Chapter Four: Departure

The next morning, Elyza awoke to the sound of a very large, very loud engine. She rolled off of the small, slightly lumpy couch, her feet hitting the cool wooden floor. She rubbed her forehead and glanced around, remembering where she was. Particularly the circumstances that got her there.

"What's going on?" She mumbled, noticing Finn already at the window, looking through the blinds.

He pulled away and gave her a dubious look, "Um, well, looks like the military is here. There's a whole bunch of trucks and a tank coming up the driveway."

Elyza's heart lurched into her throat. How would she get out of there if the military took over? Would she be able to leave?

She stood up and tried to rub the last of her drowsiness from her eyes, "I've got to get out of here."

Finn frowned and closed the blinds once again. He was standing in the hallway in a pair of pajama pants he had borrowed from Bellamy the night before. His hair was a mess and his eyes looked darker than the day before. He must not have gotten a lot of sleep. Elyza couldn't blame him.

"Hold on," he said, "get out of here? Where do you think you're going?"

Elyza stretched her back and raised a daring eyebrow at him, "I know I'm leaving here. Today. Because I have to find my family. I appreciate everything that the Blakes have done for me. What you've done for me. But I have to get out of here."

Finn frowned again but shook his head, "I can't blame you. If my parents weren't so far away I'd head out in an instant to find them. But, you have to consider that you'd be safer here. The people you're looking for might be safer where they are now. Going out there might not be the best decision.

"All I'm hearing from you, Finn, are maybe this or maybe that. There are no solid facts that I'm safer here. That person Bellamy killed yesterday was dangerous, if there are more of them. And it seems to me like there will be soon. We don't stand a chance." Elyza stared into Finn's eyes, daring him to disagree with her.

She had to find the Jahas, then she had to find a way to get back to Australia. Maybe things weren't so bad back home. But she wanted to be with her family, she wanted to die or live or whatever was going to happen with them.

Finn shook his head, "Whatever you say, Aussie."

Elyza rolled her eyes and scoffed. She made her way down the hallway to the bathroom. The Blakes were still asleep so if she got ready fast enough, she could be gone before they awoke or the military blocked off any exits.

She washed her face and pulled her toothbrush out of the backpack she had managed to keep from the airport. After brushing her teeth and making herself slightly more presentable, she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.

When she reentered the living room she found Finn laying on the couch again, his blanket thrown over his eyes. Elyza wasn't sure if he was asleep, but it would be very helpful if she could sneak out of there before anyone noticed she was gone.

She quietly snatched up her leather jacket and flicked open the deadbolt to the front door. When she opened it, she was greeted by a very heavy, wet heat that reminded her of a swamp. The sun should have been rising, but grey, dreary clouds covered the sky, making it darker than it should have been.

Elyza opened the bed of the Blakes' truck and pulled out two of the plastic bags. She shifted around their loot from the day before until she had four bottles of water, her popcorn, a single Gatorade and three cans of Beefaroni.

Once she turned to face the bike, she realized what she had forgotten, Bellamy hadn't given her the key yet. She huffed and set down her bags, staring at the motorcycle for a couple of seconds. Elyza knew how to hotwire a car, it wasn't really that hard to do. But, she'd never had to do it to a motorcycle before.

Before she had the chance to attempt to start the motorcycle manually, she heard the door to the house open. Jumping, she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to seem as if she wasn't about to abandon the people who just so recently saved her life. But it was only Finn who waggled a set of keys in his hand with a smirk.

"Do you need these?" his voice was full of mockery and pride. Elyza clenched her jaw, she hated it when people were condescending towards her.

She pushed away from the truck and snatched the keys from his hands before he could tease her further, "Yes, thank you."

She examined them closely, there were two keys. One was smaller, with a black casing that she assumed was for the storage compartments and the other was slightly larger with a shiny dark blue casing she guessed was for the actual motorcycle. Attached to that was a small, pocket-sized picture of two kids with their arms wrapped around each other.

Elyza settled on the picture for a moment, rubbing her thumb over the smooth case surface. The two kids had thick mops of black hair. The girl looked to be no older than four years old with a large grin on her face and food residue surrounding her mouth. The boy was older, leaning over his sister's shoulder with his tongue sticking out and a smirk playing on his lips. Bellamy and Octavia.

God, what was she doing? Abandoning them like this? Maybe they weren't her family, maybe she hadn't known them for years like she knew Wells Jaha, but they hadn't been anything but nice to her since Bellamy had saved her life.

But she had to go, at least that was what she was trying to convince herself of. She didn't owe these people anything. Except probably your life, a small voice added in the back of her head. She didn't know what to do, but she needed to make a decision then and there.

"Hey, Bellamy also made you this," he yanked something from his back pocket and held it out towards Elyza. She grabbed it and unfolded some of the edges. A map, he made me a map. Taking a deep breath, she caught Finn's eyes with her own.

"I have to go. But, I'll find you guys." She hesitated a second, she wasn't sure if she should promise. There was no trusting a promise with the way the world was turning out. But she needed to add something, they felt like empty words without it, "I promise."

Finn nodded and stepped closer to her, still shirtless and a little messy. "Good, because we all like you, Aussie. We don't want anything to happen to you out there. So," he stopped for a second and reached behind him, pulling something out of the waistband of his pants, "I'm going to give this to you."

When Elyza laid eyes on the pistol she took a step back. The way Finn was handling it, it was aimed at her chest. "Woah." She grabbed his hand and moved the muzzle of the gun away from her general vicinity. "Isn't that Bell-"

"Yeah, but he'll be okay without it. He'll probably get another one sooner or later. You need it more than we do. You're the one going out there." He twisted it so the handle was facing Elyza. "Take it."

She did. She wasn't stupid enough to deny a gun. It would be useful. She unzipped her backpack and nuzzled it down next to her Harry Potter book, near the pocket knife Bellamy had given her the day before. "Thanks."

"No problem, Aus. Just be safe out there." He stepped back and nodded at her, flashing a small, hopeful smile before turning around and reentering the house. After mulling over her decision one last time, Elyza opened one of the storage compartments and shoved her backpack inside then put her food and water supply in another one.

She slung her leg over the seat and settled down, trying to relax. God, I hope I'm making the right decision. She found the ignition and inserted the key before turning it. The engine roared to life and Elyza sighed in relief, for a moment she had worried it wouldn't start.

She revved the engine and used her foot to shift it into action. The bike jumped to life underneath her and she nearly ran into the truck. The breaks squealed as she attempted to avoid the truck and made it around the side, straight into the grass.

After taking a deep breath to reassure herself that she totally had this, she revved it again, at a much slower rate. The bike moved more slowly and Elyza was able to regain her footing, it was just like riding a regular bicycle. She just had to readjust to it after a long time of not being on one.

It had been over a year—before her dad died—that she had last ridden a motorcycle. She had never really driven anything like the Harley she was driving now, dirt bikes on race tracks were the best she'd ever experienced.

Elyza knew that she was the son he'd never had, but she also knew that she was the best daughter he'd ever had. He'd treated her like a princess her entire life; a strong, very tomboy princess. He did everything with her, allowing her to learn how to shoot a gun when she was 8—against her mother's wishes of course. It had been the two of them against the world, he'd never questioned her like her mother had. He'd only ever supported her, even when his support probably shouldn't have been on her side.

She missed him so much and as she drove off, she felt tears prick her eyes at the memory of him sitting her in his lap on his dirt bike. He'd shown her how to shift with his foot when she was only six, allowing her to steer even after she'd run them into a tree and broken her wrist and cut open his leg.

He'd never cared, he only ever encouraged. And God, she missed that now more than ever.

A/N:

So, I've been writing this so much that I'm hoping it flows the way I would like it to. If someone or some people would please feel comfortable to leave a review, I would really appreciate it. I know a lot of you are probably waiting for Alicia to show up but it'll be a little while. This is a Lexark fic but it's from the beginning and building on Elyza's character, I want to make Elyza seem as real as Clarke; even thought they obviously aren't the same person.

Anyway, I hop you like it. PLEASE review! Thank you so much!
~Nina