Chapter 1: The Ground (Pilot – Part 1)
The cell was cold.
That was the first thought that popped into her head when she awoke from a fitful slumber.
But then more thoughts rushed in, leaving a hollow feeling in her chest.
"I'm eighteen today," she whispered aloud, her voice reverberating in the concrete room.
The other girl on the cot across from hers sat bolt upright, her expression one of complete and utter astonishment.
"That's what you've been counting down to all this time?" she questioned, voice straining with emotion. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The older girl sighed. "Octavia, please – "
"Don't you 'Octavia, please,' me, Parker Nathan!" Octavia exclaimed. "I deserved to know that you might be floated today!"
Parker grudgingly pushed herself up, propping her thin pillow against the wall to lean against. "You don't have to remind me. I already know I will be. I've known ever since I was thrown into this hole."
Octavia threw off her thin blankets and trotted over to Parker's bed, plopping down to face her cellmate. Parker pulled her own covers up over her forearms, attempting not to look Octavia in the eyes while doing so.
"Hey, talk to me," Octavia prodded. "You can't be okay with this."
"That's just it. I am okay with it. I accepted it a long time ago. Now you need to as well," Parker told her.
But she hadn't. She didn't want to be floated. She'd seen it happen to others before her. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving Octavia or her parents. She was scared. How could she not be? Dying wasn't something that she wanted to do that early in her life.
Octavia shook her head. "You're lying."
Parker's eyes flitted over to the chalk markings on the wall. The number of days she had been in there with Octavia pierced her skull, rolling around in her brain until it hurt to look at them any longer.
She tried to be strong for her friend. She scoffed at the statement. "Yeah, right."
"Parks, you're a terrible fibber," Octavia repeated. "You can't get anything past me, okay? You're too easy to read."
Parker played with the ends of her brown, fading into dishwater blonde hair. She swallowed thickly. "Wish I wasn't."
They were both silent for a few beats.
Octavia picked a stray ball of fuzz on the blanket. "I guess…I guess I'm going to get a new cellmate."
Parker nodded, unable to respond to such a comment. But Octavia wasn't wrong.
A long beep sounded from their cell door, indicating that the food flap was going to be opening.
Neither of them looked that way, as they were quite familiar with the noise. They heard the smaller slide scrape open, the sound of metal on concrete, and then another beep. Breakfast had arrived.
"Will you at least eat breakfast with me?" Octavia wondered.
Parker couldn't help but smirk. "I don't really have a choice, O. I'm kind of stuck with you."
Octavia smiled and slid off the bed, ready to collect the trays of rations.
Parker pushed the covers off her and reached down to the floor to grab her socks that she had kicked off during her night of terrible sleep.
Then, she felt Octavia tap on her leg.
"Parker, look," she said, as if confused. "They didn't just give us breakfast today."
"Octavia, now's really not the time for one of your puns," Parker replied. "Seriously, though, is there something that's actually there besides our food?"
"It's clothing."
Parker froze mid-sock pull. They never delivered anything special to the cells. If they distributed new prisoner garb, they lined up on the second floor of the Skybox. Never ever had their clothes been delivered to their cells, much less pushed through the food flap.
"Excuse me?" demanded Parker, puzzled.
"Just look for yourself!" Octavia said, amazed.
Parker slipped on the sock and stood next to her cellmate. She was, in fact, correct. Not only were there two trays of rations on the floor, there were also two piles of clothes and two pairs of boots.
"Are we going somewhere?" Octavia speculated.
"Where would we go?" Parker countered.
Octavia nodded. "True. There's nowhere we'd be welcome here on the Ark. You know, someday, I'm getting out of here and I'm going to do something completely insane. Like, go on a spacewalk like that guy Finn did a few months ago."
Parker merely raised her eyebrows and picked up the pile closest to her side of the room. Octavia did the same.
Parker placed her new clothes on the bed and examined them closely. Were they uniforms of some sort? Did they have a symbol on them to indicate that she was a criminal?
Octavia gasped with realization as she buttoned her new trousers.
"We're not both getting floated, are we?"
"No," Parker immediately responded. "You're not turning seventeen for several months and even at seventeen, they don't float people."
"What if they changed the policy or something?" Octavia asked quickly. "Can they do that?"
A series of laws and policies about juvenile delinquents and execution ran through Parker's mind, her years of reading about the Ark's ways finally being useful in some sense. "No, they can't change the law for that, especially since Jaha is the Chancellor. He's pretty old-fashioned."
"Hey, maybe I'm going to your review as a witness or something!" said Octavia hopefully.
Parker shook her head again. "They don't call witnesses for the reviews."
"Well, then I'm out of ideas," grumbled Octavia grimly. "Just trying to be the optimistic one here."
Parker let out a breath, grabbed the dark blue v-neck tank top, and yanked off the old gray one she had on. "I know. I'm sorry. It's hard to be when you know you're going to die today."
Frustrated, she tugged on the new tank top and slammed her fist into her cot. She turned to see Octavia staring at her, face turning slightly red.
The younger girl made the two strides across the room and wrapped her arms around the older one.
"I don't want to lose you, Parks," she muttered. Parker could hear her voice crack and shake, as if tears were forming in her eyes.
Parker hugged her back tightly, her eyes welling up. "I'm sorry. I really am."
"It's not your fault," Octavia replied.
Parker put her hands on her good friend's shoulders, pushing her out of the hug. She held Octavia at arm's length, staring at her firmly.
"But it is. I'm the one who made mistakes. I'm going to pay for those in the way that the Ark's creators thought they should be paid for. I brought this on myself," Parker said. "But thank you."
To her surprise, Octavia smiled slightly. "You sound like my brother."
Parker chuckled and shrugged on a dark green jacket. "Now that's a first."
"No, seriously, you do," Octavia reiterated. "And you know I've joked about you being family, but Parker…you are family to me now. You're my sister."
Parker teared up again. She could barely talk. It meant so much to her that Octavia would say such a thing. She spoke so highly of her brother and how much he took care of her and loved her. To hear her compliment her on such a day made Parker even more emotional than it normally would have. On the day of her death, she felt loved again, just as her father and mother loved her.
"Thank you," she said softly.
Octavia smiled and went back to her own cot to finish changing.
Parker turned to face the tallied wall, tears slipping down her face. She did nothing to wipe them away. She was not ashamed of her own emotions.
They both were completely ready by the time three guards crashed into their cell, the steel door slamming against the wall with a loud BANG.
"Prisoners 1-4-8 and 1-6-7, stand up and face the wall with your hands raised!" one commanded.
The two girls hurriedly did as they were told. Two guards took their places behind the girls, holding them in place by their arms.
Parker frowned at the gray concrete in front of her. She didn't trust these guards or their commander. What the hell were they going to do to her and Octavia?
She heard metal clasps clicking and a quiet whirring noise behind her. She turned her head slightly to see the third guard holding up two metal contraptions, each with several needles blinking and glowing with a green light. Her heart dropped.
"Wait a minute! Wait! What are you doing?!" she demanded as the machine was handed to Octavia's guard. She started to struggle, trying to reach out and smack the thing out of the guard's hands.
Octavia immediately turned her head to see the metal contraption and started to try to break free.
"Get that thing away from me!" she cried.
The guard forcefully held out her right arm and the third guard clamped it onto her wrist. Octavia let out a sharp yell as the needles poked through her flesh.
"Let her go!" Parker shouted as the guard started to jerk Octavia away from the wall. "She's not eighteen yet! Let her GO!"
Octavia wriggled and kicked and screamed as they led her away from her friend. "Parker! Parker, no! PARKER!"
"OCTAVIA!" Parker bellowed as the younger girl disappeared out the door.
She became desperate. She couldn't let Octavia go like that. Who knew where they were taking her?
She flicked her foot back, kicking her guard in the crotch. He loosened his hold on her and Parker yanked her arm out of his grasp. She tried to make it to the door, but the third guard clamped his hand down on her right arm and dragged her back, slamming the machine onto her wrist. Parker yelled once as the needles pinched and stung her arm. The second guard, hearing her pain, regained his footing and tackled her, sending her down hard to the ground.
Parker did her best to kick and scratch and pull, but she couldn't get a grip on the guard.
"Have fun dying on the Ground, crackhead," he snarled.
Parker rolled her eyes at the terrible nickname she had earned herself, then gasped as the guard jammed something sharp into the back of her thigh.
Her eyes grew droopy and her entire body fought against the tranquilizer. She lost the battle with the drug, and finally collapsed after several moments of struggle. But before she went out, the guards distinctly heard her call out her friend's name.
"Octavia…"
"Parker, Parker wake up! PARKER!"
The girl felt a dull throb in her knee, her eyes flying open at the pain. She glanced down to see Octavia's leg drawing back from her own.
"You kicked me," she stated.
"Uh, no duh," the younger girl across from her mocked. "Look where we are."
Parker blinked several times, trying to get used to the lighting in…wherever she was. Next to her was a girl, one that she didn't recognize. And next to Octavia was a completely unfamiliar boy. In fact, all around Parker were other teenagers she had never seen before in her life. And they were all restrained by seatbelts.
Wait…seatbelts? She thought. I'm going crazy, right?
The lighting was dim and the place they were strapped into looked old. It was clearly outdated technology. But why?
Parker thought about how she got there. The cell…why weren't they in their cell? What were the guards doing? Was this against Chancellor Jaha's orders?
Then a phrase spit at her by the guard who knocked her out floated back into her memory.
"Have fun dying on the Ground, crackhead."
"Earth?" she said quietly.
"We're bein' sent to earth, yep," the girl next to her grumbled.
"Why?" Parker probed harshly. "Did the guards say anything when they strapped us in? Any word from the Chancellor?"
"Course not," the girl chuckled darkly. "Ya think they tell us crap 'round here? No way. We're the criminals. We don't deserve to know anythin'."
Parker grit her teeth and looked back to Octavia.
"We have to get off this ship…now," she told her friend, eyes hardening.
Then the hatches in the floor squeaked and slammed shut with a metallic clank. She heard footsteps below, then another boom.
Her eyes widened. There was no escaping this now.
The ship rumbled, vibrating beneath their feet. Then, with a sharp swerve, the ship left the Ark. To earth.
Parker leaned back in her seat, letting her head rest against it. What would they do for food? And shelter? She had learned a few things in Earth Survival Skills class a few years earlier, but who knew what the Ground was going to be like. There was no guarantee that they would even make it off the dropship. And, if they did, they might all die from radiation as soon as they got out.
Octavia said nothing, seemingly almost excited to be in the ship.
"Are you…happy?" asked Parker bluntly.
"Hell yes I am! I'm just glad we're out of that cell," Octavia replied.
"I'm glad we are, too, but we could die here or even on the Ground," Parker argued. "I'm not eager to be fried to death by radiation."
"Just think about it, Parker! We could always not die! And we can do whatever we want with no guards or adults telling us what to do or where to go! We won't be locked up anymore! I want to have fun!" Octavia contradicted.
Parker could hear the longing in her voice.
"Listen, I know that you want to go wild and stuff like that, but if we're going to be on earth, we have to be careful. Who knows what kinds of animals and plants have regrown since we've been gone? I don't want you getting hurt."
The ship began to shake, jostling everyone all about. Somebody shrieked as more lights flickered on, brightening the room immensely.
Screens on each side of the walls went on with a quiet buzzing. Chancellor Jaha appeared, looking solemn. "Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance. And as your chancellor, it is my hope that you see this not only as a chance for you, but a chance for all of us; indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would have sent others. But frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you…expendable."
At this, Parker's nostrils flared in anger. Because of what they had done, they were suddenly lab rats testing out a new habitat for other, more privileged rats? It was a terrible excuse.
"Your dad's a dick, Wells!" called out another boy. The other delinquents laughed.
Parker's head whipped around, eyes scanning the ship. "Wells is here?"
"Heard he got himself arrested," the boy next to Octavia chimed in.
"What the hell did he do?" demanded Parker.
The boy shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? I've been in solitary for the past four months."
"…your records wiped clean," she heard Jaha say from the screen above her. "Your drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to provide three hundred people for up to two years."
Parker heard nothing more of his instructions, as a girl from the other side of the ship cheered.
"Yeah, go Finn!"
Parker looked over to the middle of the ship where a guy was floating in midair. She rolled her eyes.
"Idiot," she muttered.
Everyone else around her praised him.
"Go Finn!" hollered Octavia, pumping her fist in the air.
"Octavia, he could die!" Parker scolded. "The landing is not going to be gentle."
"What's stuck up your ass, Parker? Come on, he's just having a little fun!" joked Octavia. She laughed as he floated up to a blonde girl and a dark-skinned boy. For some reason, the blonde girl looked familiar to her…
"That's Wells over there!" Parker exclaimed. "Finn is talking to him."
"Aren't you that crackhead girl?" the boy next to Octavia recognized, narrowing his eyes at Parker. "The one who traded out those extra rations for – "
"Mind your own damn business," she snapped.
"Yeah, leave her alone," Octavia joined in, defending Parker. "You're probably in for something much worse."
"Stay in your seats!" the blonde girl warned.
The ship lurched upwards, stopping its quick descent. But the boys who had gotten out of their seats were thrown around, hitting the ceiling, then crashed through several pipes and wires, sending smoke billowing out around them. Sparks flew, catching Parker in the leg.
"Crap, crap, crap!" she shouted, smacking the fire on her black jeans out with her hand.
"Parker, are you alright?" Octavia called.
"I'm fine!" Parker replied. "Just hang on, okay?"
Octavia braced herself in her seat, clinging to the straps holding her down.
The lights went crazy, making Parker's eyes freak out. She squeezed them shut, hoping and praying that she wasn't going to die sitting in the dropship.
It was pitch black, then, with a hard bump, the ship stopped. Everyone was quiet.
"Listen," called out one of the boys to the left. "No machine hum."
Parker frowned, then listened. He was right. It was total and absolute silence – something that none of the hundred had ever heard before.
All at once, others unclicked their seatbelts, fervent on getting out to the Ground.
"The other door's on the lower level. Let's go!" a boy shouted.
Octavia was out of hers before Parker. She helped Parker tug the rest of the restraints off.
"Come on, I want to be out as soon as possible," Octavia urged, hurrying them over to the nearest ladder down to the first level.
"I'll go before you, okay?" Parker told her.
Octavia nodded. "Just don't be slow!"
Parker smiled slightly and descended the ladder quickly.
A crowd of other delinquents pushed up against the front door as a guard held up his hands. "Just back it up, guys!"
Parker narrowed her eyes at the guard. Why would a guard be on a ship full of teenage prisoners?
"Stop!"
Parker turned quickly to see the blonde girl who had been next to Wells coming down the ladder. She pushed her way to the front.
"The air could be toxic," she advised.
"If the air's toxic, we're all dead anyway," the guard claimed.
"Bellamy?" Octavia said in wonder.
Parker watched as the guard turned slowly, as if recognizing Octavia's voice.
Parker's eyes flickered between the two.
It can't be… she thought. That's impossible.
Octavia jumped down from the ladder, glanced once at Parker in awe, then shoved her way over to the guard.
Parker followed her to the front of the crowd, hot on her heels.
"That's the girl that hid under the floor," commented one boy.
"Shut your mouth!" Parker barked in the direction the voice echoed from.
Octavia ignored it. She was intently gazing at the guard. Parker knew exactly who he was.
"Oh my god," he said breathlessly, obviously happy to see her. "Look how big you are."
It was Bellamy Blake, Octavia's older brother.
Octavia jumped into her brother's arms, overjoyed to see him there.
"What the hell are you wearing?" she said, stunned, touching his jacket. "A guard's uniform?"
"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship," he told her. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you."
They both smiled and hugged again.
Parker stared at them both in shock. She had promised Octavia that she would take care of her for her brother, but now it looked Octavia didn't need her anymore.
"Where's your wristband?" the blonde girl next to me asked firmly.
Octavia turned, an annoyed look on her face. "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year."
"No one's got a brother!"
"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!"
Parker scoffed at those who began talking about her, trading horrible rumors about her and her mother.
Octavia tried to launch herself into the crowd to find those certain people, but Parker reached out and held her back. Octavia still resisted her to get to them.
"Octavia, stop, no!" she said, holding back her friend. "Just calm down."
"Let go, Parker," she snarled, yanking herself out of Parker's grasp.
Bellamy eyed Parker with an accusing glint. "You're Parker Nathan, the double trouble criminal."
Parker smirked. "Cute nickname. Is that something the guards call me, or is it just you? Oh, wait, you're not in the guard any more, are you?"
Bellamy's expression hardened. "And how do you know my sister?"
"We were cell mates," she replied. "And we're good friends."
He looked down to Octavia. "Is this true?"
Octavia nodded. "She's like a sister to me, so quit interrogating her."
"Hey, floor girl, are we going to open the door or not?" yelled another prisoner.
"Pipe down!" Parker shouted back as Octavia groaned.
"I do not want to be remembered as 'floor girl' for the rest of my life," she said.
"Then let's give them something else to remember you by," Bellamy bribed.
"Yeah? Like what?"
Bellamy glanced over at Parker with a smug expression, then back to Octavia. "Like being the first person on the Ground in a hundred years."
Octavia grinned with her brother, then looked back at Parker, her eyebrows wiggling playfully.
Parker just raised hers, skeptical of Bellamy and the fact that Octavia was actually going to be the first on earth in a hundred years. The others would race out as soon as that door touched the Ground.
The siblings turned to face the door, Bellamy tugging down on a lever to the right. The mechanisms in the door clicked and whirred, then, quickly, it opened and light streamed in.
Parker covered her eyes as the brightness blinded her. Slowly, she removed her hand, blinking so that her eyes would adjust. And what she saw out on the Ground were things she had only dreamed about. The trees were so tall, the grass so green, the air so fresh it burned her lungs. Earth. And here she was, just feet away from stepping into its glory.
Parker watched as Octavia took one slow step forwards. The younger girl took in a deep breath and let it out, savoring the new scents and the crisp, endless oxygen supply. She started forward, coming to the end of the ramp.
Parker, worried that something might happen to her friend, instinctively went up closer to the doorway, but Bellamy's arm held her back. She shot an irritated expression his way, but did not push her boundaries.
Octavia bounded off the ramp, planting two feet firmly into the ground.
Parker forgot about everything as she waited in suspense. Was Octavia okay? Was Earth actually survivable? She smiled slightly at the surroundings Octavia was basking in.
The dark-haired girl raised her arms and screamed, "WE'RE BACK BITCHES!"
Parker laughed and ran forward off the drop ship along with the rest of the hundred. She couldn't believe it – they were home. They were on Earth!
Her eyes welled up again, but this time with tears of joy. She almost felt like sitting down right there in the brush underfoot and bawling. She wasn't going to be floated today. She would never have to worry about being floated again. She wouldn't die in space. Never again would she have to stare out into the darkness and spots of light, hopelessly wishing that she was on Earth. Now she didn't have to wish. She was there.
Octavia shrieked once she saw her former cell mate. "Parks, we made it! We're here!"
Parker laughed as Octavia wrapped her arms around Parker's neck.
"We're out of that cell, Tavia. We can live now," Parker smiled.
Octavia let go of her and grabbed her hand. "Let's go look at those trees!"
Parker let herself be pulled along, laughing all the way.
They stopped in front of what looked to be an older tree. Although, neither of them were really sure, as they had never see a tree before.
"It's so green," Octavia observed, amazed.
"It's called chlorophyll," Parker noted, just as amazed.
Octavia raised her eyebrows and pointed to the trunk. "This green stuff is called chlorophyll?"
Parker chuckled. "No, that's moss. It grows on trees. Everything is green because it holds a special pigment called chlorophyll that helps plants like moss to photosynthesize, which means make food for itself."
Octavia glanced from Parker to the moss on the tree a few times. "It makes its own food? That's awesome."
Parker nodded and smiled. "It is, isn't it?"
"Hey, O. What are you looking at?"
The two turned to see Bellamy striding up to them, a smirk on his face. It was a smirk that Parker wasn't sure she liked the sight of.
"Parker was telling me about how this moss makes its own food," she relayed to him excitedly. "Earth is fantastic!"
"Well Parker here is just full of surprises, isn't she?" he mocked, sneering down at Parker warningly.
She stared back, not feeling the least bit scared or intimidated.
"I've got plenty more where that came from, don't you worry," she bit back, crossing her arms and smiling smugly back up at him. "Wait until I tell you about the laws of gravity."
Bellamy didn't seem like he was expecting such an answer from her, so his smile faded quickly.
Octavia rolled her eyes at the two of them. "Seriously, guys? You're already taking digs at each other and you've just met." She sighed. "Let's start over. Bellamy, this is Parker. She was my cell mate in the Skybox."
"Yeah, I heard," Bellamy told her. "And she's also the double trouble criminal, so you need to stay away from her."
"Bell, stop it. You can't tell me who I can hang out with," said Octavia firmly. "And you don't need to rub it in her face, okay? She knows what she's done and she knows it was a mistake."
"I only count one as a mistake. The other was for a completely valid reason, Octavia," Parker defended herself.
"What, you attacked a guard because he threatened you or something? I don't think that's a valid reason," pushed Bellamy.
"That one was the mistake," Parker argued. "The other was a matter of life or death."
"Yeah, trading extra rations for morphine tablets is a really valid excuse for life and death," he mocked.
"HEY!" screamed Octavia, pushing Bellamy away from Parker. "I said stop it, so stop it! I said to quit rubbing it in her face, so quit rubbing it in her face, Bellamy!"
He grumbled, fixing his guard's uniform jacket where she had wrinkled it.
Parker stared down at her feet, very clearly affected by what Bellamy had just accused her of.
"Now will you two please try to find a way to get along?" Octavia asked exasperatingly.
"As long as he doesn't bring up the past, I don't really care what the hell he does," Parker said flat out.
Octavia nodded. "Good. Bellamy?"
The older boy rolled his eyes. "Sure."
"Thank you," Octavia breathed.
Near the drop ship, a commotion seemed to breaking out.
"Whoa, hey, hey, hey," called a voice. "Hands off of him. He's with us."
A boy with a herd of other delinquents trotted up to the drop ship, stopping in front of Wells and the blonde girl.
Parker's face lit up with realization. That blonde…she was Clarke Griffin, Abby Griffin's daughter. She had played with her once or twice as a child while Dr. Griffin treated her mother.
"Relax," Wells held up his hands defensively. "We're just trying to figure out where we are."
"We're on the Ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy called out to him.
Wells looked annoyed at the statement. "We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority."
"Screw your father," Octavia said bitterly. "What, you think you're in charge here? You and your little princess?"
Parker gave Octavia a strange look. She knew that Octavia was not at all fond of Chancellor Jaha, but to take it out on his son? Ridiculous.
Parker herself had mixed feelings about the Chancellor, but she knew that bullying Wells about his father's decisions made no sense, especially when he and Clarke were trying to make sure that no more of them died.
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" challenged Clarke. "We need to get to Mount Weather, not just because the chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this will be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave. Now."
"I got a better idea – you two go," suggested Bellamy. "Find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."
At this point, Parker noted that their fiasco had attracted an audience. They all shouted in agreement with Bellamy's plan. She looked at them all in bewilderment. They didn't want to live? She agreed with Clarke and Wells. They had to find food, and soon.
"You're not listening. We all need to go!" Wells repeated.
"Well, won't you look at this, everybody," taunted the boy with the squished face, striding over and shoving Wells forward. "Chancellor of Earth."
Everyone, including Bellamy and Octavia, chuckled. Parker, on the other hand, was still flabbergasted at everyone's moral compass. Then again, they were criminals, so what kind of moral compass had they invented for themselves?
"You think that's funny?" griped Wells.
The boy scoffed, then jumped forward and kicked Wells' ankle out from under him.
"Wait," Parker called out, attempting to break up the fight herself. She couldn't stand to see that boy hurt Wells any more. She strode forward, her intentions clear. Instead, a hand reached out and gripped tightly onto her arm. She looked back to see that it was Bellamy's hand. He shook his head at her.
"You can't tell me what to do, Bellamy Blake," she retorted, yanking her arm out of his grip.
As the others cheered on the fight, she went forward and stood in front of Wells, facing the other boy.
"Oh, look, the double trouble crackhead has joined us!" he ridiculed.
The others laughed and booed. But then Parker pushed him hard. Despite being several inches shorter than him, she managed to make him stumble several feet backwards. The others cheered even more, surprised and possibly amused that Parker would be in the middle of it all.
"They're trying to make sure that morons like you don't die!" she roared at him. "He's trying to help you." She turned to the rest of the crowd. "He's trying to help all of you!"
The angry boy started for her, but instead, somebody landed smack dab in front of her. Parker glanced at the guy standing in front of her, then at where he had launched off of in disbelief. From that height, he technically should have broken an ankle or a leg.
"Kid's got one leg and she's tiny," he said. "Why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?"
Parker's eyebrows shot up. It was the Spacewalker, Finn.
"I'm five seven, dumbass. That's not short," Parker blurted. He shrugged as he scanned her. She let out a sigh.
"Hey Spacewalker," Octavia got his attention. He turned. "Rescue me next."
The group chuckled, and the accusatory guy sauntered off, taking his crew with him. Parker rolled her eyes at Octavia and held out a hand to Wells.
"Thanks for that," he said gratefully as she pulled him to his feet.
Parker shook her head. "I was only doing what's right. Those guys are stupid. They're not thinking long-term."
"Hey, Wells, are you okay?"
Clarke quickly made her way over to them, a worried look on her face.
Wells nodded. "I will be."
"Thank you for standing up for us," she told Parker.
"Like I said, I was only doing what's right," Parker replied. "Come on, Wells, let's get you settled so that the doc can look at your ankle."
"I'm guessing I'm the doc," Clarke said, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"You've guessed correctly," Parker joked.
Wells put an arm around Parker's shoulders for support and the three of them made their way over to the drop ship's ramp. Parker helped Wells sit down and Clarke started to examine his injured ankle.
"We've met before, haven't we?" she asked of Parker.
Parker nodded and sat down next to Wells. "Your mom treats my mother every few days. We played together a few times as kids."
"I thought I recognized you," Clarke replied.
"When you meet a girl with two different colored eyes, it's hard not to forget," Parker sniggered darkly, thinking of how her one blue eye and one gray eye had baffled so many.
Neither Clarke nor Wells responded.
After a minute or two, Finn strode over to the three. "So, Mount Weather. When are we leaving?"
"Right now," Clarke told him, standing.
"How are you two going to carry enough food for a hundred?" Wells wondered doubtfully.
Parker contemplated leaving with Clarke and Finn, but she didn't want to leave Octavia behind. But then she spotted her and Bellamy in a heated conversation. Then she remembered – Octavia didn't need for her to look out for her. She had Bellamy now.
"You mean us three," Parker decided. She stood slowly, joining the two.
Clarke nodded once, as if approving of her coming with them.
"That's still not enough people," Wells commented.
Finn rolled his eyes, then turned behind him and tugged two skinny guys over from their conversation. One had goggles strapped to his head, the other held a small tree branch.
"Five of us," he countered. "Can we go now?"
The two other guys shrugged and nodded, as if not caring about being roped into going on a twenty mile hike.
"Sounds like a party! Make it six," Octavia chimed in excitedly.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" demanded Bellamy, marching up behind his sister and putting a hand on her arm.
"Going for a walk," Octavia said innocently. She shot me a wink and I pressed my lips together in an attempt to hide my smile. She was obviously trying to annoy her brother a little.
"Hey," Clarke spoke up. Parker frowned as Clarke reached over and picked up Finn's wrist. She pointed to his wristband. "Were you trying to take this off?"
"Yeah, so?" defied Finn, a mischievous tone to his voice.
"So this wristband transmits your vitals to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead," Clarke answered, an argumentative tone lacing her words.
Parker glanced down at her right arm, where her own wristband resided. She knew immediately that she wouldn't take hers off. She didn't want her parents to worry.
"Should I care?" Finn said nonchalantly.
"I don't know, do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" stated Clarke obviously. "Do you want them to follow us down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying."
There was an awkward silence between them all.
Parker noticed Bellamy's expression. It was an 'ideas brewing' face. He was up to something and she really didn't like that.
"Okay," Clarke said, breaking the silence. "Let's go."
The two scrawny guys left with Finn, while Octavia stared up at her brother, as if asking again if she could tag along.
Parker couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of Octavia having her brother back in her life. She had missed him a lot while in the Skybox and talked a lot about him. But from what Parker had heard, Bellamy wasn't all that Octavia had told her.
As Octavia skipped away, Bellamy turned to face Parker.
"What?" he asked, wondering why she was staring at him.
"It's just nice to see Octavia happy," she replied. "She's told me a lot about you."
"She seems to respect you," he said, expression blank.
"Well, I kind of filled the role of older sibling while you weren't there," Parker told him. "Don't worry, okay? I'll keep an eye on her out there."
Parker turned to leave with Clarke, hoping she had resolved some of their earlier conflict, when Bellamy stopped her.
"Hey, hold your horses, double trouble."
Parker let out a sharp breath as he went around to face her.
"You may have been friends with Octavia up on the Ark, but this is the Ground. You don't need to be there for her any more. Stay away from my sister," he warned.
Parker was a little intimidated. How could she not be? This older boy who happened to be her best friend's brother had basically ordered her not to talk to her best friend. She tried not to let it show, but the way Bellamy smirked, she knew she had let it out. She wrung her hands and stared at her boots.
But then she remembered what she had said to him earlier. "You can't tell me what to do, Bellamy Blake."
Then, with a boost of confidence, she crossed her arms and looked up right into his brown eyes.
"I can't promise you that," she said confidently. "Instead, how about you stay away from me?"
Bellamy scoffed, then smirked, his arms crossing, too. He waited a beat before responding, "I can't promise you that."
Parker rolled her eyes, spun around, and left to catch up with the rest of the group. But while she did so, she went over the conversation she had just had with Bellamy in her mind.
"Instead, how about you stay away from me?"
"I can't promise you that."
He was totally and completely trying to get inside her head and psych her out. She couldn't let that happen so she decided that she wouldn't. And when Parker Nathan made a decision, she intended to stick to it.
Hi, guys! I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Landfill. The title is based off the song Landfill by Daughter. If you've never heard it, go listen to it! Maybe you'll understand why I chose it for my title. ;)
If you want me to continue this, please let me know by reviewing and following! I have a lot in store for Parker (and all the other characters that get to know her, like Bellamy!). :)