Chapter 19

Clarke sleeps with the orange blanket, tucking herself into a corner of the drop ship so that she can sleep a floor beneath the seven. She pulls the blanket up to her chin and curls into its warmth, relishing in the fact that she has finally remembered. Relishing in the fact that her feelings for Bellamy are reciprocated. But even when she is joyous, she recognizes that there are others who are not so lucky.

She feels responsible for the seven, who she empathizes completely with. What the man in their heads is doing to influence them. . . .the thought makes her shiver.

Clarke is wide awake, and decides that she may as well check on the young men and women on the floor above her. She stands, releasing the blanket, and moves to the ladder. She knocks on the hatch door--one, onetwo, one--and waits for one of the two guards to unlock it for her.

She waits, there on the ladder, and there is no answer. There is no sound.

The floor above her is completely silent.

She knocks again. Maybe the guards are asleep. One, onetwo, one. And there is silence.

"Hey! It's Clarke, open up."

Silence has never been so terrifying.

She tries the hatch, and realizes that it is locked. From the inside. She curses, and knocks again.

"Jason? Abby? Open this door."

She tries to recount the events of that evening. Who had entered the drop ship? Both Jason and Abby had gone up to the second floor for their shift, and she hadn't heard from them since. So too had Seth, the chemist helping Monty, gone upstairs to give the seven a sedative. She completely trusted both of the guards, and didn't believe either would act so strangely. No, something must have happened to the guards. Someone must have done something to them.

It couldn't be the chip, could it? They couldn't be infected by it, could they? Or, perhaps it was the seven. Perhaps the seven managed to escape by themselves somehow.

Clarke exits the drop ship, entering the early morning and searching for the ladder Miller made a week and a half ago. She could look through one of the windows they left open on the second floor and see what had happened. She finds the ladder leaning against the wall and carries it to the side of the drop ship. It is barely tall enough, but it should do its job.

Clarke scrambles up the ladder and peers into the second floor. What she sees nearly makes her fall.

Two bodies. Two bullet wounds.

No one else.

No one else.

Two bodies.

Two bullet wounds.

One gun, in Jason's hand.

Blood.

Abby, facedown.

The hatch still locked, from the inside.

Nothing else.

The seven are gone.

--

Dawn comes, and she stands with Bellamy, Miller, Octavia, and Raven on the second floor, observing the scene and trying to figure out what happened.

"I don't understand. How could the seven have escaped? The hatch was locked from the inside, and no one can fit through those windows," Miller says.

"And Jason killed himself, and Abby, from the looks of it," Raven states, and then furrows her brows. "The door was locked. Whenever they died, it was after the seven escaped."

Clarke shakes her head. "I was sleeping on the first floor. I can't believe I didn't hear anyone."

"You were asleep," Bellamy reassures her.

The group pauses, looking down at the bodies on the floor and trying to decide what to do next. The seven are gone, and there is no telling what they will do. What they won't do.

Octavia speaks up. "We need to check for the chip, on both of them."

Clarke nods, and bends down as Bellamy turns Jason on his side. She looks at the place right beneath his hairline, and shakes her head. There's a raised bump, stitched together.

"He's chipped," she says.

They check Abby's next, but find nothing.

"I guess there were eight," Bellamy says.

"Or more," Raven adds.

"He didn't have this chip yesterday," Clarke realizes, eyes widening as she stands. "I checked them both before they went up."

"No one else came up here after that?" Asks Octavia. "Someone had to have given him that chip."

Clarke pauses. Her eyes widen. "Seth."

"Who?" Raven asks.

"He helped make a sedative for the seven," Bellamy says, brows furrowing in anger.

"I never saw him on the drop ship when we came down," Clarke realizes.

"It's a big camp," Octavia states.

"Smaller than you think," Miller replies. "We've got to find that guy. He's the only suspect we have."

"He's not a suspect," Bellamy spits. "He did this."

Bellamy turns away from the group and flings the hatch door open, beginning to descend the ladder.

"Bellamy! Where are you going?" Clarke asks, stepping closer to follow him.

"He did this to them. He did this to you, Clarke."

With that, Bellamy disappears down the ladder. Wasting no time, Clarke follows him.

The group trails after Bellamy as he crosses the camp and goes into the tent Monty and Seth work in.

There is a single person, facing away from them, in front of a table covered in bottles and bits of metal. Monty is no where to be seen.

"Seth."

Bellamy growls the name.

Seth turns. "Your people truly are slow, sky girl. I'm surprised by their stupidity."

"Shut up," Bellamy orders, crossing the room, pulling out his pistol, and grabbing Seth in a choke hold.

Seth chuckles as the gun touches his temple. "By all means, take me away. I am sure this is going to be enlightening. I know Jason was very intrigued by my plan, at least, after I gave him the chip."

Bellamy releases the choke hold. "Hands on your head, you bastard."

Seth complies with only a slight smirk. Bellamy holds the gun to his head.

"Walk," Bellamy spits. "Run away and I swear to God I'll shoot."

The crowd outside is anxious. They push forward, trying to see what is going on.

"Out of the way!" Clarke yells over the noise, fists clenched.

She should have noticed Seth's face. Should have noticed it was the same as the grounder she met in the woods all those weeks ago. Same dark hair. Same green eyes. She is pissed.

They bring him into the drop ship, and chain him up on the first floor. Bellamy shakes his head when it's done, and ushers all of them out of the ship. But Clarke is not content, not even when Seth is tied up and for once, she is able to order him around. No, she needs more.

She pulls Bellamy aside, who has just finished instructing his sister and Miller to keep the rest of the crowd out of the ship.

"I want to see him," Clarke says.

Eyes wide, Bellamy steps closer. "Are you crazy?"

"I need to talk to him."

"Are you sure?" He asks, taking her hand.

Clarke nods, and Bellamy sighs.

"Alright. Let's go."

He begins to walk towards the entrance of the ship, but Clarke puts her hand out, stopping him from moving. "Alone."

Bellamy blinks, and then purses his lips. "No. No way. I can't protect you from out here."

The corners of Clarke's mouth turn up. "It's not your job to protect me. I can take care of myself."

"I know you can. I just don't want you to get hurt by him again."

"I know. I'll take my walkie, if that'll make you feel better."

Bellamy nods.

"He's tied up, anyway. What could he do to me?" Clarke stands on her toes to kiss his cheek. "See you soon."

-

She enters cautiously, and finds Seth right where they left him, chained to the left hand wall.

She relinquishes no emotion to him, to her enemy. She will not let him get inside her head, under her skin, again.

"Ah. . . .the lady remembers me. But what is this? What do we find in her eyes? I can see no hatred, no rage, no pity, no fear, no dark disapproval of my actions. You are entirely without emotion, sky girl. And that look. . . .you could pry secrets from the most damnable, nefarious of demons. . . .I, however, am no demon."

"I strongly disagree."

"Do you really?"

"Without equivocation."

"You must be very upset with me."

"Yes."

"You have been very grave in the jaws of death."

"Yes."

"I am inclined to tell you of your mental strength. You are the strongest of the test subjects."

"Is that so?" Clarke asks, forcing herself to remain impassive.

She knows now that whoever this man had been before had disappeared, replaced with the chip, with the woman, with villainy and licentiousness.

"I wonder, does your strength come from the stars, or from the man listening to our conversation through the radio clipped onto the back of your jeans?"

"I wonder, will you be compliant when I ask you questions?"

"Please, sky girl, begin the interrogation. You may do what you like to me, but in this form, with her, I am not so weak that I will relinquish answers unless I deem them worthy of your mortal, human brain."

"You called me mortal. What are you?"

"Ah. . . .a curious question that I must be careful with. I wonder, shall I tell her the truth, or taunt her with the mystery?"

Saying this, he looks into Clarke's eyes, who is keeping with her original course of action and remaining utterly reserved. The man pauses, and it is a very human pause, not like that of an artificial being.

"The essence of my being, this being, this combined soul that makes me stronger, cannot die. The outer shell, this armor in which I survive, that dies mortally. You may decide for yourself the nature of my being."

"I don't understand. The chip was in my mind, but it has been removed. How can it go on. . . .living?"

Another pause. "The chip does not require a human mind to store memories and intelligence that has already been acquired, but it does require a human mind in order to act on those memories."

"You once insinuated that this whole endeavor is related to science. Explain to me how."

"How science is related to the making of the chip?"

"Yes."

"Our test subjects help us attain valuable information."

"What sort of information? Why do you need it? What do you do with it?"

Seth chuckles darkly. "That is not up for discussion, sky girl."

"And who are you? Are you a grounder, or are you part of this research group?"

Seth laughs. "My dear, isn't it obvious? The people you call grounders are the research group."

AN: Oh how very interesting things are getting. . . .very twisty. This chapter was definitely longer than a lot of my others, being 1800+ words, and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Thank you all, as always, for reading!

Feedback? Is there anything you all would like to see in future chapters?

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