Inferno

Chapter 56: Since When Was WCKD Good??

A/N: It's my birthday today, I'm not sure when I'm updating this again because life is insane, but enjoy a chapter and let me know what you think!

Bellamy spent most of her time with Johanna Mason—and that was something that she was acutely aware bothered Alma Coin. But Bellamy couldn't find it within herself to care. Maybe it was the fact that Johanna was a kindred spirit or had suffered through the Capitol too, or maybe it was the fact that she was just as insane and bitchy as Bellamy was.

For whatever the reason, Bellamy felt at ease with the woman. They weren't that far apart in age and Bellamy vaguely remembered the sensation of having older sibling-type figures, though she couldn't remember their names or who the hell they were.

And a bonus in this entire thing was that Johanna supported it. Something about teenagers needing some form of rebellion against their parents, as if that was a form of normalcy that Bellamy somehow deserved. Bellamy didn't think that she did—she was too much of a child soldier and she and Alma and Johanna were all acutely aware of it.

Still, she learned things about Johanna and from Johanna that she had forgotten. Things about the Hunger Games, things about the Peacekeepers, things about the world that they were living in. She learned that Johanna liked axes and climbing too—and so they talked about what it would be like to be free in the woods.

The city in her dreams seemed like a far cry from the place that Bellamy was now. Her dreams still haunted her with faces she couldn't remember. Sometimes it was a boy and they would be climbing a wall and other times, it would be the girl with the green streak in her hair. There was a girl who had been bitten by something—a girl who had betrayed her—a boy who had died in the desert.

They all seemed to haunt her like phantoms in the night.

Slowly but surely though, Bellamy was shoving those things down and trying to get better. Her medications had helped, though she still had nightmares most nights. Alma was a saint, staying up with her and tending to her with gentle words and a lullaby that made her brain scream that she should know it.

At the moment though, she was sitting in Johanna's room and allowing the woman to braid her hair. Bellamy didn't fear Johanna—she saw that her friend had a side that she didn't allow others to see often. It reminded her of the girl from her dreams, she thought her name was Vi or something.

"You know," Johanna said softly, weaving the hair together gently. "I used to have a younger sister."

Bellamy waited a beat. "You did?" It was a rare thing for Johanna to open up about anything that wasn't cynical or deserving of her wrath.

"Yeah—she'd be a little bit older than you," Johanna mumbled out. "Guess I'll just have to settle for your scrawny ass," she stated, giving a light tug on the bottom of the braid as she finished it off.

Giving a roll of her eyes, Bellamy turned to glance at her. "You're aware that you have an equally scrawny ass, right?"

Johanna gave a cackle at the thought. "Kitty has claws."

"Of course I do. I wasn't the stray cat for nothing, you know."

Johanna just shook her head at Bellamy. "You know, I can't picture you here, try as I might."

"What do you mean?"

"This place—it's got too many rules. It's too boring for someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"I mean someone like me."

Bellamy gave a shrug. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I don't really remember it either."