Bleeding Out

Chapter One

25 Minutes after Clarke left

After taking the last step inside the gate, Bellamy picks me up, bridal-style, and carries me straight to my mother. She stitches up the cuts from the drilling and tells me to drink plenty of water and to "take it easy."

My mother walks out of the makeshift medical tent, leaving Bellamy and I alone. He helps me get to my feet, and, before he can say anything, I throw my arms around his neck and bury my face into his shoulder, leaving me to balance on my tiptoes. His arms immediately go around my waist and gently, but firmly, squeeze me further into him. "Please, don't ever do something like that again." I say, my voice muffled due to it being in his shoulder. He buries his face into the crook of my neck and chuckles, causing goosebumps to spring on my arms. "I won't if you don't ever almost get killed again."

I pull my face away from his shoulder and grin up at him. "Deal." With that, I press my lips against his in a sweet, warm kiss before pulling away with a small smile on my face and tears building in my eyes. "I'm glad you're okay." I whisper, pressing another short kiss to his lips before resting my head against his shoulder and sliding my hands from his neck to rest on his chest. He squeezes me again and rests his head on top of mine. "Me too, Princess. Me too."

5 Days after Clarke left

The road to full recovery sucks. I haven't been cleared by my mother to do any sort of work, so while everyone else is working to make Camp Jaha a more sustainable place, all I can do is sit and watch my mother treat wounded people and wait for Bellamy to get off guard duty.

In other words, it's some of the most boring and frustrating days of my life.

I watch as my mom and Dr. Jackson work together to patch up one of the engineers who accidently chemically burned his hands yesterday. "Make sure you try to keep them out of the sun to avoid irritation and keep them clean." My mom says, glancing at me towards the end of her instructions, causing me to cross my arms across my chest and glare at her.

The engineer walks out with a small smile to the three of us. Mom turns towards me and takes a deep breath. "How are you feeling?" She asks, concern clear in her voice. I sigh and uncross my arms. "I feel absolutely useless, but fine." I say, standing up from the chair I occupied and take a few steps forward. "Carter..." She says, a warning tone to her voice. I roll my eyes. "Okay, so I'm still a little sore, but I can't just sit here and do nothing while everyone works their asses off."

Mom sighs before nodding slightly to herself. "Fine. You're cleared to do easy and non-straining work. If you hurt even the slightest bit more than you do right now, you drop what you're doing and come straight to me. Do I make myself clear?" A smile breaks onto my face. "Absolutely." I say, before all but running out of the tent.

I immediately find Bellamy standing guard by the gate and make my way over to him. "Hey." I say, and he jumps sightly, causing me to grin up at him. "Carter, what are you doing here?" He asks, worry on his face as he glances behind me, probably towards the medical tent. "I've been cleared to do 'easy' and 'un-straining' work." I say, making air quotes around my mother's words. "So, I decided to come and see if there's room for another person on watch."

Bellamy shakes his head. "I'm not the one in charge. You'll have to go ask Kane." He says, sounding a bit annoyed with that fact. I put a hand on his shoulder and give it a small squeeze through his jacket.

Bellamy is the one that made sure that we all survived before the Ark crash-landed here, and now Kane, my mother, and the other adults have taken charge and left Bellamy feeling a little left out. I understand how that feels. We used to be able to whatever we felt was right for our survival before they came down, but, now that they're here, it feels like we have to jump through hundreds of hoops just to get an idea in their heads.