On the Ground

To The Ground.

I was almost 17 when I was sentenced to containment on the Ark. I had been caught starting a small fire, though I had not meant to cause any damage or harm. I was just messing around. But, I tried to run when they caught me. Before all that, my life had been mostly good and normal. Unlike a lot of people on here I had both of my parents still. As I got older they took less interest in me. Or maybe I just took less interest in them. Father worked with the food supply and mom was a nurse. As a child I spent most of my time with mom at her work. But one day I just stopped.

I had been in 'prison' for about a year. Everyday was the same here in the skybox. Today seemed different though. As I sat on the floor by my cot I could hear people outside. They were being loud. It was mostly quiet around here. I got up and moved closer to the door. As soon as I put my hand on the door it was pulled open. Guards barged in. "Prisoner 479 hold out your arm." The guard said. I did as I was told, warily. Another guard came over and put a strong metal bracelet on my arm. They pushed me out the door. All around me I could see other prisoners having the same thing happen. We were all still kids! They couldnt just kill us! I saw some fighting and trying to run but they didnt get far. The room next to mine was opened and a boy with brown hair was pushed out. "John Murphy! Prisoner 397, Give me your arm now!" A guard yelled. He stopped struggling. John turned and looked right at me then the injected him with something. He was unconscious. I started foward but someone behind me injected me too. I blacked out.

....

I heard voices all around me and the mechanical hum of the Ark. I hadn't opened my eyes but I could tell I had not been here before. I could tell I was strapped to a chair for one. I opened my eyes to see a hundred or so others, all my age in seats or against the walls. The dropship dropped then. The boy with brown hair, Murphy was next to me. A blond girl with a braid who looked slightly familiar sat across from me. The chancellors son next to her. "Whats going on?" I asked Murphy. He glanced at me and shrugged holding his seat for dear life. "We are being sent to the ground!" The blond girl yelled to me. "More like our deaths!" Murphy yelled back. Humanity had lived in space for 97 years on the Ark. A nuclear war had wiped out the rest Earth and anyone still on it at the time. No one knew what we would find on Earth or if we would even be able to survive it, For all we knew it could be toxic. The screen to my left turned on and Chancellor Jaha popped up on it, "Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we wouldve sent others. We are sending you because your crimes have made you expendable. If you survive, your crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean." He continued on about where we were going. Mount Weather. It is supposed to have food and supplies for us to survive. Someone behind me yelled "Spacewalker!" Another yelled "Go Finn!" Finn was floating around the dropship. "Hey Chicka!" He yelled going past me. Chicka was the nickname he had given me 4 years ago when we first met. Finn was a good friend. Two others had gotten out of their seats as well. "Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live!" The blond yelled. Finn floated over to her, "Hey your the traitor whos been in solitary for year." He said. She glared at him, "And you're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk." She shot back. "But it was fun." Finn said. Chancellor Jaha finished up his speech with, "Your one responsibilty is to stay alive." Cheerful, right? Across from me the blond girl and the chancellors son were yelling. We were plummenting towards Earth. I gripped me seat not wanting to die. Murphy next to me, patted my arm looking very worried. If I survived this I was sticking with him. Then we crashed. The machines stopped. Everything was quiet. "Listen no machine hum." I heard behind me. Well thats a first. The two guys that had followed Finn had been thrown in the landing. They both laid on the ground unmoving. The blond was already out of her seat with Finn checking on them. "They're dead." She said. I tried to get out of my seat but the seat belt was jammed. I struggled. Murphy was already up, prepared to follow the other below. "Hey, help!" I yelled to him. He stopped and looked at me. Then he came over. "Move your hands." He said. Murphy grabbed the belt. He pulled. It didnt budge. He stood up and looked around. There has a piece of sharp metal jutting out so he grabbed it and used to cut me loose. "Thanks." I said looking at his face inches from mine. He stood up and quickly went to the ladder. I got up and did the same.

As I climbed down everyone was crowded around the door.The blond girl from earlier climbed down after me. The sixty passengers here were already gathering at the outer door where a guy in a guard's uniform was about to pull the release lever. "STOP!!!" The blond yelled out. Everything stopped. The guy turned. His shirt and pants were splattered with blood. She walked towards him and said, "The air could be toxic!" He watcheed her force her way through the crowd. She saw the blood as she arrived, reaching to examine him... "You're hurt." She pointed out. He turned back to the door to avoid her hand... "If the air's toxic, we're all dead anyway." He said without looking at us. Then from behind me I hear a girl call out, "Bellamy?" He turned, smiling. "My god, look how big you are." He said as she got closer. "What the hell are you wearing, a guards uniform?" She asked, looking at him. "I borrowed it to get on the dropship. Someone has got to keep an eye on you." Bellamy told her. The blond stepped forward and said, "Where's your wristband?" The other girl turned on her quickly, glaring and said, "Do you mind, I havent seen my brother in a year." That earned a gasp from many, including myself. No one had brother or sisters, the Ark forbids it. Unless shes... "Thats Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden under the floor!" The guy behind me called out. So this is her. Clearly she didn't like hearing that, she lunged foward but Bellamy stopped her. "Octavia, Octavia no." He said struggling to pull her back. "Lets give them something else to remember you buy." She stopped and looked up at him. "Yeah, like what?" She asked. Belllamy smiled and said, "Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years." Bellamy turned back the the door and pulled the lever. The door slowly opened, smoke filled the area then went out the door. It was all so bright and blinding. Never had I seen a light so bright or plants so green or even the sky, so blue. Octavia walked out. She breathed in the new air around her. The jumped off onto the Earth, "WE'RE BACK BITCHES!" We all cheered in response and ran out. I jumped and landed in a small bush. Everything was so green and beautiful. I never dreamed it would be so perfect. I was spinning and laughing and smiling at the sky. People around me danced and laughed. I looked up to see Murphy staring at me. I smirked and he looked away quickly. He was defiantly cute, for a criminal. I saw the blonde leaning by the drop ship still with a map. Finn stood next to her, pestering her. After looking around I found my way back over to the blonde and her map. "Whats that?" I asked. "Its where we were supposed to land." She said not looking up. "I'm Clarke." She said, still not looking up. "Hi, I'm Y/N." I responded. "I know, your mom is a nurse. My mom is Dr. Griffin." Clarke responded. Thats why she looked familiar. I had known Abby since I was kid and when I was little, I used to play with her daughter sometimes. But, as we got older we found other friends and stopped talking. "As I just told Finn here," She started. "They put us on the wrong damn mountain. Thats were we need to be." Clarke said pointing in the distance.