"Every picture tells a story,"
WALKING away from Bellamy Blake gave Rowan an unsettling feeling. As if her gut was screaming at her to turn around and go back — to stop whatever Bellamy had planned. But, she didn't. She continued on past Josh and into the green forest.
"Where to first?" Josh asked, catching up to her.
The two of them walked side-by-side, stepping over tree roots and rocks while wandering aimlessly. Rowan's mind flashed back to when she was younger, how she sat in her grandmother's bunker as her parents placed cans on a shelf. Maybe, just maybe, some of the bunkers survived.
"No idea," Rowan admitted, her eyes scanning the area. "This Area used to be populated by people. Everyone knew something would happen, even in my generation people were building safe houses."
Josh glanced at her slightly. "So our goal is to find safe houses?"
"Yeah," Rowan muttered. "They're usually underground, so keep your eyes open for any door handle or latch."
The two walked on in silence, Josh staring at the trees with a look of awe as Rowan scanned the ground. After ten minutes of just walking in a random direction, Josh tripped. His face slammed against the ground, and he let out a loud groan of pain.
"Josh!" Rowan cried, rushing towards him.
Josh turned onto his back, looking at what tripped him. "I think I found our first bunker," he said.
Rowan followed his gaze to a small metal handle sticking up from the ground. "You okay?" she questioned, concern rushing through her even as she moved towards the handle.
"Yeah," he grunted, rising to his feet. "I'm okay."
The two of them shared a brief look before Rowan crouched down, her hands gripping onto the rusty metal. The rust scraped against her skin, some of it flaking off and falling to the ground. For a brief moment, Rowan feared the handle was so rusted it would break off. Josh placed his hands next to her, and after one more brief look, the two of them pulled.
The door didn't budge at first. But, after a few more forceful tugs, it let out a long deep groan before creaking open. The first thing Rowan noticed was the smell. The mold and dust making her cough slightly, leaning her head back and away from the hole.
"God," she coughed, turning her head away. "I'm regretting everything,"
"Let's hope there are no dead bodies down here," Josh joked. Rowan felt her heart drop into her stomach, glaring at the teasing smirk that was plastered across Josh's face as he stuck his feet down into the bunker's entrance.
"Just joking," he sang, dropping down into the darkness.
"Right," she muttered, pushing some fly aways back. "Just joking,"
Rowan took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly before following Josh down. Her feet hit the ground with a thud, a slight jolt of pain shooting up her legs and making her stumble into the ladder with a small curse. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness before glancing around, the light from the entrance helping to illuminate the surrounding area.
The bunker was small. It seemed they had landed in the living room, a couch and shelves being the main furniture. Rowan hesitantly moves forward, her eyes focusing on the bookshelf. Her slender fingers glided along the dust, creating a smooth line as she read the binding.
A small smile graced her lips as she read some of the familiar titles that littered the shelf. Memories of her childhood sparked up again, the image of sitting by a warm fire as snow fell from the sky. The soft voice of her grandfather reading "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" to her.
Rowan grabbed a random book off the shelf, the feeling of a physical book in her hand sending a strong jolt through her, before smiling. Emma by Jane Austin was clutched in her hands. She had never been a fan of the classics — too many commas and semi-colons in one sentence — but she acknowledged the art.
"What did you find?" Josh's voice was loud in the silence.
Rowan smiles, her eyes scanning the unnecessary long paragraph she had opened the book to. "Books," she whispered. "Books I haven't seen in years."
"Centuries?"
Rowan let out a laugh. "Yeah," she agreed. "Centuries."
She turned, looking at josh with a small smile. "What did you find?"
The boy looked confused for a minute, his eyebrows furrowing and head tilting, before it suddenly seemed to occur to him and he grinned. His head glanced down towards his hands, and he lifted up two backpacks and a couple of duffle bags. "Bags to carry all our new supplies!"
Rowan laughed, grabbing a small shopping bag from his arm and stuffing a few books in. "Let's create a small little library," she suggested.
Josh snorted. "For yourself?"
Rowan shot him a glare. "Yes," was all she said before moving towards the other rooms. "Any blankets and pillows?"
She walked into the master room that held tons of blankets on the beds and four pillows. She rolled her eyes at josh, reaching for the sheets and inhaling them. The smell wasn't too bad so she whipped them off the bed, neatly folding them so they'd fit in the bags. They filled one large duffle bag with five small blankets and a medium comforter. Rowan grabbed the thin pillows and stuffed them in the duffle bag.
"When we search others let's make sure we grab bags too," rowan muttered as she stood on the ladder.
Josh nodded and Rowan hulled the bag up onto the ground before following, josh on her heels. The two once again began walking before coming across another bunker. They crawled in, scanning the area before grabbing all the blankets they could find.
Three hours later, the two began their walk back to the Dropship. Behind them, multiple bags had been tied together by rope they had found and were being dragged behind them.
Another memory prickled at the edge of Rowan's mind, and she allowed the image to waft over her.
§
"What do you mean I have to go?" Fifteen-year-old Rowan complained. Her blue eyes sparkled with fire, and her blonde hair tied back into a braid. "I don't want to go!"
Her mother gave her a sympathetic smile. "Your Oma wants to see you," her mother scolded. "Let the old woman see her only granddaughter."
Rowan frowned, her arms crossing over her chest. "Well, why can't Oma move closer?"
Her mother let out a sigh, pushing her daughter gently towards the car. "It's too cold down here for Oma," her mother stated. "You know that Washington DC never snows."
Fifteen-year-old Rowan let out a groan, reluctantly dragging herself into the back seat of the car. Jeremiah and Violet Lesley followed, climbing into the front as Rowan stared at the trees.
§
"You never told me what you did," Rowan stayed, her mind coming back to the present.
Josh's head snapped towards her, a confused expression plastered onto his face. "What?"
"When you got arrested," she clarified, adjusting the bags that lay heavily on her back and arms. "What you changed."
Understanding crossed over his face and he stared ahead. "Rowena Cameron, age 16. Unknown daughter of Drew and Ava Cameron who was both floated when Rowena Cameron was two, and sister to Lucas Cameron who is in the skybox."
Rowan's head snapped towards Josh. "A brother?" She hissed.
Josh shrugged. "It's how they didn't know about you. You're not in the system, I had to automatically add your information. I was dressed as a guard, could've easily been the one to put in the small amount of information you needed to live without them doing much."
"So glad you gave me two extra years to live," Rowan muttered sarcastically. "You're still an idiot for getting caught. And your logic still doesn't make sense."
"You don't make sense!" Josh fired back, making her raise an eyebrow. "Well, it's true!"
Rowan let out a small laugh, shaking her head as she climbed over a large log. "I don't know what makes sense here," she argued. "I'm over a hundred years into the future, standing on a heavily radioactive induced planet!"
Josh snorted slightly. In the distance, the two could hear the shouting of the others. A frown crossed over Rowan's features, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"They're not being very smart about this," he stated his voice low.
"They think the world is dead," she muttered. "They have no worries of Hell appearing."
"Why do you sound so apprehensive?"
Rowan didn't say anything at first, so Josh just continued to walk towards the noise. To be honest, Rowan didn't want to say what she was thinking. Why she sounded so apprehensive.
There was no way no-one survived the explosives. She was sure that some people must've, but where were they? Were they friendly? Dangerous? She didn't know, but she hoped with everything in her that they were friendly.
"The human race fights to survive," she finally responded. "The likelihood of us being alone on the ground is eighty percent," her gaze locked on Josh's from over her shoulder, "that leaves twenty percent for life, and that's still too much."
Josh frowned, stopping to stare at her. "But it's twenty percent," he argued. "That's nothing,"
Rowan sighed, rubbing her brow briefly before offering the boy a small, forced, smile. "Whether it's twenty, ten, or one, it doesn't make it any less stressful,"
Josh didn't say another word.
They arrived back at camp moments later, Wells walking up to them with a large smile. "What did you guys find?" He questioned, walking over to the long pile of bags and untying some.
"Tons of blankets, around 5 pillows."
Wells led them into the Dropship, the three of them plopping bags onto the floor with thumps. "It's getting dark soon," Rowan muttered. "Did you find wood?"
"Yeah," replied Wells. "They started a fire about twenty minutes ago."
The three looked towards the Dropship opening. "No food, though," Josh sighed, leaning against the metal wall.
"Not yet," Rowan stayed, sharing a glance with Wells before leaving the Dropship. "Let's go find more wood," she stated to Wells. "Josh, can you stay here?"
The brunette gave her a nod. Rowan gave him a thankful smile before she followed Wells towards the woods, picking up any piece of wood they could find. The smooth bark of wood was soothing, the gathering pile feeling nostalgic.
"So," Wells started. Rowan turned towards the Chancellor's son. "Who are you?"
Rowan shot the boy an amused look. "You know who I am."
Wells shifted uncomfortably. "I meant, how did you get here."
Rowan's face turned to realization and her mouth opened into a quiet 'Oh'. She stayed silent for a moment, thankful for Josh's high tech skills. "Well, my name is Rowena Cameron," she started. "And I stole medicine for my leg."
For a moment, Rowan trailed off. The moment she was caught replying through her head on repeat.
§
It had been around twenty minutes after she received the deep cut on her leg, and she was beginning to feel light-headed. Rowan glanced around the dimly lit hall, preparing for what she was about to do.
Her head rested against the cool metal as she took a deep breath — trying to control her breathing. Panic was beginning to flow through her, and Rowan knew she could not allow it to overwhelm her. This wouldn't be able to work if she was having a panic attack.
"Josh," Rowan whispered, lifting her head up. Josh's hand touched her shoulder lightly and the two looked at each other. "Remember the plan?"
Josh shot her a mischievous grin, but his eyes held worry for her as he nodded his head.
Rowan grinned, squeezing his hand tightly before pushing herself off the wall and slipping into the hall and through the doors of the medical ward. Her eyes narrowed onto the needle and thread she needed, as well as the medication in the vault under lock and key.
Stealthily, she grabbed a needle and thread. Her eyes trained on the medication that would ensure her of not getting an infection, especially in her living conditions. With a quick glance around the room, she rushed over to the lock, picking at it with her only Bobby-pin left. It was stupid of them to have medication under a lock and key instead of higher-tech, but she assumed it was because this medication would be less likely to steal.
The door unlocked with a click, and she snatched the tube of ointment into her hand before fleeing the room and back into the closet where Josh was hiding.
"You went pass the time limit," he hissed.
Rowan froze, forcing her fear down to ask, "By how much time?"
"Twenty seconds."
"Fuck," Rowan cursed. Twenty seconds was long enough to find her face, know where she ran off to, and what she took. She was screwed. "We'll think about that later, right now I need to stitch this up."
§
Wells stared at her for a few seconds. "Cameron?" He questioned. "Don't you have an older brother?"
Rowan tensed. Now she was extremely grateful for Josh at that moment. "Yes," she muttered. "Last I heard he got locked up for stealing."
Wells turned towards her with a slight look on his face. His eyes scan over her features, almost as if he was comparing them to the brother she supposedly has. "You look like him slightly," Wells admitted.
Rowan blanched, her arms becoming weak. How did she look like the brother she wasn't related to? She had no siblings, nor cousins, so how Lucas looked like her was confusing.
Pushing her racing thoughts to the back of her mind, she tried to be nonchalant as she asked, "Have you met him?"
"Once," Wells admitted. "When he found out we had locked you up he begged for your release."
"He did?"
"He did," Wells let out a soft laugh, "he was persistent too."
Rowan frowned once more, brushing pieces of her auburn hair behind her ears as she bent forward to pick up another log. "He never visited," she whispered.
Wells fell silent, and Rowan looked up. The boy was staring at her sympathetically, his eyes reflecting in the sunsets glow. "I'm...I'm sorry, Ro," Wells let out a breath, his eyes leaving hers for a second. When he looked back at her, she noticed that he seemed almost guilty. "H-he wasn't allowed. Especially after he admitted that he helped keep you hidden from the authorities."
Now, Rowan was really confused. As far as she knew, she had never met this man in her entire life. Yet, here he was acting like he had known her since she was born. "I-I..." she started, not knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry."
Rowan turned away from the teen, her mind moving at a million miles an hour. Lucas Cameron was protecting her identity, even though he had never met her. Suddenly, everything became too much.
Emotions plowed through her like a hurricane. The logs that were in her arms fell onto the ground with a thump, clattering against each other as Rowan slowly lowered herself to the moss-covered ground. Tears were flooding her eyelids and she closed her eyes tightly, moving her hand up to hide the sobs as her body shook.
The smells of the earth made her homesick for Massachusetts, and the thought of having a man upon the Ark — who was supposedly her brother — made her break. Everything was falling to pieces around her, and all she wanted was her cat and bed.
Rowan heard more logs dropping onto the ground before feeling arms encasing her in a warm hug. Wells gripping her tightly as she cried, her body turning slightly to hug the boy tighter.
"I'm scared," she cried, sniffing. "I want to go home."
Wells didn't respond right away, just gripped her tighter. "I know," he managed to mutter. "I know. It'll get better."
The two stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms as Rowan cried, until just before dark. Rowan pulled away, wiping the tears away from her face and letting out a quiet laugh. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "I didn't mean to break down like that."
Wells gripped her shoulders, forcing her to lock her green eyes onto his brown ones. "Don't apologize for feeling emotions," he insisted. "They're valid."
Rowan smiles softly, pulling away to pick up her logs. "Thank you," was her soft response.
Wells grabbed her arm before she could get up to walk back towards camp. "I'm sorry about your brother," he apologized. "You'll see him again."
Rowan sent the boy a faux smile. "I know," she reassured, pulling away. "Let's head back, Josh is probably having a heart attack."
The two walked silently back to camp, dropping the piles of wood on the ground. The fire at this point was a large flame, teens laughing and cheering around it. Rowan felt herself smiling as she looked at the sight. Until she spotted Bellamy and a girl at the base of the flames.
"What the hell?" Rowan hissed, rushing forward with Wells on her heels. "Hey!" She shouted. "Blake!"
Bellamy didn't turn around until the girl's wristband popped up. His face held a smirk as he locked eyes with Rowan. "Who's next?" He called.
"What the hell are you doing?" Wells spat, limping up beside Rowan.
A circle had formed around the three, creating a tense atmosphere as the three glared. "We're liberating ourselves. What does it look like?"
Rowan let out a loud scoff as Wells spluttered for a brief moment. "It looks like you're trying to get us all killed," Wells spat. "The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we got. Take them off, and the Ark will think we're dying, that it's not safe for them to follow."
The crowd fell completely silent after that.
"That's the point, Chancellor," Bellamy hissed out. "We can take care of ourselves, can't we?" His voice raised and then was followed by cheers from the crowd.
"You think this is a game?" Wells asked. "Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there-" he pointed at the sky "-they're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers." Wells' body turned around to look at everyone in the crowd. "I don't care what he tells you. We won't survive here on our own, and besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"
Rowan opened her mouth to add something, but before she could, Bellamy stepped forward. "My people already are down. Those people-" Bellamy pointed towards the sky "-locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that."
"His father didn't write the laws," Rowan snarled, clenching her fists tightly.
The emotion that flared through her shocked her. She'd been angry before — everyone has — but this was something she had never felt before. The urge to punch the older Blake was growing stronger the longer she stared at his face.
Bellamy stepped closer. "No," he agreed. "But he Enforced them."
"He Enforced them to keep order," Rowan hissed "Do you think we'd survive up there without order? With limited air, limited resources, and limited food we need to keep order to survive."
"Said like a true privileged!" Someone in the crowd shouted.
"Exactly," Bellamy yelled. "Here, there's no one to tell you what to do. Here, there are no laws!"
The crowd shouted their support, and Rowan felt her blood freeze. "All of you are idiotic!" She cried, silencing the crowd. "Having no laws results in chaos. Haven't any of you learned anything throughout history!" Bellamy's eyes stared holes into her head as she spoke to the crowd. "Without laws, people get hurt. Out here, on the ground, we need laws to keep us safe. We need an orderly system to survive, especially when winter comes. Being down here doesn't give us the right to be petty assholes, being down here means a second chance at life." Rowan turned towards Bellamy with an icy look. "Rules keep us grounded."
Bellamy didn't respond right away. His body was tense, and the glow from the fire added a darker edge to the already intimidating older brother of Octavia Blake. "Laws restrict us," Bellamy started slowly, as if hesitant. "We were restricted on the ark. Down here, we won't be. We'll do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want!" Shouts rose from the crowd. "Neither of you have to like it. You can even try to stop it or change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."
Rowan's eyes remained locked onto Bellamy's brown ones as someone shouted, "Whatever the hell we want!"
Chants followed, and soon, the entire crowd was shouting "whatever the hell we want!"
Thunder rumbled in the sky, and, almost as if it was a switch, rain began pouring from the sky. The cold splatter shocked Rowan out of her eye staring contest and she snapped her head towards the sky, feeling her clothes become soaked.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the water pelting onto her face. A small smile appeared onto her face, her mind traveling to when it rained on their camping trip.
"We need to collect this," Wells called over the sound of people shouting.
Bellamy's voice was soft, yet carried over the noise. "Whatever the hell you want."
The sound of wet footsteps sounded before Rowan was being poked. She locked her eyes onto Wells who jerked his head towards the Dropship. Understanding flooded through her and she nodded, following the boy as they went to fill buckets.
"Thanks," Wells muttered.
Rowan didn't say anything, just gave a short nod as they gathered as many things as possible to fill with water. Her eyes began to drop from exhaustion, and after filling buckets of water with Wells, she found a secluded area to fall asleep.
authors note —
it's been a while, and I'm so sorry. A lot has happened since I last updated, and so I kinda stopped writing for a bit. With the Eliza and Bob drama that happened, I didn't feel right to continue writing until I could picture someone else. I do, but I'll let you all gather your own opinions.I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! Till next time!!!