Into The Woods- Bellamy Blake

Chapter 58

"Why'd the black rain affect me?" Ember asked Becca. Clarke had called yesterday over the radio and told her that the Nightblood solution might be working soon, and she also mentioned that Luna could walk around in the rain just fine. "Luna's skin wasn't irritated."

"Because Luna's already been exposed to that level of radiation," Becca replied. "With the fish. She was sick from it too, but she healed. I'm assuming it'll be the same with praimfaya. You'll get sick but eventually recover. Since you were from space, you were already exposed to high levels of radiation, which is why you didn't get sick, but your skin did get irritated."

Ember nodded. Today it was just the two of them. The other Commanders hadn't shown up, which Ember didn't have a problem with. "So I'm gonna go through radiation poisoning? Sounds great."

Becca didn't react to what she said. "You've been through worse, what you really need to worry about is how you'll survive afterwards."

"What about everyone else?"

"I know the other Commanders told you to find a solution for everyone. But you need to find out how you'll survive too. Without food or water, you won't survive praimfaya and neither will anyone else."

"We're already going to run out of water within a few weeks. The Black Rain contaminated it all."

"You need to figure it out, Ember. You're running out of time."

~~~

Ember woke up with her stomach in knots. She was laying down next to Bellamy on their bed, when she turned over on her side suddenly and puked.

Bellamy reached over and put his hand on her arm. She breathed with her eyes closed after puking, trying to stop the nausea from affecting her. "What's wrong?" Bellamy asked, moving his hand up to her face and moving the hair out of her face.

"Probably just a side effect from the black rain," Ember replied, but she knew that wasn't sure. The irritation was as far as the black rain would affect her. But what she actually thought she was puking for, she hoped she was wrong about the black rain.

Ember sat up in the bed, fighting off her nausea. "We gotta go outside," She glanced at the clock. "We're already late."

"Are you okay?"

Ember smiled, slowly turning her head towards Bellamy. "Fine."

By the time the couple got outside, Jaha had already started without them. Bellamy and Ember stayed near the back. "I know it took courage to be outside with us today, to stand together now in the face of grave danger and grave tragedy. On the ark, rain like this was only a dream. Now it's a nightmare, because we know it could turn at any second and kill us, just like it did to 18 of our brothers and sisters, who we honor today among them, Erin, Samuel, and Louis. May we meet again."

He lowered the torch to the ground, lighting the wood and the bodies on fire. "Your fight is over," Ember whispered.

"Too many funerals, too little time," Jasper said, walking past the couple.

"Show some respect for the dead."

Jasper turned around and glanced at Bellamy. "What for? They don't mind."

"Where are you going?" Ember asked.

"Wherever the day takes me."

She bit her lip. "Do you have a chem tent?"

"Nope."

Ember and Bellamy moved over to Jasper. "No one leaves without a chem tent," Bellamy told Jasper.