An AU fanfic from The 100. No characters belong to me. I unfortunately have no Beta so please be kind X:D
The remaining population of the United States are shepherded into 10 domes where the rich live in luxury and the poor are forced to live on scraps in the outskirts. To make a living for themselves Clarke and her crew of scavengers make illegal treks into the wastes to find items to sell and barter. What Clarke finds one night is something nobody was expecting.
Chapter 1
A good find
The clock had struck half ten when Clarke heard the explosion from the west. She had just finished cataloging her finds from her afternoon scavenge ready to send to her teammate and long time friend Raven.
The power spluttered once and then went out completely; leaving her in darkness. Wearily she sighed and got up from her table, her dirty blonde hair swaying with the movement of her body. She took a candle from the table top and lit it with a match before making her way to the front door.
Now armed with a lantern to protect her light source Clarke made her way outside, squinting into the darkness. Bits of ash and the smell of smoke were making their way through the filters from outside of the dome. After pausing for a second Clark grabbed her scavenging kit and a warm cloak before letting the door click shut behind her and started making her way towards the gateway.
They called it the gateway, but really it was a secret tunnel in the bottom of an abandoned basement leading to the outside world. After the remaining population of the earth had been shepherded into the domes all trips to the land outside had been forbidden, except for excursions authorised by the board of regulators. Nobody that important had been downtown for years and the people of Arkadia found their own ways to survive here in the slums whilst the inner circle enjoyed luxuries they couldn't even dream of, growing fat from the labours of others.
There were only a few professions to choose from in the outer rim and unless it was working in one of the regulator approved factories it was most likely illegal. Clarke, like a few others brave enough, was a scavenger. She made the dangerous trek outside amongst the ruins of the past regularly, looking for anything that she could either sell or use herself for trade in the rim. She was part of a small scavenging crew and like any good scavenger she knew not to waste an opportunity before another group got there before her and took all the spoils.
Clarke paused by the cellar and rummaged in her beaten rucksack for the item she was looking for. With a small sound of triumph she pulled the syringe out of her bag and surveyed its contents critically. There looked to be enough serum for about 40 minutes of radiation exposure if she was lucky. With a grimace she jammed the needle down into the meat of her thigh and exhaled thickly with the pain. She took less than a moment to recover before pulling the syringe out of her leg and stashing it in her pack before getting up off the concrete.
The syringes were costly to come by as they were smuggled from the inner circle, so anything she made from her haul would have to cover the cost and then some, to make it worthwhile. Clarke was hoping it was going to be a winner as the syringe she used was the last in her store and her crew were out of money.
Pulling the wooden doors open she jumped down into the darkness making sure to seal them shut behind her as she began to edge forward into the tunnel, her small candle the only flicker of light.
Eerie moans filtered through the air towards her like a dead chorus and Clarke repressed a shudder. Theoretically, nothing should be in here that could harm her if the other wayfarers had kept to the rules of use and closed the doors after entry or exit, as well as entering when no one can see you. However, there was no guarantee whoever had come before her respected the ways, or the safety of a fellow traveller, but she hoped they had.
She treads carefully down the path, fingers brushing against either side of the wall, soft flakes of soil crumbling towards the floor. A slight breeze caresses her face just as she spots a dim glowing in the distance. Inwardly she cheers, as though she has made this journey before it never gets any less creepy being stuck underground in a dark passageway with who knows what in front of you ready to jump out.
Clarke comes to the end of the tunnel and let's out the breath she didn't even know she was holding before feeling forward for the exit. The door was securely closed, good, that meant that people were abiding by the rules and she was still safe. Who knows what you could let in from the outside.
She presses one hand against the flaking wood whilst the other fumbles for the lock first of all and then the table to the side of the exit for any evidence of others out there. Good, she is the only one so far. No doubt the other crews would be on their way to this part of the city already trying to get a head start to the site of the explosion.
The scavenging crews all have different symbols to identify who they belong to. Clarke's group were named the Skaikru; a name in itself a protest and a statement of defiance at being kept like lowly dogs thrown scraps whilst the rich lofted around like Gods amongst men. The symbol for the Skaikru is etched onto a stone in each member's pocket so when they come out on jobs like this, other crews are aware somebody is already scavenging. The stones also help identify if anyone could be in trouble, as if it is not removed from the table it signals that somebody is still out in the wastes and typically not many of the scavenger units have more than an hour of radiation serum to use at a time. Scavenging is a dangerous job and those who work at it help each other in a fix when it comes down to life or death. Obviously though, like in any society there are always the bad ones. Crew members who leave the tunnels open to sabotage others and those who do the sabotaging themselves.
Then there's also the last reason for the stones. They serve as a memorial if somebody doesn't make it back and no corpse is found to return to the family. The wastes are full of sink holes, damaged structures and creatures from nightmares. People count themselves lucky if they've been in the business more than five years and Clarke and her crew have been working together for 10.
With her father killed by police officials when she was 12 and her mother not earning much for her medicine as people couldn't pay to feed themselves let alone for anything else, Clarke had to think of something to keep them from starving. She was so hungry one day, the hunger clawing at her belly like a wolf, that she was about to steal a loaf of bread from a stall vendor before she caught sight of a girl not much younger than her from across the street waving frantically at her to stop. It's lucky she did, as right then two police officers walked by the store she was about to attempt to steal from and whilst the crowd was distracted looking in their direction Clarke saw the girl's arm shoot out like lightning and grasp two fistfuls of dried meat from the merchant opposite before gesturing for Clarke to follow. That is how she met Octavia and Bellamy Blake, thief and pickpocket extraordinaires. Whilst Octavia had been getting the food, Bellamy had been keeping an eye out from the crowd and lifting any pockets he felt needed emptying at the same time.
The Blake siblings became regulars at the Griffin household as neither had a proper roof over their head and their shack was worse than most, having been orphaned 2 years previously they had to fend for themselves even though they were just children.
Clarke was always a very observant child and she noticed unusual activity from the hidden wine cellar near her house on more than one occasion and was determined to find out what the reason was. One day, the threesome followed a small group of scavengers down into the tunnel all the way to the other end where they doubled back and hid in the dark until the people returned. Clarke had never seen anything like it before, the sheer multitude of things they came back with, strange textures and shapes and even once a two headed deer! That could feed them for a week! The amount of money they could make from getting stuff from outside was irresistible and since they were in a high risk profession already she thought why not make the jump.
The next order of business was getting a fence, someone who could sell the merchandise they came in with and preferably someone who knew what it all was. Luck was on their side one day as Clarke came back home from her second scavenge with a good haul. They needed to move the goods quickly as they had debts to pay after borrowing money to get themselves started from the lenders and you did not want to make them wait. She came through the door loudly, dragging a sack of metal behind her and paused in the small room.
"Oh," she said with surprise, "Sorry mom, I didn't realise you had any appointments today. Let me just put this in the corner and I'll go and see Octavia."
Abby sighed with worry as she watched her daughter continue through the room. She didn't like the fact that her child was risking her life out in the wastes, but any job here was just as dangerous, maybe even more so. Some young girls, especially those just beginning puberty went to work at one of the regulated factories and never came back. All the parents got in return was a bagful of chits and the knowledge they would never see their daughters again. Anything was better than that fate, at least here Abby could be on hand to patch them up and hopefully help with getting her hands on some serum for the children. She was getting more and more time working in the middle sector of the city in stead of from home, where residents actually had some coin to pay for their treatment. In the outskirts Abby would treat anybody regardless but it was a different story as you moved in towards the centre. These people lived off the sweat of citizens like her and her kids and she'd be damned if she let them skrimp on even one measly chit they owed her.
Lately, she'd been putting money aside but a portion of it she'd had to use to buy equipment and some metal for her latest patient Raven Reyes. Abby had watched as Raven fight off two policemen who were trying to manhandle her. After running down the street and calling out for help she saw the men get spoked by the locals rousing and they ran off into the night, but not after leaving Raven with a parting gift of a knife to the spine. One of the locals helped Abby carry her home where she worked through the night with her limited resources in order to save the girl.
She had been left with her life but without the use of one leg and Abby helped her get the materials she needed for a brace with some of the money she had saved. Raven was again another minor left alone on the streets and Abby hated to imagine the things that could happen to her as she had a daughter herself. She helped Raven to secure a job at the local scrap shop as she was bright and loved to take things apart. She made her come by for regular checkups so she could keep an eye on the preteen's whereabouts and make sure she was safe and Clarke had just walked into one.
"Clarke, I'd like you to meet Raven," Abby said gently, nudging Raven to give a small wave.
"Raven this is my daughter Clarke who I was telling you about."
"Ummm...hi." Clarke replied awkwardly, giving The other girl a lopsided smile with one hand and completely forgetting she was holding a sack full of illegal contraband. She cursed as the sack spilled out onto the floor and Abby helped Raven down from the table so they could assist Clarke with the clean up.
"Wow," Raven gasped excitedly picking up a small metal object from the pile. "I've only seen a few of these before, where's the key?" She asked. Raven took one look at Clarke's dumbfounded face before she started rummaging through the rest of the bag herself looking. Her hand closed over a tiny metal T shaped object and she whooped in triumph holding it in the air.
"That's not a key." Clarke scoffed at the brunette, wondering why she was getting excited over a tiny bunch of cogs and a bit of junk with some knobbly bits on it.
"It is, just watch." Raven replied with a smile, slotting the steel pin into its place and beginning to wind. A soft melody started to drift from the contraption, filling the air around them like a forgotten song.
"Wow," Clarke exhaled watching Raven with new found respect. "How did you know what that was?" She asked.
"I've always like taking things apart to see how they worked and your mom helped me out and got me a job at Kane's scrapyard." Raven replied, gifting Abby with an affectionate grin before turning back to her find. "It doesn't usually look like this you know. In its original state it would have been in a little box with a girl dancing on it, or something moving round and round whilst the song played. I always dreamed of having one of these when I was younger. You could make a fortune selling this at Kane's if you did a little work on it!"
"A fortune you say?" Clarke thought out loud, regarding Raven with unveiled scrutiny. "You, mechanic girl, have got yourself a deal."
And that's the story of how Raven was added to their little band of lawbreakers and here they were 10 years later still going strong, older and they liked to think, a lot wiser.
Clark smiled fondly at the memory as she pushed herself out into the cold air of the wastes. Jamming her hands in her pockets she set out over the jagged landscape towards the sight of the crash, the embers still glowing faintly in the distance. She made a point of ignoring all the possible finds around her and fi using on the task at hand. She was on limited time and whatever goods there were to be had here were probably nothing compared to what she would get if she held out. She couldn't waste any serum and let somebody else get the find of a lifetime.
The ground crunched between her feet and she pulled her cloak down further over her face to stop the wind biting at her exposed skin. Coming over the last bend in the landscape Clarke slowed down and listened cautiously for any sounds that could signal danger. When she heard none, she rounded the corner and grinned in amazement; this place was a find alright.
Her blonde hair aglow she surveyed the wreckage. The ground was strewn with the remains of an armoured land cruiser, it's metal corpse splattered over the blackened earth. Clarke started to pack salvageable pieces of radiglass into a large hessian sack. The material was commonly found on vehicles that, for whatever reason needed to be sent out on the wastes, the glass protecting the people within from the harsh radiation from the sun and the fallout that kept the land toxic. This would go for hundreds maybe even thousands of chits if she got enough of it.
She wandered over to what used to be the frontal console and salvaged a few useable looking circuit boards and what looked like a pair of long distance radios to add to her horde. She was so busy reaping the benefits of her find that she didn't notice the person moving behind her until it was too late.
"Yu gonplei ste odon," your fight is over, a voice behind her said.
Clarke whirled round just as a rock smashed down where her head had been a second previous.
"What the fuck!" She shouted as she came face to face with a woman not much older than herself by the look of it covered in blood, dirt and sticky black liquid. "Look, I don't want to hurt you," Clarke continued. "I'm just here to get some rubbish to sell. I mean you no harm. I can see you're injured, let me help." Clarke regarded the other woman with pleading eyes, gesturing at the mangled arm she was holding close to her person.
"Chon yu bilaik? Haukom yu kamp roun hir?," who are you? Why are you here? The stranger continued, speaking in a language that Clarke had never heard before. If she didn't diffuse the situation fast she was a goner. If she ran out of serum or got stuck out here injured there was no guarantee anyone would find her as this was definitely unplanned.
"Look," the blonde exclaimed, lowering her bag towards the floor. "I don't know who you are, I don't know anything of what you're saying. I'm just here to get this," she says gesturing to the scattered glass around her feet. "Just calm down ok. I'm from the Skaikru but if you were here first I'll leave it all. I'm Sorry, I didn't realise anyone was out here. You need to get back inside Arkadia or you will die from the radiation. Please trust me!" She finished desperately, her hands splayed in front of her in submission. Whoever this person was they were going to get both of them killed if they didn't do something. Maybe one of the other scavengers had sent her out without enough serum and the radiation was making her crazy.
Clarke stared into the other woman's eyes entreating her to calm down. They were green. Green like the forests of old and the grass that used to cover the earth. Clarke had to give herself a little shake to snap back to reality.
The girl opposite appeared to calm a little, dropping her shoulders and regarding The blonde curiously, weighing up her options before speaking.
"I said who are you? And why were you here?" She asked, her voice rich and mellifluous with a hint of an accent Clarke had never heard before. " you said you sell this rubbish-" she said, gesturing to the devastation around her, "to make some sort of profit but you have yet to tell me your name. How do I know you're not one of them" she gestured violently to the wreckage behind her.
Clarke stood open mouthed at the outsider before her, she could speak English, yet she was dressed strangely in leather and animal furs, she clearly wasn't from around here.
"I'm Clarke, Clarke Griffin and I'm really glad you can speak English because let me tell you that we won't have long before this place is swarming with regulators so if you've done something illegal here you'd better leave now. And no way am I with the regulators, do you think I'd be working my ass off out here getting almost hit by rock wielding crazy women if I was?"
The woman regarded her with barely concealed rage before replying. "I have done nothing illegal. It's your people that have cut into my lands and taken me from its breast and brought me here against my will. Let me tell you, they will be coming for me and you don't want to be here when they do if you're innocent like you say."
Clarke snorted in disbelief. Who did this woman think she was? There were only 10 other regulated domes in the United States and if one was at war with the other, the people were sure to know about it. They hadn't blitzed the rest of the earth with nuclear warheads after all, just to start attacking each other pointlessly afterwards. She was jerked out of her reverie by the brunette opposite swaying on her feet and almost toppling to the ground with exhaustion. Clarke braced the other woman against her body and gently helped lower her to the ground before ripping a strip of relatively clean material off her cloak. The stranger regarded her warily as she went to touch her arm.
"Look," she explained, "we need to get this wound bandaged to stop the bleeding before you pass out. You can either stay here and get taken in by whatever authority come to collect you and I promise you, they are not nice. Or you can come with me back into the dome where you'll be safe at least for the time
Being. The choice is up to you." She finished, tightening the strip of material around the girl's arm and pushing herself to her feet.
The brunette startled as she heard loud noises in the distance and the starts of sirens drifting their way across the night.
"We need to go now." Clarke said, hoisting the sack over her shoulder and holding out her hand to the woman. "I don't know who you are but I know those people aren't kind and if they've kidnapped you from your family they probably have a whole lot more of the same in store for you." She stated, hoping the brunette would return with her. She didn't like the thought of anyone suffering torture and abuse at the hands of those monsters, even if they were crazy.
The girl looked conflicted before she tentatively placed her good hand within Clarke's and looked her in the eyes as she spoke.
"My name is Lexa, Clarke kom Skaikru and I will accept your offer of safety if it still stands."
Clarke shakes her head in bafflement before gripping Lexa's hand and dragging her back the way she came, towards Arkadia.
"Come on Lexa, we've got a way to go and a lot of explaining to do when we get there." She stated, as they disappeared into the darkness of the wastes just as the search lights began to peek over the horizon.