Chapter X - Hypoxia

The Ground

It was one of those nights; the nights when being under a blanket is too hot and being without a blanket is too cold, and when no matter how much you toss and turn, no position is ever comfortable enough to fall asleep in. That's how Mara found herself pacing the length of the camp in the almost complete darkness of the night. Whenever she got close to the dropship she could hear various mechanical terms being thrown around, all of which sounded like an entirely foreign language to her. She eventually began avoiding the dropship when Monty's voice began to sound more and more despondent with each lap she took. She also learned to avoid going anywhere near Bellamy's after she heard three different people moaning and grunting in pleasure in a manner that made Mara flush scarlet. She wondered how the people in the tents next to his got any sleep with the noises they were making. She still hadn't spoken to him since she had nearly slept with him. She wasn't deliberately avoiding him; it was just that their paths hadn't crossed yet. If she was being honest, she was glad that she hadn't had to talk to him given that she would much rather not talk about what happened between them at all if she could avoid it.

Just as she settled down on a crumbling log, letting out a 'humph' and grimacing in disgust as her boots squelched in a pile wet dirt, an odd sensation passed over her. She couldn't quite place her finger on what she was feeling or why the tips of her toes began to tingle, or why her skin prickled, but she knew that something was different about the night.

She glanced around the camp, trying to uncover why such an odd and unsettling sensation was sweeping over her body. There was nothing immediately out of the ordinary about the camp, no matter how hard she looked. Most of the camp was asleep, a few were milling around aimlessly, and an occasional crash would sound from the dropship as Monty and Jasper pottered about; all in all everything was entirely ordinary.

Mara quirked an eyebrow in confusion as she shifted her searching to the abundance of trees that sheltered the camp. Her search proved fruitless when the trees held no answer to the strange, almost electric, change in the atmosphere. However, as her gaze had shifted upwards, she managed to catch something glinting in the sky. She stared at the glowing object drifting amongst the stars. Her immediate assumption was that the object was just another star, but the closer she looked at it, the quicker she realised that it was far too bright. Her mind then assumed that it was one of the other planets, but that idea was also pushed aside the instant she realised that the object was actually moving.

What the hell is that? Mara thought as she scrunched her eyes in concentration. The object was flashing white and red as it soared towards Earth, showing no signs of slowing down or stopping; if anything it seemed to be moving faster the closer it shot towards the Earth's atmosphere.

It was clear to Mara that the object was not a shooting star. She had spent enough time in The Ark's observation deck to be able to tell that whatever was heading towards Earth was not a meteoroid. The only explanation that Mara could think of was that whatever was heading towards Earth had been launched from The Ark, but even then, doubt clouded her mind. As far as she knew, Monty had yet to contact The Ark, and with the wristbands broken, surely The Ark thought that the hundred were dead.

Maybe they're hoping that we're still here, Mara thought, doubt shrinking away slightly to be replaced with the smallest spark of hope. As the object grew closer and closer to Earth, Mara felt anticipation building in her stomach and tingling in the tips of her fingers.

There was no way that Mara could accurately express how excited she was as she watched the dropship break through the sound barrier; the resounding boom it created jolted the sleeping camp awake and Mara could faintly hear people beginning to grumble as they emerged from their tents. Watching the little hunk of metal soar through the inky sky brought her such relief that she momentarily thought that she would never stop smiling.

"Octavia!" She called when she saw the brunette girl emerging from her tent. She only had to point at the sky for Octavia to realise what Mara was so happy about.

"Oh my God," Octavia whispered in awe as the dropship grew larger and larger. "Bellamy! Get out here!" She suddenly shouted as she jogged over to Mara's side. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep!" Mara replied, popping the 'p'.

The two girls grinned at each other but were quickly interrupted by a very out of breath Bellamy. Mara felt her face flush at the sight of him. He was wearing his pants and nothing else, and a thin sheen of sweat glistened over his bare torso. His muscles rippled as he crossed his arms over his chest, his biceps bulging under his skin. She had to quickly avert her gaze for fear that he would catch her staring at him. However, when Mara moved her stare from his bare arms, she caught an unusual expression on his face. He looked as if he were suspended in a state of fear, with his lips slightly parted and his eyebrows pulled together. His entire body tensed the longer he watched the dropship as it nearly vanished beyond the treetops. By that point, most of the camp had roused from their tents, wrapped in their coats and their eyes hazy with sleep. As soon as they realised what everyone was staring at, their mood instantly changed from annoyed at being woken up to excited anticipation. One girl went as far as to start cheering.

Bellamy seemed to squash what little fear that had crossed his face when he caught Mara's eyes. She quickly looked away from him, embarrassed that he had seen her, and felt her cheeks redden even further. She was confused by her reaction; she had seen him without a shirt on before, had even kissed him, but something was making her react in a way that she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

Bellamy hid his emotions even further when the two girls he had been sleeping with crept up to stand beside him. Both girls looked disgruntled at having been disrupted but, like everyone else, their expressions changed when they discovered it was a dropship they were looking at and not a "stupid shooting star" as the blonde of the two remarked.

There was a flurry of activity as the camp scuttled to pack their backpacks full of the items they would need to trek into the woods to search for the crashed dropship. Bellamy gave one last lingering look at the small smoke cloud that was beginning to form above the trees from where the dropship landed before stalking towards his tent.

"Connor!" Bellamy barked over his shoulder. "Gather Miller, Monroe and McCluskey, and meet me in the weapons tent."

The two half-dressed girls jogged after his retreating figure, giggling to themselves about going for "round two". Mara watched the three marching through camp before she turned to a smirking Octavia staring right at her.

"What?" Mara questioned, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Nothing," Octavia chirped slyly, an odd sparkle glowing in her eyes as her smirk only seemed to grow, "it's just that my brother's eyes are on his face, not his chest."

"Wh-what!" Mara spluttered out as she slowly began to back away from Octavia, who only smirked wider. "I…I wasn't…" She floundered, but Octavia interrupted her with a tinkling laugh and looped her arm around Mara's shoulders.

"Don't worry about it," Octavia smirked and began guiding Mara through camp. "Let's find out when we're heading out."

When the two girls made it to the weapons tent, Bellamy was giving his final orders. Though Mara was shocked at what she was hearing.

"We stay here until sunrise, and then we head out. No one's leaving tonight." Bellamy ordered, to which his followers nodded their agreement.

"What?" Mara interrupted their meeting. Bellamy spared her a brief glance, frowning slightly before turning his attention back to the map splayed out before him.

"Bell," Octavia stepped towards her brother, "we should leave now. It'll only take everyone a few minutes to get ready, and then we-"

"No," Bellamy interrupted her, sounding very much like he was chastising her, "it's too dark out. It's not safe." He turned away from the two girls, all but dismissing them. "We head out at first light. Spread the word," he ordered his people who all filed out of the tent. Nathan hovered by the exit of the tent waiting for Mara to follow him but when she made no move to do so, he rolled his eyes and left her behind.

"Bell, everyone for a hundred miles saw that dropship come down," Octavia reasoned but Bellamy tried to brush passed her, annoyance clear on his face. "What if the Grounders get there first? We need to leave now!"

"I said no," Bellamy stated firmly, moving to pass his sister again only to be stopped by Mara moving to stand in his path.

"You're kidding right?" Mara scoffed incredulously which only caused Bellamy to huff in exasperation. "Octavia's right, we need to leave now, not first light." He avoided looking at her, instead choosing to stare over her shoulder which only infuriated her further. "We don't know what's in it. There could be more people in it, food, a radio," Bellamy's gaze snapped to hers, a strangely hard expression stamping itself across his face.

"I've given you an order," he scowled, squaring his shoulders to make him seem more imposing. Unfortunately for him, Mara could be like a dog with a bone, once she got onto something she felt strongly about it could be hard for her to let it go.

"I don't follow your orders," Mara scoffed, stepping closer to him until she could feel the zip of his jacket brushing against her shirt.

"Fine," Bellamy leaned down so that his face was nearly level with hers. "You either follow my orders, or leave this camp and don't come back."

"You're not being serious," Mara's heart skipped a beat when Bellamy's expression never changed. There was a look in his eyes that made Mara uncomfortable, a sort of deranged determination that completely unsettled her. She wasn't sure how long they stayed locked together in a silent confrontation; it was only when Octavia began to shuffle uncomfortably on her feet that Mara broke contact. "Fine, I'll stay, but the minute the sun rises, I'm going to find that dropship."

The Ark

Logan Gorman woke up to a blue world. If it wasn't for the digital clock imbedded deep in the wall across from his bed he would never have been able to tell day from night. Like every morning, his first action was to reach into the hidden compartment under his bed and pull out a glass bottle of illegal moonshine. He had had to trade one week worth of lunch rations with the chief farmer from Agro station but, as he took his first searing sip, he thought that it was worth it.

He avoided looking at the empty side of the bed his wife should have occupied. Her pillow had long lost the scent of synthetic roses that was specifically Madeline. He missed the warmth of her body curled next to his and the feeling of her breath dusting gently against his neck. He could faintly remember the way she would cover her mouth when she laughed and the way she bit the inside of her cheek when she was angry. With each passing day, and with each gulp of moonshine, the memory of the way a ring of gold circled her pupils and bled into pools of chocolate in her irises faded.

The moonshine hitting his tongue was Madeline's good morning kiss; the burn in his throat was holding Mara for the first time and her tiny hands wrapping around his thumb. The bitter after taste was his empty living quarters, and a teddy bear with a missing ear and a patch of blue cloth sewn into its left leg. Some nights he couldn't bear to look at the teddy, other nights he brought it into his bed and placed on top of Madeline's pillow so he could pretend he had his family back.

If he could, he would have spent his day in bed surrounded by fading memories and the stench of stale alcohol, but everyone had to work. It was expected that everyone would have a job. A part of Logan wanted to tell the Council to screw themselves and their damn jobs but another part welcomed the work. It kept his mind busy and free from any lurking memories. Some mornings he would wake up and, for a split second, believe that Madeline was still in bed beside him and Mara was sitting under the covers of her bed doing the homework she had pretended to do the night before. Then he would blink, and the lights that had a permanent blue tint to them would seem just a little too bright and he would reach for his bottle.

He finally pulled himself from his bed and stumbled towards his work uniform: a pair of greying overalls with a nametag that had faded so much that the only the 'o' and 'n' were still visible. His overalls hadn't been changed since he started working at the age of sixteen and now, at the age of forty-one, the legs were far too short and sat half way up his ankles.

As he combed his hair back, and tried to tame his masses of curly dark hair, he knew that he was a sorry state. He could barely recognise the man in the mirror anymore. The mirror man had permanently bloodshot eyes and frown lines chiselled deep into his face. The laugh lines that stained his skin and the constant smile on lips had almost vanished, leaving behind a hollow man with more grey hairs than not.

His took a customary gulp of moonshine before storing it back under his bed.

Logan drifted towards his door, the alcohol had yet to take effect, but he couldn't bring himself to turn the handle; so he turned back and pulled the moonshine from under his bed. He drank, and then he drank again and again until his toes became numb and his mind felt free.

The Ground

True to her word, Mara had waited impatiently in camp until sunlight burst over the tree tops. When the first ray of light hit Mara's skin she had leapt to her feet and climbed down from her position on the roof of the dropship. She had searched the camp for Octavia but when she had been unable to find the girl, she had grabbed a handful of berries and a stick of meat from the rations pile and had headed straight into the woods. In hindsight, Mara wished that she had woken Nathan up to accompany her in the forest because, after walking for hours on her own, she was beginning to grow incredibly bored.

She stilled abruptly and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration when she heard harsh voices drifting towards her in the almost non-existent wind. She crept closer towards the sounds and wrapped her hand securely around the hilt of her knife; the cool metal against her palm grounded her and forced her to focus on what she was hearing. There was something familiar about the voices but she couldn't let her guard down in case she was unlucky enough to walk into the middle of a group of Grounders. The voices grew louder and the anger in their tone became obvious. It wasn't until Mara saw a flash of recognisable blonde hair between the trees that she finally allowed herself to relax and loosened her vice-like grip on her knife.

Clarke was stalking through the forest, her boots stomping heavily into the ground and her expression set into a scowl that seemed to be a permanent feature on her face. Finn emerged through the trees next, a look of confusion and nervousness dominating his features as his eyes flashed from Clarke to the girl whose shoulders he had his arm wrapped around. Mara had never seen the girl before; nothing about her was even vaguely familiar, so Mara knew that she couldn't be from the camp. There was a trickle of blood dripping from a gash in her hairline and the smell of burning metal was so strong on her that it almost overwhelmed Mara. Bellamy took up the rear of the little group, his shoulders slumped slightly but his back was straight, as if he was trying to pretend that whatever was weighing him down was having no effect on him. His arms hung rigidly at his sides and made no movement while he stormed behind the others. His whole body was tensed and Mara wondered if she had ever seen him actually relax.

Mara was about to call attention to herself when Clarke happened to look up and noticed her standing awkwardly in the trees. Clarke jumped slightly in fright before realising that Mara was, in fact, not a Grounder and huffed as she changed direction. A brief look of sadness flashed across her face as she glanced back at the rest of the group and her gaze landed on the girl wrapped in Finn's arms.

The others took a minute to realise where Clarke was headed but when they finally noticed Mara they began to follow her. Mara waved nervously at them, being uncomfortable with all of their attention on her, especially the new girl who was looking her over critically as if she was deciding if Mara was worth her time.

"What are you doing out here?" Bellamy demanded before anyone else had the chance to say anything.

"What do you think?" Mara rolled her eyes at his question, knowing full well that he knew exactly why she had trekked into the forest. "I was looking for the dropship to see if there was a way to contact The Ark."

"You're too late." The new girl spoke, her voice silky smooth but with a hint of frustration as her eyes shot daggers at Bellamy.

"What do you mean?" Mara glanced between the new girl and Bellamy. Deep down, a part of Mara knew that Bellamy had gone in search of the dropship before everyone else to tamper with any chance The Hundred had of communicating with The Ark. A larger part of her desperately hoped that her fears weren't true.

"Blake here ripped the radio from the control panel and threw it in the river." The new girl practically vibrated with annoyance as she continued to glare at Bellamy. He returned her glare but made no move to defend himself against her accusations. Mara sent out a silent prayer that the girl was lying and that Bellamy wouldn't have done such a thing, but then she was reminded of the wristbands and of how fiercely determined he was to take them off of everyone in the camp.

"What?" Mara spoke barely above a whisper, questioning herself more than anything. She wanted to believe that she had misheard the girl, but the longer she looked at the girl's unwavering determination and the more Bellamy avoided looking her in the eye, Mara knew that the girl was telling the truth. "Why would you do that?" She tried to get Bellamy to look at her, in a last ditch attempt for him to defend himself and prove his innocence.

"'Cause he tried to kill Jaha and doesn't want The Ark to come down for us."

Mara was stunned into silence. She had guessed that Bellamy had done something to get on the dropship, maybe struck a deal with one of the Councillors, but she would never have guessed that he had tried to assassinate the Chancellor.

The forest was deadly silent as the group waited for her to react. They watched as a range of emotions flashed across her face: confusion, anger, a hint of fear, before she finally settled on incredulous disbelief.

"You're not serious," she asked the girl who, in that moment, Mara didn't care about not knowing her name. She was still trying to wrap her head around Bellamy attempting to assassinate Jaha. She knew that he was capable of violence, had seen him being rough with plenty of people and knew that he could have a bit of a temper, but it had never even entered her mind that he had tried to kill someone to get on the dropship. "They're joking right?" Bellamy's guarded eyes finally met hers, and in them was the confirmation that Mara never wanted to see. "Bellamy, tell me you didn't try to kill the Chancellor." He gave her no answer. She hadn't really expected him to; it seemed that his default setting when things became uncomfortable was to either stay silent or lash out.

Mara forced herself to push thoughts of Bellamy trying to kill Jaha out of her mind. She had more important and pressing matters to attend to. If she wanted to see her dad again she would have to find a way to contact The Ark. At the rate Monty was going at, the only possible option Mara could think of would be to use the radio that Bellamy had thrown in the river.

"Sorry, what's your name?" She addressed the new girl.

"Raven."

"Raven?" The girl nodded her head. "I'm, Mara. Right, so if we find the radio, do you think it'll still be useable?" She couldn't stop the small amount of hope that filtered into her voice.

"I'd have to see it first, but we don't have much time, the Council is voting to decide if they should cull three hundred people." The anger in Raven's voice was back as turned to glare at Bellamy who squared his shoulders under her gaze and returned her glare with such ferocity that Mara was surprised that Raven didn't burst into flames. Mara, on the other hand, felt coldness creep into her bones. Surely the Council won't do it, Mara thought to herself, her eyes wide with the beginnings of fear. "Why?" She asked, though she was sure that she already knew the answer.

"The oxygen supply is-" Clarke began but Mara interrupted her.

"-running out." The entire situation was like she was experiencing her mother's death all over again. Finn had wasted oxygen and her mother and the other terminally ill Arkers paid the price for it. Now, because Bellamy had potential destroyed all chance of contacting The Ark, three hundred people were going to die. Mara could understand that Bellamy had been scared about what would happen to him if The Ark landed on Earth, but it was no excuse for sacrificing the lives of three hundred people. He didn't know, just like Finn, Mara tried to reason with herself but, like always, her emotions got the better of her and she spoke before she took the time to stop and think. "You selfish bastard."

Bellamy's fiery gaze shot from Raven to Mara, but there was something in his eyes that inexplicably told Mara that he was more furious with her than he was with Raven. He narrowed his eyes at her, and when he spoke his voice was filled with barely contained fury that had been gradually building since they had argued in his tent. "I thought I ordered you to stay in camp."

"I think you're forgetting that I don't follow your orders." Mara scoffed, taking a steady step towards him. She was fed up with him ordering her around, and with the information Raven and Clarke had given her, she lost the little amount of respect that she had for him.

"Do you really think that you're different from the rest?" Bellamy scathed, copying Mara's movements and stalking towards her. He squared his shoulders and quirked his upper lip into something that almost resembled a snarl. Mara would be lying if she said that she wasn't a little bit intimidated by him given that he towered over her and that he was exuding powerful authority that made Mara instinctively want to surrender. She knew that she couldn't do that, so she stood her ground and returned his glare. "If they have to follow my orders then so do you." He gestured in the direction of the camp, advancing closer towards her until there was almost no space between them. The other three shifted uncomfortably on their feet but made no move to interrupt the two. "Do you think you're special just because we almost fucked?" Mara took a step backwards in shock. She hadn't expected him to bring that up, if anything, she had expected him to bring up the other times she had recklessly wandered into the forest on her own. Bellamy's gaze roamed over her body, his tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip as a nasty smirk crossed his face before he said the words that forced Mara to abandon all rational thought. "You were just there to keep my bed warm."

Mara laughed humourlessly and stepped towards him until she could feel his body heat pulsing into her skin. She had to tilt her head backwards to be able to look at him, but she didn't let their obvious height difference deter her from matching his scathing look. "What the hell do you think you were? Huh? I only nearly slept with you because you were there! It could have very easily have been Clarke if she had been there instead of you," she heard Clarke's intake of breath but couldn't bring herself to care. All she could think about was how livid Bellamy was making her, "so take a step off of your pedestal and deflate your ego a bit! God! What is the matter with you?" She shouted, pushing him away from her slightly, only for his eyes to blaze with fury as he stumbled away from her. He wasted no time advancing towards her again until he could feel her chest pressing against his whenever she took a heavy breath. Mara didn't let their closeness, or his obvious frustration deter her; she was on a roll and nothing anyone could do or say would stop her. "Did you think I was expecting some long term relationship to come out of it? I only wanted a fuck because I had just watched Charlotte, who I had tried to protect since we landed on this fucking planet, kill herself!"

"Protect her? Really?" Bellamy jeered as he stopped so that his lips were right next to her ear. Mara jerked her head away from him, silently warning him not to go down the path he was taking, but Bellamy either didn't notice or didn't care. "You did a shit job of that didn't you?"

Mara involuntary gasped in surprise; she was stunned that he would mention the thing he knew she felt vulnerable and guilty about. Bellamy seemed to only realise what he had said when she visibly tensed. His deep eyes widened marginally, the fire in them had dwindled to nothing as he opened and closed his mouth, floundering for something to say. He shook his head lightly and an odd strangled sound burst from his parted lips. He whispered her name pleadingly, raising his hand to slide along her arm. She allowed his hand to linger on her as she tried to think of anything to say to him.

"Do you really think I don't know that?" She whispered so low that only he could hear. His eyes locked with hers and in them was every ounce of regret he was trying to express. Mara couldn't hold his stare for long before her anger reignited. He had made her feel small and weak, and she would not allow him to do that to her. "At least I didn't hang an innocent boy. You claim to be our leader, but a real leader wouldn't have done that. A real leader would have stood up to the crowd. You are just a coward!" She punctuated her accusation by pushing against his chest, forcing him to create space between their tensed and heaving bodies.

Bellamy's face hardened again as he steadied himself from nearly tripping on a tree root, any trace of sympathy or remorse he may have had had entirely vanished. His teeth scraped together as his jaw clenched, his face tinted red in anger and the raised vein in his temple looked like it was about to burst. She was acutely aware that she had crossed a line with him but she reasoned that he had done the exact same thing to her.

"That's enough guys! Dial it back a bit." Finn tried to pacify the two as he came to stand between them. He glanced warily between the two, his arms raised and his palms facing out in a placating gesture. "We have enough to deal with without the two of you tearing into each other."

"He's right," Clarke called as she came to stand next to Finn, though she instantly shifted away from him slightly. "We need to get back to camp and organise a search party, so you can sort out whatever this," she waved her hand wildly between Mara and Bellamy, "is much later."

The Ark

Like the majority of the people living in Factory Station, Logan worked on a production line. When he was younger he had dreams of becoming a supervisor instead of just a worker but his presence at the Factory riot in 2125 had ensured that his dream would never happen. The scar on his forehead, almost identical to Mara's, was a constant reminder of the peaceful protest that had quickly turned south.

Logan had lost many of his friends in the floatings that had followed the Factory riot. Carina Romero, Richard Morgan, Francis Gregory, Amandla Odoki and Silas Blake were accused of being the chief instigators in the riot. Carina was floated on her twenty-first birthday. Silas was floated the day his son turned five months old. The only reason Logan managed to escape the same fate was because video footage had shown him trying to break up the riot; Silas Blake had tried to help but since he was a known trouble maker, the council had taken the opportunity to rid themselves of him once and for all.

The production line was an entirely unglamorous job. Everyone wore the same faded grey overalls though Rita Acorn had tried to improve hers with a few homemade rhinestones. The end result was still a garish nightmare.

The line was an endless stream of repetitive movement, a mass of people moving as one, like a well-oiled machine. The one saving grace was that the workers were allowed to talk to each other as long as their targets continued to be met. Rita took great advantage of that and would gossip with anyone who would listen to her. She was in the process of telling Logan and Ricardo 'Rich' González (ironically nicknamed because of the large whole in the toe of his boots that he refused to have repaired) about Raven Reyes disappearing from Mecha station. Some claimed that Raven had been floated, others claimed that she had detached from The Ark in an ancient escape pod, but Rita claimed that it was all nonsense and that Raven had most likely "gotten herself a fancy man and's ran off with him".

Both Logan and Rich could care less about Raven's disappearance but wouldn't dare to say so to Rita. Instead they nodded at the appropriate times and sneakily drank from a metal cup whenever Rita wasn't looking, lest they be scolded by the sixty-five year old woman.

"Good afternoon Mr Gorman," a somewhat sheepish voice sounded behind Logan, causing the older man to turn around.

"Keep walking, Tony," Logan ordered the young man standing in front of him. The boy ducked his head, his black hair falling into his soft green eyes, as he scuttled away with a blush rising over his cheeks.

"Now, now, that's no way to talk to such a handsome young man," Rita scolded Logan as she placed a pill tray into the box by her feet.

"He's Mara's ex-boyfriend," Logan grunted, his daughter's name getting stuck in the back of his throat. He needed another drink.

"I see…and how is Mara doing?" Rita leaned forward, completely abandoning the new pill tray in front of her. The woman was a bloodhound for gossip. "That Sky Box must be awful, the poor girl!"

"She was floated. The bastards didn't even let me see her before they did it," he growled, nodding in acknowledgement when Rich bumped his shoulder.

"Well, how do you know that the Council didn't postpone it?" Rita reached for his hand, but he jerked it away from her. "I'm sure they would have let you see her first," the woman tried to not sound offended by Logan's rejection but it slipped into her tone anyway.

"Her eighteenth birthday was eight days ago."

Rita nodded her head in sympathy, knowing when not to keep prying.

Logan took another drink, but this time he didn't care if Rita was watching.

The Ground

There was a definitive sense of urgency in the air. Very few of The Hundred had remained in the camp with the majority being desperate to find the radio Bellamy had so selfishly thrown in the river. There was a silent prayer shared amongst The Hundred that they would be able to find the radio and – most importantly – that it would be salvageable. The threat of the culling loomed terribly over all of their heads; even the campers who had no parents anymore still had friends on The Ark who were under threat of being culled. The news Raven had brought to the ground with her had forced dark clouds to hover over everyone's heads, though many, Mara included, marvelled at Raven's ability to survive such a crash. Her dropship was completely destroyed in her descent, with metal sheets scattered haphazardly across the scorched ground. Raven was lucky to be alive.

Raven had spent the entire walk back to the river either glaring at Bellamy's tensed back or placing butterfly kisses on Finn's cheek.

"So apparently, Raven was Finn's girlfriend on The Ark, right, but when we landed, he started shacking up with Clarke and never told her about Raven," one boy whispered to another in front of Mara. "Right, so Clarke doesn't know a thing, and then the wristbands break and she and Finn disappear for ages. Then when they came back to camp, Royce said that they totally had sex hair."

"No!" the scandalised boy whispered.

"Yes! Now that Raven's landed, Finn hasn't told her about Clarke, so now she's the totally clueless one!"

Mara rolled her eyes at the gossiping boys. In truth, Mara felt for both girls if what the boys were saying was true. However, she also wasn't going to stop the boys from gossiping, partly because it was keeping her mind off of the threat of the culling, and partly because she hadn't heard any good gossip in a long time (and Mara, unashamedly, liked listening to the different stories that people ran with).

"You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?" Drew pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," she smiled apologetically at him.

"That's okay, I like to talk a lot, so I'm kind of used to it. You know, my mom used to say that I could talk so much that no one in Agro Station would ever have to speak ever again," Drew flashed Mara a proud grin as he launched into the story of the dream he had had the night before. "Okay, so, the top hat was crying because the purple tree insulted it," Drew scrunched his eyes in concentration as he tried to recall the next part of his dream, "oh, and the dancing baby started getting annoyed because the tree and the top hat weren't paying attention to it, so then-"

"We're here!" Bellamy called out and interrupted Drew's dream. "Split into two groups, one start on this side of the river and work your way inward, the other group do the same but on the opposite side. Got it?"

After a chorus of "yeah" and "whatever", they split off into their groups and Drew picked up where he left off as if Bellamy had never interrupted him in the first place. Mara marvelled at the boy as he continued to talk and talk, seeming to never even have to stop to breathe. Nothing seemed to deter Drew from talking, not even when he was separated from Mara by the trickling river.

"Drew! Give it a rest!" A young boy on the opposite side of the river moaned.

"You give it a rest, Sterling!"

"Oh, real mature!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to relieve some of the…" Drew fell uncharacteristically silent as his hands stalled their movements along the river bed. His face burst into an ear to ear grin as he let out a cheer of delight, and hoisted a water-drenched radio into the air. "I found it!" He called, his voice filled with glee. "Aha! I found the radio! In your face, Sterling!"

The Ark

The 'Salvage Kids' were a group of orphans who would run around all of the stations looking for scrap material to take to Factory station to be looked over by the inspectors. If the inspectors deemed the materials unusable, the Salvage Kids would be allowed to keep them. Often the materials would be turned into toys for the younger orphans to play with. They were a generally rowdy bunch, but even they fell silent when a deeply masculine voice sounded over the tannoy system. It was a system that hadn't been used since the guards had called for the public's help in finding fourteen year old Nadezhda Fox, who had managed to hide for three days in the air vents over Tesla station.

The Salvage Kids had stopped running through the production lines the minute they heard the voice speaking, coming to rest directly behind Logan and Rich.

"People of The Ark," the voice began, "my name is Jake Griffin. I'm a senior environmental engineer, deputy resource officer."

"Didn't he get floated?" Rita squawked only to be shushed by the other workers.

"Today," Jake Griffin continued, "I need to talk to you about our future. The things I need to tell you are serious. The Ark is dying. Our oxygen supply is going to run out." Logan finally looked up from his work, staring at the speakers embedded in the wall. He wanted to laugh at himself. It was obvious now to him why the Council had floated his wife instead of letting her die in peace and he believed that there was no way that Mara's life would have been saved. The tiny bit of hope in his chest that he had been suppressing with drink finally vanished entirely. "This city in space, this life we have built, has been our sanctuary," the oldest of the Salvage Kids scoffed at Jake Griffin's words. Logan poured the boy a drink. "Time is running out. This is an undeniable reality, but we have pledged our lives to make sure that humanity does not fade from existence, so that our mark on the world remains. Now, while there is still time, we must come together and face this crisis head on. I believe it will bring out the best in us. Our strength, our faith, our humanity, will bring us together."

The workers began muttering to each other as Jake Griffin's voice faded away. A few mentioned the possibility of the message being true while Rita loudly voiced her opinion that it was all just a hoax. Logan and Rich shared a silent look; they both knew that Jake Griffin was speaking the truth. They had heard stories of generally fit people becoming out of breath quicker than normal, of young children beginning to lose their eyesight, and Logan himself had been suffering from terrible headaches for a long time though he mainly put it down to the moonshine. Now he wasn't so sure.

There was a crackle over the tannoy system before a new voice spluttered to life, a voice that many people were familiar with. The Salvage Kid Logan had poured a drink for slammed his empty cup down on the worktable and Logan had to slide significantly to the side to allow the stocky red haired boy to sit down.

"My husband was killed trying to warn us." Doctor Abby Griffin began, and the workers could faintly make out the sound of guards demanding to be let into whatever room Doctor Griffin had barricaded herself in. "In twelve hours, three hundred and twenty people will be sacrificed to extend our oxygen supply," cries of indignation rose from the workers like wildfire, but over the noise, Doctor Griffin's voice rang loud and clear, "unless we take action. The future does not belong to the Chancellor or to the Council; it belongs to all of us." The transmission abruptly ended, but not before the distinct sound of the guards breaking down a door rang out.

Many of the workers had steadily risen to their feet during Doctor Griffin's speech; some were shaking their arms at the speakers, shouting and hollering. In the chaos, one workbench in particular remained mainly silent, simply sharing worried glances until the oldest Salvage Kid finally spoke.

"Guess this is it then," he stated with such finality that Logan was taken aback. He looked to see if the boy was joking, but the firm set of his stubble covered jaw said otherwise.

"What d'you mean, son?"

"They're gonna off us first, ain't they?" He jerked his head towards the speakers, rolling his eyes scathingly when Rita gasped in shock. "Come one, Rita! If they're sacrificin' anybody, it's gonna be us. D'you think they're gonna keep us alive over the doctors, and the engineer's, and the mechanics? No! We're expendable to them." He paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in. "No point cryin' 'bout it."

"You're too young to be thinking like that," Logan tried to reason with him even though he knew that the boy was just being realistic.

"Listen, man, it's harsh but it's true. We're gonna be the first to go."

"It's Iain isn't it?" Logan asked, turning to look at him properly. The boy nodded in confirmation before Logan continued. "They can't just drag people from their homes and kill them."

"They float us don't they? Who gets floated more than anyone else?" Before Logan even had a chance to respond, the boy answered his own questions. "It's people like you and me. We're expendable, man. You've just gotta face the facts."

"No," Tor Lemkin sat down in the empty space next to Rita, "the Doctor's right. It's up to us, the people, who decide who lives and dies." The man picked up the half full mug in front of Logan brought it to his nose and grimaced at its smell before draining it in one. "I've got a little girl at home, and yesterday I was told that she's going blind because of this oxygen crap and I'll be damned if I don't do everything I can to help her."

"What can we do?" Logan leaned forward, the edge of the metal table digging almost painfully into his side. It was moments like this that he wished the moonshine actually had a major effect on him instead of getting him a little buzzed.

"No idea," Tor breathed out, defeat heavy in his voice but his expression full of determination.

"I do," Rita collected herself, seeming to get over her shock.

"We're all ears."

"If we let them – the Chancellor, the Council – decide who to sacrifice, it takes away our dignity, our pride. Iain's right," she smiled fondly at the boy, placing her hand on top of his and squeezing lightly, "we'd be their first choice, but if we make the decision for them, we have all the power. If we decide, only the people who are willing to sacrifice themselves will."

"So what, we just ask people to volunteer to sacrifice themselves?" Iain asked, scepticism clear in his voice. "Who would do that?"

"People with someone to give their lives up for," Tor muttered, playing with a baby pink hairclip in his hands.

"People with nothing left," Logan hung his head, his shoulders hunched over as Madeline and Mara's faces swam at the front of his mind.

The group were silent as they contemplated what they would be asking people to do, and what they would be doing themselves. Logan didn't want to die, even after Madeline had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and he concluded that Mara had been floated, the thought had never even crossed his mind. Sure, he had buried himself in drink to numb the pain but he had never wanted to take his own life; but now, with the threat of imminent death looming over his head, Logan found himself not caring too much about his own life anymore.

"I'm in," Iain stated with a firm nod of his head, as if he was making a business transaction and not the decision to end his life.

"No," Logan, Rita and Tor all spoke at once.

"You're what, seventeen, eighteen years old? Son, you have your whole life ahead of you," Logan held up a slightly shaking hand to stop the boy from interrupting. "I know it may seem like you've not got much, believe me I know, but you are too young to do this. Promise me you will not volunteer," when Iain remained steadfast in his decision, Logan persisted. "Promise me."

The Ground

The camp was in a flurry of activity as night grew steadily closer. Above the noise of everyone shouting back and forth, Raven and Monty's technical jargon could distinctly be heard.

Mara had somehow found herself positioned by Raven's side holding a flaming torch over a circuit board so that Raven could see what she was doing. Once the radio had been pulled out of the water, Raven had quickly deemed it unsalvageable if they wanted to make contact with The Ark in time to prevent the culling. After a few minutes of standing in complete silence and shushing anyone who tried to speak, Raven had decided that they only needed to let The Ark know that the hundred were alive. She had come up with the idea of creating flares from the rocket fuel in the dropship she had landed in.

Mara wouldn't admit it but she was incredibly nervous holding an open flame so close to a bunch of electrical equipment and a vat of rocket fuel. Raven had tensely reassured her that if she didn't drop the torch then she would be fine and wouldn't "go boom".

It had not reassured her at all.

She could feel Bellamy's eyes on her and Raven as they worked, and all she wanted to do was hand the torch to someone else and have it out with him. She was still furious about what he had said to her in the woods and knew that she was not going to be able to forgive him easily. If she had more of a level head she would know that she had said some things she hadn't meant but she was too worked up to admit it to herself.

The day had turned out far more stressful than she had expected. When Mara had entered that forest in search of the dropship, she had expected to find some food and medicine in it, a radio if she was lucky. What she hadn't expected to find was Raven Reyes telling her that three hundred people were going to die if they didn't contact The Ark and to have a shouting match with Bellamy. It was almost hard for Mara to believe that it was still the same day.

She pushed thoughts of her anger at Bellamy out of her mind and moved the torch where Raven instructed. She knew that she didn't have the same skillset as Raven and Monty but she was sure that she would not let Bellamy Blake distract her from saving her father and the other Arkers' lives.

The Ark

A faded white button up, black cargo pants with a broken zip, a pair of white socks with a hole in the big toe, a blue tie and a pair of scuffed black shoes lay on top of Logan's bed. He stood in front of his mirror, combing his hair into submission and taming any stray grey hairs. He had taken extra care not to cut himself when he had shaved and he had even dabbed on the cologne Madeline had procured for him for his twenty-third birthday. His body was scrubbed clean of any dirt and grime. He looked more like the man he was before his family was ripped from him but the dark circles under his eyes showed that there was no way for him to go back to the man he was before.

His hands shook as he began buttoning up his shirt and he nearly reached for his bottle of moonshine but he managed to restrain himself. He wanted to have a clear head for what he was about to do. He smiled to himself when he pulled his socks on and saw the top of his toe sticking out. He could almost hear Madeline berating him for not getting it fixed and Mara offering to do it for him if he didn't want to do it himself.

When he had fully dressed he stared at himself in the mirror; Madeline always said that he scrubbed up nicely when he made the effort.

He took one last look around his home, seeing the ghosts of his family lingering in the walls. He imagined that Mara was sitting at the table in the centre of the room, five years old and playing with the teddy bear that had yet to lose its ear. He could hear her pretending to be a brave princess that had to rescue the bear from a fiery dragon. He could hear her tinkling laugh when she was nine years old and laughed at one of the stories he told her when he tucked her into bed at night. He could see the roll of her eyes at thirteen years old when her mother gave her into trouble for being too sarcastic. He could see her walking out their door at sixteen years old on the day she was arrested.

He closed his eyes and could just about smell the synthetic roses of Madeline's perfume, the same one she had been wearing since she was twelve years old. He could still remember the day he met her when they were five years old and nervous about spending a full day away from their parents. He could remember the happiness in his heart when she agreed to go on a date with him when they were fifteen. He remembered how much he loved her when she sat by his bedside after the Factory riot. The sheer anxiety and joy and wonder he felt when Madeline told him that she was pregnant was still so fresh in his mind that he felt as if he was reliving the moment all over again.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that his home was once again empty and that everything he had imagined was no longer real.

He straightened his tie, took a steadying breath and nearly headed out of the door before he suddenly remembered something he couldn't forget.

The Ground

Night had fully fallen over the camp just in time for Raven to complete the flares. They were beautiful when they were launched into the sky. Red and gold sparks shot from them at a dizzying rate and left a trail of grey smoke after them. Raven had a smile etched onto her face as she watched the flares soar into the sky so Mara assumed, prayed, that they were working.

She looped her arm through Nathan's and leaned into him, seeking comfort from his solid presence. He squeezed her hand lightly in return and smiled down at her, his eyes mirroring the hope she was feeling.

Her eyes followed one flare that had shot a little of course, but in doing so she ended up locking eyes with Bellamy. She refused to show any emotion as she looked at him even though she could see a hint of fear in the lines of his face. He was just as worried as everyone else that The Ark wouldn't see the flares on time, but Mara couldn't allow herself to think about what Bellamy was feeling. She just wanted her dad to be safe.

The Ark

Logan had never seen so many people be so silent, even the sound of people breathing was absent. Three hundred and twenty people had gathered, waiting to be let into the room that would end their lives.

With each step that Logan took, he felt like a weight was being lifted off of his chest. He felt lighter than he had in a very long time.

The room the three hundred and twenty gathered in was much smaller than Logan had expected it to be. Everyone was forced to cram in together and limbs overlapped as people huddled together. No one complained about the cramped conditions, there was not much point anymore.

Logan settled himself, trying to get as comfortable as possible with his back pressed against a pipe and sandwiched between a hugging couple and an older man.

He pulled Mara's old teddy bear from the pocket of his trousers, smiling fondly at the missing ear and the patch of blue cloth he himself had sown on. Mara had loved the bear as a child, and would refuse to go to bed without it. He hugged it to his chest, feeling the soft fur tickle against his neck. He imagined he was holding his family in his arms.

He glanced around the sombre room, noting that Iain was nowhere to be seen. Rita, however, was sitting directly in front of him, unshed tears filling her eyes. For the first time, Logan was the one to reach out to the grandmother of a four year old boy and gently held her hand in his. The woman smiled at him as the room settled into complete stillness. The only sound that could be heard came from the gently slowing down fan at the far end of the room.

The slower the fan moved, the harder it became to breath. It was a gradual process that started in the tips of Logan's toes and worked its way up his body as he was gently lulled into unconsciousness. His final thought before he slipped into darkness was that he was glad he had put his best clothes on; he wanted to look nice when he was finally reunited with his wife and daughter.

Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Review Response

Summer (guest review): I'm really looking forward to exploring the relationship between Mara and Bellamy (but it's going to be a bumpy road, can't have things going smoothly for Mara can we?). Thanks for reviewing!

January Raines: thanks for the review! Her relationship with Bellamy isn't going to be plain sailing, but in the chapter Mara really needed a physical connection with someone. Everything is falling out of her grasp, so she needed something tangible, something she could hold onto.

Guest (guest review): thanks for the review, and I'm glad you love the story!