He groaned, and then his eyes fluttered open.
“Are you okay?” she asked, stroking his hair away from his face. “Do you remember what happened?”
He stared at her, seemingly uncomprehending, then jumped to his feet so quickly, he almost knocked Clarke over in the process. “Where are they?” he shouted, looking around wildly.
“What do you mean?” she asked, wondering if he was still waking up from a nightmare.
“Those Earthborn bastards who knocked us out.” He swatted at his neck. “They shot us with tranquilizer darts or something.”
Clarke brought her hand up to her own neck. The foolishness she felt for not understanding what had happened turned to dread as she realized what it meant. The supposedly peaceful, civilized Earthborns—Sasha’s people—had knocked Clarke and Bellamy unconscious and dragged them into a dark cell.
“Are you okay?” In the dim light, she saw Bellamy’s face soften as his fury gave way to concern. He pulled her toward him and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “We’re going to get out of here.”
Clarke said nothing. This was all her fault. She’d been the one to insist they come down here, the one who had begged Bellamy to come with her. She couldn’t believe she’d been such an idiot.
Sasha had lied about Asher. Lied about Octavia. Worst of all, she may even have known what was going to happen to Priya. There was no other “faction” of Earthborns. She must’ve invented them to make the hundred trust her, to lure Clarke and the rest of them into a trap. Sasha had been so vague when she spoke about the first Colonists, about the “incident” that had forced the Earthborns to expel them. Clarke should’ve suspected something was wrong.
She closed her eyes and thought about the graves she’d found. Was that where she and Bellamy would end up after the Earthborns killed them? Or would their bodies remain in this godforsaken bunker forever?
For a moment, all she could hear was Bellamy’s breath and her own frantic heartbeat. But then another sound came, the unmistakable tread of footsteps. “They’re coming,” Clarke whispered.
She heard the clank of metal, and then bright light streamed inside, blinding her. Clarke brought her hand up to her eyes and saw the shadowy outline of a person in the doorway.
The figure stepped forward, and a face came into focus. It was Sasha.
Clarke’s fear drained away, leaving only anger and disgust. “You liar,” she exclaimed, lunging forward. “I trusted you! What the hell do you want from us?”
“What? Clarke, no.” Sasha actually had the audacity to look hurt as she backed away from Clarke. “Wells let me go, and I came as quickly as I could. I wanted to make sure I was here when you arrived.”
“Right, so you could arrange for us to be sedated and locked up,” Bellamy spat.
Sasha shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry about that. But you probably shouldn’t have tried to shoot them with your bow.” She stepped forward and tried to put her hand on Clarke’s arm, then winced as Clarke pulled away. “The guards were only doing their job. As soon as I heard what had happened, I ran down to get you. Everything’s fine now.”
“If this is your idea of fine, I’d hate to see what you think is bad,” Bellamy said, his voice colder than the damp air.
Sasha sighed and pushed the door open further. “Just come with me. I’m taking you to see my father. Everything will make sense after you talk to him.”
Clarke and Bellamy exchanged glances. She knew he didn’t believe Sasha any more than she did, but their only shot at escaping was to get out of the cell. “Fine,” Clarke said, taking Bellamy’s hand. “We’ll go, but then you have to show us the way out.”
“Absolutely.” Sasha nodded. “I promise.”
Clarke and Bellamy followed her out of the cell and into a dimly lit hallway. Most of the doors they passed were shut, but when she saw one that was open, Clarke paused a moment to look inside.
It was an infirmary, or something like it. The equipment was similar to what they had on Phoenix; she recognized a heart-rate monitor, respirators, and an X-ray machine. Yet the narrow beds were covered with ragged, mismatched blankets, or in one case, what appeared to be animal fur.
And most striking of all, it was empty—no doctors, nurses, or patients in sight. In fact, as Sasha led them through a series of corridors, Clarke didn’t see a single person anywhere. “I thought you said there were hundreds of you. Where is everyone?” she asked, curiosity momentarily overpowering her wariness.
Bellamy was less easily distracted. “Probably out kidnapping more of our people.”
Sasha stopped and turned to Clarke. “No one’s actually lived down here for fifty years. Now the bunker’s mainly used to store all the generators and the medical equipment, things that couldn’t be moved to the surface.”
“So where do you live?” Clarke asked.
“I’m going to show you. Come on.” Sasha led them around a corner, past another open room full of empty metal cages that Clarke could only hope had once contained animals, then stopped in front of a ladder that extended up through an opening in the ceiling.
“After you,” Sasha said, gesturing toward the rungs.
“Like hell we’re going first,” Bellamy said, grabbing Clarke’s hand.
Sasha glanced between Clarke and Bellamy, then pressed her lips together and stepped lightly onto one of the lower rungs. She scaled the ladder so quickly, she’d nearly disappeared through the opening when she called for them to follow her.
“You first,” Bellamy said to Clarke. “I’ll be right behind you.”
It was harder work than Sasha made it look. Or perhaps that was just because Clarke was shaking so much, she had to use all her strength to keep her hands from slipping.
The ladder disappeared into some sort of airshaft, almost a vertical tunnel. It was so narrow that Clarke could feel the back of her shirt scrape against the rock wall. She closed her eyes and kept climbing, imagining that she was climbing through the Colony, not under thousands of pounds of stone that felt like they were stifling her, crushing down on her until she couldn’t breathe. Her hands were sweaty, and she tried to wipe them on her shirt, terrified that at any moment, she’d slip and crash into Bellamy. She forced herself to breathe steadily.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she glimpsed daylight above her.
As she grasped the top rung, a hand reached down. Clarke was so exhausted that she grabbed it without hesitation, and allowed Sasha to pull her up onto the grass.
While Clarke gasped for breath and rose shakily to her feet, Sasha reached down for Bellamy.
“Do you climb that thing every day?” Bellamy panted, placing his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath of the cool morning air.
“Oh, there’s a much easier way in and out. But I thought you’d appreciate the view from up here,” Sasha said, smiling. They were standing at the top of a hill looking out over a valley filled with wooden structures. There were dozens of small houses whose narrow chimneys were sending streams of smoke into the air, a larger building that might’ve been an assembly hall, and a few fenced-in areas filled with grazing animals.
Clarke couldn’t stop staring at the people. They were everywhere: carrying baskets full of vegetables, pushing huge piles of firewood in wheeled carts, running down the streets and greeting one another. Children laughed as they played some kind of game along the dirt path that wove around the houses.
Clarke turned to Bellamy and saw the same look of awe reflected in his eyes. For once, he was at a loss for words.
“Come on,” Sasha said as she started to make her way down the hill. “My dad is waiting for us.”
This time, neither of them protested. Bellamy took Clarke’s hand, and they followed Sasha down the slope.
Before they even reached the bottom, dozens of people had stopped to stare at them. And by the time they set off down one of the dirt roads, it seemed like the entire village had gathered to catch a glimpse of Clarke and Bellamy.
Most of the Earthborns merely looked surprised or curious, though a few were glaring at them with open suspicion, or even anger.