Well aloha! This is my first and only fanfiction, and I've never written anything before, so I don't really know how it'll turn out. I'm not a very self-motivated person, so if at least one person acknowledges this I WILL continue it. If there is no response whatsoever, well...I'll try for one more chapter but most likely give up. I hope you enjoy!
Lia sat on the floor of her cell, throwing a plastic ball she had crafted from the discarded pieces of her meal wrappings against the metal wall. Everything was metal here on the Ark. No matter where you went on the international space station that was home to the only refugees from Earth, a hollow clang followed your every footstep.
She looked up. She thought she had heard yelling from outside her door, but dismissed the thought. It was probably the air vents. Or the engines. There was always something making a noise here; complete silence was impossible. She resumed her idle tossing until the lock on her prison door clicked.
She jumped to her feet, leaving the ball where it fell. A readied taser poked through the open door first, followed by three guards. Lia winced. The added security for her really wasn't necessary, but she supposed that it was reasonable for them to think so in light of the reason for her incarceration.
"Prisoner 344," commanded the leader. "Stand against the wall with your arms above your head."
Lia silently complied. The guards looked at each other for a second, confused, before moving forward and placing a metal bracelet on her right wrist. Clearly the rumors of her imprisonment had reached them, and were expecting a struggle. However, she obediently followed them out of the cell and into the hallway, which she could see was now filled with dozens of other kids being carted away as well. So it was yelling she heard after all.
"Where are you taking us?" she asked, voice cracking from weeks of silence. She didn't have anyone to visit her in lockup, so there had been no reason to speak.
The guards gave no answer. She could hear other kids asking the same question, obviously as confused as she was.
"Oof!" Lia grunted as she was shoved into the railing by a girl running out of her cell. She had curly blonde hair and intense blue eyes that looked like they could pierce through solid stone. She paid no mind to the girl and continued walking until loud shouts reached her ears. Guards were converging on her.
'She tried to escape,' Lia realized.
They turned the corner just as a brown-haired woman-was that Doctor Griffin?-ran up to the girl and embraced her. The realization hit her like a flash. That was Clarke Griffin, but she had no idea why she would be in lockup. She was a perfect citizen of the Ark, and well on her way to becoming a medic. As a volunteer at the library, Lia had seen Clarke reading in there on many occasions.
They came to a secured door, and she took the momentary pause to look out the window of the Ark. Earth sat there, looking like a serene paradise. She knew better of course. Down there was a toxic wasteland, incapable of habitation thanks to the nuclear weapons of their ancestors. Radiation would kill her as soon as she stepped onto the ground, but still, she could dream.
She refocused her gaze onto the glass to look at her reflection. Unruly brown hair framed a pale face, and two grey eyes peered back at her through the wild strands of natural blonde highlights that she couldn't push back due to her shackled hands.
A sharp tug on her arm alerted her to the open doorway and she stepped through. She gasped. They were at the drop ship. All around her, her fellow juvenile prisoners were being herded by other guards into the open hatch and forced into seats.
Lia backed up a few steps and exclaimed, "What's going on here?!"
Her guards nodded to each other and led her to a man whom she recognized as councilman Kane.
"Is this her?" he asked as they approached. After a nod from the guards, he waved his hand and dismissed them. "Lianna Mae Holstrum?"
She flinched at the usage of her full name. "Yes, sir."
"Do you know what is happening here, Lianna?"
"It's just Lia, sir. And...are we being sent to the ground?"
It was a wild guess, but it was her only guess. She knew she was incorrect. So when the councilman nodded in confirmation, her jaw dropped to the floor in shock.
"But sir!" Her voice came out louder than expected and she glanced around to find people staring at her. "It's not possible to survive on Earth!"
He grimaced and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's very possible that it is, Lianna. We just don't know. That's why you, and the 99 other teenagers, are being sent down. To see if we can go back down."
Lia felt a burst of anger and subtly squirmed out from his grip. "So you're sending down the expendables. If we live, great! You can come down and follow us. If we die, it doesn't matter, because we're just a bunch of juvenile delinquents!"
She tried to say it as calmly as possible, but a bitterly sarcastic twist was evident in her tone. It wasn't like her to openly show rage, rather hiding it inside and plotting revenge later, but three months of solitude had robbed her of her social skills.
"And it's Lia, Councilman Kane," she growled. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go to my one-way death seat now."
He only sighed and stood up straight. "I know you see me as the bad guy, Lia, but we're only trying to save humanity. Help the Ark." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Follow the instructions I've placed under your seat."
She glared at him. "You are the bad guy."
He dropped down to her level and looked her in the eye. "You think so. But I'm not the one in lockup for murder."
Two guards grabbed her arms from behind and dragged her away before she could launch herself at the councilman. She was the last one to be strapped in, and she noticed a guard slip in behind her and stow away on the ship. Before she could contemplate this, the hatch closed and a jolt shook the ship, evoking several screams from the other passengers.
Her rage subsided into fear and excitement. She was going to the ground. Anything could happen. The only thing she had to look forward to was three years in lockup until her eighteenth birthday, when she would be floated for her crimes. Now, she could explore areas where no human had set foot in for a hundred years!
A pre-recorded video of Chancellor Jaha explaining the situation flashed onto a screen. Most of the things she knew already from her talk with councilman Kane, so she was free to not pay attention and observe the other passengers. Some she knew, like Wells and Clarke sitting across from her, but most of the other kids were strangers. There were prisoners ranging from the ages of 13 and 17, and you could generally tell what part of the Ark they came from. Lia was lucky. She had been born in the richer section, and was more privileged than the majority of the others. Others weren't so fortunate, and their clothes hung loosely because of their low amount of ration points.
The video ended and-what are those imbeciles doing?! Boys were unbuckling their harnesses and floating around in the zero G, doing flips and bouncing off the walls to their audience's cheers. Clarke reprimanded them before she had the chance to scream at their stupidity.
"Stay in your seats!" she yelled repeatedly, but no one was listening.
A boy with long brown hair drifted past arrogantly, and she recognized him as Finn Collins. The Spacewalker. As he opened his mouth to reply with what she was sure was a snarky comment, the drop ship hit the atmosphere and the parachute popped open. Kids went flying into the walls, and sparks burst from busted wiring. Lia couldn't hear her own thoughts over the panicked screaming and crashing.
With a final, shocking crash, they landed. It was dead silent except for the occasional popping of electrical wires. Nobody spoke for what felt like an eternity. Finally, a boy, whom she was pretty sure was named Monty, stated, "Listen: there're no engine sounds."
As if on cue, everyone unbuckled and rushed toward the hatch. Her heart pounded. Every molecule in her body was on fire, fueled by pure adrenaline. The boy whom she had seen sneak in pushed his way to the front, but it was clear that he was no guard. His guard jacket was slightly torn, and he wore civilian clothes underneath. Unkempt black hair tumbled across his forehead.
Nobody was willing to take the first step yet: opening the hatch. They stood there, tension so thick you could reach out and grab strands of it with your hand.
The not-guard, who had clearly chosen the leadership spot for himself already, suddenly dramatically pulled a lever on the wall. The slow grinding of the hatch's descent only accelerated their heart rates even more, and cool air rushed in through the opening. Everyone was speechless as they squinted into the bright sunlight and saw trees towering over them.
On a sudden impulse, Lia stepped forward into the light. Too entranced by her surroundings to care what the others thought of her, she slowly stepped down until she reached the end of the ramp. Heart racing, she jumped. Soft brown dirt squelched under her shoes, and the long grass tickled her ankles. She bent down, feeling the earth beneath her fingers.
With a wild, careless motion, she threw the dirt up in the air and spun around. "We're home!"
The other kids rushed down the ramps with equally triumphant shouts, and she was jostled around in the pure ecstasy of the moment. She was on Earth. The actual ground.
And anything could happen.
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