Chasing the Wind

Chapter Eight

Octavia gave the order to shoot all the defectors. Only six out of twenty made it to the dropship.

Thankfully, Echo was one of those six.

Bellamy stormed over to Octavia's tent. Cooper tried to stop him, but it didn't work. My grip tightened on the small dagger I now kept at my side.

"You ordered the snipers to stand down," Bellamy growled, "So why did I find one shooting at everyone running for the ship?"

"You really think they believed I'd just let them go?" Octavia asked, "It would make it seem like there was someone there we wanted to survive."

Bellamy glared at her as Cooper added, "Echo was one of the survivors." She turned to Bellamy, "Regrettably."

As she walked away, I grabbed Bellamy's arm and held him back before he could snap her neck.

"Echo got in with Monty's backdoor flashdrive," Octavia told us, "Now get. Out."

Keeping a firm grip on Bellamy's arm, I dragged him out of the tent, "Echo's alive. If she was injured or killed, I wouldn't care if you murdered Cooper. But right now, we have bigger problems than who tried to shoot who."

"Next time," Cooper hissed from around the side of the tent, "I won't miss."

Bellamy's response was interrupted by, "Cooper. Come in."

The woman smirked, "I hope you get eaten by those worms before I next see you." She left.

The creepy parasite worms that make your insides explode? Come to think of it, I'd actually like to see Cooper die like that, but I supposed I'd also rather kill her myself.

If Bellamy didn't get to her first.

"I'll go talk to Monty, see if he has a way of farming to avoid war," I said, eager to get away from this situation.

Monty wasn't in his tent, so I thought through where else he may be. I checked Harpers tent and the farmers meeting.

Nothing.

I was an idiot. Farmer. Monty was a farmer. Where would he be if not the farm?

I slipped into the bunker and through the levels until I got to the farm.

Strangely enough, Monty wasn't there, but before I could leave, a firm hand was placed over my mouth, silencing me and dragging me backwards behind one of the walls of dying plants.

Whipping around to face whomever was attacking me, I saw Bellamy and Clarke. They were staring at something. As my head poked around the corner, I saw what had caught their attention.

Cooper was rolling a table into a backroom. The ominous table had a large bag on it.

"Leave it," she ordered the Wonkru soldiers who'd helped her move it. I spotted Miller among them.

She closed the door and walked out of the farm room behind the guards.

"What was that?" I whispered.

"We don't know," Clarke muttered back, but she opened the door and walked through.

Tarps of cloth covered tables with long round cylinders on them. Removing the tarps, Clarke gasped.

Cooper was breeding the worms. And she never did anything unless Octavia ordered it.

"They're experimenting on humans," Clarke whispered.

"Octavia wouldn't order this," Bellamy shook his head in denial.

I shuddered at my next words, "Octavia's changed."

"She wouldn't-"

"She'll release the worms on the next defector ship," Clarke realized, "They're experimenting on living subjects."

Following her gaze, I saw a man, shaking with fear, clutching his stomach as the worms crawled inside of him.

"We have to stop her," I stated the obvious.

"How?"

Clarke sighed, "I don't know. I'll see if I can talk with Diyoza for peace. You two need to make sure Octavia doesn't know that we know."

Great. Not hard at all.

Clarke ran off down the hallway, but Bellamy was still shaking his head, "Octavia wouldn't do this."

I whispered, "I'm sorry, Bell. Your sister's changed."

We walked out into the camp, and both split up. Bellamy went to go find his sister. I only let him because he promised he wouldn't tell Octavia we knew about the worms.

He only agreed because he knew the alternative would be me locking him in a cell until Clarke found a way to make peace.

I looked around camp, but Clarke and Madi were nowhere to be found. There was probably a new development with the whole, 'Madi is a nightblood, a potential commander, and therefore a threat' problem.

Octavia would be dead before she could lay a finger on Madi. Clarke would insure that, as would Gaia. Indra's daughter turned out to be an old flamekeeper. She may not want Madi to ascend against her will, but she would do everything possible to keep all nightbloods safe.

That included me.

Octavia didn't seem to care that I was a nightblood. If she killed Madi, she'd come after me. But she knows me. She'd kill me first, because if Madi turned up dead, I'd know she was coming.

Eventually, as I walked around one of the darker corners in camp, someone grabbed me around the neck and covered my mouth, pulling me down into the bunker.

"Quiet," Bellamy whispered as the trapdoor shut above us.

"Clarke, please tell me you have a plan," Monty begged as he sat behind the computer, "Echo installed the flashdrive, and its only a matter of time before Octavia finds out."

I glared at them, "Finds out about what?"

"The deal Clarke made with Diyoza," Monty answered.

"The only way for us to share the valley," Clarke sighed, "Is an unconditional Wonkru surrender."

Bellamy shook his head, "Octavia won't agree to that."

The discussion/argument went on and on about what to do. Theories of ways to talk Octavia into surrender included telling her that someone's life was on the line, or that the missile system was active again, and aimed at the bunker.

But none of these scenarios played out right.

If someone's life was on the line, then the moment Octavia had them back, she'd order her army to attack, and they'd all obey without question.

And that was if she even wanted them back.

If the missile system was supposedly active again, Octavia would just march anyway. She would tell Echo to be more useful or tell Monty to find a way to shut it down.

The discussion still went around in circles following all possible cases except one.

"There's only one way she'll stand down," Clarke said.

"No," Bellamy nearly shouted, "Out of the option. That's my sister!"

Monty snapped, "Quiet. They'll hear us."

"Bell, its the only way," Clarke said.

"No," Bellamy refused, "That is out of the option."

Clarke sighed, "I'm sorry, but the only way Wonkru will stand down is if your sister is no longer in power."

"We can't-" I stuttered, "You can't be thinking of-"

"The only way to take her out of power," Clarke continued, twitching her fingers nervously, "Is to eliminate her."