Shameless ~ Bellamy Blake

22~ Running Through Hell

I could hear myself running. I could feel the wind rushing past my face and the ground beneath my feet as I ran full force. I knew I was in a wooded area because of the shuffling leaves and the twigs snapping beneath my feet. The worst part was that the whole time I was blind. I couldn't see anything around me but all of my other senses were heightened.

I started to run faster and I could hear myself breathing harder and harder. That lasted for about two seconds when out of nowhere I just fell. I fell over a cliff or into a hole or something very large because I just kept falling.

Then suddenly, again, I was running down a corridor. I kept running and suddenly, something made me collapse. What felt like minutes later, I opened my eyes to see nothing but a three dimensional landscape covered in green. I couldn't move, I was still trapped. But I was no longer in reality. I couldn't feel, I couldn't move, I couldn't hear or touch. All I could do was watch.

Then, the layers of green began to slowly peel off. I was back in reality again, but time was escaping away from me. It was as though for every second the real world traveled, I only traveled half of a second. The world was running away from me through time. But then, the peeling continued, but much faster. I was 'peeling' through microseconds of time, frame-by-frame. Slowly but surely, we eventually caught up to reality. I could breathe again, but I still couldn't move faster than the peeling. Then, I slowly got up, but I could still feel as though I was travelling through time, not through space itself. Time was a constricting factor, and it felt as though I was in playdo or goo of some sort, moving only forward as behind me was filled. There was only one possible path.

"Tatum!" A voice called, so faint I could barely hear it through my rapid breathing. "Tatum!" The voice called again. 

I felt myself shaking. 

"Tatum!" The voice wasn't a call this time, it was a scream. That woke me up. My eyes snapped open and I was met with Octavia crouched down, examining me. 

"Oh my god, are you okay? What happened?" Octavia scrambled on.

I leaned up, rubbing my temples. I couldn't have been asleep. 

"The storm knocked me into that tree and I hit my head." I say attempting to stand up. "It must have knocked me out." I groan, rubbing my temples.

I glance down at my feet and remember what I came out her for in the first place. I reach down and grab an old, leather back journal and a case of eight different tiny vials. The rain is still pouring down, it hadn't gotten any lighter since I went unconscious. 

"I need to get these back to the drop ship." I say. 

"You're too weak, Tatum." Octavia says, glancing over my body as I struggle to even remain standing. 

"Just...help me." I say.

Octavia swings an arm around my waist and hoists me up, relieving some of the weight off of my legs, making it easier for me to walk. I clutch the journal and vials to my side, making sure that through the wind and the rain, I wouldn't lose what I came out here to get. 

After many struggled steps and gasps of pain we finally made it back into the drop ship.

"Tatum?!" Clarke yells, running over to me. "What the hell happened to you?" 

I go to explain but Octavia interrupts me, explaining everything. Raven runs over and grabs a towel, throwing it over my shoulder. I cling to it, grabbing the ends and tightening it around my body for warmth. I look over at Finn's resting body.

"You got the knife out?" I ask.

"Yeah, luckily we didn't hit anything." Clarke laughs. 

I look up at the ladder. "I need to go up there." I say, looking at Octavia.

Octavia laughs, "Yeah...not happening."

I glare at her, before walking forwards, with a limp and grabbing a step on the ladder. I hoist one foot on another step and climb up it little by little. I groan in pain the whole way up. 

Finally, I reach the top and shove the door open. I hoist myself up onto the floor.

"Bellamy." I gasp, looking around desperately.

"Tatum?" Bellamy's voice panics. "Damnit, what happened?" He asks, grabbing my arms and carrying me to a seat against the wall of the drop ship.

"I was outside looking for his," I nod towards the Grounder who looks beaten and bloodied. "belongings and the wind shoved me into a tree and knocked me out."

"Oh god, Tatum." Bellamy says, crouching down worriedly. His hand reaches up for the back of my head and brings it back down, scarlet liquid running over his fingers. "You're bleeding."

"I'm fine." I say, leaning my weight against the wall. I grab the towel that is wrapped around me and dab it on my head. "See? The bleeding's almost stopped."

Bellamy's concern never leaves his eyes, as he stares at my swollen eyes and wet, bloody hair.

"I found this." I shove the journal and vials towards Bellamy. "There his."

Bellamy stands up and starts flipping through the journal. The Grounder seems alert now. He pulls against the restraints and growls in distress.

"I think we found something he doesn't want us to see." Bellamy smirks. Bellamy flips through some more pages and sees drawings. "These aren't bad."

Miller walks over and looks over Bellamy's shoulder. "It's our camp."

Bellamy flips another page and finds a page just marked with tiny vertical lines. "I'm guessing if I counted all those marks, it would add up to 102."

"That's how many people we've lost." Drew says. 

"They've been watching us the whole time." Miller growls.

I push myself off the floor and limp over to Bellamy. I look over his shoulder and to the journal as well. Bellamy has stopped flipping and is staring down at the page in front of him. 

On the page is a drawing of Octavia.