[pilot - 2]
word count → 5398

IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD Ashton a week ago that he would be alive on Earth, he would have told them he was crazy. Yet there he was, spinning in seas of green, and shades of blue. A plethora of colours more intense than he could ever dream of. Dancing with his eyes closed, appreciating the beauty around him as hard as he could. While simultaneously, he was hugging random people around him. He leaped from person to person, until he hit a hard chest who responded with a quiet gasp as Ashton knocked the wind out of him.

Taking a tentative look up, he saw Bellamy. Of course he would manage to physically run into the one person he was trying to avoid. "Hi," said Ashton softly, looking up at Bellamy through his lashes.

When Bellamy opened his mouth to retort back, Ashton quickly started running away. The conversation had to come, just not yet if Ashton had anything to do with it. His getaway plan resulted in a full-on collision with Wells Jaha. Ashton stopped to gain his bearings and offered Wells a sheepish smile. "Sorry dude. Hey is that a map?" He asked Wells and the blonde girl from the dropship. "I wonder if there's a bar around here - maybe I could buy you a drink." He ended the sentence with a pathetic attempt at a wink.

Ashton didn't get time to see the blonde's reaction before Wells roughly shoved him. "Do you mind?"

Ashton put a finger on Well's chest. "You know," he said quietly. "You should really confirm one's sexuality before getting jealous." Ashton leaned up and put his lips beside Well's ear. "Besides, who says I wasn't talking to you, pretty boy?"

Ashton had honestly expected the son of the chancellor to be shocked or make some sort of homophobic comment. To his surprise, Wells Jaha did none of the sort. He emitted a small chuckle and smiled at the other boy.

"Oh no..." Ashton groaned as he saw a group of boys walking his way, led by the one and only John Murphy. The two had been friends when they were younger; his asshole parents were friends with Murphy's asshole parents. So it was only fair for the two of them to rebel together to piss the said assholes off. Ashton knew that Murphy could sometimes act like a pretentious dick, but also knew that he was the most loyal person he was once you fully gained his trust. Murphy had seen Wells shove Ashton and was now coming to beat the other boy up for him.

Murphy and his boys approached Wells. "Back off, he's with us," said Murphy, and Ashton sent him a lopsided grin.

"Relax. We're just trying to figure out where we are," said Wells. To be honest, Ashton didn't mind the boy. It wasn't his fault they were down here. He shouldn't be held accountable for his father's actions. And if his own father was enough of a prick to send his own kid to his death, well Ashton could feel for him. Asshole parents were not something foreign to him.

Bellamy, who was standing beside Murphy spoke up. "We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Once he stopped talking, he found Ashton and locked eyes with him. Ashton felt his knees go weak. He tried to hold Bellamy's gaze, but he ended up being the first to look away; a light blush coated his cheeks as he glanced away at the ground. Ashton saw Murphy, who has watched the whole exchange between the two, smirking.

"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority," said Wells. Ashton sighed. Wells needed to learn that his father had no pull here. It would do no good for him to remind people of the fact that his father was the reason they were down there.

"Mentioning your dad won't help you down here," said Ashton. Some of Murphy's goons thought that he was threatening the Chancellor's son, but he was simply warning him. He watched Wells intently, hoping that he had gotten his message across. He raised an eyebrow towards the boy, and Wells nodded. Ashton smiled back at him. When Ash glanced back at Bellamy, he was glaring at the ground.

"Screw your father. What, you think you're in charge here, you and your little Princess?" Octavia smirked, her blue eyes glittering while she crossed an arm over her chest.

"Octavia," said Ashton quietly, stepping toward her. "He isn't his father. Give him the benefit of the doubt."

Clarke smiled at him, and then turned back to the Blake siblings. "Do you think we care who's in charge," said Clarke. The tone of her voice made him physically want to cower back, even though it wasn't directed towards him "We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."

"I got a better idea. You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change," countered Bellamy.

Ashton rolled his eyes. "Are you stupid?" he asked the other brunet. This was the first time he had talked to Bellamy in half a year. Upon hearing his voice, Bellamy looked up in interest, his dark eyes glimmering and almost taunting Ashton.

"Why would you think that?" questioned Bellamy. The two of them were playing a game of cat and mouse. Bellamy was chasing him, and one of these days he might just get caught. And Ashton couldn't let that happen.

"Because you're acting like an idiot." Ashton smirked at him. "I know that you weren't the most intelligent when we were in school, but wow, I thought that you would've gotten smarter by now," Ashton said, almost condescendingly towards the other boy. "I'm not sure how you think math works, but two people can't carry enough food for a hundred.  By the way you're talking about this it seems like you're willing to let 98 people starve tonight." Ashton widened his blue eyes in false alarm as the growing crowd around them began to rumble with conversation.

Bellamy then smiled back at him, which confused the curly-haired brunet. Ashton has just insulted the other boy's intelligence, which he knew for a fact was a touchy subject for him. Bellamy was smart, but more street smart than book smart. Ashton could tell that he was somewhat insecure at times that Ashton was smarter than him and five years younger.

"What do you expect me to do about it?" replied Bellamy stepping closer to Ashton, an eyebrow cocked.

Ashton stepped away from the Blake boy towards the crowd. "How about we play it this way," he addressed the crowd. "Any food that you get is yours; if Clarke and Wells only go, well, I guess there won't be enough food to go around." He taunted the people around him.

The grumbling crowd grew louder. Ashton could tell that he won. No one would risk not getting food. Wells shook his head. "No. We're not letting anyone starve." Ashton almost hit Wells because of his stupidity. Of course they wouldn't let anyone starve. He just said that in order to get more people to come with them.

"Then I'm not going!" someone yelled out, and the crowd agreed with him.

"No," called out Wells. "You aren't listening! We all need to go!" Ashton could tell that he blew it. Nobody would be joining them.

Murphy swaggered up to the group like he wanted to get a piece of the drama. Like always, Murphy was being a shit. "Look at this, everybody! The Chancellor of Earth."

Wells just stared at him. "Think that's funny?"

"John, not now," Ashton murmured to Murphy.

"Relax Ash," smirked Murphy. "I'm just having a bit of fun." When he finalized talking, he swept Wells' legs out from beneath him. Wells landed with a dull thump. Dust from the ground rose up, and the boy on the ground started coughing.

"Wells," shouted Clarke. It was obvious that Clarke had conflicting feelings towards the chancellor's son, but deep down, Ashton could tell that she still cared for him

Murphy smiled sinisterly. "No but I thought that was funny." He made a reference to the line Wells had made earlier on.

"What you gonna do now, Wells?"a guy shouted out. Ashton rolled his eyes. These people were like vultures; just begging for a fight. Pathetic.

Ashton was about to interfere before Finn jumped in. "Kid's got one leg. How about you wait until it's a fair fight?" Ashton turned to the dark haired boy and smiled at him as in a silent thanks. Finn grinned and nodded his head towards Ashton.

Octavia batted her eyelashes at Finn. "Hey spacewalker," she flirted. "Rescue me next."

"Octavia," Ashton and Bellamy reprimanded her at the same time and then glanced at each other in surprise.

"What?" said Octavia defensively. "He's cute."

"He's a criminal," Bellamy reminded her flatly.

"They're all criminals," Octavia shook her head.

The two of them went off to talk alone, so he walked back towards Finn, Clarke and Wells. "So Mount Weather. When do we leave?" Finn said to Clarke.

"Right now," said Clarke. "We'll be back tomorrow with food."

"How are the two of you gonna carry enough food for a hundred?" Wells asked them.

"Three," Ashton corrected.

Wells gave him a flat look. "You?" he said incredulously. "You volunteered to let us starve."

Ashton dropped his head into his palms. "Oh - you," he paused. "How stupid can you get?" he asked the black boy. " I was bluffing. It was the only certain way to get more people to join us."

Wells shook his head. "Whatever," he insisted. "Besides, three still won't be enough."

Finn grabbed two boys by the backs of their shirts and hauled them forward. "Five of us. Can we go now?" Ashton recognized the both of them from the Ark. The first boy was Monty Green. Ashton didn't know him well, but knew enough to know that he was basically a genius. When he was on the Ark, he took advanced classes with two other students: Monty Green and Raven Reyes. It was nice to see a familiar face. The second boy's name was Jasper Jordan. Ashton didn't know anything about him other than the fact that he was Monty's best friend.

Octavia made her way over to the five of them. "Sounds like a party, make it six," she said with a wink. Ashton couldn't help but grin at her.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Bellamy stormed over.

"Going for a walk," said Octavia sarcastically. "Don't worry, I have Ash." Octavia looped her hand around Ashton's wrist and smiled at him.

Clarke saw Finn playing with his wristband. "Hey, were you trying to take this off?" Her voice was flat. She glared at him as though Finn fidgeting with his wristband was a crime worth floating for. "Yeah, so?" said Finn, an eyebrow cocked.

"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to The Ark. Take it off, and they'll think you're dead," she replied.

"Should I care?" asked Finn. He pretended to not care about that, but Ash could see through his nonchalant act. There was someone he was waiting for on the Ark. Ashton wished that he too could have that privilege.

"Well, I don't know," said Clarke tersely. "Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying." Ashton scoffed to himself. It wouldn't matter either way if he took his wristband off. Clarke should realize that most of the hundred were in similar positions to him.

"Okay, okay," said Finn, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

"Now let's go," said Clarke. She surged forward, the rest of the group following. As much as Ashton didn't agree with her style of leadership, he had to admit that she was almost fearless.

Octavia looked over at Bellamy for permission. He sighed before nodding his head. "Go on."

"Really?" asked Octavia. She smiled before planting a kiss on his cheek and skipping off.

"Wait!" Bellamy called out. "Before you go, I need to talk to Ashton."

Ashton winced. He knew that he thought he was too lucky to be able to leave without talking to the Blake boy. He made his way over to where Bellamy was standing. "Yes?"

The dark-haired boy began to speak, "I -" he paused, changing the direction of the sentence. "Just - Well, I mean," he stumbled over his words, trying to decide what to say. "Keep an eye on Octavia," said Bellamy. "She's been locked away for sixteen years, and now she's finally free. I know my sister, and she's going to be incredibly reckless now. Just make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

Ashton shook his head and laughed. "Of course I'll look out for her. She's my friend," he looked up at Bellamy quickly. "And is that all?" He hoped it was.

"No, no wait," said Bellamy, finally realizing what he wanted to say. "About what happened when you got arrested it - "

"It meant nothing, I know," said Ashton. "I feel the same way."

"No that's not - " Bellamy's expression changed. "You do?"

"Yeah," Ashton nodded his head, on a roll. Anything Bellamy said wouldn't register with him. He had been planning this speech for almost half a year in case he saw Bellamy again. "I realized that I might like boys before I got arrested, so when I was being carried away, I thought, 'hey, I've never kissed a boy before, maybe I should try' so I did."

Of course, that's not what happened. Ashton was in love with the boy, and that's why he kissed him. But after he kissed Bellamy, Ashton saw his face. He was just so... disgusted. Ashton had spent an entire half year hating himself for doing that. He wasn't about to screw up his chance to get close to the Blake boy again. Even being friends was better than nothing.

"Oh," said Bellamy. He took a step back, a grimace on his face like he was trying to smile, but couldn't find it in himself to do so.

"Yeah..." Ashton saw Octavia beckoning him over. "I have to go, I'll talk to you later.

"Bye," Bellamy said. If Ashton had turned around, he would've seen the defeated face on the other boy's face.

When Ashton came back, he went up to the front of the group and began talking to Jasper and Monty. Back near the back of the group, Clarke was glaring at Well's before they left. "You shouldn't have come here, Wells."

Wells opened his mouth to oppose, but Clarke walked past him, catching up to Octavia. "Before you get any ideas, Finn is mine," said Octavia to Clarke.

Clarke scoffed. "Before you get any ideas, I don't care. Besides," she said quietly. "He's not the one I would go for."

Octavia paused. "You like goggle-boy?" she asked Clarke incredulously. Clarke shook her head and Octavia tried again. "Monty?" Clarke shook her head again. "Then who's left?" Octavia asked herself. "Wait, Ashton?!"

Octavia immediately started to laugh, and Clarke glared at her. "What, you don't think he'd like me?"

"No," said Octavia between snickers. "I just don't think you're his type."

"And why is that?" Clarke asked. "And it honestly doesn't matter to me. We need to stay alive down here - meaningless flings don't matter and - " she was cut off by Octavia chuckling.

"Chill don't give yourself an aneurism. I don't know," said Octavia. "Maybe because of the fact that you don't have a dick?"

Clarke felt the blood rush out of her face. "Wait, he's -"

"Duh," responded Octavia. "Didn't you see the sexual tension between him and my brother earlier?"

"Actually, yes," said Clarke softly, so the curly haired blond wouldn't hear. "What's the deal with the two of them?"

"They were like best friends for two years, and then Ashton got arrested a few weeks before I did," said Octavia. "He got really sad after Ash got arrested. I never really understood why. My best guess now is that they were secretly dating or something like that."

A bit later on their hike to Mount Weather, the six had come along to a field of purple flowers. Octavia, who had ditched Ashton to walk with Finn, was having the time of her life. She blushed at Finn who put a flower in her dark hair.

"Now, that, my friends, is game," said Jasper said to Monty and Ashton.

Monty rolled his eyes. "That, my friend, is poison sumac."

"What? It is?" Octavia exclaimed. She quickly swatted the flower out of her hair, and onto the ground.

Monty plucked a flower. "The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually," he said while putting one in his mouth.

Ashton tilted his head and squinted at the flowers. "If they're medicinal," he said slowly. "Then why are they called poison sumac?"

Monty shrugged. "I don't know everything."

Finn looked impressed. Jasper stepped forward to explain. "His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on The Ark."

Clarke, who has been at the front of the group for the entire time turned around, exasperated. "Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?"

Finn shook his head. "Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?"

"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'why haven't we seen any animals?'" Clarke responded. "Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

Octavia rolled her eyes and nudged Ashton suggestively. "Someone should slip her some poison sumac."

Jasper snorted and Finn laughed at him. "I got to know what you two did to get busted."

"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty alluded with a wide grin.

"Someone forget to replace what we took," said Jasper, only half jokingly.

Monty rolled his eyes. "Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times."

Finn turned to Ashton. "What'd you do, then."

"I hacked into the Ark's mainframe and learned all of their dirty little secrets," said Ashton. He could remember his surprise when he learned exactly what the Ark had been hiding.

"Like what?" asked Finn while Jasper turned to Octavia.

"How about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?"

Octavia scoffed. "Being born," she said as she ran away from the rest of them.

Monty laughed at Jasper. "That is so not game."

Ashton finally caught up to Octavia, who was glaring at a leaf. "Octavia -" he began to say.

"I know," sighed Octavia. Ashton was surprised that she agreed so quickly. He was almost certain that he'd have to put up a fight. "I've never felt this free, you know. For my whole life I've always been locked up fro one reason or another - and I've come to terms with that," her voice grew small as she looked to the ground. "It's just that I'm finally here. And I still can't get away from the fact that I was the girl living under the floor."

Ashton flung an arm around her shoulders. "Come, let's catch up with the group." When the two had finally wandered back, Clarke was hurriedly shushing them as she crept forward to look at something in the field across from them. Craning his neck to get a better look, Ashton caught a look at what they were looking at. A wide grin spread across his face.

Finn smiled. "No animals, huh?" He said teasingly.

As they all tried to get a better view, Finn stepped on a nearby twig. The deer looked up, startled. Ashton let out a loud gasp at the sight that had greeted him next. A raw patch of skin was in the middle of its face, or rather faces. The deer's face was grotesquely torn apart with a second face growing out. Ashton felt his stomach stir; he really didn't want that to happen to him.

When they were near a third of the way to Mount Weather, Finn spoke up. "Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"

Ashton knew this. He opened his mouth to answer, but Octavia cut him off. "Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." She spun around a tree, hoping to catch Finn's attention. When he didn't look, she dejectedly walked along with the rest of them.

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know," said Monty. "Like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite." Monty's theory wasn't bad, but Ashton knew that it wasn't right. He opened his mouth to speak once again, but like before, he got cut off. Just this time, it was by Clarke.

"The Ark is dying," Clarke explained. "At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." Everyone other than Ashton and Clarke looked surprised. Ashton could tell that Clarke was wondering why he wasn't as shocked as the rest of the group.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" asked Finn. Ashton winced. Finn had absolutely no tact.

Nevertheless, Clarke continued talking with a hardened expression. "My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw," said Clarke. "He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic - "

Ashton cut her off. "Wait, Clarke, what's your last name?"

"Griffin?"

Ashton's eyes grew wide. "Your father wouldn't happen to be Jake Griffin, would he?"

Clarke looked at him suspiciously. "How did you know my father?"

"I met him at one of my parents' charity events. I was studying to become either an engineer or a guard and - "

"So you're that little prodigy kid that my dad used to talk about." Ashton could still remember the day he met Jake Griffin in vivid detail. He had only been ten then...

Ashton could hear the chatter from the room beside him. He wasn't allowed to go in - he knew that. But usually his parents gave him dinner before they started their parties. This time they didn't. He knew that there would be food within the party. He just didn't know if he should risk it.

Eventually, he just walked in and kept to the shadows. He didn't know what his parents would do to him if he got caught. He quickly walked to the table and grabbed a ration pack before trying to slink back into the shadows.

Key word: trying. Ashton let out a small gasp as he ran into a tall man with blond hair. He shut his eyes tightly, not knowing what this man was going to do to him. The man crouched down to his height and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey what's your name?" He asked. "Mine's Jake."

Ashton felt rather apprehensive before replying to the man - Jake. "Ashton," he said quietly, eyes finding the ground.

"Ashton," Jake mused. "You wouldn't happen to be Elodie and Tom's son, would you?"

Ashton whipped his head up at the mention of his parents names. "Yes," he said quietly, twiddling his thumbs.

"Why aren't you enjoying the party, then?"

Ashton finally met Jake's eyes. "They don't like it when their important friends see me. They," he gulped. "They get angry with me."

Jake sighed before offering Ashton his hand. "Come on," he said. "Let's go get some air." As they walked Jake mentioned something. "I have a daughter around your age. Her name is Clarke. Do you know her?"

Ashton shook his head. Jake smiled. "I'll introduce you two sometime."

Ashton never did end up meeting Clarke, but from that night on, Jake Griffin took Ashton Thawne under his wing. He taught Ashton everything he needed to know to become an engineer, or anything else for that matter. Jake Griffin was more of a father to Ashton Thawne than his own parents could ever be.

Ashton smiled at Clarke. He was glad that the two of them had something in common, even if it was a rather touchy subject. As they walked. Clarke continued to speak. "Anyway," she said. "We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..."

"What, turned in your dad?" Monty raised an eyebrow.

Clarke looked like she was about to flinch, but stayed strong. "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."

Even though the two had gotten off to a rough start, Ash could tell that Clarke would be a good friend to have.

Monty's voice softened. "They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?"

"Good," Octavia glared. "After what they did to me, I say, float them all."

Jasper shook his head. "You don't mean that." Octavia scoffed and walked away from the group

Jasper looked over to Ashton, and Ash smiled weakly. "She'll come around."

Finn wore a panicked expression. "We have to warn them."

Clarke began to talk."That's what my father said."

"Oh, damn, I love Earth," said Jasper. Ashton looked over to where he was looking, and saw Octavia taking off her pants."

The other boys made various comments about Octavia's state of undress, so naturally, Ashton hit all of them over the head.

"Ow." Jasper glared at him.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke asked, irritated while Octavia waded into the water.

"Octavia! We can't swim," Monty called out to her.

Octavia laughed. "I know, but we can stand!" She was smiling so brightly that Ashton couldn't find it within himself to argue with her. He gave her a soft smile back, and began stripping to join her in the water.

Clarke looked down at her map, perplexed. "Wait. There's not supposed to be a river here."

Finn laughed at her. "Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes."

While the six delinquents excitedly got ready to swim in the water, Ashton and Jasper noticed something stirring. Ashton ran into the water while Jasper called out to Octavia. "Octavia, get out of the water! Get out of the water now!"

The other members of their group seemed to freeze. Ashton jumped into action, his hand gripped onto the knife that Michael gave him. He pushed Octavia aside, hoping to get a good hit at the monster in the like. He miscalculated, and screamed as huge jaws clamped onto his leg. The pain was excruciating; the closest Ashton had ever felt to it was when he got tased by a guard in the time he was in the Skybox. Even then, it didn't hurt quite as much. He didn't really have a grasp of time after that. The creature was thrashing him around so quickly that he kept his eyes closed because it hurt too much to open them. He kept his mouth closed in fear of biting down on his tongue. His only sensation was pain. It felt like his limb was being ripped off of his body. He could taste the tears tracing down his face; salty and warm.

Ashton could hear murmurs of the group outside of the water, but nothing clear enough to decipher. He didn't know what they were planning to do. Maybe they decided to leave him there. No use in dragging around dead weight. He lid there for some more time before the creature got distracted. He didn't know how long. It could have been seconds, and it could have been days. All he knew was that he hurt.

The creature loosened its grip from his leg, and Ashton fell face first into the water. He could hear the other delinquents yelling at him to get out of the water. No shit Sherlock! He wanted to say. But I'm kind of dying here! When they realized that he was having trouble, Finn came and helped Ashton out of the water. As they were near the shore, the snake monster came back for them, no longer distracted.

"It's headed right for you, guys!" yelled Clarke.

Finn started to run alongside Ashton. "Come on. Come on. Keep going." Every time he put a fraction of his weight on his leg, his body was set alight. He pushed through the pain and limped towards the rest of the group, Finn's hand on his shoulder. When Ashton finally reached the shore, he flopped down on his back, "I'd guess that we don't have any painkillers. Right?"

He looked down at his left, and honestly it was disgusting. Various parts of his flesh were ripped off. His leg looked more red than it did skin. Clarke came over to check his leg. She
tore off a strip of fabric from her shirt, and wrapped his leg with it, as a bandage. "You're going to be okay."

Octavia came over from Jasper's lap, and threw herself on top of Ashton in a hug. She gripped him tight, and Ashton could feel the tears streaming down her face. "Thank you. Thank you."

Monty smiled. "Note to self, next time, save the girl."

Then Octavia slapped Ashton. "Never do that again."

Monty's smile faded. "Or not?"

Clarke rolled her eyes at Finn. "You wanted to go first. Now quit stalling." The six of them were at another river, and Finn was planning to jump over it using a a vine. Obviously, he was having second thoughts.

"Mount Weather awaits," said Octavia teasingly.

Jasper tried to give him advice. "Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine."

Finn looked up. "The apogee like the Indians, right?"

"Apogee, not apache," said Ashton mildly irritated. "Please educate yourself."

"He knows," stated Clarke, rolling her eyes. "Today, Finn."

Finn grinned. "Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side." As he was about to swing over, Jasper stopped him.

Jasper walked up to Finn. "Wait."

"What?" The two of them exchanged some looks before Finn started smiling.

Jasper looked back towards Octavia. "Let me. I can do it."

Finn laughed "Knew there was a badass in there somewhere."

Ashton could see Jasper hesitating, and stepped forward to help. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper."

Finn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, the trick is not fighting it."

Jasper took a leap of faith."See you on the other side!" When he made it over, he immediately started cheering, loudly. "We are apogee! Yeah!"

The rest of them joined in on the cheering. "You did it, Jasper!" Clarke exclaimed. For the first time, Ashton saw Clarke smiling. All the layers of hardness on her face slipped away, as she grinned in childish contempt. There, Ashton thought that maybe he was judging Clarke too hard. It wasn't her fault that no one else has the guts to take the leader position.

Finn smiled at Clarke. "Let's go, Princess. You're up." Clarke walked to the tree and began climbing up.

"Come on, Clarke! You got this!" Jasper encouraged, and loudly kept cheering. In the midst of Jasper's celebrating, disaster struck. A spear, thrown with pinpoint accuracy landed on the middle of Jasper's chest. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he crumpled to the ground.

"Jasper," gasped Clarke.

"Come on. Come on. Come on," Finn ushered them.

Blood was pounding in Ashton's ears. He glanced around at everyone else, who were seemingly moving in slow motion. Someone was crying and screaming Jasper's name. It wasn't until he felt the tear tracks on his face that Ashton realized it was himself.

They found shelter under a medium sized rock. Frantically running towards it, Ashton backwards tripped over something. Clarke picked the object up. In her hand was a huge misshapen skull she found on the ground. "Guys," she said, her face lighting up in terror. "We're not alone."

So I finished this finally lmao.