Chaos
Clarke:
It was chaotic. There was screaming, fighting, gunshots. Flashes of everyone running around me. I sat on top of the woman, taking in her distraught appearance. I held my knife against her esophagus.
She muttered something under her breath, but I couldn't hear it over the chaos. She whipped us over so she was on top of me, she held a scalpel to my throat. I fidgeted underneath her but she just moved the scalpel deeper into my skin.
"Stop. You don't need to do this." Bellamy was standing behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to relax. She began to sob as she held the scalpel into my neck. Bellamy stepped forward placing his other hand on her other shoulder. "I'll give you what you want, just come with me." She looked up her eyes meeting Bellamy's. What was going on? Who was this woman? What did she want? She looked at Bellamy with admiration.
I took advantage of her vulnerability by lashing out at her. I grabbed the scalpel from her with one hand and punching her in the face with the other. My irritation took over as I took her down, my fist repeatedly meeting her face. She tried to push me away, but I wasn't moving. I continued punching her over and over again. Her blood spilled out everywhere, covering my fists and the floor.
Once she became unconscious I got off of her. My body was still shaking from the anger I was feeling. Bellamy grabbed my hand his eyes filled with tears. He pulled me into a tight embrace. I began to sob uncontrollably.
He pulled away holding me an arm's length away from him, looking me up and down. "I'm sorry." His eyes were filled with regret. "I promised you I wouldn't…"
"Stop. You did what you had to do, if I were you I would have done the same thing. Anything to protect our people, right?" I pulled him into another hug. Everyone in the room just disappeared, it felt like it was just me and Bellamy.
I began to pull away from Bellamy when I heard a shot go off. Bellamy's eyes widened as he began to fall. I caught him as he fell forward. Murphy and Miller moved forward to help me. Everything around me went black, all I could see was Bellamy's limp, lifeless body in my arms.
I looked around trying to figure out what happened. All I could see was Miller and Octavia fighting someone off before Echo grabbed my shoulders. "Clarke, you need to help him."
I was directed to a large room, Bellamy's unconscious body lying in the center of it all on a bed. Everyone around me was talking, but all I could hear was the pounding of my heart and the echo of the gunshot. I let out a large breath before all the commotion hit me.
"Clarke, there's no exit wound. You need to take out the bullet. Check for damage. Disinfect. Stitch him back together," Kane directed me.
I moved to Bellamy, my fingers instantly digging into his neck to check his pulse. It was weak, but it was there. "I need a 10-blade, forceps, a clamp, and a lot of lap pads." Kane turned on his heals checking drawers he immediately began setting things on the tray that stood next to me. He had spent enough time with my mom to understand what instruments were used in surgery and what they looked like.
I took some of the lap pads he set next to me to apply pressure to his bullet wound. Cleaning away excess blood. The blood felt endless. "I think there's a bleeder in there. Echo I need you to apply pressure, but leave me enough room to find it." She nodded as she followed my directions.
I picked up the scalpel cutting into Bellamy's back. Picking up the forceps I looked around his back to find the bleeder. "Move Echo I think I found it." I leaned over grabbing a clamp to stop the bleeding in his artery as I stitched it up. I carefully took the clamp off allowing his blood to continue flowing. Relief went through my body. It had only nicked an artery. I continued digging through for the bullet. "Kane check his pulse."
"He's still going, but you need to work fast he's still weak." I felt tears burn in my eyes, but I pushed them back and continued looking for the bullet.
I dug deeper and deeper until I found it lodged into his muscle. I finally felt like I caught my breath. A tear flew down my cheek. I carefully removed it, avoiding any further damage. "Echo take the lap pads and apply disinfectant to them, we can get ready to close him up." She handed me fresh lap pads. I carefully disinfected the outer skirts of his wound before I began to stitch him back up.
Once I was done I checked his pulse again. I couldn't hold back the tears as I felt his pulse stronger than ever. I felt my knees weaken underneath me as I stood by him. Tears dripping down my face.
"You did good Clarke, now just give it time. We should get out of here." Kane stood by me his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I turned in to hug him. Catching him off guard, but he continued to wrap his arms around me. Patting my head with his hands. "Everyone is outside, I think you should tell them he's okay."
I walked out into the hallway to find everyone sitting on the floor with their heads hanging low. As they noticed my presence hope filled their eyes. I couldn't help but smile as I met Octavia's eyes. She jumped up wrapping her arms around me. I could feel her tears running down my back.
Everyone else stood up to hug me. One after the other. Murphy was the last to greet me. A small smirk on his face. Two shirts in his hands. Without any words, he handed them to me. Followed by a tight hug. "Thank you. For everything." I managed to get out once he let go of me. He gave me slight nod as he followed everyone into the room that Bellamy was in.
I walked back into the room. Everyone was talking at once trying to decide what we should do with the remaining people. "If they give us their ship and leave forever, I say we let them live." Everyone turned to look at me, the room filling with silence. "This place has a lot of rooms, security, supplies, and there's not enough of them to come back and try to attack us. I think it's our best bet. Radio Raven to bring everyone else out here and we can decide together."
"We spent the past 6 years inside, we don't want to live like that anymore," Octavia chimed in.
"We don't all have to live in here, we can make living arrangements outside for anyone who wants to stay out here. But I think this ship will come in handy, especially during the winter." I looked around everyone looked satisfied. "Besides it's not like we won't be allowed to go out? We can go out when we want and come inside when we want."
Everyone began to nod in agreement. "Sounds like a plan," Bellamy croaked his voice raspy. Everyone's attention turned to him. Joy filled the room as everyone looked at him. A smirk across his face.
Octavia pushed through everyone quickly wrapping her arms around him. He patted her back with one hand with the little energy he had. His eyes met mine as Octavia hugged him. They were dark filled with passion.
Once everyone greeted Bellamy I stepped forward sitting on the edge of his bed. I placed my hand on this side of his face. As I touched him his eyes closed, he let out a small sigh. His hand landed on top of mine. He moved his hand up my arm, lightly tugging. I leaned in and burying my head in his neck. Wrapping my arms around his head. His face buried into my neck sending chills down my spine.
"Get a room," Octavia laughed from behind me. I pulled away turning to look at her. The room filled with laughter.
"How about you leave and we'll have one?" Bellamy rebutted. He smirked up at me, his fingers playing with mine. Followed by more laughter from everyone in the room.
"We need to finish up some negotiations, so how about we give you the room to rest while we handle everything else," I smirked back at Bellamy, who now laid beneath me with a disappointed look filling his face.
"If you're going to negotiate, I need to go with you." Bellamy tried to get up immediately pushed down by Murphy and me.
"Not so fast, you need rest. You just had surgery. Octavia and I will go. We'll take Harper, Echo, Miller, and Indra for back up." I rested my hand on his shoulder still holding him down. I took the other shirt that Murphy had handed me putting it on top of Bellamy's bare chest. "And while we're gone put some clothes on." We both smiled as I began to stand up, instantly pulled back down when Bellamy tugged at my arm.
"Not so fast," he smiled, pulling me into him.
I picked up the shirt pressing it against his face. I got out of his grip quickly as he pulled the shirt from his face. "Save your energy, you're going to need it." I whispered before I got up. I turned towards everyone else. "Indra, Harper, Echo, Miller you're all going to come with Octavia and I to the main deck. That's where we had our people gather any survivors. Kane, Monty, Murphy I need you to stay with Bellamy and try to talk to Raven about getting everyone here." Everyone nodded in agreement.
I looked back at Bellamy once more before leaving, his eyes burning through my skin. His smile was contagious. I followed everyone out the door grabbing my rifle as we left. We walked down the hallway moving around bodies that laid on the floor limp and lifeless. We made our way up the stairs, quickly following the directions to the main deck.
As we walked up to the main deck a large army of our people stood in front of the door, weapons hot. We walked past them and into the main room. About 15-20 people sitting on the floor. The man who had tortured us was tied up in the center of the room, the porcelain woman sitting beside him her face black and blue.
The tied man struggled against his chair trying to break free when he saw us enter the room. "I should kill you all right here," he yelled as we moved closer.
"We should kill you right now, but we have a deal for you." I kept my voice calm as I stared at him. He looked at me questioning my offer. "If you give us your ship and leave with just your remaining people, we will spare your lives."
His eyes widened. "Why would we give you our ship?" His voice was deep as he tried to argue.
"Well, we could kill you and take it anyways, this way you don't have to die in the process." He was speechless, staring at me with his jaw dropped. His body oddly relaxed as he sat on the floor.
"Where would we go?" His voice became low, almost at a whisper. His eyes looked sad.
"You will go far enough that we never have to cross paths again." There was an odd hostility in the room, but what else did I expect when we took over their home. A part of me felt guilty, but I knew it was necessary to our survival.
The room was silent for a few minutes until the man finally found the courage to answer. "Fine." He avoided eye contact, his head hanging low.
I turned to Octavia. "Put them in the cells upstairs until we get everything set up." She gave me a nod. I looked at the porcelain woman's beat up face once more before turning back to head out towards the room that Bellamy was in. Miller and Murphy following closely behind me.
"I don't think we should let them live. Remember what happened when we let Emerson live?" Miller's face looked concerned. He was never one to give advice, but he was right. "I saw the look on his face. He wants to kill you. He wants to kill us all. We don't need the risk."
I stopped to look at Miller. "You're right. We can talk about it. But I think it's different now, there's more of us than there is of them. We have the upper hand. When Emerson attacked we were already vulnerable because of Allie." He nodded, understanding where I was coming from. Miller was always good about understanding the decisions we made and why we made them. It's what made him a loyal member of the guard and a great friend.
Bellamy:
I woke up to the smell of Clarke's hair hitting my face. My eyes fluttered open my eyes focusing on Clarke leaning against my chest. She was disinfecting and bandaging my wounds. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her focus on the task at hand. Her brows crinkled, her lips slightly parted, her nimble fingers working quickly on each scar.
Her piercing blue eyes slowly made their way up to find mine. They always had a way of making me feel vulnerable like she could see right through me. As soon as our eyes met a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Her smile was contagious once I saw it I couldn't hold mine back.
"How are you feeling? You don't seem to be having any significant swelling or bruising so it seems like you're fine, do you have any pain?" Her eyes flickered with concern.
"I'm feeling much better." I grabbed at her waist, pulling her in closer. "I've got plenty of energy now," I smirked at her causing her to blush almost instantly. It was like a reflex that only I was capable of setting off. It was one of my favorite things to do.
She lightly hit my shoulder as she began to laugh. "You can't even get up on your own what makes you think that you'll have the energy to do anything else?" She was trying to repress her smile, but it clearly wasn't working.
"Is that all I need to do to prove myself?" I began to get up, but she pushed my shoulder back down.
I fell back. "We'll have plenty of time to use that energy elsewhere when you've recovered, for now you should focus on resting. But I've called a meeting in your room in about 10 minutes we have some issues to discuss. We're waiting for Raven and my mom to get back with the rest of the people so we can get everyone's input." She focused her attention back on my chest, slowly running her fingers along the outside of my bandages.
I grabbed her hand. "Hey, I'm fine or at least I will be. I have a great doctor." Another smile crossed her face. "What issues do we need to discuss?"
She rested her other hand on top of mine. "We have a few details to review. Right now, the prisoners are all in their cells. We want to officially decide whether or not to kill them considering what had happened with Emerson when we let him go. We need to discuss how we're going to distribute the rooms in the ship and how we're going to build shelter for the rest of the people. And we need to discuss our plans for how we're going to move in all of the good supplies from the bunkers and the lab."
"Okay, well I have a few ideas but we can discuss them later." I pulled Clarke into me our lips only inches from one another. This had been the first time in a long time that we had been alone together. She was all that crossed my mind when I was being tortured and having her here, in front of me was the most amazing sight. Just as our lips met footsteps entered the room. Clarke quickly pulled away turning towards the door.
Octavia. I couldn't help but let out a large sigh followed by some eye rolling. She let out a loud laugh as she entered, followed by Miller, Murphy, Raven, Abby, Kane, Monty, and Indra. "Good to see you awake Bell," Octavia said with a smirk in response to my sigh and eye roll.
"Where's Madi?" I looked around the room.
"Don't worry she's sleeping next door being watched over by Harper, Emori, and Echo," Raven responded. I felt the tension leave my body. I felt oddly protective of Madi just like I did with Octavia.
Everyone pulled up a chair sitting around my bed. Clarke and Octavia helped set up some pillows to prop my back up against the wall so I could join in on the meeting. "Let me start by saying, it's good to see you all here today." Clarke started sending a small laughter among everyone. "Let me make a few things clear before we start our discussion. What we discuss here does not leave this room. If you cannot stay true to your word then leave now." We all looked around the room, but everyone remained seated. "Okay, and we are not chancellors. We have not officially set up a government, but Octavia has been running things since Praimfaya and until further notice it will remain that way. We are only here to give our best advice, that's all. The final decision is eternally up to you Octavia." She gave a firm nod. "We have our best guards, soldiers, doctors, engineers, and leaders in this room it is our responsibility to come up with the best possible decision for our people. That is our only concern." Everyone remained quiet nodding in agreement to the terms of the meeting. "Okay, now that we all understand. Octavia, tell us what we need to discuss."
Octavia sat up as she was given the spotlight. "Let's start with our biggest issue right now. We need to decide if we are going to banish these people or kill them. What are your suggestions?"
"I think that we cannot compare these people to our situation with Emerson because it is much more different. If we banish them they won't have access to weapons because we'll have them all and they won't have access to our camp because we'll be well guarded. We'll take extra precaution, but judging by the fight they put up they won't be much of a threat." Everyone looked to me. Some nodded in agreement and some just sat there with confused looks on their faces.
"Bellamy, when you all came down here you didn't have weapons either but you found them. Do you really want to take that chance?" Miller made a good point. We were a small number compared to the mountain men and the grounders, but we still put up a good fight. They could easily do the same.
"Good point Miller. But I think the circumstances have changed a lot since then don't you think?" Kane scanned everyone's expressions.
"But why take the chance?" Murphy interjected.
"We will leave banish them. If they ever cross paths with any of our people we will show no mercy." Octavia's voice was harsh, but she was right. It's what I told Murphy when we had first banished him. Everyone nodded in agreement. "We will review the terms of the agreement with them once more before stripping them of their weapons and banishing them." Everyone remained silent. "We will need to decide how we are going to transport useful items from the bunkers and lab to the ship."
"The Rover is good for larger loads, I think if we get enough scraps I can make another one?" Raven looked around, her face filled with confidence. "It's our best form of transportation. It saves us more time and we won't have to send out as many people to get the stuff."
"How fast can you make another one?" Abby asked with curiosity laced in her voice.
"Maybe a week if you get the scraps together fast enough?" Raven looked to me.
"I think I can lead a team out to the lab tomorrow we can pick up as much as we can." My eyes looked around avoiding Clarke. I could feel her eyes burning through me.
"No, you can't, I've ordered him to bed rest for at least a week. He nicked an artery and that is too fragile for him to be going out and doing heavy duty work." Clarke's voice was filled with anger and frustration.
"Yeah, I agree with Clarke you're in no condition to be doing work right now. Kane can lead a group out," Octavia continued for Clarke. Giving her a nod in agreement. "We have all the weapons you found right Clarke?"
"Yes, we stacked any and all guns into the Rover when we left the lab. The other bunker doesn't have weapons. But they do have cots. I think tomorrow you should go to the bunker first. We need as many beds as we can get." Clarke's voice echoed with confidence.
"Let's set all of our weapons into one room for an armory, then Kane can lead a small group of people to the bunker and lab for supplies tomorrow. The rest of us can work at building shelter," Octavia responded.
"What type of shelter will we make? We don't have enough material for tents that'll last the winter," Indra spoke out.
"How about cabins? We can cut down trees and use that to make shelter. We have more than enough cots, if we make a few really large cabins we can use those as shelter during the winter or when there are storms." Raven was right, if we made cabins it could fit plenty of people and when the weather was good enough people could sleep outside. It gave them an option.
"How many people would fit in one cabin? I think they should be of a normal family size for those people who want to start families. Maybe 5-6 people," Clarke spoke, avoiding eye contact. Did she want a family? Did I want a family? I guess we already are a family. Me, Clarke, Madi, Octavia, Kane, and Abby.
"The cabins I read about on the Ark could fit about 6 people in 3 different rooms. Meaning 2 people per room. They're not really hard to make they just take time, effort, and a lot of manual labor. We just so happen to have all 3 of those things." Monty finally spoke up. He had spent a lot of his time on the Ark studying. He read about plants, animals, old architecture. He wanted to be prepared for when we got down here.
"So, it's settled, we'll have the option of cabins for those people who prefer to stay outside, but until that's made everyone will need to sleep outside and we'll need a full guard on duty. Miller will run the guard until Bellamy is back on his feet." Octavia was such a good leader, she took everyone's advice and made it her own. She has become the person I always knew she was capable of being. I no longer needed to protect her anymore because she was her own person. "As for deciding who sleeps inside and who sleeps outside. All essential personnel will be given the opportunity to select where they want to sleep, then we will divide the sectors of the ship. We will need to see the size of the infirmary and then distribute rooms according to what is remaining."
"Sounds like we're…"
Kane was interrupted by the crack of the radio that sat on the table beside me. "Bellamy, we need you to come to the cells a woman here says she needs you."
I picked up the radio almost immediately. "Who? What does she want?"
The guard was silent for a few seconds. Everyone's eyes were focused on me. "She says she's the woman who treated you when you were a prisoner. She wants to make a deal with you. But she'll only talk to you."
I looked up to see Clarke glaring at me. She took the radio from my hand. "He's resting, he can't come talk to her. If she wants to talk to anyone she'll talk to me." Clarke's eyes were locked on mine. I couldn't help but smile. Was Clarke jealous? The more I smiled the angrier she got. I reached to grab her arm, but she dodged me as she got up. "This meeting is over, right?" She couldn't hide the irritation in her voice. Everyone looked from one another with their eyebrows raised.
"Yes, but I think I should go talk to this woman. You seem…a little tense. She may be of some value," Octavia said as she stared at me. She gave me a questioning look. Slowly standing up. "You stay here and watch Bellamy, I'll be right back." I leaned forward grabbing Clarke's hand to pull her back down. She cooperated sitting down slowly. Her face still filled with anger.
Everyone slowly followed Octavia out of the door in silence. Clearly trying to avoid coming into contact with Clarke's anger. Once everyone was gone I turned to Clarke. "She was just the doctor who patched me up between each torture session. She helped us find Vanessa. I don't know what she wants." She looked down at her hands, her eyebrows crinkled from the tension in her face.
"You didn't see the way she was looking at you. When I took her off you she was crying. She was hurt. It's like there was more to it. She looked at you the way Octavia looked at Lincoln." I was taken back by her comment, but I knew it was true. But it didn't matter.
I grabbed Clarke's hand giving it a nice squeeze. "It doesn't matter because I love you. I've loved you every day since we got to Earth and every day I was gone. Nothing she says or does will ever change that." A smile layered on her face. Her cheeks turning back into the tone of pink that I loved.
"I love you too Bell." I tugged at her arm pulling her in for a kiss. But once again we were interrupted.
This time it was Madi. She came running in. Hugging Clarke from behind. "Can I sleep with you guys tonight?" Her eyes looked sad as she looked up at me.
Before Clarke could deny her, I responded, "Of course you can." I tapped the spot in the middle of the bed. She quickly moved over me to join me. Clarke looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. I just continued to wrap my arm around Madi pulling her into my chest as she stared at me.
She leaned down giving me and Madi a kiss on our foreheads. "You two stay here I'm going to see if I can find us a bigger room. If we're all going to share a room we'll need a reasonably sized room." I grabbed Clarke's arm, pulling her back.
I picked up the radio while still holding onto her arm. Her face filled with slight irritation. "Monty, do you know if there's any rooms with a bigger bed and maybe a little more space?"
There was a slight pause before he responded. "Yes, actually a few rooms down is the biggest room in the ship. It's room number 100. I'll come in and we can move you in."
"Thanks, Monty, but I can get there myself." I smiled to Clarke. "See it was that easy. Now let's move into our new room. I hear it's the biggest in the ship," I smirked. Clarke rolled her eyes before smiling back.
Once we got into our room I took my shirt off, laying down immediately. "You can't ever sleep with your shirt on, now can you?" Clarke said rolling her eyes. Madi let out a small laugh.
I turned my head towards her catching her smirk before she gave me a mean mug face. "Nope, never." I laughed. Madi joined me on laying her head on my arm as she cuddled up against me.
"Be careful Madi, Bellamy is still sensitive from surgery so don't put too much pressure on him." Clarke sat next to Madi brushing her hair out of her way. "Goodnight my little nightblood."
"Goodnight Clarke, goodnight Bellamy." Madi scooted closer to me, keeping a safe distance from my chest.
"Goodnight Madi." I gave her a light kiss on her forehead before relaxing my head back. Clarke turned off the lights lying down on the other side of Madi. I gave the back of her neck a little squeeze with the arm that laid beneath Madi. Clarke turned so her face laid in my palm. I felt so relaxed. I was finally home with Clarke, Madi, and my sister.