Fallen

Chapter Fifty-Six: Recalling the Past

Ash runs through the woods, trying to lead the men away from where Clarke hid Madi. She needs to protect the two if she can. She's already lost too much to lose them as well. She skids to a stop before notching an arrow. Pulling the string back, she lets it fly. The head of the arrow buries itself into a prisoner's throat. They quickly fall to the ground as she takes out the person with them. She picks up a walkie the two have.

"Blonde female spotted heading west," a voice states. 

"Shit," she mutters. A gunshot rings out as bullet hits the tree next to her. She quickly ducks for cover. 

"A dark hair female spotted in Northern Quadrant," they say into the walkie. She tries to peak her head around the trunk. The prisoner fires again and she moves almost in the nick of time. The bullet buries itself in the tree in front of her. She quickly notches an arrow before firing it at the prisoner. She hears them cry out in pain. She notches another arrow before turning to aim at the person. They rip the arrow from their shoulder. 

"Bitch!" they snap.

"You shot at me!" Ash snaps back.

"You killed my people!"

"Because some of y'all have tried to kill us!"

They know about Clarke, but Ash needs to be careful not to let them know about Madi. She feels a gun press against her back.

"Drop your weapon," a new voice orders. She does as ordered.

"You shouldn't press a gun to someone's back when threatening them," Ash informs them before quickly turning. She pushes the gun away from her and manage to dislodge the gun from their hand. She turns it so it's aimed at the new person. "Told ya."

She goes to turn so she can keep both in her view just in time to see the injured one slam their gun into her stomach. She doubles over from the force as they hit her back with the weapon. Even with training for the past six years, she's a bit rusty. Maybe because the training, she knew it wasn't life or death. And now, it could be. As she tries to stand back up, they hit her hard in the back of her head. Dark spots start to dance across her vision. Another hit to her head; this time harder. She falls back on to the ground, unable to use her hands to catch her. Her head is spinning. The world is tilting back and forth in a nauseating motion. 

"What are you doing?" one of the prisoners snaps.

"Making sure she comes with us easily," the other responds. They pick her up by arms and practically drags her through the woods. They soon make it to the village where some of the other prisoners are. As they go to where the ship had landed, Ash's vision starts clearing up, though her head is still pounding. 

Ash is sat down in front of the light brown hair female. The leader she assumes. Soon she feels a new source of heat behind her. Her back is pressed against another's. Their hand grabs hers as she tries to look at the person.

"Clarke?" she asks as she clasps hands with them.

"Yes. It's me."

Part of her is relieved Clarke is okay but the other part is terrified she was caught. That leaves only Madi out there on her own.

"Some rescue party you are," Ash jokes.

"All part of my plan."

"Enough," the leader snaps. "Now I need you to answer my questions. What destroyed the rest of the Earth?"

"Which time?" Ash muses. "Earth's been fuck with so many times throughout history."

"You know what I mean! If you don't cooperate, I will make you."