trepidation |BELLAMY BLAKE| [1]

CHAPTER 55

"GUYS, THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING THEY'VE DONE FOR US."

Unfortunately, Dante had gotten to Jasper before Avery did, and he was able to get through to him.

He wanted them to volunteer.

"I mean, they gave us shelter, clean clothes. They kept us safe from the Grounders." Avery glanced around at everyone, and most of them were skeptical, which she was grateful for, "Miller? They saved your life, right?"

"Dude, you both puked for 3 days." He reasoned,

"That was different. The normal treatments wouldn't be as bad." Jasper defended,

Avery crossed her arms, "Or, so they say." She commented and Jasper sent her a small glare,

"So what, then? Only puking for one day?" Miller shook his head, "Nah. I'm out."

Everyone began to follow suit and Avery's anxiety seemed to lessen. She didn't want to see them drained of their blood, too weak to fight back.

"Come on!" Jasper scoffed, "They gave us cake! I got a sign-up sheet."

Everyone left the room except for Avery and Monty, "Dude. What are you doing?" Monty asked his best friend,

"What?"

Avery narrowed her eyes, "When did you start working for them?" She shook her head, "You know what? Never mind. Now that you're better, we're going after Clarke."

Maya and Beckett walked into the room, a large smile on the girl's face, "Of course. Right on time." Monty whispered,

She looked a lot better than when Avery last saw her... like, one hundred times better,

"Hey, guys." Beckett held up a paper that said 'ACT NORMAL. THEY'RE LISTENING'. "Jasper, Avery, I'm so glad to see you're feeling better."

The three of them exchanged worried looks before Jasper responded, "Thanks. We are."

She turned the page, 'THE BREACH WASN'T AN ACCIDENT. FOLLOW ME.'

"You look, um, rested."

"Hey, it's pizza day!" Maya looked nervous, "Who's hungry?"

The three of them followed Maya and Beckett out of the room and she brought them to a door that Avery didn't recognise. The five of them squeezed into a small room, and the two Mount Weather residents turned to them,

"We don't have much time, but we can talk freely here." Maya stated,

"What the hell is going on?" Jasper asked. Tears filled the girl's eyes and Jasper turned to Beckett, "What do you mean, it wasn't an accident?"

"They mean they exposed Maya and Mason to radiation on purpose." Avery stated, staring at Beckett, "Didn't they?"

He nodded before Monty spoke, "I'm betting it was to get you two to agree to be their blood brothers." He glanced at Avery, "You were right."

"Did you know about this?" Jasper asked the two,

Maya shook her head, "No."

"And why would they do that to you?" Jasper questioned,

"Because the standard treatment sucks compared to you." Maya reasoned,

"That's what Dante said."

"What's the standard treatment?" Monty asked,

"Through there." Beck led them around the shelves, pointing at a vent in the wall. The trio peered through the slats to see the cages that Avery had seen before.

"Oh, my God." Jasper gasped,

"Are those..." Monty gulped nervously, "All Grounders?"

"Told you." Avery muttered to Jasper,

Hopefully now she could get him to see that these people weren't the good guys.

"Wait a second." Monty turned back to Maya and Beck, "Why are you showing us this?"

"Because we're afraid that you're next." Maya whimpered,

Avery crossed her arms, "Who else knows about the Grounders?"

Beck and Maya shared a look, "Everyone, but nobody talks about it." He answered, "We learn not to ask questions."

"Look, without the treatments, we'd die." Maya defended, "What are we supposed to do?"

"Die." Monty said without hesitation.

It was true. Just because you're desperate to survive, didn't mean you had to throw ethics and morals out the window. Especially since they had nearly 100 years to think of a different solution than mass murder.

Avery shrugged, "It's called natural selection."

"We have to get out of here. Dante said we could leave, right?" Monty asked,

"He was lying." Avery stated, "He told me I could go after her, but he knew I wasn't going to leave you guys." She shared a look with Beckett, "Just like he knew I'd do what had to be done to save Mason."

"So we don't ask." Monty replied, "You helped Clarke get out, right? We can go that same way."

Maya shook her head, "You'll never make it. Ever since Clarke disappeared, security all around the mountain has been increased."

"We have to try."

"We're not leaving." Avery told them, "I won't leave the others behind. Not if it means they end up in there." She pointed to the window, where they could still hear the groans,

"What choice do we have?" Monty asked,

Avery sighed, and hated that they all looked to her. Clarke and Bellamy weren't here to help, if was all down to her.

She's either gonna save them, or get them killed.

Why did it have to be her?

"We volunteer."