10k watched as she smiled at them while looking them all over. Was it all in his head or when she stopped at him did her smile get a tad bit brighter? Just the thought of it made him sit up straighter as he gave her a small smile in return. While doing so he felt someone's eyes on him, turning around he saw Cassandra behind him not looking happy at all. She was glaring at him, he had no idea what he had done this time to upset her. Girls were so difficult to understand!

Citizen Z introduced the two groups to each other, giving him the chance to learn that the girl was Clarke Griffin and she was their group's doctor! Murphy didn't like that at all, he started complaining that she was too young to know anything, even after hearing that her mother was a doctor and Clarke had been learning from her for years. Clarke took everything he said with a smile on her face, but her eyes betrayed her. 10K could see that she was very offended by his words, insulted that he would think she wasn't good enough. She didn't say a word, just sat listened to Murphy's ranting with a tight smile.

10K also watched Bellamy, the guy sitting next to Clarke, as he scanned all of them, knowing right away what he was doing. He was studying them, reading them. What was he getting from them? What did he see in each of them? Bellamy didn't let any signs show on his face about what he was thinking, not until he got to Murphy. Whatever it was that Bellamy found, he didn't like. His distrust of Murphy was plain to see, as was the anger that was building the longer Murphy ranted about Clarke. All of that stopped when Clarke put her hand on Bellamy's arm. A gesture that was fast to calm him down.

Finally, Warren got Murphy to shut up with a well-placed elbow to the gut and tried to look apologetic at the screen, try as she might, it mostly came across as a grimace. "I'm sorry about him, pay him no mind. I don't. Citizen Z told us you could maybe help him? It is very important that we get him to California alive and we have no idea what's wrong with him."

Clarke didn't know what she expected but seeing how terrible he looked wasn't it. Was the zombie bites affecting him in a different way than her? Could they be causing him to look that bad? Either way, she knew she had to help him. Did she also want to see if she could get some samples of his blood? Sure but that honestly wasn't her first concern.

Then she almost regretted wanting to help him the moment he opened his mouth. All the did was bitch and complain! What the hell was his problem? Clarke was more than happy when someone finally shut him up.

"I know how important it is and I can see how sick he looks," Of course when she started speaking she was interrupted. Did this group have no manners?

"What do you mean you know how important it is? What do you know?"

Clarke took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She had talked to Bellamy about this, they had hoped to have this conversation in person unless it came up, well she just wouldn't give them all the details just yet. "No longer is he the only person to survive a zombie attack. One of us was bitten and didn't turn. By chance or luck, Citizen Z heard us on our old radio and explained to us that there was a man in the same situation that was on his way to California."

"If that's true then that person needs to come with us to California to help make a cure." The woman called Warren sounded very suspicious, not that she blamed her.

"I'm sorry but that won't be happening. The person is staying here with us, you already have someone that can help." Clarke wasn't going to mention that she was working on one herself, not a cure since she was sure they couldn't cure the ones already infected, but a vaccine. If they got closer to the group and trusted them, maybe she would let them know, but not right now.

Warren looked like she wanted to make another comment, she seemed to take offensive that she was being told no, that the person wouldn't be going with them. Clarke spoke before she could, let's see how she liked being cut off.

"Look that isn't the issue, or any of your business, to be honest. Citizen Z asked us to help you, we don't have to. We can provide you with a safe place to sleep, food to eat, some to take with you when you leave, showers, clean clothes and health care. That is it though. You will be coming into our home so if you are thinking of coming here to take one of us without our permission then you should rethink about coming. We will treat that as a threat and take appropriate actions."

"Clarke, Warren, ladies. Let's calm down now. Warren, they do have a person that was bitten and they will be staying where they are. Your mission is to bring Murphy to the lab in California, not anyone else. Clarke has agreed to see Murphy and heal him as best as she can. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Through the screen, Warren could be seen struggling with something. "Yes. How do you know we can trust them? All I see are kids, who are they? Where are the adults?"

Citizen Z looked at Bellamy and he shook his head, giving him the sign that he didn't want them to know about the Ark right now. Bellamy had made his intentions clear on the subject, it would be up to him and Clarke to tell others if they wanted, not Citizen Z. Instead, Citizen Z would give another story that they had come up with."I'll explain all of that shortly. After I do, if you still wish to bring Murphy to Clarke I will give you directions. Clarke, Bellamy, do you have anything else to add?"

Clarke let Bellamy take this one, she was done with the sneers on Murphy's face and she knew if she opened her mouth again it would be to tell him off.

"As Clarke said, this is our home you'll be coming to. We have a few rules. One- None of you are allowed to bring weapons into the clinic, you can, however, leave them right outside the door. Two- If you are here longer than a few days we would expect you to help us hunt for food, as well as giving us a hand with the day to day upkeep. You'll be eating our food, using our generators for hot showers and we think it's only fair. And lastly, but most importantly, you respect us and we will respect you."

Clarke was proud of how confidently Bellamy spoke, right then he looked like the leader he was. Strong, self-assured, protective of his group. She was happy to be by his side.

The other group, for the most part, didn't seem to like that they would have rules, all but the two that had caught her eye while she briefly assessed them, they seemed fine with them. The oldest and youngest males looked to Clarke like they wouldn't cause them any trouble. It was the rest of them that had Clarke uneasy. There was a fierce warning in her gut telling her this was going to cost them, that this would be a mistake. She hoped her gut was wrong.

Murphy was someone to watch very carefully if it wasn't necessary to help him and get samples of his blood, Clarke knew that he was someone she would never want to be around. Not only was he rude but he looked at them, even the people in his own group like they were his puppets to do as he pleased. No, Clarke didn't like him at all and she could tell that Bellamy didn't want him to come at all.

The youngest man had caught her eye for more than one reason. Was he attractive? Yes. It wasn't that though that made him stand out. It was the gentleness in his eyes. He had no doubt killed already and she could see he had the same tactical mind that she had seen in Bellamy. He studied all of them like she knew her co-leader was doing, finding strengths, weakness, any kind of tell that he could push to break if needed. This man, he had something Bellamy didn't. He had been out there living second to second among the zombies, not knowing where his next meal would be or if he would be the next meal. However in spite of that he still had a softness to him, like the evils of this world had only briefly touched him before moving on. All together it made him a very dangerous person. Dangerous, but safe, as long as you didn't go against him in any way.

While the youngest male had a softer edge to him that she liked, she appreciated the older man for the opposite. His eyes held laughter, he had a face that seemed to smile and laugh often but behind that was a guarded, slightly darker, vigilance that should have scared Clarke. Instead, it made her think of her father, of the grim and focused look on his face as he tried to do the right thing even knowing he would most likely die for it. This man had lived a hard life, doing what he had to do long before the zombie invasion. She hoped she got a chance to sit and talk with him, he would be full of useful information and advice.

10k's mind was going a million miles an hour with all the new information he had just heard and seen. What was said wasn't as interesting as what wasn't said. He had caught a few things he was sure the others didn't. Like how they had all looked at Clarke when their bitten person was mentioned. Not because she was talking no, they looked at her with pity and sadness. He would bet everything he owned that she was the one, she was infected. He wondered how recent it was as she wasn't showing any signs, she looked incredibly healthy. Unlike Murphy who was starting to look like a zombie himself!

10k had also seen the signal during the topic of adults, again they were hiding something. Citizen Z knew about it and had given them a lame story of all the adults dying or turning while hunting for food and supplies. It would have been a believable story if he hadn't been watching so closely. They were lying, he just wasn't sure why yet. He didn't feel it was anything dangerous to him, so he just kept it to himself and would see if he could figure things out when they got there. The only bits he felt as true where the ones about Clarke being capable of looking Murphy over despite her young age because Citizen Z had been stressing since the start how important it was to get Murphy to California so if they backtracked it wouldn't be for a laugh.

He knew he was going to agree with going, and with their rules. Doc was also looking ready to go. It was the rest of them that had some doubts. Which of course had them all fighting over it before, in the end, Garnett settled it by saying it would be the best thing for Murphy, they would just have to keep their eyes open and be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

Having their meager supplies already packed up meant they could just get on the road, heading back to Virginia, towards what hopefully was a safe zone. Honestly, 10k could deal with it being less safe if they had enough food for them and the hot shower they mentioned.

Different types of hot food, clean clothes and a long hot shower flashed through his mind as they drove, helping fight off the annoyance of having to sit next to Murphy. Only about 800 miles to go. That didn't seem too bad.

10k was taking back his statement 200 miles later as his control not to push Murphy out while speeding down the highway was slipping.

Only 600 miles to go. Food. Shower. Sleeping away from Murphy and his nasty drool. If he was lucky, a cigarette or twenty.

He could do this.

Back at Mount Weather Clarke was sitting around having dinner with the others while they tossed around ideas about their tracking bracelets and what to do with them. It was almost a split vote on to just take them off or to leave them on for now and try to find out how they worked. If they did, the theory was that they would be able to use the tracking bugs themselves in case anyone ever got lost. Clarke herself could see them staying on as a good thing, it would be nice in case it was needed, this place was huge and easy to get lost in. For now, they would wait until they could get more information out of the bracelets, then figure out what to do.

They finished dinner and those not on that nights cleaning duty went to make sure one of the large bunking rooms was cleaned and filled with blankets, pillows, and towels. In case any of them wanted their own room they also got a few private rooms ready, they didn't have many of those empty so they would have to figure that out among each other.

Now they just had to sit back and wait until sometime tomorrow for them to arrive if all went well on the road.