When Songbirds Fly | Bellamy Blake

Chapter One: The Token of the Covenant

Is this how I die?

Without a friend to keep me company, without assurance from a loved one? Just a metal box. Sometimes I think I'll never be rid of it. In each new chapter of my life, I always seem to end up in yet another box—a cage.

My stomach plummets as we fall further and further. I can't breathe. My hand is still gripped tightly onto the jacket of the kid next to me as she desperately tries to refasten the loosened straps. My eyes shut tightly as I brace myself for impact.

Nothing happens.

We wait.

Still, nothing happens.

I realise that the engines have stopped. And then, after a few moments of anxious silence, the clicking of straps being removed fills the metal box. I follow suit, my hands still trembling violently.

'The outer door is on the lower level. Let's go!'

Cautiously stumbling down the ladder, I hear the blonde girl shout after us. 'No, we can't just open the doors!'

'Stop!' she calls after us as the guard from earlier stands between us and the door. All heads turn towards the blonde as she pushes her way to the front. 'The air could be toxic.'

'If the air is toxic, we're all dead, anyway.'

'Bellamy?'

The crowd parts as a girl with dark hair, fair skin and bright, inquisitive eyes walks towards the guard. He beams down at her. 'My God, look how big you are.'

No one dares to move, all attention fixed on the exchange between these two strangers. Some murmurs can be heard, rumours that I hadn't heard during my time in solitary.

The girl frowns when he finally releases her from his embrace, tugging lightly on his jacket. 'What the hell are you wearing, a guard's uniform?'

'I borrowed it to get on the Dropship. Someone has got to keep an eye on you.'

Chuckling, she hugs him once more.

The blonde finally shrugs off her confusion. 'Where's your wristband?'

'Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year.'

Finn scoffs. A hand still clutches onto his side as he comes to a stop beside me. 'No one has a brother.'

Another kid nods excitedly, 'That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hiding in the floor!'

Launching herself forwards, the only thing that stops Octavia from attacking is the pair of arms gripped tightly around her waist. 'Octavia. Octavia, no— Let's give them something else to remember you by.'

'Yeah, like what?'

'Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years.'

He reaches for the lever. My breath hitches as a brilliant light fills the room.

It's more beautiful that I could have ever imagined. Sunlight floods through the trees, its warm rays painting everything gold for a moment. The ground looks soft, scattered with twigs and leaves and rocks. Everything is so green.

Catching Murphy's eye as he takes his place by my side, I can't help but crack a smile for the first time in so long.

Octavia moves carefully down the ramp, inhaling the sweet, earthy scent. She jumps down and plants both of her feet firmly on the soil. We wait with baited breath for the first words this planet will ever hear.

'We're back, bitches!'

Before I know what's happening, a hand is already tugging on my sleeve and guiding me out onto the ground. Murphy grins widely, giving me an encouraging nod.