"Let's go," Clarke said.

The three guys walked away. Octavia talked to her brother first. Clarke said goodbye to Wells.

"I'll be back tomorrow," I said. He opened his mouth but I beat him to it. "I'll be careful."

He leaned down and kissed my cheek.

I turned and followed the others.

"Before you get any ideas," Octavia started when we were a few yards away. "Finn's mine."

"Before you get any ideas," Clarke said. "I don't care."

She walked a little faster and Octavia looked at me.

"He's not the one I'm after," I said with a smile.

"Oh," she said with a nod. "Who are you after?"

I shrugged with a face. I walked a little faster and caught up with everyone else.

"Who are you?" one of the guys asked.

"Dude," the other said. "Rude."

"I'm Cory," I said with a smile.

"I'm Monty," the nice one said. "This is Jasper. That's Finn. She's Octavia. And Clarke's leading."

"Thanks," I said with a smile.

We walked in silence for about thirty seconds before Finn picked a flower for Octavia.

"Now, that, my friend, is game," Jasper said to Monty. I rolled my eyes.

"That, my friend, is poison sumac," Monty said.

"What? It is?" She brushed it out of her hair quickly.

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually." He ate one. He then offered one to me and I took it. It didn't really taste like anything.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on The Ark," Jasper explained.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke asked. She was annoyed with us.

"Come on, Clarke," Finn sighed. "How do you block all this out?"

"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. Come on."

She had a point. We haven't seen a single animal yet. They might have all been killed. Or we just scared them off. We're not exactly being quiet.

"Someone should slip her some poison sumac," Octavia muttered.

I smiled and Jasper snorted.

"I got to know what you two did to get busted," Finn said, looking at Jasper and Monty.

"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty said with a look. I smiled and shook my head.

"Someone forget to replace what we took," Jasper said, looking at Monty.

"Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times," Monty said. Now I laughed. They were so cute.

"What about you, Cory?" Finn asked, looking over at me.

I sucked in a breath. "Assaulted a guard," I said with a smile.

"How about you, Octavia?" Jasper started.

Good. They believed me and didn't press. I didn't really want to tell anyone about what happened to me. Nate knew and that was enough for me.

"What'd they get you for?" Jasper finished.

"Being born," she said, walking faster.

"That is so not game," I said.

Jasper and Monty both looked at me. I just made a face and shrugged. I stepped past them and caught up with Clarke.

"Wait," I said, pulling on her arm. There was a deer in the distance.

"No animals, huh?" Finn asked, stepping up next to me.

He moved forward a little and stepped on a stick. It broke and the deer lifted its head. It turned towards us.

My heart stopped.

It had two heads. The deer had two heads. It ran off quickly but we were all left panting.

If radiation did that to a deer, what would it do to us?

"Let's go," I breathed, straightening up. "Come on."

I started walking away. Everyone caught up and we were all silent for a while.

"Why'd you come?" Clarke asked, looking over at me.

"I know your mom," I said, watching the trail. "I promised her I'd watch out for you. And you guys needed help."

She smiled a little. I've only known her for maybe an hour or two but I could tell that was a rare thing. She was a very serious person.

We walked in silence for a while.

"Hey," Finn said suddenly. "You know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"

"Who cares?" Octavia asked with a smile. "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." She spun around a tree and looked at Finn. She was a very flirty girl.

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or..." Monty was cut off by Clarke.

"It wasn't a satellite. The Ark is dying."

I already knew this part. I didn't know the exact time left though. It must be pretty low for them to send us to the ground.

"At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asked, looking at her.

Jake's dead? That would explain why he stopped visiting. But why would a secret like that float him?

"My father and I found out when I was 12," I said. "Then we had about six years. We tried to fix it but we never got around to it."

Everyone was looking at me with wide eyes. No one knew this, not even Clarke.

"My father told me he discovered the flaw," she said.

I shook my head slowly. "He knew about it. My father and I did find a way to add on another year or two. Jake must have realized it was worse than we'd thought."

Clarke nodded slowly. "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…"

"What, turned in your dad?" Monty asked. Clarke didn't say anything but she didn't have to. We all knew.

"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."

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" I asked softly. All I could think about was my family. I did not want them dead. They needed to get down here.

"Good," Octavia said. My jaw dropped. "After what they did to me, I say, float them all." She walked away.

"You don't mean that," Jasper said.

"We have to warn them," Finn said.

"That's what my father said." She smiled a little.

"Oh, damn, I love Earth."

I followed Jasper's gaze and saw Octavia was taking off her pants. What the hell was she doing now?

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke yelled, stepping forward a little.

Octavia just smiled and turned away from us. She jumped off the rocks and I heard a splash. We all ran over.

"Octavia…" Clarke said. She sounded like a disappointed parent. I think that's her usual tone.

"I can't swim," Monty said, pouting. Octavia was in a river. The water covered just to her eyes.

"I know, but we can stand." She stood up with a smile. "Ha ha ha!"

"Wait," Clarke said. "There's not supposed to be a river here."

"Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes." Finn was smiling and pulling off his jacket.

I pulled off mine as well and reached for my boots. I stopped and squinted.

"Octavia," I called. "Get out of the water."

Something was in the water and it was coming for her.

She screamed as it grabbed her. It pulled her under.

"Octavia," I yelled. I stepped closer to the water. How could we get her out of there?

"What the hell is that?" Monty gasped.

"Help me," I said, pushing against a rock.

Seconds later, Finn and Clarke were helping me. The rock fell into the water and the thing let her go.

But she was drowning now. None of us could swim. How could we help her?

"Octavia, get to shore now," Jasper yelled, running over.

We couldn't reach her. So Jasper jumped in and grabbed her. We pulled them to shore just as the thing leapt from the water. I kicked out at it and it left.

"Note to self," Monty said, panting a little. He smiled and looked down at Jasper. "Next time, save the girl."

We all laughed a little.

We camped out for the night. We were more or less silent as we walked into the woods a little ways. We didn't want to be right out in the open or next to the river while we slept. Jasper and Monty helped Octavia. Finn and Clarke led us.

"We'll camp here for the night," Clarke said. "We'll leave at first light."

We all nodded and found a spot. Jasper leaned against a tree and Octavia laid her head on his chest. Monty wasn't far from them. I was near Monty, using a pill of moss as a pillow. Clarke and Finn were on the other side of a thick root.

We didn't talk much; we all fell asleep quickly. I whispered my lullaby first. But then I was out.

I woke just before dawn. I slowly sat up and stretched. I walked a little ways away and started running in place.

A twig snapped right behind me. I grabbed a screw from my hair and held it in my hand as I turned.

It was just Clarke. She walked over.

"What were you doing?"

"Running," I said. "I've worked out every morning for the past five years." I shrugged. "I didn't think today should be any different."

"Five years?"

"I've been in solitary for five years," I said with a slow nod.

"What'd you do?" she asked.

"I assaulted…quite a few guards," I said. "I was too unstable for a roommate."

"Oh," she said. "You seem to know a lot about Earth."

"My mom was the teacher," I said. "She loves Earth." I couldn't help but smile and then it faded. "I wish she could be here to see it."

"They'll come down soon," she said. "But right now we should worry about ourselves. We need to get to Mount Weather soon."

I nodded. "Let's go." I put the screw back and walked past her. "Wake up," I said, lightly kicking Monty's foot. I did the same to Jasper, who woke up Octavia just by jolting upright. Finn was already sitting up. "Let's go."

Again we walked in silence for a while. Today we were going to cross the river.

We'd planned it out the night before. All we needed were a bunch of vine-like branches. It was easy enough to get them all lined up and tied together. We, meaning I, tied it in a big tree. When I climbed back down, Finn was getting ready to go.

"You wanted to go first," Clarke said. "Now quit stalling."

"Mount Weather awaits," Finn said, pulling on it a little. It was going to hold. Hopefully.

"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine," Jasper instructed. I stood next to them and waited.

"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Finn asked. I tried hard not to roll my eyes.

"Apogee, not apache."

"He knows. Today, Finn," Clarke sighed.

"Aye, aye, captain." He saluted her. "See you on the other side." He was about to go when Jasper stopped him.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Let me. I can do it." He just wanted to impress Octavia.

"Knew there was a badass in there somewhere." Jasper just laughed a little. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it."

"You've got this, Jasper," I said. I smiled over at him.

"See you on the other side," Jasper said with a nervous smile. "Ha ha!" he yelled, jumping from the rocks. "Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!" He landed rather awkwardly on the other side. Finn caught the rope when it came back.

We all waited to see if he was okay. He jumped up and looked at us. "Yeah! We are apogee! Yeah!"

We all cheered. "You did it, Jasper," I yelled. "Yes!"

I grabbed the rope from Finn's hands and pulled it back.

"You've got this," Finn said with a smirk.

"I know," I said with a smile. I leapt off the rocks.

I saw Jasper holding up a Mount Weather sign. We made it.

I flew through the air. It was liberating. But that didn't last long.

A spear flew through the air and hit Jasper right in the chest. He flew backwards, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

Where did the spear come from? Who threw it? There were others here?

I landed on the ground in a crouch. "Run," I yelled at the others.

I hoped they would run. We didn't need anyone else to get hurt. They needed to go back and get help.

I ran to Jasper. I leaned down, ready to check his pulse.

I didn't get to though.

I was knocked forward when an arrow pierced my shoulder. It hurt like hell but I got up and hid behind a tree anyways.

I heard a few more arrows fly.

I peeked around the trunk and looked across the river. I couldn't see anyone. And the others were gone. Good.

I turned just in time to see a man grab my head and slam it against the tree in front of me. I dropped like dead weight.

As I was closing my eyes, I saw the man kneel down in front of me.

He was just like any man I'd seen on the Ark. But he was taller, more muscular, tanner. He was covered in furs and clothing. His face was covered in scars and tattoos though.

I was out before I could see anything else.