She whipped her head around and saw shadows against the flaming cabin, rushing down the hill toward her. Glass lay down next to Luke as more arrows ricocheted off the sides of the metal boat.
They picked up speed as the surging of the river took control of their movement. She poked her head up and could see figures running along the shore, silhouetted against fire and moonlight. They hardly looked human.
She kept her head down as the river swept them around a curve, and the last arrows pinged off the boat. After a few tense moments of holding her breath, Glass sat up, grabbing the paddle and sticking it into the water, trying to propel the boat even faster than the current. When it finally seemed like they’d outdistanced the Earthborns, she reached out and tried to use the paddle to pull the boat back to the shore, but she couldn’t get enough leverage. Her heart pounded as the boat continued to move swiftly down the river. She had no idea if they were headed in the right direction. She needed to use Luke’s compass. If he’d been right about heading due north from the camp, then they needed to head south.
It took nearly another half hour for the river to narrow to the point that the thick brush slowed them down. Eventually, Glass was able to drop into the chilly water and yank the boat onto the shore. She pulled the compass out of her pack and set it on the ground, the way Luke had showed her. Thank goodness, they had been heading south. At least, southeast. It wouldn’t be too difficult to get back on track, she hoped. And if she could actually move with Luke…
“One more time, Luke,” she said. “I just need you to get up and walk with me one more time.”
He groaned, but when she pulled him out of the hull of the boat he cooperated, letting her help him to stand. He staggered a few feet through the shallow water before finally dropping on the bank.
Relieved of their weight, the boat rode higher in the water, and the brisk current pulled it away into the night. Working quickly and silently, Glass maneuvered Luke back onto the sled and took up the rope again.
Just hold on, Luke, she thought to herself as she threw her entire weight against the sled and broke into a run.
The sounds of the river faded as they made their way deeper into the woods, but Glass was too afraid to stop and look behind them. She had to keep moving. She had to find help for Luke, even if it was the last thing she ever did.
CHAPTER 21
Wells
It was entirely his fault. All of it.
Wells slammed his fist into the rock wall, hard. Blood dripped down his knuckles, but he didn’t feel any physical pain. All he felt was the weight of his own stupid, selfish mistakes piling higher and higher, threatening to topple down and crush him at any moment.
He never thought he could feel worse than he did after Clarke was arrested or after his mother died. But this was the lowest Wells had ever been. He spun around in the tiny room, looking for something else to kick or hit. There was just his narrow bed. The bed Sasha had slept in just hours ago. And now she was dead.
Wells fell onto the mattress and lay on his back. The ache in his chest was so strong and solid, he felt like he could pick it up and hold it in his hands. He covered his face with his arms. He just wanted to block out the light, turn off his brain, and push away everyone and everything. He wanted blankness. He wanted to drift in the deep and endless silence of space. If he were back on the ship, he wouldn’t hesitate before wrenching open the airlock and hurtling himself into the void.
He would end it if he could. He would take himself out of the equation if he thought it would help everyone else. But he was too ashamed to leave everything behind, not when he’d made such a mess of things. But how could he possibly put things right? There was no smoothing things over between the Earthborns and Rhodes. There was no bringing Sasha back. There was no fixing Max’s broken heart.
If only he had stopped himself before he set all of this in motion. If only he hadn’t made the leak on the airlock worse, then the dropships wouldn’t have had to leave so suddenly. They would have had more time to prepare the ships, and maybe they could have sent more people down. Instead, everyone who didn’t fight his or her way onboard was up there dying as the oxygen dwindled.
If only he hadn’t staged a fake attack to break Bellamy out of prison, maybe Rhodes and the others wouldn’t have been so afraid of the aggressive faction of Earthborns. Maybe they wouldn’t have been so quick to the violence that killed Sasha. And if he hadn’t gotten involved with Sasha in the first place, maybe she could have gone on living a long, peaceful life without him.
Wells thought he would suffocate under the pressure of all these thoughts. His breath came in shallow gulps, and he felt clammy with panic. There was nowhere to go, nothing he could do, nothing worth saying. He was trapped.
Just as he thought he might run for the door and escape Mount Weather, he heard a familiar voice saying his name. He opened his eyes and saw Clarke outlined by the light from the hallway.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
Wells jerked upright, then scooted back and leaned against the wall, burying his head in his hands. Clarke lowered herself onto the bed next to him. They sat like that in silence for a few minutes.
“Wells, I wish there was something I could say,” Clarke finally said.
“There’s nothing,” he said flatly.
She placed her hand on his arm. Wells flinched, and Clarke made like she was about to pull away but she increased the pressure with a squeeze. “I know. I’ve lost a lot of people too. I know the words don’t make any difference.”