Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Forty-One

"Becca's journal is amazing," Raven remarked, her voice slightly shaky from the rough tumbles the rover hit. "At 26, she found a pathway to access a human mind. That same year, she had to lock up A.L.I.E. because her answer for what was wrong with the world was 'too many people.' She was 27 when it launched the bombs."

"What did she write about the Flame?" Clarke asked.

"A.L.I.E. 2.0. She saw it as a way to atone for her sins. She designed it to not just access a human mind but to merge with one. It could never wipe us out because it would be one of us. She would put it in herself first, altered her genes so her body wouldn't reject the implant."

"Bekka Pramheda, the first Commander. The gene therapy made her blood black, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Raven responded.

"How did you know that?" Octavia asked.

"Nightblood," Aella connected. "Black blood."

"It somehow became hereditary, but you're just kind of a mystery to me, Aella," Clarke admitted. "Luna has it. That's why we have to find her. If she can access A.L.I.E. two..."

"She can tell us how to stop A.L.I.E. one," Octavia finished.

"Why not just put the damn thing in me?" Aella asked. "Luna might not even want to take it."

"We're not risking it," Bellamy answered immediately from the driver's seat. "We don't know how your blood would react."

"Bekka Pramheda wasn't born with it and yet she was fine. I'm sure the same formula somehow runs through my veins."

"We're not risking it," he repeated. "We find Luna."

"If A.L.I.E. uses it to upload our minds to the City of Light, then there's a chance my mom's still alive," Monty murmured while holding the Flame in his hand.

"That depends on your definition of 'alive,'" Raven retorted. 

"Eyes sharp," Bellamy interjected. "Weapons high. We're almost home. Miller, come in."

The static emitting from the radio showed no signs of anyone being on the other end, but Miller had to be.

"Harper, you there?"

Nothing.

"What's wrong?" Archer asked. He was sitting on Aella's lap, overhearing everything.

"I'm sure nothing's wrong," she responded, rubbing his shoulders. "It's okay, baby."

They began to roll up to Arkadia, so every able-bodied person (minus Archer, of course, because Aella wouldn't allow it) surrounded the vehicle with weapons ready. Monty was driving and Jasper acted as the lookout on the top of the rover.

"We left two days ago," Clarke murmured. "Why haven't they fixed the gate?"

"Maybe because there's no one here to fix it," Jasper said solemnly.

Bellamy walked alongside Aella with a gun trained on anything that dared to move. He held the radio up to his mouth and asked, "Miller, where the hell are you? I don't like this."

"Maybe they got chipped," Jasper pondered.

"If they got chipped, they'd be waiting for us at the cave."

"Maybe they saw the open gate. Went in for Lincoln's book."

"Maybe you should stop saying  'maybe,'" Octavia muttered.

"If they're chipped, A.L.I.E. already knows we're coming," Clarke pointed out.

They inched closer until the rover stopped. Octavia's breath caught in her throat when she noticed the spot of blood on the ground that could be easily identified as Lincoln's. Swallowing her tears, she said, "Let's get his book and get the hell out of here."