DEALER'S HAND || the 100

one

ELOISE RULED THE SKY BOX. Thanks to the reputation she had built for herself before she was locked up, she was already pretty popular.  So popular that the day she was arrested and was escorted down the halls of lockup to her cell, she was applauded. Like literally cheered on by the dozens of delinquents from their cells.

Since that day, almost two years ago, Ellie had actually somewhat enjoyed her time in the Sky Box. Sure, she missed her dad, but he came to visit every once in a while. Sometimes. Not often. Maybe once or twice... a year.

But at least she had friends in lockup. A lot of them, actually. She was still a trader, but only with what she could get her hands on. Which wasn't a lot, honestly. She used to get Miller to sneak her things when he visited that she could bribe the guards with for extra food or books and other things that could entertain her during cell time. But then Miller had to go and get himself arrested trying to steal a watch that he wanted trade later.

Something Ellie definitely didn't miss was her friendship with Clarke and Wells. She still held a grudge against Clarke, and always would. Eloise wasn't one to hate people, but she hated Clarke Griffin. Clarke knew what she was doing when she ratted out Eloise. She knew what happened to criminals once they turn 18. Hardly anyone ever gets pardoned when they are reviewed. Clarke had signed Eloise's death warrant, and that was something Ellie would never forgive her for.

Wells, on the other hand, Eloise just had a general dislike for. He sided with Clarke, and didn't once try to visit her when she was locked up. Clarke had tried to visit a couple times, but Ellie always refused to see her. Wells was just like his dad, and Ellie loathed him for that.

"What do you think the Earth Skills classes are for?" Miller asked as the two threw a tennis ball back and forth in their cell. In most cases, they organise cellmates by gender, but Ellie was able to pull some strings and bribe a couple of the guards when Miller got arrested so that she could room with him.

For the last couple weeks, all of the juvenile delinquents had been forced to take Earth Skills classes. Today was apparently their last class, and the teacher, Charles Pike, had beat up John Murphy at the end of the lesson, and got off scot-free, which baffled Ellie that he wasn't floated for assault.

Ellie tossed the ball back to him. "Random 'wilderness survival' classes right after rumours start going around about oxygen deprivation? They're probably sending us to the ground to save air for the rest of them. Fascist assholes."

There had been rumours speculating for a couple weeks about a malfunction in the Ark's life-support systems, meaning they were running out of oxygen, also meaning running out of time to fix the malfunction. Apparently the flaw was found almost a year ago, around the same time that Jake Griffin was floated for treason.

As much as Eloise hated Clarke, she was upset when she got the news of Jake Griffin's death. He was like a second father to her throughout her whole childhood.

"Holy shit. I didn't even think about that," Miller realised, throwing the ball behind his back to pass it back to Ellie. "They know the ground isn't gonna be survivable for another hundred years, though. Wouldn't it be easier to just float us all?"

Somehow neither of them were surprised or angry at this information. They had accepted that they were going to get floated eventually, but at least they would be able to see the ground before they did now.

Ellie only had a week until her 18th birthday, so she didn't have long left until she was going to die anyway. Miller, on the other hand, still had a few months.

The brunette shrugged as the lights in the Sky Box dimmed, signalling that it was time for lights out. "Maybe they found an old weather satellite or something. Or, I don't know... like a radio signal, maybe?"