Homecoming

CHAPTER 28: Bellamy

Bellamy paused in front of the door to the hospital cabin. Apparently, the Vice Chancellor wanted to talk to him, but Bellamy wasn’t exactly in the mood for a chat. He was exhausted from the previous day’s battle and its grisly aftermath. He and Wells had already buried several Earthborns, then set about collecting the blood-stained weapons they’d left behind. The camp would be having a burial ceremony for the Colonists and kids who had died in the attacks, later that day. Thank god, Octavia was okay, but not all of the hundred had been so lucky.

Yet despite the terrifying attack and the devastating losses of several of their people, the mood in the camp was still brighter than it’d been when Bellamy, Wells, and Clarke had been marched in two nights earlier. People were laughing again, and the new Colonists were asking the hundred for help and advice, no longer wary of angering Rhodes.

Part of Bellamy wanted to turn around and find Octavia, who’d organized a game of hide-and-seek for the younger kids. It was hard to let her out of his sight after everything they’d just gone through. But, after a moment, his curiosity got the better of him, and he stepped inside.

The cabin was full of injured Colonists and kids, but Clarke’s usual efficiency and rapport with her patients kept the mood from being too grim. Thankfully, it seemed that most of her patients were going to make quick recoveries.

Bellamy walked toward the back where a long white sheet had been nailed into the ceiling and hung down to the floor like a curtain, giving the Vice Chancellor a tiny bit of privacy. In his head, he ran through everything Rhodes could possibly say to him, planning his response. If the man so much as threatened him or Octavia, there was no telling what he’d do to him. He didn’t care if he was injured and helpless in a hospital bed.

Bellamy nodded at the guard positioned in front of the divider, then stepped around and stared at the man lying in the bed behind it.

Rhodes looked diminished. It wasn’t just his exhausted body or the bandages encasing most of his arms and torso. It was something in his face. He didn’t just look beaten—he looked broken.

Rhodes propped himself up on one elbow with some effort. Bellamy briefly considered reaching out to help but then thought better of it. He’d done enough for this creep already.

“Hello, Bellamy.”

“How are you feeling?” Bellamy asked, more out of habit than from any actual concern. That’s generally what you said when facing a dude covered in bandages.

“Clarke and Dr. Lahiri say that I’ll make a full recovery.”

“Great,” Bellamy said, shifting his weight from side to side. This was ridiculous. What the hell was he doing here?

“I asked you to come because I wanted to thank you.”

“Forget about it,” Bellamy said with a shrug. He had saved Rhodes’s life for himself, not because he thought this particular power-hungry madman deserved to live. He didn’t particularly fancy a long heart-to-heart.

Rhodes paused and contemplated the empty space over Bellamy’s shoulder for a long moment.

“I was reluctant to accept the idea that the original hundred—yourself included—knew more about living on Earth than I did. After all, I had been planning for this journey my entire life, and you”—Rhodes fixed Bellamy with a hard stare—“were nothing more than a bunch of juvenile delinquents. You were stupid enough to get yourselves into trouble on the Colony, so why should I assume you were smart enough to survive down here?”

Bellamy flinched and balled his hands into fists, but kept his expression neutral. He heard Clarke’s and Wells’s voices in his head, imploring him to stay calm, no matter what Rhodes had to say.

“But you were,” Rhodes went on. “You not only survived on Earth, you thrived. And it has come to my attention that surviving on Earth is hard enough.” He glanced down at his many wounds. “To really live, well, that requires something more than intelligence. That requires will.”

Bellamy stared at the Vice Chancellor, wondering if he’d heard correctly. Had Rhodes just praised him and the rest of the hundred? Perhaps his head injuries were worse than Clarke had realized.

He could tell that Rhodes was waiting for him to say something.

“I’m glad you see it that way,” Bellamy said slowly, praying that Clarke would come in to check in on her patient. Or anyone, really. He didn’t want to be alone with the Vice Chancellor for another second.

“I hereby pardon you for the crime of kidnapping and the involuntary murder of Chancellor Jaha.”

Bellamy tried to keep the scorn out of his face as he nodded. “Thank you,” Bellamy said. He’d sort of just assumed that was the case, given the fact that he’d saved Rhodes’s life.

As if reading his thoughts, Rhodes continued. “That’s not all. Effective immediately, I’m instating a new Advisory Council. Wells was right. The Gaia Doctrine has no place on Earth. We need a new system, a better one. I’m going to suggest that we nominate people this evening. Perhaps…” He grimaced as a new wave of pain washed over him. “Perhaps that’s something you would consider being a part of?”

Bellamy blinked a few times, trying to process what he had just heard. If he wasn’t mistaken, and he hadn’t accidentally eaten a hallucinogenic berry out in the woods, then Vice Chancellor Rhodes, the most corrupt leader the Colony had ever known, had just pardoned him and suggested he get into politics.

Bellamy couldn’t help it: He laughed out loud.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Bellamy couldn’t wait to go tell Octavia so they could laugh about it. Unless she didn’t think it was funny. Maybe O would actually want him on the Council. Hell, crazier things had happened over the past few weeks. Why couldn’t Bellamy try his hand at running things for a while? There was just one person he needed to check with first.

With a smile and a nod, he turned and went to find Clarke.