What's that? A generic YouTube clip of Radioactive for the first chapter like every other The 100 fanfic?

Hell yes.

Bold writing= speaking Swedish.

O N E | CURIOSITY KILLED THE CARTER

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

The loud thumping of her combat boots was all she focused on, it was all she could focus on. The echo bounced off the metal walls of the Ark in a fast, rhythmic pace. Carter stretched her legs further as she sped up, her heart and lungs protesting as she did.

Come on, come on, you're almost there, she pushed herself, ignoring the heavy, uneven gulps of air she inhaled and exhaled. As she took a sharp turn, Carter lost her balance and cursed under her breath, trying to keep control of her feet but it was too late.

She felt his large hands tighten around her arm, yanking her back. He slammed her against the cold, metal wall and fisted the scruff of her sweater tightly. She was so royally screwed. He stared at her with fury and slammed her body against the wall again, this time there was more strength and aggression behind it, her muscles throbbed and the air was forced from her lungs.

"How much did you hear?" He spat, narrowing his eyes at the eighteen-year-old rookie engineer.

"Enough to know you've got some serious issues," She barely wheezed, clenching her jaw. The look of horror crossed his face and then was quickly replaced with a burning anger and hatred. Maybe she shouldn't have said that...

His rough hands wrapped around her throat and he started squeezing, crushing her windpipe. Carter gasped and tried to kick out but it was all in vain, her lungs began to heave, desperately trying to get oxygen. Okay. She definitely shouldn't have said that.

"I will not have an eavesdropping bitch ruin this for me. Not even Kane's precious little girl." The Commander hissed. Carter desperately grabbed at his hands, trying to pull them away but she knew she was only kidding herself. He was a hell of a lot stronger than her. He began to tighten his grip more and dark, fuzzy blotches impaired her vision. Wow, what a way to go, she thought bitterly, strangled by a freaking glorified guard.

A new look crossed his otherwise livid face which caused her stomach to drop with dread. Carter knew that look, she got it all the time; He had a plan. "Actually, I've got a better, easier way to dispose of you." His hands released from around her neck and she dropped to the floor, gasping for air. Her throat burned as well as her lungs, with little energy, she scrambled away from the psychopath known as Commander Shumway and glowered as she gulped at the air vigorously.

"You... you seriously need to rethink your ca-career choice," Carter exhaled breathlessly. "I don't think your... personality... suits being a... guard- you're too mentally un-unstable."

He suddenly dragged her back to her weak feet and shoved her back against the wall, his left forearm pressed against her collarbones roughly, to stop her from escaping, whilst his right hand pulled out his taser. Oh shit, she mentally cursed, regretting everything she did wrong (which was a lot) in her life. This was it. He was going to kill her and shove her body in the Janitor's closest who also turned out to be a hit-man.

Shumway sneered at her, "If I find out you've told anyone-- and I will find out-- your daddy will be the first person I visit with this," He chuckled darkly, waving the metal baton-taser in front of her face lazily. She could hear the fast hum of the electric coursing through it and swallowed thickly. "I'll make sure he will never spend another minute on the Ark, I can assure you." He leaned in closer to her, his dark expression twisted angrily. "See, I may not be as high as your father, but you can be damn sure I'll get him floated. After all it's pretty easy-- every crime is a death sentence, all I've got to do is set him up and them bam-- bye bye daddy."

"You wouldn't dare." Carter seethed, her blood turned cold from his words. She was never on the 'best of terms' with her dad but she would still fight for him with every ounce of her body.

"Wouldn't I?" Shumway smirked, though she was pretty sure he was seriously trying not to sneer. His face was all contorted like he was attempting to keep his little anger problem under control. Carter was doing the same, she tried to keep her face calm and unemotional, but in her head she was thinking of multiple, grotesque ways to kill the asshole on the spot... starting with eye-gauging. "Now you're going to play a good prisoner and go down to earth with the rest of the juveniles. I'm a genius, right? What better way to kill you then to let the radiation burn you from inside out? No mess for me, no body to hide, no problem. And even if, by some miracle, you don't die--which is unlikely-- I will know if you utter a word to anyone down there. Do you understand?"

"Earth?" Was all she could stammer out. Carter could almost guarantee her eyes had widened to their maximum capacity and all the color in her face had drained. No. No, no, no. She would rather be floated-- or even strangled-- than be sent down to be burned alive by acid rain or mist that sizzled you to a crisp. Shumway spoke no more, instead he lifted the taser and brought it to her stomach. The second it came in contact with her skin, her body began to jolt violently and then her muscles stiffened as a white hot pain stretched across her entire body before everything went black. The last thing she saw was Shumway's remorseless eyes mocking her weakness.

Well, shit.

***

The first thought that sparked in Carter's mind when she came to, was that she definitely wasn't in her bed... or any bed for that matter. She was sat upright and her back and neck was stiff. Her head throbbed and an unexplainable ache wracked through her slim body. It made her want to just lay down in a hole and die. She groaned lowly as she opened her eyes slowly and lifted her head, taking in her surroundings. Even through a blurry sight, Carter felt her stomach plummet. She was strapped in to a seat as was dozens of other people. Young people.

No. Convicts.

"Hey, are you all right? You've been out for a while." She snapped her head towards the sudden voice that sounded next to her. A blonde girl was looking her up and down with concern.

"Ouch, yeah... I'm good. I think." She tried to keep the pain and confusion out of her voice. Carter moved slightly in her seat, with the attempt to get comfortable against the harness. Every part of her awoke with a sudden pain and that was when the memories slammed back into her at full force. Shumway and his god damned electro-stick. Her jaw worked back and forth. She was angry with herself for letting her guard down (pun somewhat intended) and for having such bad coordination with her feet. Before she could stop herself, the words tumbled out of her mouth angrily, "Son of a bitch."

"Are you sure you're all right?" The blonde asked again.

"Yeah, I just... ache," Carter lightly brushed her off. She smiled softly to herself, it was nice that the girl showed genuine concern. It was rare on the Ark, let alone from a prisoner. Carter stuck out her hand awkwardly to the blonde, "My name's Carter," She half-smiled.

"Clarke." The blond replied, gently shaking Carter's hand. Carter looked down at Clarke's wrist and then at her own with confusion. They both had a thick metal bracelet clamped around their wrists. That was probably how Shumway got her on the ship, she reasoned, by pretending she was a prisoner. Carter pulled her hand away and began to examine the metal band attached to her wrist with narrowed eyes. How the hell did that get there?

"They suck, don't they?" Clarke's voice cut off Carter's train of thought she looked back up at Clarke then back at the weird bracelet. A dull ache surrounded the band, but she managed to ignore it.

"What the hell is it?"

"It's so they can check our vitals when we're down on earth, to see how we do and if we die." Ah. So it wasn't a dream, Carter gritted her teeth. They really were going to the freaking planet that they left in the first place. For a damn good reason, too. "Did they not tell you when they came into your cell?"

"Uh," Carter wanted to say she wasn't in prison, because it was the truth but then Shumway's threat echoed in the back of her mind.

"If I find out you've told anyone-- and I will find out-- your daddy will be the first person I visit."

"No, they just electrocuted me with that damn stick." It was half the truth and that was the best she could give. "Whoever said it was a good idea for guards to carry them deserves to burn in hell. They hurt like a bitch."

Clarke grimaced and then a sudden large vibration thundered through the Drop ship, causing the juveniles to shrill out in panic. Carter's eyes widened and she gripped onto the straps of the belt that kept her firmly in the seat. For an engineer, she really didn't like the idea of Drop ships. Especially because the one she was stuck on was taking a one-way ticket to a radioactive planet.

"What was that?" Clarke asked, her tone betrayed the attempted look of bravery on her face. Carter knew what it was and she was far from happy about it. Her palms turned sweaty and she could feel her heart accelerate to an unnatural state. She was scared. Terrified, even,

"The atmosphere." Carter murmured shakily, not even bothering with the bravado act.

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now," an automated version of Chancellor Jaha appeared on one of the many screens in front of the Hundred. The chatter of prisoners died down as they all began to watch their Chancellor on the small television. He was the man Carter was trying to get to, she blinked at the image of him and pursed her lips into a tight line. She hoped he was okay, even if he was a douchebag, he didn't deserve to die. That's the whole reason she was running away from Shumway to begin with, Carter overheard him talking to a janitor about assassinating Councillor Jaha.

It was just her luck to get caught, though.

"You have been given a second chance and as your Chancellor it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself." Carter's eyes never left the screen. She was freaking out. Not just because of the Drop ship itself, but it's grim destination. She wasn't even supposed to be on that damn thing and yet she found herself hurling through the atmosphere with one hundred juveniles that had done god-knows-what to get themselves locked up. In her opinion, she had every right to freak out.

"We have no idea what is waiting for you down there - if the odds of survival were better we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you 'expendable'" What an asshole, Carter scoffed inwardly. Just because they may not have been law abiding citizens, does not mean they could be Jaha and the council's guinea pigs. It was wrong, and Carter was sickened by the man's words. The man that was voted by the people of the Ark to lead them to a better life. It only seemed he was leading them into a darker one.

"Your dad's a dick, Wells!"

Carter peeled her eyes away from Jaha and looked around in search for Chancellor's son in disbelief, no way would he send his own son to a radioactive-induced death... Another abrupt jolt shook the drop ship and she never meant to, but the nerves wracked through her body uncontrollably and she gripped onto Clarke's arm with a new found fear.

Come on, Carter. You're a god damn engineer, you've been in space before, and you weren't scared then, so don't be scared now. Get your shit together.

Clarke grasped Carter's hand back, just as tight and she let out a shaky breath, attempting to calm herself down.

"If you survive," Jaha's voice droned on. It didn't go unnoticed to Carter of the chosen word 'if'. "Then those crimes will be forgiven - your records wiped clean.Your drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within the mountain stocked with enough nonperishables to sustain three-hundred-people for two years."

Carter looked away from Jaha's speech to a boy who idiotically decided to get out of his seat and began to float over. She couldn't see his face at first, but she knew exactly who it was because someone decided to shout,

"Spacewalk bandit strikes again."

Finn Collins. A large smile tugged at her lips as she momentarily forgot about her impending death. She and Finn went way back. They had been friends since she decided to accidentally stumble into his life-- literally. She never knew what it was like to have a sibling but if it was anything like the way she loved Finn, she saw him as a brother. After he got imprisoned for his stupid illegal spacewalk, Carter went to see him whenever she could. A massive wave of relief flooded over her just knowing that he was there and if they did survive this, she had her little 'brother' (by three months, and only three months as Finn insisted on reminding her every time it's mentioned,) back.

"Check it out," Finn smirked, looking towards the guy that was sat next to Clarke. "Your dad floated me after all."

"You wouldn't want to be out your seat when the parachutes come out..." Carter warned with a smirk. His head immediately snapped towards her upon hearing the really faint Swedish accent and his eyes widened. "Otherwise you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"Carter!" He all but exclaimed with a toothy grin. "What... How-how did you get here?"

Her smile faltered. What could she tell him? The truth was definitely not an option-- even if it was Finn.

"Uh..."

"You two, stay put if you want to live!" Clarke's voice swerved the two away from the topic and Carter breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to lie to Finn. To fully take her mind off it, she looked over to where two boys had unbuckled themselves in order to mimic Finn. Dumbasses, Carter shook her head.

Finn looked over to Clarke and a lazy smile sat on his face as he carelessly floated in front of them. "You're the traitor who made solitary for a year."

Carter watched with a cocked eyebrow as Clarke narrowed her eyes and her jaw set into a tight line. She's pissed, Carter knew that from the sudden death grip that Clarke had on her hand. It hurt. "And you're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk." Clarke bit back, and Carter couldn't help but chuckle quietly. The girl had spice, Carter respected that.

Finn smirked at her. "But it was fun," He shrugged. "I'm Finn."

One of the boys decided to actually leave his seat. "Stay in your seats!" Clarke called over, but she may as well as been talking to a wall. That was when gravity turned on like a flick of a switch and all three of those who weren't in their seats were thrown harshly around the Drop ship. Including Finn.

"Finn!" Carter yelled desperately, trying to see where he had been flung to.

"Finn! Are you okay?" Clarke cried out. Carter felt sick, her stomach weighed heavily. No body should be hurdling towards a planet at such a velocity and expect to live. She took another deep breath and stared forward, attempting to clear the worries out of her head. Operative word being attempted.

If I die, I die. It's inevitable, she lamely told herself. At least she wasn't floated, strangled or just died on the Ark. Although, as she was flying towards the solid, radioactive earth, she began to think that dying on the Ark was a winning option. She vaguely heard Clarke talking, or more like shouting at the guy who sat next to her. Carter assumed it was Wells Jaha.

"Oh shit," Carter muttered under her breath. "This isn't good."

She felt her abdomen, as well as the rest of her body shake violently along with the Drop ship. It was definitely a feeling she didn't want again. One of the kids had hit a pipe and pressurized air was flowing out of it rapidly. Great. That was their oxygen supply. If the planet really was uninhabitable, they couldn't just stay in the Drop ship now. Not that they could anyway, Carter thought logically, the toxins from outside would find a way in and kill them even if there was regulated oxygen.

Sparks flew from all angles and the lights flickered. Jaha's face had disappeared leaving the TV's black. Ok. So that's definitely not good.

And then all at once, everything stopped. The humming of machinery died down, the sparks stopped flying around so manically and the lights finally stayed on. Carter cautiously looked around, as did the others-- no one knew what to do.

"Listen," Someone broke the uncertain silence. "No machine hum."

He was right. There was literally no noise. Carter marvelled in the sudden tranquility, just for a fraction of a second. "Woah, that's the first." Another kid murmured in awe.

There was another beat of silence and Carter quickly scrambled out of her seat and towards Finn. He was knelt over the body of one of the boys that followed him out his seat. The second she got there she grabbed his shoulder and span him around to face her. He was an inch or two taller than her, but that didn't stop her from staring at him with an irritable glare. His warm brown eyes met her green ones and she saw how lost Finn looked. That was when she knew the kid didn't make it. Carter brought him into a hug and buried her face in his shoulder. She was glad that he wasn't seriously injured or worse, but there was a sudden jolt of anger she felt. Those boys died following him and as much as she wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, she couldn't.

They hadn't even been on earth for a solid five minutes and already kids were dead. How promising, she thought drearily,

Carter pulled away from him and glowered. "You ever pull a stunt like that again and I will kick your ass so hard you'll be choking on your kidneys."

He didn't say anything. He just looked back down at the boy with mournful eyes.

"Finn, is he breathing?" Clarke's voice called out. Carter turned her head to the side a little to see Clarke by the other boy, she was checking his pulse. Finn shook his head remorsefully.

"The outer doors are on the lower level, let's go!" A different voice broke through Carter's morbid thoughts and urged the prisoners to follow.

"No!" Both Clarke and Carter chorused. Carter looked to Clarke with knitted eyebrows. These kids had a death wish, she was convinced.

"We can't just open the doors!" Clarke exclaimed, standing up. Carter was already up and jogging towards the ladder that led down to the lower level. She was too panicked to take the ladder so instead she swung down the opening and dropped to the lower level, narrowly missing one of the people climbing down the ladder and weaved her way through the prisoners who were surrounding the outer door of the Drop ship.

A guard was at the front trying to keep everyone under control, and failing.

"Hey, just back it up guys!" He demanded, pushing the eager ones back. The closer Carter got the more the feeling of horror washed through her, sending goosebumps to travel the entire course of her body. That guy wasn't a guard.

That was Bellamy Blake, the janitor who was ordered to shoot Jaha.

Horror was replaced with dread. If he was on the Drop ship that must mean he went through with it, Carter concluded.

"Stop!" Clarke called out. Carter turned around and watched as she hurried down the ladder and through the crowd stopping by her new friend. She looked at everyone with urgency. "The air could be toxic!"

Bellamy looked at her with a serious expression. "If the air was toxic, we're all dead anyway."

Carter knew he was right. They would be dead. But apparently, her mouth didn't think he was and was running before she could stop it. "You really wanna take that bet? We're on a planet that's been deep-fried in radiation for ninety-seven years. There was a reason our people fled the ground and I sure as hell don't want to find out why."

He looked at her with an unusual look. Most people did, her accent often caused her to get weird looks. Her mother was from a Swedish bloodline and didn't want to lose the language that her family shared, it was pretty expectant for Carter to speak Swedish too and have a faint accent, but there wasn't many people around who spoke anything other than English on the Ark. She watched him carefully and not even a look of recognition crossed his face. He didn't know she knew his dirty little secret. Bellamy opened his mouth to retort but another voice sliced through the crowd.

"Bellamy?" A small, yet persistent voice asked. A pretty brunette made her way through the crowd.

Bellamy had froze, his eyes following the girl. She stopped by Clarke and Carter for a fraction of a second before walking all the way up to Bellamy.

A smile inched on his face. "God, look how big you are," He beamed.

The girl suddenly wrapped herself around him in a tight hug and Carter felt an overbearing amount of confusion towards the two. It didn't look like it was romantically inclined, but it seemed more than just friendly. When she pulled away from him, she took in his attire and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"What the hell are you wearing? A guards uniform?" She spat the word 'guard' out with disgust. Carter raised her brow in amusement, she couldn't particularly blame the brunette for it, she heard through the grapevine that the guards are assholes when you were in confinement. Well, they were assholes, period. Carter found that out the hard way.

Take Shumway for example.

An almost sheepish look crossed Bellamy's face. "I borrowed it, to get on the Drop ship," He explained. Cater's eyebrows rose further up, almost incredulously. He wasn't going to tell her what he did to get that uniform... "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you." They both smiled at each other and the girl went in for another hug, oblivious to the rest of the Hundred that were stood watching.

"Where's your wristband?" Clarke asked, her brows furrowed. Carter looked down at his wrist and Clarke was right, he didn't have one. The only reason there was no suspicion that Carter wasn't supposed to be on the Drop ship was because Shumway stuck the metal band on her, and yet he was there without one. As much as she would hate to admit it, even to herself, Shumway was smart for an asshole.

Absentmindedly, Carter's fingers began to play with the band stuck to her wrist.

She stared at the man with anticipation. She wanted to hear his excuse for that too. It was clear he had no intention to tell these people what he really did to land himself there. Before he could feed them some bullshit story, the brunette turned to Clarke with a pointed look. "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year."

Brother.

Brother?!

Carter did a double take at what she said and her jaw turned slack. She could suddenly see it as soon as the girl said it, the resemblance. Dark hair, dark eyes, tanned skin.

"No one has a brother!" A kid from the crowd pointed out.

"That's Octavia Blake," someone else hollered. "The girl they found hidden under the floor!"

Carter's eyes widened as she tried to hide her surprise. Holy shit, was she the only one that didn't know this? Octavia was, what, seventeen and spent a year in exile. She was hidden in the floor for sixteen years. That was no life for anyone. Hell, that wasn't even a life. Octavia's already dark eyes darkened more and she lunged herself into the crowd only to be restrained by her brother.

"Octavia, no," Bellamy's voice deepened with the order and reluctantly, Octavia obeyed and attempted to calm herself down. "Let's give them something else to remember you by,"

"Oh yeah, like what?" She snapped. Bellamy didn't seem affected by his sister's short fuse and smiled.

"Like being the first person on the earth in a hundred years," he replied. Carter bit her lip as she swallowed the urge to correct him. Ninety-seven years, not a hundred, dipshit she thought with an over dramatic eye roll. Catching on to what he said, Carter took a step back. There was no way she was going to be the first dead by radiation poisoning.

Bellamy pulled lever and light immediately filtered through. Carter put her hand in front of her eyes just to see past it-- she was already used to the limited lighting of the Drop ship-- as the door slowly lowered, she gasped.

Her image of earth was burned corpses of trees, a dark brown fog and a baron wasteland of fire and nothingness. She could not have been more wrong. There was trees. Hundreds of them, all thick with rich green leaves and healthy deep brown bark. The floor was blanketed in lush green grass and moss-covered rocks. Earth wasn't a waste land. It was beautiful.

Carter was stunned into silence as she just stared at the scenery, slowly lowering her hand as her eyes adjusted to the new lighting. She wasn't dead yet, that's a good sign, she thought inwardly.

Octavia took a step forward, her eyes were as wide as Carters and she was just as star-struck. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the new, fresh air and Carter couldn't help but half smile. Octavia continued walking down the ramp until she was at the edge.

And just like that. Octavia Blake was the first person on the earth in over ninety-seven years. She looked around with awe before carelessly throwing her arms in the air, "We're back bitches!"

Every single being in the Drop ship then turned into a cheering frenzy, running towards their new home with giant smiles. It was then, for Carter, reality hit. And her heart dropped into her stomach.

She was miles and miles away from her family, stuck on a planet that had been uninhabitable for ninety-seven years with a bunch of juveniles, a janitor-slash-murderer and a deadly threat weighing on her shoulders.

Shit.

___

Oh yeah, I've finally edited this. You're welcome.