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She followed Bellamy through the long tunnels until they finally reached the exit of the ship. Lina had made sure to stay a few steps behind him the whole way. Neither of them uttered a single word as they walked across the open muddy field. This time, Abby was not there to fend off the poisonous stares of the Sky People. Lina could feel their hatred pricking at her skin like a million tiny daggers.
Bellamy came to a halt so suddenly that she nearly collided with his back. The tent was a tarp that was held up with nothing more than a few twigs. When she looked around, she realized that all the tents were the same. They were living in shambles and for a millisecond, she felt badly for the Sky People. But it vanished as quickly as it had come about. He pushed his way through the tall slit of the tarp which served as his door. She followed.
Inside was worse than she had been expecting. A thin flat piece of wood was lying in the middle of the one room, acting as a carpet. On either side of the wood was a small cot, one of which was unmade with two thick blankets tossed around. She looked to the other cot, which she knew would be hers for however long she was forced to be here. It was smaller than his, but so was she. Unlike the other, there was only one blanket and no sign of a pillow.
. "That's yours." Bellamy pointed to the small cot. She wanted to point out that he was stating the obvious, but she kept her lips pressed tight and gave a slight nod. "You go wherever I go, and do whatever I say. Clear?" Lina pursed her lips. Earlier, Kane had assured her that she was not a prisoner, but it was becoming apparent that she was not free.
"Clear." She whispered through gritted teeth.
"Good. Let's move." He said as he turned on his heels and strode back through the tent's opening.
"Go?" she groaned. The new sensations of the Ground, the overwhelming sights and sounds along with the abundance of new air that she was unaccustomed to, had made her sleepy. Her body was heavy and hard to move, and her head still pounded from Octavia's rifle. Unenthusiastically, she followed him once more into the sun lit world.
The next few hours she spent with her head down as she struggled to keep up with his long strides. He marched from place to place, checking on the progress of several projects. They had been in the kitchen to see how much more food was available, and then went straight to a large group of men to ask about recent hunts. She kept her mouth shut and listened to Bellamy as he worked and gave orders to several people. By the time he brought her back to medical to see Abby, Lina was sure he was someone of great power in Camp Jaha. She was also sure that he was someone who the Sky People had great respect for.
"I was right." Abby announced as soon as they walked into her lab. "Your body started to develop mechanisms to withstand the radiation." Her excitement had caused her voice to rise in both volume and pitch. Lina stared at Abby, not quite understanding. "Lina, your body was the first to truly adapt to the outside world. Another fifty years and I'd bet anything that all the people in Mount Weather will be resistant to the radiation!"
"Would have been resistant." Bellamy corrected her. Lina looked over her shoulder at him. He wasn't being cruel, he was being honest and for the first time she could see a trace of sadness on his face.
"Right." Abby's head dropped. "But, it's still an incredible find, Lina. It makes you very special."
"Why me?" She asked, thinking of her father and sister. "Why am I the only one?"
"It's in your genes." Abby's excitement reappeared. "I'm guessing that your father and grandfathers were probably guards, or they had something to do with handling objects from the ground."
"My dad was a ground patrol man." She explained "But he always had to wear a suit."
"Yes but a suit is much thinner than steel walls." Abby continued. "Your grandfather did the same?" Lina nodded. "And I bet it's safe to say that your great-grand father as well. The point is that your family's DNA has been exposed to more powerful doses of radiation than others. They're bodies, like yours, became more tolerant, and they passed that tolerance down through the generations. It's likely that the children of other guards were very close to being immune like you. If you had any siblings they probably would have survived as well!" Abby's smile was ear to ear. She was proud of her discovery.
Lina's stomach constricted and she felt bile rise in her throat. Hannah's small face flashed into her mind. She could picture her large round eyes staring up at her before the life drained out of them. Her tiny hand that had gripped Lina's so fiercely in the beginning, slowly lost its pressure before it fell to the floor. The memory of her little sister's final moments made her eyes sting and her heart tighten.
"My little sister," she began to say shaking her head. She watched Abby exchange a look with Bellamy before speaking.
"I didn't realize you had a sister." She said softly. "How old was she?"
"Six." Lina's voice cracked as a sob was caught in her throat. She didn't see him leave, but she heard Bellamy exit the room. It took Abby a while to explain why Hannah had not been as lucky as her big sister. Perhaps she was too young and still not strong enough. Perhaps she had inherited more of her mother's genes than her father's. She listed off a few more possibilities, but Lina had stopped listening.
Abby suggested that they eat in the lab and hurried to get them some food. On her way out she mumbled to someone right outside the door. Bellamy had been lingering in the hallway and was now making his way back into the room. Lina stayed silent, unsure if she even had the strength to speak if she wanted to. Bellamy didn't speak either and spent the time staring at a blank space on the wall until Abby returned.
She handed a small tray of food to Lina and offered one to Bellamy, but he simply shook his head leaned back against the wall. Although she was repulsed by the idea of putting another cardboard like chunk of meat in her mouth, Lina's mouth was watering. She and Abby had just pulled up chairs to sit down and eat when shouts rang through the corridor. Bellamy launched himself into the hall to investigate the disturbance and was back in half a second with Kane and two other guards.
"Abby," Kane called out breathlessly. "Grounders attacked one of the hunting parties." Abby was not on her feet rushing towards the door. "Two dead and three seriously injured." Kane continued as he and the doctor hurried out of sight.
"Follow me." Bellamy had wrapped his hand around her upper arm and was yanking her to her feet before she could register Kane's words. They followed the others outside, but instead of heading towards the gates as they had, Bellamy led her back to his tent. "Stay here. Don't move." He gave her a hard look. "I'll be back, I have to help them get the men inside the camp and set up the guard."
Then he was gone and she was alone. For a moment she just stood there in the middle of the tent, not sure what to do with herself. Finally, she opted for sitting at the foot of her new bed. The people outside were yelling and barking orders at one another. Were the Grounders coming here? Were they going to attack the camp? Lina wished she had thought to ask these questions before Bellamy left her defenseless.
Lina pulled the blanket off of the cot and draped it over her shoulders. If she hadn't been so worried about a potential grounder attack, she would be worrying about how the Sky People planned on surviving the winter with such inadequate shelter. The wind whipped right through the thin tent, sending a chill down her spine. The shouting ceased a while later, and was replaced by crushing silence. It was so still that she wondered if everyone had taken cover inside the ship. Had Bellamy forgotten her? Maybe he didn't forget. Maybe he left her on purpose. Asshole.
With a surge of resentment towards the guard, Lina got up and poked her head out of the tent. The sun had begun to set, casting a shadowed glow over the camp. She had to squint but was able to make out the fuzzy forms of several guards with rifles near the camp's gates. In a tent across the clearing she could see another very young girl sticking her head out. She couldn't have been much older than ten or eleven, and her eyes were wide with terror. Lina was just about to give the girl a reassuring smile when something came crushing down on the back of her head, dropping her to her knees. Before she could pull herself back to her feet, someone was stuffing a cloth into her mouth and tying another around her head to keep it in place.