Atlantis

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Lovejoy's key card will get you in the armory. The guns are locked. The guard has the key. I can lure him away if—"

"There's no time. Once I get the guns... how do I get to Level 5?" Bellamy asked. "They're watching every door."

"Maybe not. The mess hall has a trash chute."

"A trash chute?"

"No, really?" Faye said, her face contorting in disgust.

"There's one on every level. Best part, no radiation alarms. The hatches leak like crazy, so they put in air locks to be safe. You get the guns. I'll get them to the mess hall."

"You're a natural-born revolutionary." Bellamy said.

"My mom was the revolutionary. I'm just trying to do what's right."

"Meet back here in 30 minutes."

"Your knife." Faye held out her hand for the weapon.

"We're going to get guns."

"Just give me the knife." Faye said.

"In 20 minutes, your friend will either suffocate or burn." Bellamy and Faye both heard it over the radio.

Bellamy turned and ran back the way they came. "Wait, Bellamy, the guns." Faye mentally scolded everything around her, especially the boy she went chasing after rather than weapons.

Faye ran after Bellamy.

"The trash chute. We don't even have guns." Faye told him.

"Just help me get it open. You can tell me how bad it is when we get to my friends."

Faye rolled her eyes, holding in all the unnecessary comments she wanted to say, and helped Bellamy get the hatch open.

"Ladies first." Faye said, stepping back.

Bellamy got in, feet first, and slid down the chute. Faye went in next. They helped get Maya and Jasper in, then they went further down the chute.

They landed in a metal bin.

"I think I broke something." Maya said.

"Other than my fall?" Faye rolled off of the girl and helped her get the headpiece of her suit off.

"Decontamination complete. All clear." A computer said.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Maya asked.

"What your mother would have done." Maya hugged her father. Jasper hugged Bellamy.

- - -

"It's all clear. Relax, Maya took out the cameras." Bellamy said.

"Yeah, we're still sitting ducks in a group like this." A boy said.

"You're right, so we're gonna split up." Faye suggested.

"No. We do this together. We survive together." A boy with black, shaggy hair said.

"Faye is right."

"They don't trust Maya anymore. Who the hell's gonna help us now?"

Bellamy tilted his head towards the other hallway. "They are."

"We're gonna hide you." Maya said. A dozen people stood behind her. "Not everyone here agrees with Cage. Not by a long shot."

"Come with me. We'll divide you along the way." Maya's father said.

"Let's go." Faye told Bellamy.

"Hey, we're coming with you." Jasper said.

"No, you're not. They don't know we're here. We need to keep it that way."

"So, what do we do?" The black haired boy asked.

"Stay alive. Be ready to fight. War is coming."

- - -

"What's happening?" Faye asked when Bellamy couldn't get the door open.

"Bellamy. Faye. Come in." Raven said.

"Yeah, we're a little busy here, Raven."

"You missed check-in. Did you find the source of the acid fog yet?"

"We're making our way there now. It's taking longer than I thought."

"I do t know enough to crack it on this end." Raven said. "You gotta give me something."

"We're working on it." Bellamy said.  "Somethings wrong."

"What?"

"My key card isn't working."

"That's not good."

"We need to find another way in. I'll call you back."

"Uh, Bellamy." Faye said, looking towards the guards who had just found them.

"Stay right there. Hands in the air."

Bellamy took off running, pushing Faye up the stairs.  The guards yelled at them as they went down flights of stairs and through hallways.

Faye's lungs were getting dry and her legs tired. "There's no way. No escape."

"Shh, shh."

One of the guards came around the corner. Bellamy grabbed his wrist and beat him till he was down. Bellamy found his key card and took it.

"Come on." Bellamy said, getting the door opened.

- - -

Bellamy knocked on the door and a man poked his head out.

"Vincent, we need your help."

"It's all over the radio. They know about you. Anyone see you come here?"

"No. We've been keeping to the vents and unmonitored halls, like you said."

"Vincent."

Faye drew her knife and Bellamy drew his gun.

"It's okay. Lee's with us." Vincent said.

"Dante was like a father to me. Some of us don't agree with Cage's agenda." Lee said.

"Where's Jasper, Monty and Maya?" Bellamy asked.

"They're okay." Vincent said. "Thanks to Lee, we moved them to a wing that's already been searched."

Bellamy lowered his gun. "Isn't that a risk?"

"We had no choice. They've gone public with what happened on Level 5. They're saying you killed 10 soldiers. I don't know how much longer we can keep this shell game going. Did you take out the acid fog yet?"

"No." Bellamy put his gun back, but Faye kept her knife on hand. "No, that's why we're here. We're gonna need another route."

"Way ahead of you. You can get there through the retrofit zones." Vincent pulled a map and Bellamy cleared a space on the table. "They're off-limits."

"What?"

"No cameras, no patrols. We used some to move the kids. And that's your other route. You'll also gonna need this. An acetylene torch. Go to the northwest corridor."