I know that my updates have been a bit slower than normal and I'm sorry! This chapter is longer than most of the others so hopefully that makes up for it!
Wallace had fallen asleep while he and Lina waited for someone to come and let them out of the office. Lina couldn't sleep. She couldn't even close her eyes. Her body still sat in the same position from when Lincoln had left. It was like torture sitting in that room not knowing what was going on with the others back in medical. She turned her head to look at her President. His face, which was usually wrinkled with age and stress, was smooth and worry free while he slept.
She couldn't take it any longer. It had been two hours since she'd been told to stay put like she was a toddler in time out. Lina launched herself to her feet, unsure of what her next move would be. She could wake Wallace and make a run for it. Everyone else was distracted by the Grounders' attack and she doubted they would notice them slipping away. There were two thoughts stopping her from shaking the old man awake. First; if they left, where would they go? They had no home, no food, no shelter of their own.
Second was Bellamy. She didn't want to leave not knowing if he was alive or dead. Raven said he'd been hit with an arrow. What if it struck an organ? What if he bled out before Abby could save him? Lina felt as though the room was spinning. She shook her head to clear it, but that did nothing to bring her world back to normal. With one last glance at Wallace, she closed the distance between her chair and the door. Knowing that there was a guard posted outside the door, she eased it open just enough for her to peer through.
She could see the back of the guard's head. He was the same man who had refused to let her in when Lincoln had first told her that Wallace had been brought to Camp Jaha. She remembered Bellamy referring to him as Miller.
"Excuse me, Mr. Miller?" she said, coating her voice with youth and innocence. His head snapped around in surprise.
"That door needs to stay shut and locked." He reminded her with an authoritative tone.
"I know, but Mr. Wallace is pretty weak from all of Abby's tests." She lied and gave him an impish smile. "Would you be able to grab him a glass of water?" Miller took a few seconds to determine if she was being truthful and she did her best to look sincere in her concern for the older man inside. The guard peeked through the cracked door and she sent up a silent prayer that he couldn't get a good look at Wallace from his angle. Finally, Miller nodded.
"Keep this shut until I get back." he lightly tapped on the door. She mouthed him a thank you before he turned on his heels and strode away. Lina made a show of closing the door and turning the lock forcefully enough to be sure that Miller could hear the click from down the hall. She waited ten full seconds before wrenching the door open and bolting in the opposite direction of the guard.
Her feet hit softly on the metal floor making only faint sounds that blended in with the others who roamed the dropship. She slipped through the corridors seamlessly, going completely unnoticed by the few people she passed. Once she reached the large glass doors, she came to a stop. What was she going to do? Barge in and demand to know what's going on with Bellamy? Insist that Abby tell her how he's doing?
Instead, she stood outside the doors and let her eyes wonder over the mill of people inside until they found what they were looking for. An invisible weight lifted from her shoulders when she saw that Bellamy was standing beside the table that the girl with the broken ankle was laying on. If he could stand then surely he was going to be okay. His shirt was missing and a white bandage was wrapped around his torso. His skin was smooth and pulled tight over the muscles of his back. Seeing him caused an odd warmth to bubble in her lower stomach. She broke her stare when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Lina?" Octavia was smiling as she reached out to pull Lina into a hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay!" she pulled back and Lina could see the relief in her eyes. "Lincoln told me that you got sick and that Abby saved your life."
"Kane saved my life." Lina replied curtly. "How's Bellamy?" she added quickly, hoping to hide her frustration with the doctor. Octavia's lips curved into a small smile.
"He'll be fine. But Abby ordered him to bed rest for a week and he's not happy about it." she let out a small laugh. "He's such a brute sometimes."
"I'm glad he's okay." Lina said with perhaps too much sincerity, earning a perplexed look from Octavia.
"You going in?" she asked, gesturing to the door.
"Oh, no I just wanted to…" She was cut off by a deep voice that boomed from down the hall.
"Hey!" Miller called out. "I told you not to leave!" The speed in which he was walking towards her made Lina uneasy and she took a step back. Her body tensed as she prepared herself to flee, but Octavia stepped between them.
"Sorry Mr. Miller." She put her hands up in surrender. "I brought her here. Bellamy wanted to see her." Lina glanced up at Octavia's face in shock before realizing that it was a lie.
"I have orders." He snarled as he reached passed Octavia and coiled his long fingers around Lina's wrist. His grip was so tight and the skin of her wrists was still so sore from being tied up by Robert that she couldn't suppress the whimper of pain.
"Cut it out, Miller!" Octavia pushed at the man's chest but it had no effect on his hold.
"Let go of me." Lina pleaded trying to tug her way free. Her first thought was to assure him that she would go willingly back to Kane's office. She would be a good girl and do as she was told.
The same rage that had boiled her blood only a few hours ago made a reappearance. Why should she go with him at all? Why did she have to be locked away in an office if she wasn't a prisoner? They would tell her it was for her own good, but who the fuck were they to know what was good for her!
"Let go of me." she hissed. She was slightly surprised by the viciousness of her voice. Miller was taken aback as well because his hold on her faltered just enough for her tear her hand back.
Lina was only mildly aware of the numerous sets of eyes that were on her and Miller. The door to the medical center had slid open to her side and through her peripherals she could see three new forms looming in the threshold.
"I am not your prisoner." She spat the words like venom that would cripple anyone who challenged her. Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest, like a caged animal trying to escape its confines. How dare Miller try to keep her caged? How dare Kane tell her she is not their prisoner and then turn around and treat her as such. As if on que, Kane's voice flowed into the hallway from her right.
"Miller." His tone was filled with warning and he took a few steps forward to place himself between the guard and Lina. She shifted so that she could see around Kane's back and get a good look at Miller's reaction. His face was tight with fury. Apparently, he wasn't used to being talked back to by nineteen year old girls.
"Chancellor." Miller spit through clenched teeth.
"Thank you for keeping Marcelina safe." Kane made a slow nod towards the guard. Lina wanted desperately to get away from the situation and made a small attempt to scurry by Kane and take off down the hallway. But before she was able to take a full step, Kane's arm came out and blocked her path. His eyes stayed locked with Miller's for a few more intense moments before the guard grudgingly turned away. Only when Miller was out of sight did Kane turn his full attention to Lina.
"You told me I wasn't your prisoner." She burst out angrily before the man could speak. He opened his mouth but Lina continued. "I'm leaving." Her voice held a note of finality.
"You can't leave." Octavia said in a small voice. Lina was touched by the concern and worry she heard in the girl's words, but it was not enough to deter her from the decision she had made. Lina had to leave. A part of her felt that staying in Camp Jaha made her a traitor to her people and to her family. She knew that she couldn't survive long out there on her own, but the truth was that she couldn't survive inside the camp either. She'd die of radiation poisoning if Robert and his posy didn't kill her first.
"You have nowhere to go, Marcelina." Kane said softly.
It was as though all the emotions she had been pushing aside since her arrival at the camp had been unleashed. The fear, the grief, the sorrow, the anger, the hostility, the confusion, all crashed down on her like a tsunami. She was drowning.
"Because of you!" she screamed, blood rushing to her cheeks. She looked around her for the first time and noticed that Bellamy and Lincoln were standing in the doorway of the medical center. "It's because of you that I have no home! No family!"
Her shallow breaths caused her body to rock back and forth. She couldn't contain the tears that streaked her cheeks or the small guttural sound that came past her lips as she shoved her way past the chancellor and towards the exit. Wallace was still locked away in the office and she knew that there was no way of getting to him without coming face to face with Miller again. A part of her hurt at the thought of leaving the old man behind, but a larger more primal part of her wanted to be alone and free of the Sky People once and for all.
The outside was alive with the buzz of conversation and laughter as the citizens of Camp Jaha carried on with their new lives on the ground. She moved so quickly that only a few people even noticed her as she raced across the field. Luckily, a boy about her age was manning the gate; if it had been anyone else she might not have been able to intimidate them with a stern glare. He opened the gate and she didn't have to say a single word to get him to do so.
She continued to run until she was deep into the forest, safe under the thick cover of the trees. Only then did she slow to a walk. The oaks towered above her, their leave-less branches swaying in the chilly wind. She wished she had thought to grab another jacket before leaving the camp, but where would she have gotten one anyway? Lina admired the beauty of the Earth that she had been denied her whole life. Each root and rock took her breath away as she soaked it all in. The sun beat down in between the trees, highlighting new sights for her to focus on.
The novelty of the ground kept her mind off of what she left behind. She was aware of the fact that these would be her last days of life, and that a slow and agonizing death awaited her. She knew that she would most likely never see a human being again before she met her end. She would never see Bellamy again. But she couldn't bring herself to be upset by those facts. She had dreamed about the ground for so long, and here she was, literally walking in her dreamscape. Granted, her dreams had never included the genocide of her people, but this was the GROUND.
In her studies, she had seen old photographs of her ancestors on the ground, but those faded pictures didn't do it justice. The colors were bright and dazzling, the scents intoxicating, and the sounds, the complete and utter silence was sweeter than any music she had ever heard. She'd lived with the constant hum of fans and carbon dioxide scrubbers inside Mount Weather. It was a noise that one became accustomed to and after a while didn't even notice its existence. Even in Camp Jaha, there had been the ongoing buzz of life. But out here, the world was still. No fans, no people, no death. Life blossomed all around her, from small saplings growing towards the blue sky, to the small insects that scurried silently along the forest floor. Her appreciation for Earth became so great and overwhelming that fresh tears glazed over her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her sleeve and continued to trudge forward.
The sun had just begun to set behind the far off mountains, casting a soft shade over the already dim forest. Her eyes narrowed as they adjusted to the new lighting. A crackling noise made her head perk up in fear. She peered frantically around searching for the source of the noise.
Four people stepped into a clearing only a few yards away. Even from her distance she could tell that all four were large and well-muscled men. Instead of the automatic weapons carried by the Sky People and Mount Weather guards, these men carried handmade long bows, with arrows tucked into quivers on their backs. Their clothing appeared to be made from animal coats, soft enough to pet. She found the paint and tattoos on their faces to be oddly striking and she reached a hand to her own face, wondering what it would feel like to have ink so intricately embedded into her skin.
She watched in amazement as they moved as one into the middle of the opening. They unceremoniously dropped their weapons and pouches to the ground. Each seemed to have a specific job to do and they broke off in separate directions to accomplish them. She realized that they were making camp.
Everything she had been taught about the grounders came to the forefront of her thoughts. They had been described as simple, uncivilized savages. But as she secretly surveyed them from her spot in the woods, she couldn't disagree more. These people were beautiful, and they seemed to know a hell of a lot more about survival than she did. They communicated with no more than looks and hand movements, like they were preforming a dance.
Lina wondered what would happen if she were to approach them. Would they slaughter her right then and there like the savages they were supposed to be? And if they did, what was the difference when she was going to die in a matter of days anyway? She was so completely taken with the grounders that she found herself inching closer. Perhaps they would welcome her. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The old saying rushed to her head. Although she wouldn't consider herself an enemy of the Sky People, she certainly wasn't their friend. She was, after all, born on the ground.
Maybe that was enough to make her a Grounder.