CHAPTER TEN.
When Liv stepped outside the next morning, the campsite was completely trashed. Tents had blown everywhere, collapsed, and even some trees had fallen upon the site. She lets out a sigh, glancing at the mess created around here. She knew that it was going to take a lot of work to clean up, but they'd manage.
Liv felt sick the next morning, as well. After how she went about getting the antidote from the grounder, she felt disgusted with herself. She takes a few steps out, the air still cool and slightly damp from the night before, but it wasn't as cold as last night.
She had also managed to clean off her jacket, the blonde now sporting it once again. In front of her was Bellamy who was already set to work with cleaning the debris, glancing up when she steps out.
"We'll get cleaned up," he assures her, Liv nodding softly.
She lets out a sigh, breathing out, "If only this was our only problem to worry about."
Liv continued to keep walking, Liv stiffening when she feels his hand grabs her's, pulling her back so she turns around.
"Liv," he begins, slowly pulling his hand away from her's, "who we are, and what we need to be to survive are very different things." She nods softly, trying to believe him. She felt sick in regards to herself, disgusted with her actions from last night. She looks into his brown eyes before glancing back over toward the drop ship.
"What are we going to do about him?" she questions, knowing that they have to do something about this at some point. She shrugs, mumbling, "We can't keep him locked up forever."
He sighs, stating, "If we let him go, he'll be back, and not alone next time."
She nods in understanding, knowing that whatever they end up doing about this won't be pretty.
He looks at her expression, noticing her broken down expression, already able to tell that she's practically tearing herself apart inside because of what she did.
"It's not easy being a leader, is it?" he murmurs softly, Liv glancing down at the ground.
And with that, he walks away, leaving Liv alone to her own thoughts.
Dr. Jake Ryan was highly respected on the Ark. In fact, he was without a doubt the most skillful doctor aboard that ship. Which is why a blessing for Marilyn Ross to be his best friend's wife, currently laying down on his examination table. For the past few weeks she had been feeling unusually queasy, not to mention that she was late to start her period.
In fact, she was pretty damn sure that these were all signs of being pregnant. Which is why her husband, Lee Ross, had set an appointment for her with his friend. She was fortunate to have such a skillful doctor under her belt, knowing that he'll be here to help her whenever and where ever.
He currently runs a small scanner over her stomach, the inside of her uterus being shown on a screen. There, she could see the small legs of a child, a grin forming on her face. From the chair beside her, Lee grabs onto Marilyn's hand, squeezing tightly.
They were going to be parents.
It was exciting news, that is, until another set of legs were shown. That wasn't right, her child wasn't supposed to have four legs. Unless he or she was deformed which was enough to make Marilyn sick to her stomach altogether. She had been wanting kids since she was a young girl, always wanting to start her own family on the Ark.
"Jake?" she questions in confusion, gripping onto Lee's hand even tighter as the three stare at the screen, all of them perplexed.
"I'm sure this is nothing, Marilyn," he explains, moving the scanner around some more.
And that was when four arms appeared, Marilyn letting out a gasp. She didn't know what was happening and it most certainly wasn't a lie to say that she was scared. In fact, she was terrified.
"What's wrong with my baby?" Marilyn demands, feeling tears start welling in the corner of her eyes. When Jake doesn't reply, she quickly snaps, "Jake!"
He clears his throat, stating, "Lee, Marilyn, I have good and bad news."
Lee's eyes widen slightly, demanding, "Well, what is it?"
"Your child's fine," he begins, the married couple letting out simultaneous sighs of relief. "He's a boy. . . "
Lee grins, stating in excitement, "Hear that, Marilyn? We're going to be having a son."
"And the other's a girl," Jake finally finishes, both of the smiles on Marilyn's and Lee's faces vanishing almost instantly.
"What do you mean?" Marilyn questions, her eyebrows lacing together, knowing that it's illegal to have more than one child on the Ark.
"Marilyn, Lee, you're parents to a pair of twins."
"Hey, Liv," Clarke's voice sounds, Liv glancing up from her spot clearing up branches from the falling trees.
"Clarke, what's up?" she questions, noticing that she had just exited the tent where their communication system is. "Kane gave me a set of coordinates just a few moments ago for a shelter that was made to stand up to nuclear warfare. Apparently there's supplies there as well as a possible place for us to stay by the time winter rolls around."
"Yeah, what about it?" Liv questions, glancing at the coordinates Clarke had written down. "You going to check it out later."
"Actually, no," Clarke sighs out, glancing at Liv. "You're going to."
"Me?" Liv questions. "How come you're not going?"
"There's a lot to do around here after the storm and I - I still have to make sure Finn's okay - "
Liv noticed how Clarke's face softened the moment she said Finn's name, Liv quickly cutting her off. "No, don't worry about it. I'll go check it out."
Clarke smiles at her, squeezing her bicep and saying, "Thanks."
Clarke was gone a moment later, calling for someone named Dax to go to the communications system. The teenagers here have been taking their turns in line to speak to their parents, Liv realizing that going out on this day trip was going to postpone her time to speak to her dad for the first time.
She lets out a sigh, making her way toward the drop ship in order to find Bellamy. She realized almost immediately that she can't get to the shelter on her own, especially with grounders out there. And the only person that she trusts here that's currently up to fighting speed is Bellamy.
As much as she loves her brother, he's not exactly able to fight. He's more of a tech kind of guy. A whiz with nuts and bolts, but not when it comes to fighting.
She steps inside, immediately seeing Bellamy standing there next to Octavia.
Hopping off the ladder, she makes her way toward him, calling, "Bellamy - "
Brushing past her, he states, "The answer's still no. I'm not talking to Jaha."
She lets out a sigh, not shocked that he immediately jumped to that conclusion. All morning she had been trying to convince him to speak to Jaha, hoping that he'd be relieved of his crimes if they just spoke once over the communications system. Bellamy has risked his life for everyone on the ground countless of times, and maybe Jaha would be able to understand why he did what he did. That he had to come down in order to protect his sister.
Liv wasn't going to lie and says she didn't care about him because she does. She cares about him a lot more than she'd like to admit, and that's a large factor as to why she wants him to talk to Jaha.
"Hey, calm down," Liv sighs, Bellamy stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning to face her. "That's not why I'm here."
"What then?" he asks, Liv glancing up at him.
"Clarke told me that the Ark found some old records that show a supply depot not too far from here," she explains, already able to tell that she's gaining Bellamy's attention with this.
"What kind of supplies?"
"Stuff to give us a fighting chance to survive winter," Liv explains, knowing that they're going to need to find something if they all don't want to freeze to death. "I'm gonna go check it out and I wanted to know if you'd come."
Raising a brow, he asks, "Why are you asking me?"
Rolling her eyes, she states, "Because you're the only one who's willing to go that I actually like."
He grins smugly at her, questioning, "You like me, Princess?"
She grins at him before walking away, calling, "Only as a friend, Sweetheart."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he continues from behind her, Liv letting out a soft chuckle.
"Get your stuff ready. We're leaving in ten."
☢ ☢ ☢ ☢ ☢
Liv quickly slings on her pack, making her way over toward Bellamy who is standing in front of their ration supply. She was planning on grabbing a ration or two for the trip, but it seems like Bellamy's taken care of getting them a whole feast
He glances around, almost as though he's trying to make sure no one can see him as he stuffs around a dozen rations into his pack. Liv's eyebrows furrow together, her forehead creasing slightly as she watches in confusion.
"Whoa, there, take it easy, Bell," she states, letting out a chuckle. He glances over at her, his facial expression looking anything but amused. She rolls her eyes, explaining, "It's a day trip, we're not going to be gone for a week."
Shutting the container, he mumbles, "A lot can happen in a day."
Liv glances at him in confusion, wondering what's going on with him. In her opinion, he seems a bit more on edge than he usually is. Then again, it's not like he's going to tell her anything.
She sighs, making her way toward the exit of the camp, Bellamy following behind her.
For around in hour they hike, following the coordinates that the Chancellor had given Clarke. Liv could only hope that they were going the right way, otherwise they were completely screwed. She was a bit nervous about the upcoming winter. Liv has already taken notice to the temperature drop, knowing that it's only going to go down from there. They need to find shelter, and quickly, too.
She lets out a sigh, getting slightly frustrated with the silence between her and Bellamy. At first it was bearable, but it wasn't hard to tell that there was something on his mind. He seemed tense, more than usual, at least. Then again, he is Bellamy. But, Liv knew him well enough to know that he was probably nervous about people from the Ark coming back down to the ground. Especially since she's been pestering him beyond belief into speaking to the Chancellor. In fact, she's surprised he doesn't hate her for it.
She glances back at him, hesitantly stating, "You know, the first drop ship is gonna come down soon. Pretty sure you can't avoid Jaha forever."
"I can try."
The two begin to make their way up a hill, Liv pausing so Bellamy's walking beside her.
Glancing over at him, she questions, "Do you really think that's going to work?"
She was about to add more on to her question, but stopped when they made it to the top of the hill, looking over to see the ruins of what once was a building. A small lake sits in the middle of it, Liv glancing around in confusion. She knows that the depot is supposed to be around her somewhere, but she can't determine exactly where.
Liv glances around in confusion, murmuring, "The depot's supposed to be around here somewhere."
Bellamy glances around, stating, "There's got to be a door."
Liv lets out a frustrated sigh, unable to keep herself from thinking about Bellamy and Jaha. Looking toward the man beside her once again, she pitches, "Maybe he'll be lenient."
His head snaps in her direction, Bellamy deadpanning, "Look. I shot the man, Liv. He's not just gonna forgive and forget."
Liv shakes her head back and forth, continuing to speak regardless of what he thinks. "But, if you tell him that you did it for your sister, he'll have to understand, right? I mean, you did this for someone you love and he should be able to - "
He quickly cuts her off, ordering, "Let's just split up and cover more ground. Stay within shouting distance."
He doesn't look back, making his way toward the wreckage of the building.
Liv feels her hand curl into a tight fist, calling from behind him, "I care, you know." He turns around, his face blank as she grows more and more frustrated. "And maybe you don't want to hear it, but I actually give a damn about what happens to you when Jaha comes down."
He nods, an unreadable expression crossing his face as he states, "I know."
Liv was unconvinced, demanding, "Do you?"
"I do now."
And with that he turned away, beginning to walk toward the wreckage that has unfolded in front of them.
Liv watches as he walks off, soon turning around and making her way toward the other side of the clearing.
There was nothing that Marilyn could do in her situation. She was terrified, as was Lee. What were they supposed to do? Give up their children? They wouldn't be just losing one, they'd be losing both. As a mother, Marilyn couldn't go through with that.
Which is why they sit with Jake in their room in their section, going over all of the possibilities to protect these kids. They all knew the penalties of having more than one child on the Ark and Marilyn wasn't prepared to make one of her kids live a life in solitude.
She also wasn't very fond of the idea of being floated, but that was an entirely other problem.
"There are many things we can do in this situation, Marilyn," Jake begins, prepared to help them at all costs to protect her in the children. "My personal favorite involves both of them staying alive as well as keeping you from being floated and one from being locked up with the other teenage convicts."
Marilyn nods, stating, "Go on."
He slides a sonogram of another woman's uterus across the table in front of them, Marilyn and Lee being unaware to that.
Lee's eyebrows lace together in confusion, stating, "There's only one child in this."
"That's because this one isn't of your children," Jake explains, Marilyn watching him in confusion.
"What are you trying to say, Jake?"
He looks the parents dead in the eye, stating, "I can get into some serious trouble for this, so don't take this lightly, but I can trade your's with this mother's from thirty years ago, making it seem as though this whole thing has been a misdiagnosis if it comes to that. But, until then, I suggest you don't leave this room for anything."
"What? Why?" Lee questions his brother, not wanting to sentence his wife to staying in their room.
"It would be best if we could keep Marilyn's pregnancy under wraps," Jake explains. "If we can give off the illusion that she's not pregnant until she actually had a child, you two can get by with bringing only one out. Of course, the other would have to stay here at all times, but it's better than a jail sentence. That being said, I won't be able to bring you into my office when it comes to delivery. I can slip you some pain killers and after that you're on your own, Marilyn."
Marilyn's silent, gulping nervously before nodding her head stiffly.
"I'll do it."
Liv crouches down on the ground, wiping away some fallen leaves since a metal object had caught her eye only moments prior. With a grin, she notices a door on the ground, noticing a deep red rust around the edges. She tugs on it, the door not budging in the slightest.
Glancing over, she sees Bellamy in the distance, shouting, "Bellamy!" She watches as his head snaps up, making his way over toward her with his axe in hand. She grins, explaining, "I found a door." He makes his way over, Liv trying to pull it open once again. "I think it's rusted shut."
"Here," he begins, tightening his grip on his axe. "Watch your foot."
She nods, back up a bit as he pulls the axe back, slamming the edge of it against the rusted metal. Liv watches as he grips onto the handles, nodding at her.
"Okay, give me a hand," he states, Liv wrapping her hands around the handles as well.
With a grunt, she helps him pull the door open, it creaking as they pull it to the side. Liv glances down, noticing the stairwell leading down into an immense darkness.
She hesitantly takes a step inside, immediately smelling the stench of a rotting corpse. It wasn't exactly the highlight of her day, to say the least. Walking down the steps, cobwebs line the sides, making her grimace slightly. The wall at the end reads Emergency Aid Depot #23, making Liv realize that they've found the right place. Grabbing her pack, she pulls out two flashlights, handing one to Bellamy.
He flicks his on, shining light around the bunker as he glances around, questioning, "Do you think this place really hasn't been touched since the war?"
"I hope," she mumbles, hoping that there's still enough here to take care of a little less than one hundred for the harsh winter months. "Come on," she states, nodding toward a hallway and making her way through it.
She finds herself walking down another set of stairs, shining her flashlight down only to be greeted with a skeleton. She shivers slightly at the sight of it, Liv now realizing where the awful stench was coming from.
"Hell of a place to die," Bellamy mutters, Liv nodding softly before making her way to the end of the staircase.
She glances around, growing annoyed with how disgusting and filthy it is down there, mumbling, "So much for living down here. This place is disgusting. Damn it."
They continue to make their way through the depot, soft splashes sounding as they being to walk in a puddle. It turns out that water is now soaking the floor of it, Liv wondering where else it could have seeped.
"Anything left down here is ruined," Bellamy states, glancing around some more.
Liv shines her light on a stream of water pouring into the bunker, her jaw clenching tightly at the sight of it.
Glancing around, she realizes that there's practically nothing down here, muttering, "They must have distributed the supplies down here before the last bombs went off."
Bellamy quickly grabs a pair of glow sticks, snapping them on which causes an orange glow to fill the depot, Liv setting down her flashlight as she opens up a crate. Inside are dozens of blankets, Liv smiling softly at the fact that she found something in this shit hole.
"Hey, I found blankets," she informs, Bellamy not even batting an eye.
"Excited about a couple of blankets?" he questions in disbelief, Liv dropping the top of it and allowing to slam shut.
"Well," she begins sheepishly, "it's something."
He storms past her, shouting in frustration, "How about a canteen or a med-kit? Or a decent fricking tent?"
She watches nervously as Bellamy seems to grow only more and more furious with each passing second, slamming his flashlight down atop of a table. He then opens up a barrel, glancing inside only to see some sort of murky liquid inside. He dips his fingers in, pulling them out only to see a black liquid covering them.
He lets out a cry of anger, slamming his foot against the crate and allowing it to go toppling over, the liquid inside pouring everywhere.
Liv glances over in shock, quickly wrapping her hand around his bicep, saying, "Bellamy, just calm down."
He looks down at her, questioning bitterly, "And how am I supposed to do that when there isn't a single useful thing down here?"
"We'll find - Bellamy." She grins.
The sight in front of her was enough to leave her speechless, an array of machine guns sitting on the ground beside the toppled barrel.
"What?" he snaps, glancing over where her gaze is fixated.
He takes a step forward, Liv following behind, both of them crouching down beside the guns. Liv shines her light on it, grinning widely at the sight.
A smile finally grows on his face, Bellamy breathing out, "Oh my god."
Liv watches as he wraps his hand around one, picking it up. She notices that there's a smile on his face, one that she's never seen him wear before prior to now. Liv grabs one as well, standing up and examining it. She's never seen a gun. Okay, that's a lie. She's seen the guards on the Ark carry guns around with them, but she's never seen one up close like this. She's never been able to touch one, let alone pull the trigger.
She smirks, Bellamy stating from beside her with a new found hope, "This changes everything. No more running from spears. Ready to be a bad ass, Princess?"
"Well, I don't think that's going to happen until I learn how to shoot one of these things," Liv mumbles, her forehead creased as she looks over it. "God, I'm pretty sure it's easier to build a spaceship than fire this thing."
Bellamy rolls his eyes at her, taking the gun from her hands before she ends up shooting her own foot off. Liv allows him to take the gun, opening her packet of rations and quickly popping a nut into her mouth. They tasted a bit funny, but she didn't really thing anything of it.
"We're lucky the rifles were packed in grease," Bellamy begins, Liv watching him as he goes on and on about these guns. "The fact that they survived means that we're not sitting ducks anymore. You need to learn how to do this."
She nods, grabbing the gun from him once again, placing her index finger around the trigger. Uncomfortably, she lifts it slightly, trying to rest the end of it on her shoulder. It didn't feel right. In fact, she was pretty sure that she was going to end up injuring someone with this thing. More likely herself.
"So do I just hold this on my shoulder?" she questions, shifting on her feet with discomfort.
"Yeah," Bellamy begins, Liv stiffening considerably when she feels his hand rest on her shoulder. "Just a little higher."
She moves it toward where he instructed, Liv obviously doing something wrong when she feels his large hand rest over her's, guiding the machine gun up further. Liv's body was incredibly stiff, her heart pounding violently in her chest as Bellamy's chest was brushing against her back, his breaths being felt on the back of her neck.
"Yeah, uh," he begins to mumble, seeming to be becoming just as flustered as she is. "That's good - uh, watch and learn."
He steps back, Liv's body slowly relaxing as she no longer feels his touch, yet for some reason she didn't want him to move. She was confused, definitely. He was Bellamy Blake, the man who she has practically been butting heads with since the moment they arrived here. She shouldn't be wanting to be that close to him.
Bellamy grabs a gun as well, holding it up into position, aiming it toward a red curtain with a large, black x drawn in the middle of it. She listens as the gun clicks, nothing happening. She raises a brow at him, Bellamy quickly clicking the ignition back into place. He aims it once again, shooting, but nothing happens.
"Still watching."
He lets out a soft chuckle at her comment, explaining, "My bullets are duds. Try your's."
She nods, gulping nervously as she puts the gun back into place. Taking a deep breath, she peers through the scope, the center of the x becoming her target. Bracing herself, she pulls on the trigger, jumping back slightly at the force of the gun.
Liv grins when she sees the bullet hit the bottom end of the x, glancing toward Bellamy with a huge smile. She was honestly surprised that she even hit the curtain, let alone the target.
"That was amazing," she states, her grin only widening.
Bellamy only smiles at her, Liv feeling a sense of pride wash over her at the fact she just shot a gun.
"Try again," he tells her, nodding toward the target.
As must as Liv wants to shoot it again, she shakes her head at him. Bellamy's brows furrow together, Liv setting the gun down.
"No, we shouldn't just keep shooting. Save the ammunition, you know?" Liv explains, knowing that they're going to need this against the grounders.
"No," Bellamy insists, his face having a serious expression plaster onto it. "You need to practice."
She shakes her head once again, her eyes locking on his brown one as she states, "Or maybe I can save it for people like you, the ones who know how to lead us." He's silent, nodding softly. "And besides, we need to figure out how we're going to keep guns around camp, where are going to keep them? I mean, let's be honest here, we do live with convicts. Some who are murderers, okay? What if we have another Murphy on our hands later on?"
Ignoring her, he grabs the gun she set down, looking through the scope before shooting it. It sounds with a bang, Liv watching as it hits right next to the center of the x.
She lets out a sigh, continuing, "You left Miller in charge of the grounder. You must trust him."
"You should keep him close," Bellamy explains to her, glancing back down at the gun. "The others listen to him."
Liv looks back toward him in confusion, realizing what she just said. He's telling her to keep Miller close, refusing to answer her when she tells him that he's a leader to their people, and he's incredibly persistent on teacher her how to use a gun. Her heart thuds in her chest, a growing hunch on her hands and she can't help but hope she's wrong.
She steps in front of him, making him look at her as she questions, "Keep him close? Bellamy, what's going on? You've been acting weird all day." She knows what's going on, she doesn't want to believe it. No, she refused to believe it. Glancing toward his pack, she murmurs, "All the rations you took. You're gonna run. That's why you agreed to come with me. You were going to just load up on supplies and just disappear."
Bellamy shrugs, a pained expression crossing his face as he explains, "I don't have a choice. The Ark will be here soon."
She shakes her head in disbelief, tears threatening to fall. "So you're just going to leave Octavia?"
He refuses to make eye contact with Liv, stating, "Octavia hates me. She'll be find."
Liv shakes her head at him, crying out, "You don't know - "
"I shot the Chancellor," Bellamy cuts her off quickly, Liv continuing to shake her head softly at him. "They're going to kill me, Liv. Best case scenario, they lock me up with the grounder for the rest of my life, and there's no way in hell I'm giving Jaha the satisfaction." He sets the gun down, stating, "Keep practicing, I need some air."
And with that, she was left alone.
Not edited.
I'm kind of really really pumped for you guys to read the next chapter. In my opinion, her halluscination is hella intense. Anyway, let me know your thoughts on this chapter! I love hearing your thoughts! Guys I have the title for the sequel and I freaking love it (and the song it's based off of).