Warriors | The 100 | Season 1

0 1 5. S1 E8

I'd been lying awake at night, sleepless and in thought, worried about how we'd stay alive during the winter to come. I'd always paid attention in Earth Skills, and I'd been racking my brain trying to come up with new ideas, to recall information and find a way to keep us fed and warm.
Over the last day and a bit, people had been speaking to their parents. It had been taking longer than we were hoping due to the weak signal. It was patchy. I had yet to talk to my parents, but I knew they were alive, and that was all I needed to know for now.
I wandered around outside, overseeing the rationing stations we had set up. Scavenging parties were sent out for 3 hours at a time throughout the day from dawn to dusk. Surprisingly they were bringing in substantial loads every time. I was glad that my Earth Skills knowledge was paying off.
Unfortunately, there were only a few of us that did pay attention during Pike's classes, both before lock up and after. The little crash course they ran for us before they sent us down, no one seemed to care. No one told us why we were there, we didn't know we were about to need to put those skills to use, but I'm glad that I did listen when I had the chance.
I'd been glancing over to Monty and Jasper now and then. They pretended they weren't eating the nuts they were supposed to be rationing when I looked over their way. I honestly didn't mind too much, as long as they were getting the job done. I couldn't figure out how they kept their secret hidden so well. I was surprised the guards didn't arrest them sooner; their poker face sucked.
Wandering around, I spotted Bellamy loading a pack with rations. Clarke came over to him with a curious look on her face. She said something to him, but I was too far away to hear. They began heading towards the gate when I intercepted them.
"You guys going somewhere?" I asked.
"The Ark is sending us on a day trip to a supplies depot. We should be back by tonight." Clarke informed me.
"Please don't tell me --"
"You're in charge while we're gone." Bellamy finished for me.
my head dropped back as I let out a disgruntled groan.
"Can't I come?" I asked dismally. I was dying to get out of camp, to stretch my legs.
Bellamy gestured for Clarke to head off, silently telling her he'd catch up. She nodded and walked off through the gate while Bellamy stayed behind to talk to me.
"I know you're getting tired of this place. But someone needs to stay behind to control the chaos." He explained to me.
"So why can't it be Clarke?" I groaned.
"I think she's in a bit of a mood right now, so I'm not even going to try wrestle that dragon." He replied with a soft laugh. "Besides, you're parents are waiting to talk to you."
As if on cue, Dax came over to me to inform me that it was my turn to talk to my parents. "Speaking of--" I muttered. "Look, just be safe, ok. I can't run this place by myself." I said to Bellamy before I turned and ran towards the Drop Ship.

I ran for the radio, and the moment I saw the screen, I instantly recognised my father. I sat in front of the monitor and pulled on the headphones.
"Hi, Dad!" I greeted with glee.
"Hi, sweetie." He replied.
I immediately noticed something was wrong with him. He did have his usual spark in his eyes. His smile half dimmed. It also came to my attention that my mother wasn't with him. "Where's Mom?"
His face was sullen and his eyes were dark. Immediately I knew something was wrong. "Annie, she --" He began with a heavy tone. "She sacrificed herself in the culling. She wanted to give me another chance to see you again."
I felt my heart shatter. I couldn't breathe properly. I could hear my heart thrumming in my ears. Tears trickled down my cheeks and seeing the look of despair and regret on my father's face only made it worse.
"She wanted you to know that she loved you so much. She didn't want you to cry for her."
But I didn't know how to stop crying. I just learned that my mother died to give my father a chance to survive. At least I know she died bravely.
We chatted for a while, and somewhere in the conversation I mentioned Bellamy, and suddenly my father's expression changed from curious to concerned.
His face flooded with concern. "Listen to me, Annie. You stay away from him." He warned me. "Bellamy Blake is a criminal."
I scoffed at his words. I seriously doubt he'd forgotten. "I'm a criminal," I stated harshly.
He sighed slowly. "You are not a criminal. You acted in self-defence."
"I tried to kill someone. Why can't you accept that?"
"That boy abused you." He said as if I'd forgotten. I could always remember what that boy did to me.
"I stole, aimed, and I fired a gun. I wanted that boy dead, and if the guards hadn't caught me, he would have had a lot worse than a flesh wound. I wanted him dead." My words were seething over my teeth like venom. I don't remember ever being so furious with anyone, let alone my father. "You're a guard; it's your job to know and uphold the law, I shouldn't have to keep explaining myself to you."
"Annie, please, don't--" He began before I cut him off, rudely.
"No, don't try. I don't want to talk to you if we're just going to fight the whole time. Let me put someone on who wants to talk to their parents. I'll see you when you get down here."
I slipped the headset over off my ears and set them down on the table. I stood and left quickly, not wanting to let my father see how upset I was.
Octavia met me at the bottom of the ramp, but I didn't stop walking. She immediately knew something was wrong. "What happened? I could hear you from out here." She asked as she tried to keep up with my long aggressive stride.
"My dad is a jerk." I spat.
"I always thought you guys were close." She replied, trying to keep up with my fiery stride.
I just sighed but didn't speak a word.
"Yeah, I thought so too," I replied bitterly.
"So what happened?" she asked again.
"Difference of opinion." That was all I said to her.
We were quite for a while; we just walked around, making sure everyone was working. A lot of people messing around, but still getting work done so I didn't mind their tomfoolery.
While I didn't mind the silence, I had a question buzzing in my mind that I wanted to ask Octavia.
"Is Bellamy still not letting you see the grounder?"
"No. And -- wait, why do you care?" She replied.
I shrugged and said "I believe you. If you say that man was protecting you, then I trust you. You know I'll always trust you, right?" She thanked me softly and smiled a little. "I've tried reasoning with your brother, but he's determined to see him as an enemy. And I genuinely want to believe there's a chance that he's not. But we know nothing about him or the other grounders. We don't know what they're capable of or what they have planned for us. Plus we don't know if they speak English, so how do we know if we can reason with them?" I asked shrugging my shoulders.
Octavia glanced around making sure no one would over hear her. "If you can get me up there, I can try and talk to him."
I stopped in my tracks and turned to her with a sad and nervous expression plastered on my face. "You want to let the grounder go. Don't you?"
"He's not the enemy." She said softly, hoping no one else would hear their conversation. "If we can show them we aren't the bad guys; maybe we have a shot at getting along with them."
I wanted to tell her it was a bad idea, but knowing her, she'd hold it against me. I sighed heavily and nodded gently. "I'll wait until Miller leaves and I'll help you sneak in. But if Bellamy finds out about this, he's gonna be pissed, and you know that."
She threw herself at me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a tight embrace. I stumbled backwards slightly as she'd thrown me off my balance before I hugged her back.