I BLINKED A FEW TIMES TO MAKE SURE I WASN'T DREAMING. He seemed to do the same. He was paralyzed. He only managed to breathe out one word.
"Lia."
There's only one person who calls me that.
I sprinted up to him and threw myself into his arms. I buried my face in the crook of his neck as he crouched down to my height, falling to his knees.
"You're alive," I whispered, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. I really thought he was dead. Everyone else did.
He was here. He was real. And we were all going to be okay.
"I thought I lost you, kid," He muttered into my shoulder.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Blake," I smiled.
Bellamy Blake was really here. He was alive.
As we broke apart, Bellamy stood up. Maya cleared her throat. Oh, I forgot she was there.
"Sorry to interrupt the family reunion but we've got work to do."
"Right. Sorry," Bellamy grumbled, clearing his throat. His face was covered in scratches, cuts and bruises and his normally freckled skin was dirty and slightly bloody.
"Tahlia, you go back to the dorms. Tell the others. I'll stay with Bellamy," Maya decided. I hate this plan.
"No way. I'm staying with Bellamy," I protested.
"Lia, she's right. Go tell the others. It isn't safe for you with us."
I rolled my eyes and reluctantly nodded. I didn't want to go anywhere but with him after what happened last time. We parted ways at the elevator and I happened to bump into Jasper, Harper and Monty. Harper and Monty looked like a mess. They were wearing old hospital gowns and were covered in blood. Harper looked sickly pale and at the brink of death. It was a horrifying sight.
"Harper!" I gasped, sprinting up to her to help Jasper hold her up. Monty was hurt too, but he wasn't in as nearly bad shape as Harper was.
I didn't even have time to tell them Bellamy was here. Jasper said Wallace was letting us go home. Harper and Monty quickly got cleaned up and changed their clothes while Jasper explained what was happening.
"Listen up. There's gonna be questions but there's no time," Jasper announced. "We're getting out of here. So pack your stuff."
"What are you talking about?" Fox asked.
"They're letting us go?" Miller asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Right now, before they change their minds," Jasper confirmed.
"Jasper, what the hell is going on?" Fox demanded.
"They lied to us the whole time about everything," Monty spoke up. Jasper and Monty shared a nervous glance. "The Ark is on the ground. And we're not safe here. Now do what he says."
The room was filled with gasps and confused expressions. Everyone obliged and started gathering their things. I didn't have much to carry so I just grabbed a small satchel and filled it with a water bottle, a change of clothes and a flashlight.
I waited at the door for everyone else. All of a sudden, another alarm started blaring. Right before the doors were slammed on us, I caught a glimpse of Maya. Beside her was Bellamy.
"No!" Jasper cried and ran to the door. He had his head in the view of the window which was too high for me to see. Jasper's face held a look of sheer terror. He was just as scared as the rest of us.
We were trapped inside the dorms. Monty and I were looking after Harper mostly and everyone else was just sitting around nervously waiting for something to happen.
Hours passed and still... Nothing. Jasper told us he spotted Bellamy and I confirmed it, even though most people didn't believe us. Guards had been coming into our room, taking us on by one for what I learned was bone marrow harvesting.
"We've been locked up for hours. If it was Bellamy-" Miller started but I cut him off.
"It was Bellamy, I saw him. He's here," I rolled my eyes.
"But that doesn't make any sense," Monty whispered to our little group which consisted of him, Jasper, Miller, Jess, Harper and I.
Before Jasper could get another word out, a group of guards came barging into our room for the third time.
"Oh no, not again," I said.
The guards tried grabbing Harper but Dr. Tsing stopped them. "No, not her. She needs more time to recover. This one," She pointed to Peter. I barely knew Peter, all I know is that he was arrested on the Ark for assaulting a guard.
"No! No!" Peter protested as the guards carried him away.
"Stop!" Jasper shouted, catching the attention of the doctor. "You can't keep doing this to us." Doctor Tsing walked up to Jasper, who was standing beside me.
"President Wallace said we could go," I said, turning her attention to me.
"That President Wallace is no longer in command. He had to step down for health reasons. I'm sorry it has to be like this," Dr. Tsing said to Jasper before turning her attention to me. "And you, little one. I'm just waiting on the tests to come back on your blood but from what I can see on how your blood deals with radiation, we're gonna be meeting again very soon," She said devilishly, sending chills down my body.
I knew what she meant. My nightblood must be able to withstand radiation even better than the others', and since I was born in space, it must be like super-radiation blood. And they want to harvest me for it.
"I hope you know, you're all incredibly special to us," Dr. Tsing said to the group. Once again, she looked down at me, pointing a slender finger right in my face, which I whacked away. "Especially you." With that, she turned on her heel and followed the guards out the door.
"Guys, we need to fight back next time," Jasper said as I climbed up to the top bunk with Jess.
"Get me a knife. Something to throw. Actually, any weapon will do," I said confidently. I knew I could probably kill every one of those idiots, just like I did in the forest when they tried taking Monty and I.
"I like Tahlia's plan." Monty shrugged.
"Monty, we are not letting a seven year old murder all of those guards. Besides, she's the one they want. What if they take her?" Jess denied.
"They won't." I climbed down from the top bunk I was sitting on. I glanced at Jasper, who was in deep thought.
"C'mon guys, you can't actually be considering this?" Harper asked in disbelief. Miller and Monty seemed okay with me killing them. I know I could do it. Even if they had guns, I can still do it. Harper and Jess were totally against it.
"Let's put it to a vote," Miller decided. "All in favor of the badass seven year old killing all of those bastards." He, Monty and I raised our hands.
"Nuh-uh. You don't get a vote. This is about you," Harper said to me. I rolled my eyes and lowered my hand.
"Fine. All in favor of letting them keep picking us off one by one until we're all dead," I spoke.
"The way you put that is so bullshit," Jess complained as she and Harper raised their hands.
"I got it!" Jasper whisper-shouted. "We stand together, make a human shield, and we all fight back. That way they can't get us. There's more of us than them," He planned.
"Well it's better than sending the little kid on a suicide mission," Jess nodded.
Jasper explained the plan to everyone else and that's what they did. Everyone linked arms to create a barrier. I hid behind the barrier, holding a sharp piece of metal which was the best we could get our hands on. I was the only one with a weapon.
They came in, a large group of guards accompanied by the sickening woman in a white lab coat. She looked around the group, I'm assuming she was searching for me. Her expression turned to anger as she pointed to Gwen.
"This one."
Two of the guards proceeded to rip the group apart, Monty earning a few punches to the stomach. I let out a war cry as I ran up to one of the guards and stabbed them in the arm. They were heavily armored with some kind of bullet proof vests and stuff so there wasn't many places I could stab.
"Shit!" The guard cursed. He punched me square in the nose, catching me off guard and causing me to fall to the ground. I was lucky he didn't break it. I could feel the blood dripping down my nose on to my upper lip.
With only the screams of Gwen and the stomps of guards being heard, they left. I groaned in pain and used a chair beside me to help me stand up.
"You alright, kid?" Jess bent down beside me. I nodded and stood up fully. I pressed two fingers to my upper lip and pulled them away to see the midnight colored fluid staining my fingers. I didn't have anything to wipe it off with so I just used my sleeve.
I looked to Jasper, who was standing up from his crouching position caused by being kicked in the stomach. I noticed he had something in his hand...
A gun.
Four more hours had passed. Apparently Bellamy talked to Jasper and told him we needed to fight back harder. So that's what we were doing. We pulled apart the bunks to make weapons, meanwhile Jasper had the gun. We even managed to break some picture frames and get some shards of glass I could throw like knives.
"Listen to me. We stick to the plan," Jasper said quietly. I was standing beside Harper, 'knife' in hand. "They're not taking anyone else out of this room without a fight," He said louder.
The all too familiar buzz of the door sounded. Showtime.
Following routine, the guards and the doctor marched into the room. The doctor held a pointed look on Monty, who was linking arms with Jasper and Jess.
"This one."
Monty's face flashed with fear.
"No! No!" Jasper shouted as the guards ripped Monty out of his grasp. Jasper pulled out the gun from his pocket and pointed it at the guards. "Get your hands off him!" The guard turned around and started heading for Jasper.
Bang.
Jasper shot him. He was wearing a bullet proof vest, though. So he wasn't dead. The bullet didn't even make contact with his skin.
All hell broke loose, delinquents started fighting with guards, using their metal poles as weapons. Things calmed down for a moment. The guards had taken everyone else's weapons.
But not mine. I knew they would search us so I needed to hide them.
"Take him instead," Dr. Tsing ordered, pointing to Jasper. Screams of protest were heard as Jasper was carried out of the room.
"No, no, no, no, no. What are we gonna do?" I panicked, running a hand through my messy golden locks.
Out of nowhere, another alarm started wailing. "Containment breach."
Jasper opened the doors of the dorms and we all bolted out. "Let's go! This is our chance! Everybody move!" He shouted. "Take the level! Monty, get the cameras! Tahlia, Miller, get their guns!"
Dr. Tsing was on the ground, covered in radiation burns with the rest of the guards. I spotted her trying to crawl into the elevator. Jasper put a hand through the door before it could close.
Jasper, Monty, Harper and I stood at the elevator door, watching the evil woman succumb.
"No. You can't," Dr. Tsing groaned in agony.
"I hope you know that you're incredibly special to us." Said Jasper as he looked down at the woman.
"Especially you," I shook my head at the doctor as she cried and screamed in pain, her skin bubbling and blistering as she finally took her last breath.
We took level five. We barricaded the doors to the mess hall. Miller took the guard's guns while Monty took care of the cameras.
Harper and I grabbed some real knives from the kitchen. Now I could kick some butt.
"We took the level!" Jasper announced encouragingly. "Now we have to hold it. They will be coming and we need to be ready." He walked around, making sure everything was in order. "Harper, get some pots from the kitchen and fill them with water. As big as you can find, okay?" The boy ordered, and I wondered what he wanted them for.
"Watch out!" Fox shouted, swinging at a camera with a metal pole, shattering it.
"Good, Fox," Jasper praised. "Let's go get those hallway cameras, alright?"
I knew that wasn't a good idea. "No! Leave the hallway cameras," I protested.
Monty started walking beside me, carrying some kind of circuit. "We'll need eyes out there," He finished my sentence.
"You can do that?" Jasper asked, gobsmacked.
"Have you met me?"
my original a/n for this chapter said 'sorry this chapter is so long' like gal it was literally 1800 words wtf.