Radioactive

Chapter Fourteen

I haul a piece of metal over my shoulder, grunting with the effort. I walk halfway across camp, sweat dripping down the sides of my face and back, and heave it up to Conner on the wall. "Thanks, Carter!" He calls down from the top as he takes it from me. "No, problem! It's not like it weighed a ton or anything." I say, taking deep breaths to get as much oxygen into my lungs as possible. I smirk at him as he rolls his eyes at me. "Well, I'm taking a break. Yell if you fall off or something." I say as I walk away, throwing my hand up over my shoulder in farewell.

I make my way towards the dropship. Feeling the drop in temperature, I want to get my jacket from the second level where I slept last night because I still don't have a tent. I climb up the ladder and go to grab my jacket from the corner, but I see that the third level with Grounder is open. I look around and see that no one is around. I climb up the ladder as quietly as possible. "Did you talk to the Ark?" Bellamy calls out. Apparently I'm not as sneaky as I thought. "Why would anyone want to talk to me?" I ask, knowing full well that I'm not who Bellamy thought was coming up.

Bellamy whips around in his seat in front of the Grounder and glares at me. "You know you're not supposed to be up here." He says, causing me to roll my eyes. "Please forgive me, Supreme Overlord Leader." I say, sarcasm heavy in my tone. When he continues to glare at me, I sit down on the ground next to him, positioning myself so that the Grounder is to my side. "I just wanted to make sure he was alive." I say, nodding my head in the Grounder's direction. Bellamy faces full front again, not really glaring at the Grounder but not looking happily at him either.

"Can I get you anything?" I ask Bellamy, standing up again, not really enjoying the silence in the room. "No. I'm good." He says, shaking his head as he looks up at me. "I wasn't talking to you." I say, again letting sarcasm lace my voice. He places a hand over his chest and mocks hurt. "And here I thought you cared about my well being, Princess." He says, a smirk falling onto his face. I return his smirk with one of my own. "Yeah? Maybe I do." I say, leaning down slightly, so I was closer to him. He stands up, causing me to take a step back so we don't hit head. "Maybe?" He asks, looking down at me, smirk still in its place. "Yeah, maybe." I say, shrugging my shoulders as I take another step back towards the ladder.

I gasp when Bellamy pushes me up against the metal wall of the Dropship, hiding us from the view of the Grounder behind a pile of supplies as his hands rest on my shoulders. "It's either you do, or you don't." He says, removing one hand from my shoulder and place it next to my head on the wall. I raise my eyebrows at him. "Yeah? And what if I don't and I just didn't want to hurt your feelings?" I ask, raising my chin slightly, so I can look him straight in the eye. "Wouldn't caring about my feeling be the same as caring about my well-being?" He asks, leaning his forehead against mine.

I become very aware of the hair sticking to my face and of his hand slowly sliding from my shoulder down my arm and landing on my waist. My heart is beating so loud, I'm surprised that the Grounder can't hear it, and my chest is heaving as I take deep, slow breaths. Our chests touch as he matches my deep breathing. "Well, there's your answer." I say, my voice coming out in a breathy whisper. "Well, then maybe I should..."

"Am I interrupting something?"I watch as the smirk falls off Bellamy's face and his eyes close in frustration at the sound of Miller's voice right behind him. "Did you talk to the Ark?" Bellamy asks, opening his eyes and dropping his hand from my waist, but not the one by my head as he turns halfway to face Miller. "I told Digg's mom the news, John's dad. I'm supposed to talk to Roma's parents later." Miller says, completely changing the atmosphere in the room. "Thanks for doing that. I owe you." Bellamy says, and Miller glances at the Grounder.

"Telling all these parents that their kids were murdered by Gounders, I just wish I could say we were getting some justice." Miller says, his voice surprisingly calm for the amount of anger I can tell is bubbling inside of him. "We're not killing him." Bellamy and I say at the same time, causing him to glance down at me as he slides his hand off the wall to make his way after Miller.