Murphy, Kane and Diyoza had arrive at the cave late into the night. 

I felt immediate relief knowing Murphy was okay, but a trickle of worry still ran through my veins. Abby had been left at the village, and Diyoza was here with us now. There was no telling what could happen. 

But I couldn't worry about that right now. Currently, our biggest concern was getting the radio up and going so we could communicate with Bellamy and the others. 

That's why Emori, Echo and I were currently stationed in the forest outside of the cave, aiming the antenna toward Polis. 

"Hey," I muttered as we came to a stop and unloaded the supplies from our packs. "I never got to thank you, Emori."

She looked over at me with a confused look. "For what?"

"For coming back for us." I answered, beginning to set up the antenna. "You and John coming back no doubt saved all of our asses."

She cracked a small grin. "Hate to admit it, but it was John's idea." she admitted. "And besides, you've done enough for me over the past 6 years."

I let out a small laugh as I looked down at the map in my hand. "That's what family is for."

A touched smile spread across Emori's face as she nodded. "Exactly."

"What's taking so long?" Echo barked, nervously pacing around behind us as her eyes scanned the forest.

"Almost done." I called, briefly turning to look at her. "Do you see something?"

She wore a slightly unnerved look as she shook her head. "No." she answered. "That's the problem." 

My eyes lingered on her for a moment, sensing her worry. "They've stopped looking for us." I concluded, my voice wavering slightly. 

"They're moving their supplies." she explained, her eyes flickering between me and the valley beneath the ridge we were stationed on. "McCreary is planning something."

Emori stood up and brushed the dirt off of her pants. "All good. Let's get back to the cave."

The sense of dread that was instilled in me by Echo's revelation stayed with me the entire way back to the cave. It was alleviated only by the fact that I was potentially going to hear Bellamy's voice in a rather of minutes. 

"It's done. The antenna is aimed and reading to go." I announced to Raven as we entered the cave. "Fire it up."

She looked up at the three of us, shaking her head slightly. "It's not connected yet."

Echo looked at her with a look of confusion. "So, connect it."

Murphy and Shaw pushed themselves to their feet, looking toward us with growing concern. "What's wrong, did you get spotted?" Murphy questioned. 

"Worse." Echo concluded. "They're not looking for us anymore."

Another voice from deeper within the cave spoke up. "What do you mean?"

All of our eyes turned to Diyoza who was slowly pushing herself into a seated position. It was now that her baby bump became more prominent. Who would have thought she'd be the next person to bring life onto this Earth. 

Echo's dark eyes landed on her and she gave a small nod. "Okay...you want to be useful? What does it mean that from the antenna position, we saw your people moving weapons and supplies to the northern perimeter."

Diyoza let out a grunt as Kane helped her to her feet. "If McCreary's moving his troops north, then Wonkru's on the march again."

I felt my heart dipped slightly at the mention of Wonkru-Octavia's kru. 

Murphy rolled his eyes as he turned toward us. "So much for blinding the eye."

My eyes widened slightly as I looked toward him. "Shut up, John." I warned through gritted teeth. Just because Diyoza was here now, didn't mean she needed to know all of our plans. 

Murphy gave me a quick look before I tore my eyes off of him and focused them back on Diyoza and Kane who were watching us in confusion. "Look." Kane spoke. "We can't be helpful unless we know all the facts."

Diyoza wore a knowing smile as her eyes roamed down the line of us. "The facts are, I got played. They hacked the eye in the sky. I'm impressed."

"Don't be." I shot back. "If McCreary knows they're coming...then we've failed."

The mere thought of McCreary knowing that Octavia, her army, and potentially Bellamy, were on their way, I knew it would be a massacre. 

Echo nodded. "Without the element of surprise, it'll be a massacre."

Raven's face fell. "We have to tell them to go back." She immediately dropped down next to the radio, Shawn and I joining her. 

I swear I could almost hear my heartbeat as I began doing whatever Raven told me to do. 

There was no way I was going to lose Bellamy. Not again. 

---

Ten minutes later and the radio was connected and ready to go. It was mind-blowing how quickly you could get something done when you needed to. 

"Aves," Raven breathed, passing the radio to me as she held onto the antenna. "You're up."

My eyes flickered to Echo briefly who gave me a small nod. "Speak Trig." she ordered. 

I nodded, knowing that was the best option to avoid McCreary and his men listening in on the conversation.

Letting out a shaky breath, I rose the walkie to my lips and spoke. "Bellamy, come in if you can read me."  

The Trigedasleng rolled off my tongue as I spoke. That was another thing I had Emori to thank for-teaching me Trig. 

As few seconds passed and we all stared at the radio in anticipation, waiting for a response. 

Finally, it came and I felt myself relax ever so slightly. Bellamy was still okay. 

"Avery-" he breathed into the radio, evident relief in his voice. He paused for a moment, and another voice could briefly be heard in the background. 

His next response came in Trigedasleng. "Why are we speaking Trig? What's wrong?"

My answer was immediate. "They know you're coming."  I explained. "You've lost the element of surprise."

"Avery, listen to me--" 

Bellamy's Trig was interrupted by a voice that I know recognized as Harper's. "Bellamy, if Clarke's on their side, she speaks Trig, too."

I felt confusion wash over me as a sense of betrayal trickled into my mind. What in the hell was Clarke doing on McCreary's side?

Murphy mirrored my confusion. "Clarke's on their side? What does that mean?"

"It means we have to make this fast." Echo answered, reaching out and grabbing the radio out of my hands. "Bellamy, you have to go back. We have their pilot, so you're safe for now. But you can't come here."

I glared at Echo, taking the radio back as Bellamy began responding. "Not possible. It's a long story, but we can't go back...and we can't stop." he revealed. "We're five days out. You have that long to find us a safe way in. After that...we run out of rations."

A sense of dread buried itself in my chest. "We're on it." I answered in English, already running through scenarios in my head. "I-" my mouth froze as I realized what I was about to say. 

"Be safe." I finished, quickly correcting myself. 

"You too." Bellamy answered.

"Over and out."

Echo was already on her feet and giving orders to the group as I handed the radio back to Raven. 

She gave me a sad look as she took the device from my hands. "He'll be okay." she promised. 

I nodded, plastering a fake smile on my face as I stood. "Yeah." I whispered. 

"Spacekru!" Echo called. "You're with me."

"Yeah." Murphy muttered, letting out a sigh as he pulled himself to his feet. 

I remained in place, my eyes trained on the group that was heading toward the exit. Numbly, I could hear Echo ordering Kane to hand over his gun. 

Tuning out Echo and Kane's conversation, I focused on trying to keep my mind off of the fact that Bellamy, Octavia and the rest of my friends could be slaughtered in a matter of days if we didn't figure something out. 

"Let's roll." Echo ordered, walking toward the front of the cave. 

Murphy threw his head back slightly as he moved to follow her. "Man, I never get the gun."

I cracked a grin at him as I leaned into him slightly. "I think there's a reason for that."

He glared at me as he lightly shoved me out of the cave. "Shut up, Collins."

---

A cold shiver crept across my body as we neared the top of the ravine where we were planning on scouting out McCreary's men. 

Snow littered the ground and a vicious wind nipped at us from all angles. 

"Here." Echo whispered, motioning for all of us to follow after her. 

We all hunched over, doing our best to keep out of sight as we knelt behind a small ledge of rock.

My eyes roamed the area, trying my best to gauge what we were dealing with. Upon inspection, it appeared that McCreary's men were construction small structures all along the ravine. 

"Pillbox." Echo announced, pulling the monocular away from her eye. "Gunner position. They're building them on both sides of the ravine."

Raven rose her brows as she looked over at Echo. "You don't have to be a spy to know this isn't the best way in. It's too high up. It's too freaking cold and they'll see them coming for miles "

"Come on." Echo breathed, acknowledging that there was nothing else to see here. "Let's go."

"Woah, hold on." Murphy argued, his eyes trained on something just beyond the tree line.

"Murphy, we're scouting, not stealing." Echo shot back as he took the monocular out of her hand. 

"Easy for you to say." he muttered. "You already have a gun."

Echo rolled her eyes as Murphy focused in on what he was searching for. "Well, hello, beautiful. Guns. Look." he ordered, shoving the monocular into my hand. 

I gave him a quick disapproving look before pulling the device up to my eye.

Murphy was right. There were gun, and lots of them. 

"The box next to it is ammunition." I muttered, moving my line of sight slightly. 

"Well, I mean they can't shoot us with what they don't have." Murphy pointed out with a small shrug. 

Reluctantly, Echo nodded and accepted Murphy's idea. "Follow me."

Murphy gave me a small smirk as he pulled me to my feet. "You can thank me later, Collins. I know you've been missing your gun."

I rolled my eyes as turned and began to follow after Echo. But I couldn't really argue with him, I did miss it. 

Quietly, we crept around the tree line, ensuring the coast was clear before making our way out into the open. 

"Let's make this quick." I whispered, nodding toward the guns once they were in sight. 

Murphy didn't waste anytime. He was jogging toward the case of guns as soon as the words had left my mouth. 

Emori, Raven and I moved toward one of the other cases, looking over our options as Murphy quickly made his decision. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him heading toward the box of ammunition. 

But he didn't make it very far. 

He had taken only a few steps when a gun cocked, causing me to spin around in shock. 

One of McCreary's men came into view, his gun pointed right at Murphy's head. 

Echo was quick to react, and since she was the only other one with a gun in hand, she pointed it at the man. "Drop the gun." she ordered. 

The man gave her a quick look before looking back to Murphy, his gun still aimed. 

Raven, Emori and I stood close together, all of us watching with fear written on our faces. I knew that this man would likely find no issue in killing all of us right here. 

My eyes discretely roamed toward the box of guns...if I could just get there in time, it would be two against one. 

Murphy slowly set his gun down, his hands going up in surrender. "Look, you shoot me, she shoots you. Why don't we just go ahead and pretend this thing never happened?"

A whirring sound from behind us caused me to turn in confusion. My heart dropped in my stomach as two other men emerged from the tree line, one in possession of some kind of sonic cannon. Said cannon was pointed right at Emori, Raven and I.

"I got a better idea," the man challenged. "She drops her weapon, or we turn your pretty friends into pink mist."

Not having much choice, Echo begrudgingly dropped her gun, her hands raising above her head.

My panicked eyes flickered between the man who still had his gun pointed at Murphy, and the giant cannon that was still trained on the three of us. 

"We could probably all drop our weapons now, don't you think?" I suggested, giving the men a forced smile. 

"Radio McCreary." the man in front of Murphy ordered, ignoring my request. "Tell him we have the people who took Shaw."

"Now that," a voice said from the tree line. "Would be a big win."

We all turned in shock to see Shaw making his way toward us, his arms raised in surrender. 

I looked to Raven in confusion, and she returned the look. "Shaw, what the hell are you doing?" she demanded. 

He continued forward. "Tell you what. Let them go, take me, McCreary gets his pilot, fires his missiles and you guys get to be the heroes."

The men seemed to like the sound of that, because their weapons immediately lowered. "I'll tie him up." One of them announced to his partner. "Kill the others."

As the man approached Shaw, I slowly lowered my hand, feeling for the blade that was sheathed on my waistband. 

The next sequence of events happening so quickly it was hard to keep track. 

The minute the man had grabbed onto him, Shaw had driven his elbow into the man's face, sending him stumbling back.

He then kicked away the cannon from the other man's hand, easily taking him on in a battle as well. 

With the two of them distracted, it left the other man without backup. He watched wide-eyed, gun still pointed a Murphy. 

My finger tips closed around the handle of my blade, and I quickly pulled it out of its sheath.

"John, down!" I ordered, gripping tightly onto the blade.

Murphy reacted quickly, instantly dropping to the ground. The minute he was out of the way, I sent my blade flying into the chest of the armed man. 

He didn't see it coming, a look of shock coming to his face as the blade stuck itself in his chest. 

His weapon fell, and so did he. 

Murphy sprung back to his feet, giving me a pleasantly surprised look as he dusted the snow off of himself. "Nice throw."

I gave him a smug smile. "Thanks."

In the time I took me to take down the third man, Shaw had dealt with the first two. They both lay unconscious on the ground, blood tricking from the litter of cuts across their faces. 

Shaw let out a few quick breaths, looking to Raven with an expectant look. "You're welcome."

Raven gritted her teeth, shaking her head as she stomped by him. I gave him a quick nod, letting him know that we were indeed thankful for his help.

On my way over to the case of guns, I paused to free my blade from the chest of the man. 

"Hey, John!" Emori called, grunting as she lifted up the sonic cannon. "Still want a gun?"

I wiped the blood on the blade off onto my pants, shaking my head as I made my way toward them. "Oh God, no. Please do not give that to him."

Murphy gave me a taunting grin as he turned back to Emori. "Oh hell, yeah."

He took the cannon into his hand, looking down at it like it was his first born child. 

"Well," I muttered, looking over at Murphy.  "Guess I know how we're all going to die."