BOOK ONE IN THE SALVATION SERIES
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
"You just ripped off Winston Churchill."
"Wow, Blake, congratulations...
" she faked patience without knowing how long it would last. Until the day she created an explosion "
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"Hey, apparently we're supposed to start working on landmines, but I didn't know if Jas-" I stop mid sentence, my eyes widening at Raven's frantic packing. "What the hell are you doing?" I object, walking closer to Raven.
I grab her elbow, which she jerks away. "Get out Avalon," Raven insists, and I shake my head. I stare at the pack she had filled with bullets and a gun, blankets, some rations.
"Raven, you're not leaving," I demand it more than question it, my eyes blazing with heat. She couldn't be, she couldn't be leaving me.
"I'm getting out of this damn camp," Raven argues, turning to me with a wild look in her eyes. They darken, staring at me with such sadness and despair.
"Where would you go? And besides, you were just going to leave me?" I question, my voice strained. My brow creases, wringing my hands as Raven's movements slow. She turns to me, her face sunken.
"The woods, that's all there is here. We're sitting ducks, and I'm finding someplace safe. You have Finn, and Bellamy. They need you, and nobody needs me," Raven attempts to argue, and my jaw goes slack. For the first time in a while, the words seem to just come to my mind easily, like how they did when I wrote.
I swallow hard, trying to push past the part where Raven said nobody needed her. That hurt me, to see her like this. She was beginning to become broken, just like everyone down here. And all I could do was stand by and watch. It's like the old saying, that most beautiful things were the most easily broken.
"Raven, this camp needs you. You're a genius, alright? I couldn't do what you do. If not for the camp, then for me. I don't care if I have them, because none of it matters if you aren't here. I'm here because of you," My face reddens realizing my speech, and Raven's face goes white. I meant what I said, but it hangs in the air loosely, Raven obviously not knowing what to say. My mind was just spinning with the realization that Raven might be leaving me ,and how I couldn't let that happen.
Raven and I had been through everything together. I found a friend in her as a lonely kid, who had no one— until her, and she probably saved my life. I had become so used to her being there, that trying to imagine it without her would be hard. And definitely not something I would let happen.
"For a smart person, you're kind of stupid. Going alone? That's not the genius move," I point out, attempting to lighten my statement from before. Raven pauses for a moment, her hands falling still by her sides.
"He was half my life," Raven whispers, her eyes threatening to water. "I just need time, Hood," She mumbles, and I smile sadly at the old nickname. I missed the times where I would come to her quarters with a gift, and see the smile on her face as a little kid. She didn't really smile like that anymore. No one does, it rarely follows to your eyes.
