Chapter 1
Asher "Ash" Hill woke with a start to the loud clanking noise caused by the slamming of a baton on steel bars. He should really be used to this after 19 months in lockup. His cell mate, Octavia Blake, woke up even more violently, rolling off her bunk and landing with a thud and a groan as all the air was forced out of her lungs. Thank God the small girl was on the lower bunk.
Ash slid off the top bunk awkwardly but landed with a level of practiced grace. It took a certain amount of finesse as there wasn’t enough room between the bed and the ceiling for his 6ft3 frame to sit up properly.
"What's going on Ash?" Octavia grumbled, sleep still somewhat present in her semi alert voice.
Ash never got the chance to answer before the guards at the door barked out.
"Prisoner 297 Prisoner 301! Face the wall and raise your hands!"
Ash was confused but complied, dragging a stubbornly defiant Octavia with him. As much as it pained him to submit to them, he'd learnt that arguing with the guards was more effort than it was worth.
Once cuffed, they were dragged into the hall, where they saw the halls crowded with other prisoners, looking as confused as he felt. He saw 2 of his best friends, his boys, Murphy and Atom coming out of their cell a level below and across from him and they made eye contact across the gap between their walkways. Murphy scowled and shrugged while Atom, ever the joker, smiled, spun around and waved using the hands cuffed at the small of his back. Ash smirked at them, his smirk turning into a chuckle when he heard Octavia behind him, giggling at Atoms antics.
Octavia was already in lockup when Ash and the boys arrived, for the mere crime of being born. His hatred for the council had rocketed when he'd heard of this. How was being born her fault? She shouldn't be punished for something that was in no way her fault. But resources were limited on the Ark and they weren't about to waste any on an illegal child. Ash had decided very quickly that he'd be taking the young girl under his wing, and now saw the girl as the younger sister he'd never had and made it his mission to make sure she was safe and happy.
They shuffled along the walkway, Ash moving to the side slightly and pushing Octavia in front of him. He didn't like it when there was a guard behind her when he couldn't see them. One day, about a month into their lock up, when they were lining up for dinner, Octavia had stepped back and accidently stepped on a guard’s foot. The guard had retaliated by striking the then 14 year old brunette with the shock baton. Ash had spent a week in solitary after that for shoving the guard away from her, and after that he developed his sense of protectiveness towards the girl that was 2 years his junior.
"Alright listen up!" A guard at the end of the walkway shouted as the lines of prisoners stopped moving. "We're leading you to a drop ship! You're all going to earth!"
The guard announced this with a smug smirk as the young prisoners started to look panicked.
"The Earth skills crash course makes sense now," Ash mumbled to a worried looking Octavia.
"I wish we'd payed closer attention though," Octavia replied with a furrowed brow and a hint of panic in her voice.
"We'll be fine O," Ash tried to reassure the young girl as they each were uncuffed, a metal bracelet replacing the cuffs.
"These cuffs are to monitor your vital signs when you're on the ground," Dr Eric Jackson explained as he attached Ash's bracelet.
Ash nodded in understanding and made to follow Octavia, but was stopped by Jackson and Dr Abby Griffin walked past him, accompanied by Marcus Kane and 2 guards pushing a stretcher. Ash was horrified to see that the unconscious person on the stretcher was none other than Clarke Griffin, a girl who had changed his life and then barely spoken to him again.
*Flash back*
5 years ago
Growing up as an orphan on the Ark was difficult, especially when you were an orphan from one if the lower class stations such as factory station, like Ash was. He didn't know who his father was, that slot on his ID document was left blank, and his mother had died in child birth. This left him with nobody but the women in charge of the children care centre, as his mother’s parents were both dead, and the Ark' one child policy meant that uncles and aunts were not a thing.
As an orphan from factory station, he'd accepted at a young age that he'd likely grow up to be nothing more than a factory worker like his mother before him. It was very seldom that a child entered into a career outside of their station. But that all changed thanks to one Clarke Griffin.
He remembered the first time he noticed Clarke as if it were yesterday. He was 12 years old, sitting in the school library with Raven, his best friend, working on a project.
The 13 year old girl had started showing promise in the field of science and mechanics from a very young age and the previous year, she had built a fully functioning remote controlled car. The girl was a literal prodigy. The project had earned her the apprenticeship she currently had with the Zero-G mechanics. In the Ark, all kids began an apprenticeship at the age of 13 or 14, and Ash hoped to follow in his best friend's footsteps and thus, the two were busy building a transistor radio from scratch to try impress his science teacher.
If you weren't born with contacts, the only way to get into a field of work was to show skills in that field and impress someone enough that you'd be accepted anyways. Ash was also good with mechanics and also dreamed of becoming a mechanic, but while he hoped he'd succeed, his dream was a tentative one as he had learnt to not hope for much so as to avoid disappointment.
That day, Clarke surprised him by sitting at their table as Raven left and asking about the project. Ash was surprised by this as Clarke Griffin had never spoken to him before despite being in the same class. She stuck to Wells Jaha, the son of the chancellor, and never really socialized outside of the 2 of them. And here she was, the daughter of 2 counsellors, the head of medical and engineering, talking to him, an orphan from factory station. He'd explained what he was doing to the curious girl and though she looked lost, she looked impressed.
The next day, when he brought his radio to his teacher’s room to show him, Jake Griffin was there instead.
"So, my daughter tells me you've built something cool," he'd joked with a kind smile. "Let's see then."
And with that, the princess from alpha station had helped him get the apprenticeship he had for 2 and a half years before getting arrested.
*End Flashback*
Ash watched as Abby attached a bracelet to her daughter's wrist and turn to glare at Kane as the 2 guards moved Clarke onto one of the drop ship seats.
"You've got your extra air," Abby said to the dark haired man with distain.
Ash wondered what that was about. It sounded to him like the council was sending the prisoners to the ground to save air but that didn't make sense. Why would air be a problem all of a sudden?
He stopped thinking about it when he was directed to a seat next to Octavia, across from Clarke, who was still unconscious and was now leaning her head on the shoulder of Wells Jaha. Ash wondered what the chancellor's son had done to get locked up, because he hadn't been in the prison the previous day for meals.
All these thoughts were stopped as the doors to the drop ship sealed. They were replaced by one single thought that repeated as the ship was fired from the Ark.
He really wished he could have said goodbye to Raven.