Coming Back Down

The Stranger

  "Are you sure?" Bill turned to fully face Bellamy.

  "I am, my Shepherd."

  "Then how could she possibly know so much.... The things she's done...." Bill's tone was calm, but I could see in his eyes that he was trying to make sense of it all. His hope that Kalliope Pramfleimkepa was in the Flame and in me was making him question Bellamy's statement.

  "Viper is smart, resourceful."

  "We saw the Conclave."

  "And the Grounders went into the bunker before Viper could receive the Flame, and named Octavia the acting Heda."

  "She recognized me."

  "There were things left behind in the bunker." Bellamy explained. "Believe me, my Shepherd, Viper never had the Flame. If you see things in her you think would only come from the Flame, I can only say that it comes from Viper being a survivor."

  "....Take them to the cells." Bill's expression hardened, and Bellamy quickly jumped away from me.

  "Oh, fuck!" He hissed while going behind an armed guard, and I already had my blades in my hands.

  "Viper!"

  "Don't you get any fucking closer!" I warned with my teeth bared at the soldiers that were stepping toward me.

  "Pakstoka, you're going to get yourself killed!" Echo warned, but the adrenalin was already coursing through my veins like a wildfire. My eyes jumped between the soldiers circling me with their guns raised, and I saw Bill watching with interest.

  I dropped low, going for the nearest one's legs. Swiping their feet out from under them, I was on him in an instant. Sliding my knife under the helmet, I pressed the blade against his throat.

  "Back off, or he dies."

  "Now I see for myself why you are a viper to some and a wolf to others." Bill said with his hands behind his back.

  "I said back off!" I drew blood as a warning, but everything went black when something hit the back of my head. I could have sworn no soldiers were behind me.

~

  I woke up on a thin mattress laid on a concrete floor. My head was pounding, and I managed to sit up while groaning.

  "Take it easy." Octavia said from beside me.

  "The fuck happened?"

  "Gabriel hit you pretty hard with a tray." She reached up to check the back of my head. "Looks like the swelling's gone down."

  "I'm sorry, what now?"

  "Gabriel hit you with a tray. He saw where what you were doing was going and thought it best to knock you out before you killed someone. Or multiple someones."

  "He knocked me out?" I cringed while touching the back of my head. "....He knocked me out." My face fell as I looked up and realized where I was.

  Scrambling to my feet, I looked around the room with no windows and only a single door. The lights were behind metal grids, and the only thing loose in the room were the beds, blankets, and pillows. My knives were gone- even the holsters were taken.

  I checked my boots, seeing the knives in there were also gone. My pockets- gone. My belt- gone. Everywhere I checked where I had a weapon hidden was empty.

  "M-Cap." Octavia said. "They saw my memories of how you carry more than just the obvious knives, so they checked everything to be sure."

  I was unarmed and in a locked room.