Wounds [Bellamy Blake]

Please [Chapter 69]

                We clambered down the tunnel, dirt falling on us from above, but the danger lurking behind. My mind could only focus on Bjorn; he had given his life for me. Tears were streaming down my face, but there was no going back; the tears would not bring him back just as they had not brought Bellamy back. I could do nothing to help anyone. Feeling utterly useless, I forced myself to get through the tunnel. I needed to survive.

                “Wait!” Abby shout-whispered from up ahead, “There is someone in here.”

                “Of course there is, there are six of us.” Kane said, the whole chain of us stopping in the small tunnel. “And more coming from the other end most likely.”

                “No, I can hear someone else.” Abby said and every quieted down.

                She was right; a groan could be heard at the other end of the tunnel. There was only a few more meters until the tunnel would lead us to the west wall of the camp. Heavy breathing of the six of us masked the groaning for a moment; I could hear everyone’s hearts beating as if we were all one heartbeat. No one wanted to move; if there was danger at the other end, we were going to be trapped. We could not go back, the only way was to go forwards.

                “Wait…” I said, pushing through the others until I was at the front, my tears having stopped and my courage soaring suddenly.

                “Ava what are you doing?” Octavia asked, her voice sounding desperate as if to pull me back to the safety of the group.

                “It might be one of us.” I said, thinking of all the people who had been fighting to keep the Grounders out. If they knew about the blast, they would have wanted to be out of range. “It might be…” I trailed off.

                The light began to filter in through the opening at the other end; I could see the frame of a body, moving slightly.

                “Someone’s there; alive.” I stated, then saw the other body as well. “There’s two people!”

                Abby was right beside me now, but I rushed ahead when I realized that it was Finn.

                “Finn!” I crouched down beside him, then my heart stopped.

                The second body.

                Even in the dark I knew.

                “Bellamy….” I breathed, unbelieving that the words were truly coming from my lips.

                “Bellamy?” Octavia’s voice came through the tunnel, hopeful.

                “We need to get them out of the tunnel!” I said, wondering where this authoritative part of me was coming from.

                I crawled over Finn and reached Bellamy, his breathing shallow. Swallowing nervously, I knew that I needed to get him out of the tunnel, to get him water and as much medical attention as possible if he was going to live. Together, the six of us got Bellamy and Finn out of the tunnel. Around us were bodies of Grounders, their eyes plucked out by birds, the blood from their bodies drained and the lives taken by our own hands.

                My eyes studied Bellamy; severe burns to the right side of his body had left his neck and part of his face deformed. Finn suffered the same fate, but on his back. Cupping my hands underneath Bellamy’s head, I tried to see if he was conscious; but his glazed over eyes suggested otherwise. Octavia rushed to his side and poured some water to his lips from the canteen Lincoln carried. Bellamy reacted then, coughing up blood and water, spittle sticking to his dry lips. A gasp came from his lips, then a groan as the pain from his burns kicked in.

                “Water…” He groaned.

                Octavia poured more into his lips. My eyes never left Bellamy; I still believed this to be some twisted dream. I would wake up in a few minutes and be lying on the ground, dying from the gunshot from the Mountain Man. But this was reality; I had not been the one to get shot, Bjorn was. Bjorn had given me the time, the second chance to find Bellamy and to save him. Just as Bjorn saved me, I had to save Bellamy.

                “Pour some on his burns.” I told Octavia and she did, though we had little to spare. She handed the canteen to Abby, who began treating Finn’s wounds.

                 “Is he going to make it?” Octavia’s voice was hysterical, whether from happiness of finding her brother alive, or by fear that he would be taken from her again.

                “I don’t know…” I breathed, “He has to.”

                “You hear that big brother, you have to.”

                Bellamy seemed to be tuning in to the surroundings, his eyes focusing on this and that. When his eyes fell upon my face, he tried to speak, but his words wavered and faded. I shook my head, tears dripping from my eyes and landing on his chest. “Don’t speak, Bell.”

                “Lincoln, do you have anything for burns?” Octavia asked.

                Lincoln opened his little metal box and pulled out a small vial; it contained very little.

                “That’s all I have.” He said, “But I can make more.”

                “Please.” I begged.

                “I need to get to the river.” He said.

                “It’s too dangerous to go out there alone.” Octavia said; I could tell she was torn between Bellamy and Lincoln. She needed both to live.

                “I’ll go with you.” Kane stood up, “I’m no help here.”

                “Okay.” Lincoln nodded.

                They left, disappearing as I tuned back in to Bellamy.

                “Hear that Bell?” I asked, my voice quivering, “You’re gonna make it. You’re gonna be okay.”     

                “Ava…” He croaked, “O…”

                “We’re here.” Octavia leaned over him, applying some of Lincoln’s burn heal to his face. Bellamy screamed in pain, but I held him down so that Octavia could finish the job. She applied it only to his face, as Finn would need some as well. Sinclair brought the bottle to Abby, who had removed Finn’s burnt jacket, revealing his bloody, fleshless back. He groaned at the pain, but eased when the healing began to take place; soothing the pain.

                We gave more water to both of them, waiting on Lincoln and Kane to return. All we could do was wait, though we were far from safe this close to the camp. I had Bellamy’s head in my lap, both my feet tucked underneath me. My fingers brushed his hair as he went in and out of consciousness. I looked down at his burnt skin, much of it festering as it had developed infection in the day that he had been in that tunnel.

                “Please.” I whispered to him, “Please stay with me.”

So, I have finished writing this story, completed chapter 70 yesterday afternoon. Really happy with it too! As far as I am concerned, there will be no sequel.