Wounds [Bellamy Blake]

Grounder [Chapter 26]

                Hobbling back to where Octavia was, I averted her eagerly awaiting gaze; she wanted information, and I was burdened with the task of revealing to her what her brother was doing. Her big eyes were always able to give away information, so much she left unveiled for others to read. I liked that about her; not having to dig into anything to truly know what she was thinking or feeling. She didn’t hide, she wasn’t a coward to her emotions.

                “Well?” She rushed to my aid, letting me lean on her slightly as she brought me to one of the makeshift hammocks.

                As if I were swayed by the honesty in Octavia’s eyes, I was quick to tell her the truth. “Bellamy sent out a hunting party for him; he’s going to bring him back here.”

                Octavia was at a loss for words; I knew what she wanted to say, a slur of curse words towards her brother, but they never found their way to her plump lips. All I could do was look at her, helpless as she was. Bellamy had not told me about his mission. Despite not being able to walk or carry a weapon, I felt a shooting pain in my chest that he didn’t at least say goodbye when he left on a suicide mission.

                “We have to help Finn.” She said, “It’s all we can do.”

                “Speak for yourself; I’m as useless as a horse with a broken leg.” I had read enough about the animals from Earth; the Arc hadn’t had animals for at least fifty years now. The large creatures had taken up far too much space and air; air that the humans needed. Before coming to Earth, no one had tasted flesh. I still hadn’t, and planned to keep it that way.

                “I’ll try to gather everyone; once that storm is overhead everyone has to be inside.”

                “Bell…” She whispered.

                “Will be back.” I finished her sentence, though hardly believed it to be true.

                “Go on now; Clarke will need steady hands and you proved yourself when you helped me, more than once.”

                Octavia half smiled, then ducked back into the drop ship.

                Turning to those who were around, I raised one hand in the air, referring to a shrug. “You heard me; gather everyone and everything that might get ruined in the storm.”

                “It’s a storm; we’ve handled worse.” A girl, about seventeen, replied.

                “What’s your name?” I asked sharply.

                “Novalee… Nova.”

                “What was your crime, Nova?”

                Her eyes met with mine, staring me down, but I could see behind her walls. I had built my own walls and I was able to recognize them with ease. She averted her tense gaze, and cleared her throat.

                “You want me to gather everyone up?” She changed the subject.

                “Well, I shouldn’t be walking.” I said, lowering my voice and nodding towards my ankle.

                “I’ll help you.” She said, ducking underneath my arm and holding me up better than the crutch.

                Without putting weight on the ankle, I hopped along using Nova as my crutch. Together, we circled the camp, pointing out things that needed to be bolted down, or covered. The tents were not going to last very long; the wind was already picking up and the rain was coming down sideways. People were beginning to pack up some of the tents, tucking the fabric underneath rocks and logs that would stay put.

                “You assaulted a guard, right?” She asked me as we finished covering the camp; we made our way to the outer edges where those on watch were located.

                “Only after he assaulted me; he got less than he deserved.”

                “All those guards were corrupt with power; it went to their heads.” She sighed; her words were surprisingly adult. “Anyone from Phoenix station thought they were all that, and they could do anything to anyone from Walden, Arcadia or Mecca station.”

                “Which one were you from?” I asked.

                “Any of them…” She said quietly. “I was passed around…”

                So, she had it worse than me.

                “My mum was floated for killing my father, who sold me for food tokens.” She explained, though I hadn’t asked for her story. “At first it was only to his friends, but when they got bored of me, he extended me through other stations. Mecca first, and then Arcadia.”

                “So, what was your crime?”

                She scoffed, brushing her long blonde hair from her eyes, revealing large brown orbs. “They caught me sneaking through to Phoenix station.”

                “What were you doing there?” I asked, though I knew the answer.

                “It was all I knew; selling my body for tokens.” She sighed, “I didn’t know how to survive without it. I had no skills, no chance of a decent, livable job.”

                “You’ve made it this long on Earth; perhaps it’s your calling.”

                “It’s different out here…” She said, “I’m not sure what was better.”

                “I wish I could say you’ll figure it out, but I’m not exactly the optimist.”

                A loud rumble in the sky caused both of us to flinch in a harmonious motion; the wind had picked up to such extreme force now that we would have to take cover within the drop ship. Novalee helped move me along towards the drop ship, where everyone was beginning to take cover within. It was crowded, but there was one face I was hoping to see that wasn’t there yet.

                Bellamy was out in the depths of the forest, likely with one or more Grounders on his tail, and a storm overheard. There was no direction where he would be safe, and if he caught Octavia’s Grounder, he would be bringing that danger right to our doorstep. The storm was the biggest immediate threat to both us and the Grounders. In a way, it was keeping us safe from them for one more day.

                How long were we going to drag out the inevitable?

                Clarke’s voice brought me to reality, “Get those doors closed, now!”

                “Jasper and Monty are still out there!” Someone called.

                Octavia joined the protest, “Bellamy is out there.”

                “He’ll be fine.” Clarke told her sternly, looking at Finn who wasn’t going to be fine if they didn’t do something about the hurricane that was snaking into our metal home.

                Octavia was beginning to climb back up the rungs towards an upper level of the ship when Bellamy walked into the ship, Grounder in his grasp. His eyes suggested a cocktail of fear, anger, hatred, and something darker than I had ever seen before in my whole time knowing Bellamy. In fact, the look he had seemed to burn through me, and his eyes never found me as he dragged the Grounder to the top level of the drop ship.

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