Side by Side

[Deleted]

I'm Bulletproof, nothing to lose

Harper felt like death warmed over. There was no way to put it. Her throat hurt and her body ached. She was tired, hungry, thirsty, and wanted the pain to stop. She had no idea how long she had been trapped down there. Time blurred together, punctuated only by the blinding hot pain of the drill boring through her flesh and bone.

She was weaving in and out of conciousness when the cage next to her opened and someone was thrown in. It took great effort to open her eyes and unfurl from the ball she had curled up in to see who the Mountainmen had captured. it had to have been one of her people. The number of cages made it obvious that they were for them.

"M-Monty?" She winched at the harshness of her voice, worn raw my screaming. It was so quiet she could not be sure that he could hear her though. She wrapped her fingers around the bars separating them and peered at the newcomer to the cages.

Harper wondered if he was even there. Maybe the torture of the drilling had driven her mad and she was imagining him. Maybe he was only a figment of her imagination. She hoped so, because she did not want him to be in hell with her.

TAGGED: ash1

FIRE AWAY, FIRE AWAY

template by Margie @ Adoxography v2

[ash1]

Maybe it was only in retrospect, but right now it all had a bitter tinge to it. They should have listened to the one voice distrusting the Mountain Men. Would they have mistrusted their other leader as well? Then again, he never really fully mistrusted her. He knew she could be trusted. He paid attention to her worries. He pointed them out. But the bigger thing was: He was worried for her. Having been around his parents who made medicine, he knew that stress like the stress she had been under could hurt the mind.

Now it seemed like his own mind and not just that were at stake. It was obvious how right she had been. Now as he was brought into the room and locked up he knew exactly why. Harper. That’s where she was. Those damn bastards. If only he could break them out. But he did not know how. The lock seemed to be so simple, yet it seemed like a giant obstacle if you had nothing at all to help you get over it. He could easily break locks on the Ark, but those more primitive one beat him regularly.
Monty reached through the bars to touch Harpers hand on them, knowing that physical contact could be so damn valuable and important. He wanted her to know and feel she wasn’t alone. Even if there might no way out for them. He wanted to keep the hope for as long as possible. “Harper. How are you? What did they do to you?”

@harper

[Deleted]

I'm Bulletproof, nothing to lose

"I'm just dandy," Although her words were jovial her tone was anything but. She sounded defeated even to her own ears. She leaned her forehead against the metal separating them and took comfort in the feel of his fingers against hers. The warmth of his touch was barely there but it was there and that was a comfort she sorely needed. However bad her situation was at least she knew insanity was not a problem she was dealing with.

"They've been drilling me." The expression on her face was haunted and sympathetic. The torture she had been going through would be his to share soon enough. She doubted they would spare him. Even though she hated seeing him in the cage beside her it was a comfort to know that she was no longer alone. At least someone in this place knew where she was, that she was alive. "It feels about as good as it sounds."

"They've been harvesting my bone marrow." She shifted in the cage, moving one cramped leg that prickled in protest. It hurt to move, but she managed to maneuver enough to flash him one of the haphazardly bandaged drill wounds. He needed to see it, just in case he were to get out alive, to keep it from happening to the rest of their people. "I think they plan to harvest all of us and I don't think they care if we survive the process."

TAGGED: ash1

FIRE AWAY, FIRE AWAY

template by Margie @ Adoxography v2

[ash1]

“Drilling?” Montys mind immediately went practical. What could that mean. What did they want from her or from them? He was there, too. They all were there, so obviously prisoners. Had they listened to Clarke, things might look different now, though nothing could say if it would be better. He just wished he had heeded her warning a little earlier, then again he had listened to it earlier than others. Now, drilling. Drilling could mean they wanted… Just as his mind went there, Harper told him. Bone Marrow. He would have guessed it had something to do with the bone, but not what exactly, that was not his speciality. Bone Marrow, though. They wanted their bone marrow, this could mean anything.

Or not anything. He knew, from his parents, that this could cure something and they had used Jaspers blood. If he was not completely stupid Bone marrow and blood were related. Now, with the amount of cages and Harpers assumption… he knew one transfusion could be survived, he knew that was a way to heal things on the ark, his parents pharmaceuticals helping with keeping the patients healthy and the immune system in check. That meant… with all of them.

“They could treat half of the mountain...” If he assumed three extractions were possible, but with her thinking they wouldn’t survive. “Oh the entire mountain. We’re screwed.”

@harper

[Deleted]

I'm Bulletproof, nothing to lose

Monty connected the dots quicker than she did. Then again, he was getting the information second hand. It was probably easier to think when you were not aching and half-starved. Or screaming from the drills. 

"I guess they got greedy." She sighed and closed her eyes. Harper was tired, so very tired. The drillings were brutal and took more out of her than she was willing to admit even to herself. The transfusions were bad enough and she was not even sure if they were still going on while they were drilling her. Maybe, if they wanted to keep her people in the dark. "They still doing the transfusions? Pretending they don't have me hidden in the wings?"

"Yeah, we're kind of screwed." It was doubtful that the Mountain Men would only treat half of their people. They could have though. Treated all of the children and let Harper and her friends live. The children would've been able to face the surface if the Mountain Men cared about the future - but they were too greedy. It was obvious they were too greedy. Their treatment of her made that clear. The Mountain Men did not care if her people survived as long as they got what they wanted.

"I don't know what to do, Monty." Admitting this was hard for her, but she opened her eyes to look at him again. He had stepped up quite a bit since Clarke's disappearance and he was quick-witted. Maybe, just maybe, he could figure something out. "Truth be told, it would really suck to die down here."

TAGGED: ash1

FIRE AWAY, FIRE AWAY

template by Margie @ Adoxography v2

[ash1]

“Got greedy? They have been greedy from the beginning.” That’s why they had them here, to harvest them. They should have listened to Clarke. Hell, he had wanted to listen to her. Had she been wrong, they would at least not regret it now, but now they had to, because those people were out to kill them as it appeared. He should have insisted. They needed the outside help more than anything right now. And the two of them needed a way out. He could try to manipulate the cages structure, but the problem was he had no tools to do so. The only thing he knew to do was trying to open the lock, but there was a problem in that as well.

“Do you have a hairpin?” He asked her. He naturally didn’t have one, as he never needed one for his hair, but her hair was longer, he imagined she sometimes had to tame them with pins. If only she had one, he could improvise a tool and maybe get them out of the cages. Then they would have to find a way out. Monty doubted they could get back to the others safely. They needed to get out and then, if they wanted to help the two of them would have to join the others and help from the outside.

@harper