atomic man, john murphy.

The 48

When Clove had first woken up and she saw the back of Eugene's head, her first instinct was to gag before she remembered they were cool after nearly dying together. It turns out, Eugene had carried her on his back for as far as he could. He eventually toppled over from exhaustion, which was when Octavia and Lincoln found them.

Clove was told that Lincoln closed the wound while she was unconscious, but she lost a lot of blood and there would definitely be some scarring. They had no way of knowing if there was internal bleeding but Clove was already feeling better, in comparison to her recent near death state, so she figured that was a good sign. Plus, her arm miraculously wasn't broken, there was just some major bruising and quite a bit of soreness.

"Ai laik Okteivia kom skaikru en ai gaf gouthru klin," Octavia recited, propped up against a rock. Clove sat beside her quietly, trying to rest, same as Eugene, who wasn't physically inclined to be carrying a teenage girl for miles.

"How much longer?" Eugene questioned, catching his breath.

Lincoln shook his head, leaning over the river. "Klir, not klin. Gouthrou klir. Again. As for you," He glanced at the boy. "We have a long journey ahead of us. You all need to be practicing, not just Octavia."

"Ai laik Clove kom skaikru. Ai gaf gouthru klir," Clove recited, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Not bad," Lincoln praised, still washing a cloth in the river. "A little less emphasis on the kom."

"This isn't fair," Eugene averted his eyes to Clove. "You speak spanish, you're already bilingual."

"Don't your parents speak korean, Eunice?" Clove returned, meeting his stare.

"They never taught me," Eugene shrugged and sighed. "Whatever, what is it again? Ai like—"

"Laik—" Lincoln corrected.

Octavia threw her head back and groaned. "Why do we even have to learn this? You speak english."

"Only our warriors speak english," He explained, wadding over to them with a soaked cloth in hand. "When we get to the sea, you need to sound like one of us."

"Not that I'm not grateful for some grounder lessons, but don't you think they'll be able to tell we aren't like you? I mean, we're telling them we're from the sky," Clove pointed out. "What's it matter if we can say one sentence?"

"It's better than nothing. They're more likely to accept you if you sound like us."

"Come on, we have time," Octavia added, holding Lincoln's book out to a sketch of a man sitting in a chair. "Tell me about this one."

"Clove," Eugene whispered as Lincoln began explaining. "Why are we going with them to the sea? We need to go find our people."

"I can hardly walk, you can hardly carry me. We'd be lucky if we could even find our way back to the dropship, and that's if we made it through the grounder infested woods on our own," She answered, pausing for a second. "Which we wouldn't, by the way."

"Yeah... but if we go to these sea people and, by some chance, they accept us, how are we ever going to get back to the rest of the hundred?" Eugene gazed off into the distance. "Octavia said they watched the entire Ark come down to Earth. We could try to find them."

"Be my guest. I can hardly stand, and we don't even know how long it would take to find the Ark survivors. You would never make it by yourself."

"I know, but—"

"Enough, Eugene!" Octavia and Lincoln looked over at the two. "We can't go back! We'll die trying. If you have a death wish, go right ahead, but I'm going to live!" When she noticed the pair's eyes on her, she cleared her throat. "What's the plan?"

"The arrow was poisoned," Lincoln said, standing up. "I need to find the beetles that feed on the river moss, that's what the antidote comes from. You two stay here, keep an eye on her."

Clove and Eugene nodded in unison, and when Lincoln was out of sight, the boy spoke again. "All I'm saying is—"

"Did you learn nothing from being trapped in a cave with me for two days?" Clove groaned, rolling her eyes. "I thought you were going to try to not be so incredibly intolerable? Just give it up!"

"Sorry, Clove, but I'm not a quitter!" He retorted, glaring at her inky black eyes. "I want to see my family again. I want to see my friends again."

"Maybe you aren't a quitter, but you are a coward. And a pretentious asshole. And for the record, knowing when to quit," She cocked her eyebrows. "It can be an admirable quality. I want to see my friends and family again, too." Eugene muttered something under her breath, causing Clove to force a laugh. "Go on, say it. Coward."

"I said!" He began in a shout and took a deep breath to compose himself. "Like you have any friends and family that actually care about you. Killer."

Clove gaped at him, blinking tears away. "Fuck you. You don't know shit," She tried to stand and her knees buckled.

"Sit down, Clove, you'll hurt yourself," Eugene sighed, grabbing her uninjured arm.

"Don't touch me!" Clove yelled, shaking him off. "Don't you touch me!"

"I'm sorry, okay?" He offered, holding his hands up in the air. "Just sit back down. I didn't mean what I said. I know you have good friends and family that loves you to death. You called me a coward and I was upset. I'm sorry. I really am trying."

"You could have fooled—"

Octavia let out a piercing shrill, and the other two teenagers snapped their heads over. "Hey, Octavia, what's wrong?"

"Right there, he was right there! He-he, it was a..."

"Octavia!" Lincoln shouted, running through the edge of the water. "What is—? Hey. What's wrong?" She held up the weapon and inched away from him. "Wait, wait, wait. Come on, come on. Hey, hey."

"I saw a man. It was a— it was a monster," She spoke, her voice far away.

"It's the poison," He was gripping her tightly. "You're burning up. We have to hurry. Eugene, grab Clove. We need to go."

Clove stared at Eugene, who had his hand stretched out to help her onto his back, for a moment before sighing and nodding. Grabbing his hand, Clove did what she could to jump onto his back, clinging to his body as he took off trying to keep up with Lincoln.

"Where are we going?" Octavia questioned.

"Just hold on."

~•§•~

After quite a bit of walking, the group came upon some giant stone pillars, covered in emerald patches of moss. Lincoln set Octavia down, breathing heavy. About thirty seconds later, Eugene appeared dragging himself and Clove. A while back, she had offered to walk, but after losing so much blood in the cave, she was weak.

"I'm going to the antidote. Stay quiet. And actually watch her this time."

"We've got it covered," Clove assured, urging him off. "Go, find the antidote." Clove bit her lip, remember the talk him and Octavia had about what his tribe did the traitors. These three wouldn't make it a day in their condition without Lincoln. "And Lincoln?"

He turned back to her, face cold.

"Be careful."

everytime i try to edit i realize im stupid