1.
The trumpeting sound of a distant horn echoed throughout the forest. A flash of blonde immediately began to dodge in and out of the trees. The green cloud drew closer and closer. She saw the birds flying in the same direction as her, the rats, squirrels, and insects scuttling along at her feet. Her heart pounded in her chest and she couldn't help but smile. She loved the rush.
Clarke took cover in her bunker that had been put there by some doomsday-prepper some 100 years ago. She'd stumbled upon it the first week she landed on Earth. Inside she had found furniture, beds, battery-powered lanterns, paints, brushes, and other wonderful treasures. She knew right away that this would be her home.
She adjusted the metal bracelet on her wrist and continued to swipe the brush back and forth on the canvas. She's always been fascinated with nature, and now that she was living in the middle of it all, she couldn't resist painting replicas of all the trees, rivers, and flowers. Her drawings, sketches, and paintings hung all over the small room, even the ones she'd messed up. She couldn't bear to waste art supplies- there was only so much. She hadn't noticed how hungry she was until her stomach growled. She grabbed her bow and quiver from next to the ladder and made her way up the ladder and out the hatch.
The only things the Ark had given her on the drop-ship was a six-inch knife, which she carried with her everywhere (she even slept with it under her pillow- holstered of course), a change of clothes, a pathetic first-aid kit, and a week supply of rations. She had run out of rations in under the promised seven days, so she was forced to find some other way of finding food. It took her about a month to get the bow just right, as it never seemed to have the right elasticity. She nearly starved to death that month, but when she shot roasted her first squirrel, she'd never been prouder.
She trekked through the woods with an arrow resting in the knocking point, careful not to step on any twigs or leaves that could scare away her prey. Just the month before, she'd built a deer stand right next to a worn path that led to the river. Deer were such interesting creatures to her. They had a way of sensing danger, even if it was twenty-five feet above their heads. As soon as she'd drawn her bow, they'd always perk their ears up and flash the white underside of their tail to warn the rest of their herd. But it was always too late.
Clarke had always been afraid of heights, but she had to do whatever she could to survive. Her knuckles whitened as her hands gripped the ladder. She refused to look down, even though she knew she was only about ten feet off the ground; it felt like 100. She swallowed the lump of pathetic nerves forming in her throat and continued to climb. She was almost to the top when she heard it.
The crashing sound of tree trunks snapping in half and being pulled from the ground startled her so much, that she almost lost her balance on the ladder. What the fuck was that? The ferocity of the sound indicated that whatever it was, it was far too big to be some kind of animal or Grounder. Could it be…?
Clarke nearly jumped off the ladder and sprinted toward the source of the sound. She hurtled over downed logs ducked under low branches. At this point, she could have navigated these woods in her sleep.
She soon saw movement through the trees and began to hear voices- happy voices. Oh my, God. She ducked behind a tree trunk as she watched the group of teenagers rejoice in the middle of the woods near the downed drop ship. You're being too loud. They'll come for you.
A little over eight months ago Clarke Griffin was sent on a one-man mission to Earth to discover if it was inhabitable. She had volunteered to go as a lone test subject once her mother had told her what the council was planning on doing. Their original plan was to send every last teenage criminal down to Earth, even if it meant their certain death. They were expendable in the council's eyes, but not in Clarke's. She was one of them, and although they hated her for being the privileged daughter of two council members, she had lost just as much as most of them had. She felt she owed it to them.
The Ark must have received the signal from her bracelet- these were the other criminals. The other 99 teenage delinquents had finally joined her on this Godforsaken planet. She grinned and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. She sank to her knees and covered her face in her hands. Finally. FINALLY! I can do this. I'm not going to die alone. She turned her gaze toward the sky, toward the Ark. We are the hundred and you will not kill us today.