Prologue
2132 the Ark.
Aurora Blake is sitting on her floor clearly in distress. 7 year old Bellamy is watching his mother holding a blanket in his hands. 11 month old Octavia is playing quietly in the corner of the room.
"Mom. You gotta be quiet, like what we did with Octavia" Bellamy tells his mother. "I know sweetie, it's okay, we'll be fine we'll all be fine" Aurora pants.
"I don't get it. Why did you have another baby?" Bellamy asks his mother. "It wasn't planned sweetie. But we're gonna keep this baby safe like we've done with your sister" Aurora tells him.
Octavia starts to whimper. Bellamy looks at his mother then to his sister.
"Go to her" Aurora whispers clearly trying to hold in her pain. Bellamy goes over to Octavia and lifts her up taking her over to their mother.
Bellamy sits Octavia on his lap and she stops whimpering. "The blanket" Aurora says.
Bellamy passes her the blanket quickly. Aurora reaches down and grabs her newborn child.
The baby starts to cry. "Another sister" Aurora tells Bellamy. Bellamy gently sits Octavia on the bed and takes the baby from his exhausted mother.
"Bellamy, name your new sister" Aurora tells her son touching her youngest daughters cheek lightly.
"Rhea, I want to call her Rhea" Bellamy says looking up to his mother for approval.
"The mother of all gods" Aurora mutters smiling then she falls asleep.
Xx
Present
Rhea Pov
"Prisoner one-six-eight get up"
I turn around and see two guards, they're looking at me with cold eyes, one of them are holding a metal wristband thing.
Why are they here? They're not supposed to be.
"Now prisoner one-six-eight"
I hate being referred to as prisoner one-six-eight, My name is Rhea Blake nothing but that.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask them. Maybe I'm getting floated earlier because I'm a forbidden child.
They'll kill Octavia too. I need to get away from them.
"Hold out your wrist" One of the guards order me. I reluctantly hold out my wrist and they put the metal wristband on me.
It stings like a bitch. I wince.
The taller one pushes me out of my cell and leads me down a corridor. There's other kids getting took out of there cells too, where are they taking us?
Despite the circumstances, it's great to finally see more than just the four walls of my cell.
They're leading me down some stairs. I see a crowd of kids moving forwards and at the front of the crowds there is a ladder which everyone is climbing up.
Where the hell are they taking us? I recognise Octavia near the front and push my way through the crowd.
"Hey"
"Watch where your going, psycho"
"Crazy bitch!"
After shoving my way through the crowd she's right in front of me. "O" I say and tap her on the shoulder.
She turns round and she throws her arms around me so fast I almost fall.
"Where are they taking us?" I ask Octavia. "No idea. We better stick together" Octavia states taking my hand.
It's our turn to climb the ladder. Octavia goes up first then I follow her.
There's seats everywhere. Is this a ship?
Bellamy told me the ark flew up to space years ago when earth was destroyed, he said they came in a ship.
I miss Bellamy, he taught me everything I know. Without him O and I would've been dead.
"Come on, let's sit over there" Octavia says grabbing my hand. We take a seat on the row with 2 empty seats.
"O, I'm scared. What if they're gonna float us?" I ask my sister. "They wouldn't give us seatbelts then silly, just don't worry okay? We're together now, that's what mom would've wanted" Octavia says smiling at me reassuringly.
I fall asleep the minute we depart from the Ark, this makes me feel sick.
"Rhea, wake up" Octavia says shaking me gently standing in front of me. "O? It wasn't a dream!"I exclaim.
"No, it wasn't a dream, we're on the ground Rae! Can you believe it? We're finally gonna be free" Octavia beams happily.
Bell said the earth wouldn't be safe for another 100 years. What changed?
Octavia and I go down the ladder. "Everyone just back up, okay?"
I recognise that voice it's my brother. "O, it's Bellamy!" I exclaim.
"Bellamy?" Octavia says and she takes my hand pulling me towards him.
The minute I realise it really is my brother I go hurtling towards him throwing my arms around him.
I feel Bellamy raise his arm and Octavia's joined the hug aswell.
"Where's your wristband?" A blonde girl asks Bellamy. What is he wearing? A guards uniform?
"Do you mind? We haven't seen our brother in a year" Octavia snaps. "Nobody has a brother"
"That's the Blake sisters, the ones who hid under the floor" A girl says.
Octavia lunges at her. Bellamy grabs her while Bellamy's grabbing Octavia, I go over to the girl and slap her she backs away from me.
I walk back to my brother and sister, Octavia's grinning at me but Bell's frowning.
"Hey, you two that's enough. Let's give them all something else to remember you for" Bellamy says.
"Like what?" I ask. "Yeah, Bellamy, like what?" Octavia asks.
"Like being the first people to set foot on the ground in a 100 years" Bellamy says and he pulls down the lever.
The door opens and I can feel the wind on my face. I take a breath and my lungs are filled with air.
My hair is blowing around a little but it's amazing. I feel Octavia tug my arm and we both take a step outside.
I take a few more steps then look back at Bellamy. Octavia jumps with two feet onto the soil and throws her arms into the air.
"We're back bitches" My sister yells at the top of her lungs. I join her and then everyone else comes out too.
Bellamy, Octavia and I hug again. "Bell, why are you wearing a guards uniform?" I ask my brother.
"I'll explain later, come on let's see what's going on over there" Bellamy says and the three of us walk over to a few boys arguing.
"We're just trying to figure out where we are" A boy who I recognise as the chancellors son says.
"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy asks.
"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority" Wells says.
"Screw your father. What, you think you're in charge here?" Octavia snaps.
"You and your little Princess?" I add glancing at the blonde girl next to him.
"Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll 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" Blondie announces.
"I got a better idea. You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change" Bellamy says.
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah"
"You're not listening. We all need to go" Wells interjects.
"Look at this, everybody… The Chancellor of Earth" A dark haired boy says stepping towards the chancellors son.
"Think that's funny?" Wells asks, clearly pissed off.
The dark haired boy shoves the chancellors son and he falls to the ground. I swear I heard a crack in his leg.
"Ouch!" Wells mutters.
"Wells!" Blondie cries trying to run to him but she is grabbed by one of the dark haired guys friends.
"Yeah, Come on. Get him!"
"No, but that was" The dark haired boy responds.
"What you gonna do now, Wells?"
"Come on. Come on" The dark haired boy taunts.
Wells pulls himself to his feet preparing to fight.
"Kid's got one leg. How about you wait until it's a fair fight?" Spacewalker suggests as he jumps from on top of the dropship to inbetween Wells and the dark haired boy.
The dark haired boy huffs and backs off.
"Hey, spacewalker, rescue me next" Octavia flirts. Spacewalker smirks at her.
Bellamy gives Octavia a dissaproved look."What?" Octavia asks.
"He's cute" I add.
"He's a criminal" Bellamy reminds us. "They're all criminals" Octavia states.
I laugh a bit and Bellamy frowns.
"Look, O, Rhea, I came down here to protect you two" Bellamy tells us. " We don't need protecting. We have been locked up one way or another all our life. I am done following orders so is Rhea. We need to have fun, Bell. We need to just do something crazy just because we can, and no one, including you, is gonna stop us" Octavia nods.
I couldn't agree more.
"I can't stay with them" Bellamy tells us. "Now what are you talking about?" I ask my brother.
"I did something, okay, to get on the drop ship, something that they will kill me for when they come down. I can't say what it is just yet, but you have to trust me. You do still trust me, don't you?" Bellamy asks us.
"Yeah" Octavia says. Bellamy looks to me. "Your my brother, course I do" I state.
"Uh! So Mount Weather. When do we leave?" Spacewalker asks Blondie.
"Right now. We'll be back tomorrow with food" Blondie tells him.
"How are the two of you gonna carry enough food for a hundred?" Wells asks.
Spacewalker grabs an asian boy and a boy with goggles.
"Four of us. Can we go now?" Spacewalker asks. "Sounds like a party. Make it six" Octavia says, inviting me and her.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Bellamy asks us annoyed.
"Going for a walk" Octavia tells him grabbing my hand.
"Hey, were you trying to take this off?" Blondie asks spacewalker. "Yeah. So?" Spacewalker says.
"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to The Ark. Take it off, and they'll think you're dead" Blondie explains.
"Should I care?" Spacewalker asks.
"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dead" Blondie snaps.
"Okay" Spacewalker sighs.
"Now let's go" Blondie says.
Octavia and I look at Bellamy.
"Go on" Bellamy tells us reluctantly.
Octavia kisses his cheek then heads after the others.
"I'm glad you came Bell, I missed you" I tell my brother.
Bellamy smiles and I give him a hug.
"Rhea! Come on!" Octavia exclaims.
Bellamy sighs. I quickly kiss his cheek then go to Octavia.
"Before you get any ideas, spacewalkers mine" Octavia warns Clarke.
Not if I get him first.
"Before you get any ideas, I don't care" Clarke says firmly then we catch up with Spacewalker, Goggles and his friend.
"So, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Jasper and this is Monty" Goggles says.
"Rhea" I say and give him a smile. "I'm Octavia" Octavia tells them.
"And I'm Finn" Spacewalker tells us as he walks backwards. "What about blondie?" I ask Finn.
"My name is Clarke, thank you very much" Blondie snaps. Jeez, I was only asking.
As we walk we come across flowers. Finn places one in mine and Octavia's hair.
"Now, that, my friend, is game" Jasper says to Monty. "That, my friend, is poison sumac" Momty says gkancing at the flowers in our hair.
"What? It is?" Octavia shrieks throwing the flower to the ground. I do the same.
"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually" Monty explains.
"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on The Ark" Jasper informs us.
"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke complains.
God. Is she blind or something? This place is beautiful.
"Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" Finn asks her.
"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though" Clarke rambles then she continues walking.
"Someone should slip her some poison sumac" Octavia mutters.
Jasper Snorts. He totally likes my sister.
"I got to know what you two did to get busted" Finn says to Jasper and Monty.
"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean" Monty says smirking.
"Someone forget to replace what we took" Jasper states glancing at Monty.
"Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times" Monty adds.
"How about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?" Jasper asks.
"Being born, Rhea's my sister and Bellamy's our brother" Octavia explains then she walks in front a bit.
"That is so not game" Monty mutters to Jasper.
Jasper playfully hits him and Monty hits him back.
Clarke and Finn stop so does Octavia and they bend down a bit. It's a deer, a gorgeous deer.
Jasper, Monty and I crouch down and look it at it too.
Finn attempts to step forward and a Branch snaps. The deer turns round and we see it has two heads. The second head is deformed.
"Oh my god!" I exclaim backing away. "No animals, huh?" Finn says to Clarke.
"What the hell happened to it?" I ask mortified. "Radiation, I assume" Clarke says.
"Is that gonna happen to us?" I ask panicking. "Hey, hey, I'm sure it won't" Finn reassures me placing a hand on my shoulder.
I place my hand on top of his. "Let's keep going" Clarke says.
I move my hand and Finn moves his after giving my shoulder a light squeeze.
"O, do you think we should've stayed with Bell?" I ask my sister. "No. Look we'll be okay, Rhea. Maybe it was born like that" Octavia says.
I guess that makes sense.
"Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?" Finn asks.
"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest" Octavia says spinning in front of Finn who ignores her.
"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite" Monty utters.
"The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're down here" Clarke reveals.
Wow. Didn't expect that.
"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asks.
"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells…" Clarke trails off.
"What, turned in your dad?" Monty asks. "Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time" Clarke states.
"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asks. "Good. After what they did to us, I say, float them all" Octavia says looking at me.
"You don't mean that" Jasper utters.
"We have to warn them" Finn says to Clarke. "That's what my father said" Clarke tells him.
Octavia runs forward and starts stripping off.
"Oh, damn, I love Earth" Jasper says gazing at my sister. "Oh! Holy…" Monty trails off.
Finn and I laugh at my sister. "Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke asks.
There's a splash. "Octavia! We can't swim" Monty reminds her. "I know, but we can stand. Come om Rhea" Octavia yells.
I take my hoodie off and my top.
"Wait. There's not supposed to be a river here" Clarke tells us.
"Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes" Finn says.
"Oh… Octavia, get out of the water! Get out of the water now!" Jasper exclaims and I turn and see something heading towards my sister.
"O, get out now" I scream.
"Aah!" Octavia yells as the thing attacks her. "Octavia!" Jasper shouts.
I run to the shore and head into the water. "Aah!" Octavia screams. "No" Jasper shouts as Octavia struggles to stay above the water.
I run to her and try to pull her up then she stops flailing about and I feel a sharp pain in my arm.
"Aah" I cry in pain.
"Aah! Aah!" Octavia screams as it wraps itself around us.
"What the hell is that? We have to help them. What are you gonna do?" Monty asks Finn who looks like he's about to come save us.
"Try not to get eaten" Finn says, "No. Wait. If we distract it, it might let them go" Clarke states.
"Help us" I scream. My head goes under the water and I hear a big splash and suddenly we're free.
"It worked. It let them go" Finn states shocked.
"Get to the shore now!" Jasper exclaims. Octavia and I struggle back to the shore.
Jasper and Finn come forwards to help us.
"I got you" Jasper says as he pulls Octavia out of the water. "It's coming back" Finn yells.
"It's headed right for you, guys" Clarke shouts. "Come on. Come on. Keep going" Finn tells me, I reach the shore and he pulls me out.
My arms bleeding and Octavia's leg is bleeding.
"Are you two okay?" Clarke asks us."Thank you, thank you, thank you" Octavia says.
Clarke rips a piece of Finn's shirt and wraps it around the wound on my arm and she rips a piece of Jasper's short and wraps it round the wound on Octavia's leg.
"You're gonna be okay" Clarke tells us.
"Note to self, next time, save the girls" Monty says and we all laugh.
"It's getting dark and you two are wounded. Why don't we get some rest and continue in the morning?" Clarke suggests.
I nod and the others do too.
We lie down under a tree. Jasper has an arm around Octavia and her heads leaning on his chest. ,y heads on Octavia's shoulder and Clarke, Finn and Monty are at the tree opposite us.
The next morning.
Clarke and Finn woke us up. We have to continue our trek to mount weather. I thought it was all just a dream but it's not. I'm really here back with my sister where I belong.
"Let's go that way" Clarke says pointing straight in front of us.
"Sure" I say and we all follow Clarke. "How's your arm?" Finn asks.
"Better. It's still sore but nothing like it was last night" I tell him. "When we get to mount weather. I'll change your wounds and get some proper bandages on them" Clarke tells Octavia and I.
"I hope it's nice food" Jasper says. We all laugh at him.
"What? I'm starving aren't you guys?" Jasper asks us. "Yeah but the food on the ark wasn't that great" Finn says.
"We had to share rations. O got half of moms and I got half of Bell's" I tell them.
"Better than nothing" Finn states. "I always found the one child rule stupid. I'd love a brother or a sister" Jasper says.
"The ark didn't think they would have enough oxygen to support all families having mulitple families. I guess they were right" Clarke says.
"We didn't ask to be born. Mom wasn't gonna have a termination" I state. "I understand the first time but three kids? Two is illegal nevermind a third" Clarke says.
"And your all about the law? You got locked up for attempting treason, right? You can't pass judgement on anyone else" I snap.
"I'm not passing judgement. I'm just saying your mother knew what she was getting herself into" Clarke says.
"Yeah she did. She loved us" Octavia interjects. "I'm sure she did. She gave her life for you" Clarke says.
"You don't need to tell us that" I snap. "Look another river" Jasper yells.
"We can't risk walking across. We need to find another way" Clarke states.
"A boat?" Finn asks. "Where are we gonna get a boat from?" Monty asks.
"Fair point" Finn says. "We can swing across!" Jasper exclaims.
"What?" Clarke asks. "We can use the vines and swing across" Jasper suggests.
"That actually could work" Clarke states. "Okay let's do it. I wanna go first!" Finn exclaims.
"Okay. Let's get you set up" Clarke says. Finn has a tight hold of the vine but he's not swinging.
"You sure this is safe?" Finn asks. "Yes. So long as you don't let go of course" Monty tells him.
"You know if i die. You guys will be screwed" Finn says laughing nervously. "How would we ever go on without you?" I ask sarcastically. Finn smirks.
"Maybe we should get the others?" Finn suggests. "You wanted to go first. Now quit stalling" Clarke states.
"Mount Weather awaits" Octavia reminds us.
"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine" Jasper tells him.
"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Finn questions.
"Apogee, not apache" Jasper corrects him.
"He knows. Today, Finn" Clarke blurts.
"Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side" Finn retorts. "Wait" Jasper yells.
"What?" Finn asks.
"Let me. I can do it" Jasper pleads."Knew there was a badass in there somewhere" Finn says, looking relieved to not have to go first.
Jasper grabs hold of the vine and prepares to swing.
"Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it" Finn tells him.
"See you on the other side. Ha ha! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Yeah! We are apogee! Yeah!" Jasper yells as he swings across.
He lands on rocks but he pulls himself up.
"Yeah!" Clarke exclaims. "Yes! Whoo!" Finn cheers.
"You did it, Jasper!" I yell.
"Let's go, Princess. You're up" Finn tells Clarke then she takes hold of the vine.
"Come on, Clarke! You got this! Whoo! Apogee! We did it! Mount Weather! Whoo! Whoo!" Jasper cheers hplding up a sign that says mount weather.
"Yes!" Monty yells. "Yeah, Jasper!" Finn shouts.
A spear comes flying out of nowhere and strikes Jasper in the chest.
"Jasper" I scream. "Jasper!" Clarke yells.
"Come on. Come on. Come on. Jasper!" Finn yells.
"Jasper! No. Come on" Clarke shouts.
"Get down. Get down" Finn yells and we all hit the ground.
"We're not alone"