"Octavia!" I heard Bellamy shouting outside the tent. "Octavia!"
I told Echo and Gabriel I was going to check on him, make sure he was okay. Walking out of the tent, I called out to him. "Bellamy?"
I was looking around when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Bellamy's unconscious body was being dragged away by an invisible force, causing my eyes to widen. No, no! I just lost my mom. I can't lose Bellamy too. "Bellamy!"
I took off after him, running past a large tree when something knocked me back with a lot of force. I gasped seeing as the wind was just knocked out of me. I let out a groan as I stood up, seeing Bellamy's body still behind dragged away when something hit me from behind, causing me to go flying again. I hit the ground with a loud thud, groaning in pain. I pushed myself up once again before I was knocked back again.
"Bellamy! Aiden!" I heard Gabriel shout. I looked up to see him and Echo running toward me. Gabriel was holding his bag and a gun when he and Echo stopped a few feet away.
"We're not alone," I shouted. "Go back inside. Watch the girl."
Echo shook her head. "She's already gone. Come on, we can still catch her."
Just then, both Gabriel and Echo were swept off their feet by the invisible force. I ran to them, helping them up.
"Something else came through," Gabriel stated.
I scoffed quietly. "Welcome to the party."
As I looked around, I heard Echo speak. "Where's Bellamy?"
"It took him toward the Anomaly."
"No, no, no, no, time's not behaving. We have to get to him first."
As Gabriel grabbed his bag, I grabbed the gun Gabriel had dropped, causing the man to look at me. "Aiden, you can't shoot what you can't see."
"Stop talking," I spat. "I'm opening up a path. Follow me."
I spun around on my heel, shooting in front of me as I ran into the woods, Echo and Gabriel close behind.
°°°
"Bellamy! Call out if you can hear me!" I shouted as I ran further into the woods with Echo and Gabriel. There was no answer. I breathed heavily as I hopped over a log on the ground.
The sound of Gabriel's and Echo's footsteps behind me ceased, causing me to stop and spin around, looking at them.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Gabriel glanced at me. "Making sure we're not being followed."
"Followed by what?" Echo asked confused. "Have you ever seen anything like that?"
The man shook his head. "No."
Just then, I heard crackling in the brush nearby. I raised my gun, pointing it in that direction. Suddenly, someone came at me from the left. I accidentally pulled the trigger but thankfully no one got hurt. I let out a groan as whoever it was swung at me. I dodged it before dropping my gun and throwing a punch at the person.
"No, Hope, stop!" I heard Gabriel shout.
A punch was thrown my way but I deflected it and brought my knee up to the girl's stomach, causing her to groan in pain. She quickly recovered and grabbed my arm, twisting it. I hissed in pain as the girl put me into a headlock.
"I don't want to hurt you," Hope hissed into my ear. She let go of me, shoving me forward. I fell to the ground with a thud, Echo coming to my aid.
"Who are you?" Echo asked as she helped me up. I glared at Hope. "Where's Octavia, and why are they taking Bellamy to the Anomaly?"
Hope's face fell. "Bellamy's gone?"
Gabriel spoke up, causing the girl to look at him, "You know him? You remember?"
"No. You called to him from the tent. This... Was in my arm."
I furrowed my eyebrows slightly as Hope showed us a small piece of paper covered in blood. Echo grabbed it from her hand, looking at it with a confused expression.
"Trust Bellamy?"
"I don't remember putting it there but I think I must have."
I watched as Gabriel snatched the paper from Echo turning it over. "It's another code. Like the one on Octavia's back. What's it for?"
Hope shrugged. "I don't know."
"Stop lying," I spat, sending the girl a glare.
"Easy," Gabriel spoke. "Octavia lost her memory, too. Must be a result of moving through the Anomaly."
"What's the Anomaly?"
Echo took a step forward. "You tell us."
Gabriel looked up from the paper. "It's the sound you hear."
"You said Octavia's name right before you stabbed her," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "You remembered then, and you remember now."
"The Anomaly was on top of us then," Gabriel suddenly said. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, then she lost her memory when it receded... Taking Octavia with it. Why just her? Why the memory loss? None of this makes any sense, but my God, it's incredible."
Hope shook her head. "We need to get to Bellamy."
I pursed my lips slightly as I glanced at Gabriel before looking back at Hope. "How fast can you run?"
The girl shrugged. "I don't know. Let's find out."
As Hope took off running, I grabbed my gun, following close behind her with Gabriel and Echo. We have to find Bellamy.
°°°
We got much closer to the Anomaly by the time nightfall came upon us. White specks floated around us as we ran. Suddenly, Gabriel stopped in his tracks, causing the rest of us to do so as well.
"Wait. Too much toxin in the air," the man stated. That must be what the white specks floating everywhere are. "I'm not in the mood to see my ghost right now, are you?"
Just then, the sound of an explosion went off behind us, causing me to flinch, immediately spinning around and hiding behind a tree.
"Ray guns. Cool," Gabriel muttered as we hid.
"If it shoots, it can be shot at," Echo stated matter-of-factly.
Just then, another shot went off, causing me to furrow my eyebrows slightly. "That was a bad shot, even from far away."
A thought popped into my head, causing me to act on it. I handed Echo my gun, causing her to look at me. I don't think they're aiming for us. I bit my lower lip as I slowly walked out into the open.
"Aiden? Aiden, what are you doing?" Echo hissed. I held my hand up. I stood in the middle of an open area, testing my theory. God, I really hope I'm right.
"Testing a theory," I muttered.
"A theory? If you're wrong--."
Another shot went off, really close to me, causing me to flinch, but stand my ground.
"She's not wrong," I heard Hope say as I ran back toward them. "It's not trying to kill us."
"We're not playing by the same rules," Gabriel stated. "Look around you. The particulate matter moves in response to motion. They come close enough..."
"I'll have a target," Echo stated, gripping the gun in her hand. "To set the trap, we have to open up a lead. Follow me."
Just then, the four of us ran in the direction we've been going.
°°°
We hid behind a fallen tree, waiting for Echo to take the shot. I could hear crackling of dry leaves and branches as the invisible thing made its way closer to us.
"Here it comes," Echo stated lowly. "No one move, or it won't come close enough."
I heard Echo mutter something and Gabriel reply, but I wasn't paying attention because my eyes were on something else. I felt my heart rate accelerate as I stared at the man in front of me.
"Jake?" I whispered. Jake, my step-dad was looking at me.
"Look at you... You're pathetic. Looking for a man who's probably dead, all because you need him."
I clenched my jaw. "Shut up."
"You know he doesn't actually love you, right? Bellamy, and Clarke, and Murphy, and all your friends only pretend to care because they feel bad for you." I felt my anger rising as the man in front of me let out a dark laugh. I never made amends with him, only because he died before I could. I know it's not his fault for everything that happened with me, just like it's not Abby's. He probably didn't even know I wasn't his kid. "You're useless. A waste of space. They could never love you..."
"You don't know what you're talking about," I hissed. "Shut up."
Just then, multiple shots went off, snapping me out of whatever state I was in. I jumped slightly, my eyes darting to Echo who had tears in her eyes. I tried slowing my breathing as Gabriel hopped over the log. In front of us were three bodies, all wearing some sort of suits.
"Gabriel, there could be more," Echo hissed quietly as we followed the man.
Gabriel crouched beside one of the bodies as he spoke. "We need to know what we're dealing with."
"Gabriel--" Echo said. I looked at the woman before looking back at Gabriel.
"Hold on," the man interrupted. Gabriel removed the helmet. "He's just a man. Same tattoos as yours."
The man had the same tattoos on his face as Hope. I jumped back when Echo suddenly fired multiple shots at one of the bodies, which fell to the ground.
"Listen," Gabriel spoke after Echo stopped shooting.
"What is it?" I asked, confused.
"The Anomaly. It's quieter. They're shutting it down."
"What does that mean?" Hope asked, shaking her head.
"It means they can control it."
"What if it means they're taking Bellamy through and they don't want us to follow?" I asked. I immediately took off in the direction of the Anomaly. After a minute or so, we made it out of the woods, an enormous green storm-like thing in front of us; the Anomaly. "Bellamy!"
I took a few steps forward, but Gabriel held me back. "No, no, no, no, no. Aiden!"
"It's closing!" I shouted.
"We go through together. If we're even seconds apart, we could be separated by months. Okay?" I pursed my lips, my eyes never leaving the Anomaly. I felt a hand grab my left hand. I looked at Gabriel before looking at Echo and grabbing her left hand. With that, the four of us walked into the Anomaly.
°°°
Wow... Um... This was an interesting chapter. Welcome to season seven everyone. I'm kinda nervous about this season because there's gonna be some MAJOR character development for Aiden. We also met a new character; Hope, Diyoza's daughter.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you guys in the next one.
Buh-bye.