LEXA | ALICIA

"You think this is it?" Clarke asks, while we all stare at the slightly overgrown town sign, reading Mom's name.

I look around me, then back at her.

"Must be," I answer. "We're less than ten miles away from the shore." I nod towards another road sign, one that points in the direction of Lake Erie.

Clarke follows my gaze. "You want to go straight to the lakeside? Or check out this place first?"

With one last glance at the town sign I get back on my bike. "Let's explore a little. Maybe we find some clues," I say, even though I don't expect to find anything at all.

The thing is, I want to see it. This last place we know off where Mom might have lived. Even if it's a graveyard.

Or worse.

It takes us only a few minutes to reach the edge of the settlement. Coalport, as Strand had taught us. The homebase of the community that once lived here, and that was built on the ruins of Madison. Half of its walls are still up, making it hard to see what's behind, but I can already tell this place has been nothing like Alexandria - not even in its best days.

We leave the bikes behind and crawl through one of the big holes in the fence. The settling looks exactly like one can expect after it got run over by a couple of herds, with almost nothing left standing, except for a handful of small buildings that at first sight are all uninhabitable these days. Doors hang off their hinges, glass from the windows is shattered everywhere and I honestly think that every single roof could collapse at any time.

The different paths around these hovels are all muddy and littered with debris, and I spot piles of ashes and black, perished wood everywhere, giving this place an ironically fitting name. If we want to reach and explore every corner we won't stay clean for long; to make our way through we'll gonna need to crawl on hands and feet more often than not.

The area is quiet as a tomb and looks completely deserted. Even the dead have no business here anymore.

"What a shithole" Madi mumbles next to me, reminding me of Luke's description.

I knew I wouldn't find Mom here, I didn't even dare to secretly hope for it, but now that I'm here I'm actually relieved that she's left. Wherever she is, it can not be worse than this.

"Come on," I sigh, reluctantly. "Let's have a closer look."

We spread out. As we start to make our way through the rubble we keep our weapons at our fingertips just in case, even though there's no single soul around - dead or alive. When I make it to a small, roofless building at the west side I carefully look around the door post. As anticipated there's no one in there and the mess inside is at least as bad as outside.

I see remnants of furniture, either overturned or knocked over, and of no value anymore, and when I look more closely I discover traces of blood on one of the walls. I grimace.

Crossing the room I head to what must have been some kind of kitchen. The sink is still there, albeit broken. I open the cupboard below it. It's empty. Same for the one next to it.

"Nothing?"

Clarke's voice comes from the doorway.

"Not even rat shit," I answer her, before standing up straight again and turning towards her. "You?"

"Same," she answers.

She steps inside, not bothered by the awful, suffocating smell that lingers in the room - or maybe she's just doing a great job in hiding any issues with it. "Listen, I know this place looks like hell on earth, but I don't think it was that bad before it went down. I checked the building across the road and I'm pretty sure they used it as a classroom. There are still some drawings on the wall."

I give her a weak smile, knowing what she's trying to do.

Without saying anything else she takes another step and wraps her arms around me. As she holds me tight I close my eyes for a moment, making everything around me disappear - everything but Clarke, who as always knows how to replace this black world for a bright one, just by being there.

When she lets go off me she takes my hand instead and leads me outside. There we spend an hour at least going through every thinkable kind of waste.

We find exactly nothing.

"It's okay," I tell her, even though she didn't say or ask anything. "I knew it was pointless."

Clarke heaves a weary sigh. "I'm sorry. I really wish you were wrong this time."

I nod, a sorrowful smile lingering on my lips. "Me too."

"Wanna check out those sheds over there, then meet at the bikes?"

I shrug with little enthusiasm. "Sure."

When I open the door of the shed on the right I'm met with darkness. The only source of light is a small crack in the tin roof, and now the open door. It's hardly enough to distinguish anything and when I take a few steps inside I almost break my neck over something lying around on the floor. Reaching down I realize it's an old skateboard.

I pick it up and turn is towards the light coming from behind me to have a better look. It's got a huge scratch on it and one of its wheels is missing, but it makes me smile nonetheless. It looks almost exactly like the one Nick used to have, and used to love, at least until the world grew dark on him.

And boy, had I been jealous!

As I let my fingers slide over the board my memory brings me back to our early childhood years. To those moments I tried to chase him, running after my big brother when he took off, flying over the asphalt, smirking at me over his shoulder - knowing damn well I could never catch up with him, unless he let me. I can still hear his laughter. Still feel his hands lifting me up once he'd teased me long enough, helping me to try the board. Pushing me forward without letting go of me. Not once did he let go of me.

"What's that?"

I look up. It's Madi, gazing at the - to her - strange object in my hands.

"It's a skateboard," I explain. "A broken one, unfortunately. When it's got all its wheels you can use it as means of transport. Or just to do tricks."

"Really?" Her eyes grow big. "What kind of tricks?"

"All kinds. Jumps, flips, slides..."

"Can you do any of them?"

A soft, unexpected chuckle falls off my lips. "I could hardly stand on it without falling off. My brother could though. And I bet you'd rock it, too!"

Madi takes the board from me. She studies it closely before making one of the wheels spin - over and over again. When her eyes find mine again a deep sigh escapes her. "Too bad it's broken."

I shrug my shoulder. "We can go back in there, try to find that wheel? It's pretty dark, but a treasure hunter as good as you..."

Madi's smile widens. "Alright," she nods, and then, as if she suddenly remembers why she came for me, "Oh, speaking of, I found something. It's probably nothing, but..."

Her hand disappears into her pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. She hands is to me without any further explanation, so I have no clue what to expect.

I unfold it, frowning in anticipation, and read the first line.

"To my dearest children"

... ...