The haunted chapter 14 The children
Octavia returned to Arkadia. She learned of the scout team and when Marcus told her they would be gone several days. She knew Clarke finally got her wish and they were allowed to venture to sector 12. Octavia also knew Clarke would be disappointed because Bellamy wasn't in sector 12.
The second day Octavia went to the comms room and found Marcus and Raven. "I saw him," she said. She wouldn't say his name; it took all she had to even mention she had seen him. She knew they wanted to know, as they always asked when she had been out.
"You saw Bellamy?" asked Raven as she spun around in her chair to face Octavia.
"Yes," she said flatly.
"How was he?" asked Marcus," Where has he been?"
"I didn't stop, I just saw him, he's still alive," she answered.
"Wait," said Raven as she stood facing Octavia, "You finally find him, you didn't even talk to him, or ask him anything?" she said in a sharp tone. "He's your brother."
"Not anymore," Octavia said.
"Where was he?" asked Kane.
"He was in sector 9. He's been hunting and feeding the grounder villages," she said. "I heard rumors about someone. The description sounded like him, so I checked it out myself, but he didn't see me."
Raven sat back down. She was disappointed in Octavia, but at least she knew Bellamy was alive and was last seen in sector 9. She couldn't wait to tell Clarke when she got back from the scouting mission. She wanted to radio the team now, but they were out of range, so it would have to wait.
Bellamy continued his task, feeding the villages. Nothing changed except his disappointment in knowing Octavia still regarded him as her enemy instead of her brother. His arm was stronger from when it had been broken. He removed the cast a week earlier than it was supposed to come off. He spent an entire afternoon cutting it off with his knife. He knew Abby would have been angry, and the thought of her fussing at him, made him smile to himself briefly. He missed Arkadia and the people there. He wanted to go back, but still had work to do first. He wondered if Monty and Harper were still a thing. He hoped that they were, because Monty needed someone more than ever since Jasper had taken his own life. He wished they could have helped Jasper. Everyone tried when they returned from Polis and saw his pain, but he finally ended his suffering one afternoon outside of camp on the edge of the forest.
Bellamy was thinking of Clarke as he walked, his mind not focused on his task, when he heard a whimpering and shushing sound coming from some nearby fallen trees.
He crept in the direction and was shocked to see a small group of kids huddled together and looking back at him full of fear. They thought he was going to kill them.
He knelt down to get closer to their level, when one brave young girl stepped up. She took a step forward, protecting the others, "Get back, I'm not afraid of you," she said in her bravest voice.
Bellamy smiled. He couldn't help himself. "You're a brave little girl, now aren't you!" he said.
"I'm not a little girl," she snapped back. Bellamy immediately thought of Charlotte and remembered her speaking those same words.
"No I can see your right about that, but, I won't hurt you, I promise," he said. "Are you from the Ark?" he asked. He could tell by their clothing. They were not grounders and he was shocked to see arker children.
"Yes," the girl hesitated. "How do you know?" she asked.
Bellamy smiled. "Because I am too," he said.
"You don't look like it," the girl said as she looked him over frowning slightly.
"Well I probably don't "he agreed.
"Where are your parents?" he asked them. The other children slowly had stopped cowering and were slowly becoming less frightened.
"I don't have parents," the girl said. "The bad people took the other grown-ups away." The girl said. "We were hiding in the cave, but when the food ran out, we had to leave."
Bellamy didn't know what to do. He had these small kids that said their parents were taken by bad people. He wasn't sure if he should take them to Arkadia, or back to where they came from and see if he could find their families. He looked at the children. They were starving, and had not eaten in days.
"What's your name?" he asked the brave girl.
"Reece" said the girl.
Bellamy instinctively reached out and brushed the hair from the girls face. "Look here, I need you to all stay here." He looked at Reece, "You're in charge, okay? I need you to keep everyone here and stay quiet. I'm going to find you something to eat, but it may take a little time, but I'll be back, I promise."
The kids promised to stay there and wait for him.
Bellamy left to find the group of kids some food. He was able to snare a couple of rabbits quickly, and returned. He built a fire, cleaned and cooked the rabbit meat. As the four kids ate, he learned they had been a part of Tesla station. They landed far off. The kids couldn't tell him where, they just told about traveling over rock mountains and finally making a camp west of where they were now. They traveled for months to get there, losing people along the way. Their camp was attacked while the four children had been playing in a cave and they stayed hidden while they watched their people being dragged away by what they described as monster men. Bellamy realized that to children seeing grounders in their war paint and clothing; to children they would seem like monsters. He tried to get a better description, but it was useless, so there was no way for him to know what grounder clan had taken them. Bellamy finally decided he would take them to Arkadia.
It was late in the day so Bellamy made camp and the next morning he loaded two of the children onto his pallet and lifted Reece and a young boy named kip onto Apollo. The children were both afraid and excited to see the horse. It was the first real one they had seen. The trip back to Arkadia took three days and Bellamy spent the evenings telling the children stories he had not told since Octavia was small. It brought back bittersweet memories. The children loved Bellamy.
When Arkadia came into view Bellamy was flooded with relief. He was anxious to see his friends. He had missed them. The guards opened the gate when they saw him. He was met by Marcus, Abby and Raven. Raven and Bellamy hugged each tightly. When they parted, Raven looked him over and shook her head, "Your too skinny, aren't you eating?" she frowned, "and good night, you need a haircut" she said. He just smiled at her, "Well nice to see you too," he said then looked around for Clarke and the others.
"They're not here," said Raven. "Everyone's on a scouting mission." She said, knowing he was looking for his other friends. She saw the disappointment on his face.
Abby immediately recognized Reece Lemkin; whose father Tor had sacrificed his self in the culling.
"Reece," Abby wrapped her arms around the girl, and then did the same the other three, checking each one for injuries. "Jackson," shouted Abby, "Take them to the cafeteria, get them something to eat, then we can look them over in medical." Jackson took the children away.
Marcus pulled Bellamy aside. "Where did you find them?" he asked nodding towards the four children.
"In sector 9, close to 10, they were hiding, Reece said grounders had attacked them and took everyone away. They hid, that's how they weren't taken. I don't think they can tell us what clan it was, or exactly where they were. They pointed west and said they had been walking for days after their food ran out. She said they were Tesla station. I didn't know what else to do but bring them here," said Bellamy.
Tesla station, that had to be the blip we saw," said Marcus.
"Blip… What are you talking about?" asked Bellamy.
"Millers team is going there, if there's a grounder clan that took them, our team could walk into trouble," said Raven.
"Marcus we need to warn them," said Abby.
"Are you saying our people are going where Tesla station was attacked and taken?" asked Bellamy.
"We can't be sure," said Marcus.
"Then get them on the radio, warn them or something," said Bellamy.
"They don't have communication," said Marcus "They're out of range."
"We have an unknown grounder clan that took our sky people, and now Miller has a team that may be headed right into another ambush," said Bellamy, "We need to go after them."
"We can't go running half cocked," said Marcus. We need to know exactly what we're dealing with."
Octavia walked up to the group when she saw the commotion. She saw it was Bellamy when she saw his shaggy hair and she saw Apollo.
"What's going on?" she asked. Bellamy looked at her and his expression lite up, thinking she would be happy to see him. Her eyes met Bellamy's. Then she quickly turned from him and looked only at Marcus. Marcus let Octavia know what had happened.
Raven saw their exchange. She saw Octavia's lake of caring for him and she saw the hurt on Bellamy's face that he could not hide.
"I need a map," said Bellamy. "I'm going after them, I have to at least try and reach them before something happens."
"We need to meet with Prince Roan, He will know who were dealing with, maybe he can help," said Marcus.
"You want to run to Ice Nation?" asked Octavia.
"Octavia, he is allied with us now, He can tell us what clan were dealing with," said Marcus.
"Bellamy's right," said Octavia, "We need to try and reach the scout team before they run into trouble, bring them back," she said.
"I don't want to lose another team, it's too risky," Marcus said.
"Then I'll go, I can sneak in without being seen," said Bellamy.
"I'm going too," said Octavia.
"No," said Bellamy. "It could be dangerous, you should go with Kane, meet with Roan."
"Like hell,' said Octavia. "You're not in charge of me anymore, you can't tell me what to do," she snapped back.
Bellamy just looked back at her. "O…" he tried to talk to her. But she turned and stormed away.
Bellamy just looked down. Raven put her hand on his back. She had a sympathetic smile at him. "Come on. I'll get you that map," she said as she led him inside.