Chapter 1 - The living are gone, the dead are hungry
If you only briefly glanced at the dusty country lane, it would look rather peaceful; A light wind blew through the overgrown grass and a rabbit darted across the road, disappearing into the bushes beyond. It looked nice, that was until you saw the head speared upon the top of a wooden road sign, the body mangled and crusted with scarlet below.
This was not peaceful, this was the apocalypse.
In the distance, a faint rumbling sound was heard and from over the hill, came a four by four, dirt flying out from underneath the wheels as it travelled at speeds that would have been illegal pre-apocalypse, and jerked to a halt just before the signpost. The door swung open and Clarke Griffin, rather flustered, stumbled out screaming profanities in all directions as she gained her balance."Raven, I swear I'll kill you if you ever do that again!" she fumed angrily, finally standing straight and brushing dirt off her dark blue jacket. Despite the bright sun, it was late fall, and a chill bit icily through the air. The driver door flew open rather violently and out stepped Raven Reyes, running a hand through her dark brown hair and zipping up her tattered orange coat, huffing into the cold."There's no need to cry about it, I got us away from the hoard didn't I? You should be thanking me" she smirked, as Bellamy and Octavia Blake got out of the car."I was certain we were goners back there, too bad were out of gas, we'll have to find some more" quipped Octavia. Bellamy shook his head in the realisation of the events that had just taken place. "We've got to be more careful in the future, the apocalypse isn't the place to be belting out Blondie lyrics Raven" he sighed, "you practically lured them into our base with you tone deaf voice", "hey, who you calling tone deaf?" Raven remarked. Clarke rolled her eyes and knelt down by the beheaded corpse as Octavia stretched out a hand and leaned in to touch the blood, staring at the drop on her finger.
It had only been a month since Finn had been torn apart by the reincarnation of what had once been Jasper, leaving Clarke to put him out of his misery with a knife to the skull. The group were still grieving and the sight of blood brought all the gruesome memories flooding back into Octavia's mind. Ever since that day Clarke had changed, she was no longer the cheerful,friendly girl the group had grown to admire, she was now a heartbroken, ruthless leader who took no bullshit, especially from Raven. "It's fresh, we should get out of here" Octavia said snapping back to reality. "Yes, you should" said an unfamiliar voice. The four of them darted round in an instant, Bellamy raising his revolver in a hurry.
There stood a woman, showing no hint of fear at the imposing pistols invading her space. She had long, dark brown braids, and wore a black leather holster across her chest. A machete gleamed in the sunlight against her hip. Clarke froze at the sight of the mystery girl, only once since the first week had the group come across another survivor and his only intention was to steal their supplies, she had to be careful. "Who are you, what do you want!?" burst Bellamy, his finger edging towards the trigger ready to squeeze at a moments notice. "I may feel more obliged to answer if there wasn't a loaded pistol aimed directly at my head" said the girl. Angered by the lack of answers Bellamy began to yell, "You have no right telli-" he was cut off by Clarke's actions. Confused, Bellamy turned to her shocked at the fact that she had just snatched his gun away and placed it on the cars trunk. "This is no time for violence Bellamy, if you want answers, do as she says".
The girl smirked. Throughout all of her time living in the apocalypse, she had never met someone so smart in their choice of words. "How about we talk about this in a more fitting environment, our base is just a few miles down the road" she suggested. Before anyone could interject she was already walking in the opposite direction, desperate for some sort of safe-haven, Clarke followed causing the rest of them to copy. "If you try anything, you're dead" she clarified. The girl raised an eyebrow at the statement but forced down the smile that was attempting to escape her lips. After around 20 minutes she broke the silence, "I'm Lexa" she stated. Clarke was surprised by the sudden introduction given to her but complied with an answer, "I'm Clarke, the guys Bellamy, the one with long hair is his sister, Octavia and the other ones Raven". Lexa gave a nod of understanding. "You have nothing to fear from me I am not your enemy, the living are gone Clarke, the dead are hungry". Clarke acknowledged the comment but still stayed wary of Lexa, she still knew little of the girl.
Approaching an old, battered gas station, they rushed towards it in hope of finding fuel and supplies for Lexa's group as they were running low. The area was seemingly deserted and Raven gave little care into staying quiet, as usual. In one swift push the door swung open and in flooded the small group with the exception of Octavia who attempted to retrieve gas from the fuel stations. Empty. Everything in the store was bare, it had already been raided leaving only an array of abandoned boxes and broken shelves scattered across the room. "Damn it" muttered Raven. "Any luck out there?" Bellamy asked, Octavia pointed her thumb down indicating her apparent bad luck. "Fuck were screwed, do you have any gas at your camp Lexa" he enquired. "If we did do you think I would be walking?" she replied "We haven't used a car in months". In the midst of the conversation Clarke disappeared around the corner, she was sure she had glimpsed movement behind an abandoned car. Lexa noticed her absence and followed her leaving the others stressing at their lack of luck. Clarke was aware of Lexa's presence but refused to acknowledge her as she was focusing on her current quest. She arrived at the car to discover that the movement had been merely a figure of her imagination, she shook her head in disappointment. Squinting at the tree standing a few metres away from Clarke, Lexa gradually reached for the handle of her machete, she was sure she had seen something. Realising that something was wrong Clarke looked to Lexa for an explanation to her movements, in return the girl placed a finger on her lips and continued towards the tree. In a flash of sharp, calculated swings, Lexa brought down the walking corpse in a matter of seconds. Shocked; Clarke stared, mouth gaping, at what she had just witnessed. This girl was not just a survivor, she was a warrior.