Summary: "At 27, Bellamy felt old. Weathered by the conditions of this world. Grown tired of the fighting, of having little to no food and of having to see the same people every day in this stupid little QZ. He'd been here, in Boston, for about 10 years, when he got in on false papers that his contacts in the Fireflies got for him. He wasn't happy about it, but here at least, he was safe from the Infected."
Or
The 'The Last of Us' au literally no one asked for
So I got myself addicted to The Last of Us and of course I immediately thought of about a million fic ideas for these two idiots set in this world. So here we are. It's gonna be about 4 chapters (maybe 5) and this one follows the story as it is told in the game, with a few changes here and there, mainly pertaining age and relationships. I hope you enjoy!
He was six when it happened.
He could barely remember how it happened, or where they had been going.
But he could remember perfectly what happened after their car got hit.
His mother pulled him and O out the wreckage of the car, groaning a bit and rolling her shoulder. Octavia, little as she was, was crying in her mother's arms, and Bellamy was shaking all over from the crash and horrible sights he'd just seen. Were that humans, were that actual human beings that were slaughtering each other like wolves? "Mom..." he whispered, just as his father scrambled out of the car, too.
"It's gonna be okay, Bell." she said, pulling a gun from the back of her pants and pushing it in his father's hands. "Keep us safe, Marcus!" She then crouched in front of Bellamy. "Climb onto my back, okay, Bell? Like we do when we're playing pony, okay?" Bellamy did as she asked, and she felt his mom breathing fast when he wrapped his arms around her neck. "Now you hold on tight, and no matter what happens, you don't let go, got it?"
"Yes, mom." he said quickly.
"Aurora, we've got to move!" Marcus yelled, just as a burning car soared by, slamming into a gas station, which promptly exploded. Octavia wailed loudly. Aurora began running, Marcus close on her heels, gun at the ready. Bellamy's senses were being bombarded with noise and tremors all around him. People were running around, screaming as buildings caught fire.
It was chaos, and Bellamy's panic was so great that it was numbing. He had never felt such fear.
They passed an upturned, blue car from which a horrible screaming sounded and Bellamy saw blood splatter on the windshield. In front of them, another building exploded and they screeched to a halt. People came running towards them, and some of them were on fire. Bellamy couldn't tear his eyes off them, his skin prickling with second-hand pain. "Oh my God..." he whispered, not knowing where to look.
"Bellamy, close your eyes, okay, baby?" Aurora said, clutching O close to her chest. "Marcus, where do we go?"
Bellamy's dad looked around wildly for a moment, before pointing to an alley. "Through here, come on!" Aurora ran towards it, avoiding panicked people running in the other direction. "We need to get out of here!"
Suddenly, they were dragged down by a crazed, screaming...thing with empty, dead eyes, scratching at them viciously. Bellamy slammed his eyes shut, muttering in his mother's shoulder. "Mommy!"
Then two shots rang out and the body stilled on top of them. Aurora let out a quiet whimper and then stood up. Bellamy saw his dad standing with his gun raised, a determined look on his face. "Daddy?" he whispered.
"It's going to be okay, son. Just hold on to your mom, okay?"
They ran again, dodging crazed people, upturned trashcans and screaming children. He knew they were being followed by...well, something. But he didn't look back. He knew that if he did, he would never be able to look away again. And then he would never be able to sleep again. So he kept his eyes on Octavia over his mother's shoulder, whispering soothing words to her. His leg was still hurting, but he didn't care. They were all in danger, and he could feel it. They run, or they die.
"Get in!" Marcus yelled, holding open a door and Aurora pushed through it. Bellamy looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened. At least ten of those...things were hot on their heels. Marcus slammed the door shut and heaved a deep breath. "You have to go."
"Marcus, no...!" Aurora said.
"You've got Bellamy and O, you've got to go, I can outrun them! I'll hold them off as long as I can and I'll catch up!"
Aurora shook her head but was already moving to the backdoor of the bar. "You better survive this, Marucs, or I swear to God I will come and kill you myself."
"Just go!"
Aurora ran as fast she could with two kids, and Bellamy yelled out for his dad. "We can't just leave him there!"
"Bell!" Aurora said.
"But...!"
"Not now, Bell!"
Bellamy looked over his shoulder again, and his heart soared into his throat. Those things were on them once more. "Mom!"
"We gotta hurry." his mother muttered. They ran for it, through the dark of night, with the ominous sounds of those sick people behind them. Bellamy tried to make himself as light as possible as they ran up a hill, where they were already hearing the sounds of military. Safety was up there. The soldiers would protect them.
At the top, Aurora stopped, out of breath, and that was a near fatal mistake; immediately, they were jumped by those freaks. Hands clawed at his back, and at his mother's throat, and he heard jaws snap by his ear. Bellamy closed his eyes, ready to feel something tearing at his throat, ready to die, when two shots rang out and everything stopped moving.
Aurora raised up, holding O close. A soldier was standing in front of them, a gas mask covering his face and a gun trained on them. "Hands in the air! Raise 'em up!"
"I'm holding a baby!" Aurora yelled. "Listen, man, we've just been through hell..."
"Shut up!" he yelled at her, and Bellamy stared at the gun, his heart hammering. Then the soldier began speaking softer. "Sir, we've got civilians at the perimeter...sir, there's a baby and a little boy...but..." The soldier sighed, tightening his grip on the gun. "Yes sir."
Aurora began to back away slowly, shielding Octavia with her arms. "Wait! We're not infected, I swear to you! Please!"
Next moment, everything went crazy. Shots rang out, and Bellamy felt his mom throw her weight sideways and down a hill. Bellamy rolled off her back, down a hill and into the dirt. His entire body hurt and he coughed as he got up. He gasped as he saw the soldier move down the hill, training his gun on his mother and his sister.
"Please!" Aurora yelled, trying to sit up. Bellamy scrambled up to them, pulling Octavia and his mom against him protectively. He was all too aware of his six years, his small body being not nearly enough to protect the two most important women in his life and he was so scared. The soldier didn't seem to listen and got ready to shoot again, but before anything could happen, his head seemed to explode. Bellamy buried his face in his mom's shoulder to avoid the sight of such a horrible display.
"Guys, are you okay?"
Relief flooded Bellamy like never before. "Dad!" he said, but Marcus had his eyes fixed on his wife, staring in pure shock. Bellamy looked down and yelled out, "No!" As he'd pulled Octavia off his mom's chest to protect them both from the soldier, a large wound in Aurora's stomach became visible. Aurora was gasping for breath, bubbles of blood coming out of her mouth as she tried to breathe, and Bellamy knew. He just knew that there was nothing to be done. "No, no, mom!" he yelled, clutching O to his chest with one arm and pressing his other hand to her wound. She let out a high-pitched sound, and his entire body felt like it was on fire. He had never heard her make that sound before and it was agonizing. "Oh God..." he muttered, as Marcus came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Mom! Ina, please! Diyos, no!" He looked up at his father with pleading eyes. Why couldn't he fix this? He could always fix everything, he was his dad! But Marcus only cried, silent tears leaking down his cheeks, and Bellamy knew it was over. He had never seen his dad cry before, not like this. He looked back down, at his mother, who had grasped his hand in a final spasm of life. Now she was silent, her eyes wide, empty and staring into nothingness. The light that he loved so much, had gone out behind them.
Bellamy sobbed out her name once more, and he was sure, more sure than anything, that he had never felt so horrible in his life.
-BCTLOU-
20 years later...
Summer
At 27, Bellamy felt old. Weathered by the conditions of this world. Grown tired of the fighting, of having little to no food and of having to see the same people every day in this stupid little QZ. He'd been here, in Boston, for about 10 years, when he got in on false papers that his contacts in the Fireflies got for him. He wasn't happy about it, but here at least, he was safe from the Infected.
But inside, matters were bad in their own way. With the country still under military law, there were gunshots heard in the streets all day. People being shot over nothing. Soldiers abusing their power just because. Because this world allowed them to. Cruelty was just another day in this world.
Bellamy barely remembered the old one. He barely even remembered his mother's face, when it wasn't covered in blood. He could remember sitting on a swing, laughing as his father pushed him higher and higher. He remembered holding O for the first time. But he didn't remember how the world used to be, how things were run. He remembered only terror. False promises. And threats.
Right now, he was staring down into the face of a furious blonde about his age, who was holding a knife to his throat. "Get the fuck away from her!" she hissed at him, and he backed away from the wounded Queen Firefly, because he didn't like the feeling of that knife on his windpipe, nor the fierce look in this woman's eyes. She was clumsy, her hold on the knife weak. But he had no doubt that she would slit his throat if she set her mind to it.
"Who's this?" he asked Dr. Tsing, who was clutching her side painfully.
"I'm none of your goddamn business." the woman hissed, and Bellamy raised his hands in surrender.
"It's okay, Clarke. They're here to help."
Just as the woman – Clarke – took her knife off his throat with great apprehension, Fox spoke up. "Like hell we are. What are we doing here, Lorelei?" she asked, her hand going to her hip holster.
"We're safe here. For now. At nightfall, you can get past the wall – "
He didn't have time for this, he thought, running his hands down his face. They needed those guns. "What are we smuggling?" Bellamy asked. Dr. Tsing didn't answer, but it dawned on him pretty quickly. "No way! We're smuggling her?" he said violently, balling his fists, feeling the need to punch something. Getting a package past the wall, fine. Getting a full grown person there? A lot fucking harder and not something he felt like doing.
"Her's got a name!" Clarke said, equally as violent and her knife gleamed dangerously in her hand.
"Clarke, stay out of this!" Lorelei said sharply, and Clarke, although reluctantly, backed down. She crossed her arms and kept shooting looks between him and Fox. "You take her to the Capitol Building, hand her off the a couple of Fireflies, and the guns are yours. And then some."
"We ain't smuggling shit until we see the cargo." Fox said determinedly.
Lorelei sighed, sitting down with a painful wince and sighed. "Fine. It's back in camp. I'll take you to it."
Bellamy scoffed. He was not going into a Firefly camp if he got paid a lifetime worth of rations. It was not worth it. "Don't think so, Doctor."
But Fox, who was clearly in a different state of mind than him, shot him a glare. "Fine. Take us to it."
"But I want Bellamy to watch over Clarke." Tsing said, which sparked a whole lot of shouting.
"Bullshit, I'm not staying with this motherf – " Clarke yelled angrily.
"No way I'm staying with this girl – " Bellamy protested at the same time.
Tsing held up her hand and hissed, "Clarke! These are good people."
Fox took him aside for a moment, while Tsing appeared to talk some sense into the fierce blonde woman. "Hey, I'll go with Tsing. You take the girl to the North Gate, wait for me there."
"Fox..." he said warningly.
"It's just cargo, Bell." she said, raising her hands. "And we need those guns."
Bellamy groaned, running a hand over his face wearily. "Alright fine." He turned to Tsing, who was still in conversation with Clarke.
"I was close with his sister Octavia. She said if I ever was in trouble, I could rely on him." Tsing reassured a very apprehensive looking Clarke. Obviously, she was just as keen to go with him as he was to take her anywhere.
Bellamy rolled his eyes at the mention of his sister. He hadn't seen or spoken to her in years, and the thought of her still stung. "Was that before or after she left your little militia group?" he sneered.
"Enough, Bell." Fox said, as she checked the rounds in her gun. "Alright, Lorelei. Lead the way."
"You stay close to Bellamy, all right?" Lorelei pressed on Clarke, who nodded curtly. "And you," she said to Bellamy, a lot less warmly than she had to Clarke, "You keep her safe. If anything happens to her, it's on you."
Bellamy nodded curtly too. "Alright then, follow me."
And with that, Bellamy and Clarke left the building they had just killed ten guards to get in to.
-BCTLOU-
"So what are you, hmm? Some kind of big shot's daughter who needs to be brought to safety?"
"Something like that."
Bellamy scoffed. Her tone revealed nothing, yet he knew she wasn't telling the truth. "Well, whatever it is, Tsing sure as hell seemed keen to keep you safe."
"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you why you're smuggling me, so don't bother."
He grunted, kicking a door to release it from its jam and he went in wearily. The couch that was inside looked very appealing right about now, and he didn't waste any time sinking down on it. "We're here."
"What are you doing?"
"Killing time."
Silence.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?"
Bellamy rolled over, his back facing her so that he didn't have to look at her. "I am sure you will figure that out, Princess."
Clarke sighed loudly, and he heard her moving to the window. More than that, he didn't hear, because he fell asleep soon after.
-BCTLOU-
Almost there, Bellamy thought as he sneaked passed a couple of guards by diving into a crashed truck trailer. He heard Fox and Clarke right behind him, Clarke's breathing way too loud for his liking, her footsteps too heavy for the circumstances. He listened carefully for any sound at the end of the trailer, but didn't hear anything, so he motioned for the girls to follow him quietly.
As he emerged from the trailer back into the rain, a searing pain went through his skull and he fell to the ground with a groan, clutching his head.
"Hands up, down on the ground!" he heard someone yell above him and he silently cursed. He'd missed the soldier.
"Move!" he heard another one yell, and he felt Clarke and Fox being forced onto their knees beside him. "Scan 'em, I'll call it in."
The pain in his skull faded slowly and he realized what was happening in full force. The soldiers were going to take them, and seeing as this Clarke girl was connected to the Fireflies, they were probably going to be executed. His mind was racing with possible scenarios, possible ways to get out of this, but he came up blank. No way he could reach his gun before they shot his brains out. Next to him, Clarke was muttering, panic in her voice. She had never been outside before, and obviously, she had never been in captivity before.
"Look the other way and we'll make it worth your while." Fox said to the guard who was taking out her walkie-talkie. The other one pressed a scanner to Fox's neck, which took a while, and then bleeped positive. Fox was clean.
"Shut up." the female guard said in disdain. "This is Ramirez, we've got stragglers out here."
Bellamy felt the scanner being pressed to his neck and he held his breath. He knew he was clean, but the scanners were known to have glitches. It bleeped positive, however, and he could breathe a little more freely. The guard moved to Clarke.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man." she muttered, as the guard pressed the scanner to her neck. "I'm sorry!" she yelled and suddenly, the guard yelled as Clarke buried her knife in his knee. Bellamy didn't hesitate. He ducked away from the other guard and knocked the screaming one away from Clarke, before he could do anything. Two shots rang out in quick succession and then silence. Fox lowered her gun with a fixed expression. "Oh God." Clarke said, moving back to lean against the trailer, breathing fast. "Fuck! I just thought we were going to knock them out! Shit!"
Breathing hard, Fox picked up the scanner and froze. "Bell." she said warningly, before handing it to him.
Confused at Fox's sudden fright, he looked down, only to feel his blood run cold. "What the fuck?!" he yelled, making Clarke jump. "Tsing saddled us with an Infected?"
Fox immediately trained her gun on Clarke, ready to shoot. Clarke yelled out, raising her hands. "Wait wait wait! I can explain!"
"Yeah? Well, you better do it fast!" Bellamy said, hurling the scanner in her direction. Her reflexes made her catch it.
"I'm not Infected!" she said, and both Fox and Bellamy scoffed in disbelief. He couldn't believe Tsing would do this. What was the plan? Get the girl outside the wall and then let her kill them off so that the Fireflies could have the weapons? "I'm not! Look!" Bellamy looked up as Clarke rolled up her sleeve, showing them a bite mark. "That's three weeks old! Three weeks!"
"Bullshit, it takes two days to turn!" Fox screamed.
"I'm telling you, it's three weeks!"
Bellamy stared at Clarke in a totally different light now. If she was telling the truth – and the jury was still out on that one – that meant she was immune. He understood why the Fireflies wanted her out of Boston. Out of any QZ to be exact. The military wasn't kind to Infected and didn't wait to hear an explanation before shooting people who had bite marks.
Bellamy opened his mouth to retort, but then a vehicle pulled up behind them, bathing them in light. "Shit! Move, move!" he yelled and the three of them ran for it.
-BCTLOU-
They were dead. After they had just fucking fought their way through a fucking army of Clickers and Runners in almost complete darkness, they had finally made their way into the capital building, only to find that the Fireflies that were supposed to be waiting for them to the Clarke of their hands were dead.
Fox promptly freaked out. "No, no! This can't be, this can't fucking be happening!" She dropped down next to the dead Firefly in the entrance hall, frantically searching through his clothes.
"Fox, what are you doing? It's over!" Bellamy said, very aware of Clarke standing right behind him, trembling slightly.
"No! It can't be over! They have to have some kind of...map, or something to tell us where they were going!"
"Fox, this is it! We can't go on!" He pulled her up, but she pulled away. "Let's just go home."
"I can't!" Fox yelled, and everything went eerily silent as she suddenly calmed down as well. "This is it, Bell. End of the line for me."
"What are you talking about...?"
But Clarke slapped her hand over her mouth in horror, making Bellamy look at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh my God." she whispered. "She's Infected."
Bellamy whirled back to Fox, looking at her with wide eyes. She looked resigned, her eyes on the floor. "Show it to me." he demanded.
"Bell, I..."
"Show it to me!" he yelled. Fox stared him down for a moment, and then pulled her shirt away from her neck. The wound was horrible. The skin surrounding it was already turning a sickly reddish yellow, while the wound itself was festering, oozing blood and pus. It wasn't long before the fungi would reach her brain and start to affect her. "Damn it, Fox!" He turned his eyes away, unable to look at it for much longer. Fox stalked over to Clarke, yanking up the girl's sleeve.
"This is three weeks old, Bellamy! I was bitten an hour ago, and it's already worse! She may well hold the cure to mankind, Bell!"
"I can't – !"
"Bellamy!" Fox yelled, stepping close to him. "You have to go on. You have to take her to the Octavia."
"No." Bellamy said. "I'm not going there." He crossed his arms
"She has contacts within the Fireflies, she can take her there." Fox continued stubbornly. "Please, Bellamy. At this point, after all we've been through, you have to feel some kind of obligation to me that you would do this for me. Please."
Bellamy stared at Fox for a long time, his mind racing. He wanted an out, he wanted to save Fox, but he knew he couldn't. She was Infected. She was dead the moment she was bitten. "Damn it, Fox." he said again. Then, outside, they heard the screeching of tires and soldiers yelling.
"You're surrounded! We know you're in there! Come out with your hands in the air!"
Fox looked up at Bellamy, her wide eyes pleading with him. "I'll hold them off as long as I can."
"No!" Clarke said, suddenly, stepping forward. Bellamy had almost forgotten she was here. She was crying silently, but wiping her cheeks in anger. "Fox, please."
"Clarke, you can save everyone. What's my life measured against the rest of mankind? Go with him. He'll keep you safe."
"I'm so sorry. I never wanted this." Clarke muttered.
Fox smiled. "I know. It's not your fault. Go, now." Bellamy just stared at Fox, who lost her temper. "Fucking go!" she yelled, pushing Bellamy away. With one last lingering look, he turned his back and lead Clarke out of the room, barricading the door. He had an immediate déjà-vu, to when he and his mother had left his father to fend for himself in that bar all those years ago. Only this time, he knew the one they were leaving behind would not return. He balled his fists for a moment, before he quickly scoured the place for supplies and ammo, ignoring Clarke who was heaving small breaths.
"I can't believe we just did that. Oh my God." she murmured, wringing her hands.
"Clarke." he said in warning as he made his way up the stairs.
"I'm sorry, Bellamy." she said, but he held up his hand to silence her. Gunshots were ringing out, and then a high-pitched scream followed. That was Fox, going down fighting. She would've wanted it that way, Bellamy thought, and that was his only consolation at losing his closest friend. "Shit." Clarke said, her voice breaking. Bellamy sneaked up on the balcony above the entrance hall and saw Fox, lying face down on the floor in a pool of her own blood, and two guards lying around her.
"Goddamned Fireflies." one guard said. "The woman is down. Took down two of my men. Searching the rest of the place for the others."
Anger surged through his system as the guard kicked at Fox in disgust, but he couldn't do anything. "C'mon, we gotta get out of there."
They got out fighting, the riffle that he found with one of the dead Fireflies a handy addition that got them relatively unscathed through the dozens of guards. Jumping out of a window, they avoided one other guard who he'd missed in his haste to get out and ran towards the subway. "Spores!" he hissed, and quickly put on his gasmask. He was so distracted that he missed the two guards ahead of him, and he would've gotten killed if Clarke hadn't pulled him behind a crate, and out of the line of sight just in time. He looked at her, and saw to his astonishment that she wasn't wearing a gas mask. And it didn't look like she was losing her mind anytime soon. "How do you breathe in this stuff?"
She looked slightly offended, but her voice was soft as she said, "I wasn't lying to you."
Bellamy knew, at that moment, that his world would never be the same again.
-BCTLOU-
"Wow." Clarke breathed as they jumped over the railing off the highway and into the woods.
"What?" Bellamy asked, falling in step next to her, his hand on his gun (always) and his eyes on the water tower ahead. He had to keep that one ahead of him, before they could enter Murphy's town.
"Nothing. Just...never seen so many trees together before. And it smells so good out here." Laughing, Clarke began running ahead, turning on her heels a couple of times and inhaling deeply. "Was this what it used to be?"
"Yeah. I don't really remember, but my dad and I used to take hiking trips in places like this so I remember the smell." He smiles as she kneels down by a creek and runs her hands through the water. She giggles in wonder as a fish comes by to nip at her fingers before rushing away again. "Clarke, how old are you?" he asked, before he could stop himself.
She looked up at him in surprise. "Twenty-one. Why?"
"Just wondering. So you were just one years old, huh?" Clarke nodded, not having to ask what he was talking about. "So was my sister. She doesn't remember before. It's strange."
Clarke smiled softly. "I can imagine. Shall we continue?"
He nodded his assent, and they continued on, stopping every now and then to listen for Infected. They were good until they sneaked through a hole in the fence, thus entering the town. They ran across two Clickers, who were easily distracted and then taken out. Clarke, who had been scared at the start, now only let out a shaky breath, before moving on. They made their way across town, towards the smoke that was rising ahead. He was pretty sure that it was Murphy. He didn't know of anyone else living here, so he was banking very hard on it.
He knew if he couldn't find Murphy, it would be a very long road to Jackson.
"So how do you know this guy?" Clarke asked as the sun began to lower on the horizon, her hands buried in her pockets, her eyes scanning the environment constantly. Good, she was becoming vigilant. That was good. She'd stay alive longer.
"He owes me a couple of favours. I saved his ass a few times way back when. He's also not good with people so when we find him, you let me do the talking. Alright?"
Clarke huffed, but agreed. They cut through an alley, but before they had even moved two steps, a Clicker appeared out of nowhere. Bellamy reached for his gun, but right then the Clicker fucking exploded. Clarke's eyes went extremely wide. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.
"Bill's been setting traps. Better watch your step." Bellamy muttered, quickly walking forward to inspect the wall where the Clicker had been just seconds ago. "Yeah, see?" He pointed to the remnants of a small device attached to the wall. Clarke crouched beside him, looking fascinated. "I'll bet you anything there was a tripwire here. Touch the wire, the entire thing explodes."
"That's awesome. Also, paranoid much?" she raised a perfect eyebrow, and Bellamy snorted.
"Understatement." He pushed himself up, looking around before helping her on her feet as well. "Can't be far now."
They walked for about ten minutes, climbing over walls and rooftops.
"Hey, Bellamy, look at this!" Clarke called, and held up what looked like a bow. She was testing the string and looking excited. "This is very nice. 's Not been here long, it's still very strong." she told him as he joined her.
"Want it?" he asked.
She looked surprised, an excited gleam in her eyes that made him smile a bit. She was quite beautiful when they weren't fighting for their lives, he noticed. "You'd give me this?"
"Yeah. I got a shotgun, riffle, three different handguns and Molotov cocktails. I'm good for now. You need to defend yourself. As long as you don't shoot me, you can have that."
He wasn't sure he'd seen her this excited in the time that he'd come to know her. Her smile was contagious, because he broke into a small grin as well, watching her practice for a moment with the bow. "Here, some arrows. Found them back there, sticking out of this guy." He handed her the three arrows. "I don't know when or if we'll find more so make your shots count and if they're intact and if it's safe, always retrieve them."
"Yes, sir." Clarke said with a wink.
-BCTLOU-
Hanging upside down while being attacked by Infected was not a fun experience, Bellamy discovered. His neck still hurt from aiming the wrong way up and then landing hard on his back after Clarke finally got him free. His arms were covered in scratches from the one Clicker that almost got him, and his mood isn't all that cheery.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Blake?" Murphy asked violently, after they'd finally escaped the raging Infected into a bar. "And who the fuck is she?" He pointed at Clarke who looked like she would bite his head off – if she wasn't chained to a radiator pipe. Bellamy was standing in between the two, to prevent Murphy from killing Clarke and to prevent Clarke from making rash decisions she'd later regret.
"Calm down, John, she's OK." he said, raising his hands in surrender. "We need your help."
"Fucking hell, Blake, you come into my town, setting off all my traps, almost getting yourself and me killed, and you expect my help?" Murphy growled. "Jesus, you've really lost it. Where's Fox anyway?"
"She's busy." Bellamy said through gritted teeth.
Murphy looked at him, sizing him up, and then his eyes turned hard again. "Who is this?" he then said again, grabbing Clarke by the arm. Big mistake. Clarke wrenched herself free, tearing the pipe from the wall and slamming it in Murphy's business. Bellamy winced as Murphy doubled over, coughing.
"I'm none of your fucking concern and we're here because you owe Bellamy some favors, so you better back off!" she said, raising the pipe again. "And don't you dare touch me ever again!"
Bellamy, foreseeing a lot of trouble, grabbed Clarke's arm and wrenching the pipe from her hands. "I need you to stay back." He pushed her backwards, away from Murphy, who was slowly recovering.
Clarke looked up at him with a furious expression, not unlike the one she'd sent Tsing not long ago, but nodded bitterly. "But I swear, if he touches me..."
"I will not let that happen. Promise, okay?" He looked Clarke straight in the eye to press upon her how serious he was. She nodded again, and Bellamy turned around.
"Listen, Murphy, we need a car."
Murphy burst out laughing at that one, leaning on one of the nearby tables to hold himself up. Bellamy could hear the sarcasm dripping off it. Not many people had really laughed in a very long time. "You're hilarious, Blake. Sure! Let me just go to my garage and drive one of my many cars around, shan't I? Do you need a driver as well?"
Bellamy rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Murphy. We need that car. I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't absolutely vital that we get out of here. I'm begging you here. After that I will never ask a favour of you again."
The glare Murphy sent his way was enough to scare better men than him, but Bellamy knew Murphy. He was a lot of talk and a lot of murderous glances, but the man had never taken a life that wasn't absolutely necessary. "Fine. I'll try and help you. I can't make promises. And after this, we're done."
"Fair enough." Bellamy said, holding up his hand. Murphy shot him a deadly look but slapped the keys to the handcuffs in his hand.
Clarke looked simply murderous when he uncuffed her. She rubbed her wrist and was muttering low under her breath. "...fucker." he heard her say, which made him shoot her a warning look.
"Just..." he said, exasperated, running his hand over his face. "Ignore him."
"Well, take everything and anything you might need from this place, we'll not come back here again!" Murphy yelled, who was making his way towards the back, a key ring jingling in his hand. Bellamy gave Clarke a nod, and they quickly picked up everything they could use. Bellamy was relieved to find six new rounds for his gun – the Infected attack had depleted it.
"Ready to go?" Murphy asked, exasperated, when the two of them joined him by the back door.
Bellamy looked sideways at Clarke, who had a determined look on her face. Bellamy grasped his gun and tightened his hold on it. "Ready."
-BCTLOU-
"The son of a bitch stole my idea!" Murphy grunted, as he checked the battery in the car. They'd fought their way to a car that was supposed to have a battery, but it had been empty. After running for their lives from the Infected (shit, there'd been a Bloater, he'd have nightmares about that one for a couple of weeks), they had barricaded themselves inside a house.
Turned out it was Atom's house, Murphy's former partner. Or it used to be, as said former partner had strung himself up on the ceiling fan.
Murphy acted all tough and angry, but Bellamy saw through him either way. The loss had hit him hard.
Right now, Murphy was bent over the engine of the car Clarke had found in the garage, and cursing freely. The battery they had risked their lives for to get, was sitting in this car. Atom had beaten them to it.
With little trouble, they pushed it outside, and off a hill, so that Clarke could start it, and with Infected hot on their heels, they quickly left the town behind them.
-BCTLOU-
After dropping Murphy off, they drove for a long time. The sun was slowly sinking behind the trees flanking the road, and Bellamy could feel himself drifting off slowly. The road was becoming boring to look at after so many hours, and he couldn't remember the last time he slept. That was probably at the North Gate. He leaned heavily on his hand, his eyes drooping. He was about to fall asleep when he was saved by Clarke groaning in the backseat.
He sat up quickly, blinking himself awake. "Hey, what happened to sleeping?" he said into the rear view mirror. Clarke rolled her eyes, squeezing herself back onto the front seat.
"Do you need to sleep? I thought I saw you drifting off; I can drive for a while."
"Nah, I'm good." Bellamy said. Her wakeful presence had woke him up too, and he was now fully focused on the road again. "What do ya got there?"
Clarke thumbed the magazine in her hands with a smile. "It's a comic book, and it's not a bad read actually." Bellamy scoffed, because he'd read comics and he knew what kind of read they were. Let's just say they weren't his cup of tea. He preferred ancient history stories. Much more interesting. "But it ends on a cliffhanger, and I haven't got the sequel."
"How did you even get that?"
Clarke blushed a bit, biting her lip, before answering. "Back at Murphy's." At Bellamy's scolding look, she rolled her eyes. "He wasn't even using them, all that stuff was just lying there!"
Bellamy rolled his eyes, shaking his head in exasperation. He swore, this girl was going to be the death of him. Either she would piss off someone so much they would kill him, or she would do it herself. "Jesus, Princess." he muttered.
"What?" she said, with a smile. "Don't tell me you weren't tempted by one of those books. I saw you staring at them longingly!" Her finger prodded into his arm and he pulled a face. Clarke giggled. "You love reading?"
He considered, for a moment, not to divulge. But heck, they'd come this far. She deserved a bit of human contact. "Yeah. Especially historical fiction. If it's about the Roman mythological, even better."
Clarke stared at him, blinking. Bellamy didn't say anything else, and waited to hear the verdict she cast upon hearing this tidbit of information about him. Everybody else found it stupid, his affection towards history. Surely, she would, too. "Wow. I didn't peg you for a history buff. But now that I know...it suits you."
It was Bellamy's turn to blink in surprise. "Really?" Clarke nodded with a smile, thumbing through the pages of the comic absentmindedly. "Most people just laugh."
That did make Clarke laugh; clear, genuine laughter rang through the car. "Why would I laugh at you for your reading preferences? Back in the Firefly facility where I was raised, I used to read only medical journals from before." At Bellamy's raised brow, she answered, "I don't know. I wanted to be a doctor or something."
"Very ambitious, Princess."
Clarke smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes this time. "Yeah. But I guess life had a different idea for me, huh?"
Bellamy nodded, not saying anything. The mood had turned in a fraction of a second, and he too felt a pang of sorrow for the life they both never could have. Before the Infection started, he'd dreamed of going to the best high school and University there was, and becoming a teacher. He'd known that ever since his kind kindergarten teacher, who entranced him with her gentleness and steadiness with which she controlled the class. He wanted to do that. And of course, helping to raise O had helped, because it turned out he was very good with smaller children. "For us all, I think." he said eventually, as they passed the Pittsburgh city line. "OK, here we go." he said, though he wasn't sure why he was warning her. However, as they approached the city, he got an increasingly bad feeling about the whole situation, and he kept his guard up high.
And indeed, only a minute into the city center, they hit a roadblock. Bellamy slammed the break, making Clarke slam forward in her seatbelt. She braced herself on the dashboard just in time to prevent her face from slamming into it. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed, before looking up. "Oh. Now what?"
Bellamy worried his lower lip with his teeth, looking in the rear view mirror at the empty road they'd just come down. He had two options, and neither were very attractive. He was about 99.9% sure that if they continued down the exit on the right that wasn't blocked, they'd run into hunters who would kill them for their clothes if they got the chance, but if he went back, he'd never reach O this year. "Damn it." he muttered, and turned the car onto the exit. He'd take his chances with the hunters. They were a damn sight easier to kill then the Infected, and they'd fought their way through more of those than he thought he could handle. "Stay sharp." he said to Clarke. The blonde nodded, her eyes fixed on the road ahead of her. Smart as she was, she'd already felt how apprehensive he was about this road.
It took them ten minutes of swerving between crashed and abandoned cars before Bellamy was proved right. A guy was stumbling towards them, making him brake hard again. Clarke cocked her head, watching the guy stagger closer. "What's up with him?" she asked.
Bellamy waited for a few moments, his eyes fixed on the ragged looking man, and then he saw what he needed. "Buckle up, Clarke, and hold tight." She did as he asked, and the moment she was safe, he stepped on it, racing hard towards the seemingly wounded guy. It took the latter one second to respond, and then he whipped out a gun and started shooting. Clarke screamed as the windshield cracked, and she ducked down. Bellamy jerked the steering wheel, trying to get around the hunters that were now flooding the streets in front of them, but he quickly lost control of the car. Clarke screamed, and then they crashed into a building, and everything went dark.
-BCTLOU-
Bellamy leaned against one of the shelves in the library, breathing hard and wiping his nose on his sleeve. Blood tainted the fabric when he moved his hand away. Fucking hunters. Say what you like about their shooting skills, their punches are well-placed and their Molotov cocktails are very accurately thrown. He could smell some singed hair and felt at the back of his neck. Some of his curls were smouldering, and he groaned. He hated having to cut his hair, but with the back of it ruined, he might have to, if he had the time any time soon. Clarke was sitting against another bookcase, clutching her arm and breathing hard through her nose, her eyes shut tight in pain. Bellamy swallowed thickly, and moved over to crouch in front of her.
"You okay?" he asked, placing a calming hand on her knee. Her eyes opened, and he found tears in her eyes.
But she nodded bravely. "My arm..." she muttered, taking her hand of it. He saw a nasty burn, ranging from just below her shoulder to just above her elbow. "One of those fucking Molotov cocktails exploded right beside me. Fucking bastards."
"Come here." He reached inside his backpack, taking out a bandage and some soothing salve and began treating her wound with care. She sat there silently, not complaining, her breathing calming with every breath she took.
"Thank you." she said, when he was done. He nodded, but didn't quite take her word for it, and took her chin between his fingers and inspecting her. "What are you doing?" she asked impatiently, trying to break free.
"Trying to see if you're okay. If you die on my watch, not only will my sister kill me, I would kill myself before she got to me. You're the last hope for humanity, I can't let you die." That last part was partly true. She was the last hope for humanity, but that wasn't why he was saving her. Not anymore. There was something more now, something deeper, something that made him so protective; he hadn't felt that for somebody in a very long time.
Clarke narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then nodded. "Bellamy, I'm okay. I promise." She placed her hand over his and smiled. "We keep going?"
Bellamy handed her a bottle of water from his pack, took a deep breath and rose. "We keep going. From here, it's not far to Jackson." He held out his hand to her, and after a moment, she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. "Ready?"
She hoisted her pack on her shoulders and took a deep, steadying breath. "Ready."
-BCTLOU-
Leaving the city was harder than he thought. There were hunters everywhere. The bridge he had hoped to cross was blocked by a whole bunch of them at all hours of the day and to add to that, there were Infected at random places in the city.
Considering he was now being held at gun point by what looked like a 16 year old kid, he was not a happy camper. "Wow, there!" Clarke said, stepping in front of Bellamy, who was lying on the ground, next to an out of breath slightly older boy, who was clutching his ribs. Bellamy had given him his worst punches.
"It's okay, Jazz!" the boy gasped as he stood up. "They're friendly."
"How do you know?" the kid asked, still keeping his gun trained steadily on them. Bellamy felt uneasy, the gun now trained on Clarke, and that was not a position he'd want her in.
"Maybe you haven't noticed, but they don't exactly keep women around here." the guy snarked, taking hold of the gun and wrenching it out of the boy's grip. "It's okay." he assured him in a softer voice. Then he turned to Bellamy, who was now on his feet and had moved in front of Clarke on instinct. "You pack quite a punch."
"I was trying to kill you." Bellamy remarked casually. Now that he figured these two weren't an actual threat to them, he relaxed slightly.
"I'm Clarke." Clarke said, side-stepping Bellamy and holding her hand out to the boys.
"Clarke..." Bellamy said under his breath.
She rolled his eyes at him, and shook hands with the Asian kid Bellamy had tried to kill not minutes before. "Monty." the boy said. "That's my brother Jasper. Well, I say brother..."
"As good as!" Jasper said defiantly, and Monty grinned, slinging his arm around the boy's neck.
"That's right."
"This is Bellamy." Clarke said, when it was clear Bellamy wasn't about to introduce himself. Bellamy scowled at her. He'd preferred to stay anonymous.
"Pleasure." Monty said cheerfully. Bellamy was surprised he was so cheerful, as if they hadn't been trying to kill each other. "Where're you going?"
"We're trying to get out of the city."
"Same." Jasper said, with a smile. "How 'bout we stick together for a while, huh?"
Clarke nodded eagerly, but Bellamy shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea." he said to Clarke, who pouted at him in the most adorable fashion.
"Oh, come on, party pooper. Strength in numbers, and all that?"
Monty heaved a backpack on his back, and opened the door to the apartment, leading out into a hallway. "I think she's right. Anyway, Jazz and I have to get moving. Tag along, or don't."
Clarke threw Bellamy her strongest puppy look, making Bellamy soften. He ran his hand over his face in an agonized groan and then threw his hands in the air. "Fine!" he said. "Fine, we'll come." Clarke clapped her hands excitedly and immediately ran to catch up with the two boys.
"Teaming up with a couple of kids," Bellamy muttered to himself, "Diyos, if this kills me..."
-BCTLOU-
Getting outside of the city was a laugh compared to what they encountered in the underground shelter they stumbled upon just outside the city. At first sight, it appeared to be abandoned, but the deeper they got, the clearer it became how bad this had gotten. They found evidence of children being mercy-killed to prevent them from turning. Bellamy had heard the stories of parents killing their children in their sleep to prevent it, but seeing evidence of it now...he felt sick.
The place was laden with supplies and ammo, which was good, because after a while, they began running into more and more infected.
And then they were separated, Clarke and Monty on one side of the trap door, he and Jasper on the other. Before they could even try to get the door open again, Clarke and Monty had to run or their lives, and Bellamy was left with Jasper to worry about them. Determined not to find Clarke dead when he found a way back to her, he pressed on, killing Infected with no mercy and with more viciousness than ever before. He was even sure he scared Jasper a couple of times with his tactics.
"Come on, kid." he said to Jasper, after he'd bashed the last Infected's skull in with a pickaxe. Jasper followed him quietly. Bellamy couldn't help but notice how much quieter he was without Monty around. "So how'd you and Monty end up together?"
Jasper, obviously relieved to have something to talk about as they made their way through the underground maze, launched into the story immediately. "We grew up together, just outside of Pittsburgh, in one of the few colonies on the Outside. His parents died shortly after his sixth birthday and mine followed soon after so it was really just the two of us. He took care of me. We're like brothers, honestly."
Their conversation was cut off for a moment when a Clicker entered their path, that Bellamy quickly took out with some nice shiv-work.
"Anyway, how did you and Clarke end up together?" Jasper continued, as if they hadn't been attacked by a screaming Infected.
"I promised someone I'd take care of her." Bellamy said, and that was all he could say on the subject – thankfully – as they heard shouting up ahead.
"Is that them?"
They ran forward, jumping down a drainage pipe, and two figures came tumbling down another one. "There they are!" Monty said, who immediately ran over to Jasper to look at him.
"Oh thank God." Clarke muttered, flinging herself in Bellamy's arms before either of them could think. Bellamy hugged her back, a little surprised but not complaining. "You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah." he said, looking her up and down to check for any injuries. He was pleased to find none.
Clarke looked over her shoulder anxiously. "There's a shitload of Infected coming our way, we have to move!"
They ran for it.
-BCTLOU-
Monty threw the door shut behind them and he and Bellamy placed a tree trunk in front of it for good measure. The Infected were banging at the door, but at least it wouldn't budge.
They were all panting heavily, having struggled with way more Infected than they could handle. Bellamy had shot as much as he could, throwing Molotovs here and there to take a couple at a time, but they'd kept coming. He wasn't sure what they would've done if Clarke hadn't been so small and hadn't fitted through that window above the door.
"Everyone okay?" he asked, as he gulped for precious fresh air, leaning forwards on his knees. Around him, he heard affirming sounds. Clarke was standing a way back, staring incredulously at the wall of the compound they'd just left. Curious, Bellamy looked too. He groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
There was a large message written on the wall. INFECTED ZONE. DO NOT ENTER.
Clarke shook her head. "Thanks for the warning on the other side, guys." she said, spitting out some blood.
"There's the radio tower." Monty said, pointing straight ahead. "My people should be there." He exchanged weary looks with Bellamy, but didn't say anything else. Bellamy knew what he was thinking. There was a very small chance there were still people there.
"Let's get going then." he said, putting confidence in their voice. At this point, it was their only chance.
-BCTLOU-
Clarke screamed, making both Bellamy and Monty jump up, the contents of their breakfast spilling all over the floor. The door, through which Clarke had just disappeared, burst open and she and Jasper came spilling out. Except Jasper wasn't exactly Jasper anymore. He had a crazed look on his face, his eyes bloodshot and he was snarling as he jumped on top of Clarke, who tripped and fell.
Monty and Bellamy stared for a split second, hardly able to understand how this had happened. They had been so careful. "He's Infected!" Bellamy yelled, and to his horror, he saw Jasper's jaws snap dangerously close to Clarke's neck. Clarke, who was furiously trying to keep Jasper at bay, was yelling out in fear. Bellamy made up his mind. Jasper was beyond saving. It didn't matter that Clarke couldn't be infected. It was mercy to kill Jasper now. He scrambled for his gun, but a shot rang out, the bullet landing inches from his hand.
Monty was standing there, his face white, his hands shaking. "That's my brother!" he screamed. Clarke yelped in pain when Jasper's nails scratched her arm.
"Fuck this!" Bellamy yelled, diving for his gun and hoping against all hope that Monty wouldn't shoot him. Yet another shot rang out, and for a moment Bellamy though Monty had shot him. But the room had gone quiet, and Clarke was scrambling to her feet. Jasper lay dead on the ground.
Monty let out a wail of despair and then pointed his gun at Bellamy once again. Bellamy raised his hands in surrender; Monty was devastated and Bellamy knew better than anyone in this room that devastated people did stupid things. "Jazz...he was my brother...it's your fault!" he yelled, sobbing loudly.
"Monty!" Clarke said in shock, her eyes darting from the gun to Bellamy, who was trying to remain calm.
"Calm down, Monty. It's nobody's fault." he said softly.
Monty's eyes flickered to Jasper, he let out another cry and before either of them knew what was happening, a third and final shot rang out, ending Monty Green's life.
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