𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 [5] || bellamy b. series

Chapter 9

DARK YEAR

'Five years is what you said, Cooper. How is this possible? We were only down here for two.' Octavia pinched the arch of her nose, stressed about the ration of food we were running out of.

'The fungus infected the plants. I've tried everything I could bu-'

'How long?' Indra interrupted Cooper.

Cooper leaned on the table and sighed. 'One year.'

'One year?' Marcus shook his head. 'Do we have other suggestions?'

'You guys know exactly what we need to do.' Abby spoke as she avoided eye contact from us.

Knowing what she was going to say, I quickly shut down her idea. 'No.'

'If we don't get enough protein in our body, we're going to starve to death. Face it Y/N, you know that's the only way.'

'What is she talking about?' Octavia cocked her head, 'Y/N?'

A while back when I was helping Abby nurse some injured warriors, she had mentioned something that I wish she never told me.

'It's sick and twisted, I don't want to be in on this.'

'Do you want to die, Y/N?' Abby stood up as she shouted across the room. 'You know this is the only way.'

'What is it?' Marcus asked curiously, looking at me for answers.

Shifting my eyes elsewhere, I avoided answering his question. It was terrifying, I didn't even want it to come out of my mouth.

'We use the fighting pits as our source.' The way Abby said those words emotionless, as if this was all normal made me so angry. How can she say all of this nonchalantly?

Eating our own people; the people from the Ark that we grew up with, the grounders that became our people as Wonkru united were going to be our next meal. The thought of even going back and retrieving their bodies sickened me.

'Are you really suggesting eating them?' Marcus' jaw dropped, unable to process everything in his head. 'Abby, come on. You can't be serious.'

Abby crossed her arms while starring at the floor. 'How else are we supposed to get food?'

'Kane, I don't want to do this either but do we have a choice?' Octavia balled her fist. 'Please if you have any other suggestions, I'm willing to do anything but this.'

The answer was no, we never had another solution. The plants were our only source of food after being in the bunker, it was crazy to think that we had one. What was even crazier was that we really had to eat people to survive.

Our people

Sitting at our dinner tables was not a pleasant one that day. Everyone saw the unfamiliar meat that was sitting on their trays. They knew it was their family members, their friends, someone they were just sharing the bunker with right before they died in the fighting pit.

The whole room was silent as we sat and starred at our new food. Octavia bit her lip, not knowing what to say after serving everyone human meat. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was scared and nervous, I don't blame her because I was too.

I placed my hand on hers, giving her reassurance. Octavia sighed and nodded, acknowledging my sympathy.

'You are all aware that our rations are running out and this is the only choice we have.' Octavia stood in front of Wonkru, 'We must honor the sacrifices that these people took. This is how we survive.'

She picked up the meat off of her tray, starring at the food she was about to put in her mouth. Closing her eyes, Octavia took a bite off of the meat.