Chapter 5

Back at the warehouse, they looked around and saw three houses behind the warehouse and two more, each flanking the warehouse that had been abandoned. In fact, the area of the city they were in was mostly unused. The road they were on was one a lot of people used to get from one part of the city to another as a shortcut, but it would still bring in a lot of foot traffic to the warehouse, especially with the intersection right by their warehouse. The warehouse had a stable block at the back, unfortunately the horses had to be taken through the warehouse to get to it as there wasn't a way around the back anymore. The warehouse had been abandoned before the other houses had been built so the builders didn't think about access to the back of the run-down warehouse, after all the warehouse was built in the early 1800's and the houses were built in the 1950's when people were using cars instead of horses. The old warehouse was left standing as an historic building so they couldn't tear it down.

Cooper was looking at the layout of all the buildings around them. There were two more in their block as well.

"Commander?" she started. "What if we had this entire block? That house to the left of the warehouse is in very bad condition, so what if we pull it down, giving us access to the stables and we use the other housing for us and anyone who works for us?" The Commander was also looking at the block layout. With the housing around the edges of the block and the stables being in the middle of the block, it would be a good place for them all to live and work. She nodded her head at some thought or other before she lifted her head.

"I agree," she said to Cooper and Clarke. "If you take it down carefully, you can use the remaining parts of it to repair the other buildings."

"And if we find them to be more or less like the first one, can we pull them all down and rebuild?"

"If you need to, but I'd prefer it if you repair them instead. I agree with the first one being torn down and access given to the back, but the rest are original buildings and I'd like to preserve them if we can."

"We don't have much to trade with, Commander and those buildings are going to take a lot of repairs. Right now, our priority is our people. Those stations need to know we haven't forgotten them and that we teach them how to survive winter. We need our kids out of Camp Jaha and working for us. We are run ragged right now because there's so much to do and not a lot of people to do it."

"I think you should concentrate on getting two of the other buildings repaired for those you want from the camp. I can give you some goods to trade."

"Mochof," Clarke said, "but we still need a wagon."

"Way ahead of you there, Griffin. When we went to the market to trade for a table, I also made a deal with one of the nomads. We get them some water containers and they'll give us a wagon. We'd still need to borrow or rent horses until we learn how to look after them and have the stables repaired, but that wagon would be ours."

"Is that what you and Bellamy were checking out before?"

"Yeah, we found a place 10 miles from Polis that may still have stuff from the old world. We want to go there and get them - if we can find them - and we do the deal next week."

"I can lend you horses and pack horses for that journey," the Commander said. These two women were thinking long term. They were thinking about actually integrating with the clans and working for themselves. Their people in Camp Jaha probably wouldn't but Lexa could see these two persuading the other stations to form villages somewhere other than the Arkers camp.

"Would there be enough people left for guard duty and the other things we need to do?"

"Probably not. Harper and Monroe are off taking supplies to Flint, Murphy and Sterling are needed for the Skybox. If it was sent down with prisoners, they may not have been let out of their cells and would have died from starvation and dehydration by now. If they are out, they may still be useful to us."

"Would it not be better to send a healer with them?" asked the Commander.

"Yes, but they may not want them anywhere near them."

"Where is this… skybox?"

"We think it came down only a few miles from here, actually. Somewhere to the north east," Clarke said. She showed the Commander which station they were talking about.

"If they came down there, it could be a problem. That area is prone to flooding now. When the war happened, it opened up a shallow creek into a shallow-banked river and it can burst its banks quite frequently in winter and spring. The ground is too wet to grow things and you can't build anything there because the water level is just under the surface."

"We still need to check it out, Commander and the sooner the better if it really is that bad," Clarke said.

"Who does that leave?"

"Justin, Miller, Clarke, Monty and Raven if Bellamy and I are out as well."

"The boy with Clarke the last time, he is her guard?"

"Yes, Commander, as am I when I'm here."

"Then it may be better for you to stay within the warehouse until Cooper and Bellamy come back," the Commander suggested.

"We'll only be gone a day or two at most if we can get horses from the Commander," Cooper said before Clarke could object. "You can take that time to plan and organise for the stables and two of the houses to be renovated and figure out what we can trade for it." Clarke slowly nodded.

"I don't like it, but I'll agree. Miller and Monty can switch off guard duties for the warehouse until Bellamy comes back." Cooper nodded. It may not be ideal, but it was better than nothing and if Murphy and Sterling came back with people, they could be put to work and train in something they never thought possible up on the Ark. Life was opening up enormous avenues of change and Cooper liked it.

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The next morning, Bellamy and Cooper set off for the old world shopping place they'd spotted. The Commander had given them a wagon to hitch to Cooper's horse. Bellamy refused the horse and got into the wagon instead. Cooper smirked. There was no padding and he'd be bounced around a lot, but Bellamy was adamant that he travel in the wagon.

It took them four hours of slow and careful manoeuvering to get there. They pulled up near a stand of trees that led to a meadow which in turn became broken tarmac and concrete. They surveyed the area first and then went over to the remains of a large building with a very faded word on the side.

"I can't make out what it is, but it's probably the name of the store," Cooper said. They carefully worked their way through an overgrown rubble pile and into what was left of the building. There were the remains of stairs going to nowhere now the second floor had collapsed. Below it, though, was a hole for stairs going down to a basement. Both of them smiled and pulled out their flashlights. They checked the edges of it and shone their lights into the hole to see the staircase. It looked different from any staircase they'd ever seen. The stairs were metal with small ridges running the length of each step, but the top step seemed to disappear under the floor instead of being one step below. They looked at each other.

"I'll test it," Cooper said. "I'm lighter than you."

"Alright, but just in case I'm tying a vine rope around you," he said, moving off to get one. Cooper waited and shone her torch as far around the room below as she could. She saw shelving with items on it, but she also saw some standing water at the bottom. With no roof to keep off the rain, a lot of it had accumulated in the basement. They'd have to be careful of what they did and what they touched. Bellamy came back and tied the rope around her waist and Cooper moved to the edge while Bellamy took up an anchor position and set his feet.

"Okay, I'm set, go ahead," he said. Cooper made her way slowly to the next step, gingerly setting her foot onto it and gradually increasing the pressure until she was fully standing on the step. She'd do that with each step and knew it would be slow going, but it would be better than falling down and breaking her neck.

It took her a good six or seven minutes to get to the bottom.

"I'm down!" she called up and felt the rope slacken.

"What do you see?" Bellamy asked, his head appearing over the hole.

"Shelving with items on it all wrapped up. Wooden boxes and the remains of cardboard boxes with items in them. Several clothes rails with clothing on them. I'll need to move further in to see the rest."

"Okay, be careful!" he said. Cooper moved forward slowly, always looking where she was standing. Luckily for her, the water was only about an inch deep. With the black floor, it looked deeper. She moved towards the back of the basement, checking all the shelves. Most of it was home wares or fashion clothing, but at the back was a section with one gallon water containers, farming and gardening tools and agricultural items like seeds. She moved further back and was surprised to find bricks, slabs of stone cut into squares, pipes, both clay and plastic, drains, toilets and sinks and cisterns, handpumps, oil lanterns and even boots. A lot of this stuff could be used in their new homes and they could trade the rest of it for help repairing them as well. Cooper made her way back to the opening.

"Bellamy, you're not gonna believe what I've found. I saw those water containers, but I also saw stuff we can use to repair those buildings! Bricks, pipes, drains, oil lanterns, seeds, handpumps and a lot more. We'd need several trips just to get the good stuff!" Bellamy grinned.

"Get those water containers first and then you can pass up a sample of the other things and we can take those back with us and maybe Raven can give her opinion on those pipes and handpumps, see if we can use them." Cooper nodded and for the rest of the day, they fetched and carried everything they could think of. They only took a few of each item as the stones and bricks were heavy and they didn't want to overstress the horse with too much weight. Cooper also added some more clothing they could use like t-shirts, sweaters, jeans and cargo pants. Bellamy used a pile of them to cushion his backside on the trip back to Polis.

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Cooper pulled up to the warehouse at midday the next day. After spending a day getting everything out of the hole they wanted to bring back, they were exhausted and they decided to sleep there for one night and return the next day.

Everyone came out to see what they'd found. Bellamy showed Justin the water containers and said that twenty would be put aside for a deal Cooper had made at the market. Justin nodded and he and Miller took them and put them in one of the lower rooms. The rest of the items were brought out and examined. Raven swore gleefully as she saw the handpump and pipes they'd brought back. Not enough to rig it up yet, but Raven said that with enough piping, they could place the handpump in the stable yard and have water all year round. At the moment, they had to go to the market and trade for it. Raven wanted to go see the Commander to find city planning maps to see where she could put the piping to get the water they needed, but Clarke cautioned her to wait. It would be winter soon and the ground would be too frozen to dig through. Clarke did tell Justin and Miller to put the items somewhere not seen by other clans coming by every now and then. She didn't want those items traded for until they could use them for their own needs.

After everything was sorted, they got some food, locked the doors and had a conference on what to do next. The consensus was to wait until Harper and Monroe and Murphy and Sterling had made it back and then when they had their own wagon, they'd load up with the supplies the Commander had agreed to give them and Bellamy and Cooper would set off with them to Camp Jaha. It would be difficult to barter for the lives of others, but Abby would have to either accept the deal or face angry people. If Abby turned it down, the people might turn on her because she turned down food for them. If the deal was accepted, then they'd get food and clothing to help them survive over winter and 44 less mouths to feed.

The deal for the wagon went through when Bellamy and Cooper carried all twenty of the containers to the nomads. They'd used poles and slid them through the handles. Two poles, ten to a pole and the ends of the poles on their shoulders. They looked a sight walking through Polis with a load of white things hanging from the poles. A lot of people stopped and looked, wondering what they were and a few of them followed them to the Nomads stall.

"Hey, Tregar! We brought the containers for you," Cooper said, waving at him. Tregar grinned at the few people following them. Maybe they'd stop to trade as well. They set them down near the stall and Cooper pulled one forward and showed him how it worked. He was impressed at the simplicity of it.

"Will it make the water stay cool?" he asked.

"No, but if you put a cover over the wagon, then that would help - not much, but it's better than nothing," Cooper replied. Tregar picked one up and turned it over and over, examining every little piece of it.

"What is this made of?" he asked.

"Old world material called plastic. This is rigid plastic, designed for heavy use."

"Can this plastic be made now?"

"No, it is one of the things we've lost. All we can do now is work in wood and metal. If you have a good metalworker, maybe they can make something similar. I know they used to make fuel containers out of metal to roughly this design but bigger." Tregar nodded and put the container down. He turned to the wagon behind his stall.

"This is the wagon I promised for them," he said. Cooper and Bellamy moved towards it and examined it. They'd asked various wagonmakers what to look out for when trading for one. Nothing bad was found, but one of the back boards would need to be replaced. It wasn't a big job and for twenty water containers, they were getting a good deal. Cooper held out her arm and Tregar shook it.

"Wait here, Bellamy, I'll go get a horse to take it back with us."

He nodded and got into the back of the wagon to keep out of Tregar's way as he traded with others. Soon, Cooper was back with a horse and they took the wagon back to the warehouse and took it inside. For now, until they got the stable block sorted, they'd leave it in the warehouse when not in use. Once again, people crowded around to look at what they'd gotten now. Cooper took the horse back and traded the time of its use for a knife and a woolly hat. When Cooper returned to the warehouse, she outlined her plans for the wagon. Most of them remembered the old westerns and the type of wagon she meant. They could all see the covered wagon making its way across the country, trading here, there and everywhere. Cooper said that they could try to negotiate with Floukru for some old sails for the canvas needed as the cover and she wanted someone to make the metal bands, but she thought it would be a good wagon for them to start with - they just needed horses and someone who knew how to care for them.

The next day, the Commander came back to check on them and admired the wagon they had. She saw the flaws on it and Cooper spent some time detailing how she wanted the wagon to look. The Commander marveled at the foresight of the Skaikru, finding ways around some things and trading what they had or could get. Lexa said she would send the Floukru ambassador to them soon so they could talk about what they needed and set up a trade with them. Cooper thanked her and then Clarke showed the Commander their plans for the other buildings and how they wanted them to look.

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The following day a woman came to the warehouse and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Dray kom Floukru, the Floukru ambassador. The Commander said you would like to trade with us?" Clarke and Cooper went to her.

"I'm Clarke kom Skaikru, Skaikru Heda and this is Cooper kom Skaikru." Dray dipped her head.

"Heda Clarke," she said. "Cooper kom Skaikru." Both women inclined their heads to her in respect.

"What can the Floukru do for you?" Clarke nodded to Cooper and Cooper took over.

"We've just traded for a wagon but we'd like to put a cover on it. I have an idea how to accomplish that, but we need strong canvas for the cover. As you are known as the boat people, do you have any canvas you currently don't use? We can take old canvas and repair it for a cover." Dray looked between the two of them and saw an opportunity to become a trusted friend of this new clan.

"How much do you need?" Cooper led her over to the wagon and told her how she wanted it to look and how she wanted the canvas used. To cover the wagon in the way they wanted would take quite a bit of canvas, not just a cover over the goods like most people did, but a cover tall enough so people can move around under it. Dray measured the area with her eye and figured on four times as much as most people wanted.

"I will come back with measuring equipment once you have the bands in place so I can get an accurate measure on how much you need. What do you want to trade for it?"

"What do you need? Right now, we have no idea what people need." Dray throught about it.

"I saw the containers you gave to Tregar. Do you have any more?"

"We do," Cooper said slowly, "but right now we only have five others which we use."

"May I see one?" Dray asked. Cooper went to pick up the almost empty water container and brought it back to her. Dray examined it and she too asked what it was made of. Cooper explained it and that a blacksmith may be able to replicate it in metal. Dray nodded.

"Is there anything else we could trade for the canvas?" Clarke asked.

"Unless you have some magical way of turning saltwater to drinking water, then no," Dray said, dismissing it. Cooper and Clarke looked at each other.

"Do you think we could find one?" Clarke asked.

"No idea. Where would we be able to buy one in the old world? What kind of store sold them, I mean," Cooper explained. Clarke shrugged.

"Survival store?"

"Maybe," Cooper said, thinking about where one of those would be. Dray looked between the two of them and frowned.

"What?" she asked. Clarke turned to Dray.

"In the old world, there was a way of turning saltwater to drinking water using machines. They are labour intensive and didn't get a lot of drinking water from it, but if we can locate one, we can see if we can get it to work. If we can, then we can give you one for help in getting our canvas." Dray was surprised.

"They could really do that?" asked Dray.

"Sha," Clarke said.

"Excuse me," Cooper said with a bow to both of them. "I've thought of something but I need to check it out first." Clarke nodded and Cooper went over to the desk with the maps on them and looked for the stores she'd seen in passing. She hunted out the place she'd seen roughly twelve miles southwest of Polis. It was labelled as an army/navy store and Cooper wondered if it was still there and had a machine there. She couldn't remember the name of it just yet, but she knew what she was looking for. She went back to Clarke.

"Heda, there's a place that may have some of the supplies we need and one of those machines may be there." Clarke nodded.

"We'll have to talk more about when someone can go there. Right now we have lots to do and not enough people to do it. I want you to go to Camp Jaha for our people. Once they are here, we can then begin to plan properly for what we need for the coming winter." Cooper nodded and bowed to her leader.

"Ambassador Dray, once we find one of those desalination machines, we'll figure out how to use it and test it before we do the deal. I don't want to trade with you and then find out that it doesn't work."

"That is acceptable, Heda Clarke," Dray said, bowing. "I will return to our embassy and send a messenger to Heda Luna for canvas you could use."

"Mochof, Ambassador Dray kom Floukru," Clarke said formally. They shook arms and Dray left to send a messenger to her leader about a new opportunity that may benefit them immensely.

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Two days later, Murphy, Sterling and three boys made their way into the warehouse.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Clarke. Sterling shook his head.

"We had to leave four of them behind. Three are injured and the other, we left there after showing her how to hunt, make a fire and cook the food. We need to take at least one healer and some people to carry the stretchers," Murphy said, sitting down exhausted.

"We have a functioning wagon, if one of you can show us where they are, we can go get them," Cooper said. Murphy looked at her and she pointed to the wagon that stood at the back of the warehouse. Murphy was so exhausted that he'd missed it when he came in.

"Two broken legs and a broken arm and deep lacerations on the other arm," Sterling recited. Clarke nodded.

"Cooper, go get a horse to pull the wagon for a couple of days at least. Miller, with me, I need to go and get healers." Everyone jumped to and soon they were ready to leave again. Cooper, Clarke and Miller would go while Bellamy would stay in charge. He'd find quarters for the three brought to them and find them jobs to do.

Within an hour, they were setting off with two healers and several stretchers and padding to cushion them so they weren't bounced around too much. The healers had brought medicine that would knock them out if it came too much for them. Murphy accompanied them to show them the way.

They got to the station and saw how much of it was destroyed. It looked like one corner of it had been torn off when it crashed while the rest of it showed heavy crumpling all along the sides. They made their way slowly into the wreckage.

"Over here," Murphy said, showing them to the only part of the station that was relatively undamaged.

"We had to bury six people, Clarke. They were in cells on the outside. They died on impact. The others survived only because they were housed in this section."

"Do you know their names?"

"Yeah, they were on the nameplates outside the cells." Clarke nodded, subdued at having lost six kids. They came to the ones still living.

"Hey, guys, I'm Clarke Griffin, this is Cooper Lyons and Nathan Miller. We were all prisoners in the skybox too, but we were among the hundred they dropped on Earth."

"Angela Parkin," the woman with the injured arms said. She nodded her head in the direction of each man. Alex Sharpe and Doug Williams."

"We brought help. There are people on the ground and have been since the war."

"Yeah, Murphy told us. We'll take whatever help we can get."

"Where's the other one?" Cooper said, looking around.

"She's gone hunting. She should be back soon," Angela said. The two healers had already looked at the two men and realised their legs were in alignment, they only needed to wrap them up until they healed. Angela, however, would need to be stitched up and anti-inflamatories applied as well as painkillers. The arm would need to be aligned properly before it could be set.

"On the way here, Sterling and I passed an old world building. It was big enough to have been a store or something. We didn't stop because we were nearly here and we wanted to get to them fast."

"You remember where it was?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, we'll go see if there's anything we can use. Any medical stuff can be brought back with us." Murphy nodded and Cooper and Murphy set off for the store.

They broke into the store which was miraculously still standing. The window of the door had been broken, but because the storekeeper had pulled shutters down, those windows were still intact.

They made their way through the store. All the food had gone bad, but everything else looked to be in fairly good condition. They made their way through the shelves, flashing their torches around.

"Here," Murphy said and Cooper went to him.

"Did they have a little of everything?" she asked, looking around. Murphy shrugged and snagged three of the bags with medkit on the side. Cooper looked around and grabbed a pack from the pile of small child-sized backpacks hanging up behind the counter. She filled it up with suture kits and butterfly stitches, bandaids, scissors, bandages, even the coloured ones. They pulled every medical thing they could find. Murphy carried three medkits and a pack, and Cooper carried three of the packs and a blanket she'd found. She wished she could bring the other blankets back and then realised they could stop on the way back and load them into the wagon too.

They made it back and Clarke immediately looked through them. She exclaimed in delight when she looked at the coloured bandages and realised they were actually fibreglass bandages for setting broken bones. She read how to use them and had Miller start a fire to warm some water. Once the bones had been aligned, Clarke placed a kind of stocking net over the limb and then wrapped it in some cottonwool batting. Once that was done, she submerged one of the fibreglass bandages into the water and waited until it was wet enough and then carefully wrapped it around the leg. She had to use several of them and then she had to wait until they were set.

Once Angela's arm had been realigned, Clarke did the same to the arm, but this time, she kept the arm bent at ninety degrees. Again, she had to wait for it to set. Cooper wrapped the blanket over one of the boys who was shivering.

"Sorry, kid, it's cold out there and winter's coming. Don't worry, you can stay with us or go to one of the other camps," Cooper said.

"Doug, not kid," the boy said.

"Sorry, Doug. How old are you?"

"14."

"Your crime?"

"Theft."

"Did you do it?"

"Yes."

"Good to see you'll admit it," she said.

"What were you in for?"

"Murder. I didn't do it, but someone died and they blamed me."

"Why?"

"Because that guard and I had a very public argument only a week before. I guess they decided I was a good enough scapegoat and threw me in prison."

"Jaha's a dick!"

"No argument from me," Cooper said. "Which station were you from?"

"Mecha."

"Mecha and Alpha have joined together and created Camp Jaha." Doug looked at Cooper as if she was crazy.

"Seriously?"

"Yep, the adults there - especially those in charge - are acting like it's business as usual."

"But why Jaha?"

"Because he stayed behind on the Ark. There was a problem and the stations could only be launched manually from the command centre. He did one decent thing in his life by sacrificing himself to save the others. Of course, he found a way to come to the ground and started fucking things up again and then he went off to find some mythical city. He hasn't been seen since."

"My dad was one of the engineers. Mom died several years ago. Do you know if he's still alive?"

"Sorry, Doug, I haven't met anyone from there. I wasn't in the camp. Maybe we can find out, though."

"So if you don't live there, where do you live?"

"In the grounders capital city. We have a warehouse and embassy in the city and we're doing it up so we can trade with the other clans."

"How many people are on the ground?" he asked in astonishment.

"Thousands, maybe two, three hundred thousand," Cooper replied. Doug lay back down, going over everything he'd been told.

"We'll find out, Doug." He nodded and Cooper moved away.

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Once Rose came back from hunting, they had a meal and then loaded everyone injured onto stretchers and placed them in the back of the wagon. The others climbed in and Clarke and the two healers took a patient each to keep an eye on. Murphy guided Cooper back to the store and they stopped to load up on the blankets they found. They added a few more things that could be traded and some they could use like buckets, tools, nails screws and other fasteners. Not a lot, but enough to fill the small spaces in the back of the wagon. They lifted each stretcher and placed a few blankets under them to try to cushion them and placed the padding round for the others to sit on.

They made it back by nightfall and went straight to the healers building to offload the injured. Clarke told them that they'd be back in the morning and that they were in good hands. Rose offered to stay with them and the healers allowed it. They took everything else back to the warehouse, offloaded it and Cooper took the horse back.

The next day, Clarke and Cooper went to the healers building and saw each of them. Clarke talked to the healers and were told that because of the special bandages Clarke had used, they could rest at home. Clarke understood and Cooper went back for three others and two stretchers. Raven and Monty made up some beds and some screens downstairs at the other end of the conference room for the two boys and a room upstairs for Angela and Rose.

Justin inventoried everything they brought back but set it aside for Clarke to go through. After that, it was just a waiting game until they could all get together and figure out what still needed to be done. Bellamy had already started integrating the three newcomers into their existing work roster. One was working with Justin, one was training to be a warrior and guard for Clarke, and the other was used as one of the guards for the warehouse. It was better than they had and they hoped that the rest of the hundred could come and help them out.

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"Alright, people!" Clarke said. "We still have things to do. Harper and Monroe should be back within a week. Flint, Tesla and Factory station have been found and people are living there until the spring when we try to find them a place to live. The skybox will be dismantled in the spring and summer as well. The metals of that station will be ours. Other ships will be dismantled and given to Trikru for their help in finding our people and for helping us find a place for our people.

"We need our people from Camp Jaha too. Bellamy and Cooper have offered to load up the wagon with goods and go trade for our people. The Commander has gifted all the buildings in this block to us. I've checked and all the other clans have a fairly extensive network of buildings too so we are not singled out, if anything, we have the least amount of buildings. The house next to us will be torn down to get access to the stables. The others need to be fixed up to liveable conditions and safe to use. We still need to find the other stations and show them how to hunt, forage, get water, light fires and other things to survive until spring.

"We need to find more goods to trade with or make. We will learn everything we can from the clans and with us trading, we can integrate with them as well. We have a lot to do and not much time or personnel to do it. We need several people to become guards for this building and when the others are repaired, for them as well. We need explorers going off to find lost stations, we need people who are willing to learn a trade from the clans. Carpenters, builders, blacksmiths, stable workers, traders, wagon drivers, warriors for my body guards. Yes, I admit I should have them," she said with a finality she didn't want.

"What needs to be done first?" asked Doug from the other end of the room.

"All of it, Doug," Clarke said.

"If Bellamy and I go find Camp Jaha and can trade with them for our people, that's more of them for us to use," Cooper said.

"You'll have to be very careful," Clarke warned.

"I know. We won't go into the camp at all and we'll both be armed with guns."

"Don't get yourselves captured or killed, got that?" Clarke said.

"We'll try not to."

"Bellamy, if you need to, use my gate. If Wick's still there, he knows where it is and how to knock it off," Raven said. Bellamy nodded.

"Okay, then tomorrow, get a horse and hitch up the wagon and I'll go see the Commander - with Miller as my guard - and get the goods you can take to Camp Jaha. One thing I wanted to ask you. Should we give them the list of the dead?"

"No, they'd want to know how you know and then they'd demand to know who lived and where they are," Raven said.

"We can give them lists of who survived and died in each station, but leave off where they are. After all, they never bothered going looking for them so they don't have the right to know where they are, they'd just try to take over again," Cooper said. Bellamy nodded.

"Okay, we'll write the lists again and you can give them to Camp Jaha."

"Your mom will probably recognise your handwriting, Clarke," Raven pointed out.

"I know, I'll write a letter to her. If anyone else wants to write letters, you can. When you get back, Cooper, you and I will go find another station, probably Orchid or Granary."

"Those are quite far away, Clarke. Farm station is closer and still inside Trikru lands."

"But close to Azgeda. The Commander's getting troops together to go to both Farm and Hydro. Those stations are too close to Azgeda for us to go to them right now. It should only be a couple of weeks for her to negotiate with Podakru to go to Hydro station and to gather a group of warriors to go to Farm station."

"Okay, two weeks. We can wait that long."

"We'll need to bring them down from Azgeda, though. Where are we going to put them?" Cooper asked.

"When Harper gets back, we can ask them how many people Flint could hold and hunt for. We may have to split them up, depending on how many of them survived in farm station." Monty shifted nervously, he was from Farm and both his parents were still there.

"Rose, are you okay to help Angela?" Rose nodded.

"Good, I want a volunteer to help the boys as well," Clarke said.

"I'll do it," Sterling said. Clarke nodded.

"Okay then, we have tasks to do. Cooper, Bellamy, I want you back within the week, okay?" they both nodded. "Try not to shoot anyone in Camp Jaha, but do defend yourselves." Again, they nodded. "Murphy, until Bellamy gets back, you're in charge of security. Miller's my bodyguard so he can't do it." Murphy reluctantly nodded. There were only a handful of them and with people scattered all over doing tasks, there were not many left to do the job. The new people weren't good enough to understand what it was they needed to do and that was why they were being trained.

"Everyone else, you know your jobs. The new people will learn what we do and why. What we need and what we can trade with and how to trade. There is a lot to learn, but this is the best way to get along with these people. When you leave here, you are a member of Skaikru, don't forget that. Each time you interact with them, you are representing your people. Do you want them to think we are stupid, violent and arrogant, or do you want them to see people who just want to live peacefully on the ground? All of us here," she paused to indicate those who started the warehouse, "all behave ourselves out there, including Murphy. We are trying our best to fit in. Some of the adults - especially my own mother - are doing their best to pretend they can still act like they did in the sky. They act like the ground is a huge inconvenience to them, but want the people who were already here to act as if the sky people are superior and therefore in charge. I've already had a blowout with her on several occasions, but she still thinks because she has the Chancellor's pin, that she's in charge and she can just order people around, including the grounders. When you go out there, show the grounders that we are better than our parents, better than the council from the Ark and we ARE willing to fit in. If you don't want to, then you can go live with another of the Sky camps." The new people were quiet as they digested her speech and each of them slowly nodded in agreement.

"Good, meeting over," Clarke said, getting to her feet. They watched as she left the room, Miller on her tail as he watched over her as she made her way to the tower to talk with the Commander.