The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 119

"Lets do this," Raven whispers.

Lexa nods stoically and then gives Anya and Luna a look that I can't determine. Judging by their grateful expressions, it was a silent promise that she'll watch Raven's back.

"Lincoln," I call quietly.

He comes out from the bushes, crouching and moving quickly. I wince as a bullet narrowly misses his foot. Lincoln practically dives behind the boulder with Raven, Lexa, and me.

"Are we ready to go?" Lexa asks.

"Wait!" Octavia's harsh whisper comes from the undergrowth where Lincoln appeared from. "You're not going without me."

"Octavia..." Lincoln murmurs and she gives him a harsh glare that would make a baby cry.

"I'm coming, Lincoln. There's no way in hell or Hogwarts that I'm letting you go back to that place without me. Plus, Bellamy's in there."

"Is this okay with you?" Lincoln asks Lexa and me.

I exchange a quick look with Lexa. "Yeah, of course. I'm sure that if nothing else, she could help guard Raven."

Raven frowns at my wording. "I don't need a babysitter."

"I know you don't. But you can't hack into their mainframe and fend off guards at the same time." I point out.

"That's true," Raven acquiesces. "Should we get going now?"

Lexa shakes her head. "Wait."

"For what?" Raven questions.

"You'll know when you hear it." Lexa says simply.

"Ugh. Fine. Be mysterious." Raven grumbles. "When can I use my grenades?"

"Those are a last resort if you don't care about the Maunon knowing where you are." I remind her quietly, causing Raven to nod somewhat reluctantly.

A few moments later, I hear a surprised yell and yet another thud of a body hitting the ground after falling from a tree. Someone whistles and Lexa grins at me. It's the tune they're supposed to give when we've killed a Maunon sniper. Lexa and I set it up with some group of warriors.

It isn't long before shots ring out, presumably the Maunon trying to shoot the group of warriors we sent up to the hill to kill them. More thuds come between the sounds of gunfire and I turn my attention to Lexa.

She nods to Lincoln, who bows to her before turning around and slightly poking his head out from the safety of the boulder. No bullets come our way. I guess it worked, they're all focused on their attackers instead of us. Lincoln sticks his head out farther and still isn't hit by a rain of sniper bullets, which is a good sign. He gestures with his hand for us to stand.

"Stay with either Octavia or Lincoln." I tell Raven. "And let us know if you need to slow down or stop or anything. There's no shame in needing assistance."

"Thanks." Raven murmurs back.

Lincoln looks back at us from where half of his body is no longer hidden behind the boulder.

"We're ready," Lexa says.

Lincoln quickly moves behind the cover of another nearby boulder and we follow him as fast as we can. The Maunon snipers are really terrible, they haven't even tried to shoot over at us since they became distracted. The screams and occasional gunfire tells me their fight isn't over quite yet. It will be soon.

Lincoln leads us through the trees surrounding the Mountain's base expertly until we reach what looks like an old sewage tunnel from before the bombs. It's still mainly intact but there are some cracks in the cement, especially across the bottom. Maybe that's because people walk in it.

Lincoln has to bend over in order to fit in the tunnel while the rest of us just have to duck our heads. Our footsteps echo loudly as we walk through it. We emerge out the other side not long after entering it since it's a short sewage tunnel.

The cave system we're in kind of reminds me of the place Lexa and I were in the last time were in the Mountain. It's a lot different, though. For one, the walls are sporadically lined with flickering torches. The walls are almost as dark as the shadows the flames cast and drip with water. The sluggish "plop" sounds as it hits the earth makes this place even more eerie. Other than that sound and the soft crackling of fire, the cave system is almost completely silent. I don't see any kind of rat or roach or any creature skittering across the ground. I decide not to dwell on why that might be.

We all group together, walking closer to each other than we normally would. We automatically move so that Raven's in the middle, protected by the rest of us. Lincoln and Octavia are in front while Lexa and I are in the back, looking back every so often to make sure nothing's following us.

Octavia, Lincoln, Lexa, and I all have our hand on our swords, ready to draw them at a moment's notice. Even Raven is holding her handgun. There's just something about this place that feels off. And not just because it looks creepy.

We're all on edge, so when we hear a terrified scream, we all jump and pull out our weapons. Raven's pointing her gun at the faint outlines the torches provide ahead of us, eyes wide in fear. That scream... I've never heard something like that. It sounded like the person saw death themself as the life was tortured out of them.

Lincoln holds up a hand and slowly moves forward. We ignore how he wants us to stay where we are and continue walking a few paces behind him.

Ahead of us, a torch is flickering wildly where there's a wider area in the tunnel. I can barely make out anything, even as we get closer. The sound of someone eating noisily makes us all pause. Just as we do, the torch light up again and I almost wish it didn't.

There's a large person crouched above another person with a blank stare who has to be dead, their teeth sunk into the dead one's arm. Their head snaps up when the light comes back on and they look right at us. They grin, their teeth stained red with blood.

Of course we went into a Reaper tunnel.

Dramatic, right? And I actually like my descriptions of stuff in this chapter! And whoa, Reaper! They'll have to get past them in order to get to the Mountain... Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!