Something Unexpected

Chapter 1

     Clarke Griffin stared at the small rowboat making its way across the broad sea in front of her. Although she couldn't make out a face, she could tell that there was someone in the boat, rowing it to shore.

     Clarke hadn't expected to find anything like this when she had left Camp Jaha; The fact that she was in a desert made the discovery even more shocking and absurd. But still, she stood her ground, watching as the rickety old boat came closer.

     Once the boat was close enough, she figured out that the person occupying it was a man. It appeared that his arm was injured badly, because he was clutching it to his chest as he continued to try to row. 

     That was it for Clarke. She wouldn't just let the man suffer when she knew she could do something to help. So she started to tread through the water towards the boat. Luckily, it was close enough that she didn't have to swim an extremely far distance to reach it.

     Her hands latched onto the side of the boat, and she started to slowly pull it back to the beach. Clarke used all of the strength she had. The man must have eventually figured out what was happening; He rolled over into the water and helped pull.

     As soon as Clarke's right foot touched dry land, she let go of the boat and collapsed. She had been carrying the boat long before the man understood the situation and got out to help. Not to mention the fact that she hadn't had any food or anything to drink for about a day or so by now; She had been robbed. She was tired.

     The man fell onto his knees and just stared at the boat. Then he spoke.

     "Hey, uh- Thanks," he muttered quickly.

     Clarke jolted upright and looked at him. She knew that voice, that hair, that jacket.

     "Murphy?" she asked, deciding to test her luck.

     John Murphy shot a confused glance at Clarke before realizing that he knew who had just helped him.

     "Griffin? What are you doing out he-" He started to ask, before he was cut off by Clarke hugging him so forcefully it knocked him over onto his back.

     "I thought I was going to die out here. Alone. It's so good to see you," Clarke said. She then heard him groan and remembered his arm. "Oh, sorry," she said, bringing herself up so that she was sitting right in front of him, cross-legged.

     Murphy slowly sat up and waved off her apology as she carefully took his bandaged arm into her hands. Her eyebrows suddenly knit together and she looked up at him.

     "How did you get this?" she asked, confused.

     Murphy looked her in the eyes and answered her question. "Well, there was this giant sea thing. Like- a monster, I guess. Anyway, a paddle went overboard. Jaha went crazy and told us to get it. Long story short, I got it, but no one made it to shore besides me and the lunatic."

     Clarke's eyes went hazy for a second. But just as quickly as it had appeared, the haze was gone. "And... Jaha?" she asked.

     Murphy sat there quietly for a few moments, shifting his position. "I found this lighthouse. It was stocked. The dude who lived there before I did, he- He left a video. Talked about some lady, and then shot himself. I wanted to stay, even after seeing that. But I knew I couldn't. I couldn't stay with Jaha. Not after what he did. So I found another boat and left."

     Clarke took in the information and gently put Murphy's arm down. It looked as if he had cleaned up the wound pretty well. That was good, considering she had nothing left.

     She uncrossed her legs and laid down on the soft, burning sand. The sun was nearly gone; It had been setting as they had spoken. The cold night air cooled the sand.

     Clarke started to shiver once the sun had disappeared completely. Murphy noticed this and moved to lay next to her on the beach, putting his arm around her and pulling her closer with a sigh. Clarke's eyes were shut, giving off the impression that she was sleeping, but she wasn't. By now, she was more surprised than she was tired.