What He Left Behind

Chapter 14

BELLAMY POV

30 September 2155

"It's been six months since we were supposed to come home. I need to go home. I need to hold my baby sister in my arms again. I need to hold you in my arms again. If you were here, you'd know how to handle this, how to boost morale. I know you wouldn't want me to lost hope, but I'm just not the same without you. It's like I've stopped seeing color. I've gone numb. 2,010 days later and I still don't feel anything other than the pain of losing you.

"Raven, Monty, and Emori are working nonstop trying to figure out a solution that will bring us home safely. I've been trying to hold myself together because I know the last thing everyone needs is for me to fall apart again, but it's so hard. Clarke, if you're down there then you have to keep going. If not for you, then for me," I sigh, placing my hand to the cold glass window. "Looking to you, princess. Always looking to you."

I hear a door slam and turn to see Monty walking angrily down the hallway. I don't know what he's upset about, but it takes a lot to make Monty this angry. Whatever it is that upset him like this can't be good. Instead of walking past me, he walks up to me and pushes his index finger into my chest.

"Monty, what—?"

"You're a damn idiot, Blake," he seethes. "It's been six years of this every single day. Enough is enough. Clarke is dead. It's not our fault that you didn't admit your feelings for her when she was alive, so stop torturing us with these daily self-pity sessions. You missed your chance with her. We're not going back down there any time soon. Move. On."

"Uh, guys?"

"What Raven?" Lashing out like this is so uncharacteristic of Monty that it's a major cause of concern, both for me and for Raven. Her concern for our friend is written all over her face.

"I hate to interrupt your little catfight here, but you're going to want to see this," she says and walks off before either of us get the chance to argue, knowing us well enough to know that we'll follow right behind her.

Raven leads us to a window on the opposite side of the Ring, where the rest of our friends are waiting. She doesn't speak again, only hits button to raise the window shade. As it raises, it reveals a massive spaceship not too far from the Ring. The side of the ship reads: Eligius IV.

"What the hell is that?" I ask.

"That, my friends, is our way home."

RAVEN POV

Later

We split up into three groups to check the ship for any signs of trouble, figuring it to be more efficient considering the size of it. Murphy and I walk hand and hand through the halls of the Eligius ship and find ourselves in a vast corridor, with large pods lining the walls. They have a frosted appearance, and they're cold to the touch.

"Where are we? And what are these?" Murphy asks, confused at the sight.

"I've read about this. These are cryosleep chambers. The people inside of them are essentially frozen, they don't age, they don't need food or water. They just sleep. In theory, they could live like this forever, so who knows how long they've been in here. We have to find the control center, figure out who these people are, what we're dealing with."

"Let's get to it then," he says, nodding his head to encourage me to move ahead.

Not far from the cryosleep chambers, we find the control center. It takes me a few minutes to crack the computer codes, but when I do, I immediately view the profiles of the residents of this ship and feel my heart sink,