Minutes passed before a groan came from my left. Clarke stirred, blinking hard, her eyes darting around at the cramped walls and rows of prisoners strapped in.
"Welcome back," I said casually. "I do hope Lord Morpheus was kind to you."
She turned her head slowly, spotting me first, then flinching at the sting of the wristband around her arm. Her gaze drifted past me and locked on Wells Jaha sitting to my right.
"Wells? Why the hell are you here?" she snapped.
"When I found out they were sending prisoners to the ground, I got myself arrested," Wells said with a proud smile. "I came for you."
CRASH!
The entire dropship jolted, metal groaning around us. Gasps and nervous laughter rippled through the cabin.
I couldn't help but smirk. Even scared shitless myself, their wide-eyed panic was… entertaining.
"What was that?" Clarke demanded.
Wells opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "That was the atmosphere."
Her head snapped toward me. "Who are you?"
Before I could answer, static crackled and the screens lit up. The familiar face of Chancellor Jaha filled the dropship.
"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now…"
I tuned out his little speech. Blah blah,
expendable, second chance, Mount Weather, stocked with food, yadda yadda. Standard motivational crap for kids being thrown at a planet. Instead, my attention drifted as the kids started cheering Finn, unbuckling him so he could float.
"Check it out, your dad floated me after all," Finn grinned at Wells. I snorted. "If you don't want to meet Hades faster than a blink, strap in before the parachutes deploy. Unless dying is your thing."
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted others fumbling at their harnesses.
Idiots.
Clarke barked at them to stay put. I joined in: "Yeah, unless you've got a death wish, don't."
They didn't listen. Of course.
"So you're the traitor who got solitary for a year," Finn tossed at Clarke.
That one got my attention and oh yeah that did happen. I leaned toward her in fake surprise. "Wait, you survived a whole damn year in the Sky Box? That place could break a man's sanity in half. You've got some impressive willpower."
She blinked, caught off guard. For a second, the corners of her lips tugged upward.
"And you," she shot back at Finn, "you're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk."
"But it was fun. I'm Finn."
I rolled my eyes, about to say something, but Clarke turned back to me.
"You never answered me, what's your name?"
"Jason. Jason Black," I said, eyes flicking away. When I glanced back, her bright blue eyes were locked onto mine. For a moment, they held. Her gaze, my green eyes, an awkward tension.
Then she blushed, looking away quickly.
'What the fuck is she looking at?'
CRASH!
Parachutes just deployed, slamming the dropship hard. Finn and the two unbuckled idiots went flying, tangled in wires and pipes.
I moved fast, testing my strength carefully as I checked their bodies. No pulse.
Stupid fools.
"They're dead," I said flatly and that surprised. I mean I have seen dead bodies before being an orphan would expose you to a lot of things that you wouldn't believe but the way I said this so casually was a change. Not really a bad one seeing as I will be seeing more dead bodies eventually, turning back to Clarke, then zeroed in on Finn, who had his head down. "You know they're dead because of you, right?"
Finn's glare burned at me. "Of course I know that!"
"Good. Then don't do stupid shit next time."
Before anything else could be said, a shout echoed from below. "Outer door's down here!"
The crowd surged forward. Wells sat frozen, Clarke stormed off, and Finn sulked, fantastic isn't it?. I followed Clarke down the ladder, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder when she tried to push through Bellamy.
"It doesn't matter if the air's toxic," I told her quietly. "We'll die either way. Might as well know for sure."
She hesitated for a moment then nodded, stepping back with me.
"Bellamy?" a girl's voice called out.
Dark hair brushed my arm as she moved past me, and a shiver shot down my spine.
Octavia Blake.
Bellamy's eyes widened. "Octavia? My God… look how big you are."
Gasps rippled. The infamous Blake siblings, reunited.
Damn… she's even hotter in real life.
My chest ached unexpectedly. Marcus, DeShawn… wish you guys could see this beautiful piece of art.
Octavia hugged Bellamy, but the reunion cracked fast when someone shouted her secret aloud. She lunged, in an incredibly feral manner damn girl and Bellamy restrained her with promises she'd be remembered as the first person on the ground.
'Yup. Forgot how feral she was,' I thought, half amused. 'Been what… four, five years since I last watched the show? Didn't even get to finish it.'
"Can't remember most details anymore… maybe for the best," I muttered under my breath.
"What?" Clarke turned, brows raised.
"I said, I never got your name."
"Oh." She softened. "Clarke Griffin."
"Nice to meet you, Clarke."
"Nice to meet you too, Jason."
The hatch groaned. Bellamy forced the door open. Octavia stepped forward, heart racing with every step until her boots touched dirt.
She threw her arms wide, screaming into the air.
"We're back, bitches!"
"They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain," Clarke muttered, frustration thick in her voice as she and Jason studied the map. Both of them stood a little apart from the others, staring toward the faint silhouette of Mount Weather in the distance.
"Come on," Clarke said finally, folding the map under her arm. "We need to tell the others." Together they walked back to the dropship, where Clarke spread the map out on the ramp. She dug out a small tool from her pocket and started measuring distances. Jason crouched beside her, arms folded as he watched.
That was when Wells appeared, his face set and his voice urgent. "We've got problems. The communication system is dead."
Jason had already tested that for himself. His body, stronger and sharper than it had ever been, had scaled the dropship's exterior in minutes. What he found wasn't pretty. The wires were fried to nothing with the panels missing entirely. "Heat cooked the whole thing," Jason muttered under his breath. "Not good."
Clarke only shook her head, focused on the map. "Doesn't matter. Right now, Mount Weather is all that matters."
Jason wanted to argue, wanted to point out that there were bigger dangers than hunger. The kind of dangers wearing war paint and sharpening blades in the trees but Clarke's intensity left little room for interruption.
"Look. This is us. This is where we need to go if we want to survive," Clarke explained, drawing a line on the map.
Wells leaned over. "Where'd you learn to do that?" He stopped, realizing his slip, then added, "Your father."
Before anyone could respond, Jasper Jordan wandered over, grin plastered on his face. "Ah, cool, a map. They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer."
"Not the time, Jasper," Wells snapped, trying to wave him away. But Murphy and his pack of delinquents took that as their cue to stroll over. "Hey, hey, hey. Hands off him. He's with us," Murphy said, his swaggering tone oozing superiority. Eight boys crowded in behind him like vultures.
Wells tried to de-escalate. "Relax. We're just trying to figure out where we are."
Bellamy's voice cut through the noise like a whip. "We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" His volume drew half the camp's attention.
Jason raised a brow, unimpressed. 'Why the hell's he shouting?'
"We need to find Mount Weather," Wells pressed. "You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority."
Bellamy scoffed. "Screw your father. What you think you're in charge here? You and your little princess?" Octavia chimed in, her smirk sharp. "Yeah. You think you're running things now?" Jason sighed and finally stepped in, voice sharp as a blade. "You all need to grow up and realize where you are. This isn't a playground. You want to play king of the hill? Fine. But the hill will kill you first."
The crowd turned, eyes narrowing on him. "And who are you to tell us what to do?" someone demanded. "Yeah! Who put you in charge?" another chimed. Jason wanted to bite back with something about supervising a daycare full of toddlers, but Clarke beat him to it.
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" she snapped. "We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we get and the harder this'll be. You want to last out here without supplies? We've got a 20-mile trek. We need to leave now."
Jason still thought a shelter and food should come first, but his thoughts were cut short when Bellamy raised his voice again. "I got a better idea. You three go. Find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."
Jason blinked at him. 'Oi, the balls on this dude'.
The crowd roared with laughter and cheers.
Jason's jaw tightened. "Childish, Insignificant and insecure," he said, voice cutting through the noise like thunder. He didn't even raise it, but Bellamy heard him all the same.
Bellamy's face darkened. "I am not insecure. And why are you even with them? Why take orders from the privileged?"
"Again with the privileged crap?" Jason scoffed. "I'm not taking orders from anyone. And newsflash, she's right. You're all wrong. You think this is freedom? It's a death sentence. We have no food, no water, no protection. Just the clothes on our backs. And you're acting like it's a goddamn party."
His words hit like a hammer, and the noise died down. Jason stepped closer to Bellamy, his shadow falling over the boy. "Keep acting high and mighty, and we'll all be dead before the day's out. That's reality."
The stunned silence hung heavy until Wells tried again. "He's right. We need to go."
Murphy shoved him from behind. "Look at this, everybody. The Chancellor of Earth!" He grinned like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Jason rolled his eyes. "Fantastic. Everything I just said? Straight out the damn window."
Murphy shoved Wells again, sending him sprawling with a sprained knee. Jason stepped in, shoving Murphy back with a glare. "All right, calm it down."
But Murphy wasn't having it. He lunged, fist swinging. Jason ducked lazily, sidestepped, and shoved him hard enough to send him stumbling. Laughter rippled through the crowd.
"You need to stop before you get hurt," Jason warned. Murphy, red-faced, ran at him again. Jason sighed, rolled his eyes, and drove a gentle punch into his gut. Well gentle for him, anyway. Murphy folded like a lawn chair, then hit the dirt with a grunt.
Two lackeys rushed in. The first didn't even see the trip coming ad he face-planted before Jason nudged him in the jaw, sending him sprawling.
The second threw a wild punch, which Jason caught mid-air. He grinned, then kicked him in the stomach. The boy spun backwards like a ragdoll and crashed into the dirt. Silence.
Every eye was on Jason. He turned, gaze locking on Bellamy. "On the ground. There are no privileged. No cliques. Just you and the person next to you. Understand?" His voice cracked like a whip across the camp.
Murmurs spread. Nods followed. Even the troublemakers backed off, dragging Murphy and the others with them.
Finn appeared from the side, holding a length of pipe. "I was about to step in, you know. But, uh… you handled that better than I could've."
Jason smirked, giving him a brief nod.
"Backup plan's always nice."
Finn chuckled.
"Hot damn, that was cool but save me next," Octavia piped up, smirking as she looked Jason over. "How'd you learn to fight like that? Think you could teach me?"
Jason grinned. "Lesson one: never accept bullshit. Keeps life simple." Octavia laughed, eyes flicking up and down his frame. Bellamy appeared, dragging her away with a scowl.
"What? He's hot, and that was badass," she shot back.
"He's a criminal," Bellamy growled.
"They're all criminals," Octavia whispered, smirking.
Jason just shook his head, watching the siblings bicker.
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