Chapter 1
The breeze ghosted through the tips of the trees surrounding the clearing. Birds that were no more than black specks in the clear blue sky soared overhead, their chirps echoing through the warmth of the midday air. There was so much green. Life was teeming in the most unimaginable of ways. Blessed with an artistic eye, she was able to see how truly beautiful the earth was. But even the miracle of the surrounding world wasn’t enough to blind her. At least not anymore. Clarke was sick of it all.
It had been 14 days since the 100 had landed on a shockingly survivable earth. 2 weeks since the Ark had sent them all down to what was assumed would be their deaths. Finding the ground to be free of deadly radiation and themselves free of the Ark’s merciless justice should have been cause for celebration. Relief. Joy. And for about the first 5 minutes Clarke felt all those things. And then reality set in.
No rations. No water source. Scraps from the dropship for shelter. And 100 kids all with varying levels of a questionable moral code. Add into the mix Bellamy and the gun he mysteriously had in his possession and Clarke really hadn’t seen how things could get much worse. But worse they had gotten.
One spear to the heart later and the 100 learned they weren’t alone.
Since that moment, Clarke had been doing everything she could just to keep herself, and those who would listen, alive. It was no easy task, especially with the eldest Blake around. The number of kids who still gave a damn what she said or thought was dwindling every day.
The wristbands that Bellamy hadn’t coerced off were all fried. The Ark would believe them all to be dead and conclude the ground was not survivable. There would be no one coming down to help them. Raven had tried to salvage the radio, but it was no use, even with Monty’s help. It was beyond repair. Just another notch in Bellamy’s belt of fuck ups.
Clarke ground her teeth as she listened to the voices of the small group she was with echoing through the trees around her. They were trying to scrounge for roots and berries to boost the dwindling food supply. Dwindling, she supposed, was putting it lightly. What little meat they had been trying to preserve had gone up in flames the night before when a drunk and always angry Murphy had shoved one of the other boys into a torch. The flames had spread faster than anyone could stop them, and by the time her yelling had gotten people working together to throw water at the blaze, it was too late. The hut with their rations was nothing but a pile of burnt ruins.
Bellamy had, of course, been no help. He was just as drunk as Murphy. Ever since Octavia had gone missing he was wasted more than he was sober. Clarke tried to sympathize at first, knowing how much his sister meant to him. But as the camp descended further and further into chaos, she was finding it harder and harder to cut him any slack. Too much rope only allowed someone to hang themselves after all.
Clarke’s eyes flew open at that thought. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed them. Exhaustion had long since seeped deep into her bones. She doubted she would feel truly rested ever again. But thoughts of rope and hanging certainly weren’t going to help anything. Not after Wells.
The truth had just come out. Or rather, she had finally allowed herself to acknowledge what she had deep down always known was the truth. Wells hadn’t been the reason behind Jaha finding out about her father’s plans. He wasn’t the one who couldn’t keep a secret. Clarke’s own mother was the reason why she had watched as her father was floated.
Wells had let her blame him to spare her from that horrible truth. She’d hated him. Had done everything she could to tear him apart with her words in the hope of inflicting even a fraction of the pain that she felt onto him. And he had forgiven her. The ground, with all its unknown dangers, pushed the truth to be revealed, acknowledged, and reconciled. Clarke’s one solace in a seemingly never-ending string of catastrophes that plagued the 100 was getting her best friend back. And then he was gone.
The night Monty accidentally fried the remaining wristbands, Clarke hadn’t been in the camp. She had gone off on her own to clear her mind after another blowout with Finn. The acid fog had descended and she was forced to hide out in an old, mostly buried automobile. She was trapped there for a day and then had gotten lost for another after the fog had cleared. By the time she returned to camp, it was too late.
With the wristbands gone, Wells knew that his father believed him to be dead and no one was coming down. Everyone on the Ark would die from the malfunction Clarke’s own father had discovered. And in the wake of that, Clarke’s disappearance led to the presumption that she was dead. Caught in the acid fog and never coming back. Wells found a length of rope and a tree outside of the camp walls. He believed he’d lost the only people he ever loved.
There wasn’t time to properly mourn. The constant threat of all of their imminent deaths kept Clarke plenty distracted. But the pain refused to fade. It was a sharp yet jagged spear to her own heart anytime the thought of her best friend crossed her mind.
Shaking her head in an attempt to clear the thoughts away, Clarke scanned the clearing she was standing in. It was small and allowed her to peer through the surrounding forest in order to keep an eye on those she was with. After counting twice to make sure everyone was still accounted for, she let her eyes drift up to the tree line. Grounders seemed to love attacking from above and she wasn’t about to let one of them get the drop on the few people left in the 100 that she actually could stand to be around.
Not seeing or sensing any immediate danger, Clarke let her thoughts drift once more. If she was being honest with herself, she hated how quickly the ground had made her jaded. But with everything that had happened in such a short amount of time, she supposed it wasn’t altogether surprising. She caught a glimpse of Raven as the brunette moved to smack the leaves Monty had been about to eat out of the boy’s hands. She almost smiled at his antics. Even in all the craziness, he was still set on finding a plant that would get them all high.
Raven glanced towards her and rolled her eyes before returning to the bush she had been collecting berries from. Their friendship was new and highly unanticipated. Clarke wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she thought it best to not question it. Out of everyone who remained alive, Raven was one of the only people left who Clarke actually liked. She could say that she had Finn to thank for that, but she wasn’t willing to give the boy any credit, whether due or not.
He was the reason that 2 of their group had gotten out of their seats on the drop, resulting in their deaths upon re-entry. Somehow, he had survived it. But rather than let that serve as a humbling moment, Finn had immediately begun to flirt with just about every girl in the group. Apparently having a girlfriend on the Ark didn’t hold any weight on his conscience. He’d set his sights on Clarke by the end of day 3. At first, she tried the subtle approach in fending off his advances, but that did little to deter him. Even her blunt rejection method wasn’t enough. He had been convinced that she would succumb to his charm. Raven crash landing in a pod ended up being her saving grace.
Clarke had just barely missed beating Bellamy to the crash site. Of course, by the time she did get there, he was long gone with the radio and had left an unconscious and bleeding Raven behind. Clarke had no idea who the brunette-haired girl was, but the healer in her wouldn’t allow her to just leave her for dead the way the eldest Blake so callously had. She had carefully gotten her out of the still slightly smoking craft and did her best to patch up her head laceration. By the time Raven had come around it was almost dark. Thinking back to their first conversation, Clarke couldn’t help but cast her gaze back through the trees where Raven was still gathering food and smile at the sight of the person she was now closest to.
Clarke’s eyes snapped back over to the stranger as the girl gave a groan, her eyelids fluttering.
“Easy there. You’re okay.” Clarke tried to keep her voice as soothing as possible, a trick she had picked up from her time spent helping her mother with patients in medical back up on the Ark.
The brunette finally managed to fully open her eyes and lock onto Clarke kneeling next to her. Her gaze, however, didn’t stay on the blonde for long. The sky above her was darkening, but there was still enough light around them for her to make out the trees surrounding them. She could feel the slight breeze cooling her skin and the grass beneath her fingertips. The sounds of real, living nature echoed around them. She must have let out an audible gasp as she took it all in. The blonde next to her chuckled at the look of awe on her face.
“Welcome to the ground. Enjoy the beauty while you can.”
Raven regretfully tore her gaze from trying to soak in everything around her to raise an eyebrow at the blue-eyed girl next to her. That comment was a serious blow to the amazement she was feeling at having survived the freefall to Earth.
Wait a minute… blonde, blue eyes, and altogether too serious…
“Clarke? Clarke Griffin?”
Clarke’s eyes widened in surprise at this stranger knowing who she was. Her startled silence was clearly taken as an affirmation, as the brunette started speaking again without waiting for Clarke to say anything.
“Your mom sent me down. She wanted to come too. But the council… She was able to hold them off to give me time to launch. Everyone up there thinks you all are dead, except for her. She didn’t believe it. Refused to. Wait, you aren’t all dead, are you? Where is everyone else? You aren’t the only one left, right?”
The words were starting to spill out faster and Clarke could sense the panic building in the stranger before her. Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her when she tried to rise, Clarke kept her in place on the ground and held up her canteen of water instead.
“I will answer all of your questions. But first, drink some water. You have a nasty cut on your forehead and were knocked out for hours.”
The brunette took the offered drink and stared at Clarke expectantly. The blonde sighed deeply. So much had happened since she had arrived on the ground, and rehashing it all wasn’t exactly on the top of her list of things she wanted to do. Learning that her mother was on some sort of crusade up on the Ark and had risked a stranger’s life chilled her already frigid feelings surrounding her mom. Pushing all thoughts and emotions surrounding Abby aside, Clarke shifted to sit next to the newest citizen of the Ark to reach the ground. Sighing, she figured it was best to start at the beginning as much as she didn’t want to.
“What’s your name?”
“Raven.”
“Hi, Raven. As you already guessed, I’m Clarke.” She paused a moment but Raven just stared at her expectantly. “What did my mother all tell you about the reason the Ark sent its 100 juvenile prisoners down here?”
“She said that the Ark was dying and sending you guys down here was the only way to truly learn if the ground was survivable.”
Clarke rolled her eyes at how heroic that explanation made it all sound. Before she could comment, Raven continued, “But I’m not dumb. Yeah, sending you all down here would let them know the conditions of the ground. But the expectation was that you would all die. My guess is that they just wanted to see how quickly. And that the bigger reason behind what was meant to be a thinly veiled mass execution is that sending you all down afforded everyone up there a little more oxygen. And judging by your face right now, I’d say I hit the mark.”
Clarke stared at Raven in shock while the brunette just gave a sad smirk. She’d known that was a big part of sending them all down. Hell, Jaha himself had called them all expendable in his parting video message. But this was the first time Clarke had heard someone say it so bluntly. Swallowing the anger and bile that had risen in her throat, Clarke refocused on the girl next to her.
“Yeah, that just about sums it up. By some miracle, the ground, as you can see, is survivable.”
“Gee thanks, not like I’m genius enough to have figured that part out.”
Clarke rolled her eyes but couldn’t quite fight back the smile Raven’s sarcasm sparked. The feeling of her mouth quirking upwards felt almost foreign. There hadn’t exactly been a whole lot to find amusing in the past week.
“Right. Well, here’s the thing. The ground is survivable in the sense that we all didn’t immediately die of radiation poisoning. Unfortunately, that hasn’t made staying alive any easier.”
Raven cut in once more and Clarke suspected this whole conversation was going to take a lot longer than she originally anticipated.
“What? Are you telling me that a bunch of delinquents haven’t managed to figure out how to start fires and kill animals yet?”
“Oh, the fires and hunting haven’t been the issue. It’s the being hunted and dealing with idiots on power trips that have put a damper on things.”
“Being hunted?”
“The locals weren’t exactly happy about us dropping into their territory.”
“Locals?”
“We call them grounders. They speak a language we don’t understand, use the trees to attack from above, and are scary accurate with spears.”
Raven just stared at Clarke, jaw half hanging open, clearly trying to figure out if she was being pranked. Realizing that no ‘ha, gotcha’ was coming from the blonde next to her, she sat up a little straighter and glanced around.
“Ok, so where’s everyone else? Why are we alone? Are we alone or are we about to be attacked? Because I gotta say blondie, I’m not altogether into the idea of surviving getting down here just to be shish-ka-bobbed.”
“We’re alone because everyone else who is still alive didn’t find it worthwhile to hike through the forest to your lovely crash site.”
“But you did?”
“Well, I figured that the Ark wouldn’t waste supplies on us since they wrote us off the moment they launched the dropship, but that just begged the question on what, or who in the world, was in that hunk of burnt metal you call a ship.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I repaired that ancient tin can myself and since I’m alive and well that means I am clearly a genius whom you should speak to with more respect!”
Clarke actually laughed. The easy back and forth and wittiness that came with talking to Raven was refreshing. Raven grinned, clearly pleased with herself. But the laughter faded as quickly as it came as Raven’s smile faltered around her next question.
“You said everyone else who is still alive. How many have we lost?”
Clarke sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as the air seemed to take an unnatural dip in temperature. Looking up to the stars that were now starting to dot across the sky, she sighed before answering.
“A lot has happened in the short time we’ve been down here. Two were dead before we’d landed, after copying one idiot who undid his seatbelt to float around. Somehow he’s still alive and growing to be a huge pain in my ass. We lost another to some sort of acid fog that is entirely unnatural and appears randomly. The kid who took a spear to the heart was dead before her body hit the ground, but Jasper, he took an arrow to the thigh. I managed to control the bleeding in time. He’s still limping and scared to leave his tent, but he’s alive. And Wells-”
Clarke abruptly stopped speaking. It had been 5 days. She hadn’t spoken his name since. She’d barely even allowed herself to think about it. The pain was still too fresh. And underneath the grief was a pang of even more excruciating guilt.
Jumping slightly, Clarke glanced down at the hand squeezing her leg before looking up to meet Raven’s eyes. There was no pity in them. Just understanding. Clarke swallowed before continuing. If her voice was a little rougher than previously, neither girl reacted.
“Wells is gone too.”
Raven allowed Clarke a few minutes of silence then. They just sat, staring out at the night sky spread out before them, each lost in their own thoughts. Raven didn’t move her hand from its place on the blonde’s leg, and for that small comfort, Clarke was grateful.
Eventually, it was Raven who broke the silence with another question. Her voice was soft and almost timid, but in the quiet of the night around them, it was loud and clear.
“The others who are- who didn’t make it. Do you know what their names were?”
Clarke glanced over at the brunette. Everything about their interactions so far had screamed confidence boarding on cockiness. Now, however, there was an uncertainty that was almost fear lingering in the girl’s features. She didn’t dare draw attention to it or question who Raven was really asking about. She just answered and prayed that she wasn’t about to break the girl’s heart.
“The first two were Garret and Trevon. The fog took Atom. The spear was Macie.”
Clarke pretended not to notice the tension release from Raven’s shoulders in relief of not hearing the name she was clearly worried about.
“So there’s 95 of you left.”
“96 actually. Well, now 97 with you here.”
Raven’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, “But-”
“Bellemy Blake stowed away on the dropship in order to come down with his little sister.”
“Sister? There aren’t- Wait Blake?” The moment the dots connected couldn’t have been clearer if an actual lightbulb lit up over her head. “The girl under the floor?!”
“Her name is Octavia, and yes she was the one who the Blake’s managed to hide until she was 16.”
“Damn. That’s crazy! So wait, you’re telling me that her brother snuck onto the dropship to come down here with her?”
Raven’s tone was almost incredulous. Clarke was just grateful for the shift in conversation topic.
“Yep,” Clarke rolled her eyes, “He’s like, mega protective of her. Has it through his thick skull that because she’s his little sister he has to do anything to protect her and has essentially been trying to control her every move since we got down here. Something that she is so not happy about.”
“I mean, I can’t say I blame her. All those years stuck pretending she was never born, to finally be free and on the ground of all places, only to have her brother trying to dictate everything. That’s some shit.”
Clarke felt her lips slipping into a smile once more. Leave it to Raven to understand before even being witness to the Blake drama.
“You should have seen him when he caught her and Spacewalker getting hot and heavy. I thought he was going to shoot.”
Raven’s face slipped into an unreadable mask.
“Spacewalker?”
Clarke was too busy digging in her pack for rations to notice the change in the other girl’s face.
“Hm? Yeah, some stupid nickname for Finn Collins. The idiot who inspired Garret and Trevon to take off their seatbelts. He’s honestly the worst. Flirts with any girl that so much makes eye contact with him. I almost punched him yesterday when he-”
Clarke broke off as she turned back to Raven and saw pure fury burning in the girl’s eyes. She blinked in shock. Gone was the kind and open face that was there just moments before. The rage that had contorted the other girl’s face had Clarke suddenly swallowing something that tasted almost like fear.
“Um, Raven? What’s going-”
“When he what, Clarke?”
The words were clipped and flat.
“What?”
Clarke was lost as to what had just happened.
“You almost punched Finn when he what?”
Clarke’s eyes snapped from where they’d been roving over Raven’s face to meet her eyes. And then she saw the tears threatening to spill over. Her voice was no more than a whisper as she answered.
“When he tried to kiss me after I told him to get lost.”
Raven gulped. The muscles in her throat visibly working overtime like she was trying to swallow down something insurmountable. Clarke watched helplessly as the tears split over and slid down the brunette’s cheeks. The other girl was shaking, clearly trying to hold it all in, but she was slowly losing the control to maintain any semblance of composure.
Clarke slowly reached across the space between them, letting her hand cover Raven’s where it was balled into a fist in her lap. She took it as a good sign when her touch wasn’t immediately rebuffed.
“Raven? How do you know Finn?”
Clarke’s voice was soft and she watched as Raven seemed to waiver. She was staring hard at the space to the left of Clarke’s head. But then her watering eyes shifted to once more meet the blue of Clarke’s.
“He’s my boyfriend. Or at least he was until now. He is- was the only family I had left.”
Raven’s voice broke. The sobs won out. Clarke didn’t hesitate. She shifted and opened her arms. Raven collapsed into them, her whole body quivering as she cried.
Holding the heartbroken girl in her arms, Clarke couldn’t quite wrap her mind around how she’d gotten to this point. She’d woken up this morning with the goal of just getting herself and everyone else from the group through another day alive. She’d seen the ship come down and just knew that she had to get to its crash site. And now, here she was, holding a girl who she’d just met in her arms trying to provide any comfort she could. Minutes ago she had been afraid that she was going to break Raven’s heart by having to deliver the news that someone she cared about was dead. Instead, she broke her heart by revealing that the person who she clearly loved most in all the world had betrayed her in the worst way. Clarke grit her teeth, anger boiling inside of her. Finn was going to pay. She may have just met Raven, but Clarke felt like she’d known her for forever, and the need to protect her was strong.
Noticing that the sounds of Raven’s sobs had somewhat quieted, Clarke adjusted her hold on the girl until she could see her face. Her heart clenched again at the sight of red and swollen eyes. But her voice was strong and sure.
“Hey. You listen to me and you listen good. I don’t care that we only just met. You’re down here on the ground now, and that means you’re with me. The only family I have- well had. One is dead thanks to the other. And my best friend is gone. But I’m not alone and neither are you. Because from now on, we’re each other’s family. Got it?”
Raven stared at Clarke for a long moment as though the words weren’t quite sinking in. But eventually, she gave the smallest smile and nodded.
Sitting back up and dragging her hand across her tear-streaked face, Raven cleared her throat.
“Right. Sorry about that.”
“No apologies needed, Raven.”
A beat of silence passed as the brunette continued working to regain control over her emotions.
“So, we’re family now, huh?”
Clarke smirked, “Yep.”
“You know that means you are obligated to be on my side no matter the situation, right?”
The wicked gleam in Raven’s eyes had Clarke’s narrowing.
“Um, yeah sure?”
“Good. So you’ll help me hide his body then, right?”
Clarke laughed once more. “Absolutely.”
Raven grinned and Clarke was relieved to see that she seemed to be handling her broken heart with humor that was already clearly on-brand for her. Of course, Clarke wasn’t fool enough to believe that the other girl was over it by any means, but it seemed that having someone on her side was exactly what was needed for the time being.
“But we can plot the extravagant murder later. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to freeze just sitting here all night. Your wound seems to have stopped bleeding. How about getting off your lazy ass and helping me set up this damn tent? No way are we hiking back to camp tonight.”
“Lazy ass! Who are you calling a lazy ass? You caught an all-expenses-paid trip down here while I had to build my own damn dropship! Lazy my ass!”
Clarke’s smile became a full grin as she remembered the task that putting up the tent had become that first night. Apparently, being the youngest zero-g mechanic in the history of the Ark really just meant that Raven was an extreme perfectionist and really good at bossing people around. There had been no more talk of deaths or heartbreak that night. The pair had laughed and joked until finally the tent was put together to Raven’s standards. Clarke had tried insisting that they should take turns keeping watch, even volunteering to go first, but it was to no avail. In Raven’s own words, ‘The grounders could just try and come for them. They’d be good practice for what she had planned for Finn’. Clarke had conceded the point and they’d both passed out shortly after, exhausted but oddly content.
That had been day 9 on the ground for Clarke. And in the 5 days that had passed since Raven’s arrival, the pair had grown to be attached at the hip. They had arrived back at the dropship site late the next morning following Raven’s arrival. True to fashion, the mechanic had managed to stir up chaos and organization within an hour of joining the group. Finn had tried to run and embrace her as soon as he had seen her, but the romantic reunion he clearly was anticipating was shattered in the same moment that Raven’s fist shattered his nose. Clarke had needed to force down a laugh at the sight. But a stranger seemingly attacking one of their own, even if he wasn’t particularly liked, had caused those who had seen the incident to jump up and shout in anger. Clarke had stepped protectively in front of the brunette and gotten everyone to shut up long enough to explain who Raven was, how she’d gotten there, and why Finn deserved to be sitting on the ground trying to use a piece of fabric ripped from his shirt to slow the bleeding of his face.
Once introductions were out of the way, Raven had immediately gotten to work by finding all the ways she could make the dropship a more secure shelter for the group. Whether it was because the group of kids wasn’t used to someone who was so confident and self-assured, or because Clarke herself was heeding the mechanic’s words and she was their kinda leader, those at the camp had scrambled to comply to different tasks Raven began firing off. Clarke supposed it also could have been because they’d see the pretty punch the brunette was packing.
Now here they were. Still scared, and probably startlingly close to starving, but still alive. The little group Clarke was keeping an eye on as they gathered roots and berries consisted of Raven, Monty, Jasper, Harper, and Murphy. Clarke wasn’t altogether sure why the angry boy had decided to join their already established group. He didn’t seem to hold any respect for her, and she doubted that he felt guilty about being the reason the group was running dangerously low on food. She supposed that he could have just been taking any opportunity that presented itself to get away from Bellamy. But whatever his unclear motives were, Clarke was determined to keep them all safe.
Raven walked out from the shelter of the trees to join Clarke in the clearing. Something about her facial expression had the hairs on the blonde’s arms rising. The older girl looked carefully composed like she was trying to maintain a mask of complete calm. Clarke raised an eyebrow in question but didn’t say anything. Raven held out a handful of berries and dropped them into Clarke’s hand.
“You look hungry. And like maybe you could use some company since the rest of us seem to have some.”
Raven stressed her words just barely, but it was enough. Clarke’s first instinct was to snap her gaze to the trees around them and try to locate whatever, or whoever, it was that Raven had seen or sensed. But Raven’s hand on her cheek stilled her instinctual movement. Blue eyes met brown, and Raven gave the smallest shake of her head, her eyes imploring Clarke not to make any sudden and obvious movements. Clarke swallowed and nodded.
“Thanks. Yeah, I was getting kinda hungry.”
Raven dropped her hand back to her side as Clarke popped a few berries in her mouth. Knowing that they needed to be careful of eyes and ears that could be surrounding them, Clarke elected to try to have a conversation within a conversation. She just prayed the smartest person on the ground with her would pick up on what she was doing.
“How many of these berries have you gathered? Have you noticed any specific areas of the forest that seem to be more plentiful? Has anyone else in the group come close to getting enough for us to call it a day?”
Raven’s mouth twitched in a smirk and Clarke fought to roll her eyes. Of course, the girl picked up exactly what she was really asking. She would probably have taken offense if she knew that Clarke had been worried she wouldn’t. The pair turned to cast their gazes back into the trees as Raven answered.
“I’ve gathered enough for maybe 8 days if we were super strict with rations. All around this clearing seems to have some options, but not enough for all of us to not starve soon. As far as the rest of our slacker group goes, no, I’m the only one who seems to have had such progress .”
8 grounders. They were surrounded. No one in their group but Raven had picked up their presence. Clarke dragged her hand through her hair and chewed her bottom lip. This wasn’t good. They were outnumbered and surely out-weaponed. Their only saving grace right now was that no one else in the group had noticed. She doubted any of them would have been capable of remaining calm and subtly tipping her off on what was going on. Now she just needed to get them out of there before that changed, and it had to happen in a way that wouldn’t tip off their company to the fact that their presence had been noticed.
Turning back to Raven, Clarke gave her a small smile and cocked her head to one side. The brunette barely had time to register the almost amused and mischievous look on her friend’s face before Clarke surged forward and wrapped her arms around the slightly shorter girl’s waist.
Clarke’s lips pressed against Raven’s cheek faster than the mechanic could process, and then blonde hair obstructed most of her view as Clarke buried her face in her neck.
“Hug me back, you idiot!”
The words were hot as they were hissed against her skin. But they were enough to shake Raven free of the shock that had frozen her. She wrapped her arms around Clarke and tilted her head just so, ensuring that she would be able to hear any whispered words and that her own lips would be masked behind Clarke’s shoulder.
“Damn, Griffin. Give a girl a warning! I woulda made sure to chew on some mint leaves before coming over here!”
“Fuck off, Raven. This is serious!”
But both girls knew that the slight shake of Clarke’s body was from laughter thanks to Raven’s comment. And given their circumstances, one moment of lightness was helpful in settling their nerves.
“Serious. Right. So what’s the plan? You gonna kiss me next? Give the grounders a show and hope that it’s enough that they decide not to kill us?”
Clarke’s smirk was hidden against Raven’s neck.
“Not exactly. A show, yes. Put on by yours truly, nope.”
“Clarke, I’m not kissing Monty.”
“Oh, so you would be fine kissing me though?”
“I’m pretty sure everyone on this planet would be fine kissing you, Clarke.”
Clarke squeezed her arms tighter around Raven until she felt the other girl let out a groan.
“Stop being ridiculous. And listen closely.”
Clarke whispered her plan into the warmth of Raven’s neck. The older girl nodded and hummed her approval. Once they were in agreement, Clarke pulled back slightly. She kept one arm around Raven, while her other hand moved up to brush brown hair out of the mechanic’s face. Raven’s hands remained linked behind Clarke’s neck. The two stood staring at each other for a moment. Then, quick as lightning, Raven leaned forward and pressed her lips to Clarke’s. It was barely a second. The briefest moment of pressure and then it was gone. And Raven was dancing back across the clearing towards the trees and away from Clarke. She turned back once and gave an exaggerated wink. Clarke didn’t even fight her smile and eye roll.
However, the smile slid from her face as she watched Raven moving further between the trees. Doubt crept in. Maybe they should have just called the group back in and gone back. Sure, it would have raised some eyebrows since they were meant to gather until dusk and the sun was still high in the sky. But maybe it would have been worth it. Maybe they could have gotten the group to agree to leave without having tipped them off as to why. There were just too many maybe’s. It was why Clarke had decided they needed a believable distraction that would give them an excuse to head back. But seeing Raven edging closer to the gap between where Jasper and Monty were gathering roots and Murphy was leaning against a tree sharpening his knife, Clarke felt her stomach twist into knots.
The plan was simple. Raven does something to provoke Murphy. The boy was always a ticking time bomb, so that part was easy. The next part was tricky because even though they were confident that things would play out the way they assumed, there was still a chance things could go sideways. The thought was that as soon as it became apparent that Murphy was losing his shit, everyone else in the vicinity would be there to back up Raven. It was no secret that nobody really liked Murphy. But the key was that Clarke would have to time her intervention just right. If she jumped in too soon, Murphy would probably stand down, and then there would be no chaos to use as an excuse to call it a day. If Clarke waited too long…. Well, she didn’t want to think about that. Murphy was unpredictable and just about everyone in the 100 that she cared about was there and going to be involved. And Raven would be at the center of it all.
Clarke let her gaze wander to the trees above where Raven now was crouched down seemingly looking for something to gather. She didn’t see anything, not even a slight shift in the branches, to suggest anyone was there. But she trusted Raven, and the mechanic certainly believed that they were being watched.
Her eyes fell back to the brunette who straightened up, something gripped tightly in her closed fist. Clarke held her breath. This was it. Raven moved her arm as she prepared to throw whatever she was holding at Murphy whose back was to her. Clarke was sure whatever Raven was about to launch at him would definitely get an explosive reaction from the boy.
A horn sounded. Long, loud, and from somewhere close by. Raven dropped the rock. Everyone in their group turned toward the sound and froze. Clarke was the only one who noticed the movement in the trees. Whoever was in them was fleeing and doing so fast. The horn sounded again. Five pairs of eyes shifted to stare towards her in confusion and fear.
“Get back to the dropship! Now!”
Her yelled order got everyone moving. They grabbed whatever they could from what they had been gathering and hurried towards her. Monty reached her first.
“An attack?” The boy was breathless already and the fear was clear in his eyes.
Jasper, Harper, and Murphy skidded to a stop beside them in the clearing next.
Clarke scanned the skies before letting her gaze fall to Raven who was finally next to the group, carrying more rations than the other four combined.
“I don’t think it’s an attack. I think it’s a warning. We need to get back to camp. Jasper, Murphy, take some of those rations from Raven. We need to move quickly.”
Raven shifted some of her load to the two boys. Once it was settled, Clarke pointed in the direction the dropship was.
“We’re directly West of camp. Murphy, take the lead. Monty and Harper, you stick right behind him. Jasper, don’t lose sight of them. Raven, you’re next. I’ll be right behind you all. Move fast but keep your eyes open. I don’t think this is an attack, but we know we’re not the only ones on the ground. Stay sharp and let’s go.”
The group immediately fell into the line formation as she instructed. Nobody argued, not even Murphy. They set off at a fast pace. Clarke had put Murphy in the lead because for as many issues as she had with the boy, she knew and trusted in his instinct for survival. He wouldn’t hesitate to leave any of them behind, but being in the front meant he would keep their speed up and if there was danger ahead, well he would do whatever he had to keep himself alive. Hopefully that could serve as a warning for the rest of them.
Everyone raced through the trees. Clarke did her best to keep her eyes glued to the canopy above them, but it was difficult to maintain an upward gaze while navigating the roots and rocks that littered their path. If there were still grounders watching them, she didn’t see them.
Raven slowed ahead of her until they were running side by side.
“Don’t know- what that was but- worked out better than your plan.”
Her words were gasped out between breaths. They were pushing themselves hard, trying to get back to the dropship as quickly as possible. Clarke nodded in agreement but didn’t try to speak herself. She, by no means, was an expert at land navigation, but she was fairly certain they were almost there.
Sure enough, after another 500 yards or so, the trees began to thin. And then the dropship appeared behind the crudely constructed walls the group had been working to build around their camp.
“Open the gate!”
Murphy’s yell echoed through the trees around them. The sound of a commotion followed, and then the makeshift door in the wall slid over and the group ran though. Clarke was the last to enter. She helped to slide the door back into place before collapsing against it panting. She reached for her canteen with shaky hands and tipped some of the water down her throat. It was warm and too low for her liking, but it helped. She cursed inwardly. They had been planning on refilling on their way back, but the turn of events had taken that option off the table. She was sure she wasn’t the only one running low and resigned herself to the fact that at some point soon, she was going to have to head right back out into the forest or risk dehydration.
“What the hell happened, Princess?”
Bellamy’s voice broke through her thoughts and she tilted her head up to meet his hard gaze. He was standing before her, spear gripped tightly in his hand. She fought the desire to roll her eyes at his posturing. He thought himself their leader and protector. She could smell Monty’s moonshine on him from where he stood.
“We fancied ourselves a nice run to burn off all those extra calories we’ve been eating. What the fuck do you think happened, Blake?”
Bellamy turned to scowl at Raven for her sarcastic quip. Clarke hadn’t seen the brunette come up behind him but smiled at her attitude. She was one of the few who didn’t take the older boy’s shit.
“Real funny, Reyes.” He turned back to Clarke. “Seriously, what happened?”
There was a flash of genuine concern behind his dark eyes as he took in Clarke’s flushed face and the scrapes that littered her arms and cheeks from running through the trees. The blonde pushed herself upright and motioned with her head for him to walk with her.
“We were gathering berries and roots when something that sounded like a horn sounded. It seemed close. We didn’t know what it meant but weren’t going to stick around to find out.”
Raven fell into step beside them and glanced at Clarke but didn’t say anything. If the blonde wasn’t going to bring up the grounders watching them, then she’d keep her mouth shut as well. But she would definitely be bringing it up with the blonde later.
“A horn? Do you think it was signaling an attack?”
“I don’t think so, Bell. We weren’t exactly stealthy coming back here. If there was someone wanting to take us out, it would have been easy. No, I think it was a warning of some sort.”
“A warning for what?”
“I don’t know. Weather? Animal? Acid fog? Take your pick. We weren’t going to stick around out there to find out.”
The group came to a stop next to the tent that Raven and Clarke had been sharing. Bellamy placed his hand on Clarke’s shoulder and waited until she met his eyes, her eyebrows raised.
“You made the right choice. I’m glad you got everyone back. Next time, I’ll come with you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Bellamy.”
“It’s my job to keep everyone safe.”
“No, it’s really not. You just think that. But I’m not your sister. I’m not Octavia. And you don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Bellamy’s face flushed in anger and his hand dropped from her shoulder. His expression hardened, but he didn’t have a response. Clarke pushed open the flap to the tent, nodding at Raven to enter ahead of her before turning back to Bellamy.
“I get it Bell. You want to keep us all alive, same as me. But the next time I go out, that’s exactly why you can’t come. One of us has to be here. Always. Just in case.”
He nodded, swallowing hard. Clarke softened her tone further.
“I’m sure Octavia is fine. She’ll turn up sooner or later. She just needed some space. She’s never had that before. You can’t blame the girl for wanting to explore. And the next time I go out, I promise we’ll bring weapons. At least a knife.”
The oldest Blake nodded again. Clarke reached up and squeezed his shoulder before turning into her tent, letting the flap fall closed between them. Raven lay on her makeshift bed smirking at her friend.
“What?”
“Blakey-boy cares about you.”
“He cares about everyone. Too much for his own good.”
“Hate to break it to you, Princess , but the same could be said about you. But that’s not the point. He cares about you more.”
“Don’t call me that. And no, he doesn’t. And even if he did, doesn’t make him any less of a pain in my ass.”
Clarke flopped down onto her sleeping bag as Raven laughed. She shrugged out of her jacket and loosened her boots enough to slip them off. She gave up fully untying them by the end of the first week. All too often she found herself having to throw them on in a hurry. Keeping them tied saved her time.
“What’d you do with the stuff we managed to gather and get back here?”
“First off, we? Pretty sure I did the gathering and you just enjoyed the view, Princess.”
“Raven-” Clarke’s warning tone was cut off as the mechanic spoke over her.
“Secondly, I gave everything I had to Monty to make sure it got stowed away properly.”
Clarke nodded and shifted to get more comfortable.
“Well,” Raven’s voice betrayed the fact that she was smirking even though Clarke couldn’t see her face from where she lay looking at the tent over their heads, “almost everything.”
Clarke rolled to face the mechanic and saw her holding out a pouch. Reaching across the space between them, Clake snagged the offered item and tipped some of its contents out. Berries filled her palm. Her favorite berries to be exact. They were a deep purple, almost black. The juice from them was sweet and tart at the same time. She looked up with a huge smile at Raven who was already grinning at her.
“You know, we aren’t supposed to keep anything we collect for ourselves.” Clarke’s voice was light and teasing.
“You’re welcome, Princess.”
Clarke popped a few of the berries into her mouth before chucking the pouch back at the brunette.
“Quit calling me that, Reyes.”
“Never. It suits you too well.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. The truth was, she didn’t mind the nickname all that much when Raven used it. Coming from Bellamy or Murphy, it was an insult. Meant as a jab at her status as a councilor's daughter on the Ark. But she knew that Raven used it as an equal parts term of endearment and purposeful attempt to get under her skin. She just rolled her eyes in response and bunched up her jacket into a more comfortable shape as a pillow.
“Get some sleep, Ray. We’re gonna have to go back out for water tomorrow. And knowing half the idiots in this camp, we’ll probably be up in a few hours to put out a fire or break up a fight.”
“Your optimism is truly inspiring.”
“Goodnight Raven.”
“Night night Clarkey.”
With that, Clarke let the stress and exhaustion from the day take over. Her eyes slid closed and she tuned out the voices of those in the camp around her. 14 days. 2 weeks down on the ground. Rather than allow herself to overthink about everything that had happened in such a short time, or worry about what was yet to come, she focused on the steady sound of Raven’s breathing and allowed sleep to claim her.