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jennickels) wrote2022-02-28 11:48 am
Heaven Can't Wait - Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty - Not a Grateful Bunch
Bellamy’s surprised to find the Mess bursting with people when he gets there. It’s also obvious he arrived just in time as tensions simmer between the groups of Arkadians and Grounders facing off in the center of the room. They shout at each other as the Mess Hall attendants try to maintain order, and other smaller groups have broken off, possibly plotting. Bellamy doesn’t like plotting.
He forces his way to what he assumes are the leaders—the ones yelling the loudest. The poor girl passing out rations looks terrified. Bellamy isn’t surprised to find Olsen at the head of the Arkadians. Just as Bellamy gets to his side, he shoves the lead Grounder—a man with a cane who’s half his size.
“Whoa,” Bellamy shouts, jumping between them before the Grounder can start swinging his very legal-to-carry weapon. “What’s going on.”
He looks from Olsen to the Grounder to the poor girl now in tears. He knows her—she was one of the hundred. “Campbell, right?” he says to her. “Are you okay?”
She nods and wipes her eyes. “I w- wa- was j- just trying t- t-”
“T- t- t- what?” Olsen taunts.
Bellamy gives him a shove back. “That’s enough—let her speak.”
Campbell shakes her head, bursting into tears then runs off, dropping her kettle and ladle behind her. The pot lands at Bellamy’s feet, sloshing hot broth over his boots. He blinks at the retreating form of the small girl. “What just happened?”
“I can explain,” says a calm voice suddenly at his side. He turns to find Niylah looking serene as always if not a little fed up. It’s a look his mother often gave them when she was at her wit’s end. “There seems to be a conflict in the scheduling for the Mess Hall. Second shift was given the same breakfast slot as the Grounders.” She motions to the two groups. “You can see the problem.”
Bellamy purses his lips as he glances around. There are easily over sixty people in the room, split evenly between the two groups. He suddenly feels very old, very much like he thinks his mother often felt. “No, I don’t see the problem.” He jumps onto a chair to tower over the others and raises his voice to be heard. “Look, people, I know this isn’t ideal, and the mix-up in times is inconvenient, but we should all be able to get along enough to get something to eat. This doesn’t have to end in a war. Just calmly form an orderly line so we can serve your soup.”
There’s a bunch of grumbling that quickly turns into pushing and shoving as the Arkadians try to take all of the spots at the front of the line. Bellamy groans.
“They’re not unlike small children,” Niylah says, still standing beside him.
He hops down from the chair—they’re exactly like children, and it’s ridiculous. “We’re going to have to figure out how to get along before-” He gestures at the continued fighting. “We murder each other.”
He’s about to go sort things out again when there’s another commotion at the door. He turns just as Indra gets up in his face.
“Where is she?” she shouts. “What did you do with her?”
“What?” Bellamy stumbles back, trying to stay out of her reach which is difficult in the overfilled room. Another Grounder shouts something at him that he doesn’t understand.
Indra shoves him again. “Where is the girl?”
There’s a moment of realization that sends a chill of dread down his spine. “Heaven?”
Benedict pushes to the front of Indra’s group, shoving the other Grounders out of his way. “We know you took her. We demand you return her at once.”
Bellamy puts his arms up, glancing around. “I don’t have her. I haven’t seen her since the day you took her. I swear.”
Benedict obviously doesn't believe him. “Search the room. She’s here somewhere.” His group spreads out, shoving everyone that gets in the way while Indra’s small entourage of guards surrounds Bellamy and Niylah, closing them off from escape. Bellamy’s hand fidgets over his sidearm. The last thing he wants to do is use it, but this is getting out of control.
“I swear, Indra, I don’t have her.”
Niylah nods in agreement. “No, Bellamy came in alone, but there were a lot of other people in the hall already—including Grounders. Maybe she came in with them?”
There’s another upheaval in the group before it splits, letting a sword-wielding Octavia through. She puts herself between Bellamy and Indra. “I told you it wasn’t Bellamy. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Heaven’s well-being. He’s not like that.”
“The Butcher of the Valley won’t jeopardize the well-being of a child?” one man says with a scoff. Another spits in his face.
Suddenly he’s being shoved from all directions. Well, this got out of hand fast. And none of it was going to find Heaven.
“Enough,” Octavia shouts, brandishing her weapon at anyone daring to come near him.
Bellamy straightens his jacket and faces Benedict. “Look, I don’t have Heaven, but I’m the Head of Security here so it’s my job to find lost people. And we can do that a lot faster if we work together.” He leans in closer so only Benedict can hear. “I don’t want anything to happen to her either. I would die to protect that little girl. So let’s go find her, all right?”
Octavia slowly sheathes her sword as the group calms down. Indra barks out orders, dividing the Grounders into groups to search the station—both sides. Bellamy calls in the Guard and does the same so that each team has at least one or two Guardsmen on it.
“Where was the last place she was seen?”
Benedict sneers at him. “In our quarters, but we’ve already checked the area. Do you think we’re stupid?”
“No.” Bellamy pushes past him, heading towards the west side of the station. “I just know she’s really good at hiding when she wants to. And she has a tendency to slip away when you aren’t looking.”
Marta follows behind him, worrying the hem of her sweater. “What if she’s hurt?”
Benedict mutters something that sounds like “she’s going to be hurt,” but Bellamy can’t be sure with all of the noise as people pound on every door they pass to check for Heaven.
Bellamy quickly looks through the quarters Benedict and Marta share with another family and the three other children they’ve taken in. She’s not in any small spaces she might hide. Benedict huffs and puffs like Bellamy is personally insulting him by looking.
“I’m just being thorough,” he tells him, moving out into the Grounder common room which is just a large junction of hallways now filled with makeshift beds and tents. “There are lots of places she could hide here.”
And just like that, Indra is ordering them to tear it all down to find Heaven. Bellamy sighs. They didn’t have to do that.
Doesn’t matter, the voice responds, it all has to come down anyway.
Right.
He leaves the Grounders to wreak havoc on each other and ventures further down one of the halls. There’s a crew from Engineering working in one of the other junctions—17-C by the worn sign on the wall—that leads back to the Arkadian side of the station. Bellamy recognizes one of the techs.
“Hey, it’s Jeff, right?” he says, coming over to the man on the ladder.
The man glances down, a screwdriver clenched between his teeth, obviously confused.
“You’re Nicole’s husband; Cara’s dad. We met the other day when-” He stumbles over the words. “When I helped you move.”
Realization dawns. Jeff pulls the screwdriver free. “Right. Heaven’s-” He’s obviously heard the gossip as well, trailing off from what he was apparently going to say. “Cara never stops talking about Heaven.” He seems a little sad at the thought. “What can I help you with?”
The rest of his crew are working down the hall; the two Guardsmen standing nearby are on high alert as the Grounders spread out from the common room.
“Well, Heaven’s sort of gone missing. Is there any chance she came through here earlier?”
Jeff climbs off his ladder, eyes wide. “Missing?” He looks around as if she might appear from behind him. “No, I haven’t seen her. And we’ve been working here most of the day—we’re putting in cut-off valves on some of the water lines and making sure the doors seal perfectly. This one has been giving us issues.”
Bellamy nods. He doesn’t have time to chit-chat. “Okay, Jeff, thanks. If you happen to see her-”
“I’ll radio right away.”
Bellamy thanks him again then does his best to divert the angry mob around the workers. They make a circuit of the Grounder side of the station, but she doesn’t show up. Panic wedges deep in his gut. How could she just disappear?
“Someone looking for this?”
Bellamy slams to a stop at Murphy’s voice at the end of the hall near the entrance to the Grounder wing. He’s looking way too proud of himself with Heaven holding his hand while she eats a protein bar with the other. Bellamy’s running before he fully registers what he’s seeing, but someone grabs him from behind, jerking him back.
Benedict and Marta get to her first and begin fretting all over her, whisking her away before she even notices Bellamy standing there. Anger and regret and grief tumble through him—he can’t seem to get a grasp on any of them for very long. Once the crowd disperses, Indra releases him with a sneer.
They meet up with Murphy who definitely looks proud of himself. “Found her wandering near Engineering. Luckily, I was late for my shift. There was a bit of a kerfluffle in the Mess.
Bellamy sighs, tension bleeding off of him. Indra doesn’t thank either of them as she strolls off, Octavia on her heels as usual.
“You’re welcome,” Murphy calls after them. “Not a grateful bunch, are they?” he tells Bellamy as they leave.
“Thank you, Murphy. I mean it. I don’t know what I would have- If something happened-”
Murphy shrugs—cool as always—but then surprises Bellamy with his serious tone. “I know what you mean. Hopefully, they keep a better eye on her this time.”
Bellamy glances over his shoulder as the doors to the Grounder enclave slide shut. “Hopefully.