Conflate | Bellamy Blake ¹ ✓

✯ | chapter six

❝don't do anything stupid until i get back.❞

-bucky barnes, captain america

♛

DESPITE THE IMMENSE ANXIETY pulsing through my veins, I help pull Bellamy and Mel up the cliff. It had been kind of nonsense for Finn to think that I was going to stand by and watch, which is exactly what he had suggested I do. I simply flipped him off and went to help.

My muscles strain as I pull as hard as I can on the seatbelt. We had tied it to the same tree stump Sterling had, though this time we're close enough to grab onto it in case something happens. I can't shake off the vision of the seatbelt tearing and Bellamy falling to his death just like Sterling.

My heart literally stops for a split second when the clip holding the two belts together snaps. I watch with my eyes the size of small planets as Murphy cries out and fights to keep hold of both sides, arms stretched out as far as they can go as his boots slide on the dirt. Monroe, Finn, and I tumble backwards onto our butts from the force.

"Come on, a little help!" Murphy shouts as his feet slide even more. I scramble to my feet and grab onto the shorter end of the seatbelt with Bellamy and Mel on the end of it. Once Finn comes to help and we now have enough strength to support them, Murphy releases the belt that's tied to the stump and focuses fully on the other. I pull so hard that my arms shake, heart racing erratically because my worst nightmare is coming true.

"What the hell is happening up there?" Bellamy demands from below.

"Just hold on!" Finn replies. "Monroe, come pull!"

Immediately, she rushes over and comes as close to the edge of the cliff as she dares, gritting her teeth as she grabs onto the belt. My hands are starting to slide on the rough material. Finn keeps bumping into me, causing my hands to jerk back the tiniest of bits.

I shriek in surprise as an arrow lodges itself right next to my foot. More follow, making short whistling sounds as they fly through the air. Monroe screams, "Grounders!"

"Monroe, cover us!" Finn shouts as he hands her his rifle. "Go!"

"How many are there?" Bellamy asks.

"I don't know!" I reply, gasping from the strain. My face is slowly turning red and by now Murphy is practically lying on the ground beneath me until I'm almost sitting on his lap. His legs tangle with my own. "We can't see them!"

"In the trees!" Finn shouts to Monroe right before she fires. "In the trees! Aim for the trees!"

Gunshots fill the air. Monroe shoots wildly, aiming for the trees just like Finn told her. Finn shouts and grabs my collar, yanking me forward so harshly my neck cracks and I experience inertia. A spear embeds itself in the ground right between the spot where Murphy's legs had been beneath me. Finn rolls to the side to avoid it, leaving me and Murphy to hold on.

I hear Mel shriek as the seatbelt inches down further. I can feel desperate tears filling my eyes again, but refuse to let them fall. We will get Bellamy and Mel to safety. We will. It's the only thing I can do to keep myself sane.

Finn rejoins us as quickly as he can, long hair whipping wildly around his beet-red face. From behind me, Monroe cries out in pain. I briefly turn my head around to see an arrow stuck in her thigh.

"He's gonna need to cut her loose," Murphy says breathlessly. "We can't do this." He raises his voice higher and yells, "Bellamy, you gotta cut her loose!"

"No way!" he responds as I expected him to.

My arms burn more than they ever have before, and I know that I'll lose most of my strength after this. The strain is getting to be too much. I can hardly breathe anymore. Sweat is starting to prick my face again.