Hopeless - (Bellamy Blake - Book 2)

Chapter 13.

We move as swiftly and as quietly as we can through the woods, following the directions the Grounder drew for us.

"Everyone, eyes peeled. We're in Grounder territory." Bellamy tells us.

"Everything is Grounder territory, alright?" Murphy says through harsh breaths. "I can't keep running." He stops, causing us all to, and I sigh in relief at the momentary break. "We don't even know if the guy Finn killed is telling the truth."

Finn strides over and grabs Murphy by the shoulder, pulling him forward. "Keep moving."

"Hey, we can give them a minute." Bellamy tells him.

"No, we can't. You heard what the Grounder said: they'll outlive their usefulness."

"I heard what he said when you held a gun to his head." Bellamy urges.

Finn lowers his voice. "Look, you think I wanted to do that? He would've told his people we're coming, and by the time we got there, our people would be dead. Maybe that's something you can live with, but I can't."

Bellamy pushes Finn back when he tries to continue walking. "I know you did what you think you had to do. But you are not yourself right now, and we can't be out here with another loose cannon."

"You think he's talking about me, or you?" Murphy mumbles to me. I scowl at him.

Monroe's voice draws our attention, "You guys."

I follow her line of sight to a lone boot laying in the brush up ahead, other clothing and ...oh god, bodies.

"Fall in." Bellamy orders, and we keep our guns trained as we keep following the path of dead bodies in front of us.

The rotting flesh has flies zipping all over the place and I pull a face at the smell.

"Those aren't Grounders." I say as we continue walking, noting the clothing.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Murphy asks.

Realisation dawns on me, yet Bellamy voices it.

"From the Ark."

I look down at one of the bodies—people—that I pass, and see a guards uniform and blond hair. I pause, blink, then turn away.

The face of Luke Pearson comes into my mind, a guard from the Ark that I trusted—despite his occupation—but I push it away. That person could have been Luke, but I don't want to unlock the answer. It wouldn't do me any good either way. Especially if this was the way he had died.

I refuse to look down at any more of the bodies or lost possessions, and keep my eyes trailed on the back of Bellamy's head, following him down the rocky path.

We soon emerge from the tree line and walk across a barren cliff edge, bits of broken machinery and casing lying on the ground. My feet skid to a stop and I gasp as I look out over the cliff, down at a large station from the Ark that crashed at the bottom of the ravine.

Smoke still trails up into the air from the wreckage, and more bodies lie scattered around.

"That's a rough landing." Murphy says.

"How many were on there, do you think?" I ask quietly.

I'm suddenly reminded of the culling of people from when I trashed the radio in Raven's pod. All those people thrown out of the Ark just to give the rest of them a shot at survival. So many deaths...and for what? Just for another few hundred of them to take a risk at coming to Earth, but never making it.

"There's nothing we can do for these people." Bellamy says. "We gotta go."

He gently brushes his fingers against my forearm, and I nod absentmindedly, tearing my eyes aware from the crash site.

We turn to leave, but a sound—a human sound, causes us all to stop.

"Did you hear that?" Murphy goes back to the cliff edge, peering down.

I shake my head and follow, "It could've been an animal."

"Hey, someone's down there!" Monroe points down the cliff, to where a girl no older than us hangs on for her life—literally.

"Hey!" Bellamy shouts down at her. "Up here!"

"Please help me!" She cries.

My chest tightens and I step back, the height of the cliff making me queasy.

"Mel?" Sterling frowns.

"Help me!"

"You know her?"

"Shut up, Murphy—she's my friend. We have to do something."

Finn steps back, Bellamy beside him and he touches my arm again, so I turn and join as they converse quietly.

"We can't stop." Finn shakes his head.

Bellamy stares at him. "This isn't a Grounder, Finn. We have a rope."

"You saw her! She'd never be able to hold onto it, we'd have to lower somebody down."

Mel continues to plead with us, and I close my eyes to try to think.

"Ok." I say. "Ok, I get what you mean. One life compared to all the others...but Finn, we can't leave her there."

"But it'll take time that we don't have." He says. "I hate this as much as you, but our friends—"

"I know, I know!" Bellamy bursts out. "Okay, I know." He looks torn about the decision.

"We'll come back for her." Finn adds.

I look between the two of them. "Come back when exactly? And how? This place isn't exactly on the route back to the Ark." I look up at Bellamy with a determined look. "And that's if she survives hanging there for that much longer."

"She's not our problem."

I look at Finn in shock. "She's not a stranger, maybe to us but she's Sterling's friend for God's sake."

I look back at Bellamy, whose expression has softened as he thinks, then glances at me.

"One life, compared to our entire camp." He says softly, then turns to the others and says louder, "We're moving out."

"Wait, Sterling!" Finn barges past me towards the cliff edge, where Sterling has tied a rope around himself and is starting the descent down the cliff, Mel still pleading with us to help her.

Despite the blatant rebellious move from Sterling, I'm glad he took matters into his own hands.

"Well, it looks like we're taking that break after all, huh?" Murphy muses and steps back.