Kingdom of Rivals - The 100 [5]

Chapter 9

Venus's POV

"Have you considered that the worm toxin might still be in her blood?" Indra asked. Octavia was laid out before us, unconscious. Found by her brother, Bellamy, she had seemed to all of a sudden have fallen gravely ill. Something didn't make sense here. Niylah, Jackson, and I were doing the best we could to save her, but so far nothing seemed to be working. If she didn't survive, then how would we survive? Without Octavia leading, there was no way to get to the valley.

Bellamy and Indra were with us now, appearing worried about Octavia's health, but a nagging feeling inside me told me they weren't worried enough – especially Bellamy.

"It's possible," Jackson said answering Indra's question. "Making this a secondary reaction to the substance she was exposed to, but a week ago-"

"English, Jackson." Miller demanded.

"Dialysis won't work. Nothing will."

Indra nodded. "Gather the first battalion," she said as she headed out of the room, followed by Bellamy and Miller. I looked across Octavia's inert body to Jackson.

"Something's not right."

"I know. But without a lab to run blood tests to figure out what's going on, we can't properly treat-"

"Not that. Do you remember when Liv broke her arm?"

Jackson let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah, you never left her side."

"Precisely. And she was awake and talking and, for the most part, okay." I glanced at the door, lowering my voice to a whisper. "Octavia may very well be dying, and her brother couldn't get out of here fast enough."

"Venus, things are different. There's a war-"

"Indra can handle the war. Bellamy didn't even react when you told him nothing would work, he just stood across the room and left." Bellamy loved his sister, no one could deny that. So for him to leave her deathbed so easily, there had to be something else in play. "Bellamy knows something we don't, I'm sure of it." I began to walk towards the door Bellamy had just left through.

"Venus wait." Jackson jogged the few feet over to me. I stopped and turned around. "You're needed here."

I looked from him to Niylah. He had been a doctor for much longer than I had, and Niylah had been treating people since long before she joined us back in Arkadia. I shook my head. "Octavia doesn't need three doctors if nothing we do will help. I'll be back."

Out in the hallways, things were quiet. Bellamy and Indra had already walked out of my sight. Where were they going? The first battalion was large, where in the Bunker was it large enough to hold all of them? My stomach turned as I thought of the place, with its blood soaked walls and history. I thought for a second about which combination of hallways would be the fastest route there, before quickly setting off.

As I got closer, I could hear Indra's words coming from the arena. I slipped through the door, and right inside of it was Bellamy. I reached out and gave his jacket a quick tug. When he turned around to look at me, I motioned him back out through the door.

"What's going on, Bellamy?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do. First the worms, now this. Your sister's dying and you're here at a war meeting."

As if I had spoken of a secret, Bellamy quickly looked around us and pulled me towards a smaller side hallway. He spoke just above a whisper. "It's not a war meeting." He paused for a moment. On his face I could see an internal struggle take place before he spoke again, as if he was trying to decide if he should tell me or not. "Diyoza has offered us peace."