𝐃𝐔𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘 ── bellamy blake ¹ ✓

[ 21 ] live to see another day

The guards just outside of the vents yell something amongst themselves and the entire surroundings begin quivering once again as Bellamy rushes to follow after me, the two of us still on the brink of being caught and defenseless. The vent is considerably short and I am able to see the end of it a few feet in front of me, so it will take only several seconds for me to escape, Bellamy in tow. Suddenly, I am startled by a sharp mechanical hum that most likely comes from the chemical storage, whistling in low tunes as the grand pipes behind us growl, strained and tampered with. We were right to cause an explosion.

Surely enough, I have barely reached the end of the path when the system blows up and the area groans upon impact, released air forcing stinging flames to undeniably spread across the environment; God knows what kind of flammable substances were stored in those tanks.

I don't notice when Bellamy halts his movements somehwere behind me, while I clumsily tumble out of the vent and allow a metal shaft to welcome me into the sharp fall. Along with the raw surface of my knees and the palms of my hands, I will surely have bruised ribs. With a grunt, I rise to my knees, eyebrows furrowing into a puzzled frown when a wave of the explosion doesn't come; instead, Bellamy returns to rushing out of the ventilation system and I just barely catch a glimpse of his dark curls, until the phantom of blue and gray disappears unexpectedly and is swallowed by the chaos of red-hot flames, which envelop the small area between the vents with scorching heat, yet my feet still grow cold upon the image of the blazing cloud swallowing Bellamy's hastily approaching figure and my legs buckle, giving out and causing me to land back onto the floor as I shriek, "Bellamy!"

In an agonizingly slow second that burns out unknowingly fast, he is blasted out of the vent and lands directly onto my feet, the two of us groaning upon impact. I recover much faster, scrambling to get my feet out from under him and pulling my upper body up so I can double over and analyze Bellamy for any injuries, "Hey, hey, hey! Bell, you alright?"

Bellamy rolls over onto his back, face covered in the sheen of perspiration and contorting in obvious pain, but he doesn't respond with words; instead, he groans lowly, hand wrapping around his abdomen as I cradle his face. I brush a few stray curls away from his face, unable to keep away the scowl that etches itself across my face -- suddenly, my pain has disappeared and all that matters is if Bellamy is okay.

As if on que, he surprises me when the corners of his lips begin tugging upwards and he sharply exhales through his nose, dashing a silent grin in response. My eyebrows undeniably cinch in puzzlement and I am only capable of frowning, taken aback by his sudden projection of humor. Slowly but surely, the hardness of my expression dissipates and eventually, a laugh bubbles up in my throat and I lightly slap his chest, mirroring his own smile of triumph. He catches my hand in his own on top of his chest, holding it to his vest while a victorious grin continues adorning his face.

___

"My fellow citizens, this is your president speaking. I have news to share with you, that will change all of our lives forever. For 97 years, Mount Weather has been our home. It's kept us alive, but it has also held us captive. Most of us have made peace of what we've had to do to surive. We've done these things for one reason -- so that our people could someday return to the ground. That day is today."

Bellamy and I exchange looks of silent horror, eyes freezing onto each other in the neon blue lighting of the room. As a stark contrast of how loud it was moments prior to the grounder, Echo, who had helped Bellamy escape from the first guards he encountered, ordering her people to halt their chaotic shouting and continuous growling, the harvest chamber is now enveloped in pure silence, only the drawling voice of the mountain's president audible in the large room. We -- Bellamy, Echo and I -- stand in front of the cages we had once been locked in. We were asking Echo for help in getting this inside army on its feet so we can stand together in the battle against the Mountain Men, before the speakers situated throughout the entire facility crackled to life, powered by Wallace's words of manipulation. Even the stacked cages have ceased their rattling, countless grounders listening in, eerily soundless.