trepidation |BELLAMY BLAKE| [1]

CHAPTER 52

MONTY PULLED AVERY INTO THE DORM ROOM, WHERE JASPER AND MAYA WERE TALKING,

"Is it true?" He asked her,

"Is what true?"

He glanced around, eyeing the other couple in the room before lowering his voice, "Clarke left? Like... abandoned us?"

"She didn't abandon us." Avery hissed, "She went to get help."

"Why didn't you go with her?" Monty questioned,

Avery squeezed Monty's arm, "I wasn't going to leave you guys. Someone needed to stay behind to protect you."

"Protect us from what?"

"From them."

Mason entered the room and tugged on her hand, "Are you leaving?"

Avery stared down at him, "Mason, what are you doing here?"

"Beck told me about your friend leaving so I came to ask if you were leaving, too." He answered, squeezing her hand,

She gave him a comforting smile, "No, I'm not going anywhere, kid." Avery brushed his hair back and frowned as she noticed how warm his forehead was, "Hey, Mason, are you feeling okay?"

"It's really hot in here." He mumbled, his skin turning red, as if he was feeling flushed.

Avery turned to speak to Maya, only to find her gasping for air against the wall, "Radiation." She gasped out, "There's a containment breach."

Avery lifted Mason into her arms as his legs gave out and he was screaming in pain. Maya tried to use her card to exit the room, but it wasn't working.

"What do we do?" Monty asked as they all rushed over to her,

"I don't know!"

Maya collapsed onto the ground, blisters covering her skin. Mason began crying into Avery's neck, "It hurts." He sobbed,

The alarm began blaring through the halls and Avery squeezed him closer, "We'll get you out of here." Avery whispered, stroking his hair, "Guys!"

Monty and Jasper began banging on the door, "Help!" They screamed, trying to get someone's attention, "Someone help!"

The guards ran in, dressed in hazmat suits, "What's going on?" Jasper asked as they stretchered her and Mason away.

"Radiation poisoning," Dr. Tsing answered before they took them into the medical wing.

The three of them sat outside the room, waiting for the doctors to stabilise Maya and Mason.

"What happened? Where is he?" Beckett rushed over, wearing a hazmat suit,

"They're taking care of him right now." Avery answered, crossing her arms, "Beck, what happened?"

"There was a leak." He paced, "It seems like only Maya and Mason were affected."

The door opened and Dr. Tsing came out, "We had to sedate them, but they're stabilised now."

The four of the entered the room and Avery's eyes watered as she observed the blisters that covered their bodies,

Beckett walked over to Mason's bed and squeezed his hand, "Hey, buddy." He whispered, "I'm here."

"Temperature's 104 and rising. Blood pressure 180 over 120. Blister coverage now 75%." Dr. Tsing stated, "Standard treatment isn't working."

"Wait. What does that mean?" Jasper questioned. "Is there a non-standard treatment?"

Dr. Tsing glanced up at them from her clipboard, "There is one thing we could try."

"Then what are you waiting for?!" Jasper seemed to panic.

"It's... unorthodox." Tsing replied, approaching them, "Because you were raised in space, your circulatory systems developed the ability to filter radiation out of your blood. Now it's just a theory, but if we were to circulate Maya and Mason's blood through your system..."

"We could make them better." Jasper finished.

Avery bit her lip. She knew what was happening. They wanted to try out their blood instead of the Grounder's.

"What happens if we do it?" Avery asked and Beckett gazed over at her,

"I'm not sure." Dr. Tsing answered,

Monty glanced between Avery and Jasper, "I know that look. Don't even think about it. It's too dangerous."

"I'm in." Jasper stated.

Dr. Tsing looked over at her, "Avery?"

Avery bit her lip and Beckett walked over to her, "You don't have to do this."

"I know I shouldn't." Avery mumbled, "There's a bigger agenda here... but if it's to save Mason, I'll do it."

Beck sighed and squeezed her hand, "Thank you."

Dr. Tsing had Mason moved into a separate room while Avery got changed into a hospital gown. She told Monty to stay with Jasper while he got his procedure done.

Avery laid in the bed next to Mason, glancing over at the poor boy. She was grateful that they were able to take his pain away.

"You sure about this?" Beck asked as Dr. Tsing prepped the area on her neck,

She nodded, "Yeah."

Tsing inserted a needle into her neck and she winced, "Ready?"

"Not really." Avery gulped nervously,

She placed a small tube into the cap that was placed into her neck. They watched as blood left Mason's body and entered through the tube in Avery's arm. She began to feel woozy from the sedative that they had given Mason.

"You okay?" Beck asked, watching her head tip from side to side.

"'M fine." She mumbled laying back, "Gotta... gotta save him."

Her thoughts grew fuzzy before everything went dark.