Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 79

Ethan claws to consciousness with the most ridiculous thought.

This has to be Karma for stealing those supplies.

Because one second he's playing bait and the next he's staring out the bars of a wooden cage, flexing bound hands behind his back and biting down against the wool gag in his mouth.

And on the other side of this confined square of wood -

are two members of the Ark.

Staring at him like he's the enemy.

Judging by the extra wooden cages, some empty and some taken up with grounders, he's fucked.

This is bad.

Ethan sucks in a sharp breath. 

And just like that he's back in the moment, cold, bleeding, confused and panicking.

A few feet away, the burly guard is demanding answers, gloved finger jabbing at the map in his hands. The girl answers in tight bursts, her English choppy.

She clutches at the wooden bars to see the map, but hesitates for a second.

The stun baton is sent directly into her ribs.

Ethan jolts, yelling into the gag.

The guard pulls back from her writhing form, only to set his eyes on his newest victim.

"He's awake."

"Good."

Ethan's been trying to get back to the Ark for weeks with Murphy and Emori in tow. Why is it that the first time he sees his people again they're locking him up like an animal?

He's seriously reconsidering his talk before violence logic.

Because yelling through a gag is getting him nowhere.

His wide eyes follow the large man moving closer, but quickly jump to the blonde woman knealing in front of his cage.

She reaches past the wood and Ethan scrambles back but there's nowhere to go and she hooks a finger in the gag, yanking it from his mouth.

Immediately, he parts his lips -

"What village are you from, boy?"

The creases between his brows deepen in a quick swoop. Ethan shakes his head, "What - I'm not -" He grits his teeth and rams his shoulder into the wood. "Let me out!"

"Oh, he's fluent."

Ethan smashes his foot against the cage, right in the face of the woman looking in. He hopes he got dirt in her eyes.

Something flashes in his vision.

He isn't expecting the agony that tears through him.

He thinks he's yelling, but can't tell past the ringing in his ears, the white that takes his vision.

And just when the pain is at its worst, it stops. Ethan gasps for air, curled up in the little ball he's made himself into.

"He's feisty, too."

"One of Azgeda's scouts?"

"Could be. He'll know a lot more than the village folk we picked up."

Ethan's gaze jumps to the stun baton in the man's prepared hand, and the understanding churns in his gut.

He knew they shouldn't have stolen clothes from that one guy.

What the hell happened in four months?

∆

They're Pike's people, Ethan's yet to understand. Farm station. Behind Kane's very own back, Pike has broken the rules to capture unwilling informants.

Hours later, the man, Jeremy, saunters out of the cave. He sighs, bathing in sunlight, before grabbing the notebook and scribbling notes down in neat lines.

Young male found wandering Azgeda's borders. Looks like he'll be tougher to break, but we believe he knows more than he's letting on. It'll be worth it.

He pauses in his jotting to hear Ethan cry out again, "I don't know anything about any villages, I'm one of you!" A flash of white bouncing off the walls of the cave, and the boy is heard gasping for air a moment later.

Jeremy rolls his eyes. 

Within the next scream, he goes back to his report.

∆

Every time Ethan sees even a glimpse of making it back home, he seems to find himself in a situation like this. 

Every. Time.

Now, he's clutching at his ribs in a confined space wondering if Murphy and Emori were okay. It was like Jaha all over again. 

There was a difference though.

In the basement of ALIE's mansion, the physical pain Ethan felt was administered by him. His ankle was his own fault. It was his choice.

This most definitely isn't. 

The threat of being stunned has always been unpleasant, but there's a certain way these guards wield the weapon that makes it ten times worse.

Adjusting shakily to his knees, he peeks through the gaps of the wooden cage. "How -" He clears his throat, and rasps, "How long have you been here?"

The grounder's eyes remain stuck on stone, curly hair matted in a sort of pony-tail.

"What's your name?" He tries, "Please."

She slowly looks up, meets his lidded eyes in the dim light. What she says doesn't register, whispered in a strong accent.

Squinting, Ethan racks his brain. "I don't speak it very well, but, uh," With Octavia and Emori's teachings, he asks, "Uh, beja shish, yu laik?"

"Alessia."

He leans his forehead against the wood, offering a tired smile, "Alessia, okay, good. Ai laik Ethan kom. . ." thinking about it, he probably shouldn't mention Skaikru. "Never mind. Yu an wich ai in." 

You can trust me.

Alessia narrows her eyes, curling a shivering hand around one of the bars of her wooden cage. "Spicha."

"I'm not lying." He shakes his head, swallowing past a raw throat, "How long have you been here? Has anyone escaped? How long do they patrol?" 

"One of us tried." She grounds out, in English. "They. . . kill."

Ethan exhales shakily, dropping against his confines.

What happened to the truce?

"I need -" He's starting to panic, shuddering breaths forced out of him. The cage is barely big enough to sit up in. He wants Murphy. "I need to get out -"

"Shof op." Alessia hisses abruptly, dropping down into a hunch.

He hears footsteps seconds after her warning, and squeezes his eyes shut.

This was going to be a long day.

o0o

Okay, so don't worry, only a couple more chapters until we're following the plot of the third season.

- Timothy