Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Twenty-Three

Sorry for the short chapter since there were no Mount Weather Harper and Monty scenes in this episode. 

***

It had only been two days since they were taken, but Monty and Aella had their fair share of torture. Sure, Monty looked healthy which led Aella to believe they only drilled into him once or haven't gotten around to it yet.

Harper had her bone marrow taken so many times before they arrived, but since Dr. Tsing was so interested in Aella's black blood, Harper was of less use at that moment. 

She cared more about her people's well-being than her own, so whenever she wasn't the one being strapped to the table, she rattled her cage enough that Dr. Tsing decided to take more of her bone marrow. They never had a person with black blood before, so they wanted to run many tests on the bone marrow.

At that moment, nobody's marrow was being taken because Dr. Tsing and Cage Wallace had something else to attend to, so the three were talking in their cages.

"You have to stop volunteering," Harper rasped weakly to Aella. "It's gonna get you killed."

"If I have to stop volunteering, so do you," she responded. The two made a silent pact to protect Monty, but Aella was the main volunteer since she'd rather feel the pain of being drilled into than hear the screams of her friends. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Monty asked weakly. He hadn't been drilled into much if at all, but he couldn't sleep at all. He was also starving like the girls.

"Nothing," Aella lied. 

"You're talking about me, aren't you?"

"Maybe." She curled up in her cage, trying to keep warm. She had lost so much weight that she was nearly skin and bones, so trying to stay warm was near impossible. 

"Are you guys volunteering for me?"

"Maybe."

He weakly reached one hand to the cage next to him where Aella was situated and one to the cage above him where Harper was. He held their hands through the cage and sighed. "You need to stop it."

"No way, M." She grabbed his hand in return and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. "No fucking way."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Harper started coughing up a storm and she let go of Monty's hand. When she stopped, he grabbed her hand again. It must have been some sort of reassuring move that they couldn't be taken from each other and it was beautiful, but also depressing.

It wouldn't last. They couldn't hold on forever and one of them was bound to die soon. With the way they're draining the bone marrow, Aella or Harper would die much sooner than they hoped.

They lost hope. It was sad to see, but hearing the screams of pain or being the one screaming in pain was soul-crushing. 

What they didn't know was that Bellamy Blake was on his way to save them all, or give it his best shot.

"We're gonna die in here," Harper said, sobbing. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Harper," Aella assured. "Who knows? Jasper knows we're gone and maybe is getting help. Don't lose hope yet." She had already lost hope, but she wouldn't admit it yet. She wasn't one to be hopeless, but there was no way to help her people from inside a cage.

"Kinda hard not to, you know?" Monty whispered, still holding their hands as tight as he could. It hurt, but he'd be damned if he ever let go of two of the most important girls in his life.