Who's ready for some action? Well alright then, here we go.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Chapter 6
Cooper and Bellamy were close to Camp Jaha. They stopped just shy of the tree line and Bellamy went forward with binoculars to check it out first. He came back and handed them to her and said nothing. He just sat down, shaking his head. Cooper took them and went forward to see what he wasn't saying. She saw the name of the camp had changed to Arkadia and that the guards were all walking around, all with guns. Several were on guard duty, but the others looked like they were there to keep the people in line. Cooper wondered if Abby had finally gone into all out dictatorship and wasn't trying to hide it, or whether someone else had taken charge and turned them into a weird version or the Ark. She slipped back to Bellamy.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked.
"I don't know, but if we go down there now, we'll be arrested at best," Bellamy said, head in his hands.
"Let's get this wagon back further into the trees and wait until night time. We'll have a look at what's going on then." Bellamy nodded and they moved the wagon back another mile. They'd been there about two hours when Octavia and Indra turned up.
"What are you two doing here?" Indra asked.
"We were taking goods to Camp Jaha to trade for our people, but we found a different camp there instead," Bellamy said.
"We know, it's been like that for two weeks," Octavia said.
"What happened?" Cooper asked.
"Abby was overthrown by some people who came over from Granary Station when it crashed down. It took them a few weeks to come across Arkadia and they had an election and they won. Abby's been imprisoned along with Kane and a few others," Octavia said. "We've been watching them, but we can't approach without them firing on us. Marton was injured."
"What about at night?" Cooper asked.
"There are less guards on watch but that's only because they round up everyone else and take them into the Ark. No-one's allowed out after dark."
"Who's in charge?"
"Don't know. I never met anyone on the Ark until I was locked up," Octavia said.
"Granary's one we haven't been to yet," Cooper said, thinking about where it was and how they could get to it without being killed.
"Are all the guards in on it or only his people?"
"His people. Byrne, Millers' dad and the others are all locked up too." Cooper thought.
"Raven told us how to get inside through Raven's gate."
"I don't know if they've electrified the fence. I do know they are lazy bastards so they may turn it off and keep it off until they go back into the camp. They leave it to hunt and to get firewood for themselves."
"We may need to test it," Cooper said. "If it's off and we can get inside, we need to figure out just what's going on."
"Does Abby think she's in charge?"
"She did. Since Clarke isn't there, she's trying to be the leader. She has been better than she was before, but she still won't let your people leave," Octavia said.
"We need to get in there," Cooper said.
"We wait for nightfall," Bellamy said. Indra and Octavia exchanged glances and Indra nodded.
"I'm going with you," she said. Bellamy was about to object when he saw her expression and he realised that on the ground, she was already seen as an adult with her own mind. One does not become a second of a General without showing intelligence. He nodded.
"Good, I will stay with your wagon," Indra said. They sat around and waited for another four hours before darkness fell. Cooper and Bellamy stripped down to the bare minimum. They'd been eating quite well for the last few weeks and they had put on some muscle and they didn't want anything catching on the metal of the Ark if they were crawling around the pipework that was left. Octavia too, stripped down, but that was because all the clothing she had was Trikru clothing and she would stand out.
They crept down to the treeline on the west side of the camp where Raven's gate was. They waited for a few minutes, watching the guards and figuring out their routines and routes. Only five guards were on patrol and three more up on the watchtowers, looking outwards. They saw one flaw in the patrol with all of them moving in a group of three and a group of two. They would often stop in the middle and chat, mostly looking towards the far side of the camp when they did. They couldn't see anything about the other side that would hold their attention, but they wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
They watched as both sets of guards walked off towards the other end and stopped by the fence. One of them made a gesture to the gate guard who turned off the electricity. The guards started pulling something through the fencing and Cooper, Bellamy and Octavia took the opportunity it afforded and slipped through the fence themselves. Cooper led them to the panel that Raven had said was loose and felt around for the sweet spot Raven said was there and if she pushed on it, the panel would give and they could get in. Cooper pushed on one part and the panel moved. Cooper slowly moved it out of the way and Bellamy and Octavia climbed in first. Cooper followed and put the panel back in place, with a small click.
Cooper took the lead and led them through the pipework. They crept slowly along, stopping every now and then to listen. They could hear people moving around in their quarters, but didn't hear any movement in the corridors. Bellamy surmised that people were locked into their quarters at night, probably without food. It took over an hour to find where the guards and the new Chancellor were holed up. They heard them before they saw them.
"Once the weather improves, I want you to go get the rest of our people from Granary," one man said.
"Yes, boss," another said.
"Where will we put them?" a third asked.
"Here. By the time spring comes, some of these will have been executed for crimes against us," the first one said with a shrug. The others nodded, but when the first one turned his back, they all looked at each other with apprehension and horror on their faces.
"Brian, go patrol the corridors near the medbay. That doctor needs to be stopped. If you see her, lock her in her quarters. The patient can die for all I care. She needs to be controlled and realise she is not in charge anymore!"
"Yes, boss," Brian said and moved off. The leader waited for a few seconds before speaking again.
"You two, I don't trust him. I do trust you two. I want him dead by morning, got that?"
"Yes boss," they said. The boss nodded.
"I'm off to bed. Nothing disturbs me until morning. NOTHING!"
"Yes boss." The boss moved off to another room. The two remaining ones talked.
"What do we do, Derek? I never signed up to kill our own."
"WE never signed up, Pete. We were drafted and to stay alive, we complied. If we're not careful, they'll kill us too."
"None of his people are actually his people anymore. We all think he's mad but he likes to inflict pain and torture on people and I've seen enough of that to know I do not want to cross him!"
"Yeah, but because of how he is, no-one's gonna off him to save us! We're on our own." Derek nodded his head and they left the room.
"Well, what do you think?" Cooper asked.
"If we can free our people and kill that monster, we can free them from that kind of dictatorship. I'd take Abby's dictatorship any day. At least she pretends to know what she's doing and listens to people," Octavia said. Bellamy nodded.
"You two, go find Abby and get her into the tunnels. Once I deal with 'the boss', she goes back in charge until we tell Clarke. After that, it's up to Clarke and the Commander," Cooper said.
"You going to kill him?"
"Yeah."
"Have you done it before?"
"Yeah, it's what I was in the skybox for," she said, lying about what exactly she'd done to be arrested. Bellamy nodded and he and Octavia left. Cooper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The first kill was to save her mother. Her second kill wasn't hers, but it was what she was imprisoned for. After that it was fighting against the grounders and then the mountain men. Both times she was fighting for her very life. This time it would be cold-blooded murder. She would be assassinating him. She moved off to find him. She had no idea who he was, who he used to be or his name. All she knew was that she had to kill him to stop him from killing more of the Skaikru, just because he could. They all could do that, most people kept themselves in check and agreed with the rules and laws. This guy didn't. He had to die.
She followed the pipework through the Ark, following the corridor. She knew he'd turned left out of the door and the others had turned right, so she followed along the corridor, checking the vents into each room as she passed. It took her some time but she eventually found him asleep in bed alone. She waited as he started snoring and she spotted a bottle on the floor. It was one of the bottles Monty used to make to keep his moonshine in. If that guy had found Monty's stash and took some, he'd probably drunk enough to keep him asleep for a good eight hours. Monty's brew was potent!
Cooper unlatched the vent and climbed in. The thought of shooting him wasn't a nice one, it was loud and would draw everyone to her. She picked up a discarded pillow and placed it over his face, pressing hard. He never even twitched at first and then he started batting at whatever was covering his face. Eventually his actions got frantic, but in his drink-soaked state, he wasn't effective at getting rid of the damn thing. His swipes and jerks of his arms got weaker and weaker and eventually stopped, but Cooper kept the pillow over his face for a few more minutes. When she had counted to a hundred, she slowly removed the pillow, ready to replace it if he woke up. She checked his pulse. He'd never wake up again. Cooper put the pillow back on the floor and climbed into the vent, shutting and latching it and then went back to the first room they'd seen him in.
She sat there for a while, adrenaline rushing through her body in shock. She was shaking and it took some time for Octavia and Bellamy to find her.
"Cooper!" Octavia hissed. Cooper didn't turn or acknowledge that she'd heard her. "Cooper!" Octavia said a little louder. Octavia frowned and went to her. She put her hand on Cooper's shoulder and Cooper jumped and batted the hand away.
"Cooper, you okay?" asked Bellamy. Cooper shook her head.
"I never want to kill anyone else ever again!" she said, wiping a tear from her eye. Bellamy sighed, it was what he'd been afraid of.
"Come on, we still have a camp to liberate," he said to her. Cooper nodded and followed them to where Abby was.
"Cooper, you okay?" she asked. Cooper shook her head. "I'll be okay, but not right now," she said.
"Okay, we don't have time to get into this here, Abby. Where are the others?"
"Which ones? The ones from here or those thugs from Granary?"
"Ours," he said.
"Kane, Sinclair, Wick and half of the remaining hundred are in prison. The other half are kept under lock and key over in Section 8."
"Cooper, go free our people in section eight and we'll go free those in the prison, okay?" Cooper nodded and set off. "Meet back here!" Bellamy told her. Cooper stopped and nodded before resuming her way to section eight.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Cooper saw section eight stencilled on the side of the wall near the maintenance corridor she was in. The vent into that section was right next to the main doorway into it. She watched as guards came and went. She counted four different faces and the same uniform each time. When no-one else came out and the main corridor was empty, Cooper crept out of the hatch fifty foot down the corridor. She opened it and was soon back near the vent and the main doorway. This one had a small glass window and she was wondering what to do. The window meant she could be seen but it also meant she could see inside. There was no light inside while there was light in the corridor, she'd be seen before she saw anyone in the darkened room. She took her chances and pushed the door open. No-one was there and she sighed in relief. She moved inside and let the door close. She waited until her eyes had adjusted to the low lights and then moved forward, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.
She came to another junction and stopped to listen. She could hear soft movement and rustling of clothing coming from the room to her right. She moved to it and stopped again. She heard faint voices mumbling in the room but she couldn't make out what they were saying but she thought she recognised Jasper's voice. How? Jasper had taken off when the mountain was destroyed. Monty thought that with Maya dying, it was too much for him and he ran away. Either way, Jasper was one of theirs, not one of those thugs. Cooper gently knocked on the door. All activity in the room stopped.
She knocked again and waited. Eventually she heard Jasper call out.
"Who's there?"
"Cooper," She replied quietly.
"Can you get us out?" Jasper asked.
"Where's the key?" Cooper asked in return.
"The guards have them," he replied.
"Alright, be back soon, get ready to get out." Cooper crept towards the junction again and went the other way until she came to one of the lounges that were scattered around Alpha. In the room was one man, a guard and he was asleep. She didn't want to kill him this time, so she snuck up on him and punched him. He was out before he woke up. Cooper took his keys but left him there as if he had fallen asleep. She returned to the room and opened the door. Jasper came out first.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I was gonna ask you that," Cooper replied. "How many of you are there?"
"24," Jasper replied. Cooper nodded and gestured for them to follow her. Soon she had them all in the tunnels and back to the original room.
Twenty minutes later, Bellamy and Octavia returned with Abby and the others.
"What now?" asked Bellamy.
"We round up those from Granary and take back this camp!" Cooper said.
"What about Griggs?" Abby asked.
"Who?" asked Cooper, frowning.
"The new Chancellor," Jasper said.
"Oh, him. He won't be a problem anymore," Cooper said. Abby looked at her.
"What did you do?"
"What needed to be done. He's dead, I killed him and I don't need a lecture about it from someone who was all for killing people on the Ark!" Abby opened her mouth but Bellamy beat her to it.
"Good, now let's split up and capture those others. If you can't capture, kill them," he said.
"You can't do that!" Abby said.
"Abby, we do what's needed and if you can't make the hard choices, you shouldn't be in charge!" Cooper said. Kane put his hand on Abby's arm to keep her quiet. Bellamy looked at who was available.
"Byrne, take Stuart, Nick and Candace with you and go clean out that guard post at the other end of the compound, Sergeant Miller, take Seth, Bruno, Guy and Troy and take out the gate guards and the watchtower guards. Octavia, you, James and Megan, take out those patrolling the area. Kane, are there any more of our people being held somewhere?"
"No, this is all of us. The rest are locked in their quarters at night."
"Fine. Abby, get to medical in case some of us are injured." Hanna could see Abby was about to protest again.
"I'll take her," she said. Bellamy nodded and Hanna took Abby to medical to wait for the wounded she knew would turn up.
Everyone scattered to get their weapons and clean up the camp. It didn't take long for them all to be rounded up. When faced with weapons pointed at them, they capitulated fast. All of them were marched to the prison and locked up. The weapons were put into the armoury and Kane and several others went about letting everyone out of their quarters and told them that they'd taken the camp back. Everyone helped with the cleanup of the camp. Apparently, Griggs and his men hadn't cared where they put things and soon the camp resembled a junkyard rather than a settlement.
Once it turned to midnight, Kane sent most of them to bed and left several on guard for the night. When everyone else had gone to bed, Kane, Bellamy, Cooper and Octavia had a small meeting.
"What's going to happen now?"
"Well, we were coming here with some supplies we wanted to barter for our people." Bellamy never got to explain what he meant before Kane exploded.
"You can't buy people, Bellamy!"
"We're not, we're just trying to blackmail Abby into letting our people leave if they want to. We won't force them to come with us, but Abby refuses to let them go."
"They're kids, Bellamy.
"So are we by your standards, but we've learned to hunt and stuff and you're still using the Ark food and water when there's fresh food and clean water out there!"
"Our people are not kids anymore, Kane. What we went through would make up for any amount of life experience you've got. We watched as our friends were taken and we knew we'd never see them again because they were going to be murdered for their bone marrow. We were prisoners inside that mountain. Do you know how that feels? Did you ever experience that, because we did! We've grown up, Kane, our age is just a number. It's our deeds and actions that define us down here. We've already proven ourselves to the grounders even before you came down, now we are working with them."
"How?"
"We trade things we find. We've been going out looking for our lost stations."
"Did you find any?"
"Yes, so far we found Tesla, Flint, Factory and the Skybox."
"Where are they?"
"They're safe for now. The Commander has asked that they stay where they are. With winter approaching, there's nowhere to go without hunting in someone else's territory."
"They can come here. They are our people," Kane said.
"So were those thugs from Granary," Cooper said. "Right now, they are better off where they are until we know they'll behave. In the Spring, Clarke and the Commander will be looking for places they can live away from other villages' territories and hunting grounds."
"Do you have a list of who survived?"
"We do, and a list of those we know died, anyone else's status is unknown."
"So what now?"
"If any of those who were sent down first want to come with us, they can. We have a place to stay for now and are working on repairing some old world buildings for us to live in. We have jobs for them. We can give them a sense of pride in their work and not let them be marginalised just because of their age. None of those you sent down are kids anymore - even those who are still fourteen have proven themselves to be an adult by clan standards and that's what we need to remember. We are on the ground, not in space. Our old way of life is gone, now we do what we need to learn how to survive and that means clan help. You can't live off that food forever and you can't drink just that disgusting water when it runs out either." Kane nodded slowly.
"Anything else?"
"We bring the wagon with the goods here and we trade for the hundred. If you want the goods, you let them go if they want to."
"That's blackmail!"
"That's life, Kane. How many times do you think it happened on the Ark? Because the answer is dozens of times a day. Guards in particular were prone to blackmailing people."
"Go get the wagon and I'll get Abby and we'll talk about it," Kane said.
"No offense, Kane, but the negotiations will take place outside the fence. I don't trust Abby not to try to keep us here by force instead." Kane nodded at that. He had no idea of the lengths Abby was going to to remain in charge and he had no idea what to do about her ability to ignore things she didn't want to see. Abby was still living by Ark rules and not the exodus charter and if she kept on going, she'd be removed from power forcibly by the people.
"Also, the meeting will be public. I don't want Abby to try to make unilateral decisions about people's lives. She may want to stick her head in the sand about the ground, but we don't. We had two months of relative freedom and we learned to survive in those months. Abby is trying to deny them the right to leave the camp to gather basic supplies. We want our freedom back!" Kane sighed but agreed. Cooper and Bellamy said they'd wait by the fence, not the gate and that they would not trade until it was a public meeting with others around to hear what they had to say. Again, Kane agreed.
"We'll be back here at first light," Cooper said and they left. Octavia and Bellamy were chatting on the way and Cooper led them back to the wagon and Indra.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"What happened?" Indra asked.
"We stopped them and returned the camp back over to Kane and Abby. I've no idea who's going to end up in charge, but I suspect Abby will try to take control again."
"And the man who was their leader?"
"Dead, I killed him - well assassinated him, actually. I don't really want to talk about it." Indra nodded, seeing the signs of stress an assassination could leave on someone. She'd seen it with battle-hardened warriors who were sent out to assassinate people. Killing on a battlefield was one thing, but to kill someone deliberately when they weren't trying to kill you was something else - especially those who didn't even know you existed! Cooper had just learned the difference.
"So what now?" Indra asked Bellamy.
"First thing tomorrow, we take our goods and barter them for our people. Abby won't like that, but we are holding a public meeting so she can't try anything too underhand."
"How?" asked Octavia.
"We make sure everyone available is there and can hear the proceedings. We ask for the hundred to be brought forward and we ask them, not Abby or Kane, if they want to come with us. If Abby disagees, then we use the goods to bargain with. They can have the goods if they let those who want to leave, leave."
"And if she lets them go?"
"They get rewarded with the goods." Bellamy shrugged. Indra nodded.
"It is a good strategy."
"Let's get some sleep and then we can go and get our people," Cooper said. Indra took the first watch and Octavia took the second. Between them, they neglected to wake the other two for their shifts, opting to take them themselves.
In the morning, they drove the filled wagon to the fence line and waited. A few people came over, curious to see what they had.
"There's going to be an open meeting soon, please can you go tell everyone who can attend to come here and listen to what we've got to say?" Several of them took off to roust out everyone else. They were burning to know what was in the wagon.
Half an hour later, Abby and Kane came out and stood on the other side of the fence. The rest of Arkadia - the 100 included - listened in.
"We have found a place to stay with the Commander's permission. We would like to take the rest of the 100 back with us." Cooper never got to say another word before Abby started.
"NO! I forbid it! They belong here with us!"
"No we don't!" Jasper yelled. "We are part of the 100, not Arkadia. I want to go with them!"
"No, you can't!" Abby yelled back.
"Why?" asked Cooper in a reasonable tone.
"Because they are Ark children and we have to protect them!"
"Like you did when you dropped us down here with only the clothes on our backs?" Cooper asked, keeping her voice level and raising an eyebrow.
"We needed to see if the ground was survivable," She said.
"And we didn't get a chance to say no because our lives were expendable, right?" Several of the crowd moved restlessly. They didn't know it was going to happen and the thought of the council deciding that course of action and just arbitrarily shoving their children aboard a ship, not knowing if they could survive, was unconscionable.
"We did it to save as many as possible," Abby said.
"No, Abby, we did it to save on air," Kane said, finally stepping in and stepping up to admit it was nothing more than a panicked response to the oxygen problem.
"We threw those kids away, Abby, Clarke and Wells included. They are no longer OUR kids, they belong to the 100 and they can make up their own minds on this. It's their lives and their lives matter just as much as ours."
"We can't-" Abby began.
"WE want to go with Cooper and Bellamy wherever they are staying. We never belonged to the Ark once we were sentenced, Abby, so we don't really have any connection to this place other than some of the parents are here. I'm from Farm Station and I have no idea if anyone survived it," Jasper said.
"Neither do we but we have been looking for those stations. So far we found Tesla, Factory, Skybox and Flint. There are roughly just under a thousand people in those four stations, with your two hundred, there should be another 1800 people out there somewhere. Unfortunately, we do have partial lists of those known to have died. We are looking for the rest of the stations," Cooper said. There was a stir around the crowd.
"Do you know who survived?" asked one man.
"We have a partial list from the four stations. Only seven people were found alive in the skybox and we've already taken them in. Six more died when they came down and they've been buried near the Skybox."
"Oh, thank God some survived!" one man said. "My son's name is Doug, is he okay?"
"Yes, he's alive, he's got a broken leg, but Clarke patched him up and he's resting comfortably right now.'' The man broke down and cried and was comforted by another man.
"The lists we have are lists of survivors and lists of the known dead. Anyone else's status is unknown."
"Can we have a copy?" asked Kane. Cooper nodded.
"If the hundred want to come with us, gather your things and come outside." They all looked at each other and as one, they went to the gate and left the camp.
"No offense, Abby, Kane, but if we went for our things, we couldn't be certain you'd actually let us go," Jasper said. Abby didn't say anything but she was furious.
"Jasper, lead them to the treeline and out of sight. We'll meet you there when we've emptied the wagon." Jasper nodded and led the others away.
"What's going to happen to them?" asked another man. "One of them is my daughter."
"And you just let her go?" Abby asked, rounding on the man.
"My daughter is 16 and can make her own mind up! We've talked about this a lot and I gave her my blessing to go out and make a life for herself. We knew she couldn't make one here, you wouldn't let them!"
"They will be looked after and they will have jobs to do within our trading community," Cooper assured the man.
"Hanna was always good with numbers," he said.
"Then she can help with the inventory and accounting," Cooper replied, smiling. The man seemed to sigh in relief and happiness for his daughter.
"If a few of you can come outside and help unload, that would be good. We have some cold weather clothing and some food for you." Cheers and yells of happiness bounced off the trees and they surged forward, eager to get the goods.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Cooper and Bellamy took the now empty wagon back to where Indra and Octavia were waiting with the rest of their people.
"Well done," Indra said.
"Mochof," Cooper replied.
"Where are you living?" Octavia asked. "Bellamy never said."
"Polis," Cooper replied. "We have a warehouse and an embassy there now. Clarke's our ambassador or whatever she is. She and I often go see the Commander about trade and stuff. Next time you're in Polis, look us up. Ask the main gate guards where to find us."
Indra nodded and soon as many people as could, got into the back of the wagon, the rest started walking in the direction Cooper steered the wagon. They'd alternate who rode and who walked but it beat having to walk all the way to Polis.
When they were almost to Polis, Cooper detoured to search for the army/navy store she'd seen marked on the map. It took them some time to find it, but when they did, they found the stone building still standing and boarded up. Bellamy, Jasper and Guy pulled some of the boards free from the door and windows and then with Cooper, they entered.
Cooper looked around and saw some rotting clothing and cardboard boxes which basically crumbled to the touch.
"Okay, be careful what you touch. Look for things wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container," Cooper said.
"Are we looking for anything in particular?" Bellamy asked.
"Yeah, desalination units or machines or whatever they are. If we find some, we take them back for Raven to check over. I want to use them for a trade Clarke and I are doing with the Floukru," Cooper replied.
"What are those?" Guy asked.
"They can turn seawater into drinking water."
"And you think they'll be here?"
"I hope so, this was listed as an army/navy store. The navy should have had stuff like that, right?" Cooper asked. Bellamy slowly nodded.
"Makes sense," he said. They looked around and pulled out sealed boxes and looked at them. Some of them were taken out to the wagon while others were left for another time. Finally, at the back in a special section, they found a sealed box with twelve small desalination units in them. They were the manual type and only needed human power to turn the water into something they could drink. They loaded them into the wagon and were soon on the road back to Polis.
They reached Polis four days after leaving Arkadia and walked through the gates. Cooper led them down the streets until they came to the main square and the huge tower.
"What is that?" Jasper asked in awe.
"That's where the Commander lives and rules from," Cooper told him, smiling at them all gawking at it. "Come on, we're down here," she said, setting off again with the rest of them in tow. Another half a mile further on and they came to the Skaikru headquarters in Polis. Monroe was on guard duty outside and she yelled that the 100 were back. Most of the people inside came running and there were exuberant hugs and cheers from everyone to everyone. Cooper and Bellamy took the wagon inside, unhitched the poor horse and took him back to his owners. They had already done the trade, but Cooper decided to give them something else as well. She gave them two of the water canisters and another knife. They were gratefully accepted from the horse trader and knew if they did another deal with him, they'd be fair about it. They made it back to the warehouse and everyone was led inside.
Everyone new to the building, gawked in wonder at it. Cooper looked around.
"Where's Monty and Sterling?" she asked.
"They've gone trading in the main market and then to a side street to get some specialist equipment," Raven said. "They'll be back soon." Cooper smirked.
"Can we hide Jasper and surprise Monty with him?" she asked. Raven grinned and went to get Jasper to go along with it. He grinned, it would be good to see his old friend again.
The others were shown around and then taken out the back to see what was happening to the other buildings. The one slated to be torn down would be taken down in a few days time and workers were already crawling over one of the buildings, checking it out and repairing what they could. The largest of the other buildings would be turned into dormitories for them and as there were less than 60, it would be easy to make the largest building just for them. The building to their right, the one left standing, would eventually be turned into their embassy, but for now they were using the warehouse.
The stable would be the next one repaired and Monroe and Rose both said they wanted to learn how to care for horses so they could get their own. The Commander had already agreed to have them trained in horsemanship and stable management. The two girls had already started and were looking forward to having their own horses.
After that, the other buildings would slowly be repaired and some of the goods would be moved into one of them with another as guest quarters for anyone from one of the Skaikru camps that came to visit. They didn't know what to do with the other two buildings on their block, but they could wait until they'd gotten themselves more established with the traders. Maybe they could turn one into a workshop for Raven and Monty to make or repair things from the old world that could be traded in this one.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Cooper went to see Doug.
"Hey, Doug, we've just come back from Arkadia which is the new name for Camp Jaha. I spoke to your father and told him you'd survived." Doug burst into tears of joy.
"He's really okay?"
"Yes, Doug, he is." She pulled out a letter for him. "Your dad wrote this for you." Cooper handed him the letter and then left him to read it in private.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
When Sterling and Monty came back from their trading, they entered the warehouse to see lots more people than before. They looked at everyone who was still living from the hundred and they were hugging and grinning from seeing them again. Monty looked for one person but didn't see him.
"I guess, Jasper wasn't there," he said, morosely.
"Think again," said a voice from behind him. Monty spun around and there he was, Jasper, his best friend. He ran and pulled Jasper into a crushing hug.
"I thought I'd never see you again!" Monty said.
"Yeah, well, after Maya died, I needed some space to think things through. It took me a while and then I went in search of Camp Jaha. I was there when Bellamy and Cooper came with the goods." Monty nodded, still grinning.
"It's good to have you back. You are back, right?" Monty asked, fearing that he'd take off again.
"Yeah, I'm here to stay, Monty," Jasper said, only to be pulled into another crushing hug.
