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They’d been walking in the woods for over four hours now, and the sun was already beginning to set. It would definitely be already dark by the time they got to Polis. Monty was under the impression that this had been part of the plan all along.
He had always felt that getting into a repetitive task was a good way to clear the mind and organize his ideas; cleaning his room, doing the dishes, farming… and hiking. All he needed to do was keep placing one foot in front of the other, be careful not to trip and take an occasional sip of water from his canteen.
They walked in silence, most of the time. He didn’t think Jaha was ever the kind to appreciate idle small talk, but he felt their situation was dire enough that no one really cared about lightening the mood. Each man lost to their own thoughts and worries, just placing one foot in front of the other until they reached their destination.
“Marcus? Are you there?” A female voice coming from Kane’s belt broke the silence, his companions turned to look at him.
“Yes. Abby, hi” he answered eagerly, sauntering a bit. “How did it go? Does the serum work?”
“Where are you? Your voice sounds a bit hitched.” Abby’s voice, on the other hand, sounded plain worried.
“I’m on my way to Polis, on foot. Thelonious had an idea for shelter, we want to check it out.”
“In Polis?!” Abby startled. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It’s a small affair, just us and Monty,” Kane stated slowly, his tone of voice contained as to not make her any more nervous. “We won’t draw any attention to ourselves.”
Jaha signals Kane to move along, noticing he is lagging behind. Monty offers a sympathetic smile, glad Jaha was never around when he was talking to his girlfriend.
“It’s only that I need to keep up with them.” A very subtle and classy way to inform Abby they would have no privacy, Monty took note. “But tell me about the serum,” Kane continued.
“It didn’t fully work the first time. Symptoms started to appear shortly after the radiation passed black rain levels and-” he hears her exhale. “It was messy.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kane said. “But you said that was the first time?” he adds, after a pause.
“Yes. Jackson and I figured out what might have gone wrong, but it all went downhill from there.”
“We found Emori had lied about Baylis, he was just some random thief, and she was sort of picked to be tested next. Luna refused to donate anymore, so Roan knocked her out, and Raven kept mentioning Mount Weather…” That was the last Monty heard before the Abby’s faltering tone prompted him to stride ahead of Kane to get rid of the feeling he was eavesdropping.
He could not make out the words anymore, but he assumed Abby was crying. Kane kept his voice soft and steady, probably trying to assuage any feelings of guilt and failure. Monty knew that tone of voice, he had used it himself with Harper, after the black rain had poured over Arkadia. It’s the voice of those who care a lot, but can’t really help.
Not for the first time, Monty felt useless for not being able to properly relieve Harper from her grief or whatever it was she was going through. Kane was obviously being more successful, he noticed Abby’s voice over the radio was steadier.
“You’ll be the first to know as soon as we have news,” Kane said, finally catching up with the rest of them.
“Good luck! And please be careful,” he heard Abby plead.
“Don’t worry, I will,” Kane answered, and Monty could tell he was smiling. He could not help a sidelong glance, half expecting an “I love you” that never came. Kane and Abby were over and out, but Monty was pretty confident they did love each other.
“And the serum?” Jaha asked abruptly, halting when he noticed the radio was off. Apparently, he wasn’t interested in knowing how their friends were, Monty thought bitterly.
“Not an option,” Kane said curtly, his eyes on the ground as he walked past them.
As happy as he was that they now would have a chance at survival from radiation, Monty still hated the fact that Jaha had been right.
The Second Dawn bunker was bigger than he ever dreamed of and, if everything went as expected, a better shelter than the Ark could have ever been. It extended several floors down, making room for one thousand people and, they had just confirmed, the air filtration system was fully operational.
“Bryan and I can get the hydroponic farm working as soon as we’re back from Arkadia,” Monty said, excitedly. “We’ll need supplies for the first couple months but, after that, we’ll be able to grow our own food.”
“And water?” Kane asked.
“Their hydro generator is larger than the one we had in Farm Station. There will be enough water for everyone,” Jaha cut in.
“Let her know,” Monty added quietly, so only Kane would hear. They share a smile in understanding, before the Chancellor turned to the stairs.
“Kane!” Indra called, as she watched Jaha suspiciously. Her deep voice echoing through the corridor.
Kane probably knew that was coming. Monty watched as he lightly touched Indra’s arm as he passed by her, leading her along. “Walk with me,” he offered, while gently leading her towards the stairs.
“They’re friends,” Monty shrugged, smirking at Jaha.
He’d been underground before. But this was completely different. This has gone uninhabited for almost a hundred years, has this bed ever been slept on? Everything was so dark and so quiet, even the sound of his breath seemed like a great disturbance to that dormant place.
The silence was overwhelming. It made the thoughts inside his head way too loud. Monty had not yet been able to sleep despite having been staring at the ceiling for the past couple of hours.
The squeaky hinges of the opening door startled him into an upright position. Kane’s silhouette appeared at the doorframe, backlighted by the cold lamps at the corridor. He entered the room and might have apologized, Monty didn’t really hear the words. All he could hear was his heart thumping inside his chest.
“Jaha is still in that office,” Monty said, randomly, still catching his breath.
“Sorry to disturb you,” Kane said, closing the door; to which Monty replied he had not been sleeping.
They were completely in the dark now, but Monty could make out from the sounds that Kane had taken of his boots and settled on that bed across the room from his.
It could be said that they were both sharing a comfortable silence, but Monty knew better. They were completely oblivious to one another, both lost in thoughts of hope and doom.
“Harper can’t get over her guilt about Louis’ death. It’s really dragging her down,” Monty blurted, after several minutes. That was the moment when he realized there were many things he had been keeping to himself lately. Not all of them could be shared with Harper; Jasper would only make matters worse; and everyone else just had too much going on.
He didn’t know the exact reason that led him to let it out like this. Once he did, though, he felt a bit better. And Monty knew, from the sound Kane’s long breath intake, that he had heard every word.
“Abby destroyed the radiation chamber after Clarke injected herself with the nightblood serum,” Kane said, slowly and detached, after a few moments of silence. “There will be no more tests.”
“C-can we help them?” He wasn’t talking about the death wave, and Kane knew it.
“You can’t bring Louis back. And I can’t rewind Abby to before she tested the first sample on some innocent grounder,” Kane flatly stated. “But we can be there for them.”
“And does that even help?” In the dark, Kane was not be able to see him frowning.
“There will be some time before Harper can forgive herself for not helping Louis. She’s the only one who can do that. Having someone around who loves and cares about her doesn’t make the journey any easier, but it can be a silver lining.” The subtle declaration of love for Abby does not escape Monty’s ears, but he can’t help but think this is a journey Kane has probably been on himself.
When Monty woke up that morning, not even in a million years he would have imagined that he would travel to Polis, find a hidden cult bunker to protect them from radiation and get relationship advice from his Chancellor all in the same day. Most of all, he was not expecting Kane to be so open with him about his relationship with Abby.
But, then again, Kane and Abby had never really been shy about their close relationship for as long as Monty could remember. His first memory of them, on the ground, was the walk back from Mount Weather. Abby was being carried in a stretcher and Kane never left her side, holding her hand the whole time. Almost two weeks had passed before Monty was discreetly informed by Raven that they were not a couple.
“Yet,” she had added with a mischievous smirk.
There was some beautiful honesty in how they had never hidden how much they cared for one another, even before it was romantic and despite both of them being very private people.
Kane and Abby were always together during those months Clarke went away. Be it at meetings, while checking food supplies, overseeing plan for Arkadia’s structure… He remembered them always standing very close to each other and light touching each other’s arms when immersed in conversation. Beyond that, they challenged, protected, advised and supported one another the whole time.
It was not Monty’s business to try and pinpoint where everything had shifted and their relationship had stopped being platonic, but he knew that feeling first hand. He smiled, recalling another very stressful situation in which Harper had surprisingly been his silver lining.
It made a difference indeed. To have someone you could really open up to, to have comfort, a partnership. And also a reason to keep moving forward. Judging by the amount of I-miss-yous he had inadvertently heard from both sides of the radio earlier that night, Monty was glad Kane and Abby had found it with each other.
He needed to be there for Harper while she struggled and lost hope. Because she was once his hope. He promised himself he would do everything he could to make her feel loved, and cherished, and accepted despite anything that life (or death) might throw their way.
“Sorry I can’t be of much help,” Kane scoffed, bringing him back to reality.
“No, you’re right,” Monty replied, still pensive. “We bring them here, and we can start over,” he added more hopeful, after a pause. “We are good at starting over.”
With that, their said their good nights and Monty was finally able to relax and sleep; knowing that tomorrow he would not only be going back to Arkadia just like he had promised, but bringing excellent news to Harper. News that would surely turn things around for her. For both of them.