My Allegiance
Chapter Two
I slowly make my way back to the drop ship. I start brushing my fingers on the trees as I pass them and notice the thick metal bracelet that the guard attached to my wrist earlier today. I try tugging it loss with my other hand, but it doesn't budge. I don't know what the point was of giving us jewellery before sending us to die, and I don't like it one bit. I start searching the ground as I walk, push the large leaves of shrubs aside, trying to find a rock to smash the bracelet with.
I'm concentrating on the forest flood so much that I don't even realize I've reached my destination until almost being trampled by a small group. They march by without paying me much attention. The guy at the head of the group is leading them towards the drop ship. Where… Where hell is about to brake lose. At the ramp of the drop ship stands Blondie, and Wells who just pushed back the boy wearing goggles. If anyone else did that, no one would ever look twice. But Wells isn't anyone, he's the son of the man responsible for putting these kids in the sky box. I'm amazed someone hasn't hung him up by his ankles and started beating him like a piñata, yet.
"Whoa hey, hey, hey! He's with us," said the pale skinned, dark haired boy at the front of the group.
I slowly walk my way to the front of the group as Wells raises his hands slightly in a sign of peace, and replies. "Relax, we're just trying to figure out where we are."
"We're on the ground, that not good enough for you?" Bellamy - who is standing next to his sister a few meters to the right of Wells - asks.
Wells walks towards Bellamy as he begins to speak. "We need to find Mount Weather-"
"Why!?" I say cutting Wells off and stepping ahead of the group. Well's stops walking and looks back at me. "Why do we have to do anything?"
"You heard my father's message, Mount Weather has to be our first priority."
"Just because your daddy said it, doesn't mean we have to do it," I scoff, and notice how quiet everything has gotten. I look around and see all eyes are looking at me… This makes me pause long enough for Blondie to cut in.
"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 will be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a 20-mile track. Okay? So if we want to get there before dark we need to leave. Now!"
No one looks like they're going to speak, so I do. "How do you even know there's a there to go to? It's been 97 years and a nuclear booming. Do you really think that places is still standing?"
"It's our best hope of survival," Blondie says looking directly at me.
"If our best chance of survival is walking through a radiation soaked forest, we're already dead… And I for one don't want to spend my first, and probably last day on earth following orders. If I'm going to die I'm going to die free!" I smile a little as some kids nod and shout in agreement.
"Yeah!"
"I want to be free!"
"Free!"
"Die free!"
"Free of the Ark!"
"You're not listening. We all need to go-" Wells is cut off as the pale guy who had been leading the small group earlier, walks forward and pushes him in the back.
Wells stumbles backward a few steps before turning around to look at the guy who pushed him. "Look at this everybody; the Chancellor of Earth." I smile and a few people laugh at the pale guy's remark.
"You think that's funny," Well's says, and moves to take a step closer to the guy. But the pale guy catches Wells off guard and kicks a leg out from under him.
"Wells!" Blondie calls as her friend falls to the ground. She goes to move forward, but a guy standing next to her puts an arm out to stop her from interfering. People start calling out as Wells rises, putting most his weight on one leg and holding his fist up.
"Come on, get him!"
"Yeah knock him down!"
"He'll get you now Wells!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
As people start to cheer for a fight the pale guy raises his fist as well. But before he can take a swing at Wells Finn jumps out of nowhere and lands between them. People stop cheering.
"Kid's got one leg, how 'bout you wait until it's a fair fight," Finn says in a serious tone, and for a few seconds no one knows what to say.
"Hey space walker," Octavia calls walking up to stand in front of Finn. "Rescue me next," she smirks, and the group laughs before starting to go back to whatever they were doing a few minutes ago.
The view from the top of the drop ship is great. On the ground all you can see is what's right in front of you, but up here you can see everything as a whole. And when I get bored with watching teens play explorers, the clouds above and the rustling tree branches are right there to catch my attention. It's hard to think there was a time when people would have taken all this nature stuff for granted. Everything's just so… alive… wild… real.
I laugh to myself, and draw in another large breath of air. Blondie, Finn, and some others left for Mount Weather an hour or so ago. Since they walked off into the unknown, I've been kicked back on the roof of the drop ship, looking around as the world moves around me.
I hear sticks cluttering onto each other and lean over the edge of the roof slightly to see Wells has brought back another arm full of sticks. I open my mouth to call out to him but someone beats me to it. "Find any water yet?" Asks the guy who tried to fight Wells earlier; as he and a friend walk around the corner of the drop ship.
"No, not yet but… I'm going back out if you want to come?" Wells says staring at the wall of the drop ship - as though he's reading something - but from here it all just looks like dirty medal to me.
Pale face chuckles dryly and rubs his nose with the back of his hand that holds onto a make shift knife. "You know my father, he begged for mercy in the air lock chamber when your father floated him."
Wells waits until he's finished talking before leaving again. Wells bumps shoulders with Pale face and says, "You spelled die wrong. Geniuses."
When Wells is out of sight Bellamy walks up to the two guys. "If you're going to kill someone, it's probably best not to announce it," he says, also looking at the drop ship wall; where a death threat of sorts must be written.
"You're not really a member of the Guard, are you?" asks Pale face.
"No, the real Guard will be here soon unless we stop it. You don't actually think they're going to forgive your crimes?" Bellamy asks, the two guys stay silent. "Even if they do, then what? Guy's like us are going to become model citizens now, get jobs… If we're lucky we get to pick up their trash-"
"You got a point?" Asks the guy I haven't heard talk yet. He has dark skin and his black hair is shaved short.
"No I got a question. They locked you up, dumped you down here like lab rats to die. So why are you helping them?" I lean in closer, intrigued with what Bellamy's saying.
"The hell we are."
"You're wearing those wrist bands aren't you. Right now those things are telling them whether or not it's safe to follow us down here."
"You said we could stop it. How?" Pale face asks.
"Take them off, the Ark will think your dead, it's not safe to follow. You follow?" I glare to the chunk of medal on my wrist. It's telling them I'm alive, it's telling Kane I'm alive… I smile, Kane's probably cursing at a screen with my name on it right now.
"Right, and if we do-" Pale face looks to his friend "-what's in it for us?"
"Someone has to help me run things?" Bellamy turns and walks away. I sit back up, and look over the clearing. All these people will need leading if we live to see tomorrow, but I don't think Bellamy Blake is the right man for the job. Especially if his right hand man is someone like Pale face. Not that I really care if all these people die, I barely know 5 out of the 99 names. As long as I'm the last one left - and Kane can see that - I don't care. I want him to suffer knowing I'm still breathing, for as long as possible. I stand up and descend the drop ship by the same tree I uses to climb up here with.
No one notices me as I jump to the ground, and people are too busy looking around to pay attention as I jog to catch up with Bellamy. I grab him by the shoulder, and he stops walking; looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" He asks.
"I overheard you talking with pale face and his buddy. I want to make a deal with you," I say quietly so the people close by don't over hear.
Bellamy looks left and right before grabbing my arm and leading me towards the drop ship. When we're alone inside he releases my arm and asks, "What kind of deal?"
"You want people to take their wrist bands off, you don't want the Ark to come to earth. Well I want to help you… On one condition."
"And that is?" he asks eyeing me.
"My band is the last to come off…"
"I don't hear what I have to gain from this."
"When Blondie gets back she sure as hell is going to try and convince everyone to keep them on. So we have to get all the wrist bands off before she and the others get back. You do your little lab rat speech, and deal with the easy ones… And I'll get the Chancellor to think his son is dead."
Bellamy hesitates before holding out a hand. "If you can get Well's wrist band off before tonight, you can keep yours on for a while."
"Deal," I smile and shake his hand.
"Okay," he nods and goes to leave the drop ship, but stops at the door and looks back over his shoulder at me. "What's your name?"
"Alice."
The sun set some time ago; replaced now by a full moon. From down here the moon looks so different, so small. On the Ark the moon looked large and menacing, but now… not so much.
A fire consisting mostly of the wood Wells collected, burns brightly in the centre of camp. Everyone is gathered around the roaring fire, well everyone but Wells that is; he went into the drop ship after starting the fire and hasn't come back out yet. So I sit on the ramp of the drop ship and wait for his return.
As Bellamy speaks to the masses; Pale face and his friend - who Bellamy was talking to earlier - work on taking peoples wrist bands off. I introduced myself to them two earlier, after they took off their own bands, to learn how I can take off Wells's band. Both Pale face and his friend's first name is John so they just go by last names to stop confusion. So Pale face John is Murphy, and his friend goes by Mbege. They showed me how they got there bands off so I'm hoping with one quick jab - between metal and skin with the metal pipe I have tucked in my back pocket - it will pop off, or at least be broken enough not to work.
"What are they doing?" Wells asks as he finally exits the ship. From here you can't see the wrist bands getting taken off and thrown in the fire; just hear the clinging of metal agents metal and the cheer of on lookers.
I stand up and turn to look at Wells. "Bellamy's convincing people to take off their wrist bands," my voice sounds sad, a little scared; I'm kind of impressed with my acting skills. Worry crosses his face at the thought of losing contact with the Ark, the thought of his people thinking earth isn't inhabitable. Wells hobbles down the ramp - the leg Murphy kicked still tender - and towards the fire but I latch onto his arm, stopping him. He looks at me surprised and confused, "Sorry Well's, it's nothing personal."
"What?" he asks completely confused, and about to pull away from me. I don't answer his question with words. Just quickly slip the small pipe from my back pocket and push it into the gap between Wells's wrist and the band. He gasps and pulls back. Too bad for him, he pulls back on his arm to hard causing the band to easily snap off and fall to the ground.
"Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be," I say solemnly, picking up the dead wrist band and tossing it over a few kids heads to make it land near Bellamy's feet. Bellamy looks to the chunk of metal at his feet before looking up at Wells and I. He nods once at me before he continues talking.
"Who's next?!" Bellamy calls over the crowd.
Wells glares at me before pushing his way to the front of the crowd. "What are you doing?!"
"We've liberating ourselves, what does it look like?" Bellamy says with a sly grin. People in the crowd shouting in agreement.
"It looks like your trying to get us all killed." The crowd stops shouting and Bellamy's face falls more serious. "The communication system is dead, these wrist bands are all we got, take them off and the Ark will think we're dying, that it's not safe for them to follow." I push my way to the front of the crowd.
"That's the point, Chancellor. We can take care of ourselves, can't we?!"
"Yeah!" The crowd shouts and raises their arms in agreement to Bellamy's question.
"You think this is a game? Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there, our farmers, our doctors, our engineers. I don't care what he tells you; we won't survive here on our own. And besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?" Wells says while still clutching the spot where his wrist band was connected.
"My people are already down, those people-" Bellamy says pointing to the sky. "-locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that," Bellamy says stepping closer to Wells.
"My father didn't write the laws," Wells says.
"No, he enforced them, but not anymore. Not here. Here! There are no laws," people in the crowd start to talk in agreement with Bellamy again. "Here we do whatever the hell we want whenever the hell we want!"
"Yeah!"
"That's right!"
"Now you don't have to like it Wells. You can even try to stop it, change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."
I grin and turn to the crowd. "Whatever the hell we want!" I yell. Murphy and Mbege do the same and the crowd begins to shout, "Whatever the hell we want! Whatever the hell we want! Whatever the hell we want!"
After several moments of shouting the sky crackles to life and water falls down on us… rain? It's raining! People begin to yell and scream in excitement. I raise my hands up to the sky and laugh as the water quickly poles on my palms and stars to run down my arms.
"The rain!"
"Check it out!"
"It's water!"
"Whoa!"
"It's raining!"
People shout in joy, spinning and jumping about. Wells walks by me- he's apparently finished his friendly chat with Bellamy– glaring me down. "You know as well as I do he's going to get us all killed."
I smile at him and shout, "Whatever the hell we want!"
I spend my first night on earth, lying atop the drop ship in damp clothes. I feel cold, and hunger is starting to set in… But I wouldn't change this for the world. I'm on earth, and Kane along with the rest of the guard are still floating around in space. I smile up at the starry sky.
"So this is how you overheard?" I gasp slightly at the unseen voice and jolt up into a sitting position. I'm surprised to see Bellamy standing awkwardly in the tree next to the drop ship; one arm wrapped around the tree trunk and the other hand raised up in front of him. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"…It's okay. What do you want?"
"Well first I want to know how you made getting up here looks so easy-" he says stretching out a leg to touch the roof of the drop ship; shaking unstably as he does so. I stand up and offer him a hand before he falls. Bellamy takes my hand and I help pull him on top of the roof.
"There's this modern day thing called balance, you should look into getting some for yourself," I say taking my hand bake and stepping away from him.
He chuckles dryly but smiles with good humor, "Thanks. I'll have to get some of that."
"Or just stay on the ground," I offer him a smile and shrug slightly. "…And what else did you want?"
"To know why someone like you wants to keep their wrist band on?"
"Someone like me?" I scoff slightly. "What is that meant to mean?"
"Someone smart, brave enough to speak their thoughts. You show obvious dislike towards the privileged but… Not like the rest of us. You don't hate them… Why don't you hate them?"
I slowly look away from Bellamy, and towards the sky. "They're not responsible for getting me here, I am… I have no reason to hate them. The only person I do have reason to hate is still on the Ark. And as long as he thinks I'm still alive, he is suffering… That answer your question?"
"Yeah," he says running a hand through his hair. "Out of curiosity, what did you do to get into the Sky Box?" I sigh and look back to him with watery eyes.
"The right thing," I say bobbing my head.
"Fine, don't tell me…" Bellamy looks back to the tree he used to climb up here. "Are you staying up here all night?"
"Endless mother earth has other plans... Yes."
"Okay then, well good night," he says over his shoulder before jumping to the tree; hooking his arms around it for a few seconds to stabilize himself before climbing down into darkness.
"Good night," I whisper, laying back down where I had been before Bellamy showed up. I smile at the stars above. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky..."
#So if you like this, want more, please follow, and favorited. If there's something you don't understand, don't like, like, please review, or feel free to PM me.#
#The more reviews the faster I'll update!#
#I'm over half way through writing the next chapter and hope to have it up with in two weeks. But I'm playing with ideas at the moment and just trying to work out how they'll affect the story later on, so it might take a little longer but I really hope it will be worth the wait!#
#Thanks for reading, hope you have a good day/ night!#