Conflate | Bellamy Blake ¹ ✓

✯ | chapter twenty

❝you can do anything if you're not afraid.❞

-matt murdock, daredevil

♛

THE GOOD THING ABOUT the vents is that nobody in their right mind will go in them, and so we make our living space there. It's where Bellamy and I store our uniforms, radios, and various other things we've stolen. The small section is quickly accumulating enough to make it slightly cramped. Even so, it's a way to make sure all of our belongings are in one place.

That's why it's extremely easy for us to hurry down there and quickly put on the extra protective gear used when handling the forty-four. As I slide on the elbow pads, I wonder how I don't look like an insect of some sort with the weird plastic pieces. The goggles are a kind of ridiculous touch as well. The entire getup is bulky and altogether unenjoyable.

I've also managed to grab some food between our missions for Clarke - mainly small things like cheese, crackers, and fruit - but it at least keeps us on our feet and energized. I just wonder how Bellamy is doing with the lack of sleep. I'm used to it by now, but the red rimming his eyes is becoming more and more obvious. Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to force him to sleep.

"Actually, wait," I whisper to myself, carefully removing the elbow pads and starting on the rest of the gear I'd just taken ten minutes to put on.

"What are you doing?" Bellamy asks while watching me in confusion. He's almost done, starting to put buckle the strap on his helmet that goes under his chin.

"You stick with the plan," I tell him quietly, sliding off the rest of it until I'm back in my regular uniform. "I'm going to pay our friends a visit."

"What?" he hisses. "They have the whole floor sealed off--"

"Not the vents," I reply with an encouraging grin. "I can do it. I'm gonna run some errands- I'll be back soon."

"How do you even know where you're going?"

"I can multitask," Raven adds in through our earbuds. The fact she's stayed with us this long is actually amazing.

"Right, then." Bellamy nods his head. I can see how reluctant he is to let me go off on my own - especially when there will be so many guards lurking around. "Just don't die."

I salute him before edging around our plethora of stolen items and crawling as quickly as I can down the vent. The banging of my knees against the tube is frequent enough for me to know I'll probably have bruises at some point. The cool air seeps cold through my sleeves, which are quickly turning brown from all the routes I've taken through here.

The trip to level five is eerily silent except for Raven's occasional directions, and even those are mostly concise. It's particularly lonely without Bellamy right behind me, and I find myself more on edge than I usually am. Something about the confining space of the vent is restricting my ability to breathe as deeply as I probably should. My pulse thrums; I feel my throat getting dry for no reason. For the first time, I'm completely alone in Mount Weather.

"Take a right," Raven instructs. "No, not you, Bellamy. I'm talking to Fallon. You take a left."

"This is too confusing," Bellamy mutters in annoyance.

"I agree," I pipe up as quietly as I can. My voice echoes and I hope it doesn't travel to anyone's room- that'd be bad. So far our luck has stuck with us, but it can run out at any moment. That thought alone is terrifying.

As I get closer and closer to level five, a strange scent in the air invades my senses. I dismiss it as nothing unusual until it starts to smother the air. A turn around a corner brings me face-to-face with a mist. My lungs reject the hazy fog, causing me to cough and sputter. It gets so bad that I have to stop for a second and catch my breath by breathing in the inch of air at the bottom of the vent.