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jennickels) wrote2022-05-17 12:45 pm
Heaven Can't Wait - Chapter 61
Chapter Sixty-One - She’s Still Alive
Bellamy reaches for the door control, but Monty grabs his wrist with a firm grip.
“You can’t. The inner doors are malfunctioning.” He says, pointing to a warning on the panel. “If you open the doors, you’ll flood the entire hallway with radiation.”
“I can’t just leave her in there. She’s going to die.”
“Bellamy,” Monty whispers, “She’s already dead. No one could survive that amount of radiation. That’s why we’re hiding in Alpha Station in the first place.”
“But she’s a nightblood,” says Harper. “Maybe-”
Monty shakes his head. Harper’s eyes tear up and she looks away, pulling Cara into her arms to comfort the crying girl.
“I don’t care. She’s still alive now. I have to go to her.”
Monty doesn’t let go of his arm. “If you go in there, you’re as good as dead, too.”
“Well, I’m not letting her die alone and scared.”
“Bellamy, listen to the nerd,” Murphy says, “He knows what he’s talking about. No need for two deaths today.”
“I’m going in. I don’t care about myself. Maybe there’s a chance she can survive with her nightblood, but we won’t know if we don’t get her out of there.”
Monty’s grip is cutting off circulation to his fingers. His friend swallows hard and repeats his earlier warning very slowly and deliberately like he’s trying to get the important information through Bellamy’s thick skull. “Bellamy, if you open this airlock, you’ll flood the entire hallway.”
“So? There’s nothing here,” says Harper.
Monty turns on her. “What about all these crates being stored? What if we need what’s in them? It’ll take days, maybe weeks, for the radiation to dissipate enough to go back in and retrieve the stuff. Think-”
“Monty, how can you be so cold?”
“I’m not being cold; I’m being logical.”
Bellamy finally breaks free of Monty’s hand. He starts pushing everyone down the hall. “There’s another airlock at this junction. Is it working?”
Monty stumbles along with Bellamy’s nudging. “It looks like it, yes.”
“Then we’ll clear as much of this stuff from the hall as we can because I am opening those doors. I don’t care what happens to me or anything else. I’m going to get her.”
Monty glares at Bellamy a moment before checking the controls on the junction airlock. “This one is working.”
“Good. Everyone out of here. Go clear a path to Medbay.”
“Wait,” Monty says as Bellamy heads back to the Observation Room without waiting to see if his orders are followed.
“If you’re going to do this at least put on a radiation suit. There are some in Engineering. Just wait until I get back.” Monty is off and running before Bellamy can agree.
“Bellamy-” Harper says through tears, hovering near his side with Cara still in her arms.
“Why don’t you take Cara back to her mother—she must be worried,” Bellamy tells her, his voice cracking slightly.
Harper sniffles and watches Bellamy for a moment before slowly walking backward from the hall. “Be careful, Bellamy,” she says even though they all know it’s pointless.
Emori takes the radio from Bellamy’s belt. “I’ll let Medbay know to expect injuries, and I’ll clear the way.” She nods at him before she runs off, leaving him alone with Murphy.
“This is stupid, you know that, right?”
“I don’t care. I’m doing it.”
“You’re going to die.”
“I’m not leaving her!”
Murphy looks away, face red. “I know.” Without being told, he starts moving crates from the hallway. The two get three of them moved before Monty returns with the radiation suit. Murphy keeps moving crates while Monty helps Bellamy into the suit and gets it working.
“Even with this, you won’t be protected from that amount of radiation,” Monty tells him, voice hoarse. “It’ll just give you more time. You’ll start feeling the effects of the radiation pretty quick—weakness, confusion, upset stomach, headache-”
“I got it,” Bellamy says through his teeth as he slips on the helmet. “Just get out of here.”
Monty doesn’t move, though. “Bellamy, you’re going to die.”
The two stare at each other before Bellamy whispers, “I know.”
Monty surprises him with a hug that lasts several beats before he very reluctantly lets go and closes the airlock door at the end of the hallway.
Bellamy goes to the door to the Observation Room and punches in the command to close the inner airlock. The door tries to close but doesn’t quite make it before sliding open again. His hands are shaking violently as he enters the override command. The computer bleats out a warning about the broken door and the radiation levels in the airlock, but he ignores them, reentering the override one more time. The door whooshes open, and immediately, he’s hit with a wave of heat and humidity that makes him see white.
He ignores his discomfort and rushes into where Heaven lays on the floor, meekly moving her head from side to side. She’s still alive—that means she has a chance.
“I’m here, baby,” he whispers to her—his voice garbled by the helmet. “Daddy’s here.” The words barely pass his lips in a mumbled whisper, but he’s never meant them more. Daddy. It’s a thought that had crossed his mind on more than one occasion, but he could never bring himself to say the word out loud.
That’s because you don’t deserve the title. You killed her father.
I don’t know that.
Whether you pulled the trigger or not, you killed him.
Just shut up already.
The voice in the back of his head finally quiets as Bellamy gently lifts Heaven into his arms. Her weight feels like nothing to him as he rushes through the broken airlock to the end of the hall where Monty and Murphy are waiting on the other side of the doors. The airlock opens on his command, locking him inside the small space. Waiting for the outer doors to open sends a wave of panic through him.
It’s taking too long. She doesn’t have much time.
His stomach twists and churns—he’s not sure if it’s anxiety or the effects of the radiation.
Bellamy punches in the decontamination code, head spinning a little already. There’s a whoosh of air that flows over them before being sucked away.
“Decontamination complete,” the computer chirps. “Air is within acceptable parameters.”
The doors open and Bellamy rushes out, stumbling over his own feet in the uncomfortable suit.
He meets Murphy and Monty in the hall but doesn’t stop as he heads directly to Medbay. Emori has managed to clear the hallway with the help of Miller, Bryan, and some other guards she met along the way. The guards form a circle around Bellamy and escort him down the mostly empty halls. Harper joins them sans Cara at the entrance to Medbay where Abby is waiting with a concerned look.
“What happened?” Her motherly concern morphs to doctor mode almost immediately upon seeing the patient limp in Bellamy’s arms.
Harper starts explaining while Bellamy follows her to a far table, carefully putting the small girl down. She’s still. Too still. He can’t breathe in the suit anymore. The doctors and nurses push him out of the way as they work to stabilize Heaven.
Bellamy stumbles and loses his balance, falling into a table and knocking several trays of tools to the floor. The whole room is spinning, and he wants to throw up, but he’s still in the radiation suit. Everything aches. His eyes and tongue feel dry and swelled. He doesn’t like it.
Someone calls his name, but it’s like hearing through molasses. He rips off the helmet, gasping for air. He can’t see through the tears. Or maybe there’s something wrong with his eyes because blinking doesn’t clear them.
Then there are hands on him. It hurts everywhere they touch. Did Heaven hurt this much when I carried her? He wants to tell Abby to be careful, but he can’t seem to find his voice. He trips again, crashing into someone. More hands are on him. The room is dark and fuzzy. He can’t understand what they’re saying, but they sound concerned.
He’s lowered to a bed. In between the nurses, he catches a glimpse of Heaven’s tiny body. He reaches out to her as the room grows darker.
She has to make it. Her nightblood will save her. They’ll see. She’s strong. She’s a survivor. Like Octavia. She’ll make it.
She’ll make it.
She has to make it.
“I love you,” he whispers through blistered lips as the room fades away.