So I had the day off and was able to finish both chapters 6 & 7... because I'm a nerd haha. I'm thinking that there's only a few more chapters left in this story. Tell me what you think! Can't wait to hear from you!
From the outside he couldn't make out the conversation between his sister and the Mountain Girl, but it seemed quite friendly. After another five minutes, both girls emerged from the tent. Lina too it slow as they made their way to Abby's room. She put in a great deal of effort to make sure her back stayed perfectly straight. He guessed that the gel Abby had given her last night had worn off. Octavia walked alongside them for a while until the she inhaled the smell food simmering near the kitchen.
"I'll take you to the showers later if your guard dog here will allow it." she said to Lina and nudged Bellamy with her elbow. "See ya later on." she gave a small wave and bounced off towards the busy dining area. Bellamy and Lina walked the rest of the way to medical in silence. He noticed that her body visibly tensed once Octavia left. Was it because of him? Was she afraid of him?
The thought angered Bellamy. He literally saved her life yesterday, and he had gotten her warm clothes to wear. He'd even brought her a pillow for crying out loud. So why the hell should she be afraid of him? Maybe it had something to do with how he treated her last night. He admitted to himself that he had been a bit harsh with her about not letting him treat her wounds. Now that he thought about it, he had been an asshole. She had told him she didn't need his help and he'd forced it on her anyway.
When they finally reached Abby's office he saw that one of the men that had been injured yesterday was sleeping on a cot in the corner. Abby hustled over to Lina as soon as they stepped inside. She instructed Bellamy to wait in a chair while she escorted the younger girl to the opposite corner and pulled a privacy screen around them. With a deep sigh, he sat down and wondered how long the examination would take. His hunger was slowly turning into nausea. Across the room, the metallic wall was smooth enough to give a vague reflection of him as he sat. His hair was getting a bit too long for his liking and at the moment was quite untidy. His eyes reminded him of how Kane's looked earlier that morning; tired and burdened.
Bellamy looked away from his own mirror image and his eyes landed on another. A few feet away, he could see the reflections of Abby and Lina behind their screen. Her back was to the doctor and her face stared at the wall. She had taken her shirt off and now held it against her chest. He could see her wince in pain every time Abby touched the burns on her back. Something tightened in his chest at the sight of her pained expression. His eyes trailed over her shoulders and collar bones, then down her arms. She looked stronger than he had thought she would be. He felt his cheeks begin to burn again as he noticed how smooth the skin of her shoulders looked in the reflective surface of the wall.
He forced himself to tear his eyes away and focused his vision on the floor in front of him. Another fifteen minutes passed before Abby and Lina came back into his view. They were speaking in such low tones that he couldn't hear what was being said.
"I gave her some medicine to prevent infections." Abby explained to him when the two women stood before him. His eyes glanced towards Lina while Abby continued to speak. "I'm honestly not sure how her body will react. I told her to come to me straight away if she starts to feel sick." Abby snapped her fingers, demanding Bellamy's full attention. "Keep an eye on her." she said almost warningly.
"Right." Bellamy nodded, not appreciating being spoken to like a little boy. Abby's kept her eyes on him for another second or two before looking at Lina again.
"Come back after dinner and I'll take the dressings off. It'll be good for the burns to breathe overnight."
"It's too cold." Bellamy hadn't meant to say the words aloud, but since he had both women looked at him awaiting an explanation. "She'll be uncomfortable all night with a blanket rubbing on her skin, but if she doesn't use one she'll be either sick or frozen by morning." He shrugged, trying to act as though this thought had not crossed his mind many times the previous night.
"I'll be alright." Lina said in a small voice.
"No, he's right." Abby scrunched her face while she thought. "Maybe at some point this evening you can take the bandages off for an hour or two and I can wrap them back up before you sleep." She looked at Bellamy rather than Lina while she spoke because ultimately it was up to him to see that the girl had the time to spare. He nodded although he knew that saying no wasn't an option. Bellamy was a strong, the type of guy everyone would bet on to win a fight, but Abby Griffin scared the living hell out of him.
He and Lina headed for the kitchen in search of breakfast. He heard her stomach gurgle on the way over and laughed to himself. They were both starving and once they had their trays and seats at a table they dug into their meal. Bellamy had been so focused on the pancakes (really just a patty of mashed up vegetables scouts found on the outskirts of the camp) that he didn't hear the approaching footsteps behind him.
"Now we're givin' it our food too?" the voice said loudly, purposefully attracting attention. Lina's dark eyes went wide with terror when she looked up at whoever was standing at Bellamy's back. He saw her hands begin to shake and she fidgeted in her seat. He had a feeling that he was about to turn and see one of the men responsible for her whipping yesterday.
And sure enough, when Bellamy pivoted, he came face to face with Robert Starkard. The tall man stared down at Lina with a look of disgust. Bellamy stood up and was happy to realize that his eyes were level with Robert's.
"Walk away." Bellamy's voice was like a growl when it vibrated out of his throat.
"She's eating our food." Robert repeated, eyes still on the girl. Bellamy positioned himself so that he filled Robert's field of vision.
"Don't start anything, Rob. You won't win." he warned.
"They tried to kill us all, and here you are defending the bitch." He spat. "You might as well just let me finish what you started back in the mountain." A smirk crossed his face and Bellamy's hands curled into tight fists. "You should have died in that mountain, girl." He hollered over Bellamy's shoulder. "You should be buried in the ground with the rest of your fucking people."
With that, Bellamy snapped. He yanked the hunting knife from its holder on his jeans and held to Robert's throat. An immediate hush fell over the crowd. Bellamy couldn't hear anything except the rushing of his own blood through his veins.
"Look at her again," he snarled "and you'll be the one buried in the ground." He slowly pulled the knife away from Robert's neck and watched as a tiny droplet of blood rolled down into the collar of his shirt.
Bellamy grabbed Lina by the arm and hoisted her to her feet. He didn't look back at the crowd that had gathered around their table as they walked away. His actions had been impulsive and reckless. Being honest with himself, he wasn't sure if it was Robert's threats towards Lina or the fact that he'd implied that Bellamy was a murder that had caused him to lose control. He'd have to come up with a good explanation before he spoke to Kane.
Lina struggled to keep pace with him but he didn't slow down until they were only a few tents away from his own. Bellamy kept his hand around her upper arm as they strode but he made sure to keep his grip light, remembering how she'd stiffened when Octavia left her alone with him earlier. Once they reached the tent, Lina pulled her arm from him and went inside. Bellamy followed and wasted no time lying face down on his cot. He didn't look at her. He didn't want to because he could just imagine the petrified look on her face. If she had been afraid of him before, she'd be terrified now.
"Thank you." He heard her whisper and he crinkled his face in confusion. Had he heard wrong or was she really thanking him? Bellamy rolled onto his back so he could see her. She was standing in between their two beds gazing down at him. Her tangled black hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and for the first time he noticed how perfectly her hair color matched her eyes. It occurred to him that on anyone else eyes like hers would have been menacing, full of unspoken threats. But there was nothing about the girl in front of him that screamed danger.
She was smaller than him, probably a year or two younger as well. But he wouldn't describe her as little. Although her features were petite, her body was thicker than most of the girls on the Ark. He had noticed how the bodies of all the one hundred had changed over the last few months on Earth. Their meals had become more substantial than the ones they ate on the Ark, and more protein had been added to their diets. They had also started to use their muscles in ways that had never been useful in space. Their bodies had grown to resemble those of the Grounders, those of the Mountain Men who'd always had access to more nutrition. Their bodies became toned and solid rather than frail and thin. He liked her body, it suggested health and strength. Bellamy had been with his share of girls, but he still found himself wondering what it would be like to hold a body like hers, rather than the malnourished body of a Sky Person.
Lina shifted her weight from one to another and Bellamy realized he had been staring at her for too long.
"Thank you, for standing up for me." she repeated herself. He could see that she was still shaken from the incident.
"They'll all calm down eventually." He tried to make his voice sound convincing. She nodded in false agreement. "You'll be okay." He said with more conviction this time, and he meant it. He knew Kane wouldn't allow any more incidents to go without punishment and he was pretty sure Abby would single handedly kill the man who tied her up again. And if his knife to Robert's throat was any indication, he wouldn't let them touch her either.
Bellamy was all too thankful when Octavia stuck her head in the tent. The crazed look in her eyes told him that she had already heard the news. Her lips were pursed together and she stared at him as though deciding if she should be angry or pleased with him. With her eyes jumping from him to Lina and back again, she finally spoke.
"I'm taking her to the showers." She said to Bellamy. Her voice had a note of finality to it that told him not to argue. "And don't worry, Lincoln will walk us there and back." She added, reading the concern on his face. There was no doubt in his mind that Lina would be safe from harm with the Grounder at her side, so Bellamy nodded.
Once the girls left him alone, he covered his eyes with his arm to block any sunlight that was leaking in through the thin walls of the tent. He needed to take a minute to process what had happened at the dining area, time to fabricate an excuse to feed to Kane when he was questioned.
But he didn't get that minute before he heard Marcus Kane's voice come booming through the tent.