Heaven Can't Wait - Chapter 51
7 Mar 2022 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennickels
Chapter Fifty-One - This Is Not a Drill
It’s been three days since they fixed the transformer and closed the doors. Two days since Kane made the official announcement at dinner that the Grounders would be temporarily moving to the Arkadian side of the station. Two days since you’d think the world had already ended the way people were acting.
Bellamy sips tea in the Mess Hall with Clarke and their other friends watching what can only be described as organized chaos. Light on the organization. Part of him thinks he should go help, but he’s off duty at the moment. And just really tired of all the bullshit. Half the room has been stacked to the ceiling with crates, while the other half has the tables being broken down. They need the space as a refugee camp—meals will be eaten in quarters after today. It’s their last little taste of freedom.
Anxiety is high. Tensions are so taught, the barely-maintained peace might snap at any second. Bellamy continues to sip his tea, focusing on the feel of Clarke’s hand gently massaging his knee in comfort. Across the room, Nicole smiles at him as she tries to gather a group of children together for storytime. Is it Wednesday already? It’s been a week since Heaven sat in that circle listening to the story, making friends, just being a kid.
“You okay?” Clarke whispers while their friends laugh at something, completely oblivious to his anguish.
“Yeah, I just need to go talk to someone. See you after work?”
She kisses him lightly then leans towards Harper to get in on the funny story she’s telling.
Bellamy maneuvers through the chaos to Nicole’s side. She’s still trying to round up the kids to sit at a table together, but they have other ideas—running around in circles and climbing under it mostly.
“And I thought my job was tough,” he says to her.
She laughs. “It’s not that bad. We can’t hear anything in here anyway.”
“So, last storytime, I guess?”
“At least for a while. We’ll get through it, and things will be back to normal before we know it.”
“I’ll believe you when you can tell me what ‘normal’ is.”
That gets another laugh, but she sobers quickly. “They’re making us move again,” she says with a tired sigh.
Bellamy stares at his boots. “I know; sorry. I’m officially getting a third roommate. In a room barely big enough for one.”
“That sucks.”
“It all sucks.”
Nicole glances over her shoulder then leans in close to Bellamy. “But you seem happier. Maybe you won’t be needing to stay with your two roommates?” She waggles her eyebrows at him.
His face heats up several degrees. “Yeah, well, Clarke gave up her room so she’s moving back in with her mother.
Nicole doubles over with laughter. “That’s hilar-”
She doesn’t finish as alarms start blaring out of every speaker in the station. Everyone in the room freezes in stunned silence. Kids slap hands over their ears and start crying, searching for their parents.
Raven’s voice suddenly booms over the PA. “This is not a drill. This is not a drill. Move it, people!”
And just like that, the room is in pandemonium. Bellamy watches, helpless, as Grounders pour into the Mess Hall, shoving to get through the throngs, dragging children and their few meager possessions behind them. He doesn’t even know where to start to keep order.
Nicole frantically pulls Cara into her arms. “I thought we had two more days?”
“I guess the estimates were off.”
They watch as a fight erupts between a group of Grounders and some Arkadians near the food line. This isn’t good.
Before he can move, several Guards, including Miller and Bryan rush over, but not before even more disgruntled residents join in. Kane arrives and tries to usher people out of the Hall into the corridors. They need to get as far east as they can, but no one seems inclined to stop fighting long enough to save themselves.
Another alarm starts squealing at the same time the station rocks violently. It feels like the whole structure might blow away. the lights flicker as the storm pummels them. The shouting dies down while many people watch the lights nervously, probably expecting them to go out. Raven said it was a possibility. It’s only been three days since their mad dash to reroute power from the external transformer. Not everything is up and running yet.
When nothing happens, the crowd goes back to pushing and complaining as they fight for a tiny bit of personal space.
“Come on,” Bellamy tells Nicole, “you need to get to your quarters.” He gets her through the roiling throngs, but the halls aren’t any better as confused, scared Grounders and Arkadians alike, alternately run or meander around, not sure what to do.
David Miller and some other Guards are helping send people to the lower levels, but the lights are out down there, putting everyone on edge.
Bellamy hands Nicole off to David. “I have to stay here and try to get this organized.”
She nods before disappearing into the masses, Cara waving at him from over her mother’s shoulder.
Miller and Bryan manage to calm the potential brawl, getting them to form orderly lines to evacuate quickly. Bellamy lets out a sigh of relief. His jaw is stiff from grinding his teeth. This job is going to kill him, and he’s only been doing it a week.
Miller appears at his side, pointing at a group of people towards the back of the room. “We’ve got more trouble.” There’s some shoving and shouting that Bellamy can’t hear over the din of scared people, but what’s more worrisome is the Guards surrounding the group—Tyson, Olsen, and a bunch of their buddies. Great. Just what we need.
“This I better handle; keep the lines moving and get people out of here,” Bellamy says. He’s not the only one that sees the potential crisis, though. Harper joins him as he works his way through the crowd. The station continues to shudder, lights blinking erratically. A few other trusted guards fall in behind him without him saying a word. Kane and Indra are now also shoving through to get to the trouble.
They’re still a few yards away when the first punch is thrown. Bellamy can’t see who hit whom, but the group erupts in screaming and cursing. Bystanders scramble out of the way. Bellamy reaches them just as a Grounder launches himself at Olsen. He gets a few good hits in, splitting the Guard’s lip, before Tyson pulls him off. He throws the Grounder to the floor, kicking his side.
“Enough,” Bellamy shouts, shoving him away. Tyson starts to yell something, but Bellamy is knocked into him, sending them both sprawling across the floor, taking a few others with them. He hurries back to this feet, helping a woman up. He apologizes, but the Grounder looks like she’d rather knock his teeth out than accept the apology. The fighting continues. Kane and Indra make it over to them, but Kane doesn’t have a pistol to end the riot this time.
Bellamy helps Kane pull another Guard off of a Grounder. Bellamy cuffs him despite the protests that the “savage” started it. Right, I’m sure.
“I don’t care who started it,” Bellamy tells him. “Assault is against the law.”
“Then what about them?” The man gestures with his chin at a trio of Grounders wrestling with some Arkadians.
“They’ll be tried as well.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. The Grounders get away with everything here.”
Bellamy doesn’t feel like arguing. He calls over one of his trusted Guards to round up the troublemakers. They’ve almost got things under control when another mad rush of people pour into the room.
“It’s here. Code black,” Raven screams over the radio. “Get to the lowest levels on the east side now.”
Kane has moved to help direct the newcomers. Bellamy glances around. There are easily over a hundred people in the already crowded room. He needs to end this fight and move people into the halls on the safe side of the station.
“Who’s side are you on anyway?” someone asks.
Bellamy shakes his thoughts out and looks down at an older Guard—Becker her name is. “I don’t take sides.”
“Right-”
Bellamy misses the rest of her complaint when a scream catches his attention. A very familiar screech. His head snaps around, searching the crowd for the source. She’s not the only child crying, but he would recognize her voice anywhere. Finally, he catches sight of her amongst a circle of Grounders. Benedict is yelling something at her, but she keeps crying, pointing back towards the door. Then Heaven notices Bellamy. Her face lights up. Bellamy’s breath catches in his throat. Can she already look bigger than the last time I saw her? It’s only been a few days.
She breaks free from Marta’s hold and darts towards him. Bellamy’s moving before he thinks about it. He can almost feel her little arms around his neck. God, he misses her so much. Then Benedict is there, grabbing her collar. She tugs away, thrashing and kicking at his legs, the whole time screeching. It makes Bellamy smile even though he knows he shouldn’t.
Really, I shouldn’t.
The thought halts him. He told Indra he wouldn’t have any contact with Heaven. Abby said it would be confusing to her. He doesn’t want to make things harder for her. Heaven continues to struggle, her eyes on him. Even from this distance, he can see her lip trembling. She reaches out for him which nearly destroys his resolve. He needs to get back to work anyway. He realizes then that Benedict is watching him. It all seems to happen in slow motion.
Benedict jerks Heaven, snapping her head back. When it doesn’t settle her, he yells in her face then slaps her. Hard.
Bellamy’s vision goes white with rage. Heaven rolls across the floor with a whimper. Even the Grounders nearby seem shocked. Then all of a sudden, everything bursts into motion. People are screaming and pushing again. Bellamy barrels into Benedict running on fury alone. His fist finds the man’s face over and over until he feels knuckles pop out of place. Someone yells his name, but it doesn’t stop him.
Finally, someone grabs his arms, hauling him away. He fights against them. He will tear Benedict's head off. Crush his ribs. Destroy him.
“Calm down, man,” Miller yells, tightening his grip on Bellamy’s arm. “You’re making things worse.”
Bellamy doesn’t see how. All he knows is he’s going to kill that bastard.
“Bellamy!”
He stops at the frantic sound of Harper’s voice behind him. He spins, finding her squatting over Heaven. The little girl is clutching onto Harper, tears streaking her face, a trickle of blood dribbling from her chin to her shirt. Black blood.
Oh my god.
