Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
– Helen Keller
Whatever deep slumber 403 had fallen into was soon destroyed by a man tying rope around her as 395 and 420 began protesting against the wake of their peaceful sleep.
"Easier than catching rabbits" one man said, he was a slightly older and middle aged than his voice made out. He wore trousers of a good thick material that 403 couldn't make out. There was a thick rope that was tied 4 times around the three and the tree. 403 struggled but there was no use, they were stuck.
One of the men came to stand in front of 403, she was still squinting from waking up, the whole thing seemed a dream to her. The man softly kicked her foot, "Doesn't this one remind you of you know who," he muttered the last part under his breath. A woman came to stand by his side a little shocked at what she was seeing but then relaxed. "I mean at first, but just because she's blonde Miller."
There were about 3 other men and one woman who wore a thick black shiny material as a type of coat with the same shine of hair to match. She joked with the men as 403 quickly darted her eyes away when she caught eye contact.
"Don't worry," the woman said, "I don't bite." And laughed a little more before the largest man- perhaps the leader demanded silence. He didn't say anything, but he took a few steps with his arms on his hips, showing his large muscles off to the three teenagers.
"What are you doing outside your camp?" he asked
"What camp?" 420 replied. The tall man kicked him in the leg and 420's face went bright red. This was going to be harder than speaking back to the warden. This man had no limit.
"What are you doing outside your camp?" he repeated, this time, his eyes positioned on 395.
"How do you know where we are from?"
"It only takes a grey tunic and trousers to work out what grey and miserable camp someone is from…" He smiled, one that held either malice or irony, she didn't know. "Now I'll only say it one more time… What are you doing outside your camp?" This time the man, with curly black hair and a freckled face as 403 saw clearer, was staring at her, towering over, this was their last chance.
"We escaped." She replied.
"No surprise they'd want to get out of that hellhole Bellamy, let's just leave them." The woman with the shiny hair replied, beginning to turn.
"No," the man she presumed Bellamy ordered. "Let's bring her with us, she can tell us all about her Skaikru adventures, she might even tell us her number." They all giggled.
"I won't leave my friends," 403 said, silencing the groups' laughs.
"How do you know we have numbers?" 395 asked.
Bellamy rolled his eyes, "This really?" he looked to 403.
"I won't leave them." She glared him down, he was a lot older than her, could definitely beat the shit out of her, a lot better than the warden, but there was something familiar in his eyes and she suddenly felt that she could talk on the same level as him, despite his intimidation.
"Very well your highness. Jasper, Monty, tie the three up, lets go." He ordered.
Jasper and Monty tied the rope around the three's wrists, 403 got a slight glance at a black mark under the top of man, 023 was branded on his arm, he must have been here from the start… He was part of Skaikru thought 403 as she reluctantly followed in line as the rope pulled the teenagers through the woods.
The three had never actually been out in the forest yet, the only scenery they had even really seen was inside the children's quarter at their camp. The night had only brought freedom in as far as they could run and walk. Now they could see there was so much more than being able to run down a hill. Butterflies glowed and water ran fast in streams as the three began to believe they must have been in some Fairytale. Jasper and Monty giggled when they saw the awe-full expressions on their faces, "Look over there," said one of the two, 403 hadn't worked out who was who yet, pointing to a brown animal, it had thin legs and white spots on its back, "If you're quiet, don't scare it away, it might come near us." The animal did go towards the group and surely enough began to lick the hands of 420. The three giggled as did the two men, "It's called a deer," The one with bigger eyes said.
"Hello deer," Said 420, giggling as it's tongue tickled his hands.
"What's your number?" One of the two asked him.
"420," he replied. Jasper and Monty gave each the side eye and laughed,
"I think you might become our next best friend!" one exclaimed
"Boys shut up and hurry up," called Bellamy far ahead, and the deer quickly darted away.
"Did you call it a deer or someone else?" asked 403 to the boys as they hurried to catch up with Miller, the woman and Bellamy.
"Don't tell her why you know what a deer is, and keep up," said Bellamy as he kept the pace of the group.
"Is it because you had animal books on the Arc?" asked 403. The group came to a sudden halt. 395 looked behind his shoulder to widen his eyes. How did you know that? His eyes said in disbelief.
"What makes you think we were on the Arc?" asked Bellamy coming closer to 403.
"Only a few books are saved back at our camp, we only have books on fairy tales and obedient princesses." 403 replied, ignoring the question, she liked to be this ambiguous with the warden. Made her feel as if she had some power.
"What is it with you three and not answering questions when you are first asked?" cried Bellamy. "What makes you think that?"
"One of your men was 023." She replied. They all looked to one of the boys, he held his hands up in surrender. His sleeves coming down to reveal his branding. He turned his head to realise it was on full display and hid it quickly to his embarrassment.
"Oh, for fucks sake Jasper." Aha! So, you're Jasper… thought 403.
"What's your number?" Asked 403 to Bellamy, what if he was 001? As leader he could be. She always wanted to meet 001.
"None of your business, now hurry up."
They continued to walk the forest until they reached a camp that did have a wall, but it was no where near the scale of the Skaikru camp. People inside were wearing of clothes of all sorts of colours and materials, everyone had good quality clothing, everyone had shoes with no holes. They all looked toward the three being led through the middle, people even smiled, a few pointing to 403, must be my hair she thought. There was a large building in the centre that looked as if it had two floors from the outside, the three had never seen such a marvellous building, which had paintings of multicolour on the outside.
Jasper and Monty undid the rope around each teen's wrist as they went inside to find a great hall, the three stood in line as the others took off certain clothing and unpacked their bags. There was plenty of vegetables and herbs that the woman took out of her sack, orange and blue fruits that the three had never set eyes on. 403 had heard of all the different types of fruits before however, she assumed the blue ball-like fruit must be a blueberry.
The three stood in line as Bellamy got a chair and put it in front of the three as some people from the outside gathered in to spectate what was about to happen. He rolled up his sleeves and let out an enormous sigh.
"Right, I want you each to tell me what number you are, how old you are and unless you're an adult, which I highly doubt you are, what job you are to be given" He said.
"I am 420," sniggers were heard around the room, 420 himself gulped at this attention, "I am 17 and I was going to be an engineer."
"Handy," stated Bellamy as he nodded for 395 to begin
"I am 395, I am 17 and I was going to be a teacher."
"You like reading?" Bellamy asked.
"Yes Sir,"
"Very well, I will find some books for you," 395's eyes widened at the prospect, before standing up straight. It was muscle memory to stay standing straight after all those years stood in line being inspected by wardens. "And you girl?"
"I am 403, I am 17 in 2 weeks and I wanted to be a medic." She stated, eyes fixated on the wall in front of her, this time it was too big to see over.
"You wanted to be a medic?" There were some murmurs heard around the room.
"Yes Sir,"
"Please elaborate,"
"I wanted to be a medic, warden 104 wouldn't let me, and so I was going to work in the kitchen."
"You like cooking?"
"Yes Sir,"
"More than healing?"
"It no longer matters Sir,"
"Of course, it matters 403." She looked at him for the first time, properly. "You will help out with my healers from now on." She showed gratitude in her eyes and lifted the corners of her mouth a little, the first time she had attempted a smile in a while.
"Listen you three, as one of you smart asses already guessed, we were from the Arc. Most of us anyway, we have grown into more than that. But most of us, are yes, the first 100." Bellamy continued
"You are 001?" asked 395.
Bellamy stared him down, 395 realised he hadn't yet won the ability to talk, even when he was not spoken to.
"I said it's none of your business, didn't I?" he raised his eyebrows. A woman came out of the small audience, she looked slightly like Bellamy, and had his form of thick black curly hair. 403 could see straight away, her short sleeve revealed 001.
"I am 001," she stated, walking to put her arm on Bellamy's shoulder, as he rolled his eyes. "I was the only one ballsy enough to go first."
"Yes, thank you Octavia," he brushed her away, "my sister," he acknowledged.
"Now as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, we know the regime that is happening over at Skaikru. You may have heard of us 'The Rebels' is what they call us." He said.
"More like what you call yourself." Said the woman who had brought the three to the camp.
"Raven," he warned. She backed away. "Raven was 101 in case any of you wondered, she decided to come down to earth by herself, in a spaceship she couldn't know would land. Don't listen to her, she's crazy."
The three teens giggled. They had never really before witnessed light humour, where someone could joke about someone and their life wouldn't be on the line.
"You want to escape to live a life of your own accord, that's fine I understand. But here I offer you a place at my camp, the Rebels," Raven snickered. "We understand what you've been through and we can help adjust to life full of arts, fun, music, education, science, nature, freedom."
"What do you want in return?" 395 asked
"Your contribution to our lives, I don't want anything as long as you are here to help everyone else survive and be happy. "
The three were then paraded around camp as their first official tour and welcome to camp. They were approached by many, asking them about their lives at Skaikru. They asked about names that none of the three knew, 'Kane' came up a lot, 'Jaha, 'Abby'. The one that came up the most was Clarke, most people asking 403 if she was alive and well. All the other names people bit their tongue to, but when ever anyone mentioned Clarke, everyone else lit up.
"We don't know. Everyone has numbers at our camp," said 395, as people then proceeded to show off their numbers. Many were from the original 100, some were higher numbers, and some were without as they were born 'after the rebellion' whatever that meant to the three, and some had escaped before they were branded.
The three are then taken back to the hall and given food to eat, the fruits and 'blueberries' that they had seen earlier were brought out, and three very unapologetically put their heart and soul into getting as much as they could down their throats for the next hour.
"Ugh, I feel sick." Exclaimed 420, the three beginning to realise the rules of indigestion.
"Aha, that happens my friends," said Raven, sitting at the table with the three as she asked them about a man named Finn and drank and ate with them, however at a more natural pace.
There was a small balcony looking over the hall the obviously led to a corridor of which more rooms were on above, the second floor. There was a slight echo that could be heard and a murmur of two low voices. It was the Miller guy from before and Bellamy, 403 realised. They heard Miller say;
"Do you not think she looks like her though?"
"No, I don't, and I don't want to think about it. I told you I never wanted anyone to mention her again." Bellamy refused to participate.
"Why don't you ask them if she's still alive?"
"Because Miller," Bellamy's voice rose, "She isn't. And that's the best way to think about it."
"Ask them, they won't know her by Clarke, and I know it'll be hard to identify by number, but I bet you could work it out with them..."
"Shut up Miller!" Bellamy bellowed.
The attention at the table drew back to each other as they realised, they were eavesdropping, something the three had got very good at by now.
"Who's Clarke?" asked 403, intrigued by the amount they had heard that name today.
Raven gulped and took a drink of her wine. "She was-is was…" she couldn't make up her mind.
"Clarke was-"
"Clarke was what?" Bellamy interrupted coming down the stairs from the balcony, Miller scurrying behind.
"Oh Bell, they were just asking…"
"She is none of your business." He stared down the three.
"You've said that a lot today," said Raven, "If they are to be a part of this camp, you can't keep everything secret,"
He sighed, looking at Raven in a pleading manner, whoever Clarke was he didn't want to speak about her.
"She was the best thing to ever happen to this camp." He quickly said, "And that's all, ask me a question again and you'll be on toilet duty for a month."
"Bell-" Raven called after him as he moved toward the exit at the door.
"I can make it two months!" he claimed with his back turned.