Chapter 5

Unfortunately for Ari, story time seemed to have started up once more. It was Finn who broke the solemn silence as they half slid, half walked down a steep but small hill. " Hey, you know what I would like to know, why send us down today, after ninety-seven years? What changed?" Octavia let out a huff of air.

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell and now.. I'm spinning in a forest," she directed her words flirtatiously at Finn as she spun around a slender tree trunk. Apparently Finn was having none of it because he just kept walking. Ari let the others walk past, falling in step with Octavia.

"Nice stripper approach but I don't think it worked," she told the other girl quietly so the others wouldn't hear. She winked when Octavia's eyes grew wide and she slapped her arm. "Not funny, Ari!"

"Maybe they found something on one of the satellites. You know like an old weather satellite or-" suggested Monty only to be interrupted by Clarke.

"It wasn't a satellite, the Ark is dying." She walked right past them as they all stared at her, floored by the massive info she had just dropped on them. "At the current population there's roughly three months of life support left. Maybe four now that we're gone," she continued.

Finn caught up with her asking her untactfully, "So that was the secret they locked you up to keep? Why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?"

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know, the Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public anyways when Wells..." Clarke's voice was strained with emotion as she spoke about her father, and she didn't seem able to finish her sentence.

"What? Turned in your dad?" The remaining four shared looks of mutual awkwardness. No one in the group particularly liked Clarke but that didn't mean they didn't feel bad about her dad dying.

"Anyways, the guards showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it's worth the risk, even if we all die they bought themselves more time."

"They're going to kill more people, aren't they?" It was Monty's anxious voice that spoke the question on all of their minds. Ari was conflicted about the whole situation. She didn't want innocent people to die, but she didn't give a rat's ass about the Council or her father. He could die first for all she cared.

The blonde's silence was all the answer they needed. It was Octavia's next words that stunned them all except for Ari. She agreed with Octavia about the Ark. No one on that ship had ever lifted a finger to help her, no one cared.

"Good. After what they did to me I say float them all." With that Octavia ran off with Jasper trailing after her calling out," You don't mean that." Ari trailed after them, remembering how she had told Bellamy she would keep an eye on her.

The others soon followed them, Clarke smacking into Jasper who was watching Octavia and Ari strip. "Oh man, I love Earth." Octavia was currently shimmying out of her pants beside Ari who quickly slipped hers off. She wasn't putting on some show like Octavia, she just wanted to swim.

"Octavia, Ari! What the hell are you doing?!" Clarke's voice was panicked. It wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge that none of them could swim, having grown up on a spaceship. The bed of the river could be seen from where they stood though, they obviously weren't going to drown.

"Relax, Blondie. We're going swimming," Ari smirked. She thought she heard Clarke repeating the name in an offended manner as Ari pushed back her pale brown hair and grabbed Octavia's hand. The two jumped off together, crouching in the water so it covered their noses.

The others soon ran over, grinning widely when they saw the two girls were okay. "Guys, we can't swim," called Monty anxiously. Octavia stood, pulling Ari with her. "No but we can stand," the two laughed together at their prank. Ari smirked at the way Jasper was drooling at Octavia's soaked tank top.

"Wait there's not supposed to be a river here," Clarke warned. Finn nudged her," Well there is. So take off your damn clothes." This caused a chorus of laughs to ring through the group and Clarke to blush slightly as they began to get undressed as well.

It was when Jasper looked up in confusion behind them that Ari turned to look as Jasper yelled at them to get out of the water. It was a large wave of water, like someone was pushing the water as they moved. Only the thing moving the water was the equivalent of a big ass snake heading straight for them.

Octavia had turned to look when they began to yell, freezing as the creature got closer. She stated at it, paralyzed in fright as Ari grabbed her arm. She pushed Octavia hard to shove her into the shallows where it couldn't reach her. She had no time to move her own person out of the way before it attacked.

She was drug under the water, some going down her throat and nose painfully. Under the foggy cover of water she couldn't make out the creature very well, only a large grey mass. That was probably for the best seeing as if she had seen what it looked like she would of died of fright.

Her hand scrabbled blindly on the river bed before she located a fist sized rock. Clutching it tightly, she brought it down hard on the beast's nose. It wasn't as hard as it could have been as she was underwater and her motions were slowed. It loosened its grip enough that she could raise her arm above the water and hit it once more.

It had struck the creature harder than before causing it to release her. Swimming dazedly back to the shore as she gasped for breath she was vaguely aware of the other teens pushing boulders into the water to distract it from grabbing her again.

Once on shore, she lay on the pebbly beach coughing up water. Clarke had come over and was thumping her back in an effort to knock any water from her lungs. When she had recovered she looked around for Octavia.

The girl had tears running down her face as she watched her friend, who had just saved her life, wheeze as she tried desperately to suck in air. When the smaller girl reached for Octavia she didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug, whispering thank yous over and over again.

Everyone collectively seemed to take notice of the huge bite mark on Ari's leg, which had a matching half bite where it had let her go. She hadn't even noticed the pain until that moment due to the adrenaline flooding her body. Clarke began to bind it with a strip of the girl's t-shirt as Monty attempted to make light of the situation.

"Note to self: next time save the girl." They all laughed nervously, having had enough excitement for the day. It was in silent agreement that they would be more cautious from now on.