Okay, when I said I wanted reviews, I should have said how many. I did get three so I'll give you another chapter. Could we try for ten? Constructive criticism is welcome, bashing is not. Thanks, Samdagger.
Chapter 3
On the ground
Several hours later Sol suggested they find a place to sleep. It was getting darker and the fact that they were moving through a forest with little to no clearings meant it would get dark sooner.
"You got a map in that box of yours?" asked Raven.
"Yeah, but it won't show anything other than where places WERE."
"It's better than nothing."
"Yeah, but do you know how far we've travelled? How fast were we walking? Because otherwise we could be looking for a place we've already passed or a place that's far ahead of us." Raven thought about that and cursed.
"We need to search for anything to give us some shelter, a cave, a broken down building, some bushes we could hide in, anything," said Raven, looking around.
"And a water source," said Sol. It's been quite a few hours since we had any."
"Food would be good too," said Jake. They all nodded.
"Okay, first thing is to find a source of water, then shelter and then food. Without water we'll get too weak to search for the other things needed," said Sol.
"How do you two know all these things?" asked Rory. When everyone looked at her, she explained. "How do Sol and Raven know the things we need to find first?"
"Well when I knew I was being sent to the ground, I started reading all the survival books I could find on the Ark. Food, water and shelter were the main ones along with heat. They also wrote about traps and other things to make from nothing so you could catch an animal for food," explained Sol. Raven nodded.
"Same here. I was more interested in how to navigate without a compass and how to find my way around without any modern stuff."
"So we could catch an animal for food?" asked Rory.
"Well, no, not really. Oh, I can make some traps and catch an animal hopefully, but without a fire to cook it, I don't think anyone here wants to eat raw meat." All three shuddered at the thought. "I can look out for plants that I know are edible in their raw state, but unfortunately, I haven't seen any yet. On the Ark, their groundside information says it's just coming into Fall, that means the food is starting to get scarce."
"We need to find shelter and try to find a way to start a fire," said Jake. "Come on, let's check the ground for anything unusual." They spread out a little, but kept each other within ten feet. They searched for quite a while before Rory called out.
"I think I've found something!" They all went over to see what she'd found. "Look!" she said, pointing to the hole in the ground. It wasn't a very big hole, but it would be big enough for each of them to enter it. Sol took a careful step towards the hole and peered inside in the darkening light.
"It looks like a ten foot drop to the ground. I can't see anything past the hole, so I don't know if there is an animal in there or not."
"We need to find shelter, Sol, and it's the only thing we've found around here," said Raven.
"I know," said Sol, pensively. She looked around and saw some vines. "Go chop some of those vines down and we'll use them as a rope and I'll go down for a look," she said.
Jake nodded and grabbed the knife that Raven had given him when they'd set off from the craft, and went to get some vines.
"If this is big enough and nothing lives in it, we'll use it to shelter in for tonight. We'll need to stand a watch during the night so each one of us will have to be alert for our watches, Sol said.
"How do we get out of the hole in the morning?" asked Rory.
"I'll stand on Jake's shoulders and he can give me a boost. I'll be at the top to help pull everyone up. The vine will still be there. Maybe we can tie it to a tree and use it to climb down."
"You two are resourceful. Wish I'd read a survival book, too."
"Wish I'd brought one with me," grumbled Raven. Sol nodded her agreement. Jake returned with the vines and they started to knot them together, but they were too thick to get a good knot in them. Rory took her knife and made a slit into the vine and noticed a rope-like inner part. She opened the slit wider and reached in to pull some of the strands out. They had a kind of elastic effect as they were slightly stretchy. Rory pulled more strands out and eventually she just slit the whole sheath open to get the strands out. Raven, Sol and Jake just watched her, wondering what she was doing. Rory tested each strand and saw that separately they were quite weak, but if you twisted them together and tried to break them, they became stronger. Rory used three strands and braided them together before doing the same to others. Soon she had a pile of braided strands. She braided these together to make a stronger rope. She gave one end to Jake and told him to tie it to the tree next to him and gave the other end to Sol.
"When Jake has tied the vine, start pulling it to see if it'll break," Rory said. Sol nodded and waited. Jake finished tying off the vine rope and moved aside. Sol took hold of the vine and pulled it taut and then tried to break the rope. When she couldn't, Raven added her weight to it and then Rory joined them and finally Jake. The rope held. They deemed it strong enough. The end of the rope was tied around Sol, then Jake and Raven lowered her into the hole. It got darker the deeper she got, but she was able to put her feet on the ground before she was completely enveloped in darkness.
"I'm down," she said. She untied the rope and then she stopped to listen to any sound she could hear, but there was nothing. Sol put her hand out to the side and felt the wall of the hole. She started moving slowly along the wall, never losing contact with it. It seemed like she was walking for a while, but she knew it would only have been a few feet. It was probably large enough for one person to sleep lying down, but not large enough for three people. She carried on and soon her fingers were no longer feeling the rock beneath them, but rather she felt the cold of metal. She stopped to try to figure out why there was a piece of worked metal underground. She moved her hands over the metal. It was flat, with a few dents in it, but on the whole it was flat. This was a man made object underground! She moved her hands along the metal and felt a recess. Sol moved her hand there and then suddenly pulled her hand back in pain. She put her finger in her mouth and tasted blood. It must have been glass, she thought. Glass in metal on the Ark meant a door or window. There wouldn't be a window underground unless the Earth had opened up and swallowed what was on the surface. Or maybe this was a basement!
She carefully put her hand on where she knew the metal was and slowly moved her hand towards the recess, she stopped when she felt it and carefully moved her hands around it towards the other side of it. She then moved her hand towards where she thought a door handle would be located and...bingo! She put her hand on it and pushed the lever down. The door clicked open and Sol pushed on the door to open it wider. She heard the echo of her steps and realised she was in a room. She went back to the hole to let the others know.
"Guys, you need to come down here!" Sol said. "I've found something."
"What is it?" asked Raven.
"I think it's a basement. There's a room, but I don't know if it's large enough for all of us to lay down, but it does echo to my steps." Jake and Raven looked at each other and smiled.
"Rory's coming down with you and Raven and I will go find some water. Raven said she heard a little creek off to the east, so we'll check that out and come back," said Jake.
"Okay, be careful guys, we don't know what's out there and there may be night predators." Jake nodded and pulled up the rope and tied it around Rory. She was lowered into the hole and they moved to the basement room while the other two went to find water.
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Rory was standing at the entrance to the basement.
"It's so dark in here." she said.
"I know, but maybe we can find something useful here," Sol said.
"Like what?" asked Rory.
"Maybe some water canisters or bottles. Something to carry water with us would be good. Maybe there's some hunting equipment in here. I was trained on weapons on the Ark when I was training to come down here and play bodyguard for the two scientists that were coming down with me," Sol said.
"They really played us, didn't they?"
"Yeah. I hope they kept their promise and left my sister alone after she was freed, but I think they've probably already re-arrested her and thrown her back into the Skybox."
"I made a deal too, for my daughter's life. I'd go straight to floating without a trial if Octavia was allowed to take my place on the Ark. Jaha agreed and I was held in a room for a few months before I was sent down here instead. Bet she was never released!"
"Well, when Jaha comes down, We'll make sure that he's imprisoned and never released - wherever that may be. When the rest come down, I know they'll try to stick to the Ark rules and ways because they don't know anything else. We need to find a way to survive down here. A way to live and get them to see it's the only way they would survive, Rory. I can see some of them just sitting on their backsides, waiting for someone to go get the food and bring it to them, just because they don't know how to get it for themselves. I bet they wouldn't even try. Up there, they have it cushy, down here, it's do or die and I can already imagine those on the council trying to maintain the Ark ways."
"Yeah," said Rory, sounding defeated.
"Don't worry, Rory. When your kids come down and my sister, we can form our own little settlement where we do try to survive. I think the kids on the Ark are the ones to get onside. The adults have had a lifetime of being told what to do and how things work. The kids haven't. I know I'm going to do everything in my power to survive, and I know Erin would too."
"Okay," said Rory, sounding more confident. "Let's look - or rather feel our way around to find some stuff we can use to aid our survival."
"Now you're talking!" said Sol, smiling. They both moved off in opposite directions and Sol reminded Rory to make sure she knew what she was touching before actually picking it up as she'd already cut her finger on some glass. Rory agreed and they carefully felt along the wall.
"Got something," Sol said, feeling what it was. "I think this is a shelving unit. Now I'm going to feel around for some stuff. If you find something, sing out too, Rory."
"Will do," Rory said, sliding her hand along the rock wall. She too brushed her hand along some metal. "I've got something too. Checking it out now," Both women kept up their commentary as they touched things. Neither realising that they were comforting each other with the sounds of another person nearby.
Rory touched a cylindrical object and put her hand on it. It was a metal rounded tube, bigger at one end. She felt it all over and found a small protrusion made from a different material. It gave slightly when she applied light pressure. She pressed it and immediately dropped it when a light came on within it. She screeched in surprise and Sol turned sharply towards her. Sol looked at the ground where the light had come to rest and stared at it in awe.
"A flashlight!" Sol exclaimed. She made her way slowly towards it and picked it up. She shone it around the room and it lit up several shelving units with lots of items on them. Sol grinned. She turned the flashlight towards the shelving unit Rory was standing beside and saw there were several more lights. She picked one up and switched it on and gave it to Rory.
"Now we can see what we're doing!" Sol said, excited to discover more things. Rory took the flashlight and started looking at each item on the shelves. She came across a small zipped case and opened it. There were a few medical supplies in it and she immediately went to Sol and grabbed her hand to see how bad the cut was. The cut had already begun to heal. No more blood flowed from it and Rory dug through the case to find something to wrap around the injury to keep it clean. She came up with some bandaids and put one on Sol's finger.
"Keep that clean, Sol, it's important." Sol nodded, her expression growing solemn.
"I will," she said.
"Okay, let's get back to exploring. This is kind of fun!"
Sol looked at Rory and then laughed. They continued searching the shelves and Sol came across several reusable water bottles.
"Got some water bottles, Rory! Now we can carry a supply with us!"
"And I've found some camouflage tents!" Rory exclaimed.
"Really!?" said Sol, coming over. She looked at the label that Rory was looking at. "Collapsible two man tents," Sol read. "Brilliant! Come on, let's keep looking."
A shout brought them back to the entrance. They looked up to see Raven looking down at them.
"We've found water, but we can't figure out how to get some to you. I think you'll need to climb back up here and go get some," Raven said.
"No need," said Sol. "We've found a basement full of things. We'll grab a bucket and put some water bottles in it and a couple of flashlights and you can go get some for us."
"Really?!" said Raven, shocked.
"Yes," said Rory. Sol had already disappeared back to get the required items. When she came back, she tied the bucket of water bottles to the rope and Raven hauled it up. She took the bucket and went back to Jake to go get some water for everyone.
Rory went back to the basement and looked around some more. Sol was on the far side of the room, looking through what looked like a barrel on the floor. Rory shook her head, smiled wryly and continued along the shelves she was searching. She next came to some camouflage backpacks and a few boxes labelled survival kits. She pulled one of them down and looked through it.
"Sol! Come here, quick!" she called. Sol came over.
"What have you found?"
"Look!" said Rory. "This says it's a survival kit!" Sol leaned over and started to check the contents. She saw fishing line and some hooks, a small box of matches, a flint and striker set as well for when the matches ran out, a small compass, maps of the immediate area, with water sources marked, some string, a knife, a small axe and a multitool, small first aid kit, small mirror and a small telescope. Sol flashed her light around at the other boxes.
"Are they all the same?" she asked.
"Don't know," said Rory. "I only looked in this one."
"Even if they all contain the same thing, this is a goldmine, Rory. We can fish in the rivers for food, we can start a campfire to cook it and with my knowledge of traps, I can catch some rabbits or something! Food, Rory, food!" Both women were giddy with excitement. A shout brought them back to the entrance as Raven was lowering the bucket full of water bottles down. Jake had put a flashlight into his backpack and Raven had hers in her pocket.
When they were down, they picked up the bucket and moved to the basement. They looked around in amazement. Raven whistled while Jake was just dumbfounded.
"We've found what seems to be a survival basement. I don't think this is a bunker, but it was an area where survival stuff was stored," said Sol.
"What have you found so far?" asked Jake.
"Oh, you know, the usual; tents, backpacks, survival kits, medkits, flashlights and over in that corner in that barrel are some swords and knives," said Sol, trying to be casual.
Raven gave her a dirty look and went to the shelf where the flashlights were and picked another one up and used it to look around for herself.
"We need to find some other stuff too," she said. I'd like to find some sleeping bags and stuff to put in the tents."
"Good idea,'' said Sol, going back and looking around again. Raven and Sol checked one side while Jake and Rory checked the other.
After a while Jake called out.
"I've found some clothing!" They all rushed over to check it out. There were packaged bundles of clothing on racks and shelves and in boxes! Cargo pants, camouflage pants and shirts, jumpers, long sleeved shirts, t-shirts, underwear - both male and female - coats and jackets, boots, socks, hats, scarves, gloves, there was a wide variety of colours and patterns and a whole load of sizes.
"Tell you what, why don't we sleep in our own clothes tonight and we'll change clothes in the morning. We can take some of them with us too," said Raven.
"I agree with that," said Sol with fervour. "I can't wait to get out of these Ark clothes and into something that doesn't have ingrained dirt and holes in them!"
"Me too," said Rory. Jake nodded his head reluctantly, but agreed.
They found other things too. Rory found some sleeping bags and the spongy mats to go under them, Jake found some more batteries for anything electrical they used like torches, Sol found cooking equipment such as pots, plates and cutlery and Raven found a stash of ration bars. She wasn't sure how long they were supposed to last, but she wanted to try one to see if it was edible. They had gone almost a day without eating and by now, they were getting weak.
Raven pulled a small box of the ration bars to the place they'd decided they would sleep and sat on the floor. She looked at the box - best before 2148. That was this year! Maybe these would still be edible. She opened the box and took out a bar. It was wrapped in silver foil and had no other markings on it except for a small id number identifying which foodstuff it was supposed to be. Raven checked the box again, chicken and green curry. Raven had never had either. She shrugged and took a tiny bite of it. She had to wrestle with the food a bit as it was hard to bite into, but the flavour was there, Raven was just not sure how it was supposed to taste, but it wasn't too bad. She handed out the bars to the others equally. They each took one bar and put the rest into their backpacks.
After a meal of ration bars and water, Jake said he'd take the first watch and wake Sol after two hours. Sol agreed and asked if she could borrow his watch to mark the time, he agreed as long as he got it back afterwards - it was a family heirloom and he hoped to pass it on to Clarke when she was older. They all knew of the significance of a family heirloom as no-one had many of them and they were treasured possessions - even the guards made sure that they were returned to the family when someone was floated.
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The next morning they looked around again. There were still some places they had not checked. Rory found some battery operated lanterns and they each took one and some more batteries for them. Sol found some more drinks canisters and a box of wind-up watches and handed them out to each person, Raven found a store of female products and immediately handed out some to Sol and Rory which were gratefully received. She also came across some collapsible shovels. Jake found the most important find though, toilet paper.
In the end, they all grabbed one of the large backpacks. Sol and Jake each carried a two man tent, they all carried a sleeping bag and bedroll, two water bottles, a knife each with a spare in the pack, two t-shirts, one jumper, one pair of cargo pants, and three pairs of socks and underwear each. These would go in their packs and they would wear another set of underwear, socks, t-shirt, jumper, cargo pants and a jacket or coat. They each took a set of hats, scarves and gloves too. There were belts with the clothing and each took one and threaded the knife sheaths onto them and Sol and Raven took a sword each as well. Neither knew how to use it, but they thought it would be better than nothing. Each person also carried two of the survival kits in their packs along with two medkits. Raven had pulled one of her bottles of water out of one of the side pockets she'd put it in and immediately shoved two rolls of toilet paper in there. Everyone else did the same and put the water bottle in the pack.
They each carried several ration bars in case they didn't catch any food during the day. A lantern and flashlight with spare batteries for each and Raven and Rory carried the cooking equipment and a collapsible shovel each as Jake and Sol had the tents.
When they had finished, their packs were pretty full, but they still had spaces for more stuff. They decided not to overload themselves trying to carry everything in the basement, but they took everything they thought was essential and now they were ready to move on. Raven and Sol had chosen the camouflage pattern for their backpacks, Jake had an all green one - olive green like in the military, and Rory had picked a black one.
With multiple rings for tying extra equipment on, each had fashioned a piece of string to hold the small axe onto their packs. It was an extra safety feature for them as the packs had strings that could be tightened and they had placed the axes under the strings and pulled them as tight as they could get them. They knew that none of them had any experience with walking over uneven ground and even the day before when they didn't have much to carry, they seemed to all fall over at one point or another. With heavier packs, they knew they had to go slowly and check where they were going. Eventually they were all sorted and out of the hole. Sol pulled her knife out and made a series of marks on the tree they'd used to anchor their makeshift rope. She then cut the rope from the tree, rolled it up and fastened it to her backpack - you never knew when you'd need it next.
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They hiked for most of the morning before Raven halted and watched as two rabbits ran into the underbrush. She held up her hand and everyone stopped. She motioned for Sol to come to her and when she had Raven pointed to the bushes and told her about the rabbits. Sol nodded and took her pack off. She undid the rope and went to look for some sticks she could use to set her trap. Once the trap was set, she and the others backed away. Sol stayed behind a tree and waited. She waited for almost an hour before a rabbit came ambling along. It stopped just before the trap and sniffed the air. Sol was glad that she had remembered to stand downwind of the trap so the animals wouldn't smell her. The rabbit took another careful step and sniffed and then another and another. One more step took it into the trap and Sol triggered it. One squealing rabbit was quickly dispatched by Sol's knife and she got to work, stripping the fur off it and then figuring out how to gut it. It took a few minutes to work out what needed to be removed, but she got the job done. One rabbit wasn't much for four people, but it was better than nothing. On the way back she found some plants she remembered from her survival books were good to eat, so she picked some. Now they had a pot and some water, they could cook the greens while the rabbit roasted over the fire.
She took them back to the others and found them around a small campfire. Rory took out the cooking pot and Raven was pushing sturdy but thin sticks into the ground, forming a 'v' and placed two of the tied sticks on one side of the fire and two at the other. She pushed the ends of the sticks into the ground and placed another stick over the top of them to form a rudimentary spit. Sol smiled. She took the stick off the top and pushed it through the body of the rabbit before placing it back over the fire. She turned it every few minutes so it didn't just burn one side while the other was raw. She also watched the pot of greens, slowly cooking in the pot. In the meantime, Rory and Jake had gone to find more water. They had decided that each time they stopped or were near a creek, they'd keep their water bottles topped up as they had no idea how far between creeks they'd be.
They had a small meal of rabbit and greens and a quarter of a ration bar all washed down with cold, cold creek water. It was their first proper meat any of them had tasted. The meat on the Ark was actually a meat substitute and no meat had ever been on the Ark since a year after the war. No-one alive had ever eaten actual meat and they found the taste to be very nice. They couldn't wait until they tasted more. What they didn't realise was that their bodies were crying out for proper nutrients, vitamins and protein. The Ark had substitutes for that too, mostly from medical plants that gave them what they needed to survive but not much more. Now they were on the ground and expending more energy, they needed more.
They walked on for the rest of the day, only stopping for a rest every two hours and resting for only fifteen minutes at a time. Raven estimated that it would take them about a week or more to walk towards Washington DC, but it would be more like ten to twelve days. They camped by the side of a bluff with an overhang. There were bushes all around it, but directly under the overhang it was clear. They set up their tents and had another meal of ration bars and water before Sol went on watch and the others turned in for the night until their turn.
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On the Ark
Monty was watching Harper McIntyre walking down the corridor. He's had a crush on her for a while now and he was trying to pluck up the courage to talk to her. He was shy around girls and his best friend Jasper wasn't helping.
"Just ask her out, dude," Jasper was saying, non-too-quietly, either.
"Jasper, shut up!" Monty hissed as Harper got nearer.
"Oh, come on, Monty! You need to man up before someone else gets in there."
"Like you did with Mischa, you mean?" said Monty. He didn't mean to be mean, but sometimes Jasper just brought it out in him. He saw the hurt look in Jasper's eyes. "I'm sorry, Jasper," Monty said, contritely.
"It's okay, Monty. I just miss her, that's all." Mischa had been floated when she was caught stealing from one of her teachers. The fact that the object she was stealing was technically hers and the teacher had confiscated it, didn't mean a thing to Jaha. He'd just sent her to the Skybox and had her floated on her 18th birthday.
Harper walked past the pair of them, watching them as she passed. Once she had, Jasper called out to her.
"Hey, Harper?" She turned around.
"Yeah?"
"Monty wants to go out with you, but he's too scared to say anything." Monty slapped Jasper on the arm.
"Jasper!"
"What? You weren't going to say anything, so I did it for you. You're welcome by the way," he said, smirking as he walked off leaving Monty and Harper in the corridor alone.
"Was he right?" asked Harper. Monty looked at her, going red in the face.
"Yeah," he said.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?" Monty said in reply.
"Ask me out."
Monty stammered a bit before he blurted out.
"Will you go out with me?" Harper smiled and nodded. Monty burst out in a big grin.
"I'll see you after school tomorrow Monty," Harper said. I expect to be taken somewhere nice where we can be alone - preferably without Jasper." Monty blushed again before nodding. Harper smiled and walked away. Monty watched her go before turning around and walking back to his quarters with a grin that wouldn't quit.
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Octavia had a visit from her brother and told him all about her new room mate. Bellamy was worried until she told him that Erin was a second child too and her sister had been sent to the ground. That shocked Bellamy. There had been no announcement of sending someone down to Earth. Then he remembered an announcement about a malfunction and one of the small craft being jettisoned into space accidentally. No other damage had been done to the Ark itself and therefore no other action was required. Just then there was a commotion at the other end of the visitor's room and everyone turned towards it. The guards all rushed over to the shouting couple and Bellamy took advantage of it.
"Listen up, O, there was an announcement that a craft had accidentally been jettisoned into space. I think that was the craft that they sent down. We know the leaders lie to us so I think they went down to Earth!"
"Erin said her sister left letters for her to read then destroy. In them, Sol asked why would they be sent down so early? And what's happening on the Ark to warrant it?" Bellamy sat back and thought about it. He nodded and opened his mouth to reply when the guards ended all visitations for the day. Bellamy was led out with the other visitors and the prisoners were taken back to their cells.
Bellamy walked through the Ark thinking about everything he'd learned. If Octavia was right and Erin's sister Sol had been sent to Earth with others, then why? What was so important down there? Or was it something up here that was happening? The only thing he could think of was that something on the Ark was broken and it couldn't be fixed. If that was the case, then maybe they needed to go down to the ground. But that would mean that they'd die from radiation poisoning. They had said it would take 200 years and it wasn't even 100 years. Could people survive on the ground? Was the radiation reduced enough to survive? Would they all be going - even if it was too dangerous? Bellamy didn't have the answers but he was determined to find them out. How to find out though, it wasn't like he could just walk up to someone and ask them to tell him what was going on. He went to work with no more information or answers than he had before. At work, he was detailed to mop up the puke in one of the interrogation rooms near the guards main office. He was mopping it all up and trying not to gag himself, when one of the guards told him that when he was finished, he had a mess in the guards office to clean up as well. The guard left and Bellamy sighed, it was going to be one of those days when the guards deliberately made messes for him to clean up!
After he had finished in the interrogation room, he made his way to the guards room.
"What do you want?" one of the guards asked him, belligerently.
"Guard Watson said there was a mess in here I needed to clean up?" Bellamy couched it as a question. The guard smiled and pointed to the corner where a load of liquid had been poured along with some of the powdered glue they used. Bellamy sighed to himself. Glue would take a while to clean up and he needed specialist equipment to do it.
"I need to go get the chemical solvent I need, Sir," he said, keeping his tone calm and even. The guard grunted and Bellamy took his cleaning supplies with him. He emptied the bucket and cleaned it out along with the mops he had used. He then went to his supervisor and told him of the mess in the guards room. The supervisor too sighed, the guards enjoyed working his staff to the bone. It wasn't as if his staff had nothing to do each day, it just seemed that the guards went out of their way to make a mess just so they could watch others cleaning it up!
With the correct solvent and new cleaning supplies, he set off back to the guards office. The same guard let him in and told him to stay in the corner and keep working. Bellamy nodded his head and got to work. As he assessed the work to be done and the steps needed, he realised that it would take hours to get all the glue off the floor, desk, walls and the cup thay'd used to mix it in.
He was about two hours into his task and was waiting for the solvent to take effect on the thicker parts. He was carefully scraping the thinner parts off the floor and desk legs when an alarm blared and the guard sat up straight. He put his headphones on and he was guiding some of the other guards to where they needed to be to catch the thief. Bellamy made sure that it looked like he was still working while watching the screen out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly the guard bolted up and out the door, forgetting about Bellamy. He locked the door behind him, trapping Bellamy inside. Bellamy thought about shouting out, but something held his tongue. He heard the guard running down the corridor, feet pounding as he went.
Bellamy left his work and went over to the monitors and watched as the guards were trying to get into a room. The guard from before was there and he realised that they would be there a while and as the door was locked, he would have a little warning if someone unlocked the door.
He carefully looked through the documents on the desk in front of him and then looked around. There was a filing cabinet in the far corner from where he was working. He went over to it and tentatively pulled on the top draw. It opened. Bellamy was surprised they'd leave it open, but then again, the guards were known to be lazy, so they'd probably leave it unlocked until the end of their shift. He opened the top draw fully and looked through the files there. Nothing jumped out at him so he shut that draw and opened the next. One file had a strange label. Non-floated prisoners. He pulled that file out and opened it. It was one page and listed four people on it. He was shocked to see his mothers name on it! How? She'd been floated. He kept reading. Jake Griffin, Aurora Blake, Solange Armstrong, Raven Reyes. Raven and Solange had stars by their names and Bellamy looked to the bottom of the page to find out why. They were volunteers. Jake and Aurora were not. He read that the air was running out and these four were being sent down to see if it was survivable. If that was true, then he hoped that they found out soon and found a way down to the ground. Bellamy put it back where he got it from and shut the draw. He went back to his work and kept working in case someone came in. His mind was working overtime. Was his mother still alive? Why were they sent to the ground? Bellamy needed to talk to his sister again. Her cellmate's sister was called Sol. Was that short for Solange? Did they know the air supply was running out? He needed more information but knew he couldn't dig around any more than he just had. Getting caught would get him floated.
He carried on working and it was only about ten minutes later that he heard a key in the lock and someone came in. She stopped as she saw Bellamy in the locked room.
"What are you doing here?" she asked with suspicion.
"I'm working. The guard that was here ran out and locked the door before I could say anything," he told her. She was still suspicious, so he just pointed to the monitor that was still showing the guards attempting to get into the room that their quarry had barricaded himself in. She looked and then switched it off.
"You need to leave, now," she said.
"I need to finish cleaning up the glue that was spilled over there," he said pointing to where he was working.
"How much longer will it take?"
"I can get the majority of it off in another hour. I can come back another day to finish the rest, but if I leave it now, the solvent I'm using will eat through the desk legs and destroy them." She nodded and told him to go back to work. Bellamy nodded and got back to it while the guard sat down and turned the monitor back on and put the headphones on as she observed what was going on. Every few minutes she'd turn to look at Bellamy and then back to the monitor. An hour later Bellamy stated he was finished with that part of it, but he'd need a couple more hours to completely finish it. She nodded and told him to come back the next day to finish off. He nodded and left. Once his shift was finished, he went back to his quarters to think things through.