Conflate | Bellamy Blake ¹ ✓

※ | chapter twenty-four

❝it's often just enough to be with someone. i don't need to touch them. not even talk. a feeling passes between you both. you're not alone.❞ 

-marilyn monroe, actress

♛

MY SCREAM IS SO loud that I may as well have shred my vocal chords with the force of it. It's so powerful that I lean forward as it comes out, endless tears cascading down my face in a hot, rapid waterfall that blurs everything together except Bellamy's flailing body as he struggles to get his feet on anything at all. The pain and helplessness I feel is enough to make my body explode. I know that I can't do anything to help him because of how heavily bound I am. That thought alone makes me want to combust.

"Using your hands is a cheat," Murphy chastises as he walks forward and forces Bellamy's hands from the seatbelt while he thrashes around. He brings them down to his sides, but they keep moving back upward to his neck out of instinct. Bellamy takes this opportunity of distraction to send a right hook to Murphy's cheek with a wild swing, making him turn back and crouch to the floor with a grunt. Murphy gets back on his feet only seconds later, ramming the handle of his rifle into Bellamy's abdomen several times and causing him to go limp with a choke.

I can't describe the amount of relief that washes over me when the familiar hiss of the door opening causes Murphy's head to snap in that direction. I faintly hear Jasper exclaim from outside, "Raven, you did it!"

Because he's a coward, Murphy immediately abandons ship and climbs the ladder to the second floor. The hatch slams shut behind him with a bang. Bellamy still flails around as the door fully opens. I realize that I'm the only one who can alert anyone at this point, and so I scream again as loudly as I can to get the attention of those outside. My throat burns in protest when I do so.

Jasper enters immediately afterwards with his gun raised. He takes one moment to assess Bellamy hanging limply and me tied up until he drops the gun and rushes to Bellamy's aid. Lifting up his legs, Jasper allows Bellamy to suck in a strangled breath while Octavia hurries to unclip the seat belt. Monroe lets go of her rifle as well and tends to me, lifting the gag out of my mouth with widened eyes at the state I'm in.

"Are you okay?" she questions, starting to untie the restraints around my bleeding wrists. I nod without really meaning it as I watch the scene in front of me unfold.

Octavia is too short to unclip the seatbelt. Her fingers barely brush the top before she rises on her toes and snaps it undone, causing both Jasper and Bellamy to drop to the ground at the sudden leisure. Octavia lunges to catch her brother before his head hits the metal floor and lays him gently down. "Bell, breathe! Breathe!"

I gasp in relief as Monroe finishes untying the straps around my wrists. My face screws up in pain as I bring them around in front of me; my shoulders ache terribly from being held back for so long, and my skin is trickling blood where the seatbelts had cut into the skin. I try to stand and almost immediately pitch forward. I haven't even noticed that my legs are asleep.

"Woah, woah, woah," Monroe mumbles when she catches my fall. "Easy. You've been sitting for way too long."

"Exactly my point," I counter as I grit my teeth and force my numb feet to support my weight. My voice is hoarse from how much my throat hurts. Bellamy is still on the floor, feebly gasping in air. Octavia removes the loop from around his neck and assures him he's okay about fifty times.

"Raven, they're fine!" Jasper shouts down to the floor.

Bellamy rolls over and gets to his knees, hunched over as he fights to catch his breath. When he yells out Murphy's name, his voice is deeper and raspier than I've ever heard it. He gets up and stares up at the closed hatch above. "Murphy! It's over!" To my surprise, he begins climbing the ladder and shoves his shoulder into the hatch repeatedly. "Murphy!"