Inferno

Chapter 33: Memory Found

A/N: I arrive fashionably when I said I would and have this to share with you all! As always, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

If Bellamy was being quite honest, she wasn't sure what to make of everything. They had been roughly ushered from the helicopters, gunfire still ringing in her ears loudly. The compound they found themselves in was huge—way bigger than she had thought it would be.

The sight of other people, adults, it was almost jarring.

They were rushed into a sort of storage room and told to wait.

So that's what they were doing. Bellamy rolled her pocket knife over knuckles, once, then twice, gaze steady on the flickering light in the corner. Electricity—it had been a long time since she had seen something like that.

She felt it within her.

Minho was laying on a table, trying to get some shut-eye. Leo sat across from Bellamy, occasionally nudging her foot with his. But they all just sat in silence. It was almost unbearable. There was too much that needed to be said.

Too much that they had just seen. But they couldn't do anything about that. And any questions they had, they would have to wait for someone to actually come and get them. That was what worried Bellamy.

They didn't know these people. And yes, they had helped them. But how did they know that it wasn't out of selfish reasons?

Humanity was selfish, she was sure of it.

She wasn't sure how long they sat there, in the deafening silence. It seemed like a whole lifetime.

Then, the creak of the door sounded and instantly, she was on her feet with the others. A man entered the room, turtleneck and leather jacket on, matched with a concerned expression. His gaze searched through the crowd of kids, briefly landing on her before moving on.

"You kids doing alright?" He questioned. "Sorry about the fuss, we had ourselves a bit of a swarm."

"Who are you?" Thomas questioned at the same time Bellamy snapped out the words. They glanced at each other with a weary gaze before turning back to the man.

"I'm the reason you're all still alive. It's my intention to keep you that way. Now, come with me. I'll get you kids squared away." He turned, leading them out of the storage room. "You can call me Mr. Janson. I run this place. For us it's a sanctuary, safe from the horrors of the outside world."

Bellamy couldn't help that her jaw ticked. She didn't like being called a kid. He seemed to be narrating a polished piece as he led them through the facility, passing by dozens of workers and soldiers.

"You all should think of it as a way station, kind of a home between homes."

"Does that mean you're taking us home?" Thomas questioned, learning forward as he bounded ahead.

"A home of sorts," Janson explained. "Sadly there won't be much left of wherever you all came from. But we do have a place for you, a refuge outside of the Scorch. Somewhere where WCKD will never find you again. How does that sound?"

"Like you're full of shit," Bellamy mumbled, catching Leo's grin at her words.

"Why are you helping us?" Minho piped up, suspicion clear on his face too.

"Let's just say that the world is in a rather precarious situation. We're all hanging on by a thread and the fact that you kids can survive the Flare virus—it makes you humanity's best chance of survival."