Chapter 4

Their hike through the woods was uneventful at first, even a bit awkward. Ari didn't really know anyone that well except for Octavia who was flirting with Finn most of the time. She wasn't about to get chummy with the Princess of the Ark so she stuck with Jasper and Monty. She was walking alongside them, admiring the purple flowers that grew around them amongst the mossy forest when one of them spoke up. "That my friend, is game."

She glanced up to see Finn tucking one of the flowers in Octavia's hair, who was busily grinning up at him. "That my friend, is poison sumac," Monty told his friend. Octavia promptly freaked out, swatting the flower from her hair with a panicked, "What?" Ari couldn't contain her laughter, causing Octavia to stick her tongue out at the slightly older girl.

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're actually rather soothing," he explained further. He went as far as eating it to show them. Everyone except for Princess turned to look at him quizzically. "His family grows pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Jasper told them in explanation.

That was when Blondie turned back to look at them in annoyance, "Guys, can we focus?" Ari rolled her eyes as Finn answered the uptight girl. "Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" Ah, so Princess had a name. She tuned back in to their conversation as Clarke responded to his question.

"It's simple. I wonder, why haven't we seen any animals? Maybe it's because there aren't any. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though. Come on," with those encouraging words Clarke stormed off.

The group of four stared after her for a moment before Ari broke the silence," Someone should slip her some poison sumac." The others laughed with her as they followed reluctantly after the angry blonde ahead of them.

" I gotta know what you two did to get busted," Finn called back to the boys bringing up the rear. Ari was interested as well, the pair didn't seem like criminals. "Sumac's not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," was Monty's amused response. Ari snorted, "You guys got in trouble for getting baked?" Jasper nodded," Someone forgot to replace what we took." His words were directed at Monty, leaving no doubt to who this someone was. "Someone's apologized a billion times," Monty reminded him exasperated.

"What about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?" It was Jasper's careless question that made her glance at her friend in concern. A bitter expression settled on the girl's face," Being born." Octavia jogged ahead, obviously not wanting to talk anymore. "That was so not game," Monty pointed out to Jasper. Ari might've laughed if she hadn't been worried about her friend.

She was worried that they might ask her why she was arrested but thankfully Octavia's reaction seemed to have shut down story time. They made their way quickly over to the other girls who were crouched and watching something ahead of them. With a wide grin, Clarke pointed into the field.

Ari felt a smile of her own come over her face when she saw the deer. It was beautiful with fur that looked incredibly soft and big innocent brown eyes. It had small antlers and it was flicking its tail as it grazed. It was so much better than the pictures she had seen. It was majestic and graceful, words that finally had meaning to Ari when she saw the creature.

"No animals huh?", Finn asked Clarke in a hushed whisper. They all just looked on in astonishment as he began to creep towards it. He stepped on a twig accidentally, his weight causing it to crack loudly. The deer jerked its head, or rather heads, up.

They all gasped in horror upon seeing its true identity. It had two heads, one being smaller and deformed. The tongue on the second head lolled out of its mouth, flopping around as the deer moved. The skin between the heads was puffy and red, looking absolutely appalling. Ari was certain if anything had been in her stomach she would have heaved it up.

The deer ran, afraid of them, leaving them in silence as they pondered the implications of the deformed deer. No one had to say it, the radiation had done that. It could possibly do that to their descendants that would live here.

[page break][bellamy]

Bellamy made his way to the dropship, noticing the Chancellor's son leaving with an annoyed expression on his face. The next thing he noticed was the writing on the wall of the dropship, carved by the knife in Murphy's hand.

First son, first to dye.

Besides the horrible spelling he didn't think it was bright to let someone know you were going to kill them. It was obvious what Murphy's intentions were, threaten him into submission. "If you're gonna kill someone, it's probably best not to announce it."

"You're not really a member of the guard are you?" Murphy's question was more rhetorical than anything but he nodded," No. But the real guard will be here soon unless we stop it." He cocked his head to the side as he said it, a feigned sincere expression on his face. Make them think they'll be at the bottom of the food chain and you'll have them looking for power.

He could see the skeptical look on the boy's face grow as he spoke. "You think they're really gonna forgive your crimes? Then what? Guys like you and me, we're gonna become model citizens? Maybe clean up their trash if we're lucky," the whole time he was snarky. If it seemed as if he we're insulting them they would work harder to prove themselves. He had always been good with words, rallying the rebellious teens around him was an easy task.

"You got a point?" This came from the guy next to Murphy obviously defensive as he intended for him to be. "No, I got a question. They locked you up, they sent you down here like lab rats to die, so why are you helping them?" "The hell we are!" The boy's response almost made him laugh, how easy it was to sway him.

"Aren't you? Those things are telling them whether or not it's safe to follow us down," he gestured to bracelets. Apparently he had gotten Murphy's attention for he spoke up. "You said we could stop it. How?"

"Take them off. The Ark will think you're dead, that it's not safe to follow. You follow?", he smirked at the pair. "If we do…what's in it for us?" He had expected the pale boy to want something in exchange. He painted on a smug smirk.

"Someone's got to help me run things." Two down, one hundred more to go.