Tertium

1. The Pilot

   180 days. That's how long she's has been in prison.

   25 weeks. That's how long she's stared at the same four gray walls of her small cell.

   6 months. That's how long she's been in solitary confinement.

   That's how long it's been since Andy has had any actual human contact. The closest she's gotten is the hand that shoves her plate of food through a small opening in her cell door every day. Life in the Skybox was terrible, granted it was prison, but at least the other prisoners got visitation days and they got to eat meals together. Not Andy. She was shut off from everybody and everything.

   On the Ark, any crime, even as small as taking to much food at meals, was punishable by death. In space, this meant that you would be floated. If you were caught committing a crime and were under the age of 18, then you got thrown in the Skybox. There you would basically sit and rot until you turned 18 when the council would reevaluate your case and decide whether to float you or set you free. The latter almost never happened.

   Andy was only 17, so she had another year to go. Another year to sit and stare at the same boring walls. Or so she thought... click. Andy who had been laying on her very uncomfortable excuse for a bed didn't think much of it. She figured it was just her meal being brought to her until a bright light flooded her cell. She looked to the side and pushed a few of her stray, red curls out of her face. Her cell door was actually opening!

   During the few seconds it took for Andy to realize what was happening, two guards had entered her cell. "Prisoner 204, stand against the wall," the first guard spoke. Man his voice is deep! Andy thought to herself, as she made her way over to the wall. "Hold out your wrist." She silently obeyed, a small yelp escaping her lips, as a metal bracelet was put on her outstretched arm. "What's going on?" she asked. "I'm only 17. I've still got another year in this wretched place." "Shut up and move," the same guard told her as he pushed her through the door.

   "Wait, are they gonna float me? Are they floating... all of us?" she asked nervously as she noticed several other prisoners being led out of their cells. "Shut up and keep walking!" "No! No! You can't do this! I've got another year!" she said realizing that she was being lead to her death. She squirmed as the guard tightened his grip on her arms. "I wanna see my Aunt! I want to say goodbye!" She felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck. "Please... please...ple..." she cried out as her vision slowly turned into darkness.

   The next thing she knows, Andy is waking up in an unfamiliar room. The cold, hard walls reminded her of her cell. Only now she wasn't free to move around, in what little space she had, because now she was strapped into a seat. Red seat belts were wrapped around her body, holding her in place. She then heard what sounded like voices, lots of them, cheering and talking. She guessed they were coming from beneath her, so she undid the restraints and climbed down the ladder in the middle of the strange room. She had to climb down two levels before she found the source of the noise. As she descended the ladder, she saw all the other delinquents, each of them staring at the same thing.

   At the front of the group was a familiar boy. He was tall with olive skin, a ton of freckles, and dark hair that was slicked back with waaaay too much gel. She knew him to be Bellamy Blake. Next to him stood a pretty brunette, who looked to be about Andy's age.

   "Where's your wristband?" a girl towards the front called out. Andy immediately recognized the bossy blonde as Clarke Griffin. Andy had seen her mother in the Med-Bay more times than she'd care to admit.

  "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year," the brunette replied, clearly annoyed at the fact that she interrupted her reunion. It was then that Andy started maneuvering her way through the crowd towards the front. At the same time, several people began shouting, "No one has a brother." "That's Octavia Blake! The girl they found hidden in the floor!" The brunette, who Andy now knew was named Octavia, had clearly had enough of their rude comments so she moved to swing at someone when her brother held her back. But Octavia wasn't the only one who was already fed up with the rudeness.