chapter three | deers & rivers
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Hunter walked alongside Jasper and Monty while Finn caught up with Octavia and picked a beautiful purple flower. Monty chuckled slightly as Finn placed it in Octavia's hair.

"That, my friend, is game," Jasper nudged Hunter's arm and pointed at Finn. Monty picked up one of the flowers and smelled it.

"That, my friend, is poison sumac," Monty informed the group. Octavia gasped slightly and got rid of the flower.

"What? It is?" Octavia looked back at them.

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming actually," Monty explained before taking a bite out of the flower. Clarke looked back at the trio with a questioning look.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Jasper explained. Clarke stopped walking and looked back.

"Hey, guys. Try to keep up," she said.

"Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" Hunter caught up with a smile and her arms out, gesturing to the nature around them.

"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'Why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none." Clarke huffed as the group caught up with her and listened. "Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though," Clarke turned around with a sigh. "Come on."

"Someone should slip her some poison sumac," Octavia joked quietly, and Jasper snorted at the joke. The group continued walking, and Finn looked back at Jasper and Monty.

"I gotta know what you two did to get busted," Finn smiled.

"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty smiled.

"Someone forgot to replace what we took," Jasper added. Hunter caught up with Finn, and he looked at her with a smile as they listened to the jokers behind them.

"Someone has apologized like a thousand times," Monty sighed.

"What about you, Octavia? What did they get you for?" Jasper asked. Octavia's smile faded, and she started to jog ahead.

"Being born," she said as she left.

"That is so not game," Monty nudged Jasper, and the two friends playfully hit each other. Hunter and Finn looked ahead of them to see what Clarke and Octavia were looking at, then looked at each other before catching up with them. Clarke looked at them and placed a finger over her mouth as if to say 'quiet.'

They knelt down and looked ahead. They saw what she was smiling at—a deer, a beautiful deer, feeding on the grass.

"No animals, huh?" Finn smiled at Clarke. Finn started to creep forward to get a closer look, but he snapped a stick, causing the deer to look at the group. All of them gasped at the sight of the mutated deer with another face growing.

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As the group continued their journey to Mount Weather, Finn quickly jogged ahead to reach Clarke.

"Hey, you know what I would like to know? Why send us down here today, after 97 years? What changed?" Finn asked them. Hunter walked in front of him with a smile.

"Who cares? I'm glad they did," Hunter looked back at him. "I woke up counting down the final days of my execution," Hunter walked up to a tree. "Now I'm spinning in a forest," She spun around the tree and looked back at Finn with a cheeky smile. He and the two jokers walked past her, and she started walking with Octavia and Clarke.

"Maybe they found something in a satellite," Monty spoke. "You know, like an old weather satellite or—"

"It wasn't a satellite," Clarke interjected. "The Ark is dying," Clarke continued walking, and the group stopped and looked at her. "At the current population level, they have roughly 3 months left of life support, maybe 4 now that we're gone," The group started, but continued following Clarke. Finn caught up with Clarke.

"So, that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary. Floated your old man?" Finn asked.

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The council disagreed, my mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were going to go public anyway when Wells—" Clarke trailed off.

"What? Turned in your dad?" Hunter asked as she stood next to Clarke.

"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. So that's why today. That's why it was worth the risk, even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time,"

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asked. Clarke stayed silent until Octavia jumped down from a small ledge.

"Good. After what they did to me, I say float them all," Octavia smiled as she walked past the rest of them.

Jasper caught up with her. "You don't mean that," he spoke.

Finn looked at Clarke. "We have to warn them," Finn spoke to her.

"That's what my father said," Clarke furrowed her brows at him and turned around to walk ahead before bumping into Jasper.

"Oh damn, I love Earth," Jasper admired the scenery in front of him. Hunter and the rest looked ahead with shocked expressions. Octavia proceeded to remove her jacket and pants, leaving her in her maroon singlet and black underwear as she looked upon the river in front of her.

"Jesus—" Hunter scoffed.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke asked aloud. Octavia looked back with a mischievous smile and proceeded to jump into the river. The group ran up to the rock platform and looked at Octavia in the water.

"Octavia—" Monty called out. "We can't swim," Octavia smiled cheekily.

"I know, but we can stand," Octavia smiled as she stood up and chuckled. The group looked at each other with a smile.

"Wait—there's not supposed to be a river here," Clarke looked around with a questioning look as the rest of the group proceeded to remove their clothes. Hunter started to remove her jacket and went to put her hair up in a ponytail.

"Well, there is—so take off your damn clothes," Finn smirked at Clarke as he went to remove his clothes. Jasper placed his goggles on his head and took off his jacket and looked at Octavia, until he saw movement in the water behind her.

"Octavia, get the hell out of the water," Jasper spoke aloud. They all looked ahead of them and saw the water move, and you could just faintly see a long, thick creature moving towards Octavia.

"Get out of the water now!" Jasper called out. Octavia turned around and squealed as the creature dragged her underwater. The group taken aback looked to see if she was still there and suddenly heard a scream as she resurfaced and was being dragged around. The group ran over to where she was.

"What the hell is that? We have to help her!" Hunter called out. Finn took his jacket off.

"What are you going to do?" Monty looked at him.

"Try not to get eaten," Finn spoke as he went to the water. Clarke put a hand out to stop him and went over to a boulder.

"No wait!" Clarke knelt down. "If we distract it, it might let her go." They pushed the boulder into the water, and she was right—it let Octavia go.

Jasper called out, "Can you get to the shore now?" He went over to her and jumped into the water to help her. "I got you,"

The creature turned around and headed toward them. "It's coming back! It's heading toward you guys!" Hunter called out, and they all rushed to the shore.

Jasper managed to grab Octavia and started pulling her up to the shore.

"Come on! Keep moving!" Jasper helped her up, and the creature swam past, completely missing them. They went over to them, knelt down, and saw the large gash on Octavia's thigh. Hunter grabbed her jacket and put it around the drenched Octavia, and Clarke tore the bottom of Jasper's shirt to use as a makeshift bandage for Octavia's thigh. Octavia hugged Jasper and thanked him.

"You're gonna be okay," Clarke reassured her.

"Note to self—" Monty smiled. "Next time, save the girl," Monty rubbed Jasper's shoulders. They all chuckled and looked at their new hero.

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