Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 69: The Swerve

"At this rate I think we'll run out of fuel in ten days," Raven says, consulting a clipboard. There's a smudge of grease on her forehead. "Or we could get rid of a couple of the vehicles, break 'em down for parts, and keep just one of them going for a month."

Clarke frowns. She can't be as enthusiastic about the three vehicles – two army Jeeps and an armoured truck – as Raven is. To Raven, they're interesting machines that as a bonus let you go extremely fast. To Clarke, they're what enabled the Maunon to carry the remains of Alpha Station to their deaths. And who knows how many Grounders have been transported to the Mountain using them in the last few decades? "I don't know if we want to keep them going for a month."

"I think we need to focus on building Arkadia," Kane says decisively, squinting at the vehicles. "Right now, the Jeeps are mostly being used as a prop, a way to make exploration and hunting easier, but we need to learn to do those without vehicles. The truck is much more useful for dragging wood here to build with, transporting essential supplies for winter, and helping clear a direct road to Polis – lasting things."

Raven frowns. "But the truck's the slowest," she says mournfully. "I was hoping we could keep one of the fast ones for a little longer." Clarke looks at the truck. It does look slower, somehow, even when they're all parked. It also looks odd. There's a line of strange things across the end of it, like someone chopped the heads off a dozen brooms and got creative with them – an odd device that definitely wasn't part of the truck's original design.

Kane's mouth lifts in a wry smile. "Sorry. But we can't afford to remove all of the trees around here and kill the ecosystem of the area, and we need the truck to get trees from further away if we want to be finished building the basics before winter really hits."

Most of the trees they're getting are from the path they're clearing from here to Polis, with the full approval of Lexa. According to her it will be more than welcome, especially for the Glowing Forest people just south of them, who have always had great difficulty in getting to the capital through the thick forests. A quick, direct trade route between Arkadia and Polis will also be incredibly useful, since if the Skaikru ever want to trade Polis will be the best place to do it, especially if they're trading technology. Indra's people also have a reasonably clear path to Polis, so they can use Polis as a stopover when sending the supplies that will make up their payment for the land each season. It will keep the relationship between the Skaikru and the alliance close, and help the Skaikru keep in regular contact with the members of the 100 who still live in Polis, and a number of other good things.

It was Kane's first idea as Chancellor. Before ordering it, though, he asked for Clarke's opinion, and got her to speak over the radio to Lexa and Indra, making sure there were no objections. To Clarke, it felt like proof that she'd chosen well, that she'd done the right thing. Proof that Kane will be an excellent ruler. Admitting that she could hand responsibility for the Skaikru over to him felt like letting a weight slide off – she might have to take care of the alliance as a whole, but she doesn't need to carry her people's mistakes and poor decisions anymore, she doesn't need to defend them when they're indefensible. Kane will take care of them and guide them now. Her responsibilities lie elsewhere.

"Sure thing," Raven says, sighing. "The truck's bigger, though, so it'll burn through fuel faster. We might not get a whole month out of it."

"Did you attach that thing to the back?" Clarke asks curiously, reaching out and touching the mass of bristles with her hand. They're muddy and wet.

"No, they were already there," Raven says, frowning at them. "We'll probably remove them, actually. I think Mount Weather attached them to stop it making tire tracks in the snow, with those brushes redirecting snow back into the tracks. But I actually don't know. It's on my to-do list."