A Quiet Moment

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A/N-thank you for the kind reviews, Nikki.

Part Twenty Six

The light was so blinding. Clarke felt completely disorientated when she woke up, her eyes felt like they were on fire. She sat up abruptly, her long, blonde hair falling about her shoulders in a wave. After blinking furiously a few times she finally got her eyes to work, she gingerly touched her hair and was surprised it was clean and silky soft as if someone had washed it. Her confusion only increased as she dared to look around her. She was in a room tiled from floor to ceiling in white. She had been undressed and was now wearing a white tank top and shorts. An uneasy feeling began to ripple through Clarke as she slipped off of the bed she was sitting on. That too was covered in white sheets, and as her feet touched the cold floor she noticed the machines that were by her bed. She could only assume she was in some type of hospital, but where?

Clarke headed straight to the door but it was locked. A sliver of fear rippled down her spine as she shook the door a little before giving up, the small window showed her nothing but an empty grey corridor. She didn't like this, being locked in felt too much like the prison cell in the Ark. There was another small round window on another wall, Clarke hurried over and pressed her face to it, trying her best to see what was on the other side. But what she did see startled her and made the breath leave her body. Staring back at her through another small window on the other side was none other than John Murphy.

Clarke recoiled. Murphy, what the hell was he doing there? The last she had seen of him was when he had been carted off by Lincoln and the other members of the group. Did that mean something had happened to her people? Did it mean they had been captured too? And where was Bellamy? Clarke knew she wouldn't find any answers to these questions while she was locked up inside this room. She had to get out, but there was no way she could break through the door. She scanned the room again and found a camera looking down at her from above. So she was being watched! Clarke's mouth thinned as she glared up at the camera and began to yell and scream to be let out.

It took a while but finally the door to her room was opened and a woman dressed in a white coat appeared. She was wearing stilettos of all things and carried a clipboard. She was older than Clarke, maybe in her mid-thirties, she strode in with an annoyed expression on her face, swiping her long, brown hair back from her face. "Please keep some type of decorum."

"Decorum?" Clarke snapped. "Are you for real? You have imprisoned me here."

The woman rolled her eyes as she placed her clipboard down on the vacated bed. "You are not in prison you stupid girl. You are here under observation. We have to make sure you are free of all diseases before we let you out."

"I'm in quarantine?" Clarke was aghast. "Where the hell is this?"

"You are in Mount Weather. You could show some gratitude. We did save you from the Reaper's." The woman looked at her disapprovingly.

"Mount Weather?" Clarke couldn't believe it. She was stunned. They were inside the facility her mother had told her about, the facility that was impenetrable and where according to the Ark's records there were supposed to have been supplies inside. But people, no, they had no record of survivors. "Where are my friends?" Clarke tried to make her voice sound lighter, more grateful. It was hard; she really didn't like this woman. There was something about her that made her wary. "There was a male with me…Bellamy? Is he here?"

The woman pursed her lips. "No, we only found you. We were directed toward your camp by your other friends, who I can assure you are all well. You have another day to serve in quarantine than you can see them." The woman got up and began to leave.

"No wait." Clarke called out. "You have to be wrong. I wasn't alone. I…." The woman ignored her cries and slammed the door closed.

Bellamy felt his head spinning. It felt as if it was going to split apart. The blow that the Reaper's had given him had really done its work. He tried to sit upright but something was stopping him, it was semi-dark and hard to see. Was he in the drop ship still? "Clarke?" He whispered. There was no response. "Clarke, where the hell are you? Princess?"

"Will you keep quiet?" A feminine voice hissed close to him. "You'll attract attention if you keep talking, idiot."

Bellamy forced his bleary eyes to focus, he recognised that voice. He squirmed around, only now realising he wasn't in the drop ship after all, but a cage. A small metal cage, he could hardly move. Where was Clarke? Where was she? Fear seized hold of his heart as he peered in the gloom at the occupant of the cage next to his. It was only now that he could see that there were several cages all stacked on top of each other. They were all filled with humans, or Grounders. Anya, the Grounder princess was in the one next to him. She had been stripped of her finery and was wearing nothing but a small top to cover her breasts and a pair of panties. When Bellamy glanced down at himself, he found he was wearing next to nothing either. What the hell was this place? He faced Anya, who was staring at him in disgust. "What is this place?"

"This place is hell." Anya snapped. "Hell on Earth. Welcome to Mount Weather man from the sky."

Clarke waited impatiently. The time seemed to go interminably slow. She avoided the small round window where Murphy was. She didn't want to see his damn face. How he kept surviving she didn't know? After everything he had done? Her main concern was for her friend's and Bellamy. She didn't trust that woman, she didn't trust this place. All she wanted was out, back out into the open air. As soon as she was allowed to leave this room she was going to gather her friends together and demand to leave. Finally the hours passed and her door was opened by the same woman as before. She gave Clarke a sour look as she ushered her out. A man with snow white hair was standing in the grey corridor. He immediately held out his hand. "Welcome Clarke. My name is Wallace, President Wallace. Welcome to Mount Weather."

Clarke gingerly shook his hand. "Where are my friends?" She asked.

"I will take you to them presently my dear. Let's talk first." President Wallace gestured for her to stroll beside him. Even though Clarke was impatient to see her friends and find Bellamy, she thought it best to humour the old man. The woman walked behind them, by her name tag Clarke could see her name, Doctor Lorelei Tsing. "Do you know much about our facility?" Wallace continued.

Clarke shook her head.

Wallace smiled ingratiatingly and proceeded to enlighten Clarke about the Mountains history and his role as leader. She only listened with part of her mind; the other part was focused on remembering everything about her surroundings in case she needed to break out of there.

Bellamy couldn't believe it. He was like an animal trapped in a small cage, ready for the monster's or mountain men as Anya called them, to come and experiment on. So this was what was behind the huge imposing rock, a place filled with torture and death. It was horrifying what Anya was revealing to him. The mountain men preyed on the Grounder's, using their blood to keep them alive and try to stave off the radiation that was killing them. The Reapers who had attacked them were actually former Grounders who had been poisoned by some mind bending drug to turn them into cannibals; they did the mountain men's bidding eagerly in order to get more of the addictive drug. The inhabitants of this mountain were truly evil. Bellamy now guessed that the Reaper's had been deliberately sent to the camp to flush them out so that the mountain men could round up his people. Oh god, where was Clarke? Bellamy peered at the other cages but couldn't see her. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't. He rattled the bars of his cage in a sudden fit of rage. Anya warned him to be quiet hut he ignored her, he was beyond being reasonable. He wanted out, even if he had to commit murder to do it.

Clarke was finally shown into a large room which was filled from floor to ceiling with bunk beds. Wallace smiled at her kindly as he showed her where she would be sleeping. "I hope you will eventually feel at home here. In the cabinet beside you are some clothes. I will leave you to change. When you are ready your friends are in the mess hall. It's down the corridor to the left. We will talk again soon." Wallace bowed to her in an old fashioned manner before leaving.

Clarke stared after his departing figure. There was no way she was ever going to converse with him again. Her one goal was to get to her friends, then get the hell out of there. Clarke hurriedly dressed in a pair of tight pants and a shirt, before hurrying off to find her people, hoping against hope that Bellamy would be with them.

Bellamy's rage soon attracted attention. A guard appeared dressed in a beige flak jacket and white shirt. He had a mutinous expression on his face as he banged on the bars with a long stick. "Keep it down." He snarled.

"Let me out of here you bastard." Bellamy roared at him.

The guard laughed as he brandished his stick. "You're a feisty one, aren't you? I would keep silent if I were you otherwise you could be next." He ran the stick along the bars of the cage. The sound echoed off the walls.

Bellamy ignored his taunts. He began to kick at the bars violently. The guard's face darkened as he shoved the stick in-between the bars and electrocuted Bellamy a few times. Bellamy cried out in pain but he carried on. Nothing was worse than not knowing where Clarke was and if she was alive. He would endure anything to get back to her. He kicked the bars again, enraging the guard. "Let me out." He screamed.

The guard became impatient. He opened the cage, intending to punish Bellamy and haul him off to be used as a blood source, but he didn't factor in Bellamy's desperation. As soon as the door opened, Bellamy lunged and managed to get a hold on the guard's neck. He squeezed, and squeezed hard. The guard dropped his stick and his face turned blue as he gasped for air. He tried to fight but Bellamy was stronger. All too soon he fell to the floor and became limp. Bellamy fell back, panting loudly as he drew in air. He was sickened at what he had done, but he had been given little choice. He heard Anya calling to him.

"Let me out."

Bellamy glared at her for a moment before doing just that. She climbed easily out of the cage and began to open up the others, warning them all to be quiet. While she was preoccupied doing this, Bellamy quickly pulled off the guard's uniform and used it to dress himself. He yanked the cap on his head and prepared to leave. Anya called after him; he paused for a second to look at her.

"You did well." She murmured.

Bellamy just nodded at her before hurrying out of the chamber; all his mind was focused on was finding Clarke and getting the hell out of the mountain.

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review, I love hearing your thoughts!