It doesn't end here !

Chapter XV

I was about to just sit there with the other people, enjoying life to the fullest when Emori ran to me hectically screaming. ''Tara, you have to come with me. Murphy and I were walking a little to the edge of Polis when we saw a piece of metal on the ground, blinking in the sun light. I first did not take it serious and so didn't Murphy. We thought it's a necklace that someone lost so we tried to pull it out of the ground. But we couldn't. It's not a necklace. It's a door like the one of the bunkers we had found till now. Murphy wanted to go down and find out what it is, but I didn't agree. I want you to come with us. Something is telling me that you are really important for this.'' 

 I took a deep breath. I have to admit that I was nervous about what could happen downstairs but at the same time, I was super exited. So I looked into Emori's dark brown eyes, took her hand and together we made our way to the mysterious hole in the ground. This time, it definitely wasn't the Second Dawn bunker that Cadogan built hundreds of years ago to protect 600 people from the nuclear apocalypse. Maybe this was another one people had forgotten about.

We arrived at the location. It wasn't far away from the bunker under the tower so it would absolutely make sense for this one to be connected with the Second Dawn. When I first was in that bunker, I was a little scared but still it amazed me how 600 people have lived here, under the ground for many decades. But so was it fascinating for me how 2659 people have lived up there in the sky on the Ark the place I was born. Murphy already was in that hole waiting for us. Carefully I stepped down the small stairs. Emori walked closely behind me to be able to catch me if I fall but I gladly didn't. 

The bunker wasn't huge but more developed as the other one. The walls were grey, and four beds stood at the other end of it. It seemed to come from another time. Emori and I were absolutely fascinated by the thought of building a hole in the ground to be safe from a nuclear apocalypse. We both were unable to even think about that. Only the imagination made my body shake.

Murphy was more focused on finding something that could be useful. He disappeared in another room. It was quite dusty down here and it was already late so Emori, and I were about to climb the stairs to get outside again when we heard Murphy scream. Emori looked at me and I looked at her. We both frightened and ran to the other room where Murphy disappeared in, with pure fear. We expected him to get hurt and knew down here, every second counted.

When we arrived, he sat on a rusty chair in front of an old machine that looked like a computer people had used before the apocalypse. On the screen, there was a small handwritten note signed with the initials B. F. My brain started working. Somewhere I had read those initials before, I just didn't know where. Murphy tried to make the computer work again and Emori stood at the other edge of the room, ready to leave the bunker as quick as possible.

Suddenly it came to my mind. Of course, the initials stood for Becca Franco, better known as Becca Pramheda. The First Commander and the inventor of the flame. She was a scientist and she created Allie who started to develop an artificial intelligence. She is the cause for the nuclear apocalypse. Allie launched the atomic missiles because she felt there were way too many people on the planet.

''Murphy, Emori, the letters stand for BeccaPramheda.'' They both looked super surprised, especially Emori. ''Sheused to be called Becca Franco. She has only been named Pramheda after herdeath.''                                                                                                                                        

I took a deep breath and had to caught. The dusty air wasn't healthy at all, but I needed more oxygen to continue. I started reading out her letter. ''Dear someone, when you have found this, you are one of the lucky people who survived the nuclear apocalypse. Congratulations! There is no guarantee that the computer is still going to work after all those years but if so, you will get the answers the human race is desperately searching for. B. F.''

When I laid the piece of paper out of my hands, I was shaking. We had just found the biggest mystery of human history. Murphy went back to the computer while I imagined how Becca had written this letter here. She was probably in a hurry as her handwriting looked very hectic. Perhaps she had left this message here and then flew into space with the space station Polaris a few hours before the apocalypse. Back then, Becca hadn't been much older than I was now and that thought made it even harder for me to think about what might have happened here centuries ago.

It already was late in the evening, but we really could not go to bed. Not now. Emori was walking around in the small room, Murphy stood next to the computer trying to make it work while I sat on the ground. Just as I was about to ask them to continue with this tomorrow, I heard a loud cracking sound. The ground under our feet started vibrating and I ran to Emori. She held me tight and I got scared. We had no idea what was going on in here. We both were shocked and honestly didn't really know what to do. Murphy was sitting in front of the computer which suddenly started to blink. The black screen lit up abruptly and a white field appeared. When space and earth unite, darkness and light work together, hope springs up and peace can come into life. I was irritated. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I was so concentrated on thinking about the words that I didn't realize what actually happened. The necklace Lexa gave me before we went up to space started to glow. It is blue and in the shape of a tear. I still remember the day I got it as it had been yesterday. 

 It was a few hours before Praimfaya. Back than I was twelve years old and really afraid of the death wave. I was supposed to stay in the bunker with Octavia, Marcus, Lincoln and my mother. Clarke put me on that list. With 99 other people but I really did not want to. I wanted to stay with my family. The ones that really cared for me. When we were about to go to space, Raven realized that there was no energy on the go - sci - ring so someone needed to calibrate the transmitter mast so that the power on the space station would work. Clarke and Lexa were the only night bloods to take on that task in hope of getting to Becca's lab early enough.

 I was afraid of losing my sister and Lexa. While Clarke put on the radiation - protection suit, Lexa knelt down to me and put something in my left hand. It was a necklace with the tear-shaped stone. I hugged her tight and she whispered something into my ear. 

''Tara, this is the necklace my mom gave me before I became Heda. She wanted me to feel protected. Now I wanna give it to you, so you feel protected. No matter what happens, I will always be with you. I do have the . Mine is green and I inherited it from my mother. I think she really would have liked you. She was always very warm and open like you.'' After this conversation they went outside and the time ran out so we had to fly to space. Without them. For more than six years I lived with the thought that I had lost them both. The necklace made me feel like I always had a part of Lexa with me and Clarke too.

Emori looked at me. She seemed surprised andsuddenly I understood the message Becca had left for us. She was talking aboutEarth and Space and that together they will create hope. Only the line withdarkness and light still confused me. Itwas clear though, that it had something to do with my necklace. ButEmori understood me, even without words. ''It's your necklace Tara. It's glowing. Maybe this is somehow connected withyou.'' I wasn't so sure why she thought this way. Why should something so mysterious have to do something with me?