Smoke and Fire // b.blake

The Ground. That's the Dream.

I feel the sun on my face.

I see trees all around me,

Scent of wildflowers on a breeze.

It's so beautiful.

In this moment, I'm not stranded in space.

It's been 97 years since a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on Earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately, there were survivors. 12 nations had operational space stations at the time of the bombs. There is now only the Ark, one station forged from the many. We're told the Earth needs another 100 years to become survivable again. 4 more space-locked generations, and man can go home, back to the ground.

The Ground. That's the dream.

This is reality.

Skyla was laying on her floor, looking up at the stars. Wondering what was even the point of being held up in this stupid skybox. '1 more month.' She thought.

She heard the door slam open, she sat up and looked at the people who just barged through the door.  Two guards walk through.

"Prisoner 256. Face the wall." 

She stood up and faced the wall. She had learned to not ask questions, from past experiences.

"Hold out your right arm."

She hesitantly did what she was told.

"I don't turn 18 for another month. Its not my time." Skyla looked over to the young guard. He grabbed a metal accessory and stuck it on her wrist. He closed it. She hisses at the her skin getting pierced from the spikes in the bracelet.

"Don't say another word." He grabs her wrists and puts them behind her back.

Skyla ended up feeling like she couldn't breathe. She thought from being in the skybox so long she wanted to die but in reality, with all of this happening, she wanted to live. She started to fight against the guards hold. The other guard pulls out his electrical baton. Skyla finally gets out of the guards hold just to get electrocuted by the other. She screams and falls to the ground, the guards grab her by her arms and carry her out the door.

"Let me talk to her." A familiar voice said. He bends down to be face to face with Skyla.

"Dad." Skyla said tiredly. "What's happening?" She lifts her head to see all the other kids being pulled and escorted to God knows where.

"You're going to Earth."

Skyla snaps her head back to look at her father. "What? That can't be. The Earth isn't survivable. -" Her father interrupts.

"That's why we are sending 100 of you down to the ground."

Skyla gets tears in her eyes. Her father is sending her to Earth. A place that is full of radiation. Toxic air. A deadly place, where all of these people will die, where she will die.

"Dad, we won't survive down there." She says shaking her head. "Please don't do this."

"I have to." She felt something get shot in her back. A tranquilizer. She falls into her father.

"I'm sorry."

That's the last thing she hears.

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Skyla starts fading in and out of consciousness. Hearing mumbles all around her. Feeling her body hitting the sides of the seat that she somehow got into. Suddenly, she feels her body jerk forward from a sudden stop of gravity. Silence filled the air, it felt like forever before anyone spoke.

"Hey." She feels someone shaking her.

Skyla groans from the whiplash and the strong headache she was having. She feels someone shake her again.

"Hey, wake up." a feminine voice says to her. Skyla slowly lifts up her head.

"Where am I?" She looks at the brunette with confusion in her eyes. Skyla starts looking at all of the empty seats around her.

"Come on, we gotta go." The brunette starts to unbuckle her in a rush.

After she's released, Skyla tries to get up but she stumbles on her own feet. The brunette looks back. "Come on." She says going down the ladder. Skyla finally catches up.

"Bellamy?"

"Oh my god..."