Peaked -Bellamy Blake¹

7

I'm waiting at the first level of the dropship with Monty, while Clarke and Wells are upstairs gathering supplies for our trek to get Jasper.

Clarke is on her way down the ladder, as she's arguing with Wells about him coming with us. She speaks very matter of factly, like she's breaking news to him. "It's not your ankle Wells, it's you."

Wells sighs as he follows. "You came back for reinforcements I'm gonna help."

I mean Wells is right, we don't really have anyone else to go with us. I interrupt their little disagreement."Clarke he's right we need him. No one else has volunteered."

Clarke looks at Monty, then Wells for a short second before she grabs my arm abruptly pulls me to the side. "you're not coming with us Aspen. You need to figure out the whole communications thing. If you're as genius as you said you were, I'm gonna need you to use that brain of yours to communicate with the Ark." She tells me in a low tone voice very close, close enough that I feel her breath on me as she speaks.

Look, she might be right, but Monty has just as much chance of communicating with the Ark as I do. I could figure it out, but I'm pretty sure that Monty was raised on farm station, hich means he has experience with that kind of thing.  Besides, I really don't want anyone to know about me just yet, the less everyone here knows the better. There's a reason my mother died trying to make sure nobody knew about me on the Ark, and that same reason applies here. Especially with some of the psycho kids in this group.

Also, in a low invoice, I do my best to explain myself to Clarke. "Look, Yeah, I could probably figure it out, but you and me both know that Monty has just as much chance of figuring this out as I do. He may not be...like me, but he was raised on the farm station. Besides, I don't want anyone to know" I state it firmly this time, like it's a fact. "I'm coming with you."

"I don't mean to interrupt whatever is going on here but we really need to go Clarke." Monty interjects loudly over our side conversation.

Clarke thinks about what I said for a second and then she looks to Monty. "Im sorry Monty but you're not going either." Monty quickly shakes his head "Like hell I'm not. Jasper's my best friend."

Clarke quickly looks at me then, looks back at Monty. "You're too important. You were raised on Farm Station and recruited by engineering."

Almost like she took the words straight out of my mouth. I'm not complaining, as long as he stays and I go, I don't give a shit.

"So?" Monty questions quizzically.

"So, food and communication. What's up here, it's gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark and I'll bring Jasper back."

Finn then marches into the drop ship, with a very detached look plastered on his face. Clarke sees him walk in and her eyes light up. "Hey. You ready?"

Finn looks at her almost like she's crazy. "I'm not going anywhere and neither should any of you" He looks to me.

What is he talking about?

"That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet."

I can't believe he's cowering out. The Finn I know would jump at the opportunity for adventure. I announce my confusion to Finn. "What do you want us to do then Finn? Because we can't just leave him out there." He can tell I'm partly confused and partly pissed off just by the look on my face.

Monty then speaks his concern as well, very promptly. "So what, we let Jasper die?"

Clarke looks back at Monty very reassuringly and quickly shuts that down."That's not going to happen" She whips her head back at Finn. She gives him this look like she almost feels betrayed by what he's saying. Like she's thinking he might not be who she thought he was.