Bellamy’s eyes went wide and I began to scream and sob. It did not good, of course. My screams wouldn’t give him breath, my screams wouldn’t open the door. I was completely useless. Bellamy reached his hands to his throat, trying to remove the noose from suffocating him. Murphy jumped up and grabbed his arms, “Using your hands is cheating! Mine were bound, remember?”
Just as things were escalating to a whole new level, the drop ship door opened and Murphy took to the upper levels. Jasper was the first one inside the ship and quickly grabbed Bellamy’s legs, lifting him up and giving him some room to breathe. Octavia detached one of the seat belt buckles and Bellay came crashing down, a huge gasp revealing that he was alive. The commotion had blocked my view. Someone was untying my hands, taking longer than normal because of all the blood. My eyes were trained on Bellamy, trying to see if he was okay, but too many people clouded my view.
When I did see him, he was up the ladder, banging on the sealed door to the upper level, shouting at Murphy. His voice was raspy, the result of him hanging for nearly a minute before Jasper and Octavia had saved him. My hands were finally untied, and I looked up to see that it was Nova. My arms flew around the girl and I pulled her into a tight embrace, only then realizing that I was heaving; almost unable to breathe.
“It’s okay.” She comforted over the noise. “Ava, it’s okay.”
She grabbed my hand and applied a dry cloth to it. I winced, grinding my teeth together as the cloth began to absorb the blood. A surprising amount of the fluid came from the loss of one small finger. I placed my hand over the cloth and allowed Nova to step back. The drop ship seemed crowded, though there were not too many people within. Octavia, Jasper, Bellamy, Nova and myself. Murphy was still trapped in the upper level.
Yet another explosion caused everyone to jump; there had been an alarming amount of explosions since we landed on Earth. This one, however, meant Murphy was free. Bellamy and Jasper had made their way to the second level, having gotten through the door now, and disappeared from sight. I rushed over, dropping my bloody cloth, and began to climb. Each time I put pressure on my wound I gasped, winced, but pushed on.
When I arrived at the top of the ladder, I saw Jasper hugging Bellamy. A smile formed on my lips as I silently watched their embrace; Bellamy had come such a long way, and Jasper said it.
“We’re a long way from ‘whatever the hell we want’.” Jasper smiled, then turned towards the ladder.
I climbed over and nodded at the kid, swapping places as he descended. Bellamy and I were alone; the only noise came from Jasper’s boots on the metal rungs, and the voices outside the new hole in the drop ship, curious and full of wonder as Murphy ran out of sight. No one ran after him, not when we knew he would taken by Grounders out there.
My eyes met with Bellamy’s, “So…”
He smiled, though the red mark around his neck made him look almost manic along with his wide eyes. Dark circles hung under his, and everyone else’s eyes. Though there were a few things to be discussed, Bellamy simply walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pinning my arms to my side. The smell of pine and dirt on his jacket was welcoming, and I rested my eyes, leaning into him though I knew I shouldn’t put much strain on him after what he had just been through.
“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, his voice strained. “I didn’t want him to hurt you… there was nothing I could do…”
“I know.” I said, shaking my head, “I wanted to stop him… watching him force you to do that… It was unbearable.”
“It’s over now.” He told me.
“No.” I shook my head then dropped it, “We still have the Grounders.”
A sigh came from his lips. His freckled face contorted as he tried to figure it all out. Everything about Earth was new to us; the planet itself, the water, the vegetation, the inhabitants both human and animal. The scenarios that seemed to play out were all a surprise, and we could never truly prepare for what would come next, as it was almost always a surprise. However, we knew that the Grounders were coming to finish us off. It all came down to leaving for something better, or staying and putting up a fight.
“Clarke and Finn are back!” Someone shouted from down below.
I looked up at Bellamy, “What’s the plan?”
“We stay and fight.” He said, reaching down and gently lifting my damaged hand. He looked at the stump where my pinky finger had been and sadness filled his eyes. “We didn’t survive this to walk away.”
There was some part of me that wondered if he meant everything that had gone on in our rocky relationship. Everything that we had done in the last few days had mucked things up, or should have, but instead of walking away from each other, we fought for the unlikely event that we would stick together. I reached my other hand up and slipped it into his, looking into his deep brown eyes and finding a smile on my lips.
“Say it again.” I commanded from him, though I didn’t have to explain what I wanted him to say. If he could say the words now, I knew he would truly mean it. He had said them just before Murphy had kicked the stool from under his feet, perhaps it was in his panic that he wanted to end on a good note with me. I needed to know if he truly loved me. All the nerves in my body were shot; my neurons were firing; I needed the truth.
“I love you, Avarice.” He told me, his lips forming into a smile. “I can’t promise that I will keep you safe, or anyone, I can’t promise I’ll live another night. I can’t promise you anything except that I do love you.”
So, I have written about half way through chapter 61. Falling a bit behind, but I will have some time to catch up on Saturday, so no worries! Thanks for all the lovely comments on the last few chapters! I can't believe I'm reaching 20 comments a chapter! That means so much to me! And again, I will try to reply to all your comments, but if I don't, please don't be offended! I try to scroll my notifcations every day, jotting down new followers and readers to add to the dedication list, and replying to comments. Thanks!