Pilot (part 1)
Hey everyone, my name is Alice Carroll and I'm gonna die tomorrow. Yeah, I know, sounds brutal for a beginning, but it's my very sad truth.
To understand you have to get right who I really am. First of all, you have to know that my real name isn't Alice Carroll but Alice Kane, I'm the daughter of one of the biggest asses this world ever knew. That's why I go by the name Carroll, I don't want to be associated with this horrid man. My father, Marcus Kane, is one of the leading heads of our society. 97 years ago, a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on Earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately, there were survivors. 12 nations had operational space stations at the time of the bombs. There is now only one left, the Ark, one station forged from the many. We're told the Earth needs another 100 years to become survivable again. 4 more space locked generations, and man can go home, back to the ground. The ground, that's the dream.
But this is my reality. Reality sucks. Since I'm 8, I'm locked up in what we called the Skybox, a detention block where juvenile offenders are get put, no matter what crime they commit, until they turn 18, time where they possibly get floated because here on the Ark, every crime, no matter how small, is punishable by death. So here am I, waiting to turn 18 to be executed for the simplest but stupidest crime up here: being born.
ALICE - SKYBOX
After being locked up in her cell for nearly 10 years now, a certain form of routine had taken place in her life. She woke up in the early morning
It was the noise of a key in the door locket that made her jump awake in the early morning. Two armed guards entered the small cell. The first one was a big strong man with a square face, the second one was a blond woman that she recognized as Major Byrne, a member of the Guard.
"Prisoner 222, face the wall, stretch out you're right arm!" the woman said.
"No, why should I," Alice protests. "I'm only turning 18 tomorrow, you can't take me now!"
As she spoke, she backed up against the metallic wall of her prison. The man pulled an electric stun gun out of a pocket and let it flash on.
"Do as said to you," he added.
But Alice wasn't exactly the type of person who followed the orders without saying anything. She faced Major Byrne who was standing only a few steps away from her. She runs toward the woman and slammed her feet with all one's strength against her abdomen, making her stumble a few steps behind. The male guard used a moment of inattention to slam her his stun gun on the side, making her let out a painful scream.
"Now, give me your right arm if you don't want more!" Byrne added coming around.
She walked forward, holding a weird metallic wristband with needles sticking out in the inside ring.
"What's that?" the red-haired asked.
"Stop asking question lad!" the man guard said violently grabbing her arm. Alice tried to fight against him but he was definitely too strong. Together, both of them managed to put the wristband around her wrist and closed it. The girl let out a small hiss of pain as the needles penetrated her skin.
"Now follow us," Byrne continued showing her the way to the exit.
"I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me where you're taking me!" Alice shouted.
"I knew you'd ask for an explanation," a voice coming from the door said.
The red-haired girl looked up. Her father, Marcus Kane was standing at the entrance of her cell. He hadn't changed a bit since the last time she had been allowed to see him, the day she had been arrested. Alice suddenly felt the rush to punch him in the face but as she made the move to, the two guards had anticipated her reaction. Byrne kicked her in the leg to make her fall down to the ground on her knees as the other one grabbed her arms and violently pulled them to her back.
"LET ME GO!" Alice shouted fighting widely.
She looked up at her father with a dark glare.
"You enjoy the view?!" she throws at him provocatively. "The unwanted daughter about to be floated."
"Don't say that Alice!" Marcus said stepping into the room. "You know I had no choice."
"You had a choice, you just choose your fucking laws over your family!"
"Councillor Kane, we have to go," Byrne called.
The male guard pulled her up. Kane walked a few steps nearer.
"Look, honey, I…", he started before being interrupted by his daughter.
"Don't call me honey!" Alice shouted at him with disdain. "You're disgusting!"
And she spits him in the face. As an immediate reaction, the male guard slapped her face violently, so that she hit her head on the hard ground. Her head was spinning. She could see the three shapes became all blurry before everything went completely black around her.
ELIZABETH - KANE'S RESIDENCE
Lizzie Kane was comfortably installed on the sofa of the living room, reading a book. It was one of her favorites. Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. It also used to be her mother's favorite. How many times had she listened to that story? The tale of a little girl in an unknown land, meeting strange characters and loving adventures. Alice. It was after that book that her mother named her sister. Her twin. Her double. She hadn't seen her for nearly 10 years when she's been taken away to the juvenile detention center. Since then, Alice had always refused any visit from her or her father. Lizzie could quite understand why. It was her fault that Alice had been incarcerated and that their mother died. After their birth, their father had needed time to get over the fact that he was going against the law, but he accepted it. Until the day everything went wrong.
Her father came in. He seemed petty annoyed.
"Dad?" Lizzie asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes honey," Kane answered shrugging off his jacket throwing it over as seat's back. "Just a few troubles like usual."
"What's going on?" Lizzie asked closing her book, standing up and facing her father. "I've never seen you so worried in the last weeks."
Kane let himself fall down on a chair.
"The council took the decision to send 100 prisoners down to the ground," he said sighing slowly.
"What?!" the girl exclaimed. "But I thought the Earth wouldn't be livable for another 100 years? Does something changed?"
"You remember the whole thing with Jake Griffin, the father of Clarke?"
Lizzie nodded.
"He claimed that there won't be enough oxygen for everybody for the next decade. But I thought it was not true and that's why he'd been executed?"
She looked up to her father without understanding.
"Well, he may have been right after all," Marcus said moving his hand over his face.
Lizzie's jaw falls open.
"What do you mean? The Ark is really dying?"
Her father nodded.
"And now, they're sending those children to the ground to verify if there won't be a possibility for us to settle down on Earth, like 97 years ago."
"Wait!? Children?! Are you sending prisoners from the juvenile detention center? Are you completely mad?! Alice may be among them..."
"I made sure that she'll be with them," Kane said calmly.
"What?! You can't do that, you're sending her to death."
"It's either the ground or she'll be floated tomorrow at the first hour," he added.
Lizzie was standing there not really knowing what to say. Tears were slowly running down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry honey, I know you'd have preferred to tell her goodbye but she's already been taken to the dropship," her father announced.
"You're a monster!" she called sniffing loudly. "How can you that to your own daughter? Wasn't it enough to make mom killed? You had to send Alice to death too!"
She gets up and wanted to walk out but her father catches her arm.
"Look, honey, I'm really sorry but that was the best option I had," he tried to say.
But Lizzie loosens herself of her father's grip violently and walked toward her room slamming the door shut.
"I HATE YOU!" Marcus heard her shout.
He knew his daughter was very angry but it was really the only possibility for Alice to have a tiny little chance to survive.
ELIZABETH - LIZZIE'S ROOM
The girl was lying backward on her bed, fixing the sealing. The walls of her room were covered with drawing of the Earth. Woods, mountains, and beaches. Alice had always been the most creatives of them both. With 7 she decided that their room was too sad, so she begged their parents until they bought her some painting stuff.
Lizzie's heart's tightened when she thought about her sister. The journey to Earth wasn't something very pleasant. She couldn't let it happen. She couldn't let her sister risk her life the way down to a probable death. The only way was to get into the dropship among the other prisoners. It could be very risky but she had to at least try it. That was the right decision. She had to join Alice on that damn dropship.
"Honey, I have to go, I have a meeting with the council," she heard her dad from the other side of the door.
"Piss off!" she called loudly.
"Elizabeth, please," he tried.
"Just leave!" the girl shouted.
After a few seconds, she heard the steps of her father fade away and the noise of the door closing.
She had to handle quickly. She stood up and grabbed her biggest backpack from her closet and stuffed a few clothes inside, a small medical kit, some books, and other items inside, among them her mother's book, a necklace with a picture of her and Alice. She put on a pair of combat boots, a thick pullover, and her favorite jeans jacket before throwing the bag over her shoulder and leaving her room. In the kitchen, she grabbed a small pocket knife that she hides in the inside pocket of her jacket. She then turned around to face the flat for the last time, before leaving the cabin forever. On her way to the dropship, she attracts the attention of a few people who looked intrigued to her backpack. What if she won't let on the dropship? What if there was a guard? As she arrived in front of the door to the dropship, her fear was confirmed. A guard was standing next to the entrance. He was young, probably only a few years older than she was, he had mid-length black locks and deep chocolate eyes. Lizzie approach as if there is nothing amiss but the guard stretched out an arm to stop her to get in.
"Where do you think you're going ?" he said with a calm voice.
"Please let me on that dropship," she said feeling the tears wetting her eyes.
"I can't," he added coldly. "May I ask why you want to get into? You know they're sending this ship to the ground, where everybody would probably die."
"Yes I know, and that's why I want to get in," the blonde added. "My twin is on that damn dropship and I can't let her go alone," she added seeing his look.
"A twin?" the guard asked surprised. "Nobody has a brother or a sister up here, it's the law," he added.
The girl perceived a small nearly imperceptible shake in his voice. His face was somehow familiar, she remembered having seen him somewhere, but where?
"That stupid rule killed my mother," Lizzie continued looking him straight in the eyes to see his reaction. "And I don't want to lose my sister either. So please let me on that fucking dropship."
This time his face became all blank.
"You're one of the Kane twins," he realized. "One of you was always locked away in the residence when the other was outside. And you must be the one that gets free when they discovered both of you."
"I'm Lizzie," the girl introduced herself. "But we don't have any time for small talking right now, my sister Alice is on that damn dropship and I really need to get on it."
The guard seemed to think about it a second.
"Ok, I'll agree to help you onto the dropship if you do exactly what I tell you. Deal?"
A small smile drew itself on Lizzie's face.
"Deal!" she added stretching out her hand.
"Fine," the guard nodded.
"By the way, I'm Bellamy. Bellamy Blake."