The First On The Ground

Sleeping Giants

(AUGUST POV)

After killing the man, I quickly grab my rifle before Madi and I make a run for it. We make it to a ridge when a guy starts following us but gets caught in one of our traps.
"Help! Help me! Help! Help! Help! Help!" The guy yells out. I have my rifle up as I watch the treeline. I hate watching the guy suffer but they attacked us first. They are trying to take our home. I think I understand Clarke and how she never knew what to do.

"August, this isn't right," Madi says.
"Madi, I know that this is our home, your home," I tell her.
"And they want to take it from us," Madi says.
"That's right," I tell her.
"But he doesn't have to suffer. We can kill him now, right?" Madi asks.

"I don't like it either but not yet," I answer her. I watch through the scope of my rifle as more people walk out of the trees. Most of them stop and hide but two keep walking towards the guy in the trap. I aim at the guy closest to the guy in the trap. I pull the trigger and kill the guy, causing the guy that was following him to duck for cover. I pull the lever to put the next bullet into the chamber before looking for the others. I see the other guy pop back out into the open with the really big gun before firing it. It sends out a blast and I quickly cover Madi as we fall to the ground from the blast. I feel something make contact with my side, making it explode in pain. The blast sends my ears ringing before I look at Madi. "Madi. Madi? Madi, are you okay? Get up. Run! Run." I grab her and take off running.

(BELLAMY POV)

We start making our way over to the unknown ship in hopes that they have rocket fuel. What Echo said before we left keeps plaguing my mind. There's no way that August could have survived the death wave. There was no way.
"Boys and girls, meet Eligius IV," Raven says as we get close enough to see the name on the cameras.
"'Powering a better tomorrow'," Emori reads.

"Must be a mining ship," Raven says.
"Mining in space?" Harper asks.

"I've heard stories," Monty says. "Missions sent to mine asteroids or search for habitable planets, but that was a hundred years ago."
"They got back somehow. Means they must have fuel," I say.
"Well, now there's a ship with a story to tell. It looks like one of the engines was destroyed. At least the hap is still rotating. That rotation means they'll have gravity. Sorry, lovebirds. No zero-g space sex," Raven explains. "There. There's the docking bay."
"I hate to ask this now. What if they're still inside?" Monty asks.

"We've been through this," Clarke says.
"If they were still inside and saw a foreign ship trying to board them, they would shoot us out of the sky," Echo explains.
"Okay. Commencing Operation Uninvited Guests. Firing thrusters in 3, 2, 1," Raven says. "Emori, soon as I line us up with the hap, it's all yours. On my mark."
"Okay, we're in alignment," Emori says.
"The nav is yours. It's just like the simulator," Raven explains.
"Copy that," Emori says.
"Grounders don't say, 'copy that'," Murphy teases.

"This one does," Emori argues. "Initiating docking sequence."
"We are so screwed," Murphy says.
"Shut up, John," Emori says.
"Why are we losing alignment?" Raven asks as an alarm goes off.

"I lost stabilization. I don't know," Emori answers.
"We're coming in too fast! Okay, I got it! I got it! Switching back to manual. Okay. Hold on. Hold on! Brace for impact. We're coming in hot!" Raven says as she controls the ship. Raven is able to get us safely into the docking bay.

"That was fun. We should do that again sometime," Murphy says.
"Okay," I say as I unstrap before taking off my helmet. "Let's go find that fuel." I get up and open the hatch. "On me. Suits off in the cargo hold." We all get out of our suits before heading into the other ship. "Come on. We got to move fast." Echo unsheathes her sword.
"We don't know what we're walking into," She says. I open the door as an alarm goes off.
"That's just annoying," Murphy says.
"If someone was here, they'd shut it off, right?" Harper asks.