Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 61: All Fall Down

The explosion below them shakes the whole room. For a moment everyone looks wildly at each other, wondering if it's part of their hallucinations, before realising that they all reacted to the same noise.

"We're under attack," Emerson says, face paling. He raises his gun at Clarke and winces, seeing another hallucination. Blood starts to dribble down from his nose. "You did this, I know you did -"

"Father?" Cage says dazedly. "Father, I didn't mean to – please, Father – forgive me -" Most of the room are like him now, locked in their own little worlds.

Emerson dives across the room towards Clarke, waving his gun like it's a sword instead. A shot goes off and buries itself in the wall. The other soldiers react – some of them seem less affected than the others – starting towards her as well. Clarke's father keeps appearing next to her mother, Wells chokes to death on the floor, and Raven screams at the ceiling. Meanwhile Lexa slumps next to Clarke, bleeding out, but when Clarke reaches for her frantically there's nothing there.

Clarke decides that, on the whole, she doesn't like jobi nuts. Jobi nuts are awful, especially in gaseous form. Why the hell did they bring jobi nuts into this plan? Even though she knows she's hallucinating, she keeps forgetting. "Dad?" she says, then slumps to the floor.

Then a soldier reaches out for her and she kicks him, hard. He makes a pained noise but covers her hands with his anyway, squeezing them roughly and painfully, and she realises he's trying to take the trigger from her but keep the button down. She kicks him again and again, wildly, and eventually he lets out a choked scream and coughs more blood onto her.

"Clarke!" her mother looks down at her – not the one on the bed, another one, a younger one, face disapproving. "You need learn to share." Clarke glances at the soldier, but it's not a soldier, of course it's not, why would there be a soldier in her room? It's Wells and he wants the toy she's holding. She likes Wells, he's nice, of course she should share with him. She lets go of it.

He falls back and it's not Wells anymore but a soldier again – shit, this stuff is potent when you burn it. He has the trigger but almost immediately drops it. The four or five people in the room still coherent enough to know what's going on flinch as the button pops up, but nothing happens. The trigger rolls across the floor harmlessly.

"What?" Emerson says hoarsely. Then he's her teacher, she's learning Earth Skills and it's a test. "Why didn't it go off?"

She wants to pass the test. "Oh, it's because -"Then she blinks and realises what she's doing, realises it's Emerson, but decides to keep going anyway. She wants him to know. Clarke gives him a dark grin. "My mechanic isn't very good at making nuclear bombs, it turns out. She's pretty great at EMPs though. All your most important systems are within fifty feet of here, right? Vertically and horizontally." That's better, she can see what's real now if she concentrates. "I didn't really like the idea of carrying around a nuclear bomb anyway. Kinda dangerous." She spits out blood on the floor.

He blinks, and she realises his eyes are starting to get more focused as well. Maybe the smoke from the burnt jobi nuts is dissipating. Either way, he's looking straight at her without a problem. "It's... that was an EMP? You pressed it and it knocked out... But what about...?" He touches a hand to his mouth, which has blood seeping out the side.

"Turns out the 'savages' are still a fair bit smarter than you," Clarke says spitefully. She coughs up some more blood. "Fun, right? It's a virus. Biological warfare. Octavia and I got it from a kid in TonDC who travelled there just for us. You guys got it from Octavia, she's immune but she's still a carrier. Maybe you shouldn't torture people so up close and personal, it's very catching. Don't worry. Most people survive. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your family -"