Chapter 2:

For as long as I can remember, I've been told stories of a group of people that came from the sky. How they tore through the forest and hunted us down. There's only one problem with all of those stories: I'm one of the people from the sky. My father was taken by Mountain Men before I was born. And my mother died when I was five. But… okay hang on a second, I don't think died is the right word more like… murdered… by my aunt, the same aunt that took me in and raised me when she "died." That's why I left the Grounders when I was twelve and have been on my own ever since. And as I sit in this tree, thirty feet off the ground, those stories -my story- is all I can think about. And all I can see is the giant spaceship buried in the ground a hundred yards away from me.

I can hear a few faint voices, but nothing I could dream of making out. As I watch them, the people from the sky, I can't help but wonder if the stories are true. But a part of me already knows they're not. Lucky for them, they landed next to and not in the lake. And lucky for me they didn't land on my house. The first two people that emerged from the ship have been helping everyone else out. All of them have looked past me, at the giant smoke cloud that's coming up out of the mountains. I don't blame them; I want to know what it is too but first things first. I stood up on the branch and started making my way back to the Tree House, my home away from home. I was just about to leave to check my traps when the ship crashed. After passing through four trees I stepped on the porch. It's not much but the Tree House is mine and no one can take it from me again. Long story. The short one is that I stole some of my mother's things from my aunt when I left. I found a letter with my name on it and inside was a map that led me here: a thirty-by-thirty cylinder, metal, tube with three levels. My mother called it the Tree House in the letter but the blue prints for the building call it a Drop Ship. Whatever that is.

I still need to check the traps so I grab my food bag and stuff it in my back pack along with water and a med-kit. I grab my leather jacket and head for the door. My plan is to talk to the new guys before they find me; maybe we can help each other. They need to know how to survive and I want to know where I came from. I walked out on a huge limb and untied the ladder, letting it fall forty feet to the ground. Once my feet touched land I pulled on a loose string and watched as the ladder rolled back up to the limb. I turned on my heels and headed for the ship. The best way to do this is to just show myself from the start instead of sneaking up on them. The closer I got the more heads turned my way, but numbers were not going to stop me. , but numbers were not going to stop me. The first two that came out of the ship, walked to the front of the crowd; I'm sure they thought they could protect everyone else. One of me, tons of them. But for all they know I could have an army waiting at the tree line and, if it comes to it, I'll play that card. Thirty feet to go and I put my hands in the air, to make them feel safe. "I'm unarmed." A lie, but they don't know that, "and I'm alone." Now that was true. Besides, a lie followed by truth is always more believable than one or the other alone.

"Who are you?" a man, one of the two, asked. The other, a woman, had a look of caution on her face.
"My name's not important." Because it isn't, "You're looking for the one hundred. Right?" Shock and silence filled the air so thick, you could touch it. "Okay… let me start over, if you want to survive you're gonna wanna trust me. Mainly because that smoke," I pointed behind me, "is not good news."
"Why should we trust you?" the woman asked.
"I'm a Grounder. I know this place better than you, I can keep you safe through the night, and I can get you food and water."
"Keep us safe? From what?"
"How about we save the bad things for tomorrow," I replied, "but all you need to know is that you can't trust anyone besides me and your friends."
"And why should we trust you?" the man asked.
"Because once upon a time my parents were up there," I pointed up, "my guess, at the same place you were at." My reaction to their reaction was… what's the word… unimpressed. They are definitely not the killers the Grounders have made them out to be. "Okay, I'm going to check my traps and bring back whatever meat they've caught while you think everything over. I'll be back." I turned around and started hearing people whisper to each other.
"Wait." The woman's voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned around. "How old are you?"
"Twenty." I replied.
"And you're… out here alone?" I nodded, "Where's your family?"
"I…" I don't know how I feel about that I've been alone for eight years, "I don't have any. At least not anymore. Unless you count my aunt, whom wants me dead" My reply shocked her. And with that I walked away.
"What's your name?" she called. I turned around, walking backwards.
"My names too dangerous to be said, so… I don't know, make something up."

Two hours later…

I checked all of the traps and caught two deer and a boar, a nice one too. Because it's a bigger load it took me a little longer to get back. I put the deer in the back, each at least two hundred pounds, and then tied a rope around the pig and started dragging. I was dragging the deer with one hand and the pig with the other, both weighing about the same. When I was within forty feet of the ship, the man and woman approached me and saw what I had.
"Let me help" the man said. I handed him the rope for the boar and watched as he tried to pull it.
"It's fine; I can take it the rest of the way. I've already drug it for two miles," he looked at me, then the pig. I saw him mouth the words "two miles" and then I kept walking. The woman followed. "What's your name?"
"Abigail Griffin." she replied, "what's in the bag?"
"Two deer."
"There are deer on this planet?"
"Yes, but I don't think they look how you remember them."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see."

Later that night, after everyone got over the shock of seeing a two headed animal, I headed back to Tree House. I told them I lived near, just not where. But the next morning I could see they trusted me, a little, more than yesterday. So far so good.
"Okay, I'll take you half way to the hundred but no more."
"Why?" the man, named Kane, asked.
"The Grounders want me dead." I replied, "That's why I won't tell you my name."
"Why, what happened?" Abigail asked. I lead them through the forest, making sure they didn't step on a trap.
"I found out my aunt killed my mom and then left. She's wanted me ever since, made sure everyone knew my name." With one mile left I figured this was good enough. "Okay, I must leave you know. If I don't see you return in two days, I'll come looking for you."
"Thank you."
"Just keep walking straight for another mile, you'll know you're there when you see the walls" I turned around and left without another word.

On my way back, I stumbled upon a tree with a piece of paper held to it by an arrow. After checking my surroundings, I read the note: "Alright, my dear niece, I've played this game long enough. Tonight we're taking over the camp of the people from the sky, and we'll kill all of them."
That's what the smoke is from. And I've just sent Abigail and Kane right into the middle of it.