"Do you need my wristband, Monty?" Casey asked after an hour of silence. Each minute had come and gone with a series of pros and cons flooding her mind on why she should or shouldn't rip the other tether to her mom's left.

Casey tapped her wristband four times, the sound echoing in the room every time a con passed through her mind.

"No," Monty assured her.

Then he paused, his face close to Octavia's wristband that was still dead, focus drilled into his features.

"At least not yet," he continued, his words sending a chill through Casey. He glanced at Casey curiously, raising an eyebrow, then returned to his work as he asked, "I thought you had someone on the Ark you didn't want to think you were dead."

"I do," Casey agreed softly. She pulled her good leg up to her chest and laid her head on her knee as she studied him. "But if using my wristband gets my mom down here, I think she'll understand."

Monty nodded his head, slowly peeling himself from the wristband. His warm brown eyes were kind and understanding as the tiniest smile flickered at the edges of his lips.

"I understand," Monty stated simply, running his hands down the length of his pants. "My mom and dad are up there. I haven't seen them since the last Visiting Day."

Casey smiled warmly at the understanding Monty was able to give her.

"Me, too," she said. "Except, just my mom."

Monty eyed her, something crossing his mind as a smile started to creep up his face, but it wasn't warm this time. Instead, it was sly and mildly curious.

"So," he began, raising an eyebrow as the smile sunk further into his face. "You and Murphy?"

"No, no," Casey said quickly, waving her hands in front of her to dispel his assumptions but allowing a laugh to pass from the question. "No, best friend. After his dad was floated and his mom died, he became part of my family. He had nowhere else to turn, but we were there. We were always there."

"Jasper is like a brother to me, too," Monty mused, bowing his head. "I don't know what I would do without him."

"Guess it comes with Farm Station Territory," Casey commented with a broad smile which Monty returned. "By the way, I think we should discuss farming."

"They're back!" a delinquent outside shouted, interrupting Casey.

Monty stood without hesitation, sprinting to the hatch and flying down the ladder. Casey followed, albeit slower than Monty.

Casey stopped beside him just as Clarke passed. Finn and another kid carried Jasper behind her. He was unconscious, looking worse for wear from the gaping wound of a spear being lodged into his chest.

"Is he...?" Monty began, unable to ask, as he stared at Jasper's lifeless body.

"He's alive," Clarke assured him in a clipped tone. "I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage."

Bellamy and Murphy walked into camp after them with a cloth swung over their shoulders and a lump within. Together, they dropped it, removing the fabric to reveal a dead jaguar beneath it.

"Who's hungry?!" Bellamy yelled to the camp with a broad smile across his face, victorious from his winnings.

The delinquents screamed back in excitement. None of them had eaten since the night before they landed.

"If you want to eat," Bellamy continued, his voice booming as he spoke over the excited chatter. He raised his fist, then said, "You have to remove your wristband!"

Casey scoffed, no one around to hear her complaints. So, she left and entered the tent Murphy had set up for them. She laid down on the cot, turning on her side to face the plastic, watching shadows pass.

An hour passed, and the shadows zooming past her tent dulled along with the fires. Some delinquents went to sleep for the night while others sat, whispering to one another.

Casey continued to stare, watching as they moved past, listened to their murmurs, and didn't move even though her stomach twisted in pain.

The front of the tent crinkled as Murphy slipped in. Casey didn't turn, just listened as he sat on his cot and took off his boots.

"Hey, I know you're awake," Murphy said like she had been trying to hide it.

Casey nearly ignored him but didn't, turning on her side to glare at him instead. When she settled, a pointed stick was in her face, and a hefty portion of meat slid onto it. Casey looked at it, then back at him. Murphy smiled as best as he could, lips thin without teeth showing and wrinkles around his eyes.

"Come on," he muttered, jerking it forward again.

Casey sat up, feet firmly planted to the floor, and kept her hands gripped tightly to the edge of her cot.

"I thought we had to take our wristbands off for this," Casey commented bitterly. Her eyes darted down to his wrist, seeing the wristband was gone, then back to him.

"I could never let you go hungry," Murphy told her sincerely, his smile edging up further where she could see his teeth. He leaned forward, took her wrist, and made her grab the stick, then leaned back and took a bite of his meal. "You're terrifying when you don't eat," he said off-handedly.

Casey rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Yeah, so terrifying."

Murphy stared at her, waiting expectantly for her to take a bite. She would've argued further about his wristband being pried off, but she didn't. There was no going back now.

She peeled some of the meat off with her fingers rather than gnashing down on the flesh and ate it slowly. The flavor was salty, incredibly so. It was tough, too, taking what felt like ninety-eight bites to chew through before she could swallow it. Casey hated it, but her stomach was calmed by something finally filling it.

"You know," Casey mused. "We've never eaten meat before. Just the fake shit."

"I say this is way better than the bullshit they called meat up there," Murphy snorted, eating as much as he could in the shortest amount of time.

Casey stared at him, slightly annoyed he didn't catch what she said.

"We can't survive on this alone, John," Casey continued, considering the food in front of her rather than eating it. She wasn't sure if she could stomach it anymore now that she's sat on it. "We need plants. It's what most of our diet is made of. We'll get sick before we know what to do with ourselves."

Murphy glanced at her, then nodded.

"You're right."

"I'm what?" Casey asked, laughing, and leaned over her knees to cup her hand around her ear. "I don't think I heard you right."

"You should run it by Bellamy," Murphy continued simply.

"Run what by Bellamy?" Casey asked, laughter still in her voice, as she didn't catch what Murphy told her to do.

"It's a good idea, Casey, but you have to tell Bellamy. People listen to him," Murphy explained, a knowing look behind his eyes that surprised Casey. He had never complied with any type of authority figure. "He's smart, and he knows how we'll survive."

"Starting with cutting all ties with the Ark?" Casey asked under her breath. She returned to her stick, trying to distract herself from the conversation by hitting it against the ground sixteen times. It didn't help calm her, so she kept going.

"I mean, yeah," Murphy stated as easily as the breeze blew by.

Casey snapped her head up to glare at Murphy.

"Listen, Case," Murphy said, the laughter now out of his tone and trying to sound comforting and understanding. It felt like oil against her skin. "I know Rian is up there, but so is everyone else. They locked us up and helped bring us down here. When they come down, we're not gonna get a fresh start. We're gonna be cleaning up their trash."

"I don't see the problem," Casey shot back, pressing her stick firmly into the ground, digging into the dirt, so it stood on its own. "I'd rather clean up trash for the rest of my life. It meant I had you and mom here."

Murphy frowned, looking disappointed, and it upset her more. He sighed, setting his stick down on the ground. He patted his thighs, stood, and bent over her to kiss her forehead.

"Good night," he whispered.

Then, crawled into his cot and turned his back toward her. She did the same, but neither slept well.

Author's Note

Season 1, Episode 2: Earth Skills

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.