WILD HEART • COMMANDER LEXA [1]

PROLOGUE.

The night had grown dark, the air cold. Erica Parker stumbled through the forest with a hand braced on her leg, blood seeping through her fingers. She had managed to break the arrow free of her skin, its carved head had been plunged into the outside of her thigh. 

The rockets had come with a blast of heat. Everyone who surrounded the dropship had turned to ash in an instant. She tried to memorize every inch of the vessel, the one that had brought her to this god-forsaken planet. The fabric of her sleeve, now a makeshift tourniquet around her leg, rubbed uncomfortably over her skin. The adrenaline pounded through her veins, thrumming under her skin. 

Things had been so different upon their arrival on Earth. Erica had been so different. A lover turned fighter, she was changed forever. She had yet to find out whether that was a blessing or a curse. 

Weary feet began to drag beneath her, and her balance wavered. From one thin trunk to another, Erica staggered among the trees that lined the forest. Her body faltered, bones growing tired and crumbling within her frame. Tears had smeared over her face, along with the blood of the unknown. The bark of an oak scratched against her back as she slid down its trunk, wincing at the pain in her leg. 

A thin coat of sweat sheened across her forehead, her eyelids grew heavy. As night had fallen, the forest had grown cold. Animals called in the distance, branches rustled in the breeze. Surges of memory broke past the barricades of fear. Erica was completely and utterly alone. 

Miller. Harper. Monty. Clarke. Jasper. Lincoln. Bellamy. Octavia. Raven. Finn.

Finn. For years he had protected her, shielded her from the horrors of Sky and Earth. 
He couldn't protect her from this. 

Spindly branches warped in her eye, and the glowing moon began to change its shape. Her consciousness was fading. She'd lost too much blood. With a firm grip on the tree behind her, she tried to stand, to get somewhere safe before she fainted, or worse. Again, her bones faltered, and she collapsed into the dirt. Her head spun inside her skull, her extremities went numb.

It was a battle to keep her eyes open, a trial to even attempt to stay awake. When she had almost completely faded, a figure emerged from the wood. 

Finn, she hoped. Bellamy.

He wore a suit, a tan piece with a helmet attached. A mechanical wheeze whistled in the wind, matching the pattern of his breath.  

When he came close, she saw his eyes, malevolent black holes bored into a pale face. The sight made her sick to her stomach. Panic set in once more, and Erica mustered all the strength she could. Fistfuls of the dirt squeezed into her palms as she clawed through it, making a feeble but desperate attempt to escape.

A harsh hand clutched against her angle. Erica screamed as loud as she could, losing her breath as he dragged her on the forest floor. She screamed as loud as she could, but no sound passed her lips. She tried to move, but her hands were still. Trapped in her mind, vision blurring with tears, Erica was taken. 

The world became dark.