Reckless ~ Sequel to Shameless {Bellamy Blake}

6~ Weather Balloon

To this day, I still don't know how long I just floated in the water for. In my mind it was a couple of seconds, but once I finally gripped my hands on a rock and pulled myself out of the water, the daylight had dimmed, and the sun was going down. Since coming down to the ground, I have no precision of time. It was night...and day. Be back to camp by night fall, get up when the sun came up. That was it. That was how my brain worked around the logic of time. 

I pull myself up on the rock, coughing up water desperately as I go. Where's Clarke? I push myself up on my feet, my legs shaking slightly. Where's Clarke? I look around for her, but I can't find her. Then I see her. Floating, face down, a little ways down the Dam. I run along the water, my clothes dripping water as I go, and crouch down to her. I grab her arm and pull her to the side, pulling her up onto the shore. She's unconscious. 

"Clarke." I say slightly hitting her face. 

"Clarke." I repeat hitting her face harder. 

"Clarke!" I yell, slapping her. 

And she's up. Coughing up gallons of water as she goes. 

"Clarke, come on." I pat her on the back as she continues to spit up water. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Clarke nods and wipes her mouth, pushing with both of her hands up to a standing position.

"Are you good?" I ask.

"Yeah." She mumbles. 

"We need to go before they start looking for us." I say wringing out my hair.

"Too late." Clarke mumbles looking over my shoulder at something.

I turn and see dozens of Mountain Men, masked and armed, running out of the mountain. They haven't seen us yet, and I plan to keep it that way.

Clarke grabs my arm, pulling me towards the trees. Hopefully, the Mountain Men will lose us in the trees. There's no use in running, we'll just make more noise. Instead, we walk. Choosing carefully where to place our feet. 

Over the course of the rest of that day we try to shake them. The Mountain Men are ruthless, never giving up until they have what they want. At one point Clarke stops me, telling me to cover myself in mud to distract the stench. I reach down into the brown mush and grab a handful, covering my face and any other part of my skin that was showing through my clothes. A while back, I abandoned my jacket. It was too heavy for me to run with. 

"What is that?" Clarke asks, peering up at the sky as we pass over some rock. The Mountain Men are way behind us, buying us some time to rest. 

I look up and see, far in the distance, a glinting light. Instead, it isn't a light. It's a clear shaped ball floating in the air. 

"Is that a weather balloon?" I ask, curiously.

Clarke smiles widely, "I think it is!"

"There are people." I say, amazed. "Our people."

"They're somewhere out there." Clarke nods, still smiling.

We watch the weather balloon for quite awhile. It no longer floats upwards, but stays perched in the same position. We follow the path of the balloon, hoping it will bring us to our people.

***

"Clarke, how are we going to go against Mount Weather? How're we going to get our people back?" I ask, putting one tired foot in front of the other. 

"We're gonna need help." Clarke says. 

"From who?" I ask.

"The Grounders." 

"Are you insane? Have you literally lost all of your brain cells? We just had a cold blood war with them and killed two hundred plus of their members. What makes you think they'll want an alliance with us?" I argue.

"Because they're people are in there too. The Grounders won't be able to take on Mount Weather alone either. They'll need us too." Clarke answers.

Then, suddenly, a loud ringing bursts through my ears as a BANG sounds from a gunshot. I cover my ears, instinctively, and drop to the ground.

"What was that?!" I yell over at Clarke, who's on the ground as well.

Clarke doesn't answer but instead is peering, aw struck, over my shoulder. 

I follow her gaze and see half a dozen Ark members marching our way, guns in hand.

"Oh my god." I laugh, jumping up from my spot. "You survived!"

Then the unexpected happens. They all point their guns at me, grabbing me by my arms and restraining me. 

"What're you doing?" Clarke yells as they restrain her also.

"Don't move, Grounder." An Ark Guard replies.

I look over at Clarke who has mud running down her face. 

They think we're Grounders.