CHAPTER TEN
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     EXHAUSTION WAS WHAT SHE NOW ALWAYS FELT AND NOTHING ELSE, not since they had landed on the ground. Her feet felt so used and she knew that they had never been like this back on the Ark. The hair on her head was greasy and it hadn't been washed in days. Bathing was somewhat of a luxury now if she even had the time to find a water source. Survival had taken priority over cleanliness.

     Her eyes now had bags under them from the lack of sleep she had been experiencing. Any time that she had attempted to fall asleep, something catastrophic happened. Her hands had been through such strain they felt much tougher, although she still felt like those were mostly the same.

     So much about her was still the same and for that she was thankful. Despite there being quite a lot that had changed, she still had a few constants. Everything had come into question after she had come to the planet, but she felt as if she was coming out of the end of a dark tunnel nevertheless.

     Taylor had fallen asleep by the fire and gotten more sleep than she had in what felt like the longest time. It didn't matter that the hard ground was what she had fallen asleep on, at least she had gotten some.

     Her eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was the flickering light of the fire. For once she finally felt rested and ready to do something. She squinted at the jacket that had been draped over her, knowing that it wasn't hers.

     Sitting up and letting the jacket fall onto her lap, she yawned and sat there quietly for a moment listening to the crack of the burning wood. Her tangled hair was a mess of twigs and dirt, but it wasn't bothering her as much as it probably would have before. It felt like one of the only moments of peace she had experienced since they had arrived.

     "Have you seen Octavia?" Bellamy desperately asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She jumped slightly at his sudden approach and shook her head.

     "Was she not in the tent?" He shook his head as his eyes darted around camp, the search for her going on constantly in his head.

     "I've checked everywhere. Clarke is going around and looking through camp again," he explained as she stood up with the jacket in her hand. Taylor was shocked that Clarke was actually helping considering the dislike she harbored for both of them. "I'm going to round up a search party."

     "I can take another group out. You go one way, we'll go another. That way we can cover more ground," she suggested. He nodded in agreement and she stopped him before they walked to the center of camp to make the announcement. She held up the jacket, noticing his absence of one. "Thanks."

     Again, he nodded. The worry that was so clear on his face seemed to be clouding every aspect of his mind. He grabbed every weapon they had on the weapons table with the tarp that lay under them and the two marched to where everyone would hear.

     "Hey, everybody, gather around and grab a weapon," he called out, causing a crowd to form around them. "My sister's been out there alone for twelve hours. Arm up. We're not coming back without her."

     Taylor leaned down and picked up another knife, slightly bigger than the one she had been keeping in her pocket since the hunt for the radio.

     "Bellamy's going to be leading one group, I'm going to be leading another," she announced. "We're covering as much ground as possible." The crowd mingled in with each other, picking up weapons, torches, and other supplies in order to search more efficiently.

     "Hey! What's that?" someone called out, pointing to the sky. Hundreds of lights flashed with the stars, many remarking on how beautiful it looked.

     "They didn't work. They didn't see the flares," Raven commented in a disappointed tone with her eyes directed to the sky.

     "A meteor shower tells you that?" Bellamy inquired, looking between Raven and the sky with a perplexed stare. Clarke glanced at him glassy eyed and appalled.

     "It's not a meteor shower, it's a funeral," she responded gravely. "Hundreds of bodies being returned to the earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side. They didn't get our message."

     Taylor felt her stomach drop as she stared up at all of the lights falling in the sky. They were people. People with their own lives, purposes, and goals and it had all been taken away from them just so the others could have a chance. She felt for them immensely at that moment, hoping that no one's loved ones had been included in the killing.

     "This is all because of you!" Raven shouted, lunging at Bellamy fiercely as Clarke and Finn grabbed her arms to hold her back.

     "I helped you find the radio!" Bellamy replied heatedly.

     "Yeah, after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it!" she yelled. Clarke pulled her back after she attempted to take a few more steps toward him and shook her head.

     "Yeah, he knows. Now he has to live with it," she said bitterly, eyeing Bellamy with utter hostility.

     "Arguing about it now isn't going to do anything," Taylor spoke with her voice thick with grief, not trying to pick and choose sides but instead attempting to stop the encounter altogether. Bellamy glanced up at the sky again, his eyes swimming with remorse.

     "All I know is that my sister is out there and I'm gonna find her," he diverted, his gaze settling on Finn. "You coming or what?" Finn nodded and mumbled a confirmation. Bellamy then ordered everyone to move out, rushing out of the gates and into the woods without another sound.

     "Everyone with me, over here!" Taylor hollered, putting her hand up in the air and gesturing for them to follow her. The idea of going out into the forest in the middle of the night did not appeal to many at camp, the search parties not garnering a significant number of participants. She chalked that up to fears and the threat that the Grounders posed.

     Her group was made up of about fifteen people at the start. A few held torches as she led the way, trying to put what limited tracking skills she had to use. "Anyone here decent at tracking?" she questioned over her shoulder.

     "I'm not too bad," a timid voice wavered towards the middle of the group.

     "Well that's probably better than me," she encouraged with a smile, jerking her head towards the front to get the girl to come forward.

     Walking like that reminded her of the night that she had spent running through the woods with Bellamy trying to find Charlotte. It gave off an eerie feeling anytime she went out at night, but she wasn't going to rest until she found Octavia. She didn't want to face the idea of not finding her and couldn't imagine how scared and alone she must have been feeling.

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ten years ago
january 24, 2139

     The young girl skipped through the halls of the ship merrily, not a care in the world. Things were like that on the Ark. Life started out ignorant, unaware of the truth of the place. But as the years went on, ignorance wasn't bliss; one soon experienced tragedy, enough to wake them up to the reality of their home.

     It was much like that for Taylor, her life changing for what she had decided was the better on the day she woke up from her childlike ignorance. But it had also brought some things for the worse.

     She rounded the corner quickly, not paying any attention to where she was going. The wind was knocked out of her with a puff when she collided with another body directly outside of someone's door.

     Sitting up, she saw a dark-haired girl not more than three years younger than herself giggling on the floor.

     "Sorry," she apologized, remembering her mother's nagging voice reminding her to always apologize and be polite to strangers.

     The girl stared at her in absolute awe and soon enough, the two were playing around like they had already been friends all that time. Footsteps echoed through the hall and a breathless boy approached them looking scared and panicked.

     He had come from an open door down the hall and his eyes widened at the sight of the two girls. He hurried to them and gently picked up the young girl, bringing her to her feet.

     She giggled as he helped her up, but her face fell. "I don't wanna go back in, big brother," she mumbled, almost disappointed now that she had realized what was happening. Taylor was confused at what she had called him; nobody had any siblings. She knew from her parents and their late night talks that she listened to about not being able to have another child.

     "We need to go," he told her calmly, eyeing the girl that was now getting to her feet in front of the two. The girl nodded sadly and they left suddenly, both looking back at a confused Taylor every so often before shutting the door behind them.

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     A twig snap echoed through the trees, causing the group to stop dead in their tracks. "What was that?" someone muttered fearfully. 

     "Oh no, oh no! We're so screwed, it's probably Grounders!" someone else wailed extremely loudly.

     "Shh!" Taylor snapped, grabbing a torch from the nearest person and holding it out to see between the trees around them. "There's nothing here."

     "Screw that! I'm outta here!"

     "Me too!"

     Sighing, she gave the torch back to the bystander she had taken it from and watched as most of the group ran away back to camp. She only hoped that Bellamy was having better luck on his end.

     Only five of them total remained; Chandler, Harper, Miller, the tracker girl — Lana, and a boy named Atlas. She looked to all of them, the torch Miller was holding illuminating all of their faces. "Looks like it's just us. Now let's go find Octavia."