xix. the end as we know it
we are grounders (part 2)

SAWYER SHUFFLED through the bottom most portion of the dropship, searching for what Raven called an Ignition System. With their next plan set in mind, they needed to bring it into fruition. Raven's bullet wound made it impossible for her to move, which meant Sawyer and Clarke needed to locate the thrusters and rig them up to be activated at the flick of a switch. So far, the two of them could not find what Raven described, making the task more than difficult.

     Finn assisted in the search for a little while, before he fled camp to visit Lincoln's cave. The bullet still inside Raven began to cause internal bleeding, making it so she lost feeling in her legs. Finn thought Lincoln would have a type of medicine that could help her and left to find it.

     Sawyer did not hold it against Finn. If there was a way to keep Raven alive, then they had to try.

     Sawyer raked her gaze over the wires that ran along the wall. Despite being down there earlier in the day, she still did not know how any of the mechanisms worked, let alone how to identify a specific electrical system.

     It did not help that Sawyer's attention drifted to the radio set between herself and Clarke when it crackled to life. The Grounders made their appearance shortly after nightfall, surrounding the camp on all side. Bellamy and the other Gunners voiced what they saw every so often. From what was said, Sawyer figured they were vastly outnumbered. She could only hope that Clarke's idea worked.

     "Do you see it, or don't you?" Raven called through the open hatch in the floor.

     Sawyer sighed. "No."

     "It's a mess down here," Clarke added, looking away from crisscrossed wiring.

     Sawyer nodded as sweat rolled out of her hairline and down her cheek. "Whoever built this thing needs slapped."

     "It'll be orange," Raven told them. "Look harder! You have to find the one that connects the manual override to the electromagnet." She released a harsh breath. "It's not rocket science."

     Sawyer paused, turning to Clarke. Both girls exchanged a flat stare.

     "Raven, it actually is rocket science," Sawyer retorted, before the two of them returned to their search.

     Raven let out a breathy chuckle. "Guess we finally found something you two're not good at."

     Sawyer scoffed in a halfhearted manner. "Not all of us actually paid anything in science class."

     After a beat, Raven said, "I used to be picked first for everything. Earth Skill, Zero-G Mech course. First – every time. So, how the hell did I end up here?"

     Sawyer did not know what to say. What could she say to her? Raven dealt with a lot since she crash landed on Earth in her stolen pod. Her boyfriend cheated on her, and she was shot in the stomach. Not to mention everything else that transpired around camp. Sawyer failed to know what to say to herself on most days.

     "Raven?" Clarke voiced, capturing the Wesley girl's attention. "I'd pick you first."

     Raven scoffed. "Of course you would. I'm awesome!"

     Sawyer could not help but smile. "Yes, you are, Raven."

     "Hey," Clarke exclaimed, grabbing a wire that dangled over the wall, "I found it. Orange wire."

     Sawyer crouched beneath the pipes that hung above them as she made her way toward the blonde. When she stopped at her side, she looked to the wire held in the Griffin girl's hand and spotted its orange coating. One step closer to survival.

     "About time!" Raven shouted. "Now, follow that wire to the override panel."

     Sawyer and Clarke started to follow the wire, but they stopped when it ended in a frayed cluster. The Wesley girl's glee faded. Of course. Nothing could ever be easy.

     "Raven, we got a problem," Sawyer called up to the mechanic. "Wire's been cut."

     Clarke voiced, after a moment, "tell me this isn't as bad as I think."

     "Either of you know how to splice a wire?" Raven asked.

     Sawyer and Clarke looked to one another. "No," they replied.

     "Then it's worse," Raven breathed, before she a yell escaped her lips.

     Sawyer's eyes grew wide at the sound. Did the girl try to move? "Whoa, Raven, stop moving!"

     "Just talk us through it," Clarke stated.

     Before Raven could say anything else, a faint boom sounded outside the dropship. Moments later, the radio flared with Jasper's voice. "Raven, our mines actually worked!"

     "Jasper can splice," Raven told them.

     Sawyer rushed over to where they set the radio and raised it to her lips. "Jasper, we need you to get to the dropship. Now."

     Jasper did not reply, but Bellamy did. "Negative. We can't give up the west woods."

     Sawyer rolled her eyes and pressed the radio's button. "Bellamy, the west woods are mined. The Grounders now know that. We need Jasper, and we need him now."

     _______

     After having discovered that the Grounders were forcing the Gunners to waste their ammo, Jasper made his way to the dropship from the western side of camp. It took him a several minutes, but he lowered himself through the hatch and got to work on the severed wire.

     Sawyer and Clarke stayed at his side, helping with anything they could to put their plan back in motion. If Jasper could not fix the wire, then they were all dead.

     While they were under the dropship, Raven remained on the lowest level as she slowly bled into her abdomen. Clarke called up to her every couple of seconds, forcing the girl to stay awake and reply. Sawyer did not have to ask why. Her knowledge on human anatomy fell short compared to Clarke's, but she knew enough to know blood loss caused drowsiness and eventual unconsciousness. And if Raven passed out, they were on their own.

     "Hey, Raven, tell us again how this is gonna work?" Clarke questioned the mechanic.

     "I told you five times," Raven replied. Her voice low and slurred. The blood loss began to affect her. "Current flows to the electromagnet. That opens the poppet valve. Rockets fire."

     Sawyer looked to the Griffin girl and said, "she doesn't sound too good."

     "I know. We just need to keep her awake until Finn gets back," Clarke stated.

     Jasper turned away from the wire in his hands. "Okay. Got the good wire ready to graft on. What's next?" he asked the Reyes girl, but she failed to answer. "Raven?" Nothing. "Raven!"

     Sawyer paused and then reached out to shove Clarke toward the hatch. "Go!"

     Clarke did not object. She rushed for the ladder, climbing up to the lowest level.

     Sawyer went after her, emerging from the open hatch to find Raven laid on her side with her eyes closed. "Shit," she hissed and scrambled to kneel next to the mechanic.

     Clarke placed her fingers on the side of Raven's neck and checked for a pulse.

     Jasper appeared after them. His eyes wide when he spotted Raven. "Is she...?"

     "Not yet," Clarke stated as she removed her hand from the Reyes girl, "but soon."

     In the silence that followed after Clarke's statement, the radio's speaker fizzled as a shout broke through, "they've broken through! There's hundreds of them! They're heading for the gate! Game over, man!"

     Sawyer's blood ran cold. They were out of time. She shifted her stare to Jasper and said in a hardened tone, "hook up the thrusters. Now." She pushed herself to her feet and started for the dropship's exit.

     Clarke called after her. "Where're you going?"

     Sawyer paused mid-step and glanced back to the blonde. "I'm going to get us more time. Stay with Raven. If I see Finn, I'll get him here." She spun on her heel and shoved the parachute aside.

     Pure anarchy consumed the camp when Sawyer stepped outside. Those who were dubbed Gunners ran from the foxholes with their guns hung at their sides or even discarded to the ground. Others sprinted away from the walls, their eyes wide and faces paled. Screams filled the air, melding with the little gunfire that were still able to produce. Sawyer could not discern if they were from the Grounders or her own people. She did not know if she wanted that answered.

     "There are too many!" Nathan Miller sprinted toward the dropship, clutching his shoulder as blood covered his fingers. "Everybody to the dropship, now!"

     Sawyer snapped to him and those who moved to flood the structure. "No!" Her command forced them all to halt. "We're not ready. Gunners, stay at your posts. Do not leave them until you've used all your ammo. Everyone else, get inside." The delinquents surged forward to seek shelter.

     Sawyer stepped down the hatch, scanning the camp for any sign of Finn. The boy needed to hurry up, or Raven would not make it.

     The sound of a loud bang overhead drew Sawyer's gaze to the starlit sky. Among the blackness, an orange light caught her eye. It grew brighter and larger as it fell, exploding into various sections than even smaller fragments. Her mouth parted at the sight.

     It couldn't be. Could it?

     "Is that from the Ark?" Fox questioned as she came to a stop beside the Wesley girl.

     Sawyer shook her head, watching the massive object plummet toward the ground. "It's not from the Ark, it is the Ark." They must not have ran out of air, after all.

     Sawyer stared at the falling space station until the silence around camp registered to her ears. She looked around, finding all of the delinquents frozen in place. Their stares aimed toward the Ark. Not only them, but the Grounders, as well. They were silent, most likely frightened or awed by the sight. Sawyer made a move to urge her people into the dropship while the Grounder were distracted, but a series of frenzied shouts reached her ears. She did not know who, or what, they were, and she did not want to find out.

     "Everyone in the dropship!" Sawyer screamed across the camp.

     Her voice startled the delinquents. They shook away their shock and proceeded to rush into the dropship.

     Sawyer remained at the end of the dropship hatch, waving everyone on as they ran for the entrance. She started to think Finn either did not make it to Lincoln's cave, or got caught by the Grounders, until he emerged from one of the foxholes and sprinted in her direction.

     "Took you long enough," Sawyer exclaimed over the shouts that persisted outside their walls. She gestured to the noise and asked, "you have anything to do with that?"

     Finn breathed heavily as he nodded. "I kicked the hornet's nest."

     Sawyer pressed her lips together and acted like she knew what he meant. "Right. Okay. You got the medicine?"

     Finn raised his hand, showing her the green-filled vial and what looked like a syringe in his grasp. "Yeah. How's Raven?"

     Sawyer shook her head. "Not good. Come on." She turned, moving with the rest of the delinquents into the dropship.

     Dozens of her people were packed inside. All of them covered in either grime or blood. Sawyer looked to where she left Clarke and Raven and found them in the same place. The former knelt next to the latter. The mechanic still unconscious.

     Sawyer and Finn rushed over to the girls. The Collins boy handed the vial and syringe to Clarke when he reached her side. She took them into her hands, filling the syringe with the strange liquid inside the vial, before she stabbed the needle into Raven's stomach. Right where the bullet entered her body.

     "Sawyer, Clarke," Miller's yelled through the dropship as he ran inside, "they're taking down the gate."

     "Good," Jasper voiced, climbing up through the hatch in the floor, "because I did it – I think."

     "I'm closing that door," Miller exclaimed, striding to where the hatch's lever sat on the wall.

     Sawyer stood and moved to stop him. "Don't!" she shouted, forcing him to paused in his actions. "Our people are still out there."

     Clarke did the same as she fell into step beside the Wesley girl. "Sawyer's right. Bellamy's not back yet."

     Now that she thought about it, Sawyer had not seen Bellamy or Octavia since the Grounders arrived. She stepped around Miller and passed the parachute. The moment she stepped outside, her heart ceased in her chest.

     Their camp looked vastly different than it did a few moments earlier. The gate had been ripped from its hinges, allowing the Grounders within their walls. The few delinquents who braved the fight tossed grenades toward them. They exploded on impact, killing a number of Grounders in one blast. But the ones who escaped the fire balls, they were on the warpath. They struck fast and harsh, thrusting their swords into the chests of the teenagers.

     Bile rose in Sawyer's throat, while her eyes burned with unshed tears. Her people were dying, being slaughtered for nothing more than wanting to live their lives. It was too much. She could not watch them die any longer.

     Sawyer cleared her throat and screamed above the madness, "everyone, including Gunners, get inside the dropship!"

     Arrows soared through the sky, zinging passed Sawyer's head as someone grabbed her arm and yanked her behead a barrier erected that afternoon. She crouched behind the dirt filled bags stacked on top of one another, looking to where Miller knelt next to her. He pulled her down.

     "There he is!"

     Sawyer turned at Finn's voice, finding him and Clarke to her left. Both of them also crouched behind the barrier. She followed the Collins boy's stare and saw Bellamy at the entrance of a foxhole. He was too far away and Grounders were all over the pace.

     "He's never gonna make it," Clarke muttered, coming to the same conclusion.

     Sawyer cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Bellamy, run for it!"

     Bellamy turned at the sound of her voice. When he spotted Sawyer and Clarke across the clearing, he kicked off the ground and ran for them. He would have made it in time, if a Grounder did not cut him off. The fur-clad man grabbed ahold of Bellamy, raising his fist to send into his face again and again.

     Sawyer's throat closed up. She could not breathe. "No!" she screamed, pushing herself up to go after the man, but a hand clamped down on her arm. Sawyer whirled to the right, finding it to be Miller's.

     "Stop, Finn, no!"

     Sawyer turned when Clarke's voice registered. When the blonde started to rise from the ground, she did the same as Miller and latched onto the girl's arm. With Clarke secured in place, Sawyer followed her eye-line to see Finn knock the Grounder away from Bellamy. They wrestled on the ground, punching one another as they struggled. Bellamy returned the favor, launching himself at the Grounder.

     "No!" Clarke shouted, trying to go after them, but Sawyer stopped her.

     Neither of them could do anything. Bellamy and Finn would never make it.

     "Clarke, Sawyer, you can't save everybody," Miller exclaimed, moving between the girls to grab both of their arms. "Let's go!" He yanked them onto their feet and dragged them toward the dropship. "Let's go!"

     Once her feet hit the metal hatch, Sawyer did not fight Miller any longer. She allowed him to haul her into the dropship, leaving the fighting behind. When they parted through the parachute, all eyes were set on the two girls. Sawyer sniffed as tears slipped from her eyes.

     Miller was right. They could not save everyone.

     Sawyer blew out a long breath and stepped toward the hatch's lever. She grabbed ahold of the handle and started to pull up until another hand joined hers. Sawyer looked up to where Clarke stood at her side. Together, both girls pulled the lever up and raised the dropship hatch.

     Gears whirled as the large door rose and locked into place. But before it sealed shut, a figure rolled through the parachute and landed on their feet. Sawyer spun on her heel to find the Grounder from the attempted peace treaty in front of them with two swords in her hands. Anya stood still, facing the delinquents with a deep glare. In the same moment, the sound of harsh pounding erupted on the sides of the dropship. The Grounders were only walls from them.

     Sawyer turned to where Jasper knelt on the ground with Raven's circuit board in his hands. "Jasper, now!"

     Jasper did as he was told and hit the switch. Instead of a takeoff, the dropship remained in place. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. They failed.

     "Anya, you can't win," Clarke told the Grounder stowaway.

     Sawyer set her attention back on the female Grounder. Anya glanced between them, before she jumped into action with a battle cry.

     Before she could reach anyone, a boy appeared behind her and slammed the butt of his gun onto the back of her head. Anya crumpled to the ground, leaving her vulnerable as the delinquents surged forward and proceeded to kick her fallen body.

     Sawyer shoved her way through them. They were not about to stoop to the Grounders' level. "Stop! Stop! We're not doing this!" she shouted, but they ignored her.

     Clarke followed her lead and pushed at those who continued to assault the woman. "Stop! She's already down. Get back. Get back!"

     Sawyer hissed as she took several hits from the rogue delinquents. She forced her way into the center of the crowd and froze when Miller's voice cut through the collective rage.

     "She deserves to die!"

     Sawyer whirled toward the boy in time to see his arm raise and slash forward with a blade in hand. She reached out, just fast enough, to grab his forearm. Miller snapped to her, eyes wide, as his attack was halted.

     "I've said this before, but I won't say it again. We are not Grounders," Sawyer stressed each word.

     No one got the chance to react, before the entire dropship rocked and tossed them all off their feet.

     _______

     Sawyer did not know how long they stayed inside the dropship after Jasper activated the thrusters and enacted the short launch sequence. Once the structure settled back onto the ground, she and Clarke forced everyone to remain inside. If any of the Grounders survived, they wanted them to be long gone before the door opened again. Although, Sawyer hoped none of them were.

     When the girls decided it had been long enough, the dropship hatch lowered to the ground and allowed them to leave. Sawyer stepped out onto the slanted metal, wincing as the morning sun hit her eyes. Then the strong scent of ash and smoke. Her heart almost stopped as she took in the sight of their home.

     The entire camp had been reduced to nothing but a long stretch of ash. Nothing survived. Not even the Grounders' corpses. At least, none of their flesh. Sawyer cringed when her eyes fell to several skeletons laid on the scorched ground. All of them charred black from the hydrazine flames.

     No one said a word as they filed out into their destroyed camp. What could they say? Everything they came to know was gone, along with many of their friends.

     Sawyer sighed, looking to where Clarke stopped among the ruins. The girl's eyes were downcast, staring at two skeletons twisted together on the ground. The same spot where they last saw Bellamy and Finn. Sawyer could not bring herself to think of what that meant. Not right then. Maybe not ever.

     The sound of rushing air captured Sawyer's attention. She looked up to see streams of red smoke soar in their direction.

     "What the hell?" Jasper questioned as cylindrical canisters landed at their feet, continuing to expel the red cloud around them.

     Anya, who had been tied up shortly after the dropship sent a ring of fire throughout the camp, muttered, "Mountain Men."

     Sawyer gave the woman a short glance, before her vision blurred and her head felt as though it weighed a hundred pounds. She coughed as the red smoke entered her nose. Her knees buckled, dropping her to the ash covered ground. Sawyer fought the fog that consumed her mind, but it only dragged her down further. Her head fell back, causing her stare to lift toward the sky. Sawyer's chest heaved as she caught sight of a figure dressed in a green suit and a gas mask with a rifle in hand.

     Before she could ask who they were or what they wanted, her eyes fluttered closed of their own accord and sent her into a world of darkness.

<January 22, 2020>

Did I stay up late just to post this chapter? Yes, I did.

This is the end of Season 1, and Part 1 of this book. Get ready for Season 2, because none of you are ready for what I have in store.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.