undertow | bellamy blake (book one)

3 | swim time

As the six teenagers trekked through the woods, it was quiet, besides the brief conversations they had along the way. Jovie knew she should have felt a little uneasy considering they had no idea what could be out here, but all she felt was peaceful. She had always liked the thrill of the unknown. It didn't scare her. It excited her.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?" Finn asked. He was right. They'd been stuck in space for so many years, but it seemed sudden when they hastily sent the delinquents down.

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest!" Octavia grabbed Jovie's hand to spin her around. The blonde laughed at her friend's gesture. They felt free, for once in their lives. They were able to walk the Earth and not feel like they were doing something wrong by existing.

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite?" Monty suggested.

"The Ark is dying," Clarke said. The rest of the group stopped and looked over to the girl, all slightly shocked at the news. "At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn said. Jovie looked from Finn to Clarke, watching as the blonde's expression changed when he brought up her father. Jovie was never particularly close with her dad, but she could imagine how Clarke felt.

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..." Clarke drifted off. Her expression turned from the sadness of her father's floating to anger at her friend's betrayal.

"What? Did he turn in your dad?" Jovie asked.

"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time," Clarke explained.

"They got rid of us because they had no use for us up there," Jovie said. "But they had use for us down here. To see if we could survive." Clarke nodded her head. It was pretty selfish of the Ark to do, but it was also smart.

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asked wearily. Clarke didn't answer, but by the way she paused, they could figure out the answer for themselves.

"Good. After what they did to me, I say, float them all," Octavia spoke. Jovie looked over at her friend, frowning slightly. She had been in the same situation as Octavia, so she knew what it felt like to hate the Ark, but she also didn't think they all deserved to die. There were some good people up there. There had to be.

Octavia ran ahead as Jovie turned to Finn and Clarke.

"We have to warn them," Finn said, looking from Jovie to Clarke.

"That's what my father said," Clarke replied.

"Good luck trying to convince the others, especially Bellamy," Jovie pointed out. Clarke frowned. Jovie was right. Most of these delinquents hated the Ark, and even if they had family or friends still up there, they were finally free.

"Oh, damn, I love Earth," Jasper suddenly said. The three of them turned to see Octavia slipping out of her clothes.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke shouted as Octavia walked across the rock, making her way towards the river. Jovie looked over and smirked when she saw the three boys gaping as they watched the brunette move. Suddenly, Octavia jumped into the water. What was this? Swim time? Jovie was the first to run towards the edge to see what happened to her friend, the rest following quickly after her.

"Octavia! We can't swim," Monty said. Octavia smirked before raising out of the water, showing it was only about waist-deep.

"I know, but we can stand," she said with a laugh. Jovie shook her head and smiled in amusement as Octavia looked satisfied with her prank.

"Wait. There's not supposed to be a river here," Clarke suddenly realized. Jovie looked over at her and frowned. She was right. There was no river on the map, so she wondered what else would be different about the ground that they didn't know about.

"Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes," Finn teased, clearly not concerned about the river. The boys hurried to take their clothes off when Jovie looked out to the river to see that there was something moving in the distance. She took a step forward to get a better look. She didn't know what it was, but it was moving fast.

"Octavia! Get out of the water!" Jovie screamed, pointing behind the girl at whatever the hell was swimming towards her. Octavia frowned as she slowly turned around to see what Jovie was pointing at. Jovie hurried down to get to the water, but before she could jump in, the creature grabbed Octavia and pulled her away down the river.

"Octavia!" Jasper screamed. Suddenly the girl disappeared under the surface of the water and it was quiet. The rest of them stood and stared in horror. Jovie ran to the edge of the rock, leaning down to try to get a better look into the water. She moved to lower herself in before Finn grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't! You saw what that thing could do," he said.

"We can't just let it take Octavia!" Jovie argued. She had no plan for how to save her, but she could at least get a better look by being in the water too. Before she could get in though, Octavia came splashing out and waved her arms around, gasping for water.

"No. Wait. If we distract it, it might let her go. Help me!" Clarke shouted before Jovie could jump into the water to go after Octavia. Jovie stood up and ran over to where Clarke was. They wasted no time pushing the nearest rock into the water. Luckily, the sound of the splash caught the attention of the creature. It immediately let go of Octavia and darted over to where they had pushed in the rock.

"It worked!" Jovie exclaimed.

"Octavia, get to the shore now!" Jasper yelled, running over to where the girl was thrashing around in the water. Jovie was quick to follow him. Jasper jumped into the water and Jovie reached her arms out to grab the two of them to help pull them out.

"It's coming back!" Finn warned them. Just as the creature approached, Jovie pulled the two of them out of the water and they all collapsed against the rock. Finn, Clarke, and Monty ran over and knelt down next to the other three, Clarke immediately examining the wound on Octavia's leg. She reached over and didn't ask for permission before ripping a piece of Jasper's shirt off to wrap it around Octavia's leg. As Clarke worked on her wound, Octavia threw her arms around Jasper.

"Thank you," she whispered. Finn reached down and placed a hand on Jovie's arm. She looked up at him and nodded her head, silently telling him she was okay.

"You're gonna be okay," Clarke assured Octavia.

"Note to self, next time, save the girl," Monty suddenly said, patting his friend on the back. They all laughed, letting out a breath of relief at the fact that they all got out in one piece.