Jason crouched on a thick branch, boots hooked lightly around the bark as he surveyed the far-side trap construction zone. Sweat glistened down the sides of his temple, but as he looked down tracking every movement, some of the kids were making a lot of mistakes, that was to be expected but some of those mistakes can cost them their lives.
Below him, four boys struggled to haul a massive log plated with wicked, uneven spikes they had spent hours carving and hammering in.
Jason clicked his tongue.
Then shouted: "HEY! Careful with that thing! It took forever to build, if one of you idiots drops it and cracks a spike, you're rebuilding the whole log yourselves!"
The boys yelped, adjusted their grip, and one of them shouted back, "We got it! We got it!"
"Yeah, sure you do," Jason muttered, but the hint of a smirk tugged at his lip.
Then he jumped down from his position on the tree.
The drop was at least twenty feet. Anyone else in the camp would've broken both legs, shattered an ankle, or screamed the whole way down.
But Jason?
He landed in a crouch, smooth, like gravity didn't apply to him the same way it did to everyone else.
And yet nota single kid screamed, not anymore at least.
Once upon a time, the rest of the 100 whispered he was an Ark experiment. A project of some kind by the council. An engineered human.
Now?
They didn't whisper, they just accepted it.
Jason wasn't normal.
And thank God for that.
He brushed dirt from his palms, ignoring the stares, and made his way toward the dropship.
——————————-
Inside, Bellamy stood with one of the younger boys, both bent over a crude chalk diagram on the metal wall. It looked like a trap built from ropes, a counter-log, and a pivoting weighted board.
Jason stepped in and watched the guy with Bellamy straighten up. Bellamy looked back at him and stated, "Trap Section C is behind schedule," Bellamy reported. "The trigger line snapped while we were testing it. Two kids took a tumble down the slope."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "Serious?"
"Nah," Bellamy shrugged. "Bruises. Scrapes. One sprained wrist."
Jason folded his arms. "They're too careless."
"Jason," Bellamy sighed, half amused. "This is their first time building traps. Mistakes happen."
"Yeah," Jason said, "normally I'd agree. But these mistakes can kill them. One wrong notch, one mis-tied rope, one loose stake? The Grounders won't even need to kill us. We'll do it ourselves."
Bellamy didn't argue, because deep down, he knew Jason was right.
———————————
Clarke hammered a wedge into the ground while Finn tied off a rope above the false-floor pit.
He grimaced.
"This is barbaric," Finn muttered.
Clarke rolled her eyes so hard it nearly cracked bone. "Finn, enough. We do what we have to do to survive."
"This isn't surviving. This is setting up slaughter."
"Call it whatever you want," Clarke said, tightening another knot, "but if the Grounders come, these traps are the only reason any of us stay alive."
Two other boys and a girl worked with them, gathering branches and sharpening wooden spikes.
One of the boys suddenly leaned closer, grinning conspiratorially.
"Hey… you guys wanna know why I got locked up on the Ark?"
Finn sighed, but Clarke glanced up with amusement already softening her frustration.
The other girl laughed first.
"What, were you caught trying to steal gear and spacewalk like the 'Spacewalker' here?" she teased, nudging Finn.
Finn shook his head, unamused. "Please don't encourage that nickname."
The boy continued proudly, "Well, she's half right. The stealing part is accurate. The spacewalking part? Nah. Wrong section of the Ark. I was assigned to botany. No airlocks anywhere near me to be stupid with."
Finn snorted. "Trust me, it's not worth it anyway."
All three looked at him.
He shrugged. "Sure, the initial thrill is cool. But then you realize you burned someone else's oxygen. Someone who needed it."
The girl murmured, "Still sounds kinda cool…"
Clarke smiled despite herself.
Then the second boy asked, "Okay, so what did you steal?"
The kid flashed a grin.
"Herbs."
Everyone paused at that and Clarke blinked while Finn just sighed at the mundane theft. The girl burst out laughing.
The second boy groaned, "Bro… for HERBS? Are you serious?"
They were still laughing at the ridiculous story the kid had started sharing.
"Man, what kinda herb gets you locked up down here with the rest of us criminals?"
The storyteller lifted his chin proudly.
"One of the medicinal ones. A painkiller extract. But if you take too much? Oh, man—it hits you like a wave. Two hours of pure, relaxed numbness. Feels like floating. Bliss."
Clarke chuckled and shook her head.
"Trillium Extract. It inhibits the nociceptors and slows neural response time. It's used for surgery-grade pain management… and yeah, in higher doses, it can induce euphoria."
The girl with them nudged the storyteller.
"Monty and Jasper worked in that section too, right?"
Clarke nodded.
"Yep. Agro, chem-lab crossover. Makes sense."
Finn smiled, shaking his head.
"Well, whatever high you got from that herb? Trust me, it's still safer than spacewalking. My thrill shouldn't even count compared to what you felt."
The boys laughed, and the storyteller inhaled to continue and died mid-breath.
That was because he had been silence. An arrow punched clean through his mouth and out the back of his skull.
He dropped instantly.
The forest didn't even echo.
It absorbed the sound like it was hungry.
Everyone froze at the sudden death.
For a full, horrifying heartbeat.
Then Clarke whispered in a panicked tone,
"Shit—RUN!"
They didn't need to be told twice as they all bolted immediately.
Another arrow sliced through the air and buried itself deep into the girl's leg. She collapsed, screaming so loud it rattled the birds from the trees.
"Go!" Finn shouted, turning back attempting to help her but an arrow stabbed the dirt exactly where his foot had been about to land. Clarke yanked him violently by the shirt.
"Finn, leave her or you'll be killed."
"What the hell Clarke she needs our help."
"If I didn't pull you, you'd be dead!" she screamed.
The girl on the ground sobbed, reaching out to them, then another arrow drilled into her spine. Her body arched once… and went still.
Finn, Clarke, and the last boy sprinted through the brush.
"Grounders found us!" Finn said.
"No shit!" Clarke barked. "The camp is close, we need to—"
A massive arm came out of nowhere and slammed across her chest. Clarke's breath exploded out of her as she was yanked sideways into the shadows.
"Clarke!" Finn shouted—
Slam.
Another arm clotheslined him to the ground.
The remaining boy panicked and chose the opposite direction, sprinting blindly. He didn't make it far.
An arrow struck him between the shoulder blades. He fell hard, gasping, crawling, dragging himself through dirt and leaves.
"No—no—no—" he wheezed.
Another arrow embedded deep into his side. He screamed, bloody spit spraying the soil. His vision blurred as pain swallowed everything.
Heavy footsteps approached.
A Grounder stepped into view, wrapped in a full-body cloak, mask painted in bone-white streaks, bow drawn lazily as if this was routine.
The Grounder kicked the dying boy over to face him.
He paused as he noticed something about the boy.
The boy's body was trembling, breaths shallow…
But in his right hand…
He still clutched a rope. Tight.
The Grounder tilted his head, curious at what it was.
And the boy looked up, broken, bleeding and gave a red smile.
Then he pulled.
Snap.
The rope tore something loose.
The Grounder instinctively looked up but it was too late.
A massive spiked log swung from the treetops at full speed, the kind that was designed to implode ribs.
It smashed into the Grounder so hard his chest caved inward, armor cracking, bones shattering like brittle sticks.
He died instantly.
The boy on the ground laughed one final laugh that came out wet, bubbling, agonized.
A victory laugh.
The last sound he ever made.
His body went limp, eyes glassy as his world vanished into black.
Minutes later…
Boots crunched through leaves.
Anya stepped into the clearing. She took in the scene of the crushed Grounder, the dead boy and the blood-soaked dirt.
She exhaled sharply, irritated.
"Fool," she muttered.
Behind her, two Grounders dragged Clarke and Finn both unconscious.
Anya didn't look back as she spoke:
"We got what we came for."
She flicked her wrist.
"Let's move."
And with that, the forest swallowed them whole.
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