𝙏𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 ━━ John Murphy ¹

𝘁𝘄𝗼

↳˳⸙;; ❝ 𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛

The forest had slowly become denser the deeper they went, moss-covered trees everywhere the eye could see. It wasn't much to look at, considering everything around them was varying shades of green and brown, but it was still better than the steel grey of The Ark.

With everything the same colours, though, it was hard to tell if they were still on the right track. Or had ended up going in a big circle.

Clarke was the only thing keeping Amelia from freaking out, calmly calling out directions on her map from her new place at the back of the pack. It was impressive, really, how easily she fell into leadership of their small group. Even Octavia, who was viciously against her earlier, listened to Clarke without a word of complaint.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn calls, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled upon the group after their run-in with the deer, "Why send us down today after 97 years? What changed?"

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." Octavia swings herself around a tree, grinning up at Finn as he passes her by, though he continues past her without a second glance.

Octavia watches Jasper and Monty as they follow behind Finn, disappointed that her flirting was now being ignored. She falls into step next to Amelia, shooting the slightly shorter girl a warm smile that Amelia happily returns.

"Maybe they found something on the satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or—" Monty supplies, though Clarke is quick to cut in.

"It wasn't a satellite. The ark is dying."

"What?" Amelia exclaims, whipping around to face Clarke. She gets a grim nod in response, then Clarke continues on, walking through the group as they all come to a shocked standstill.

"At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." The group quickly follows after Clarke, not wanting to fall behind and miss anything she had to say.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn says, knowing more about Clarke's situation than Amelia thought he would.

"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 cuts herself off, the grip on her bag straps tightening as she relives her father's death again.

"What, turned in your dad?" Clarke shakes her head, but not in disagreement, bringing a hand up to angrily wipe at her eyes before continuing.

"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."

"It won't just be us, will it?" Amelia cuts in, turning everyone's attention to her, "They're gonna have to remove more people if the oxygen levels are bad enough that your father risked dying over it."

Clarke stays silent, which makes a pit form deep in Amelia's stomach. Amelia knows nothing about the oxygen scrubbers, but knows without a doubt that a lot of people would have to be floated to make any sort of difference.

"Good. After what they did to me, I say, float them all." Octavia's statement leaves everyone stunned, unable to move as they watch her skip off ahead of them. Amelia can't help but think of her mother, low ranking in the farming station. She won't stand a chance.