SIX

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If Aurelia hadn't been so concerned for Luna and her people, the sight of the nightblood vomiting would have probably made her feel queasy.

Instead, the girl rubbed Luna's back sympathetically as she threw up pure black blood, the latter's arms tightly wound around the bucket in front of her.

"They're getting worse," Clarke spoke from a few beds down, standing over a bed occupied by a whimpering boy who couldn't have been more than nine years old. "There's gotta be something that we could do."

Jackson shrugged slightly. "Delactivene might help, but Raven's got the meds on lockdown."

"Leave Raven to me," Abby said. "What exactly do the tests show?"

Aurelia straightened her posture slightly as she listened to the group talk, one hand still moving up and down Luna's spine in a comforting manner.

"The exposure is acute. Without treatment, there's little to no chance of recovery. It looks like the radiation is internal, ingested from radiated fish. None of the outbreaks appear to be from airborne expos-"

A violent cough from Luna pulled Aurelia's attention back to the sick girl, who threw up more black blood into the bucket.

"Do you think I deserve this for refusing the flame?" Luna panted out as she used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth.

"No one deserves to suffer," Aurelia softly spoke, her free hand moving to grip the other girl's bicep in comfort.

"Besides," Bellamy spoke as he moved to stand next to them. "This would have happened anyway."

"This is all that's left of my people." Luna breathed out as she looked up at Clarke, who was slowly making her way towards them. "Can you save them?"

"We'll do everything we can," Clarke assured with a nod, neither confirming nor denying. "You have my word."

"Raven's looking for us," Bellamy stated after a few moments, before moving away slightly to stand by the door.

"I'll be back okay?" Aura said softly, to which Luna nodded.

"Thank you for your help."

"I'm not doing much here, it's all Jackson, Abby and Clarke doing the medical-"

"For being here," the nightblood cut off. "Your kindness alone is helping me push through this, so thank you."

"It's no problem Luna," Aurelia responded with a small smile as she stood up. "I consider you a friend, and friends look out for each other. I'll come back as soon as I can."

~~~

"So Luna's rig is here," Raven spoke as she gestured towards the digital map on the screen. "And if the fish in these waters are dying, well, basically we're all screwed."

"I don't understand," Bellamy spoke up from beside Aura. "ALIE said we have six months."

"I wouldn't exactly trust ALIE," Aurelia remarked, her arms crossed as she leant against the wall casually.

"We don't," Raven confirmed.

"Well, then how long do we have?"

"It's hard to say. Radiation is dispersed by jet stream and carried by ocean currents, so it's not an exact science, but the leading indicators are small species die-offs. Fish, insects, based on the new data, i'd say we have... two months of survivability.. Maybe less."

Aurelia ran a hand down her face as the others shared concerned looks, the new information hitting them with a wave of uncertainty and loss of hope.

Clarke sighed as she shook her head at Raven. "The ark won't be ready."

"It'll be close. If we triple the man hours and work round the clock, we should be able to achieve a hard seal before the black rain comes. We just have to decide who gets to live here."

"Raven, we're not talking about the list again."

The mechanic threw up her arms as she turned to fully face the blonde with her brows furrowed. "Clarke, we are running out of time. We have to make a plan for the day we close the doors, drill for it, make sure only the survivors have guns. Agree on protocols for dealing with the people who are pissed off they're not chosen."

"I cannot believe this is a conversation we're having," Aurelia muttered to herself as she pressed the palms of her hands to her face in disbelief.

"You asked me to be in charge of rationing, and I am doing it," Raven continued as she stared Clarke down, "But choosing who gets to live or die is your specialty."

Both Bellamy and Aurelia winced slightly at the choice of words, but the sound of an engine starting up caught their attention before they could say anything. Raven's brows furrowed as she rushed towards the hangar bay doors. "No one's scheduled to take the rover."

The four of them rushed outside of the hangar to find Jaha sitting behind the wheel, ready to drive off to wherever he was planning to drive to.

"Out of the vehicle," Bellamy ordered as he knocked on the window, before aggressively pulling at the handle to pull the door open.

"I need to make a run."

"All supply runs go through me." Raven stated as she stared the man down, her arms crossed in front of her. "And shouldn't you be working on the patch on Sector 5?"

Aurelia moved back as Jaha jumped down from the rover, the engine dying down slowly until it was silent again.

The man raised his brow at Raven. "A patch for a ship that can only save a hundred people?"

Raven nervously shifted on her feet, a look of surprise on her face as he spoke.

"Why are you surprised? I am an engineer. We have no way to generate water, the harder number is 400, can you really sentence 400 more of our own people to death?"

"I thought that sort of decision came naturally to you, Jaha." Aurelia spoke as she eyed the man. "You know, seeing as you sent a hundred kids to earth, then sacrificed hundreds of people in The Culling, then planned on leaving close to fifty kids in the mountain just so you could find your precious City of Light?"

"We don't have a choice." Clarke firmly stated.

"What if you do?" The ex-chancellor questioned after a few moments. "What if I told you there might be a fallout shelter less than a days travel from here. A fallout shelter built to sustain thousands?"

"We've been through the chancellor's files. All the bunkers you considered for the hundred we listed as compromised or unviable, and now Mount Weather is too."

"Those were government bunkers." Jaha opened the door of the rover and pulled out a tablet. Clarke grabbed it with a raised brow, and the others crowded around her to peer over her shoulder.

Aura scoffed slightly as her eyes skimmed down the article. "A doomsday cult?" she questioned, looking back up at Jaha who nodded at her.

"That's right. The Second Dawn."

"They built a bunker?"

Jaha nodded again. "Their whole theology was based on riding out the end of the world."

"And why didn't you consider it?" Raven questioned, still with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"We couldn't prove it existed."

"So why are you considering it now?"

"Because before now, we didn't need it."

Clarke stared up at the man as realisation swirled in her eyes. "You found it didn't you?"

"We can't be sure unless we check it out."

Aurelia, Clarke and Bellamy turned towards Raven, who instantly shook her head in response. "No. No way. We need that rover for hauling pieces of a three tonne patch we're build-"

"Yeah, but if he's right, we don't need a patch." Clarke cut off.

Raven cast a side glance towards Jaha. "Can I talk to you guys for a second?"

With a nod the group moved away from the older man, who moved to casually lean against the rover. Raven's gaze shifted between Bellamy and Aurelia.

"Can you please remind Clarke what happened the last time Jaha went looking for salvation?"

"Raven, if that bunker is real, we can save a lot more than a hundred people."

"If it's not," the mechanic spoke as she turned to Clarke. "We've lost another day."

"Hey, look." Clarke spoke up. "If it's not, I'll make the list. Okay?"

Raven sighed after a few moments. "Do what you want. I've got a ship to seal." Aura watched with a slight frown as Raven stormed off towards the ark.

"I'll go with Bell," she stated as she turned to Clarke. "I'm sure your leader duties will be needed here."

"Okay," the blonde responded with a nod. "Good luck."

Bellamy began to walk towards the rover, with Aurelia following close behind him.

"I'll drive," he firmly stated as he gestured for Jaha to move away from the rover door.

"Passenger seat is mine," Aurelia claimed, watching with a slight smirk as Jaha moved to enter the rover from the back.

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Aura stared at the tablet she was holding, the device held between her in the passenger seat and Bellamy in the driver's seat as a video concerning the Second Dawn played out loud.

"The end is coming," the man on the stage spoke, his arms outstretched as he addressed his audience. "Hear me as I say it this time. The end is coming, and it's coming soon."

"This Bill Cadogan dude is nuts," Aura muttered as she listened to him talk.

"He gave this speech two weeks before the bombs." Jaha revealed from behind.

"Sounds like a plot of the first Kingsmen movie," Aurelia remarked.

"The world is dark and it's getting darker," Cadogan continued on the screen. "Everything we once trusted has turned on us; Government, Religion. Even technology has become a weapon in their hands used to poison our minds. I know you're in pain. I know you're afraid, but it doesn't have to be like this. There is a way out of the darkness. I can show it to you. You can be saved."

Aurelia and Bellamy briefly glanced at each other with raised brows.

"Join me. Join us, and together when the horsemen come, from the ashes, we will rise."

"This guy has probably been dead for a hundred years but I still wanna punch him." Aurelia spoke as she passed the tablet back to Jaha. "Please tell me you have more than literal crumbs to find this supposed miracle bunker."

"In the two years before the bombs, Cadogan sold off most of the Second Dawn's real estate holdings, generating tens of millions of dollars, but there was one thing he didn't sell."

Aurelia reached back as Jaha handed the device back to her with an article displayed on the screen.

"I found this in his autobiography." Jaha revealed as her eyes scanned down the page. "It's his childhood home. His father built a bunker there to save his family. I think Cadogan used the Church's money to expand it."

"Grew up there." Bellamy finally spoke up. "Maybe he kept it for sentimental value."

Jaha scoffed slightly. "His father beat him almost daily in that house. He hated living there."

The raven-haired girl furrowed her brows as she thought out loud. "Why keep it if you're liquidating everything else?"

"Because that bunker is there, I can feel it."

Aurelia turned around momentarily to stare Jaha dead in the eye. "Well, you'll be feeling my fist if this turns out to be a waste of time."

"The guy sounds like a religious fanatic to me," Bellamy cut in.

"Maybe." Jaha responded. "Or maybe he was just a leader willing to do whatever it took to save his people.

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The second half of this chapter is just Aurelia being a jaha anti pls. I absolutely love it. There's more next chapter don't you worry.

Also!! Thank you so much for 50k reads!! It means a lot to me <3 Thank you to everyone who has shown me support on my first fic <3

A x

Due to exams, updates will be slow, but dont worry, updates will go back to normal once they're over x

Word Count: 1934
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