CHAPTER ONE

"shut up, assholes!"

***

I have always found it funny how silence can consume your thoughts. 

I used to think that silence was an accessory to chaos. If you wanted to take something, it had to be silent, or else you would be caught and everything would go to shit. You had to just hold your breath and allow yourself to listen to the erratic beating of your own heart, hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst. In the past - to me, at least - silence sounded like the brutal wake of anticipating. 

 Now, silence just really pisses me off. 

 I have grown so accostumed to it that sometimes, all I can even conjure up in my mind are images of silence. It sounds like a dull, annoying buzz that rings in your ears and leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth. Ever since I had been left alone, the only thing I can really do is stare at the walls and try to remember what my own voice sounds like. 

 I haven't always been alone. My old cellmate's name was Eli. He never actually told me his last name, which was kind of sketchy, but it also made sense. I mean, you take one look at a scrawny klepto who keeps talking about how much he hates people, and you don't exactly want to give them intimate details of your life. I guess I forgot to ask. He was in this stupid room with me for a year and a half, until he turned eighteen and got floated. 

 So now I'm left alone, which just gives me another reason to hate the justice system. 

 "Prisoner 298, stand up and face the wall!" 

 "What the hell?" I demanded, standing up so I could face the two guards that burst into my room. My voice was hoarse from all of the not-talking I do, and I had to clear my throat to hide the nerves that built in my chest at the sight of the armed men. "I don't turn eighteen until next week, this isn't legal!" 

 "We're not killing you!" One of the guards growled. "Now face the wall!" 

 I reluctantly obliged, wincing as sharp metal pressed into the skin of my wrist. I looked at the mechanical looking band that was now clasped across it. I opened my mouth to ask what was happening, but couldn't form a coherent thought, so just  put my hand to my chest in mock-happiness. "You bought me a birthday present? You shouldn't have!"

 "Let's go kid." One of the guards began dragging me to the door as I mentally kicked myself for not being more respectful to people who are literally holding firearms. I didn't resist, I wasn't stupid enough to fight two heavily armed guards, but I did speak up.

 "Hey! Where are you taking me?" I asked, seeing as the same thing was happening to many other prisoners in my block. "Is this some sort of surprise assembly I should know about?" 

 "You're going to Earth." 

 "What?" 

 I yanked my arms from their firm grips, spinning around so I could face them. They both had their weapons out, and looked about ready to fry me into a Nate-Kabob. I actually didn't care about that small fact, as words began to pour from my mouth before I had the chance to really comprehend them. 

"Earth is inhabitable!" I hissed, crossing my arms indignantly and trying to not look as scared as I felt. "You send me down there, I die, you know it, I know it. I'm not stupid!" 

 "You and ninety-nine others are being sent to the Earth!" Guard number one hissed. "Maybe you are wrong, maybe you are right, but you leave now." 

 And with that, they both grabbed one of my arms and wrestled me into the drop ship, where I would be dropped to my death. 

***

We were free-falling through space. 

 And I thought it was stupid. 

 "Nathaniel Masteron is that you?" 

 I turned my head, immediately feeling a grin slip onto my face at the sight. My Asian friend managed to flash me a peace-sign, which, giving the fact that we were hurtling through outer space, was pretty impressive. "What up?" 

 "Hey, Monty." I greeted, nudging my head up in greeting. "Isn't this place lovely?" 

 "Yeah where I dream if going on my first date." 

 "With who, Jasper?" 

 The goggle-donning boy popped his head into my line of vision from Monty's other side. "I have to disagree with that statement." 

 Even if I was super pissed, and probably about to die, I couldn't help but grin. Becoming friends with Monty and Jasper was on my ever-growing list of stupid crimes, as the airlock that I found leading to Farm Station wasn't exactly open for the public. I almost died the first time I did it, since I legitimately thought it was just another place to hide from guards. 

 "Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now." 

 I rolled my eyes as my gaze became stormy. Jaha. Chancellor of the Ark. The one who killed my parents. 

"You have been given a second chance, and, as your chancellor, I hope that you see this not just as a second chance for yourself, but a second chance for all of us, indeed for mankind himself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there-" 

 The lights flickered, and I nervously shifted in my seat I was so prepared to be floated, I had the day memorized. But now this? How am I supposed to die like this? Strapped to a chair like some sort of loser.

 "Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean." 

 I began to stop paying attention to the chancellors voice, as my attention was captured when a boy floated into my line of vision. He was taking advantage of the anti gravity, and his long hair was floating all around his head. I snickered quietly as he did a front-flip.

 "Get back in your seats if you want to live!" I heard a semi-familiar voice cry, and could feel the blood draining out of my face. My first instinct was to smack my head against the cool steel of my seat, but then blinked twice and shook my head. What could that bitch have done to get locked up?  I scoffed, and decided that it was just my imagination. There is no way Clarke was here, no way at all. 

 The chancellors voice began falling in and out of focus as parachutes deployed. A lot of people screamed as the Drop ship shuddered and sparks flew. I swore really loudly, closing my eyes and trying to cover my face with my arms. The ship begins rocking back and forth, and sparks rain down on us. I clutched the straps wrapped around my body tightly, and prayed that I wouldn't die before I got the chance to see the Earth from the inside. 

 As suddenly as it began, the shaking stopped, and everything was silent except for the excessive breathing of one hundred teenagers. 

"Hear that?" Monty asked, "no machine hum." 

 I frowned, unbuckling my seat belt and stretching out my muscles, sucking in a deep breath of the thin air and stumbling slightly as I walked over to the hatch where a ladder to the lower levels would be located. I turned back before I completely disappeared, shooting my fellow prisoners a look. "Well?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You all wanna stay in this piece of shit, or go see what Earth looks like?" 

 A girl with long brown hair and a sharp jawline hopped down from her seat, her boots clanging against the floor as she took a moment to regain her balance, running over to meet me. "Right behind you."

I grinned at her, ruffling my hair as I pulled the hatch open with a grunt, practically jumping down the ladder. 

 The rest of the group murmured their agreement, following us down the stairs. The brunette girl kept casting me nervous glances, even after we reached the bottom level. She cleared her throat. "I'm Octavia." 

I grinned at her from the corner of my eye. "Nate." 

 She sighed, smiling in relief. She kept looking at me as if I would lash out and bite her head off at any second. The one hundred delinquents were all gathering by the door. A tall man in a guards uniform standing in front of the doors.  

 "We can't just open the doors!" 

 I eyes flew up in hope to catch sight of the voice that sounded like the person I would like to float. I couldn't find her face though, and sighed in defeat. Maybe earth's air was toxic, and my hallucinations have already begun... or maybe earth just got interesting.

 Octavia looked as if she was about to say something, but before she got the chance, her mouth dropped open in shock and her eyes widened to the size of the Ark itself. 

 "Bellamy?" 

 What the hell kind of name is Bellamy? I wanted to ask, but figured that getting shot wasn't the best beginning to a new life. Octavia shoved her way to the front and jumped into the arms of the guard uniform dude. I began to push my way to the front, accidentally elbowing one guy in the nose in the process. Hopefully he wasn't a murderer. 

 Gentle whispers began to spread throughout the Drop Ship, and I cursed and stuck up my middle finger when some random guy stepped on my foot. 

 "Hey, do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in over a year!" Octavia snapped, and I sighed, realizing why she was so worried I was going to recognize her. Octavia Blake. The girl who lived under the floors of the Ark. Ballsy, I give her props for that. But this must be why she was here. Caught, arrested, sentenced to death. 

 It was a miracle I even know that story, by the way, but people talk, even people in prison.

 "Nobody has a brother!" Someone yelled, quickly followed by another voice. 

"That's Octavia Blake! The girl who hid under the floors!" 

 Octavia narrowed her eyes, lunging forward, but her brother caught her around the waist, preventing her from committing the first murder on Earth. I actually smiled at that, crossing my arms and realizing that I was probably going to like Octavia.

 "Shut up, assholes!" I yelled, my loud voice silencing the whole drop ship. The girl sent me a grateful look, and I nodded in reply. I hate annoying people. I hate most people, but especially people who would berate Octavia for something she didn't have any control over. Plus, I figured that if I could tolerate her, maybe I will have a less likelihood of being jumped or something.

 "Let's give them something else to remember you by." Bellamy- I guess that is his name- said, and Octavia rolled her eyes. "Yeah? Like what?" 

 "Like being the first person on the ground for one hundred years." 

  I paused, clearing my throat nervously when I realized that no one else was going to correct him. "Ninety-seven, actually." 

 Anxiety swallowed the room whole as Bellamy reached up to the lever. I held my breath, bracing myself for whatever could happen when that door opened. Every teenager in this room was doing the same, hoping for the world to be safe, but prepared if it wasn't. 

 Blinding light evaded my vision as the door creaked open. I took a moment to shield my eyes, tears springing into my vision at the blinding sensation the sun gave off. Once I could actually see, I gasped, moving forward slightly and laughing in disbelief. The air was sweet and fresh, and everything was so... green. 

 Octavia took a few tentative steps on the dirt ground, before a jubilant grin spread across her lips. She threw her arms in the air, and yelled the first words Earth has known in years. 

 "We're back bitches!"