xxiii. a daring escape
reapercussions

WITH THEIR bleeding wounds and pain filled expressions, Sawyer and Clarke managed to enter the Medical Ward minutes after they stumbled out of the dormitory. Dr. Tsing forced them to change into yellow gowns, before she ushered them to their own beds and treated their wounds. More stitches to replace the ones they tore out.

Sawyer laid on her bed in Medical as pain medication continued to numb her bullet graze, oblivious to the needle that weaved through her skin more than a dozen times. She kept her eyes closed, resting against the mattress, while Dr. Tsing placed a fresh bandage over her sealed wound. She wanted the woman to believe she was asleep. If she did, she would leave her and Clarke alone in the room, giving them the opportunity to speak with Sergeant Langston and snoop around to get the answers they craved.

Footsteps on the concrete floor echoed in Sawyer's eyes, growing lower in volume as Dr. Tsing headed for the exit. Once the sound of the door reached her, Sawyer pried her eyes open and sat up in the bed. She flicked her gaze across the room, making sure that the doctor was nowhere in sight. When she did not find her inside, Sawyer scooted to the mattress's edge and dropped her feet to the cold floor. She ignored the stretch of her freshly made stitches and stood, the same time as Clarke on the bed to her right.

Sawyer moved around the foot of her bed and followed Clarke over to where the man who suffered the radiation burns, Sergeant Langston, laid on a bed of his own. His eyes were closed with one of the yellow gowns draped over his body, except for where the strange dialysis shunt sat in his skin.

"Langston," Clarke voiced as she reached out and shook him on the arm. "Langston."

The man failed to move, or acknowledge them at all.

"He's out cold," Sawyer stated. Her gaze trailed over the man, finding only a few spots of radiation burns still on his skin. They were not even swollen or red. Just slight irritations. Her stare fell to the dialysis shunt near his left shoulder and found it connected to a tube. She followed it up to a machine sat next to the bed. "What is this?"

Clarke shook her head, staring at the same tubing with narrowed eyes. "I have no idea. What are they doing to you?" she muttered the last part to the man.

Sawyer continued to follow the series of tubes that were tinged red with the liquid that ran through them. The from the machine rose up to something mounted near the ceiling. Her eyes shifted down the long apparatus to where another tube hung from it. Another man connected by his dialysis shunt.

"Okay, this is starting to freak me out," Sawyer breathed at the sight. She had never seen anything like it. A knot began to from in her stomach.

Clarke stayed quiet and moved away from Langton's side, lifting her stare to the device just below the ceiling. "It's coming from in there," she said and pointed to the large, metal door at the end of the room.

"What is it?" Sawyer questioned as they both them moved toward the door.

"Dialysis is usually used on someone who has kidney damage," Clarke explained, grabbing the door's handle to try and yank it open. It did not budge. "But this is different." She tried, again, before she let go and turned away with a huff. "It's locked."

Sawyer pursed her lips, glancing around the room for another way inside. Her stare immediately lifted to where a circular vent sat in the concrete wall. Perfect. She had enough experience with vents on the Ark to know they traveled further than just one room.

"Here we go." Sawyer walked over to the vent and reached up to see if she could grab its cover. Her fingers brushed it, but she was not tall enough. She released a breath and whirled to her co-leader. "You wanna give me a boost, or do you want me to boost you?"

Clarke looked from her to the vent and back. "I'll help you," she said and stepped up to her side. She stood underneath the vent and braced her back against the wall.

Sawyer approached the blonde, raising her barefoot to rest on Clarke's thigh. She did the same with the other, while Clarke wrapped her arms around her legs to steady her. Sawyer grabbed the edges of the vent cover and yanked, pulling it off in a single piece. She lowered it to the ground, not wanting to toss it aside and make a lot of noise.

Once the cover was gone, Sawyer set her hands on the inside of the vent and pushed herself up. Her knees hit the metal, shimmying further into the vent, before she turned around to help Clarke up next. Sawyer proceeded through the vent in a straight path to another vent cover. She pushed on it, popping it out drop to the ground below. She cringed at the sound, but she could not avoid it.

Sawyer stopped at the end and turned herself around to lower into the room. She waited for Clarke to drop down beside her, before she took their new surroundings. Her gaze lifted and the sight before her made her heart ceased against her ribs.

To her left, two bodies were seen hung upside down. One female, one male. Their hair dark with black markings on their bare skin. Their private areas the only things covered. They were Grounders. Straps were wrapped around their ankles, while several tubes and wires were connected or imbedded in their skin. Machines were set next to them. Both identical to the ones in Medical.

Sawyer scanned them until a tube in their sides caught her attention. A thick, red substance flowed into them, traveling through the round material and into an apparatus near the ceiling. The same one in Medical. Sawyer's stomach dropped at the realization. Their blood, the Grounder's blood, was being pumped into Medical. Into the mountain people.

A bang sounded on the other side of the room. Sawyer whirled to where it originated and froze when she saw what made it. Large, metal cages were stacked on top of one another, spanning throughout a room in two rows. Even more lined the far wall. The sight of them did not jar Sawyer, but what laid inside did. Grounders. Dozens of them trapped in the barred walls. Moans escaped their lips as they rested against the cold, hard metal, reaching through the bars when they noticed the girls' presence.

Sawyer's breath grew heavy and her heart pounded in her chest. Mount Weather abducted Grounders, stuck them and cages, and used their blood as some kind of medicine for their radiation burns. How could they do such a thing? She knew that the Grounders were horrible and vicious, but that did not deserve to be used in that way. No one did.

"Oh, my God," Sawyer spoke no louder than a whisper. She moved forward to where the cages were placed in the room, not bothering to see if Clarke followed after.

The Grounders trapped inside the cages were pale, slumped against the barred walls. Bruises and cuts littered their skin. They looked seconds from death. Sawyer jumped when the Grounders' arms slipped between the bars, trying to reach for her and hoping for some kind of help.

Sawyer continued on. She did not know what she wanted to see, or what she would find, but she could not stop herself. Toward the end of the cages, Sawyer almost yelped when a hand wrapped around her leg. She snapped down to the arm and then to the person it belonged to. A woman. A familiar woman.

Sawyer crouched down in front of the cage, recognizing her in an instant.

Clarke did the same and gasped. "Anya?"

Anya, the Grounder from the bridge and the attack on their camp, sat inside the cage. She retracted her arm and gripped the bars in front of her.

Sawyer ripped her stare from the woman to the lock that held the front of the cage in place. She raised her hands to it and pulled, but it would not move. Her hands fell away and leaned back. Clarke took her place, before she came to the same conclusion. They could not get the lock off by themselves.

Sawyer blew out a breath and met the female Grounder's stare. "We're gonna get you out," she said no longer than a whisper.

Anya did not reply, but her body seemed to relax the tiniest bit.

Sawyer stood from her crouch and started to look for something pry the lock off the woman's cage. Clarke followed her lead. They searched the room, before Clarke tore a metal pole from a wall that coated a bundle of wires. It sparked from the action, but neither girl care and rushed back to Anya. Clarke slipped the bar between the lock and the cage's door. Sawyer helped her push against the bar, forcing the lock to disengage and fall to the floor.

With the lock gone, Sawyer stood and pulled the cage open to help the woman out. "Come on, Anya." She reached out to grasp her hand.

Right then, a beep sounded and the door to the room opened. Sawyer's eyes widened, watching Dr. Tsing step across the threshold.

Clarke shoved against Sawyer in the direction of the cage. "No, stop! Get in!" she hissed, pushing them into the small space.

Sawyer did not object. She, Clarke, and Anya squeezed into the cage, pulling the door closed behind them. The Wesley girl tried to reign in her breaths, not wanting to make a sound and alert the doctor to her and Clarke. The outcome would not turn out well. She was sure of it.

Dr. Tsing moved over to where a few machines were shoved against one of the walls. Sawyer kept her gaze on the woman. She hoped Dr. Tsing got what she came for and left. But as the Grounders around them grew louder and hit their cages, Sawyer's worst fear came to fruition. Dr. Tsing turned when she heard them and moved to investigate what caused their reactions. Sawyer pressed her back into the side of the cage as the woman grew closer. Her heart thudded so hard she feared it could be heard all the way across the room. Dr. Tsing stepped between the rows of cages and almost reached where Sawyer and Clarke were hidden inside. 

Before the woman could spot them, one of the Grounder must have lunged at her and forced her to retreat back the way she came. The moment Dr. Tsing disappeared through the exit, Clarke threw open the door of the cage and the three of them climbed out.

Sawyer let out a breath of relief and looped Anya's arm around her shoulders, seeing as the woman could hardly stand on her own. Clarke took her other side. The two girls practically carried Anya to where another door sat across from the vent they used to enter the room. A sign hung on the metal and read: Protective Gear Required Beyond This Point. That meant mountain people could not follow.

Sawyer grabbed the door's handle when they got closer and struggled to pull the heavy thing open. When the gap widened, the girls hauled Anya inside. They emerged into a small, concrete room with a metal square on the floor. Sawyer released her hold on Anya and turned to look for an exit. There were none.

A second later, the door they stepped through slammed closed behind them. Sawyer ran for it, along with Clarke, and tried to pry it open, to no avail. Yellow lights began to flash near the ceiling, while an alarm roared in their ears. Sawyer and Clarke stumbled back from the door to stand next to Anya.

"What is that?" Anya questioned, most likely having never witnessed something like it before.

Sawyer looked to the woman and shook her head. "I have no ide..." her words were cut off when the floor opened up and forced them into a freefall. 

Sawyer screamed as her body hit a hard material and caused her to slide down into the darkness. She braced herself when she felt nothing, before she slammed into another hard surface. Her back ached, her head throbbed, and she knew her entire body would develop bruises in the following hours. Sawyer's chest rose and fell as she drew in deep breaths. She reached out to push herself up from where she fell, but her heart almost stopped when her hand came into contact with something soft and malleable.

Underneath her were bodies. Dead, bloody, and cold bodies. Sawyer's eyes grew wide. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she shouted, scrambling to climb off of them.

Clarke yelled at her side, having discovered the same sight.

Sawyer reached for the metal sides that encased them. She did not know what they fell into, and she did not care. She just wanted out. As soon as her hands hit the top of the side, Sawyer pulled herself up and over it, dropping to the ground. Her eyes flicked around her, taking in the dirt at her feet, the wooden planks that traveled in a straight line, and the rounded shaped of the ceiling. One of the underground mines Clarke and Finn mentioned before they went to war with the Grounders. Clarke jumped out of whatever they were dropped into and hauled Anya out with her.

Sawyer turned to the blonde, after she observed their surroundings. "We're outside Mount Weather," she voiced.

Clarke snapped to her, a gave the tunnel a quick glance. Her stare fell to a spot behind the Wesley girl, and she rushed for it.

Sawyer looked after her and saw the blonde crouch next to a pile of dark clothes.

Clarke glanced back at her friend, before she started to rummage through them. "Come on, get dressed. We won't cover any ground like this."

Sawyer nodded and moved over to the girl's side. Clarke was right. The two of them were dressed in bright, yellow medical gowns, while Anya wore nothing but white cloths over her private areas. The mountain people would spot them when they tried to escape.

Anya leaned heavily against the side of what appeared to be a massive cart and ignored the Griffin girl's statement. "I won't leave my people behind."

Clarke huffed, standing from her crouch to storm toward the woman. "Anya, listen to me, our people are still inside there. But they have guards, they have weapons. Once we're out, we can find help and come back and get them."

Sawyer did not like that plan. She did not want to leave her people inside Mount Weather where they drained Grounders for their blood. What would happen if the delinquents found out what they were doing? What if the mountain people wanted to do the same to them? Sawyer could not leave them, but she and Clarke could not stand against them on their own. Not even with Anya's help. They would find themselves back in that room and locked in cages of their own.

"There is no we," Anya shot toward the girls.

Sawyer's brows creased at that. She stormed over to the woman and exclaimed, "hey, if it wasn't for us, your ass would still be in that cage. We're in this together, whether you like it or not."

Anya went to reply until a sound further into the tunnel caught her attention. "Someone's coming."

Sawyer's hardened expression faltered, and she followed her line of sight. A warm glow emerged in the darkness, flickering on the walls, while shadowed silhouettes were seen within it.

"Not just someone. Reapers," Clarke breathed.

Sawyer paused. She remembered what Clarke and Finn told them about the Reapers, or what they failed to tell them. The group of people frightened them, even more than the Grounders. That fact meant they needed to be nowhere near the Reapers. But, where were they supposed to go? They were in a system of underground mines they knew nothing about. They could not run without the fear that they would run into more of them.

Sawyer's attention shifted at the sound of movement. She saw Anya hobbled over to the side of the tunnel and leaned down to grab a stray boulder from the ground. Sawyer rolled her eyes and went to her side. "Anya, stop. You're too weak to fight," she stated, wrapping her arms around the woman to pull her back.

"I have a better idea," Clarke voiced, drawing the Wesley girl's gaze. She jogged over to Sawyer and Anya, pointing to another cart a few feet away from the one they landed in moments earlier. "Come on."

Sawyer and Clarke helped Anya to the cart's side, before they eased her up into the metal contraption. With the woman inside, the two girl ran for the clothes on the ground, bundled them up into their arms, and returned to the cart to toss them in. Sawyer and Clarke climbed in afterward, dropping to the bottom to stay as still as possible.

Sawyer laid on her side and forced her chest to rise and fall in a slow rhythm. If the Reapers noticed they were there, they would attack. She listened for them as they grew closer. They were loud, but none of them said an actual word. They released grunts and other odd noises, approaching the cart. Sawyer braced herself. The Reapers stood right outside of the cart. When they failed to look inside, she began to wonder what they were doing, until something was heaved over the side and slammed into her side. Sawyer forced herself not to react, or make a sound, as her stare fell to what landed in the cart with them. Another body.

One more followed after the first, hitting Sawyer in the leg and Clarke's shoulder. The Wesley girl bit into her bottom lip, while her heart almost burst in her chest. After a moment, no more bodies were placed in the cart. The Reapers grumbled and hissed to one another, before the cart began to move and roll down the tracks of the old mines.

Sawyer did not know how long the Reapers pushed the cart, but after a while it jolted to a stop. She stayed quiet and refused to move a muscle as the Reapers reached into the cart and grabbed one of the bodies. They hauled it up and out, carrying it away from the cart. Sawyer listened to their footsteps grow fainter and fainter. When she figured they were further enough away, she shifted across the bottom of the cart and moved to peer out. Clarke did the same, and the two of them looked to where a large group of Reapers gathered around the body. Instead of them being dead, like Sawyer thought, she heard the man scream as the Reapers started to tear into him.

Her eyes widened. They were eating him.

Sawyer turned to Clarke, exchanging a look of horror with the girl, before they looked to Anya. The Grounder woman knelt next to the other body, holding his head as he moaned in pain.

"Anya, what are you doing?" Clarke hissed to her. "Let's go."

Anya ignored the girls and stared down at the man. "Yu gonplei ste odon," she muttered, before she twisted her hands and snapped the man's neck.

Sawyer did not understand what the Grounder said, but she realized what the woman did. She mercy killed him. Sawyer shook her head to rid herself of the scene and snatched up the clothes they threw into the cart. She and Clarke tossed them out, before they climbed over the edge and jumped after them. Anya followed. The three of them ran from the cart and the cannibalistic Reapers.

_______

Sawyer stumbled as she slipped a pair of stolen boots onto her feet, no willing to slow her pace in case more Reapers showed. She stripped the yellow gown from Medical, pulling on a pair of pants, and shirt, and jacket. Specks of mud and blood dotted them, along with her skin, making her unrecognizable as the clean girl from the night before. Although, her appearance did not matter. Her survival did.

After five more turns through the mines without an exit in sight, Sawyer groaned and raised a hand to run through her grimy, matted hair. "This is useless! We're lost."

"Damn it!" Clarke huffed, pausing in her steps. "This place is a maze."

Anya came up behind the girls. Her chest heaved from the effort as she stopped next to them. "What are they doing to us?" she asked.

Sawyer and Clarke looked to one another, before the latter said, "they use your blood. We  saw a soldier come in with radiation burns. Hours later, he was fine. It's like your blood is healing them, somehow. I've never seen anything like it."

Sawyer ground her teeth together and lifted her gaze to the tunnels that spanned before them in either direction. She pointed to the one to the right. "I think we should go this way."

Clarke nodded, and the two of them started forward.

Sawyer glanced back at Anya, finding the woman walking in the opposite direction. "Whoa, where're you going? The Reapers are that way."

Anya turned to her and breathed, "you go your way, I'll go mine."

Sawyer's brows furrowed. She called out when the woman began to move, again. "Anya, this isn't the time to play the whole, my people, your people, thing. We need to find a way out."

"I told you, there is no we," Anya retorted.

"We saved your life," Clarke countered.

Anya faced them with a hardened stare. "You saved me because you need me. I know the way back to your people. I know where all the traps are hidden. You'd never make it alone."

Clarke rolled her eyes and spun back to the other tunnels. "We don't have time for this. Our best chance to get out of here alive is together. All we can do is keep moving and hope..."

"She's gone," Sawyer told the blonde.

Clarke whirled around to where her friend stood. Anya nowhere to be found. Her eyes grew wide. "What? Why didn't you stop her?"

Sawyer scoffed and started toward the Griffin girl. "If she wants to get herself killed, let her do it. Even if she can help us get out, in the end, she'll turn on us or kill us. We're better off on our own. Now, come on," she exclaimed, heading down the tunnel to the right.

Clarke let out a breath behind her, but she jogged behind her to catch up.

_______

Both girls ran through the mines, searching for an exit of any kind. Sawyer would not go back into that mountain. Not without some kind of plan. The Mount Weather residents would never let them see their people again.

Sawyer skidded to a halt when the familiar grunting of a Reaper sounded around the next corner. Her arm lifted to stop Clarke. The two of them turned around and headed for another tunnel. Sawyer's feet slapped against the dirt floor as she ran until she came face-to-face with a Reaper. A lit torch held in its hand, illuminating its swollen and grotesque features.

"Shit!" Sawyer reached out to grab Clarke's arm and pulled her another way. They did not get more than a few feet before more Reapers cut them off. All of their potential exits blocked by the cannibalistic people.

"No," Clarke muttered as they backed away. Their backs hit a wall behind them, caging them in with no chance of escape.

Sawyer's breaths came out ragged, while her stomach dropped to her feet. The Reapers advanced, stalking forward with teeth barred and animalistic growls dripping from their lips.

"No, please!" Clarke pleaded, but the Reapers did not stop.

Sawyer blindly felt for Clarke's hand and wove their fingers together. If they were about to die at the hands of Reapers, they were would die together. Sawyer squeezed her eyes shut as one of the Reapers stood mere inches from her face.

A shrill tone sounded throughout the tunnel, forcing Sawyer to reopen her eyes. She watched the Reapers stumble back and cower, slamming their hands over their ears. To their left, a group of suit covered guards moved toward them with guns held in their grasp.

One of them shouted with a radio-sized device that emitted the loud tone. "Get back! Get away from them, now!" he shouted.

The other guard set his attention on the girls and stated, "Sawyer Wesley, Clarke Griffin, you're coming with us."

Sawyer withheld her relieved breath. They might have narrowly escaped one death, but they were about to find themselves in the hands of another.

_______

The guards led Sawyer and Clarke through the mines with a tight hand on their arms. They walked on without any Reaper encounters, ending up at a metal door that would allow them back inside Mount Weather. The last place Sawyer and Clarke wanted to be.

"We saw everything," Clarke voiced as they grew closer to the door. "We know what you're doing to them."

Sawyer's features scrunched and snapped to the Griffin girl. "Clarke, shut the fuck up."

"That's why you two're going in the Harvest Chamber with them," the guard on the right stated, before he moved to where a key pad sat next to the door. He pressed a button and spoke, "Alpha Building 2, we've reached the intake. Two prisoners in custody."

A speaker crackled and another voiced answered, "your mission was to bring back all three of them. The Outsider cannot leave this base. Alpha 1 is coming out, now."

Sawyer flicked her gaze around, looking for something to help them escape. Before she could, a scream ripped through the air and Anya leapt out of the dark. She sprung toward the left guard, knocking him away from Clarke and into a wall. Sawyer snapped to where the guard closest to her began to raise his gun. She lunged forward and kicked at the weapon. It clattered to the ground, leaving him defenseless. Clarke ran up to the Wesley girl's side. She reached out and grabbed ahold of the guard's mask, before she tore it off in one quick motion. The guard screamed, falling back into a wall. His face started to blister from the radiation.

"His mask!" Clarke screamed to Anya.

Anya knocked the guard to the ground and ripped his mask away. She spun on her heel, kicking off the ground to sprint down the tunnel. "I found a way out! This way!"

Sawyer did not question the Grounder. She ran after the woman with Clarke at her side. The sound of the door bursting open and rapid footsteps forced them to run faster. The girls followed Anya through the mines until the light of the sun brightened the end of the tunnel. Sawyer gasped when a sharp drop-off appeared in front of them. Her feet stopped near its edge as she took in the sight.

Water gushed from a space below them, flowing down into large river that traveled between the forest that surround Mount Weather. Their home. Sawyer glanced over her shoulder to see the others guards headed in their direction. They were out of options. Either they jumped and risked a harsh fall into the water, or they faced off with the guards and died with the other Grounders.

"Wait!" Clarke shouted over the roar of the water. "There has to be another way!"

"There isn't!" Anya stated, before she moved to the edge and jumped off for the water below.

Sawyer's eyes widened. "Anya!" The Grounder woman fell fast and disappeared in the mist created by the water.

"Give up, girls," one of the guards voiced when they reached the girl. They stopped several feet away and had their guns raised. Too many to fight their way out. "There's no place left to go."

Sawyer looked to Clarke and met her gaze. She pressed her lips together and nodded to the water. They were not about to find themselves back in the mountain people's grasp. At least, Sawyer would not. She already made her decision. She just hoped Clarke made the same one.

"We don't have to do this, girls, you hear me?" the guard told them. "Doesn't have to end like this."

"Yes, it does," Sawyer quipped and took off for the edge, jumping out into the open air without a second thought. Wind whipped at her clothes and hair as she plummeted. Her stomach swirled, and she had just enough time to hold her breath when her body hit the cold waves.

<February 3, 2020>

I know people are tired of reading stories for The 100 that make the OC escape Mount Weather with Clarke, but Sawyer needs to for what I have planned. I promise, I'm not following the crowd.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.