Wildest Dreams || Bellamy Blake

Chapter 1

The straps from my harness were pulled a little too tight, digging into my under arms and collar bone. The pinch from when the heavy steel wristband was slapped haphazardly onto my wrist still stung. If it weren't for all that, I probably would have thought I was dreaming. I was sitting in the spaceship equivalent of a giant tin can, plummeting to the Earth. An hour ago I had been a prisoner, locked in a tiny metal room, thinking about how the next time I would see the outside of it I would be walking to my death. But here I was, being skyrocketed to it instead.

The Chancellor was on the screen, explaining that this was our second chance. I knew we were just being used as guinea pigs, the most easily expendable of all those on the ark, and I doubted we would make it past the landing. I scanned the faces of those around me, and the contrast was astounding. Half were thrilled to be out of their boxes, rapidly accelerating away from the council and charter that had them locked in there in the first place. The other half seemed to have the same idea as me, and sat white knuckle, clenching their harnesses, waiting for the explosive impact to come. Then I saw a familiar face.

Finn Collins drifted slowly into my line of site, and I was none too surprised to see he was in a category all his own and had decided to take advantage of the loss of gravity and unbuckle his harness so he could float himself around the ship. I hadn't seen him since before he had gotten locked up for an illegal spacewalk, about a month before I had gotten thrown in there myself. He and I were as close to brother and sister as anyone could have been on the Ark.

I could see him talking to a pretty blonde girl, although I couldn't make out what they were saying over the whir of the mechanics and the hum of hushed and frightened murmurs around the drop ship. I vaguely recognized the girl. Clarke. I remembered now. Her mother was on the council and she grew up close Chancellor Jaha's family, until she inexplicably got locked up and her father was vacuumed into space for reasons unknown. I could tell by the frustrated but intrigued look on her face that she was enamored by Finn, and for a second I forgot my impending doom and smirked while reminiscing on Finn's charisma and wit. He could have charmed the pants off the Chancellor himself.

Suddenly voices started to raise, and Clarke yelled to someone that was out of view from where I sat. Before I knew it, the whole drop ship jolted and began to shake violently for a few moments before the whole thing slammed to a stop. And then silence. Other than the heavy breathing of those around me, no one made a noise. Then a boy somewhere on the ship pointed out that for the first time in our lives we weren't surround by the hum of machinery and oxygen being pumped in. We were on the ground, and to my surprise, we survived.

I then remembered Finn, floating aimlessly and untethered before we retrolaunchers fired, but now nowhere to be seen. I unbuckled my harness and pushed passed the others to where he had last been. I found Clarke huddled over him, and saw that he was alive, but shaken. Two other boys lay slumped in the opposite corner, unresponsive. Finn and I locked eyes, and the look on his face changed ever so slightly from devastation to pained relief.

"Avery..." He sighed my name and got up, walking around to pull me into his arms. "I heard you got locked up, but I was never sure. Looks like I'm still making messes for you to clean up." He smiled slightly with his eyebrow raised, holding me at arms length. I cupped his face in my hands and pulled him towards me so I could kiss his forehead.

"I would rather be cleaning up your messes down here than trapped back in that box, waiting to be floated." We turned to follow the flow of people, and I noticed Clarke had already gone ahead. After climbing down a level to the bottom of the ship, I saw there was a slight commotion going on by the door.

A tall man, wearing a guard's uniform, stood at the front with his back to me. Had they sent someone down to watch us? A very pretty girl with long, dark hair stood next to him. I heard someone murmur the name "Octavia Blake", as the tall man turned around. He was no guard, he was Bellamy Blake, brother of the girl who lived under the floor, and the girl next to him must have been his sister. I had always secretly thought the story of the Blake siblings was a rumor, but here they were.

Bellamy looked frustrated, and scanned the crowd as everyone slowly began to realize who this infamous pair was. For one brief moment his eyes locked with mine. His eyes were dark, with a strong power behind them. His jaw was locked in frustration, as if set in steel. He was as hard around the edges as they came, but something about him made my heart skip a beat as our eyes met. Just as quickly, he looked away and turned back around. For reasons I wasn't sure of, after our gaze broke, it took me a second to catch my breath.