When Songbirds Fly | Bellamy Blake

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Star-crossed

I don't think I'll ever get used to waking up in this place. There is no sunrise, no golden light peeking through wooden boards, no birdsong. Just bluish light and the soft humming from the air vents. Even with my eyes closed I can sense the difference.

Letting out a long sigh, I reach out. My hand falls down on a cold mattress. I open my eyes and glance around the room. Bellamy is gone. The chair where he usually puts his clothes on is empty.

I carefully push myself up from the bed and retrieve my clothes from the other chair. I take up my tank top, hesitating when my fingers graze the rough blotch where dried blood still stains the fabric. A lump forms in my throat. I can feel it again, a sharp pain in my side. An unwanted memory.

I hold my breath and pull it over my head, still unable to miss the stench of dried herbs and my own blood. Once my jeans are on, I roll up the left leg with a little difficulty. The material is tight now. They won't last another five years.

When I pick up my prosthesis, I find something stuck to it with one of the novelty magnets we found stuck to the cupboards when we first arrived — a tiny cactus in a plant pot, blooming with a single pink flower. Underneath it is a note scrawled in pen, the same slanted letters that I'm so used to seeing now.

Gone to the gym. See you at breakfast.
x

Smiling to myself, I carefully fold the note and slide it into my pocket.

—

'There she is!'

Grinning, I offer the others a playful wave. Bellamy immediately presses a kiss to my cheek as I sit down. His lips brush against the shell of my ear, a chuckle tickling the skin. 'Did you get my note?'

I scoff, 'The one stuck to my leg with a magnet? Kinda hard to miss.'

'That's the point.'

Taking the bowl that is pushed towards me, I down the contents as quickly as I can. My eyes shut tightly as I grimace, letting out a quiet, raspy sigh. The soup is still disgusting, carrying an unpleasant taste of bitter mould.

The bowls are collected again and Monty reappears from the lab that we have designated as our kitchen. Instead of returning to the table, he approaches the Controls Area in the corner. 'Got something to show you guys,' he says, beckoning us over.

We all approach, curiously watching as he messes around on the various computers until an image appears on one of the screens. It looks like footage of the desertified Earth, zoomed in to focus on what looks like a streak of white light travelling slowly towards it.

Echo's eyes widen and she takes a step closer, scrutinising the sight before us. 'What is that?'

'Meet 78 Diana,' he announces proudly, 'a main-belt asteroid that will pass over Earth today.'

'"Asteroid"?'

He nods. The footage changes, showing a light travelling in the other direction. 'This is 1950 DA, another asteroid. These two are gonna cross paths in about ten hours.'

Frowning, I glance to the others. None of them seem to be as confused. 'So... what? We gonna get a light show over dinner?'

Raven is the next to speak, exchanging subtly excited looks with the engineer. With the screen as our only source of light in this area, her face glows an eerie blue. 'You're looking at the cause of a marginally possible cataclysmic event. When these babies cross paths, DA's gonna get knocked off course...'