Kingdom of Life - The 100 [4]

Chapter 7

Venus's POV

I lost track of how many days it had been since Apollon had left with Abby for the lab. Too many. Part of me kept thinking they should've been back by now, while the other part hoped that this meant they were making progress towards a vaccine that could save us all.

Meanwhile, even with plan B of using the Ark as a bunker gone, Jaha still managed to find work for people to do. Inventory, storing supplies, cleaning up the wreckage from the fire. I helped as much as I could, Skylar always by my side as she was now to help sort through a pile of rubble.

I looked at her now, my one true friend who had been there for me my entire life, like I had been for her. We were best friends from the moment we met as little kids, almost inseparable for years to come. I was there when her brother Neil came into her life – adopted by her parents after his own were floated – just as she was there when John entered mine, that rebellious irresistible boy.

We had both lost so much in such a short time; I my grandmother, she her parents and brother. But through it all, we had each other. We were there for each other when Mount Weather blew up, when the Ark was set ablaze, and I could only hope we'd be there for each other when the radiation came, whether we would survive it or not.

I came to realize just how much she had done for me these past few months since we found each other again. Comforted me, kept me safe, been by my side when Apollon was unable to be. She was a true friend indeed, the type one is lucky to find even once in a lifetime. I had to find some way to thank her, some way to pay her back for everything.

"Hey, Skylar-" A clap of thunder sounded in the distance, drowning out my voice. Seconds later, a rain drop landed on my neck, burning it. I covered the spot with my hand, and at first felt nothing. Another second went by, and with it I felt the burning again, this time on the back of my hand. The burning felt worse now.

"Black rain!" Someone shouted. "Everybody inside!" People around us began to panic, throwing whatever they could grab over their heads for cover. I looked over at the Ark; we could not have been further from it. I looked back to Skylar, the strong determined look on her face told me we'd be okay. We each grabbed scraps of an old cut up tent, threw it over our heads, and ran arm in arm towards the Ark.

The rain began to fall now, I could see it in the air in front of me. Drops landed on the back of my ankles and legs as they peaked out from under the cover as we ran. I winced with each drop, wanting to scream the pain out of my body. Skylar pulled me on, her arm tightly laced through my own. "We're almost there," I heard her say, "just a little bit further now."

As we neared the Ark, the crowd around us became more and more dense until we were shoulder to shoulder with those around us, each person pushing and shoving to get inside as quickly as they could. With one hand holding the tent over my head, I carefully unlaced my arm from Skylar's and placed it across my abdomen, feeling that motherly instinct of protection.

I saw Skylar stumble for a second out of the corner of my eye. I thought nothing of it until she failed to regain her balance and fell out from the cover of the tent. I stopped and looked behind me. Skylar was laying in the mud face down, another body on top of hers – I believe his name was Louis. Louis quickly got up and continued to make a rush for the Ark, but Skylar stayed down, uncovered in the black rain.

"Skylar!" My feet stepped to move back towards her, but the rush of the crowd pulled me towards the Ark; a few nearby hands grabbing and pulling me away. I watched helplessly as the distance between Skylar and I widened, the crowd merely running past her body as it laid in the mud.

Inside the Ark, people had already begun stripping off their clothes and rinsing off their skin with the barrels of water, trying desperately to get the rain off. Skylar's still out there. The second the flow of the crowd in through the entrance ceased, I made a run back for the door.