Surviving the Sky

Chapter One

"If you had one wish, only one in the entire world, what would it be?"  Kadian asked.

I thought about it for a moment, then looked around. If anyone but Kadian, my best and only friend, heard this, I would be singled out and beaten up in training, "To see the stars."

"You can see the stars from here," Kadian was confused by my response.

"If there's anyone out there, I want to know. Maybe even see them, meet them," I said, "And if I couldn't have that, I'd just want to fly."

Kadian laughed, "Named Sky for a good reason."

"I guess," I said, only half listening as I stared up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.

This is how I still spend so much of my time, looking up. Wishing to be up there. To fly. Wondering what it was like.

"Sky! Kadian!" our parents shouted from the village, "RUN!"

"Something's wrong," Kadian said. We edged closer to the village, occasionally stopping to see if anyone followed us. Then, Kadian began coughing violently. I saw traces of strange gas in the air. Sleeping gas.

The mountain men were here.

Covering my mouth and nose with my mud brown scarf, I looked around. Kadian wouldn't wake up. He would tell me to run, just as I would tell him. Still, I tried to pull him along with me.

Green lasers pierced the night air, giving the gas a faint glow.

I had to leave him if I wanted to live. I climbed into a nearby tree and watched the men dressed in bulky clothing and strange masks. They grabbed Kadian. It took everything in me to not scream.

But then they left. I waited until morning, when I was sure they were gone, to go down and check for survivors. Or wait for an elder to find me.

Hours passed and no one came. I began to worry, understanding setting in.

There was no one left. I was the last Samukru, the sea people. I didn't let myself cry. I grabbed supplies, wearing typical grounder uniform: a vest, long pants, and a leather jacket. I wasn't high enough of a rank to wear armour, and it was all too big and heavy to fit me anyway.

I grabbed two small full waterskins, a bow and quiver of fifteen arrows, and a couple of small hunting knives. I tucked one into my belt, the other into the side of my tall boots.

I then set out for Tondc, the only place that could help me. Indra, the leader of the Trikru that lived there, would hopefully understand. Maybe they'd take me in. Or at least not kill me- that would definitely be great.

My mother's words echoed in my head, "Remember who you are."

I jolted awake to the sound of birds screaming. Fire was raining down onto the Earth, and the ground shook. I looked across the clearing from the tree I was perched in and saw a metal object had crashed to the ground.

It fell from the sky.

Well, I guess all dreams come true, one way or another. I wanted to see what lived with the stars, and as the metal door opened, I found out.

Children, mostly around my age, poured out of the metal doors, cheering and screaming with joy. They must love the ground, especially if they spent their entire life in that tiny tin can.

Still, they're lucky. They've seen the stars.

More and more kept coming. I counted about one hundred, so I leapt from tree branch to tree branch, putting as much distance between myself and the rest of them.

Sure, I wanted to meet the stars, the legendary people that came from them. Skaikru, my people had called them. 'People of the Sky'. However, as eager as I was, I'm not suicidal. I'd have to watch them for a while, see if they were a threat.

Maybe if I told Indra about them and warned Tondc, I would be granted a place there.

I shoved that thought out of my head immediately. Indra made it quite clear she didn't want to see me ever again, that if I so much as stepped foot in her territory, she'd hunt me down and kill me. A coward who watched as mountain men took her people and killed them.

Besides, if I told Indra, they'd all be dead by nightfall. Then what's the point of them coming here?

I thought one of them, who's name I believed to be either 'Clarke' or 'Princess', had seen me. Firstly, allow me to mention who on earth would name their daughter Princess? I assumed it was a nickname.

Secondly, she didn't. She was just looking around, taking it all in. But she didn't give herself long.

"We need to find Mount Weather," she said.

I couldn't decide whether to scream or shoot her. My indecision gave me a moment to reconsider.

They were Skaikru. They'd never been to Earth before. They didn't know who the mountain men were. I'd have to warn them. Eventually.

One of them looked up as a twig snapped, and I completely froze. I hoped the autumn leaves would hide me well enough. Surely enough, a moment later, they stopped to look at a two headed deer.

They screamed so loud I nearly fell over laughing. The radiation on earth won't kill you, but that doesn't mean it won't affect you.

I pulled my partially braided blonde hair out of my face. It occurred to me that if I tried, I may be able to impersonate the girl called Clarke. But I'm too tall, and I don't know anyone's names.

For the rest of the walk, I shadowed them from the trees. One of them crossed the river, and shouted out to the world, "YEAH!"

A spear flew at him, lodging itself in his chest.

The rest started running. I hid carefully, worried they might see me and think I threw the spear. No. Someone else is here. Maybe Indra's Trikru. Maybe one of the others under Anya's command.

Probably the latter. At least Indra tries to negotiate peacefully first. For most people, myself an exception.

I followed them back to their camp, which they call the dropship. Perhaps this is just one part of the larger ship they call the Ark?

All theories until I meet one.

Listening to my own thoughts, I scolded myself. Kadian would stab me in the leg to stop me from running after them.

I'm not stupid when it comes to most things. But Skaikru and the stars? Flying? With those, I definitely have clouded judgment.

The next day, they decided to go look for the boy, who's name was Jasper. I figured I'd follow them.

They found him. He'd been tied up as live bait.

The girl called Clarke tried to run up to him, only to fall into a pit of sharp spears. For a moment, I feared she was dead, but then another boy grabbed her hand.

This one, Bellamy, doesn't get along with her very well. As they hung there for a moment, I thought he might actually drop her. They all pulled her back up.

A nearly silent growl sounded through the clearing as the boys called Bellamy and Murphy went to untie Jasper.

He was the bait, this was the predator.

Black panthers are deadly. Only the most skilled hunters actively seek them out. The moment the children saw the panther, one of those things they call a gun banged loudly, several times.

Whatever they shot at it with, they missed.

It twitched it's tail, bending down ready to leap.

I didn't even think. But a moment later, the panther was on the ground, dead, an arrow in it's heart.

As they all turned and spotted me, I thought, Well, you wanted to meet them.