Acrimonious ➣ Bellamy Blake

11 The Calm

The Calm; a settling peace before a hurricane.

            CARMEN HOISTED HERSELF UP ON a perch, peering out at the surrounding land. A small group lead by Finn just returned and she watched intently as they entered the gates with fresh water from a nearby river. Over on the edges of the camp, people were switching out as first watch came to an end. Everyone was on high alert, extremely cautious ever since the bridge was blown.

Her eyes stopped searching once she caught a glimpse of Glass talking to Bellamy. Intrigued by the conversation, Carmen noted to question Glass later about it. It was a rare sight to catch the two together. Although, it was a good sight for sore eyes.

Two days of sleepless nights were starting to catch up to her. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until this was all over; and even then, there was no guarantee. Distracted by her thoughts, she dazed at the blue skies.

Looking at the hues of blue made her stomach ache. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to be on the Ark, in space. Since it was in the middle of the afternoon, the Ark wasn't every visible to her, but she could still see the small spec floating in the sky. The Earth would be more appealing if it was empty; everything would be so much simpler.

As the perch creaked, she fluently turned around to see Bellamy. "Oh, sorry. If you need this post I'd be happy to escort myself down."

He shook his head, looking out into the forest. "No, I'm just making a routine check. Looking around from different positions, basically." Carmen crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly, suddenly getting a draft through her jacket.

Bellamy hadn't spoken to her since they had been at the graveyard outside of the wall. He had rested himself up over the past few days, letting Carmen take charge. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but it felt like he was avoiding her after he was well again. If she walked into the drop ship, he was quick to make an exit. If he walked over to the east side of the wall and saw her there, he would avert himself to the west side.

"I just remembered that Jasper wanted my help with something. I'll, uh, see you around," she jumped down, trying to abort the situation. "Wait," he followed her down with a thud.

"You're helping Jasper? I talked to him earlier, he thinks he can cook up some more gunpowder, if he gets some sulfur. And Raven says she can turn that into landmines, so be careful where you step," he joked as she walked ahead.

She cracked a smile, letting out a short laugh. She came to a standstill, monitoring everyone bustle about. "What I really need is a thousand more of her tin can bombs I can roll into their village and blow those Grounders to hell. That's what they want to do to us," he continued, giving her an innocent look when she furrowed her eyebrows.

She shrugged. She didn't like them, but Lincoln seemed okay. The grounders had also had horses too, so Carmen knew they weren't complete savages who rip everything and everyone apart at the seams. "Even if we don't want to admit, Anya was right. I mean, what? We live in space for 97 years and suddenly come to the ground, changing and disrupting the order that was already down here. We invaded," Carmen rubbed her forehead trying to rub away the headache she could feel coming on.

Bellamy shook his head, trying not to think about it more than necessary. "Any word from the Ark?"

"Radio silence," she responded. "Finally ran out of air," Bellamy slipped, whipping his head to look at her once he realized what he said.