Fallen

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Oil Rig

Ash wakes up. Or at least she assumed she had woken up. Darkness seems to envelope her. The salty smell stings her nose. Slowly, she over onto his stomach. She can hear others around her.

"Roll call," she mutters. An echo of 'Here's follow. Enough voices to ensure everyone is there. She fumbles in the dark, smacking someone in the face. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Clarke responds. Eventually Ash places her hand on the wall. It is made of rough, cool metal. She follows the wall to a corner, continuing to run her hand over the metal. eventually she feels a slit in the metal.

"I think we're in a shipping container."

As soon as the words leaves her lips, the doors swing wide open. A women steps in, giving Ash a disappointed look. 

"Luna?" Clarke guesses. She nods her head slightly. "We need you to take the Flame."

"No."

Well that was unexpected. Luna moves to the side and Ash steps out in the sun. What view that isn't block by a building she sees ocean. Just open seas for miles.

*****

Most of the group from Arkadia sit with the others on the oil rig, listening as one person tells the story of her survival against a pack of sharks. Though, based on the word choice, Ash has a feeling that there is another meaning. But it is also possible that the constant berating of Literature teachers insisting there is always a hidden meaning actually stuck with her and she is looking too much into it.

The girl finishes her story and everyone starts clapping. Clarke rushes over to the group and Jasper very quickly leaves. The blonde keeps glancing over at Luna, who is in the corner. The moment she realizes Clarke is glancing at her, she leaves.

"Is she going to help us?" Ash asks in a low voice. Clarke has been trying to convince Luna to take the Flame.

"No," she responds, clearly frustrated. "Maybe we could force her to take it."

Octavia scoffs.

"At least A.L.I.E gives people a choice."

"Not much of one though," Ash reminds her, staring at her hands. "She had Raven slit her wrists to get Abby to take the Key." She looks up at the group. "But we are better than her. We might be able to appeal to Luna if she realized how dangerous A.L.I.E is to her people. She cares about them."

"Maybe," Bellamy pipes up. "But there's no guarantee. We need Luna to take the Flame. We don't have time to find another Nightblood." 

Octavia rolls her eyes once more before getting up to leave.  Clarke also walks away, leaving Ash and Bellamy alone. Her eyes wander over the crowd. She doesn't want to have the conversation they need to have.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asks.

"Are you?" she responds under her breath.

"You know we don't have to talk about us right now," he promises. Without thinking, she grabs his hand.

"We will eventually," she promises. "But let's get through this shit first." Then she starts thinking of their track record. "Hopefully there isn't a new issue right after," she chuckles.

"You may have jinxed us," he softly chuckles.

"The universe owes us one."

"True."

Ash watches the other people going about their daily lives. Maybe it would be nice staying here. Staying somewhere peaceful for once. One of the people that usually hang out with Luna walks over.

"Come with me," he orders. Bellamy stands up. He grabs Ash's hands, pulling her up to her feet. The two follow him right back to the shipping container. There were others that had brought Octavia over. Clarke is almost dragged over. She was left alone for less than half an hour. Then again it's Clarke, she would cause enough trouble to get them kicked out. Luna walks over.

"You will get everything when you get back to land," Luna states. Just then, a couple of the guards push the four from land into the shipping container. As they go to slam the doors shut, Ash could see a couple of them go to attack Luna. Before they could try to help, the metal doors sel shu. Ash can hear Luna getting dragged away.

"A.L.I.E found us," Octavia snaps, trying to pry the doors open.

"It's worst than that," Clarke states. "Luna has the Flame."

"If she takes both chips we're fucked," Ash concludes. "We need to find a way out of here."

She starts running her fingers along the seams at the point where the doors shut. She presses against it enough to find the point where it refuses to bend. She aims her shoulder at that spot before ramming it full force. Bellamy tries to stop her.

"Ash-"

"There is one spot where it is locked," she states, continuing to slam her body into the door between words. Her shoulder is starting to kill her, but she ignores it. "I am trying to get it loose."

Just before she rams herself into the door again, it swings open. The girl who was telling the story earlier is standing there, bleeding out.

"Help them," she pleads before collapsing. Ash goes to help her, but feels no pulse. She closes the girl's eyes before standing up.

"Split up and find the others," Ash orders. The group hurries off to try and find others. Ash takes off in the direction of the main area people gather in. A man charges at her. She picks a discarded plate and slams it across his head.

The porcelain dish shatters, cutting his face and her hand. He doesn't stop coming at her. She ducks as he swings at her. Her fingers wrap around a fork and she shoves it in his eye. The man doesn't even react. Instead he picks up a shard of the plate.

"What is it going to get you to stop?" she mutters. She takes off running towards him, jumping off a bench. She manages to get her legs around his neck. Her momentum knocks him to the ground. Before he hits the ground, he slices her thigh. Using the fact she has him pinned, she grabs his head, breaking his neck. She gets up as others come in, Luna leading the group.

"He didn't give me a choice," Ash states.

"I figured," Luna states. Some of her people go and gather the bodies. People start bandaging themselves. Ash takes some of the clean fabric, wrapping her hand and leg. It won't prevent infection but it works for now.

Soon drinks are being handed out for a mass funeral. Ash goes to stand by Bellamy. Well more like she leans on him to get some weight off her leg. Luna talks about those who died, but seems to be focusing on one covered body. As soon as she finishes, Clarke goes to talk to her. Ash downs her cup, trying to ignore all the pain in her body. Octavia drops her cup before collapsing. Ash takes a step towards her before the world starts swaying. She falls forward, landing on her bad shoulder. It gets hard to keep her eyes open. Soon she loses consciousness as the world goes dark.