The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 60

"Lexa." I choke out. I turn to the girl in the cage next to her, the one that called me over here. "Is she okay?"

She purses her lips. "Yes and no." She lowers her voice. "Before I give you more information, you must hide. There is a guard scheduled to come any second now."

I nod to show that I understand and move from my knees up into a crouching position. I hear slow footsteps coming toward me. The guard hums, the sound of them running their fingers along the metal bars of the cages making me flinch. Their walkie talkie crackles and they pause.

"Do you see her, Jefferson?" The person on the other end of the radio asks.

"No. You should chill, Cage. Get that stick out of your butt. If she's as smart as you think she is, there's no way she's here." The guards drawls.

"You need to learn some respect." Cage growls. "Keep patrolling."

I can practically hear the guard's eyes roll. "Yes, sir."

The radio crackles again and I hear the guard reattach it to their uniform. They start walking again, humming a tune I don't recognize. They walk right past the row I'm in, not noticing me. I get up from my crouch and sneak up behind them. I wrap my arm around their neck and their arms go up to try to pry me off of them, choking. They continue struggling, but it gets fainter. When they stop I let go and let them crumple to the ground.

I move their unconscious body to an area where they won't be found easily and take their clothing, leaving mine draped over them so they won't be too cold. I grab the handgun they have and all the ammo I can find. I leave the jacket they were wearing off to give to Lexa. I rush back to her cage and sit on the floor, looking at the girl who talked to me earlier. She looks impressed.

"Smart, sky girl." She nods to the clothes.

"Can you explain now?" I ask worriedly.

"Yes, of course. Heda was taken to there." She points and I fight my gag reflex when I see two people hanging upside down, their blood being drained through clear tubes. "I believe they did that just for fun, to make us angry. A group of guards gathered around her and laughed as they watched her life blood drain from her." She shudders at the memory. "They mocked how she did not fight, though we all know that she wouldn't allow them up have an excuse to kill her or harm us."

"Gods, Lexa." I breathe, wiping away a few tears. "When will she wake up?"

"She should wake up soon. I warn you, she will be tired and weaker than normal." We sit in silence for a moment. "Heda talked about you a lot. Between her plans to help everyone escape, of course." She chuckles softly. "That is how I knew it was you. She described you very well. It kept her sane. Many of us expected her to lose hope that you would come, but she never did."

"Wait. How long has she been here?" I ask, internally panicking.

"It is hard to tell in here." She squints and cocks her head, thinking. "But I would guess about a week."

"A week? I was unconscious for a week?" I start swearing, probably louder than I should. I left her here while a took a nap for a week! Float the Maunon. I should have killed that leader guy when I had the chance. A fricking week!

"Clarke?" A soft voice asks and my head snaps to Lexa, recognizing it immediately.

"Hey." I say quietly. "Hang in there, I'll get you out."

She blinks rapidly, like her eyes are adjusting to being open and nods. I rush over to the lab station I saw earlier. It has the map Maya told me about pinned above it and I quickly take it down, stuffing it into one of the front pocket in the pants. I search all over for keys and groan, annoyed when I can't find one. That just means it'll take a bit longer to get her out but I want to hold her in my arms. I see a paper clip and take a hair clip from my hair (they seriously did my hair while I was asleep? Creepy).

I head back to Lexa, crouching in front of the cage and bending the pieces of metal into shape. I stick out my tongue slightly in concentration, putting them in the lock and wiggling it around. I grin victoriously when it clicks and I pull open the cage door.

I crawl halfway in so I can help Lexa out. She sits on the floor in front of it and lets out a breath. I pull her into a hug and she relaxes in my arms. I pull away slightly so I can look into her eyes.

"How are you feeling, Lexa? Are you alright?"

"I am tired, but I am okay."

I nod, trying to let her words reassure and soothe me. It only works slightly. "You lost a lot of blood. That's a common cause of fatigue like that."

Lexa takes my hands in hers and squeezes gently, giving me a soft smile that always makes me melt. She's still alarmingly pale and it'll take her a while to recover.

Remembering the jacket, I (reluctantly) remove my hands from the comfort of hers and drape it over her shoulders.

"We need to leave soon." I say.

"Clarke, our people are locked up here." Lexa protests.

"I know, but this is one of those times where the only good option is to retreat. We'll be safe here for a little longer, but we don't have weapons or armor except for this handgun. But I barely know how to use it and I bet you've never touched a gun." I hold her hands again. "Hey. We have people out there, too. I bet they'll be happy to know that we unintentionally infiltrated our biggest enemy. I have a detailed map, and we can regroup and rescue then another time."

"We can take down their guards." I can hear in Lexa's voice that she doesn't even believe that.

"Babe, they have more guns and more ammunition." I remind her gently. She sighs, running a hand through her hair.

"Go, Heda." The woman who's been helping me urges. "Take your houmon (partner) and go. When you have a good plan, come back. We will be okay."

Something beeps long and loud and I turn around, recognizing that the boy who was being drained is dead. I blink back tears and the quietness in the room turns to silence as everyone mourns his death. They must've picked up what that means after it happened a bunch of times.

"We will be back as soon as we can. May we meet again, Haice." Lexa says, nodding to the woman who helped us. At least now I know her name.

Well. That was depressing. And longer than my usual chapters by almost 200 words! Next chapter is when they escape. Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments! Stay awesome!