The Calm


It's been two days since the virus hit the camp and everyone was back to normal. Of course, just to be safe, Bellamy was strict about round the clock watches and patrols. I've spent the past two days disinfecting the drop ship, all three levels. Luckily for me, Fox and Harper agreed to help.

Using the makeshift mop, courtesy of Murphy if you can believe it, I scrubbed every inch of the first level, making sure the metal was free of lingering blood stains. I heard the curtain to the drop ship blow open, followed by the sound of footsteps.

"Harper, first watch is over." Bellamy announced, as Harper came down from the third level of the ship. "Go relieve Monroe on the south wall."

"Got it." Harper confirmed, grabbing her rifle from the table near me. "See ya Princess Commander." she gave me a smile before leaving.

"Keep your eyes open." Bellamy warned, passing her on his way to me.

"Anything?" I asked, scrubbing a section of the wall.

Bellamy shook his head. "It's been two days." he reminded.

I shrugged. "Well, maybe the bomb at the bridge scared them off for good." I replied, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand.

"You believe that?" he questioned.

I sighed, leaning against the metal table where my medical supplies rested. "No." I admitted, glancing at Bellamy. "The Grounders are gonna come for us. Just a matter of when." I rubbed my temples. "Any news from Jasper or Raven? I heard they're working on some things."

Bellamy sighed. "Jasper thinks he can cook up some more gunpowder, if he gets some sulfur." he answered. "And Raven says she can turn that into landmines. So be careful where you step if you go outside the wall."

"Go Raven, way to be thorough." I chuckled. "Remind me never to piss her off."

He nodded in agreement, wrapping his arm around my back. "What I really need is 1,000 more of her tin can bombs I can roll into their village and blow those Grounders to hell." his eyes narrowed slightly. I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "That's what they want to do to us."

I slipped out of his arm and continued cleaning the back corners of the ship. "I can't believe we survived 100 years of war just so we could slaughter each other." I sighed, flipping my ponytail back. "There has to be another way." I looked back over my shoulder at him. "Any word from the Ark?"

He shook his head, "I asked Clarke that earlier and she said it's still dead silence." his shoulders sank.

I shuddered, sniffling. "Finally ran out of air I guess." I muttered. My mind instantly jumped back to the Exodus ship, and my hand reached up to caress the ring. "Maybe my mom was lucky, being on the Exodus ship." I bit my lip. "At least it was quick."

Bellamy walked up behind me, rubbing my arms. I held back the emotions and tossed the bucket of moonshine onto the floor, cleaning the last section. "Like you said, we're on our own." I sighed, pursing my lips together. "No one's coming down to save us."

"Hey, look at me." Bellamy whispered, turning me to face him. "We're gonna get through this. Don't you start giving up." he cupped my cheek, caressing it with his thumb.

I turned my face into his palm. "I'm not giving up." I rebuked. "I'm just facing the facts."

Before either one of us could say anything, we both heard a small explosion, followed by people yelling. "Whoa! Guys! Fire!" in overlapping voices.

"Fire?" I repeated.

"Octavia was working in the smokehouse." Bellamy muttered, taking off out of the ship.

"Never a dull day on Earth." I scoffed, running after him.


I could see the burning smokehouse from the drop ship drawbridge, hell I'm pretty sure the Grounders could see the smoke from wherever they were. I ran through the crowd to see if anyone near the smokehouse was injured. Thankfully no one was, but all of our meat was way over done.

Once the commotion cleared, I walked up to Bellamy who was inspecting what remained of the smokehouse. "Any idea what happened?" I asked, my hands on my hips.

Bellamy sighed, glancing over his shoulder at me "Murphy says that Del kept feeding the fire," he answered, before looking back at the charred wood and bones. "mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea."

"And we believe Murphy?" I questioned.

Bellamy nodded, standing up. "I do." he replied.

"Clarke and I checked the rations in the ship." I informed. "We have some wild onions, nuts, and berries, but it's only enough to last us maybe one or two weeks. Anything left here?"

He shook his head and kicked a burnt log. "Nope." he grunted. "It all burned."

I tapped the toe of my combat boot on the ground, biting my lip. "Then we've got no other choice. We have to hunt." I threw out, making Bellamy look right in my eyes. "Anyone we can spare goes out."

He grabbed my arm as I turned to leave. "With the whole Grounder army out there?" he questioned.

"Bellamy, we won't be able to defend ourselves if we're starving to death." I pointed out. "We'll put together small hunting parties, and to be safe we tell them to be back by sundown."

Bellamy kissed my forehead. "Now you're thinking like a leader." he complimented. "I think that nickname suits you after all, Princess Commander."

I rolled my eyes and nudged his arm, "Cute." I chided, heading for the ship.


"Each group takes someone with a gun." Bellamy informed as everyone came through the ship grabbing weapons and breaking off into small groups. "They're for killing Grounders, not food. We don't have the ammo." he emphasized the ammunition shortage. "Use the spears for hunting. Get what you can and be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark."

I filled my pack with arrows and a couple of empty plastic boxes, just in case I found anythig medically usefull on the hunting trip. Nate Miller walked up to me, large spear in hand, "Who're you going with Ray?" he asked.

I slung my pack across my chest, "Bellamy." I answered. "Wanna join us?"

Miller shrugged, "Sure, why not." he agreed.

I rolled my eyes and strapped my newly made knife holster on my thigh, slidng a blade made from the claws and bones of the panther Wells shot our second day here on Earth into the sheath. I checked to make sure my boots were laced up tight and grabbed my bow. "Let's go."

I ducked out of the drop ship with Miller right behind me and we waited for Bellamy by the gate. He joined us and we headed out into the wilderness.


"What were you talking to Raven about?" Miller asked as we walked. Him and Bellamy were side by side while I stayed close behind them.

"I told her to put her big brain to work to give us something to use once the Grounders finally make their move." he answered. "She's gonna be working on walkie-talkies while we're out hunting."

"If anyone can make those out of the scrap around camp, it's Raven." I chimed in, keeping pace with the two boys. "She's got one brilliant mind, I'll give her that."

As we came to a clearing nearby, Miller stopped and ducked behind a tree. "I think we just found tonight's dinner." he chuckled.

Bellamy and I stood behind him, peering around the tree. Looking through the scope of his rifle, Bellamy got a better look at our prey. "It's a deer." he whispered.

"Let me see." I took the gun from him and peered through the scope and sure enough, a male deer was grazing in the field. "Please don't have another head." I muttered, but as it turned, I saw a more distinct head growing from the side of it's neck, complete with antlers. "Damn." I cursed, handing Bellamy the rifle. "That's still freaky."

"It just means more for us." Miller interjected.

I rolled my eyes in his direction. "You do realize that the lingering radiation from the bombs soaked into the ground and water, causing the cells to mutate right?" I questioned.

"Food is food, alright." Miller pointed out. "How are we gonna go about killing it?"

"I'll shoot it from a different angle and once it's down, you can finish the job by spearing it in the heart." I voted, running to another tree, sliding behind it where the deer's backside was exposed in my line of sight.

I pulled an arrow from my pack and lined it in the bowstring, aiming for the deer's lower spine. If this hit worked, it would paralyze it so Miller could go in for the kill. I took a deep breath and exhaled, releasing the arrow. It struck the deer in the back, which caused it to fall to the ground. Miller ran up and finished the kill, the deer going limp on the ground.

I smiled triumphantly and leaned against the tree, sighing in relief that I actually pulled that off. I slid down to the ground and a bundle of indigo colored flowers caught my eyes. I pulled out the list of plants Monty wrote up for me and checked over a similar drawing. The plant in question could be useful; the petals secret a sap that could be used as antiseptic, while the stems could be used for a painkiller. The roots of the plant, however, were actually a type of poison.

I dug out the plastic box from my pack and whipped out my knife, cutting the flowers loose from the ground, roots and all. The box itself was nearly full when Miller and Bellamy joined me, the deer we killed wrapped in a portion of the parachute.

"What are those for?" Miller asked.

"Never hurts to stock up on medical herbs and plants." I answered, shutting the full box. "These little beauties are something special, the flowers and stems are medically useful. The roots however, are a type of poison."

"What would you do with the poison?" Bellamy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

I pulled an arrow from my pack and twisted it in between my fingers. "Ground it into a paste and coat my arrows in it." I answered, standing up and facing him. "Give the Grounders a taste of their own medicine." I slipped the arrow and the box into my pack, heading back in the direction of camp.


We made it back to camp a little after sundown. Miller and Bellamy went one direction and I went into the drop ship, looking to organize the flowers I found into medical usage and my own personal poison.

I sat at my medical table and started cutting the roots from the flowers, wearing a pair of black leather gloves that I found at the bottom of the red medical duffle from the bunker. Monty walked up next to me, "Where'd you find those?" he asked.

"Growing by some trees near a clearing." I answered, setting the roots in a pile and placing the flowers in the box. "I figured if the Grounders are gonna use poison weapons, why not us too?" I glanced over at him. "Give them a taste of it."

"I'm so staying on your good side." Monty gulped.

I cracked a smirk in his direction. "Wise choice." I chuckled. "Are you helping Raven with the walkies?"

He nodded, "I'll get back to that." he walked over to his own station.

I couldn't help but laugh as I continued my new little project. Normally I wouldn't even think of using my knowledge of the human body to actually kill someone, but being faced with the possibility of going to war with the Grounders made me realize that holding on to the old me wasn't gonna cut it. I had to step up and do what was right for my people. Time to own up to the nickname they all call me.


Raven walked into the ship, pulling her hair up in a ponytail. Her shirt was loose and wrinkled, as was her jacket. She sat down by the radio and started working on whatever was in front of her. I continued to grind the roots into a paste and coat the arrowheads, turning them from ivory white to a light lilac. In order to speed up the drying a bit, I held each arrowhead over a flame for a few seconds, then set them off to the side to let the poison set in.

"You finished the walkies." Monty noted, as he joined us, standing in between my station and Raven's.

Raven sighed and stood up, "Hey I'm sorry about before. Really." she apologized. "And sorry about your family."

I glanced between the two, feeling a little left out of the loop. I tuned out the rest of that conversation, until I heard "They all left camp together." which Monty informed.

"All 3 of them are still out there?" Raven questioned.

I jumped out of my chair, "Clarke's not back yet?" I asked. Both nodded. "We have to go out there and find them." I grabbed my arrow pack and bow. "Grab some walkies, I'll get Bellamy." I ran out of the drop ship and towards Bellamy's tent.


"Bellamy." I panted, ducking into his tent. I then noticed that he was only partially dressed, his upper body totally bare. "Oh sorry, I should've-" I trailed off.

"It's okay, Rayleigh." he cut off, sliding on his shirt. "What's going on?"

"Clarke's hunting party isn't back yet." I answered. "I'm going out with Monty and Raven to go find them."

"Like hell." he rejected. "You know it's dangerous to go out after dark. "

"She's my sister Bellamy!" I reminded. "Clarke's all I've got left." moisture welled in my eyes. "First I loose my dad, and then my mom." I felt a couple tears fall down my cheeks. "I can't loose my sister too."

His expression softened and he pulled me to his chest, rubbing my back. "Hey, it's okay." he whispered. "I'll come with you."

I pulled away and looked up into his eyes. "Thank you." I leaned up and kissed him, cupping his face, our bodies pressed together. He hesitated a second before kissing back, pulling away first. I blinked in confusion and stepped back, "You okay?"

Bellamy nodded, shrugging on his guard jacket. "Yeah, C'mon let's go." he grabbed his rifle and slipped past me, holding the tent flap open.

We met Monty, Octavia, and Raven by the gate. "Here, we can use these to keep in contact." Raven said, handing a walkie to Bellamy and Monty. I noticed that Raven nor Bellamy looked each other in the eyes.

I shook it off. "Now let's go a find my sister." I voted, shrugging past them and heading back out into the forest. My pack full of non-poison arrows was slung across my chest, I held my bow tightly, still wearing the black leather gloves, and I was determined to kill anything the got in my way. Nothing was gonna stop me from finding my sister.


"I thought you said you were heading west." Monty questioned over the walkie. "Where are you?"

"Just keep the moon on your left, and you'll find us." Bellamy replied.

Those two had broken off not too far ahead, leaving us three girls in a group. "This morning, all I could think about was how much easier this would all be if Finn was just-" Raven sighed, shaking her head. "gone."

"You didn't wish this into being, Raven." Octavia reassured.

"Stop torturing yourself." I added, walking a few paces ahead. "Focus more on finding them. They're alive. They have to be."

As we continued walking a strange static-like signal came over the walkies. "Is anyone else hearing this signal?" Monty asked, his voice sounding panicked.

I took the walkie from Raven. "Just keep your eyes open for Clarke and the others." I told him, giving the walkie back to Raven.

"I think it's the same thing we heard in the black box." Monty informed.

"Damn it, Monty, pay attention." Bellamy snapped. "Do you see anything? Report."

I heard a rustling not too far ahead and held up my hand to halt Octavia and Raven. "There's someone in the bushes." I whispered. I took an arrow from my pack and lined it up in the bow, holding it low as I stalked to the bushes.

I held my bow up and ready to strike as I jumped through the bushes. I quickly lowered my weapon when I saw Myles laying on the ground, one arrow in his stomach and another in his shoulder. "Myles, what happened?" I asked. "Where are Clarke and Finn?"

Myles coughed, blood dripping from his lips. "Grounders took them." he rasped.

"Take it easy." Octavia soothed, kneeling next to him.

Bellamy joined us shortly, overlooking Myles. "We have to get him back to camp." he noted.

"Bell, what about Clarke and Finn?" Octavia asked.

Raven backed away, worry in her eyes. Bellamy looked in her direction. "Raven, I'm sorry." he apologized.

She looked up and met his eyes, sniffling. "We need to make a stretcher." she went to gather the materials we needed.

I turned my back on the rest of them, running my fingers through my hair. My eyes burned with tears threatening to spill over. I felt someone grip my shoulders, calling my name.

"Rayleigh, come on." the voice urged, sounding alot like Bellamy's. "Ray." I gasped and turned around, face to face with Bellamy. "Did you hear me?"

"What?" I questioned, panting.

"I said we're heading back to camp." Bellamy told me, gripping my upper arms. "Let's go."

"No." I shook my head. "Clarke and Finn are still out there somewhere. We have to find them."

"Rayleigh." Bellamy halted, his grip on my arm tightening. "If we don't get back soon, Myles will die." I glanced back over my shoulder, watching as Octavia and Raven lifted the makeshift stretcher which Myles was laying on. I looked back out at the dark forest ahead of me. I closed my eyes, knowing what decision the new me had to make. I turned back to Bellamy, "Then let's go. Those arrows are probably poisoned, we have to hurry."

I ran past him back towards camp, my heart constricting with every step. "I promise Clarke, once I save Myles, I'll come back out and I won't stop until I find you."