The Ground : Part One

twenty-two : grief takes hold

Briar's POV

"Hey, Briar!" Raven yells from the dropship in my direction. I jog over to where she's standing.

"What's up?" I look up at her from the ground.

"Jaha needs to talk to you. Says it's important." She motions to a screen that has the chancellor's face on it. I sit down on a chair that is seated in front of the screen.

"Briar. It's nice to see you." He says in a monotonous voice.

"I couldn't say the same, Chancellor." I say in the same tone.

"I have terrible news for you. As you know, there were 300 people that sacrificed themselves to conserve rations for everyone else-"

"Wait, no I didn't know that. When did this happen?" I interrupt him.

"Well, I just explained what happened. Anyway, your mother was one of the people who gave their life." He explains. Tears form in my eyes.

"My mother? Emily Whitlock? She sacrificed herself for everyone else on the Ark? Are you sure it was her?" I ask the man communicating to me from space.

"Yes. I am very sorry, Briar. She gave herself up for a good cause." He says in a fake sympathetic tone. I stand up and immediately get dizzy. I walk along the wall out of the dropship.

Regaining my balance, I block everyone out and walk through the gates of camp. I wander around, trying to clear my mind. There's no way my mother is dead. It can't be true. Jaha is lying to me. Is he? Is my mother actually dead? The only parent I had left, the only family member, gone.

My hands begin to tremble and my breathing becomes shaky. I try to keep myself together by taking deep breaths, but it doesn't work. All my emotions come out at once. Tears trickle down my face, causing me to sob. I breathe raggedly and hunch over, clutching my stomach. I fall to the ground and it all hits me. My father is dead. My mother is dead. The two people who loved me most in the world, aren't even in the world anymore. I'm the only one left. Im the only one who can carry on the Whitlock legacy. Only, I don't want to bring a child into this world. Not with these conditions. It's too dangerous. I have no one left.

Bellamy's POV

Clarke and I are walking back to camp.

"What is that?" She asks and points to something laying on the ground. We both walk over cautiously. I lean down and look at their face.

"It's Briar." I immediately pick her up and we walk back to camp quickly.

"Bring her to the dropship." Clarke says and walks ahead of me.

I put her down on a table in the dropship.

"Bellamy." Miller says.

"Not now, Miller." I say and motion for him to leave.

"The grounder escaped." He says and I turn to look at him.

"What? How did you let him escape? How did Briar even get out? I bet he did this." I say and turn back to look at Clarke.

"There's nothing showing that she was knocked unconscious. She passed out." Clarke says and puts a wet cloth on Briar's forehead.

-
Briar's POV

I open my eyes and Bellamy is sitting right next to the table I'm on.

"What happened?" I ask, my voice scratchy and dry.

"You tell me. We found you laying in the middle of the woods." He says, popping a hand on his hip like a diva.

"Oh." I say, remembering exactly what happened. I close my eyes back

"Briar, what happened?" He asks. I open my eyes again.

"Mom killed herself. She sacrificed herself with the other 299 people that died the other day." I say, numbly.

"Briar, come here." He says and pulls me up so I can hug him. We hug for a while, but then I say something.

"Did you and Clarke find anything?"

"We found some guns. Most of the ammo is ruined, but they work." He says and lets me go.

"Oh. That's good." I say with no emotion. I sit back on the bed. Then, I get back up.

"I'm going back to Tondc." I say and walk out of the dropship.

"Wait, Briar!" Bellamy yells and runs to me. He hugs me tightly.

"Come back soon, okay?" He asks. I nod and then leave. Surprised he let me go willingly.