Snow
Lincoln had warned them the snow was coming.
He had been right.
It did not look like snow when the rover left to go out on the mapping mission. Lincoln had pulled Bellamy, Abby, and Kane aside and explained to them what the incoming storm would mean for the team if they were stuck out in the snow for too long. He suggested that they postpone the mission or, at the least, send him with them under the promise that he would stay hidden in the back of the rover. That plan had been immediately vetoed by everyone else involved. Though sternly forewarned, Bellamy asked to follow through with the mission. The rover could handle the snow, he claimed. If it got too bad, they would hunker down in the rover and wait out the snow. Kane had protested, nervous something would go seriously wrong and the team would be out of reach of help from Arkadia. Which meant it was left up to Abby to decide what she wanted to do.
Abby decided to send the team anyway.
In retrospect, she was pretty sure she was influenced in part by Clarke’s absence and growing worry that her daughter would not survive the winter. No matter the reason, she had decided the risk was worth it. That did not stop her from collecting the team and lecturing them before they left. She worried about them, every time they left. She let that worry show as she warned them of the risks and made each of them verbally promise that no stupid risks would be taken and that each member of the team would voice any worried the moment they arose. They all agreed, seemingly impatient to get out of Arkadia and into the open expanse of the wilderness
Kane and Lincoln had shown up moments before the rover was supposed to leave carrying extra blankets and jackets for the whole crew. The initial protests were silenced by a look from Bellamy as he took the materials provided to him by Kane. They shared a look. Kane looked worried, as though he wanted to protest against them leaving, again, but said nothing publically. Instead, he pulled Bellamy aside.
“First sign of trouble, of snow, and you come right back,” Kane’s voice was soft. Bellamy nodded in agreement. “And if anything goes wrong, you radio back. I’ll have someone on the radio the whole time. Anything happens, radio back immediately. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir” Bellamy turned to his team.
Kane did not look happy, but nodded.
The trip out of Arkadia was fairly uneventful. In fact, most of the mapping run was fairly simple. The rover was not going too far from Arkadia, a compromise Bellamy and Abby had decided upon to allow them to leave at all. They stayed close and together, never letting the rover leave their sight.
This was not their first snow. There had been light flurries a few times before. They had been a welcome relief to the monotony of life in Arkadia. The storms had dropped enough snow to gently coat the ground, along with providing entertainment for Arkadians of all ages. It was light and fluffy and dreamy. The next day, Lincoln had pulled the elected council aside and given them the run down of how snow worked, stating the risks along with the benefits and cautioning them that the winter ahead would bring heavier, dangerous snow.
So, when snow began to fall lightly where the rover was briefly parked, the team enjoyed it. It was reminiscent of the soft flurries they had seen before, but Bellamy knew that it could change in an instant. The snow picked up in intensity, not enough to frighten the team but enough to make Bellamy worried. He left his team playing in the snow and went back to Rover to radio.
“This is Rover one to Arkadia, do you read?”
There was static for a few moments, then a soft voice on the other end. “I read you”
It was Kane, his voice sounding tired and beaten.
“Sir, it’s started snowing here. We’re going to wrap up and head back to Arkadia”
“Copy that. Stay safe and radio in at the first sign of trouble. We’ll be waiting”
By the time Bellamy set down the radio, the snow had picked up substantially. It was much heavier than the flurries and powederings that they had become accustomed to. He felt a pang of dread down in the bit of his stomach.
“In the rover!” He shouted across the distance. The team turned back towards him, making their way back slowly. The snow was getting heavier by the minute and Bellamy was genuinely starting to get worried. Lincoln was right. The snow was coming and they were not ready.
The rest of the team seemed to sense this too and hurried towards the rover. They were shivery and wet and eager to find some warmth. Crawling in, Bellamy started up the rover and they shot off towards Arkadia.
They were never going to make it. The rover could handle snow, but not at the rate it was coming down. The rover was heating them, but the heat barely reached the passengers before fading to a warm breeze. The rover had lights, but in the blinding snow they became useless. Bellamy pushed the rover as fast as he dared in the white out of the storm. He swerved in and out of the trees. He was pushing to get them home as fast as he could.
One tree came at him particularly fast. He swerved without thinking, cutting to the left of the tree. The rover lost its grip on the ground, sliding sideways into a ditch. Bellamy did what he could to minimize the slide. They ended up in a ditch. Bellamy pushed the engines, trying to get them out but they were stuck.
“What's going on?” Miller asked from behind him.
“We're stuck in a ditch,” Bellamy said, eyeing the radio. He did not want to call, since Arkadia could do nothing for them and he did not need one of Kane’s lectures or Lincoln’s ‘I-told-you-so’s.
“What's the plan?” Miller slid into the front seat, lowing his voice. Bellamy followed his gaze.
The others were shivering, unable to keep enough body heat to prevent their body temperatures from dropping. Raven and Jasper were shivering the worst, though Monty, Octavia, and Miller were shivering enough to worry Bellamy. Even he was shivering.
“We have two options. We ride out the storm in the rover or we make for the dropship,” Bellmay said flatly.
“I say we wait,” Raven’s voice was shaky. She seemed to be struggling the most of everyone. Her words were rushed, each moment her mouth was open resulting in more lost heat. “The rover will keep us warm”
“Yeah, for how long?” Jasper countered. He too was struggling to keep his words together. “Snowstorm equals no sun. We’ll run out of power soon”
“Drop ship has no heating,” Octavia quipped. “But it does have insulation”
“I'm calling Arkadia,” Bellamy decided. “Keep talking without me”
He turned to the radio. With shaky fingers he turned it on and held it close to his lips.
“Kane?”
For a moment there was silence. The others in the rover froze too, waiting for a response.
“Bellamy, where are you?”
It was Abby, not Kane, who answered.
“We’re stuck in a ditch near the dropship. We can’t make it back”
“Is Clarke with you?” Abby’s voice sounded hopeful. Bellamy hated himself for a moment. He had not found Clarke. He had let her down.
“No”
“Oh,” Abby was disappointed. Her voice gave her away. “I’ll get Marcus”
There was silence. Bellamy felt a breath against his ear and turned back to see the whole crew pressed up together against the back of the seats. Bellamy was thankful for the warmth it provided, but annoyed by the presence of five others pressed so close.
“Bellamy?” Kane’s gravelly voice elicited a sigh of relief from Bellamy. Just knowing he was there, that his mind was working the problem lifted a huge burden from Bellamy. “Bellamy? Are there? Are you alright? What’s happening?”
“I’m here,” he suspected a similar sigh of relief on the other end of the line. “We’re stuck in a ditch not too far from the dropship. The rover is losing power quickly and some of our people…”
He glanced back to Raven, whose lips were turning blue.
“...some of our people aren’t doing too well”
Kane was quick to respond. “Okay, Bellamy. It's good to hear you’re all still alive for right now. How are conditions outside?”
Bellamy glanced outside. “Snow is coming down pretty hard. Nearly all white. Just the outlines of trees and the dropship in the distance”
“Sounds about the same as here,” another voice sounded in the background. Bellamy could not grasp who it was before the radio went silent, but it was male and familiar. “How much time do you have left on the rover?”
“An hour,” the idea frightened Bellamy more than he let on. The heaters would die in an hour, maybe less, and without them the team would freeze. The radio ran on a separate system with a backup battery, so it would outlast them. Kane would be able to listen to them freeze and not be able to do anything but sit helplessly.
Kane must have sensed his panic. “Bellamy, stay calm. It's plenty of time to figure out a plan. Just stay calm and do what you can to keep the team warm. You still have the blankets I gave you, right?”
Bellamy nodded.
“Bellamy, you still have the blankets, right?”
The two voices in the background on Kane’s side registered in Bellamy’s head. Abby and Lincoln, working on a plan. They always figured something out.
Bellamy let out a hoarse ‘yes’.
“Good. Make sure everyone is wrapped up with as much as you can find. You’ll get them through this, Bellamy”
He would get them through this because he was the team leader and they were his team. Kane had trusted him with that. “Yes, sir”
“Bellamy,” Kane’s voice was cautious this time, “make sure you’re taking care of yourself too”
At that moment he noticed he was shivering. He accepted the blanket his sister passed him and wrapped it around his shoulders. It provided some extra warmth, trapping what little body heat escaped his body.
“Bellamy?” Lincoln’s voice was a surprise to Bellamy. “You’re not going to outlast the storm on an hour’s worth of power. Listen, you need to head for the dropship. Take the firebox and keep the blankets as dry as possible, even if it means taking them off in the snow”
The fire box. How had he forgotten the firebox? A simple precaution for if they ever needed a quick and easy fire. It was meant for a moment like this.
“Why don't we just use it in the rover?” Bellamy asked.
“No,” Abby was stern and harsh and Bellamy immediately abandoned the idea. “You’d be dead from smoke inhalation before the fire even had a chance to warm you”
Bellamy nodded to Monty, who grabbed the box and hugged it close to his chest.
“Okay, anything else before we dash for the dropship?”
“Take the radio. That way you can radio if anything goes wrong” Kane, always the rational voice. “Radio back the moment everyone is safe and stable”
“Okay. We’ll be radio silent until we get the chance to set it up in the dropship” There was an unspoken agreement in his words that his team came before the radio. Every single member of his team would be cared for before Bellamy even thought to radio back to Kane.
“Bellamy, you can do this,” Kane said.
“We’re going radio silent. Talk to you in a bit” Bellamy switched off the radio, turning to his team. “Here’s the plan. We make for the drop ship. The moment we get there, Miller, you need to light the firebox”
He watched as it passed from Monty to Miller.
“Monty, I need you to get the radio working again once we’re in there,” he passed the radio back to Monty, who gently dropped it in his bag. “Once we’re in there, I need all of you to strip off all of your wet clothes, then focus on getting warm. I’ll take care of hanging them up. Are we clear?”
He got shaky nods from all but Raven.
“Raven?” When he caught her face in full light, his heart sank. Her eyes were unfocused and her lips were blue. She had stopped shivering and just sat stiff as a board. Bellamy crawled into the back, reaching around her to pull her towards him. “I’m going to carry Raven”
Octavia moved in worry, but Bellamy stopped her.
“Bell, are you sure?”
He nodded once to Octavia, then opened the rover door.
The cold hit them immediately. Bellamy was the last one out, making sure everyone else made it out before grabbing Raven and slamming the rover door shut. He dashed through the snow, not too far behind the other. Reaching the drop ship, he dropped Raven to the ground, then lifted the door.
Inside the drop ship, the plan seemed to be working. The rest of the team had stripped off the wet layers of clothing and had shrugged on a blanket or one of the spare jackets. Monty and Miller were doing their jobs perfectly.
Bellamy then turned his attention to Raven. Octavia was doing what she could to get the wet clothes off, but Raven was not responding. Bellamy knelt down to help his sister. Once they had gotten her clothes off, they wrapped her with everything they could spare, including some of the stuff they had left in the drop ship. Raven started shivering again, which Bellamy was not sure if it was a good sign, but he sent his sister off to warm herself up. He moved her to besides the fire Miller had built, putting her as close as he deemed safe.
“Monty, how’s the radio coming?”
“Almost there!” Monty connected the last few wires and stepped back. “Ready!”
“Stay with her!” Bellamy ordered Miller, pointing towards Raven. Monty handed him the radio. “Kane, do you copy?”
“I’m here Bellamy,” Kane sounded relieved.
“We made it to the drop ship, but Raven isn’t doing so great,” Bellamy looked back to Raven, who had not improved since he left her. She almost looked as if she were getting worse. “I think she’s hypothermic”
On the other side, the radio switched hands to Abby. “Bellamy, there’s not much you can do other than keep her as warm as possible and monitor her condition”
And that’s what they did. Those who were warm enough alternated turns holding onto Raven, hoping the combined body heat would warm her. It seemed to work and Raven became more lucid over time. The others alternated calls on the radio. Monty spoke with Sinclair about the state of the rover and how they planned to get it going again. Sargent David Miller had called to speak with his son, wanting to hear him say that he was okay. Lincoln and Octavia spoke the grounder language over the radio about whatever topics they needed to discuss.
Mostly it stayed silent. Jasper was asleep in minutes, sprawled on the hard metal floor. Monty and Miller share some of the food. They then both proceeded to some of the remaining hammocks they had spent the first few weeks in and fell asleep. Octavia stared at the fire. They had to wait out the storm.
At one point, Kane radioed to let him know that the snow had let up just enough for a team to get them. By then, Raven was aware enough to sit up and eat some food. She had quipped about home being oddly close to her nearly naked while he had been talking with Kane, which resulted in an awkward chuckle from Bellamy and a laugh from Kane. At that point, Kane had signed off and promised to radio once they were closer to the drop ship. Bellamy was not surprised to hear he would be on the mission. Kane had lectured him on “lead by example” at least once a week since he picked up his little team. There were expectations to be upheld when you worked for Marcus Kane.
It was two hours before Kane radioed back to the team, telling them that their backup was nearly there. Bellamy directed him to the back hatch, not wanting to let any more cold in than necessary. An unusual group crawled from the hatch. First came David Miller, who had insisted he come due to his expertise as a guard and the presence of his son on the rover team. After him, Sinclair, who was the camp expert on the rovers (and personally attached to both Monty and Raven, but that went unspoken). Dr. Jackson popped up next, to Bellamy’s surprise. It made sense, since Abby was also chancellor she was more useful at camp. He was still surprised at Jackson’s pale face popping up, out of the hatch and straight to Raven. Finally, Kane pulled himself up into the main area. He surveyed the area, studying the young people around him. Bellamy had warned them that they had stripped of their clothes, but it evidently had not dawned on him that they were stripped down to their underwear. He pulled off his own jacket and offered it to Bellamy before anyone could say anything. Bellamy would have refused but he was so cold and the jacket was still warm from Kane, so he took it.
“We’ve got clothes for all of you,” Kane placed a hand on his shoulder. “David… Sargent Miller helped me find stuff that would fit you”
“Thank you” was all Bellamy could manage. There was someone there to take care of him now. He did not have to worry about his team or himself with Kane looking out for them. Sometimes, he wondered who looked out for Kane. He must struggle at times too.
Sinclair pulled Kane aside, pulling Bellamy out of his musings. David Miller called him over, passing him clothes with a curt nod. Bellamy dressed, neatly folding Kane’s jacket with a mental note to return it with a thank you. Kane was going around, checking on each person. He spent some time chatting with Octavia in a soft voice and absentmindedly patted Jasper on the back. He gave Miller a brief hug and spent most of his time with Raven also talking with Jackson. Monty and Sinclair had ducked out of the drop ship to work on the rover. From Raven, Kane looped back around to Bellamy.
“Thank you for the jacket, sir,” he said, offering the jacket back to Kane. He took it. “What’s the plan?”
“Once Sinclair and Monty come back, we’ll head back to Arkadia.” Kane smiled warmly, setting a hand on Bellamy’s shoulder. “You made a good choice and you kept your people safe. I could ask for nothing more”
Knowing he made Kane proud warmed Bellamy up from the inside out. “I just did what I thought you would do”
Kane gave him a look that he could not quite decipher, then turned away to speak to Jasper. Bellamy was not sure whether or not he’d said the right thing, but he’d said it so it was out there. There was no indication of how Kane had taken the response other than the look. He put the thought aside for a bit. Bellamy joined Miller, his father, and Octavia off in the corner.
“Kane looked proud of you,” Sargent Miller commented.
“So that's what that look was,” Bellamy said. “I wasn’t sure”
Sargent Miller chuckled. “Looked like fatherly pride”
His eyes shot to his son, who completely ignored the comment.
“Are you ready for the council meeting when you get back?” Miller quipped. Bellamy groaned. He dreaded the mandatory debriefing that followed every mission. Usually they were short and sweet, but this one would be a headache and a half.
“I’m sure the council is going to be thrilled,” Octavia said teasingly. “Better you than me”
Everyone else seemed to agree with Octavia. It was the only thing Bellamy disliked about running the team and he made that very public knowledge.
Monty’s head popped up from the hatch. “Rover’s running, we’re good to go”
Bellamy stayed back with Kane, waiting for the others to file out.
“Sir, we should discuss what we’re going to say at the council meeting. If they need to blame someone, I’m willing to take it”
Kane clapped him on the back. “Bellamy, I’ll take care of it”
Kane stayed true to his word. They rode together in the rover back to Arkadia. Every time Bellamy tried to bring up the subject, Kane would send a sly smile his way and cut him off. At the meeting itself, Kane told it how it happened in the way only he could manage. If Bellamy had not been on the mission itself, he probably would have been convinced that the team in the rover had been in the right to leave, but had not anticipated the acceleration in the oncoming storm. He realized why Kane had been such a good and well-respected member of the council on the Ark. He had the council eating out of the palm of his hand.
After the council meeting, Bellamy made his rounds. Monty was fine. So was Miller. Jasper was not fine, by any means, but he was physically healthy and containing his chaos to his room for the time being, so Bellamy filed it under okay. Raven had Jackson and Abby fusing over her in medical, which meant she was warming up substantially but going insane from all the attention. Octavia was nowhere to be found.
After quite a bit of hunting, some great detective work, and asking everyone her saw, he found her and Lincoln outside the stables, chatting in Trig.
“You just got stuck in the snow and the first thing you do when you get back is to go back out into it?” Bellamy quipped. Their heads shot up in his direction.
“I’m fine, Bell,” Octavia looked annoyed that he was there. Lincoln looked amused. “You can go now”
“Maybe you aren’t the reason I’m here, O. Maybe I’m here to check on Lincoln,” Bellamy retorted. “Speaking of which, I’m here to thank you. For warning us about the storm. For insisting we bring the blankets. For advising us when we were in the rover. For saving our butts out there”
Lincoln nodded.
“I’m heading back inside, see you later?” Octavia nodded in response.
That night, laying in his bed, Bellamy ran over the events of the day in his head. In the end, everything had worked out fine. As long as he had his team with him, he thought, everything would turn out fine.