the world as we know it -- bellarke au

chapter two - rise in numbers

c l a r k e   g r i f f i n 

The next day at breakfast, I finally ate something. 

The food was nothing but delicious --- a thousand times better than the food I'd had my entire life. After years of mush and tasteless rations, then weeks of poorly cooked meats and barely edible berries, the food at Mount Weather was like a feast I could hardly stomach. 

"I like it here," Jasper said, over a bowl of crunchy cereal. "It looks like you're warming up to it, too."

"I'll be happier once we see who those two they brought in are," I said stubbornly. 

"They're going to find everyone else," Monty said. "They want to help us, Clarke."

"But why?" I had to ask. 

"Because maybe the world isn't inherently evil," Jasper suggested, pointing his spoon at me. "We were meant to end up here."

Maya came to sit with us, but the conversation didn't become nearly as awkward as I thought it would. 

"Are you free later?" she asked Jasper, her voice soft. 

"Probably," he agreed, a slight smile on his face. 

"Good," she said, smiling as well. I felt a sudden surge of guilt. Maya might be mad at me forever, whether she was pressing charges or not. Why did I always leap to violence first?

I nearly jumped out of my seat as an alarm sounded throughout the hall. Maya looked up instantly, a frown settling on her face. 

"What's that?" I asked. 

"Someone needs medical attention," Maya said, standing from her seat and starting down the hallway. 

Jasper and I followed her, though probably for different reasons. 

Maya led us to a door where people were suiting up, probably to protect themselves from contamination. 

I swiped a keycard from one of them and dashed through the door before anyone could stop me. 

Inside the room, there were two people. They both appeared to be dead, but I noticed the slight moving of the second's chest -- he was covered in radiation burns, his skin bright red wherever it was visible. The other...

The other had a gunshot wound. 

I stood frozen for a moment, and then I was being ushered out of the room. I didn't care. I needed to talk to President Wallace. 

Grounders didn't use guns. Our people used guns. Which meant wherever this man had been shot, one of my people was there. 

I ran down the hallway, leaving Jasper behind, until I found the president's office. 

As I reached the door, it seemed I was catching President Wallace on his way out. 

"Clarke," he said, brightening as he noticed me. "I was just on my way to find you."

"I got here first," I said. "One of your men just ended up here, shot."