances down at her watch, Grace chuckling and stepping back. She knew that she had something planned, Jasper had told her. "Five seconds."
"What happens in five seconds?" Monty questions.
"Miller realizes what a dick he is?" Jasper smiles slightly, Grace chuckling. A small grin made it's way onto her face when the alarm starts blaring, Jasper pointing upwards.
"Atta girl," Grace winks at Maya who sends her a small grin.
"Friend owed me a favour," Maya informs him. Miller sends her a small smile, a sign that he was really beginning to trust her.
"Time it to the blasts," Grace says, moving to stand next to Monty. Miller nods as Maya gestures to the wall. Then, he swung. He barely put a dent. He swung once more and it broke through. He continues to swing until there is a decent sized hole in the wall.
Monty steps forward, his flashlight shining on all of the different parts inside. "Jackpot."
He begins fiddling with the device again, Grace handing him the copper wire she had stolen. "Get to work, Green. Isaac isn't here for me to have a fake make out session with so you better hurry."
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"I've set it up to play our SOS on a loop over the arkwide channel. If I can get it to transmit, somebody's bound to hear it."
Monty connects two wires together, frowning in annoyance as he received some sort of signal.
"Oh, that don't sound good," Miller comments. Grace sends him an annoyed look, crossing her arms over her chest. Grace turns back around in realization.
"Wait, isn't that the signal from before? From the black box on the exodus ship?" Grace asks, Monty's eyes widening and everyone else raising an eyebrow at her. "What? I have a good memory."
"Oh yeah, what did you have for breakfast?" Miller asks, smirking as she paused.
"Pancakes," she turns back to Monty. "And you had eggs with some toast and bacon. Jasper had chocolate pancakes and Monty had waffles with strawberries. Isaac had pancakes, he even drew that stupid smiley face with the syrup. Such a strange boy, that one."
Grace ignores her friends surprised expressions. Monty nods his head at Grace. "Yeah, we heard it right before . . . right before it crashed."
"They crashed the exodus ship," Grace mutters, running a hand through her hair. They were the ones who killed Abby? The ones who killed all of those people and caused that gut-wrenching crash that left a gaping hole in the middle of the ground?
Wow. What assholes.
"Jamming signal," Jasper whispers. Monty turns back to the radio. "What are they jamming now?"
"Everything," Monty sighs. "Probably to keep our people from talking to each other."
"Are we totally screwed?" Jasper asks.
"I wouldn't say totally," Monty mutters. Grace pulls her bottom lip back into her mouth, chewing on it gently. She felt useless at that moment. The only thing she had really done to help out her friends was steal that copper wire and say the message for them, everything else was the others.
✦
Monty was back to fiddling with that weird thing in his hands— Grace had no fucking clue what it was— letting out a low, "damn it."
"So now we're totally screwed?"
"Our message is broadcasting, but it's over a jammed frequency," Monty informs them.
"So then unjam it."
Grace rolls her eyes at the boy. "What the hell do you think he's been trying to do?"
"Looks like the only way to shut it down is from the source," Monty says, turning back to them. "I need five minutes in the command centre."
"No way. You heard Maya. It's too dangerous," Jasper buts in immediately.
Maya rushes in. "The guard's coming. We have to go. Cover the hole."
Grace ignores the others, instead helping Miller pack up the duffle bag. She follows after him, running along with him and back to the dorm. They stop once inside, immediately heading towards their shared bunk. Grace let's out shaky breaths, Miller leaning against the bed with his head on his hands. It wasn't a minute later when Jasper and Maya joined them, Maya with a stupid grin on her face.
Miller makes his way around the bunk, turning up the music on the radio.
"Did they find the radio?" Grace demands when it is loud enough no one will be able to hear.
"No," Jasper glances around. "Where's Monty?"
"We thought he was with you," Miller tells them. Grace's heart drops.
"I haven't seen him," Maya mutters.
"Fuck," Grace sighs, running a hand through her hair in irritation. Her palm slams down on the metal bed in anger, Maya reaching forward and grabbing Grace's hand.
"Stop that. You could rip your wounds open," Maya chides.
Grace sends her a glare. "That's the least of my fucking worries right now."
"Grace," Jasper whispers, surprised at her words. Grace pulls her hand from Maya gently, wincing.
"Sorry," she apologizes. "It's just . . . that's the second one of my friends to have been taken, both while I was there to stop it. I can't even protect them anymore," Grace sits on her bed, beginning to pick at her fingernails as she laid her hands in her lap. "I'm useless in here. They should've gotten me instead."
"Don't you ever say that again, you hear me?" Miller says firmly, immediately crouching in front of Grace. "You're not useless. You're strong and you will get through this."
"At what cost? I was right there, Miller. I could've helped them."
"Stop talking like that," Miller growls. "There was nothing you could have done for either of them. You didn't know," he pauses and watches Grace's tortured expression falter slightly. "The only thing you've been doing in here since you woke up in this place is help people, Grace. You wouldn't leave quarantine without Harper because you knew she was scared, you stay up almost every night to help people with their nightmares— even if you've just woken up from your own. You stayed with Monty when Clarke went missing because you knew he was worried, you drew that picture for me, you gave Isaac your blood for Christ's sake!"
Grace takes her bottom lip into her mouth for the umpteenth time since her friend went missing. She hadn't even thought any of that was a big deal— besides maybe the Isaac thing but that wasn't much if you considered all of the things he had done for her— she was just doing what anyone would have done.
"Grace, you are not useless," Miller whispers, his eyes frantically searching hers for any sign that she felt even the slightest bit more confident. "Do you understand?"
Grace nods, allowing Miller to pull her from the bed and onto the floor with his arms tightly around her. She leans into his chest, tears beginning to stream down her face from all of the pent up emotions. "Thank you."
A chuckle and a small smile. "Course."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GRACE STOP HATING YOURSELF PLEASE. JUST LOVE YOURSELF FOREVER, PLEASE.
Anyways, QOTD: would you guys like to see more Grassac/Issace?
Vote, comment, and may we meet again.
Gif | Grace in the warehouse