Bellamy's head pounded as he rolled over, his senses coming back to him. He coughed, his throat felt as though he'd inhaled fire. He took stock – he was lying on dry leaves, apart from his head nothing else seemed seriously hurt. He was alive.
He coughed again, and that was when he remembered what had happened.
The explosion.
He sat up too quickly and the world swayed and his stomach heaved. He retched against the stone wall of the tunnel. When was the last time any of them had eaten? It had been life and death for so long that he'd forgotten about something as simple as food.
He scrunched his eyes shut, trying to sort his thoughts into a coherent order. He had been fighting that Grounder, Finn had been there, he'd seen Clarke's back as she sprinted. He remembered smashing a rock into the Grounders skull, the blood spattering across his face. He remembered Finn shouting to take cover, he'd dived into the nearest tunnel...and everything around him had exploded.
He lifted his head. That was good, it meant that Clarke's plan had worked. Perhaps...perhaps they weren't all dead.
"Clarke? Finn?" he tried to shout but his voice was gone. He scrabbled him way through the tunnel, ignoring the pain in his head in his frantic hurry to find the others. He slithered on his stomach out of the entrance and landed with a dull crash on the ground below. He groaned and he shifted away from something hard that was digging into his side. His eyes focused and he came face to face with a charred skull.
A broken noise escaped his throat as he pushed himself backwards. He kicked the charred skeleton away, brushing the remains frantically from his filthy clothes.
Breathing hard he lifted his head and surveyed the place that he had come to call home. The trees were blackened, some flattened like when they landed. The ground around the Drop Ship was a wasteland of twisted skeletons and unidentifiable objects. His stomach heaved again but he pushed the sickness away. He had to know if they'd survived. The door to the drop ship was open, the sheets billowing out in the breeze, but everything was eerily devoid of human movement.
"Hello?" he tried to call again, his voice more audible this time. There was an explosion of movement as a bird took flight nearby, sending his heart into a panicked stutter.
He pushed himself to his feet, taking only a moment to steady himself.
Please don't let me be the only one left, he begged silently as he stumbled his way around the bodies towards the Drop Ship. Octavia was gone and he couldn't do it if they were all gone too. He couldn't do it alone.
Only the sheets over the doors answered his call, cracking as they billowed in and out of the doorway.
"Anyone?" he bellowed, finding his voice with the sudden, overwhelming fear of being alone. He didn't even care if a Grounder answered his call in the moment; he just didn't want to be the only one left.
The tree top swayed silently and the loneliness pressed in on him. He reached the Drop Ship door and slipped and slid, falling and pushing himself back up in his hurry.
He ripped the covering aside, his heartbeat pounding in his throat.
The Drop Ship was empty and everything inside of him collapsed. He fell to his knees with a harsh crack, not even noticing the pain.
"No," he gasped. How could they all be gone? They had been inside the Drop Ship when the explosion happened, he was sure of it. Had they run?
"Bellamy?" The voice calling his name was tiny, barely audible, but the silence had been so overpowering that he heard it as if it were deafening. He was on his feet in an instant, tossing broken seats and crates out of his path.
He sent a crate flying across the cabin and stopped dead.
Raven looked up at him, looking ten times worse than he felt, but just as scared.
He'd never been sure how he felt about Raven, between her holding a knife to his throat one day and demanding she sleep with him the next, but in that moment he loved her more than the air in his lungs.
"You're alive!" he gasped as he fell to his knees beside her. He buried his face in her hair as he pulled her into a crushing hug. He never thought he'd be so glad to feel another human's touch.
"Ouch! Not if you do that," she moaned and he released her instantly, pulling back. He'd forgotten about her wound, he'd just been so glad to see someone alive. He frowned as he looked down at the blood soaked front of her jacket. She didn't look much better than the last time he had seen her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I thought everyone was dead..." he trailed off, realising that they still might be. Raven was completely alone on the Drop Ship. And Clarke would never have run and just left Raven there wounded and dying. Cold dread returned to his veins as he realised that the situation was still bad.
Raven winced as she pulled herself into a half sitting position against a crate.
"They've been taken," she said, wiping her forehead and leaving a smudge there.
Bellamy swallowed. "Taken by the Grounders? But the explosion worked."
Raven shook her head. "Can you pass me that water?" She motioned weakly at a canister lying on its side near him and he obliged. She took a sip and handed it to him. He hesitated one moment before gulping it down. The burning in his throat was soothed and the ashy taste in his mouth vanished. He gasped for breath, wiping his mouth as he put the canister down.
"It worked. Barbequed Grounder," Raven said listlessly. "It was something else that took them. I came to and there was no one here but I could hear them outside. I heard Jasper call something and then there was shouting and crying and then nothing." She shook her head, swallowing painfully at the memory. "I couldn't move or do anything. Then these people came into the Drop Ship. They weren't Grounders though. They were wearing all black, like military gear, and they had guns that you'd have a wet dream over. I pretended to be dead but I felt them looking all around. They must have decided I wasn't worth the effort because they left again, but I think they took everyone with them. I've been lying here for hours, calling out, but I thought I was the only one left."
Her eyes were bright as she said the last part and Bellamy could sympathise with that paralysing fear. He reached out and clasped her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Well you're not," he replied. He frowned as he thought about what she'd said. How many survivors were there on earth? The Grounders, the Reapers, the Military Men? This was getting ridiculous.
"Do you have any idea where they took them?" he asked, passing her the water again. "They could have just killed them here, so they must want them alive." He wanted to believe that it was logic speaking, and not just blind hope.
She drank again and shook her head. "They didn't even speak. It was creepy." She put down the canister and looked up at him. "Did you...is Finn...?"
Bellamy looked away, unable to see the raw pain in her expression. "I don't know, I'm sorry. But it's a Grounder graveyard out there. That rocket fuel was powerful."
Raven looked down, blinking, and then scrubbed a hand across her eyes. He respected her refusal to show emotion, even when he was the only audience. He'd always liked that about her.
"What do we do now?" she asked, looking around.
Bellamy slumped to the floor, suddenly too tired to make a single decision. He looked at the chaotic ruins of their home. He and Raven were as good as alone in the world now. He could only hope that somewhere out there Lincoln was keeping Octavia safe, and that Clarke and the others weren't suffering at the hands of their mysterious kidnappers.
Raven's hand crept back into his and he didn't pull away.
"I don't know" he admitted.
A/N: That finale was heaven from a writers perspective. So much opportunity for story. I began to madly write, a bit like Bellamy I'm hoping this is logic and not just blind hope but either way it'll make me feel a bit better for now and I hope you too.
This will be multichap, though I have no idea how big yet.
Writing fanfic is pretty much a full time job for me so reviews and feedback are my bread and butter so I'd love to hear what you think. I normally write Hunger Games fanfic so if you're into that as well you should go check out some of my stuff.
- Lu