ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

[ 4 6 ]

The radio has been quiet on Raven's end for the past hour. Alongside with helping me study Clarke's map over the mountain, Raven has also been tasked with creating tone generators — the same kind that the Mountain Men had used on the Reapers back in the tunnels to make them submissive.

In the meantime I'd made it to my scheduled meetup in the storage room with Maya, and once I told her that Raven and I had found another open space in the vent system for Bellamy and I to safely hide out for now rather than in between shelves and paintings, she'd even come back with a couple of blankets for us.

Safe to say I have done my fair share of crawling back and forth within the last sixty-something minutes, and my knees are definitely feeling the effects.

The space I'd found is a little smaller than the one where Bellamy and I had listened in on Cage and Emerson's conversation in the lab. There's not as much room here for the head, but I can still just about stand up and there's plenty space to sit and lay down. On top of that, this place isn't connected to any rooms like the lab, but only works as a connecting network between the different vents, meaning we can talk freely. It's also fairly close to the vent we enter and exit through in the storage room.

I quietly hum a melody as I continue looking over Clarke's map where I sit on top of one of the blankets. I've written down some additional notes on it with the help of Raven and now have an okay idea of how the vents are connected and where to go to get to some key locations. I've marked an approximate route on how to get to the dorm that our friends are being held in, but a two dimensional draw-up doesn't offer much detail in that respect.

I shut up when hearing subtle banging on metal coming from the vent just above my head and scoot back and out of the way just in time to see Bellamy's head pop out of it. I sit up straighter as he climbs down, the blanket muffling the sound of his boots hitting the floor.

"Did you do it?" I anxiously ask, putting my pen down.

Bellamy is clearly frustrated as he takes off his raiding gear; first the black helmet and goggles, then the bulletproof vest and protective gear. He tosses the note with directions to our new hideout that I'd left in the vent we always enter through, knowing he'd turned his radio off.

"Bellamy. Did you do it?" I press when receiving no answer.

"Yes," he snaps.

He makes no move to sit down next to me, so I stand up instead. "Then why're you so—"

"I gave Jasper the gun, but I couldn't stop them from taking someone new." He rakes a hand through his messy hair.

I pause. Bellamy turns away once he sees my face, pretending to be busy by picking up his gear and putting it in the corner. "Who'd they take?"

"I don't know," he says, his back still facing me. "I don't remember her name. Don't think I ever even talked to her. Now I'll never get to." He turns back around to reveal the regretful look in her s eyes. "She'll be dead soon. And I couldn't do anything to prevent it."

With that, he finally sits down on the blanket, elbows resting on his knees as he looks down at the floor with a small shake of his head.

I move my map and pen aside on the blanket and sit down next to him. "They would have taken someone no matter what. You couldn't have prevented it without blowing your cover," I say. "What you did do was give them a better chance next time."