Defiance • Bellamy Blake [1]

28. Radiation

Everyone was sitting down at the table, eating food. I stood in the corner with Clarke, watching them.

It felt wrong. It felt too perfect. This couldn't be real. Nothing is this amazing, not even on the Ark. There had to be a flaw here.

Clarke's eyes snapped forward when she saw Dante walk into the room. He headed straight for the buffet and grabbed a slice of pie. I couldn't help but eye him suspiciously.

"We need to get out of here." She whispered.

"Yeah. I don't trust them." I said.

"Neither do I. I mean, they knocked us out and brought us here. If they had told us who they are, that they could have protected us, I wouldn't have minded. But they didn't do that."

"I studied the map."

"And?"

"I might have found a way out. I noticed it when I was walking here. But there's no way to get there without having a key card." I told her.

"Well there's tons of people here who have key cards. Let's just steal one." Clarke said.

"You really are turning into a criminal."

Clarke laughed.

"I guess I am."

My eyes drifted over to Monty and Jasper, who were sitting at the table eating.

"I think we should tell Monty and Jasper." I found myself saying.

"Why?"

"Because I won't leave this place without them."

"If they don't want to come, you may just have to."

I nodded my head, accepting the risk and we walked over to Jasper and Monty, who were fighting over cake. When they saw us, they stopped.

"Oh. Hey. Clarke, Harley." Jasper greeted.

Maybe it was a good thing we came over. Who knows what chaos would have happened if those two were left fighting over that cake. The results would not be good.

"Sit down and pretend you're happy to see us." Clarke said.

Clarke sat next to Jasper while I took a seat next to Monty on the other side of the table.

"We are happy to see you." Monty said slowly, confused. He passed Clarke the plate of cake. "You have to try the chocolate cake."

"Oh, it is so on." Jasper whispered, shaking his head at Monty.

"I'm not eating their food." Clarke said, scrunching up her nose and pushing away the food.

I slid over the map so that the two of them could see it, and pointed at it.

"Look. They gave us a map with no exits. Now, I might have found a way out, and we want you guys to come with us." I said.

"A way out? Look around, you guys. There's no one hunting us here. First time in our lives we're not hungry. Why would we want to leave?" Jasper asked.

"Because we have friends out there who need our help." I told him.

"They're looking for survivors, and they're way better equipped to find them than we are." Monty said.

"This place is too good to be true." Clarke said.

"You're bumming me out. I'm - I'm gonna get more cake." Jasper said, getting up.