The Commander of The Founders: Book Two

Chapter One: Echoes

Clarke moved over to Didrika and nudged her shoulder. Didrika had been staring off into space. Clarke could not blame her. The screams of misery and the accumulation of past events would leave Didrika and her people scarred. Didrika knew that people looked to the leader for what to do. She had seen chaos erupt when Trea was not there at Cavikru years ago to give orders to grieving people. The wailing grounders pulled themselves on their feet and looked to her. Didrika knew what to do. She told the wailing people to grieve and rest. They looked at her stunned. She ignored that. She raced down the hall and found the healers. She ordered them to tend to the wounded and line up the dead for identification. Didrika had not realized that Lorelei, Bellamy, and Clarke were following her. She was not paying attention to that at the moment. Didrika moved down the tower and called for unchipped warriors to lower people from the crosses and bring them to the healers. The adrenaline had finally subsided and she was ready to crash.

Didrika finally turned to her followers. They seemed to be annoyed with her sudden burst of energy. She rolled her eyes at them. Lorelei pressed her for the information that Clarke and her were keeping from them. Clarke spared her the need to tell them. Clarke said that they were all going to be dead in six months from radiation. Lorelei shook her head. She did not want to deal with it while they were finishing their current situation. Didrika nodded at her and told her to join the warriors removing people from crosses. Lorelei took off in a run.

Bellamy excused himself too and ran off to find Octavia. Didrika needed to find her too. Clarke looked at her and they nodded at each other. They chased after Bellamy. They reached him at the entrance of the tower. He looked around in gloom. Devastation was clearly noticeable in his posture. Clarke touched his shoulder and he looked down at her lazily.

"She'll be okay. Octavia can take care of herself," Clarke told Bellamy.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Bellamy said.

"She won't be charged. Everyone will say that Pike had it coming," Clarke said.

"Maybe we all do," Bellamy replied.

"Bellamy, Octavia is under my protection. No one will touch her," Didrika said.

Bellamy eyed her skeptically. He knew she had a thing for his sister. He wanted to know what her deal was. She was dating Lorelei, her bodyguard. He doubted she had romantic feelings for Octavia. He wanted to make sure she did not have a motive of using his sister. He highly doubted she just wanted to be her friend. Grounders always had a secret agenda.

Clarke turned her head away from Bellamy and stared at the horror in front of her. Crosses were slowly being pulled down. The healers had set up a clinic in the middle of the pathway. They took care of victims who had a likely chance of survival. They killed those who did not. The dead were being placed alongside the tower wall in a block setting. Family members slowly shuffled through the rows of dead to identify their loved ones. Clarke was amazed; she had never seen the grounders so organized. She was disgusted too; she had never seen the real carnage of war. Her lips quivered and she looked at Didrika.

"How do we tell these people that the world is ending after everything they've been through?" Clarke asked.

"We don't, not until we know Allie was telling you the truth," Bellamy said.

"It was the truth," Clarke said.

"Still, keep it to ourselves until we know what we're dealing with and how to stop it," Bellamy said.

Clarke looked at Bellamy in disbelief. She thought about it. She wanted to do what was right but making the right choices seemed to be getting harder every day. Didrika saw her hesitation to deny Bellamy and clenched her jaw.