Conflate | Bellamy Blake ¹ ✓

✯ | chapter twenty-one

❝don't lie to yourself. lie to everyone else instead. it's more fun that way.❞

-brendon urie, panic! at the disco

♛

THOUGH THE COUCH HADN'T been the most comfortable thing in the world, it had still allowed Bellamy and I to get a fair amount of sleep. That's a good thing considering I have a horrible feeling about the upcoming events of today. I can't shake off the notion that something will happen, like an impending danger is hovering just above our heads and is yet so out of reach. It causes me to be more jittery than usual.

I'm back in the guard uniform - Bellamy took a brief trip to the vent to retrieve it for me - and it fills me with even more unease. The collar seems to choke me, the sleeves scratchy and uncomfortable. Being in my other outfit had been liberating; this one feels like a prison in and of itself. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life.

Since my gun is still covered in Francis' blood and Bellamy is low on bullets, it's only normal to want to pay the armory a visit. Maya is leading us there now, swiftly walking with us through the mountain and speaking at a rapid pace. It's a telltale sign of her nerves. I wonder if she has the same foreboding sense as I do.

"Lovejoy and Francis' key cards will get you in the armory," she informs us quickly, frantically babbling away. "The guns are locked, but the guard has the key. I can lure him away if--"

"No, there's no time," Bellamy cuts her off. "Once we get the guns, how do I get to level five? They're watching every door now."

"Maybe not," Maya replies thoughtfully.

"I can take the vents again," I volunteer. "It's no problem, really."

"That'll take too long," Bellamy protests with a shake of his head.

"Bellamy's right," Maya says to me. Then, her eyes go alight with a different scheme. "The mess hall has a trash chute."

"A trash chute?" I repeat, inwardly cringing at the thought of going down that.

"There's one on every level," she continues more slowly compared to how she had previously been speaking at the speed of light. "Best part, no radiation alarms. The hatches leak like crazy, so they put in these airlocks to be safe. You get the guns. I'll get them into the mess hall."

"You're a natural-born revolutionary," Bellamy tells her with an impressed smile.

"My mom was the revolutionary. I'm just trying to do what's right."

After she says that, there's a nostalgic lull in the conversation in which the air feels heavier than before. I pull my lips into a line and fidget. I know exactly how she feels. My mom wasn't a revolutionary, but she sacrificed herself so they wouldn't take Abby instead.

"Meet back here in thirty minutes," Bellamy instructs as he adjusts his hat. When Maya nods in understanding, he turns to me. "Let's go."

After quickly disappearing around the corner, we remember to slow to a walk- running will make us look suspicious. I try to make myself look taller by keeping my back straight and shoulders back. That, and the fact I have a hat will probably convince people I'm Victoria.

But a few steps later, I notice a muffled voice coming from my earbud. It sounds like it's coming from a nearby channel from how it's clearly a male but I can't understand what he's saying.

"Hang on," I say, grabbing Bellamy's arm to stop him. "I hear something."

I grasp the radio on my hip and switch a few channels until I hear something that makes my blood turn to ice.