Surprisingly Clarke was missing her early morning training sessions. In just a couple of weeks the routine of rising early, meditating, and training had served Clarke well. Providing her with a sense of stability and routine in a time and place completely alien to her.
But these new habits were now hard to break, so despite her stubbornness of joining Alec on the first watch, Clarke still found herself up before the sun began to rise. Which considering that summer was lingering as long as possible spoke of how truly early it was.
So after working through her morning mediation and then completing the stretches Alec had shown her, Clarke found herself retrieving from her pack a sealed bag with some old world maps. She placed the maps out flat on the ground and compared it to a Trikru map Alec had given her.
Last night during the first watch, Alec had passed some time showing Clarke his map and he had even taken the time to show Clarke where they were according to her own map provided by the Ark.
The camp slowly came to life around her, Alec was already awake and had disappeared into the surrounding woods, Miller who had been on the last watch was packing away his bedding.
Octavia and Lincoln were starting to stir in their beddings which were quite close to one another.
While Clarke waited for them to wake and for Alec to return she took some extra time to study the maps provided by the Ark.
Thanks to Alec's highlighting their route, Clarke was able to recall and mark it on her own map. Jaha or whoever prepared the pack with the maps had marked out some old supply stores. Most had probably been raided along time ago. But their route brought them quite close to one of the bigger and probably better hid stores.
Perhaps it would be worth the detour if the supplies still existed, they would be quite useful to the Skaikru, especially any potential weapons. Trikru had no use for them, due to the fear of reprisal from the mountain but Skaikru could use them to fight against the mountain, with the Commander's permission that is.
If they acted without out, it would no doubt, cost them the potential for peace with the grounder clans. But if it was allowed, extra guns and ammunition would be an important asset and bargaining chip to utilize during Clarke's negotiations with the Commander.
Clarke wasn't surprised when Alec appeared silently kneeling beside her and peering over her shoulder.
"You're going to have to show me how you move so silently through the forest."
Clarke laughed breathlessly in fright.
"All in good time, Prisa. Now, what is it you're looking at that has you so focused?" Clarke quickly explained as she pointed to each marked spot, explaining that they were supply strongholds and then showing how close their journey would bring them to one of the larger ones.
"Seeing as it is so close to our route I see no reason for a quick detour but I must reiterate, regardless of the reason for their presence, no old-world weapons are permitted within Polis walls," Alec spoke slowly, his words solemn.
"I understand. It would only be an intel-gathering mission, no supplies would be taken from the supply store."
The journey to the supply store was quite grueling. Alec insisted that despite its proximity to their traveling route, that they would need as much extra time to assess its contents. Such time would not be permitted if they didn't arrive by that point at least an hour before the estimated original time.
Even Lincoln appeared winded by Alec's pace. Whereas Clarke, Miller, and Octavia were bright red in the face and gasping for breath.
"Are … we … there … yet?" Octavia gasped as she leaned over her bent knees gasping in breaths in between each word.
Clarke looked in confusion between the map and their surroundings. "We should be. But I'm not sure where the entrance is. I guess … we fan out and look for a hidden door or hatch or something."
Clarke drifted off Lincoln walking in line with her several feet apart. While the others spread out across the surrounding area.
As Clarke approached a dense pocket of trees, visibility dimmed as the sun hid behind the clouds. The very air seemed to thicken as the fog rolled across the ground. Someone gripped her shoulder, causing her to jump in fright while she simultaneously spun on the spot her daggers released from the metal loop mounts located on the outside of her thighs on her trousers.
The noise of her dagger catching on the knife Lincoln had defensively placed across his own neck while holding her other wrist in a bone grinding grip, centimeters away from the area where the federal artery was located on his leg.
"Crap Lincoln. Don't do that." Clarke gasped as she dropped her shaking arms and returned the daggers to their holsters.
Wide-eyed and swallowing repeatedly it took him two attempts for his voice not to crack when he spoke.
" I think I might have found a tunnel entrance."
Nodding, Clarke motioned for Lincoln to lead and she fell into step behind him.
Clarke had no idea how Lincoln had found the tunnel. It was in the center of a large overgrown bush, the slopping entrance well hidden in the shadows and forest undergrowth.
As soon as the branches fell back across the entrance behind them, Clarke paused due to Lincoln's stopped form in front of her, and she began to blink repeatedly trying to let her eyesight adjust to the darkness.
It never failed to surprise Clarke how many different types of darkness could be found on earth.
The Darkness of the underground was so very different from any other kind she had ever experienced before.
They slowly walked deeper into the cavern, Clarke swept her arms out as she went, brushing her fingertips along the walls as she walked.
The sudden collision of her hand against a mental drum sent shockwaves up her right arm.
"I think I've got something, Lincoln."
Clarke retrieved her torch from the side pocket of her backpack and removed one of her daggers from the holster and began to prey the lid off.
So focused on her task it didn't immediately register to Clarke that Lincoln had not replied. The noise of her dagger scraping the lid as she started to pry the lid off, echoed noisily around her.
The realization of her loud actions and Lincoln's lack of response suddenly registered and Just as her uneasiness grew unbearable, Clarke rapidly spun around in time to see a large bulking form step out of the shadows.
It took her brain a couple of precious few seconds to realize this form was bulkier than Lincoln. Her heart was pounding so fiercely she could barely hear the animalistic growls and snarls that seemed to vibrate within the echoing cavern.
Panicking Clarke began to slowly back away, her back to the entrance and her gaze fixed on the hulking and raggedly dressed man that stalked after her.
It was watching his stalking motions that forced Clarke to acknowledge that this was no regular grounder, there was something truly wrong with this man. He wasn't quite right.
As her motions became quicker her eyes focused on the grounder's gaze which was badly bloodshot and alarmingly blank. Suddenly Clarke's heel caught on something in the ground, sending her tipping backward and as she crashed to the ground, the force of her back colliding with the solid earth, loosened her grip and her dagger flew out of her hand as the man launched at her.
The moments following were a blur, Clarke reflex's had her raising her forearm to block her face, suddenly a searing pain raced up her arm and Clarke instinctively used her free hand to retrieve her remaining holstered dagger, plunging it in diagonally and upwards in a blow to the left-hand side of his rib cage.
The man's reaction was practically non-existent, his eyes still horrifically blank but the pain in her arm worsened suddenly before lessening, then her attacker's full body weight crashed down on top of her.
Dead. He was dead. Clarke gasped as she tried repeatedly to shove the dead weight off the top of herself. But one arm was trapped between herself and the attacker and her free hand that she used the dagger with, kept slipping because it was coated in the blood from the deadly wound she had caused. As precious minutes passed she could feel herself and her clothes become soaked in the blood of the grounder as it pooled out of the body.
With each struggle Clarke found it more and more difficult to get a full breath and black spots danced warningly across her eyes, she tried desperately to call for help but when she tried her voice was muffled. Regardless, there was no response.
Clarke almost found it laughable, Lincoln was probably dead, she had survived the attack only to suffocate under her attacker's dead bodyweight. She probably would've laughed aloud if she had been able to get enough air to laugh. With Clarke's last conscious thoughts she heard someone distantly calling her name as the darkness of unconsciousness mercilessly pulled her under.
Being shaken roughly, Clarke regained consciousness with a gasp which caused her to jerk upright and her chest began to contract with a coughing fit so violent it seemed to overtake her entire body momentarily.
"Shit Clarke, you scared the crap out of us." Miller gasped, as he jerked back from Clarke's instinctive punch she threw before she could register who it was surrounding her.
The cavern was thankfully much brighter and Alec was leaning a groggy Lincoln against the wall while holding blood stained clothe to a large gash that ran down the side of his right forehead and across his cheek.
"Is he… the man… he's not. Oh God, he's dead. I killed him." Clarke gasped in horror as she spotted the still form of the attacking grounder lying on the ground.
"It was a good kill, Clarke," Alec reassured her, as he rose from his feet. Silently Octavia replaced him beside Lincoln and used clean clothes, replacing the old one and holding it to Lincoln's head.
"I …. I didn't mean to… he, something was wrong with him." Clarke gasped brokenly, sobs hitching in her chest, her eyes burning with unshed tears.
" He was a Ripa, Clarke. There was no saving him. He was already dead."
"Shit, you mean like a zombie, a dead man walking?" Miller demanded, his face draining of color in fright.
"Not literally. The mountain took him from his clan and turned him into a monster. He has no memory of who he was, his loved ones, his clan. He was just a mindless puppet of the mountain with an appetite for human flesh."
"Oh shit, they turn people into cannibals. The more I hear about these mountain men, the more relieved I am we crashed nowhere near them." Miller croaked, his face tinged a green color, he murmured as he retrieved the first aid kit from his backpack. He took out a penknife and set about to cut the sleeve of Clarke's bloodied shirt. Next, he pulled out a flask of filtered water and began to wash and wrap Clarke's bleeding arm.
Wincing in pain, Clark turned her head away from her arm as the pain increased suddenly as Miller set about to flush the wound clean.
Suddenly his movements stopped and the deafening silence that followed was so shocking Clarke turned back to ask Miller what was wrong. His face was pale and slacked with shock his gaze focused on the wound on her arm.
"Fuck! He bit you. He really was a cannibal." Miller croaked in horror.
"Jok, Clarke I'm so sorry." Lincoln gasped as he tried to stand upright, his weight leaning heavily on the wall behind him, Octavia worriedly gripping his large arm as though to support his weight and steady him as he swayed on his feet.
"He came out of nowhere, as soon as he hit me, I hit my head on the wall and then… nothing."
"It couldn't be helped Lincoln. He ambushed you. I didn't even hear it happening. I was focused on opening that damn metal drum…" Clarke whipped round in place grabbing her touch still half-buried in the ground where it was lost during the struggle.
There was the metal drum knocked over on its side during the struggle, the top lying on the ground and assault rifles spilling out of it.
"Miller go and check the other drums, see what else is in them."
The next couple of minutes were a manic scramble as the others began to pry the lids off. The food stores were a complete loss but there was plenty of armor, guns, and ammunition to supply every member of the 100.
By the time they had repacked everything back into the barrels and moved them further back in the store, the sun was well passed the midday point and they would be lucky to make it to Polis before nightfall. Especially with Lincoln still being quite unsteady on his feet.
The remainder of the trip was beyond grueling for them. Lincoln was struggling to keep moving under his own power so Alec and Miller were taking turns to support his weight and in between his turns, Alec kept checking in with Clarke. His worried gaze was hard to escape but as he told her of the Ripa's and the horrors of people being dragged off from various Trikru villages and that they were either never seen again or if they were they were no more than mindless monsters, it helped ease some of the guilt she felt at killing a human being.
But the weight of the kill couldn't be removed completely. Despite the grounder's monstrous state, he had once been like Lincoln and Alec, a person with a past and a family. A life that had already been taken from him long before Clarke ended his life.
But if the Mountain people were similar to the Ark civilization which utilized modern weapons and technology, did that mean that this state they forced upon the grounders could be undone. Could they be cured?
It was possible, from his behavior the grounder's mental state had somehow been altered. Either by torture or drugs. Alec had mentioned some past encounters with Ripas and their loved ones had yielded some small flashes and flickers of who they used to be before the mindlessness resumed.
So there was at least some small measure of hope for it to be undone, especially if drugs had been used. The altered mental state, bloodshot eyes, wasting away of physical appearance and strength as well as the tremors that Clarke could still feel from where he had grabbed Clarke during the attack all suggested withdrawal symptoms.
Clarke was so involved in her thoughts she hadn't noticed the thinning trees as their surroundings gradually changed. The brisk winds sweeping over them and causing her to shiver violently jerked her gaze up from the ground and her eyes widened in shock as she took in her surroundings.
Large fields with farm animals and crops speckled with two-story wooden houses stretched out either side of the cleared road ahead of them. But what was truly shocking was the huge tower in the distance surrounding by a bustling city all within a large wall that encircled the Capital of Polis.
They had Arrived.