I've had this story in the works for so long, and I just realized that if I want to get anywhere with it mentally I should probably post it. Does that mean I'll be consistent? I hope so. I apologize for any grammatical errors, I am both an asshole and quite often, too attention-deficit for my own good. If anyone wants to be a beta, send me a message. I'll be over here, waiting.
If anyone wants any characters to have their own story, please message. June, whom you will meet in the next chapter, will probably get her own story. And by probably, I mean I've already started writing her story.
No kid should ever have to get used to a prison cell. Unfortunately enough for me, I had to, and did. Our prison section (called the skybox) became a sort of home for me, in a cruel sense. I had a roommate, Reed, whom I love dearly. She had come from the Factory Station, and she and her parents got caught going through trash. 'Salvaging' was considered illegal, and her parents paid with their lives. She was only 14 when they were all caught, however. Being under the age of 18, she was sent to the skybox where she would stay until she turned 18. Once 18, they would set a trial to see if her crimes would cause her to get floated.
Floating was the new age corporal punishment. Apparently, on earth they used to inject criminals with legal chemicals in order to kill them. Now, they get sent out into outer space, dying instantaneously.
I was sent to the skybox when I was 15, only three months after Reed. And here we stayed, until a few hours ago.
A few hours ago, we were sitting in the mess hall. We had made the most rudimentary set of cards years ago, and played them whenever we had a chance. This time, we were playing with two others. Jasper and Monty had become our friends a little over a year ago, when they both were sent to the skybox for stealing and smoking herbs. The most tame of offenses, but enough to get them locked up. They stuck close to us after we prevented a potentially deadly run in between themselves and a couple of what Reed and I called, 'the murder gang' (M.G. for short.)
The murder gang was a group of teenagers our age. The only thing that really set them apart from us however is that they killed people in order to get locked up in the skybox. They weren't actual murderers, though. These were the accomplices. The real murderers were in solitary, foaming at the mouth. Or, at least that is what we liked to speculate. At one point in time when we were younger, Reed and I would draw what we thought the murderers looked like. She had never seen anyone from solitary. I had, though. Which is why no matter how much I liked to joke that they had three heads, I knew they looked like us.
Anyways, we were in the mess hall when table by table, they called us for health inspections. This was typical, so no one thought anything of it. However, once a table left, they never returned. We should've noticed this, but unfortunately we were too focused on our game. It was close, and Jasper and Monty were in the lead. This was extremely abnormal, and we were all thrown. It wasn't until we were forced to pause the game, that we noticed how quiet our surroundings had gotten. Jasper and Monty sauntered into the medic room ahead of us, their egos too big from being in the lead to notice they were walking into a trap. I had tried backing out of the room when I noticed the needles in the guards hands. But I didn't get far when I felt a sharp pain in my upper arm. I blacked out so quickly, I didn't even have time to look around me to see where Reed was.
Which leads me to now. In a dropship, by the looks of it, Next to some passed out blondie whom I have never seen in my life. Of course I would be next to some random-ass blonde. I began looking around, hoping to find Reed. Or at least Monty and Jasper. When I couldn't see her, I became slightly desperate.
"Reed!" I shouted, causing blondie to awaken with a gasp, startling me. I continued staring at her, my mission to find Reed momentarily abandoned. Her eyes finally landed on me, and she began quizzically staring at me.
We stared at each other for a moment, almost sizing each up, before a sharp yell broke my concentration.
"Riley Parker!" I heard Reed yell, and I looked around for the source of her voice. Pulling slightly on the seat belt, I peered around blondie. On the other side of the dropship I could see Reed stuck in-between Monty and Jasper.
Flinging my arms in the air, this time I screamed "Reed Walters!" as I continued to look at her.
Finally she noticed my arms, and a grin appeared on her face as she began flailing her arms at me.
Monty gave me a relieved smile before exchanging a glance with Jasper. Jasper smiled nodding his head back at Monty.
The guy on the other side of me, whom I had failed to pay attention until this moment, finally spoke up. "Welcome back." He said as looked over me, his eyes dead on blondie.
"Oh boy." I whispered to myself. It was apparent I was going to be in the middle of something big.
As if on queue, blondie began glaring at the guy as she said; "Wells, why the hell are you here?"
Slowly I sunk back into my seat, looking from Wells to blondie. This wasn't going to end well for one of them, and although I normally enjoyed watching people argue, I didn't enjoy it when I was literally in the middle.
"When I found that they were sending prisoners," Wells paused, his eyes hesitantly flickering to me. I squinted back, and just at that moment I heard Monty scream from the other side of the dropship.
"We totally whooped you guys' asses, Parker!"
Yup. That was exactly what Wells needed to hear. That not only was the girl he sat next to a prisoner, but one who's ass was handed to her by wimpy little Monty. Wells's eyes awkwardly dropped away from mine before he looked back at blondie with the most pathetic puppy eyes I had seen in a long time.
"I got myself arrested. I came for you." Wells finished, and I frowned at him. Before he could notice me staring however, I quickly adverted my eyes to right in front of me.
Before the awkward silence between the two could grow, the whole ship shook. My hands flew to my seat belt, clutching it. Although I'm sure anyone who had ever been to first year of earth science would know it was us breaking through the atmosphere, blondie still felt the need to remark about it.
"Damn alpha stationers" I hissed. It was clear both her and this wells were both very well off. They were most likely part of the ten percent of people on the ark whom had life a lot easier than the rest of us, those people living in the Alpha station. Clearly Wells was if he thought getting himself arrested would be a good thing to do purposely.
Blondie appeared to be about to speak up, most likely to in remark to my comment, but was cut off my the television screens all throughout the dropship turning on with sharp static noise before Chancellor Jaha appeared.
"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now." Jaha began. Unfortunately enough for Jaha and myself, I tuned people out when they gave orders. I like to think it's because I have a need to rebel, but Reed always would giggle before giving a salty remark about my lack of attention span.
"Your dad is a dick, Wells." A prisoner over closer to Reed yelled. I gave a quick side glance at Wells. He didn't seem too phased at the comment.
I think I reacted more to it than him, to be honest. I hadn't known he was Jaha's son, and couldn't believe Jaha would send his son anywhere with a bunch of prisoners.
"Space walk bandit strikes again!" Reed cheered, and I couldn't help but grin a bit before leaning forward to look at her. Reed either called other people by their full name, or by a custom made nickname. She always had a few custom nicknames for everyone, my favorite creation of hers for Finn was 'Finn Trashbin', given to him after we watched from afar the amount of prison food he could consume without even batting an eye.
However, in this case; Space walk bandit was extremely fitting. As he slowly floated through air, he began gliding in our direction.
He was smirking at Wells, and when he got close enough he finally said; "Check it out. Your dad floated me after all."
From what I had learned from Finn from the few conversations we had ever had, was that he liked to push people's buttons. Wells must have known this, however.
"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Wells remarked to Finn, his face void of expression.
"Hey you two!" Blondie yelled, and I jumped away from her in surprise. "Stay put if you want to live." She continued, and I noticed she was staring at two of the M.G. who were currently in the process of unbuckling. No doubt to follow Finn's dumb example.
That's the thing with those Murder Gang idiots, they were, you know. Idiots.
"Hey, you're that traitor that's been in solitary for a year." Finn said, pointing at blondie. Before blondie could pipe in though, I quickly interjected.
"How do you know who she is?" I asked, frowning at Finn. How does everyone seem to know her but me?
Finn winked at me, and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could get a word out however, he was thrown to the ground. Gravity had kicked in, and I could feel my whole body shake. The pressure of us dropping so fast made me feel like my head was going to burst. My ears began ringing, my hands flew to my ears as I bizzare popping sensation occurred.
"Retrorockets ought to have fired by now." Wells remarked just as my ears seemed to clear.
"Everything on this ship is a hundred years old." Blondie reminded Wells, and I could feel the panic rising in everyone who heard her. "Just give it a second."
"Clarke, there is something I have to tell you." Wells said, revealing blondies name. I probably should've asked her by now, considering I could be dying next to her. "I'm sorry I got your father arrested."
"Whoah there." I interjected, and they both glared at me. "That's a little too much for me."
"Don't talk about my father." Clarke retorted to Wells as I began glaring into the space in front of me.
"Please, I can't die knowing you hate me."
"Is this really an appropriate time to be doing this?" I asked Wells as I began glaring at him.
"They didn't arrest my father, Wells. They executed him. I do hate you." Clarke hissed as tears began forming in her eyes.
"Just kill me now." I whispered as I went back to glaring in front of me.
The crash landing sucked big time. My head whipped back when we made contact with the ground, and I ended up with a bad bump on my head, a headache from said bump, and I bit my tongue. Its safe to say that I was, by no means one of the first people off the dropship.
"Get your ass up." Reed told me, and at this point she was standing in front of me. Most of the floor we were on had gotten off at this point, and the top floor was beginning to climb down the ladder. "We are on earth."
"I bit my tongue." I mumbled, getting my seatbelt off with one hand and covering my mouth with the other.
Reed snorted quite rudely at my predicament, then tugged my hand away from the mouth (nearly clawing my cheek in the process. She really needs to learn how to trim her nails.) She backed up slightly as she dropped my hand, and I finally got up on wobbly legs.
My balance came back quickly however as I followed Reed out the dropship doors. The sun temporarily blinded both of us, but once I could open my eyes I was even more stunned.
Everything was green. I mean plant-wise, that is. None of the other prisoners were green. Except for the kid with the acne, who was puking next to a tree.
I couldn't help but smile. We were on earth, and it was beautiful, and we hadn't died (yet). I looked over at Reed, and saw she was also grinning.
Jasper walked past us in deep discussion with Monty, and Reed quickly jumped into step beside them. I brought my hand up to my cheek once again, and followed behind them. Man, did my tongue hurt badly.
Slowly, we all made our way around the ship. Jasper spotted Clarke as she drew on a map, and he quickly went up to her.
"Oh cool, a map!" Monty commented excitedly, and both Clarke and I frowned. I frowned because Monty was being a little too nerdy, and Clarke just seemed annoyed by everyone in general. It probably didn't help that Wells was beside her, whom by the conversation they had over my while we crash landed, she didn't like very much.
"They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer." Jasper said, stepping closer to Clarke. For some reason however, Wells didn't like this.
"You mind?" Wells hissed, and he stepped in front of Clarke as he roughly pushed Jasper away.
"Hey!" Both Reed and I yelled in unison as Jasper mumbled 'whoa!' I wanted to step up and defend Jasper, a habit both I and Reed had become accustomed to. But someone else defended him first.
"Hey, hands off of him. He's with us." His voice sent shivers down my spine. I didn't even need to turn my head to know who is was. I knew that voice all too well.
It was the voice of my childhood best friend. The guy who got himself locked up trying to defend me. The guy who was the reason I got locked up when I no longer had him to defend me. I heard ringing in my ears again. The world blurred in and out of focus, but as I slowly turned my head to look at him, it all slowly faded away. Faded away in just the right amount of time to hear Reed say to him,
"Riley here bit her tongue and probably has a concussion."
John Murphy was staring at me, more like glaring actually. There was a slight glimmer of amusement playing in his eyes, most likely from what Reed just said.
"You're not listening." Wells said, which to be honest couldn't be anymore true. He wasn't saying it to me, though. "We all need to go."
If I could, I would've just punched myself in the face for being too transfixed by Murphy to even hear 95% of the conversation. Instead, I forced myself to look away and find out who Wells was talking to. I looked around, and saw an older guy standing next to a girl who looked a lot like him. I'm pretty sure her name was Octavia, and I was beginning to regret not being a social butterfly in the skybox.
"Look at this everybody, Chancellor of the Earth." Murphy spat, sarcasm practically dripping from his words. Trying to avoid attracting attention, I slowly stepped further behind Reed. I focused back on Wells and Clarke, who looked both extremely pissed off. Jasper and Monty quickly backed into Reed, who had to force herself not to yelp in surprise.
We all backed up in just enough time as Wells quickly took the ground we had just abandoned.
"You think that's funny?" Wells asked Murphy, which I knew was a dumb move on Wells's behalf. Of course he thought it was funny, of course everyone but Clarke and himself thought it was funny. It was funny.
"Uhh.." Murphy looked around for a moment, before he moved as quick as lightening, tripping Wells. Wells fell to the ground, a sickening crack coming from his ankle. I cringed at the noise, but everyone else seemed to find it very amusing. Especially Murphy, who smirked with pride.
As if sensing my gaze he looked back in my direction, then his eyes flickered to Monty and Jasper with disgust.
He had changed a lot in solitary, that's for sure. He was a lot taller, and his hair was longer. He had more of a sour attitude. His speed hadn't, however. He was still quick on his toes, which became more evident as he moved to continue fighting Wells.
But Finn for some reason had climbed up onto the dropship just to drop down between the two of them.
"Kid's got one leg. Why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?" Finn asked, and Murphy gave him a disgusted look before taking a step back away from him. He didn't look ready to end the fight however until Octavia came over to Finn.
"Hey, spacewalker." Octavia began, looking at Finn like she could eat him. Hell, she might want to eat him. I don't know what she's in for. "Rescue me next."
Scratch that. She totally didn't want to cannibalize him.
Murphy glared slightly at Octavia before his eyes made it back to me. He was still glaring, however.
"Murph." I whispered, not being able to help myself. That seemed to piss him off more, however. He grimaced, giving one more disgusted once-over of the people around me, (refer to Monty, Jasper, and Reed) before stalking away into the crowd.
"Huh." Reed mumbled once the crowd dispersed, and she finally looked at me. Concern filled her eyes as she noticed me still staring out where Murphy had disappeared. "Man, you are pissed as all hell. Stop frowning like that. Your face will get stuck like that."
"Why would you tell him I bit my tongue?" I asked, my expression calming down in a sense to more of an annoyed tone.
"Better than telling him you're constipated, which is kind of what you looked like." Jasper retorted as he turned to look at us. Reed snorted, both her hands flying up to her face in a failed attempt to not sound like a pig. Monty turned around, an amused smile playing on his face as he looked from Reed to myself.
Finally, I smiled. I was with my friends, on earth. Yeah, Murphy was here. But more importantly, Reed was here. And Monty, and Jasper. Before I could say anything about why I looked constipated however, both Jasper and Monty were pulled away from us by Finn.
"Four of us. Can we go now?" Finn said, and I quickly scooted around Monty to see who he was talking to. I frowned however when I looked and saw it was Clarke.
"Like they are going anywhere without us, right Riley?" Reed jumped in, literally jumping up right next to Jasper.
All eyes were on me, now. I gave a quick sigh and rolled my eyes. What I wanted to do was touch Murphy's face for the first time in years. I mean, talk to him. Yeah, talk to him. I'm not creepy I swear. But instead I'm getting volunteered by my new best friend to do who the hell knows what.
"Sure?"
"Make it 7." Octavia said, clapping her hands as she joined the group. I looked over at Jasper and Monty to see them both nearly drooling. Reed noticed this too, and quickly punched Jasper in the stomach.
"Make it 8, actually." An older girl, wearing a guard uniform said as she swaggered up. She looked to be a year or two younger than the other guard, who was currently hissing something into Octavia's ear as she tried to pull away from him. Her long black hair was unkempt, like Octavia, but it was clear they were not related, even though Octavia came up to her and linked arms, throwing a glare back at the other guard.
At this point, I knew my time on earth was going to be a lot of the old (refer to Murphy, and such), but also a lot more of the new. And I wasn't quite sure if I liked that idea yet or not.