Hopeless - (Bellamy Blake - Book 2)

Chapter 2

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We walk for another half a mile, all the bushes and trees looking the same as I focus my eyes on the ground in front of me, trying to avoid tree roots and bumps.

"I don't know how much farther I can go." I whisper hoarsely to Finn. "My shoulder..." The numbing ache was only getting worse, I was starting to lose the feeling in my hand.

"Keep going, Chris. You gotta keep going." Finn whispers back.

"Hey!"

At first, I thought it was the Grounder yelling at us, until my brain registered the voice, the familiarity. I turn and almost collapse at the sight of Bellamy—spear in hand, his face bloody but full of determination.

"Bellamy-" I say, my body shaking. Am I hallucinating?

Bellamy looks behind him before facing us again, this time looking slightly startled.

"Bellamy! Get out of here!" Finn yells at him. Okay, so either we're both hallucinating, or Bellamy is actually here.

The Grounder grabs his horse's reigns and charges at Bellamy, I scream as Finn and I are harshly pulled forward, our bodies dragging on the dirt.

I groan in pain as I roll on the ground, Finn not far from me. The Grounder must have let go of our ropes. I kick my legs against the earth as I try to breathe, the fall winding me. I look up and see the Grounder pushing Bellamy to the ground, punching him repeatedly.

"No." I try to shout, but I know it comes out as a whimper. I try to stand, using my hands to push my body up, but I'm too weak.

The Grounder picks Bellamy up by the front of his jacket, and binds his hands, then he picks up Finn and makes him stand. I watch as he comes over to me, grinning as he picks up my limp body and shoves me towards the boys.

I let out a mangled breath as I collide with them, their hands holding on to me for support. I look up at Bellamy and force back the tears of a mixed relief and sadness.

"Lame rescue attempt, Blake." I breathe out.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun." Bellamy tries his best to smile, blood and dirt, both old and new, coats his face.

"You have to stay on your feet." Finn tells him quietly as we all turn to face the Grounder. "He'll kill you if you don't."

"I'd rather that than see where he's taking us." I reply.

Shouts and war cries come from behind us, we all turn to see Monroe and Sterling coming out of the trees, weapons raised as they charge at the Grounder.

Before I have time to think, a shot rings out, causing Bellamy and Finn grab me and pull me to the ground for cover. We look up and see a blood stain on the Grounder's chest, before he falls down.

"What the fuck?" I whisper. I look back at Monroe and Sterling, just as shocked as we are.

Movement ahead of us gains our attention, as Marcus Kane and other Ark citizens emerge, faint cuts and bruises on them, and with guns raised. We slowly get to our feet, shocked expressions on all of our faces.

"We're here now," Kane says to us. "Everything's gonna be okay."

I look at each of the Ark people in turn, then turn my head to share a look with Bellamy. He gives me the same look.

What. The. Fuck.

*

We start to untie our selves in silence, most likely trying to gather our thoughts. The last time we saw the Ark, it was crashing to the Earth, how the hell could anyone survive that?

I glance up at Kane as he crouches over the Grounder's body, of course now is the time they appear to help. When we've done all of the heavy grafting, all of the killing. Well, most of the killing.

"Hey," Bellamy says quietly to me, he takes a hold of my fumbling hands, struggling to untie myself. "You okay?"

I nod as he helps get the rope off my wrists. "Yeah. Just...shocked."

There's no way I would tell Bellamy I'm slowly losing feeling in my left arm, my fingers tingling as the arm feels heavy, he would only worry. Besides, we have bigger problems to deal with; our friends are stuck at the dropship, the rest of the Grounders are most likely rallying to attack us again, and now we have the rest of the Ark to deal with.

Bellamy helps me to my feet, I sway a little, but plant them firmly on the ground. I look over and see many more people emerge from the trees, a woman coming directly over to us.

"Don't stand up," she says to us.

"We're fine." Bellamy tells her, then looks over at me and Finn. "We need to get back to the dropship."

We nod, but before we move, the woman grabs Finn's arm. "Hey, where's Clarke? Is she alright?"

"She was when we left." Finn tells her. "We'll take you to her."

We go to leave again, this time stopped by Kane. "Wait, slow down."

I suppress a groan of annoyance, instead glaring at him. He goes over to talk to someone called Sinclair, and I take the time to look over at Bellamy.

"How did you escape?" I say quietly.

He looks down at me, "I followed you out of camp. Lost you just before the explosion."

I nod and look over his face again. God, if that's what he looks like, I don't even want to think about what I might look like.

Bellamy places a comforting hand on my arm, I try not to wince.

Kane turns back to us, "you six with me," he says to a few people. "You three," he gestures to us, "lead the way."

"Yes sir." I mumble sarcastically, before heading off back to the dropship.

~*~