When I woke the next day, it was surprising just how well rested I felt after the less than kind treatment of the numerous springs in the mattress and seemingly rock-hard pillow beneath my head.

A yawn escaped my lips as I glanced around the dim room, faint light from outside filtering through the thin curtains to reveal the empty bed pushed against the far wall. My thoughts of returning to sleep soon evaporated and I threw the quilt aside to scramble to my feet.

Had I slept through Elyza's departure?

I left my jacket slung over the foot of the bed and stepped out into the quiet corridor, with no sign of anyone else being awake. If she had left me to sleep rather than wake me up, then the undead could get in line because I would kill her myself.

The living room was just as we had left it, pillows strewn over the couch where I was dismayed not to find Bellamy sleeping. If both Elyza and Bellamy were nowhere to be seen then there was a good chance they had indeed left already.

As I stared down silently at the couch, silently cursing Elyza for her disappearing acts, I jumped at an unexpected voice from behind me.

'Well someone's up early today, it must be a special occasion to see you conscious before midday.'

Elyza had stepped out of the kitchen, a can in each hand as she smirked at my expression. Words failed me for a moment after having been so convinced that she had left, forcing a natural smile on my face as I attempted to hide the surge of relief.

'I am not that bad, and just because it's the apocalypse it doesn't mean we have to be up before the sun rises every day.'

'Whatever you need to tell yourself,' Elyza said dismissively, 'So it looks like there's a choice of fruit or beans so I went with my gut instinct and got you the fruit.'

She tossed one of the cans in a controlled arc towards me, but I was far too busy staring at her to coordinate myself to catch it. I reached out half-heartedly, not surprised when it dropped with a clunk to the floor.

Elyza shrugged after a moment, proceeding to pop her own can open with ease.

'Remind me never to throw a weapon your way, I would hate for you to accidently impale yourself.'

I scowled at her, my relief ebbing away as she threw her usual mocking comments my way.

'I'll impale you in a minute if you don't stop being so irritating, I know it comes naturally to you,' I countered, crouching to retrieve the can of fruit at my feet.

'Hey, I could replace that with the more filling option of beans if you keep pushing your luck,' Elyza warned, taking a single step forwards as I stood up, an eyebrow quirked in challenge as if she were planning to dart forwards and reclaim the can of fruit.

'Just you try it,' I retorted, taking a step forwards in return. 'It would be amusing to put you on your back for the second time in a week.'

Elyza looked like she was holding back a laugh, and was most likely ready to counter the pointed comment when a door creaked open behind me. I twisted my head, dropping the façade, to see Octavia prowling out of her room.

'If you guys are going to flirt so loudly, then feel free to do it in the privacy of your own room where you won't be waking the rest of us up,' she muttered, brushing past me with a yawn on her way to the kitchen.

My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to protest when Elyza laughed and followed her friend into the kitchen to retrieve cutlery.

'Got to say, I agree with Alicia though,' Octavia added, grabbing herself a water bottle from the counter. 'It would be great fun to see you get put on your ass again.'

I smirked at Elyza who only rolled her eyes and came back to hand me a fork.

'Shut up and eat that, then you can go make yourself more presentable,' she said with a wink that Octavia thankfully did not see. I frowned at the comment as Elyza passed me and went to see if the others were up, stabbing pieces of fruit with the fork as she went.

Octavia caught sight of my confusion as she turned back, leaning against the counter with arms crossed, raising an eyebrow as she did.

'Ooh yeah, well at least you can pull off the hot mess morning look, very few can.'

I was starting to think that it would have been a good idea to look in the mirror earlier before rushing out of my room so quickly and glanced down to see what Octavia was talking about.

My tank top had ridden up higher than the waist band of my jeans, and I soon became uncomfortably aware of the left strap hanging loose against my upper arm, having fallen at some time during my hasty rise from the bed. Heaven forbid what state my hair was currently in. If only I had just grabbed my jacket on the way out.

Octavia's grin widened and she turned away to find herself some food as I pulled down the top and hurried back to my room before any of the guys woke up and saw me like this. Shutting the door firmly at my back, I entered the ensuite and flicked on the torch, only to wish I hadn't when I caught sight of my reflection.

God knows what they'd thought of me when they'd seen me stood there with my shirt hiked up and hair in a state. Of course Elyza wouldn't have said anything, it was far more amusing this way.

I sighed and went about straightening my clothes and putting my hair up with the only hairband I had in my possession. Before leaving, I made sure to pull my jacket over my shoulders this time and went back to the kitchen where I had left my breakfast.

Elyza was perched on one of the high stools in the kitchen, taking an inventory of the weapons in her rucksack in preparation before her and Bellamy set off.

'You look nice today,' she said innocently, barely raising her eyes from the knife she was inspecting as I sat on the stool opposite.

'You could have told me,' I muttered, slipping my finger through the metal loop of the lid to open the can. This was definitely better than eating cold beans for breakfast.

'Where would the fun be in that?' she replied, a gleam in her eye as she briefly looked up at me and slipped the knife into her bag.

I shook my head and retrieved the pieces of fruit with my fork, enjoying the sweet taste that the juice provided.

Atom and Murphy soon trudged in from their respective rooms, scouring the cupboards for anything more interesting than fruit before reclining in the living room on the couch.

Octavia emerged not long after, looking far more awake and just as fierce with weapons already strapped to her side. It looked like the good humour was soon to come to an end and we would be parting ways.

I stabbed the fruit in front of me with slightly more force than necessary as I was reminded of the danger that Elyza was about to put herself in by going to scout the prison base. If her and Bellamy were captured then they were as good as dead, the gang would only need one hostage to control their rivals, no need for three.

If given the option I would have gone with them without hesitation, however I knew that Elyza would not even consider the prospect. The only benefit of me returning to their base was the off chance that they had a working radio with a wide enough range to contact my family, if they were still alive.

It wasn't a subject I had yet breached with the group, but I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer.

'When we get to the base,' I began, almost faltering before even receiving a response, feeling Octavias eyes fall on me as I spoke. 'Is there a radio that's still working?'

A moment passed in which I envisioned all the possible replies that I could be about to hear. My hopes of reuniting with my family all lay in this answer, without a radio it would be near impossible to locate them again.

Elyza also turned her gaze to Octavia, forgetting her weapons momentarily as she awaited the response.

'Well I should hope so, we definitely left it in one piece,' Octavia said, not aware of just how much that meant to me.

I couldn't help but smile at the thought of talking to my family again, this was everything I could've hoped for.

Clarke inclined her head towards me with a knowing grin, as if to say I told you so, before zipping up the rucksack in front of her.

The sound of the front door opening was followed by Bellamys appearance in the living room, a rifle strapped over his shoulder.

'It's all clear out there, if we want to get moving then now would be the best time,' he directed at Elyza, dropping his rucksack to the ground and it was clear that he was ready to leave.

My happiness at hearing about the radio was overshadowed now that the time for us to part had come. She nodded and hopped down from the stool, throwing the bag over one shoulder as she said a brief goodbye to Octavia.

Murphy raised a hand in acknowledgement but made no move to get to his feet, clearly the two of them were not all that close. Surprisingly it was Atom who leapt to his feet, a bag of his own packed and ready to go.

'I'll join you, one more won't make much difference.'

Bellamy looked unconvinced but Elyza only shrugged.

'If you're certain.'

'More than certain, there's only so long you can spend at base without going stir crazy,' he insisted. At least that would be one more weapon if they got into any trouble.

Finally Elyza turned to me, a half smile on her face as she kept the mood light.

'You'll be safe with these guys, though you'd best do what Octavia says or she'll get cranky,' she said, lowering her voice as if her friend couldn't hear.

'We'll be fine, though it's not too late if you want some extra company?' I offered, not suprised when Elyza shook her head.

'They have a radio back at base, and its about time you got into contact with your family. This is what the whole journey has been for.'

'Just dont do anything stupid, or heroic,' I finally replied, returning her smile. She was right, the faster I got back to base the sooner I would be speaking to my family again.

'Oh you know me, always keeping out of trouble. I'll see you back at base.'

'Get back safely guys, we wont be far behind,' Bellamy addressed the room, moving over to give his sister a quick hug as Atom was already disappearing out of the room.

'You'd better be,' I said, looking pointedly at Elyza. 'Or I'll come and hunt you down myself.'

She stepped towards the door with a smile, sending a mock salute my way.

'Understood.'

Then she was gone, with Bellamy following a moment later and shutting the door firmly behind him.

I just stared after them for a few moments, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest that trouble was the exact thing they were going to find themselves in. It seemed to be Elyza's constant companion, no matter where she was.

'We'll head off soon as well, so you guys get your things together,' Octavia instructed, going into the living room to get Murphy moving.

I needed no such prompting and went to collect my bag from the room I had shared with Elyza. I had barely unpacked the previous night so there was little left for me to do other than grab the torch and do a double check to ensure I hadn't left anything.

My eye caught on the slip of paper resting on my pillow, that certainly hadn't been there earlier. I stepped over to the bed and picked it up carefully.

I know you're worried about us going to the prison but it'll be fine, promise. I'll tell you all about how right I was when I get back, so look forward that that.

Check under the cover, you lost yours so here's a replacement. Here's hoping you wont need it.

Stay safe,

Elyza x

I could only smile, picturing her writing this with complete confidence, ready to bet that it would all go fine. I just hoped she was right.

With a light sigh, I gently folded the paper and slipped into the pocket of my jeans. With one swift motion I pulled back the top half of the quilt and unwrapped the pillow case that I found there to reveal one of Elyza's many knives.

I had almost forgotten that I was now without a weapon thanks to Octavia's abrupt tackle the other day and it definitely felt better to have one now that we were venturing back into the undead infested world once more. I dug through my bag to find the sheath for my previous knife and hooked it through my jeans, slotting the knife into the allotted place.

With the familiar weight now resting against my hip, I was ready to leave and went into the living room to await the others.

-
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed and leave a comment to let me know what you thought :)