Chapter. 6.
Flashback:
Year: 2147
Event: Election Day gathering.
Valerie Johnson, 16 years old.
"The new chancellor of this ark is…"
"Thelonious Jaha!"
Valerie's excitement vanished as she looked at Diana's face. Her face was pure anger, disguised, as she clapped for Jaha.
"Diana wants to see you after this." Valerie turned her head to the voice, seeing Shumway walking away before she could respond. She rubbed her hands together. Her breath shortened, and a shiver ran down her spine.
"Well, I'll be damned," She whispered to herself and headed to Diana's office.
"Jaha? They picked Jaha!?" An angry voice came from behind the door. The guard outside recognised her and opened the door for her.
"And you, Johnson, what happened with Jahas's votes? You were supposed to do this right!" Diana began." Diana shouted at her. Diana and Shumway were gathered around an empty table. The room was clearly meant for storage, with boxes scattered around.
"I only lasted for four fucking years, and I'll be damned if I can't do it again." Diana paced the room, walking back and forth.
"Sorry, but I – "
"No, it's in the past. There is still time to win this. The rules clearly state that if something happens to Jaha, the previous chancellor must step up." Diana leaned over the table in the room and looked directly at Valerie.
"It looks like you get a second chance at this. Do you think you can help me one last time, sweetheart?" Diana calmed down and smiled at her. Valerie looked down at her feet, unsure.
"I don't..." Valerie began. Diana walked over to Valerie and put her hand on her shoulder.
"It would mean the world to me if you could help me make a change in this space station. I need more time in charge." Valerie looked up to see Diana's smile; something in her couldn't say no. Valerie gave Diana a slight nod.
"Wakey, Wakey, red." Came a whisper by her ear. Valerie opened her eyes to Bellamy standing over her with a gun in his hands. She looked at the gun pointing at her and her tent-mates sleeping soundly beside her. Bellamy motioned her to step outside.
Valerie raised her eyebrows, clearly not expecting this from Bellamy. Bellamy nodded, confirming her thoughts. The pair went outside the tent, and Murphy and his gang were waiting outside with knives in their hands and smirks on their faces. Their revenge came sooner than she expected. The sun had barely begun to rise as the boys surrounded Valerie. Everyone else was fast asleep, and the camp barely made a sound.
"I can't leave your wristband on red," Bellamy began before motioning to the guys. Four guys came and restrained her, each holding down a limb. Valerie tried to grab a stick right by the tent's opening; Bellamy sensed this and kicked the stick away and repositioned his gun at her head.
"Nope, it's not going to work again, red. Now give him your arm," Bellamy ordered her. Murphy stepped forward and took her arm, grinning.
"I'm gonna enjoy this bitch!" Murphy said. Valerie looked at her options but soon discovered there was no choice but to cooperate. She relaxed her arm and tried to ignore the gun pointing at her. Her breath quickened when Murphy grabbed her hand.
Murphy held her hand with a tight grip; he dug his knife beneath her arm wristband. He was trying to provoke a reaction from her. But her face remained still, her eyes wandering off to the forest, almost bored. Although inside, her wrist hurt like hell.
Murphy, not getting a reaction, aggravated him; he pushed his knife to the correct position and released the latch. Blood was running down her arm. The wristband fell to the ground, and she was released. Valerie rubbed her arm, and a deep cut from the knife remained. She held her hand over her wrist, concealing her injury. Bellamy and the others turned around and walked away. Bellamy turned his head, looking down at Valerie's hand before looking back at her before he vanished.
"Fuck this life. I miss my couch." She mused to herself before turning back inside her tent, clearly upset.
The following day, she sported her long-sleeved jacket. She had made a makeshift bandage of some clean-looking cloth wrapped around her wrist.
"Hopefully, I won't get an infection in this hell hole." Valerie mused to herself.
"Infection?" A voice came from behind. Harper's voice came from behind. Valerie turned around to Harper, stretching and yawning.
"Good morning." Valerie smiled and covered her arm with her sleeve.
"Morning, some girls are gathering to help each other fix our hair; you in?" Harper asked and started walking towards the dropship entrance. Inside, there were a group of girls eagerly chatting with each other. Harper sat down near a young girl. She was young, with a pale complexion, dark blonde hair and brown eyes. Her hair was almost finished braiding when the girl noticed Valerie and Harper joining them. The girl flinched, meeting Valeries stare.
"Hey, I'm Valerie Johnson. Nice to meet you." Valerie said as she sat down beside the little girl.
"I know, I think everyone knows. I'm Charlotte." The girl answered in a monotone voice. When Charlotte's hair was done, she said her goodbyes but seemed to ignore Valerie as she stepped out of the drop ship. Valerie's eyes followed her before Charlotte disappeared.
"Don't worry; she only dislikes you because of Wells," Harper said as she braided Valerie's hair.
"Daym girl, you ever had a haircut in your life?" Harper asked, astonished as she tried to detangle the mess. Valerie stifled a small laugh.
"What do you mean by she doesn't like wells?" Valerie asked Harper. Harper laughed but stopped when she noticed Valerie's calm demeanour.
"Most of us here are criminals because of Councillor Jaha," Harper said, hinting to Valerie what she meant. Valerie got the hint, nodded, and let Harper finish. The girls chatted about their life on the ark, and Harper mentioned a crush on a boy, whom she swore never to reveal the name to anybody.
"Alright, I think this is it. I tried to braid one big braid, but your hair is impossible, so I managed two braids," Harper said. Valerie took her hand and felt two braids from the top of her head down to the end. She left her braids to rest and thanked Harper. Harper was already done with her hair, and she got help from another girl while she fought against Valerie's hair.
Valerie stepped outside the dropship and looked around the camp. The sun shone over the area, lighting up small corners where she observed teenagers taking liberties of their newfound freedom. Some guys ran past her, almost chasing each other before they ran away, and she noticed Wells walking towards her with clothes in his hands. Behind her, a guy approached Wells. He had an average build, tall. Black hair and olive skin. He had a black jacket and pants with a grey shirt. He walked past Valerie as if she didn't exist.
"Hey, where'd you get the clothes?" The guy asked. Valerie approached the pair, and he glanced back at her.
"Who are you?" Valerie asked the guy.
"Atom." He glanced before turning his back slightly to Valerie in favour of talking to Wells.
"Buried the two kids who died during the landing," Wells said.
"Smart. You know, I'll take it from here," Atom said as he tried to take the clothes from the wells. He resisted and stepped backwards.
"We share based on need, just like back home." Wells tried to explain.
"You still don't get it, do you, chancellor? A voice came from the dropship that Valerie hoped to ignore. She turned her head to see Bellamy and a girl make out, and him shirtless. Valerie and Wells shared a look.
"This is home now. Your father's rules no longer apply." Bellamy said, grabbing one of the items from one of Wells's hands.
"Then whose rules apply now assface?" Valerie stepped forward with her hands crossed. Bellamy looked at her, his eyes glancing down on her exposed bandaged arm. Valerie instinctively hid it under his gaze. Bellamy focused his attention back on Wells.
"Well, if you want it, try to take it," Bellamy said. The two boys were trapped in a staring contest before Wells threw the stuff on the ground, causing a frenzy to grab it.
"Is this what you want? Chaos?" Wells asked him.
"What's wrong with a little chaos," Bellamy answered as he put on the t-shirt he grabbed from Wells earlier. A scream echoed through the camp, and everyone ran towards the commotion. Valerie and Wells shared a pointed look at each other when they saw Murphy holding a girl over the campfire.
"Bellamy, check it out. We want the ark to think the ground is killing us, right? Figure it looks better if we suffer a little bit first," Murphy said. Welles ran towards the fire and shoved Murphy.
"Let her go!" Welles turned to Bellamy.
"You can stop this," Wells shouted as he turned towards Bellamy.
"Stop this? I'm just getting started." Bellamy finished as Murphy landed a fist in Wells's face, knocking him down. Wells got back up on his feet and grabbed Murphy, punching him in the gut. The pair wrestled on the ground before Wells got up on top and punched him in the face before Murphy backed down. Wells stood up and faced Bellamy again.
"Don't you see you can't control this? Wells asked Bellamy. A strange look flashed across Bellamy's face as he glanced back at Valerie.
"I'm gonna kill you." Was heard from Murphy. He had his switch knife ready and was about to attack before Bellamy stopped him and threw a knife to the ground in front of Wells.
"Fair fight."
Wells glanced at Valerie, who nodded quickly to him. He took the knife, and the pair was engulfed in a fight again.
"Wells!" everybody stopped to notice Clarke and the group returning.
"Let him go!" Clarke said with an angry voice. Valerie looked at the group but couldn't help but notice the lack of supplies and Jasper. Octavia was spotted limping towards the group, and Bellamy ran towards her. Wells dropped Murphy.
"Where's the food?" Valerie asked Clarke.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather", Finn said as he sat on a nearby log.
"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy asked.
"We were attacked," Clarke said.
"Attacked? By what?" Wells asked her. Clarke had a worried expression.
"Not what, who. It turns out the last man from the ground died on the ark; he wasn't the last grounder," Finn said. Everyone started whispering, worried.
"It's true. Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us." Clarke said.
"Yeah, the bad news is that the grounders will," Finn said, almost defeated.
"Where is the kid with the goggles?" Wells asked, looking around.
"Jasper was hit. They took him… Where is your wristband?" Clarke asked Wells and noticed Valerie's wristbands were missing as well.
"And yours?"
"Ask him," Valerie said, staring at Bellamy pointedly. Wells looked over her with a questioning stare. Clarke stepped forward, her anger evident on her face.
"How many?" Clarke asked.
"25 and counting," Murphy said with a smirk. Clarke looked at him in disbelief.
"You idiots! Life support on the ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again. And we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!" Clarke shouted to the group. Everyone whispered amongst themselves, worry evident on their face. Valerie stepped closer to Wells as Bellamy started one of his speeches again.
"Is that the reason, for you know?" She whispered. Wells looked at her with a knowing expression.
"Yeah…" The pair shared a knowing look and looked towards Bellamy's rant.
"…If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same?" Bellamy shouted to the group. Valerie bumped her elbow into Wells, gaining his attention.
"There must be a reason for his desperate attempts to keep the ark away from us..." Wells had a thoughtful expression on his face. Clarke looked over to the pair with a glance.
"It's suspicious indeed. We'll need to get to the bottom of it eventually." Valerie and Wells nodded to each other before they returned to Bellamy.
"You're fighters, survivors! The grounders should worry about us!" Bellamy shouted, and the crowd roared.
Valerie walked away from the crowd, looking around the camp. Her eyes moved around the forest.
"What ya thinking, red?" Bellamy asked Valerie.
"Are you done with your annual speech?" Valerie asked Bellamy, raising her eyebrow and displaying a slight smirk. Bellamy frowned and rolled his eyes.
"Look, Blake. That stunt with the gun was beneath you. But whatever, it's in the past. Look at the camp. What do you see?" Valerie raised her hands on her hips and looked at Bellamy intensely. Bellamy initially scoffed, but after a few moments, he looked around seriously.
"Our people are gathered here. It's home," Bellamy said, looking around intently.
"Are you really that ignorant?" Bellamy whipped his head around to face Valerie, immediately scowling.
"Red...?" He warned. Valerie looked around the camp, ignoring him.
"It's vulnerable. Before, when we thought we were alone, I didn't care. But now, knowing there are other people here, we need to be careful about how we act and think." Valerie finished.
"Why should we care about how we act? They should be afraid of us." Bellamy folded his arms. Valerie looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Why should they be afraid of us? They've lived here the entire time we've been in space, and now we live here, too. Do you honestly expect us to be at war for the rest of our lives?" Valerie finished. Bellamy looked at the ground and back at the camp again.
"Then what do you recommend?" Bellamy asked, defeated. Valerie took a victory lap inside her head.
"Well, there's not much we can do about building relations now. But what we can do is protect our home. To make it simple, a wall would be a good start." Valerie mused. Bellamy nodded.
"On that, I agree with you."
"And I know you did something on the ark to get down here. Now, I won't pry or anything. But please don't fuck everything up…" Valerie said. Bellamy looked at her with an unreadable expression but settled into another scowl.
"Yeah, and what do you know?" He accused.
"Well, I was sent to the skybox originally because I was in a restricted area. But the reason I went to solitary confinement was worse. And you don't see me trying everything I can to keep the ark away from us." Valerie started walking with Bellamy hot on her heels.
"Everyone of us did something to get us locked up. It just wouldn't make sense for the ark to lock us up if they ever got themselves down here, even for more serious crimes. And look at it this way. Make yourself important and useful. And they can't do anything about it." Valerie led Bellamy closer to the shuttle, and the pair caught sight of Octavia. Bellamy rushed towards his sister, and Valerie headed to the shuttle to find Clarke.
'It's time to make myself useful.'
Even though Valerie demolished the guys in the last chapter, one should never become arrogant to think one is indestructible. I think she learned a lesson here. But don't worry, she hasn't forgotten the literal gun to her head, and there's just a bigger threat out there right now.