OUR OBLIVION | BELLAMY BLAKE

THIRTEEN| justice is sweet

I was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of people yelling and running outside my dad and I's apartment. I sat up in bed quickly and threw the covers off of myself as I ran into the living room. My dad was already up. He was pulling on his shoes and reaching for his jacket.

I gave him a look of alarm, "What's going on?"

"Someone's just set Commander Duke's office on fire."

"Oh my God" I replied as I ran back into my room.

I quickly changed out of my sleeping shorts and pulled on some jeans. I grabbed my guard's jacket from the coat hanger beside my bed and pulled it on. Names flew through my head as I tried to think of who would do something like that. 

Commander Duke had many enemies mainly because he was the commanding officer and in charge of many arrests on the Ark. There was no telling how many people would lash out against him.

I sprinted down the halls of Alpha Station. People were exiting their apartments in confusion about what was going on. Several of them still in their sleeping clothes. The hallways were crowded, so I had to shove my way through crowds as I neared Commander Duke's office.

The thick smell of smoke hit my nostrils as I turned the last corner. I spotted several guardsmen and a few cadets standing by his door, and I could see the orange flames dancing behind it.

I walked up to a few Officers who were frantically talking over a radio to whoever was inside. I spotted Dallas standing to my right, and I grabbed his arm.

"What's going on? Why is Duke still in there?"

"The kid that did it handcuffed him to his desk before setting the place on fire. Bellamy ran in there to get him, but then several shelves fell in front of the door. They're trapped in there."

"No," fear struck my whole body at the thought of Bellamy dying. "No, we have to go in there and get them! There has to be some way in!"

"That's what the Officers are working on. Equipment is on the way-"

"They could be dead by the time it gets here!" I yelled more loudly than I meant to. My voice slowly began to break. "Bellamy could be dead. I-I can't just... I have to do something Dallas."

Dallas put his hands on my shoulders, "Bellamy will be fine, ok? I know you want to help, but until the proper equipment gets here... There's nothing we can do."

I shook my head refusing to believe his words. There had to be some other way in. There had to be a way to get to them. Suddenly, my eyes widened as an idea popped into my head.

"The vents!" I exclaimed as I turned away from Dallas. "I can get in if I crawl through the ventilation system, and I can get them out."

Before he could give his input or protest I began running down the halls towards the janitor's closet. There was an entrance to the ventilation system there, and plenty of cabinets to climb on to get to it.

I slung open the door as I searched for the vent. My eyes landed on the small metal flap towards the top of the back wall. The thought of saving Bellamy never faded from my mind as I used one of the cabinets to push myself up so I could climb into the vent.

I raised the flap up and used all the strength I had to pull myself into the vent. I struggled for a few moments before I was finally able to begin crawling army style through the ventilation system. It was narrow and low and sweat broke out across my forehead as I crawled towards the smell of smoke.

I began coughing as I neared the vent in the wall of Commander Duke's office. Smoke filled that area of the system, and my eyes burned as they began to water. My coughing became more violent as I rolled over and managed to turn myself around so my feet were facing the metal bars of the vent.