Chapter 1:
The 100 had boarded the dropship and had left the Ark on a near-certain death mission to Earth to see if it was survivable.
The screen above them came to life and Chancellor Jaha began to speak, delivering the instructions on how to stay alive.
Finn's POV
I didn't care what Jaha had to say – he was just an idiot with too much power and too little sense of fun, I was the opposite, so I decided to do the opposite of what he said "I advise you remain seated until the dropship reaches the ground" I undid my seatbelt and floated into the air.
If I had any control over my movements I would have stopped when I saw the son of the Chancellor Wells Jaha; this had to be a mistake no way would Jaha send his own son to die. I drifted over to him and registered the cute blonde who was shouting at him "they didn't just arrest my Father, they executed him and your right I do hate you"
I made my introductions and left, the situation felt too volatile for me.
I made my way back to my seat just as the air decompressed and the other two who had followed me were thrown around the dropship, I vaguely recognised one I think his name was Glen or something. Everyone else seemed to be okay if a bit shaken up then it happened:
We reached Earth, that or we were hit by an asteroid. Everyone went very quiet very quickly; I didn't dare move or make a sound as the sudden fear of radiation hit me.
"You're a daredevil Collins, pull yourself together" I didn't dare say the words out loud. A crowd of people had begun to move towards the doors and for once in my life I followed the crowd; I was on the ladder going to the bottom level when it stopped moving, the blonde Princess was saying something about letting radiation in. I'd learnt from Raven that if the dropship had de-pressurised then it was most likely to no longer be radiation-proof or something like that, I might be thinking of water-proof or fire-proof. The sound of two new voices talking took me out of my daydream; as soon as I heard "he's my Brother" I knew who they were; Octavia and Bellamy Blake celebrities of sorts the illegal sister and the brother who threw away a place in the Guard to protect her.
The doors opened and Octavia jumped onto the ground, the first human to do so for 97 years, others followed her, myself one of them. I decide to climb the dropship, partly to see where we are better and partly for the thrill of it – there was very little to get my blood pumping in that cell.
I gasp at what I see; a beautiful forest going as far as the eye could see, I could see mountains, one would be Mount Weather, and the trees there were more of them then stars in the sky; I had only seen one before on the Ark and it hadn't prepared me for the sight of this riot of colour on the ground. I spend a minute just breathing it all in when I saw something that made my blood run cold.
I jumped to the ground and yelled as loudly as I could "people, that direction" I could feel the stares of the other delinquents and knew they didn't believe me.
A few laughed while others looked scared but no one ran or looked like it was a real threat. I looked around tears of worry forming in my eyes as Princess came over.
"What did you see?"
"People in white suits, like space suits"
"Are you sure?"
"What else could they be? Cats?"
She opened her mouth to say something as the screaming started; I looked around to see red mist and people falling down. A gunshot rang out as we started to run but we as I started a metal container hit my foot and red gushed out of it, it was the last thing I saw before I passed out.
Clarke's POV
I woke up in a hospital; I'd spent enough time waiting for my Mother in one to recognise it even before I had opened my eyes, the strong sterile scent of cleaning fluid, the hum of machines. I could almost imagine I was back on the Ark, remembering the "almost" part I sat bolt upright and took in my surroundings; the whitewashed room, and the other bed pressed against the other wall; there was another girl in it, she had dark brown hair and a pale complexion, I couldn't see her eyes as they were shut. But most worrying was the silver handcuffs around her right hand, I glanced down and saw I was restrained too; my bracelet and watch were gone too.
My last links to my family and home had been taken by whoever had brought me here, I was stunned by this I could understand the watch they didn't know it's importance to me but the bracelet; without it the people on the Ark would think I was dead.
"Where are we?" I recognised that sort of voice, it was the kind made my mother's patents after surgery, the voice of a person awakening from anaesthesia.
"I don't know, have you got your bracelet?" I could hear the urgency in my voice
She looked at her wrist and shirked "They cuffed me, oh my God, someone help us"
She started crying, "calm down, we'll be okay" I tried to reassure her
"My bracelet is gone, but what does it matter, let them think we died, we probably will anyway"
I couldn't argue with that line of thinking so decided to wait until someone came or the girl calmed down.
She calmed down quicker than I would expected
"I'm Harper by the way"
"Clarke"
"Would say nice to meet you but it isn't"
I laughed at that, I wasn't sure why.
We sat in silence for a while, I wasn't sure how long, when the door opened and a figure in a white hazmat suit walked in, they glanced around before looking at Harper then me.
"Where are we, who are you, what do you want?" I hadn't told the questions to come out of my mouth but they did anyway.
The person removed the head of their suit, I gasped as I realised how young she was "she opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was "You've been decontaminated; guards will be along soon to unchain you" she left after saying that.
Four men in uniforms came in, one undid my handcuffs another undid Harper's. I wondered why four were needed, were they expecting us to cause trouble?
The guards ignored all of our questions as they led us to another area – this one filled with other delinquents. I looked around and recognised some but Wells was missing. I knew I shouldn't care about him but I did, one act of betrayal, no matter how big, didn't override all the years of friendship and family love I felt and associated with him.
I felt tears burn my eyes as I asked an official looking man "excuse me do you know where my friend is?"
He smiled at me "If he isn't hear already and wasn't one of the two who died in your ship he will be here shortly"
Wells had made it out of the dropship I had seen him, so he would be here at some point. The doors opened and two more people entered, both male, neither Wells.
I slumped against the wall and counted the number of my people in the room, less than 60 but more were arriving in pairs every few minutes. I didn't get up until a girl of around 11 or 12 nervously walked over "Hi I'm Charlotte"
"Clarke"
"Where are we?"
"Mount Weather I think"
"But there are people here; I thought we were the only ones"
"I guess not" I decided to like Charlotte, she reminded me of myself and seemed nice.
Just as she was about to respond Wells walked in accompanied by Finn the delinquent I had met on the dropship.
I turned to Charlotte "want to meet my friends?"
She looked hesitant but agreed.
I had to restrain myself from hugging Wells when I saw him, I hated and loved him and nearly losing him had reminded me of all of it.
I introduced Charlotte to Wells and Finn and we started talking about the place we were in, how they had survived and why we never knew about them.
"And that is 99, let's make some introductions" the man I had spoken to earlier was now standing on a box to address the crowd. "Hello and welcome to Mount Weather, I am President Wallace and am in charge, you are not prisoners you are our guests. I must ask however that you do not attempt to leave, you have no supplies, no training to survive, the outside of this mountain is flooded with radiation, you will not be affected by it but we will be; leaving without following proper procedure puts everyone in the bunker at risk. Please enjoy your stay at Mount Weather and do not be hesitate to ask anything if you have any questions" I had one straight away.
"What happened to our bracelets? They transmit our vital signs back to our home to let them know we are alive"
Wallace considered this for a moment before responding "We removed them due to the risk of them bringing in radiation, we did not know what they did until after we took them off. We have the equipment and skills here to build a transmitter to talk to your people which we should have finished in a few days"
I felt some relief at the news and decided to leave the matter for now.
"You will now be taken to the area you will be staying in, please follow Maya, she is the young lady holding the papers by the door" I saw her; she was the person that had opened mine and Harper's door.
I left with Finn and Charlotte, we had lost Wells in the crowd.
End of chapter one.