Fallen

Chapter Twenty: Oxygen

Chaos rages all around as Grounders and members from the Ark alike deal with the aftershock of a missile on Tondc. Abby rushes around with Nyko to help those injured. As she crouches by the rubble of what was once the meeting hall, she hears a noise. Echoes of metal clanging against each other under the rubble.

"There are survivors," she calls out, trying out enough to form a path. Using a flashlight to see, she crawls on her hands and knees down the tunnel. She finds Marcus pinned under some beams.

"You're alive," she sighs in relief. She gets most rubble off of him, but a large beam has his leg pinned. Blood is pouring from the gash. "Can you feel your toes?"

"Yes."

"Good."

A young girl lets out a scream. 

"That might be Clarke," he tells her. She ignores him and starts building a way to lift up the beam. She gets the mass up some before gravity pulls it back down on Marcus' leg. He lets out a scream in pain. "Go find Clarke. You can get me out after you know she is safe."

"Clarke and Lexa knew about the missile," she tells him, before trying to find another way to get him free. "Plus you need to be there to see Ash again. When we get all of our kids back."

*****

Guards walk into the room, prepared for a fight. All of the delinquents are laying on the ground, completely still except for breathing. Emerson removes his mask and looks into the pots of water. The canisters for the gas sits piled up in water. As he turns to warn the other guards, Jasper leaps up.

"Now," he cries out. All of the others quickly hop up and start attacking. Ash buries a knife into the throat of one of the guards out of a hazmat suit. Jasper grabs an axe and starts swinging. They manage to drive the opposing force back out of the mess hall. People cheer in victory until a girl's cries for help echo through the halls.

"Fox," Jasper quickly realizes. Monty stops him from trying to take on the other living guards. "I promised her she would be fine."

A guard on the floor moves a bit, so Jasper takes out his rage on him. Ash takes a deep breath before looking at the others.

"Rebuild the barricade," she orders. "We need to hold out a bit longer."

Ash starts dragging the bodies to the side of the hall. Jasper and Monty start discussing possible plans. After so long, a radio goes off.

"This is President Wallace talking to the people that just killed ten of my me."  There is a moment of silence before Monty shows her and Jasper the monitor. Maya is standing in the hallway in a hazmat suit. "We're going to try something a little bit different this time. There is only twenty minutes in Maya's suit. I know she's a friend of yours. In twenty minutes your friend will either suffocate or burn. But you can save her. All you have to do is surrender."

Ash slams the walkie onto the table before looking at the scared people.

"Get Maya in here," she barks. No one moves. "Now!"

A couple of them rush to get her inside of the hall before setting up the barricade. Her and Jasper hug.

"I won't let you die," he promises her.

"I won't let you surrender."

Ash walks over to them.

"Fox is alive," Maya informs her. A sigh of relief washes over Ash, but now is not the time to celebrate that victory.

"We need to get you to another level," she states. "Is there any passage that they won't be monitoring?"

"The trash chutes."

"That won't work," Monty states. "I disabled them. I didn't know we would be using them."

"Fix them now," Ash orders. He nods his head before hurrying off to do as told. Ash picks up the walkie, hoping to try something. It would be a miracle for it to work, but he would be focused on her.

"I'm speaking directly to Cage Wallace," she speaks into it. "Why don't we be civil and end this? Just let me and my people go. And maybe I can speak to the Chancellor of the Ark about donations for the people here. No more bloodshed on either side and everyone get a chance to walk on the surface."

She stops and waits.

"No," he quickly responds. "We won't have a guarantee supply if we let you go. Sacrifices must be made. We will do what it takes to survive."

"So will we," Ash warns through gritted teeth before dropping the walkie onto the table. She quickly hurries over to where Monty is, assisting him into turning the chute to manual. Time quickly starts to run out as Maya gets to her last minute of air. Rumbling comes from the trash chute as the door opens. Bellamy dressed in a guard's uniform and holding a few guns is there.

"We need to get Maya out of here now," Ash tells him, pushing the girl in the hazmat suit forward. Bellamy helps her in and takes her to a level below them. Jasper and Ash follow them. Once they get out of the trash chute, they quickly get Maya out of the suit so she can breathe air. Ash turns to Bellamy, quickly embracing him. He pulls the two close before they quickly kiss.

"I was so worried you didn't make it," she states, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Like I'm that easy to kill," he jokes. "Now let's get everybody out of level five and hidden somewhere."

Ash nods her head before crawling back through the trash chute. She opens the door to level five to see Monty's face.

"Start sending everyone down before the guards get here," she orders. "One level below."

He agrees before rounding up everyone. Ash holds the chute door open while Monty keeps an eye on the monitor. The people hurry down to where the other three are waiting. Once they are all through, Ash pushes Monty into the chute. She follows behind him, going back through the tunnel. Once on the other side of the door, she does a head count to make sure everyone is there. Maya seems to have already left with Jasper, probably to scout ahead.

"What's the plan?" Ash asks Bellamy as he leads them out of the room.

"We need to split up," he states, leading them through the halls. His eyes scanning in every direction.

"You and me each take a team?" she guesses.

"That's a bad idea," Monty chimes in. "They will catch us."

"They will definitely catch us if we stay in one giant group," Ash points out. "We just need to find places to hide or ways out."

"Way out would be impossible," Bellamy informs her. "I almost didn't make it getting into this place."

"Who's going to help us hide?" Miller asks. Bellamy leads them around the corner to a group of people. Maya in the front.

"All of us want to help," Maya informs the group of delinquents. 

"None of us agree with Cage," an older man in the front states. "We're going to split you off into teams. Each person will hide you in their homes."

"Stay alive," Bellamy tells the group. "Be ready to fight. War is coming."

Everyone starts splitting off into groups.

"Don't die," Ash orders Bellamy.

"Could say the same to you," he tells her. They smirk at each other before splitting off.

"I'm Mrs. Ryan," the lady leading Ash's group states. "I'll take good care of you all."

"Thank you," Ash smiles towards her. This woman is willing to hide twelve of them to protect them. "We do appreciate what you are doing for us."

"Of course."

The group of thirteen hurry through the halls to a temporary safety.