𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍, breaking rules (because they're bullshit!)

      𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄, letting out a huff of annoyance as she takes the bandages that Sam found and wraps her ankle. It hurts like a bitch, and she really thinks she should stop getting herself involved in anything that happens around the camp. 

      Clarke is busy in the dropship, dealing with the makeshift radio Sam and Monty have worked so hard on. Sam told the other boy that he could finish setting up the radio without him, because he wanted to make sure Makayla was okay. She tried to convince him to go deal with the radio and establish communication with the Ark, even if it isn't the best, but he continues to say that he's fine with helping her wrap her ankle. 

      She sits outside the camp walls, a few feet away from the main entrance and sitting atop a large rock. She has her ankle in front of her, sock barely covering her toes as she wraps it up. She winces from the touch, her ankle swelling up to how it was the first time she got the injury. She can feel Sam's eyes on her, and she looks up to see him staring straight at her ankle.

      "Stop staring, Sam. It's just a sprained ankle" She says, making Sam look up and roll his eyes. She feels like there's something different about him — he's not in his feels as much as he was before. She assumes he must've found something that could help with the radios, though she doesn't know when he would've found anything, given the fact that he was on the run with Charlotte all night, but she brushes it off as a weird mechanic thing that he does.

      She hears him scoff as she tries to hide another wince from him. "You were a hostage all night, Mick! I'm just trying to make sure you're okay".

      "You should be in the dropship with the radio. You worked hard on that, you should be there when we can finally talk to them" She counters, but he shakes his head. As much as she loves her best friend, she thinks he should be one of the first ones to contact the Ark. It shouldn't be any of the others who've done no work to establish communication.

      They fall back into a comfortable silence as she continues to wrap her ankle. She figures that Monty and the others are putting the last pieces of the radio together, anticipation flooding their veins as they inch towards having communication with those who can help them. She knows that they can't survive off of makeshift laws and unspecified routines forever, and eventually the camp will go to shit. Clarke and Bellamy's reign over the camp probably won't last forever, but she hopes it does.

      She's almost done wrapping her ankle when she feels a sting in her wrist, and she's quick to release the bandages from her hands and look at her wrist. It's the same wrist that the wristband is attached to, and as she touches the piece of metal, she watches it fall off her wrist and hit the rock she's sitting on with a thud.

      "Shit".

      She looks up at Sam, who's clutching his wrist and staring at the piece of metal. He has the same look on his face that Makayla does — and the two stare at each other for a few seconds before the wristband falls off Sam's wrist and hits the ground.

      "Something must've happened with the radio, I'll, uh, be back" He says, his words almost being incoherent as he rushes towards the gate. Makayla stares at her wrist, feeling different now since she had been so used to there being metal attached to it. The sleeve of her jacket slides down, revealing the small dots on her skin from the pieces of the wristbands that helped transmit her status to the Ark.

      It dawns on her that the Ark thinks they're dead now — there being no way to show them that they're all alive. She feels tears well up in her eyes as she finishes wrapping her ankle, messing it up slightly because her vision's blurry. The hope she had over being able to live down here, thriving on Earth once members of the Ark come down to help them, is all gone. 

      She slips on her shoe, not being as careful this time to not hit the wrong spot on her ankle with her hand. She winces, but she doesn't really care that much about the pain in her ankle, the pain in her heart overpowering it.

      Her eyes trail over the broken wristband that's hidden in the grass, her emotions quickly getting the best of her. She grabs onto it, clutching it in her hands and staring at the pieces that were just stuck to her wrist a few seconds ago. She closes her eyes, trying not to think about her dad, but it doesn't work.

      "You shouldn't be outside of the camp alone".

      She looks up, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she sees Bellamy come into view. He's standing a few feet away from her, hovering right outside the gates of the camp. He has his arms crossed, and she assumes she's about to be berated about her carelessness, especially because of the events of the night.

      "I was alone for maybe a minute" She shrugs, still clutching the broken wristband in her hands. She can feel Bellamy's eyes on the piece of metal, which she tries to hide from him, but she realizes she was too late to do so.

      "I thought you weren't going to take off your wristband?".

      Makayla lets out a sigh. "It fell off, and so did Sam's. I'm pretty sure nobody has a working wristband anymore" She explains, seeing Bellamy nod along. The two stand in awkward silence, Makayla fidgeting with the piece of metal in her hands as she ignores the pain in her ankle. She wants to go back into camp, preferably to go to sleep, but Bellamy's blocking the entrance.

      She finds Bellamy to be a curious case. He's stubborn, has too big of an ego for his own good, but is willing to protect people he barely knows. She doesn't know how he came down to Earth via the dropship, how he was able to make it on. It's not her business to question, but she can only admire his devotion to protecting his sister. She's noticed that, how Octavia is constantly being protected by him. That, she can respect.

      There's not a lot of that kind of devotion towards others in the camp. Most people fend for themselves, collecting resources so they can survive and not others. She's almost certain that the other delinquents in the camp are only following Bellamy and Clarke's orders because if they don't, they'll end up like Murphy, and nobody wants that.

      But as much as she respects Bellamy, she also dislikes the selfish actions that he continues to do, even if they're supposed to benefit his sister as well. Taking everyone's wristbands is probably the thing she's most hung up on when it comes to the Blake man, especially since the bands were the one thing giving her hope for real survival on the ground.

      "You and Murphy got what you wanted though" She adds, seeing Bellamy's face slightly drop as she speaks.

      "What?".

      She shrugs. "You two wanted everyone's wristbands. It wasn't hard to figure out that you want the Ark to think everyone's dead, for whatever selfish reason, so you wanted to take everyone's wristbands". She holds up the band, waving it in his line of sight. "I mean, it's funny really. I was so dead set on keeping the wristband on for as long as possible, but now it's gone, and now my dad thinks I'm dead".

      She thinks she revealed too much, especially since she's speaking to Bellamy. And she's trying her best to not let tears escape her eyes again, trying to keep her composure as she speaks. She wants to turn back time, stop whatever fried the wristbands from happening (She assumes it was the radio. It was probably the radio).

      "I'm sor—".

      Bellamy gets cut off by a boom sounding throughout the forest, the two glancing at each other in fear of what it is. Makayla looks up, thinking it came from above her, but the trees are too thick of a canopy to show her anything. Bellamy's name is being called from inside the camp, as others have noticed the sound too.

      "You heard that, right?" She whispers, and she sees Bellamy nod. The two rush towards the inside of the camp as more people continue to call his name, and Makayla sees everyone gathering in the middle of the camp. Everyone's staring at the sky, Octavia pointing upwards as Bellamy reaches her side.

      "Look! There!".

      Makayla looks upwards, seeing that amongst the night sky, a dropship is hurtling towards them, parachute trailing behind. Makayla can't help but let a smile form on her face, being glad that they might finally be getting help. A girl close to her says something about wanting shampoo, and she almost scoffs, but she's more focused on the fact that the Ark sent someone down to save them.

      Sam reaches her side, and the two glance at each other, passing the other a smile before they look back up at the dropship hurtling towards the ground. But as she looks up, she can't help but notice how Bellamy's face has paled, and he doesn't seem happy about the dropship coming. 

      Bellamy and a few of his major supporters all flock towards his tent, leaving everyone else out there to stare. They loose sight of the ship, but they know it's there now, which means something. But, that also means that the Grounders know the dropships there. Makayla thinks that they should go after it now, and look over any supplies that they sent down. She hopes there's a radio inside, leaving them with something to help the contact the Ark.

      She sees Sam leave her side, quickly walking towards their tent. She follows after him, knowing that he's on a mission to do something now — and she really doesn't want him to do anything stupid. She pulls open the flaps of their tent, seeing Sam crouched down beside a small pile of weapons in the corner of their small living space, digging through them and putting them in a pack.

      Quinn had given her a few of the weapons they made together, saying that the camp didn't need all of them and she should have some just in case something bad happens. Sam and herself have kept them in their tent ever since, below what to anyone else would look like a pile of two backpacks. She watches Sam stuff a few knives in the bag, as well as a few pieces of bandages that she knows he's keeping for emergencies, after he got them from the middle of fucking nowhere.

      "You're going after the pod?" She questions, sensing the urgency that's flooding her best friend's veins.

      She sees Sam nod. "It's got to have something useful in there. Probably some supplies, and there's most likely a radio" He explains, Makayla nodding along from her place at the doorway of the tent. "A radio! We could talk to the Ark, get help!".

      Makayla nods along, staying by the entrance as she watches him scramble around the tent for more supplies. She debates whether or not she wants to go with him — because it doesn't seem like he packed another bag for her to use. Her ankle still hurts even though she has a bandage around it, and she doesn't want to injure it even more than it already is.

      "You don't have to come. Rest your ankle instead, you really need it" She hears Sam tell her, and she hesitantly nods along as she watches him walk over to the entrance. "As much as this is important, you really need to rest your ankle".

      "If you die out there, I swear I'll kill you".

      Sam lets out a light laugh before walking out of the tent, bag securely placed on his back. She watches, wanting to go with him — because it's the camp's first sign of hope in what seems like forever, and who knows what could happen to it — but she reluctantly lays on her blankets, using the extra backpack to keep her ankle slightly elevated.

      She really hopes nothing bad happens to Sam.

—————————————————————————————

      𝐒𝐀𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑.

      He says he's not the type to break any rules. The biggest rule he's broken was when he fixed a broken piece of machinery on the Ark that wasn't his to fix, but he did the job better than anyone else could've, so he didn't get punished. 

      So him plotting to go against a rule made by one of the leaders of the camp is a major thing for him. But he ignores how it seems wrong, and is trying to find any spot along the walls of the camp to exit through. His hands trail along the wall surrounding the camp, trying to find anything that might be another exit besides the main ones — which are being heavily watched over, Bellamy placing his trusted associates there to make sure nobody leaves.

      "Hey Vickerson!" He hears someone shout from behind him, and he turns to see Quinn, standing a few feet away from him with her arms crossed. "Are you looking for an exit?".

      He hesitantly nods, thinking that the Devons girl might rat him out to Bellamy or one of his followers. He hopes that she wouldn't do something like that, especially because he really wants to get the supplies in the pod. Any supplies the Ark sent down could help the entire camp — proper medical supplies, rations, a radio — any of those resources would be helpful.

      "I'll show you one as long as I can come with you" She explains, and Sam thinks about it for a second. He didn't exactly want anyone — except for Makayla, but she decided to go to sleep — to come with him on this journey, but he also doesn't know a good exit to go through. He tells her that he's fine with her offer, letting her lead him towards an exit.

      He follows her towards the dropship, watching her duck behind the large trees inside the camp's grounds. He follows her towards the part of the wall attached to the dropship, seeing her gesture to an opening the size of a doggy-door (Or, at least what he thinks would be one. That's just his assumption based on what Makayla's told him).

      He stands there, giving her a look that says 'Are you serious?' as the girl stands and waits for him to go through the exit. He blinks a few times, not necessarily knowing what to say, because how is he supposed to get through that opening? Maybe his bag can, but himself? There's no way.

      Quinn rolls her eyes at the boy. "Oh come on! This is better than nothing!".

      Sam stares back at her. "How the fuck am I supposed to crawl through there?" He snaps back, and Quinn shrugs.

      "Do you want a fucking demonstration? Is that what this is?" She questions, and when Sam stares blankly back at her, she sighs and turns towards the opening. He watches as the girl gets on all fours and crawls through the small opening made in the wall, reaching the outside of the camp with ease.

      Sam doesn't think he can do that. No, he's almost certain he can't do that.

      "Don't stand there and gawk! The Grounders are going to get to the pod in no time. We have to go now" Quinn tells him, and Sam swears he can hear desperation in her voice. He's learned a lot about Quinn through Makayla — how she doesn't talk to a lot of people, isn't interested in much, is the camp's top weapon maker, and plenty more random facts that Sam's too lazy to recall about a person he barely knows.

      He takes his bag off and pushes it through the opening, letting Quinn take it since she's already on the other side. He takes one look back into camp — nobody suspects anything, there's nobody coming towards them to berate them for their actions. He looks back through the opening, lets out a huff, and tries to maneuver himself through the opening.

      It's takes a little bit of work, but he's able to get himself through with very little struggle. As he finally gets his feet through to the other side, he sees Quinn standing over him, smirk on her face. "And I thought you wouldn't be able to get through there".

      "Shut up".

      He picks his bag up off the ground, shaking the dirt off the material and makes his way towards where he saw the pod's general landing area. He'll have to walk around the entire camp just to get to a semi-straight path, but he's sure that won't take long. He takes a few steps, keeping himself close to the wall, until he hears a voice behind him.

      "We crawled through a hole in the wall that only the two of us know about in the back of camp just so we could get caught by walking near where the kids on guard will be? I thought you were supposed to be smart" Quinn mentions from behind him, making him stop in his tracks and let out a huff.

      He turns towards her. "What do you suggest we do then?".

      "Use the trees to hide so the people on watch can't see us — and hopefully won't shoot at us — and then take the same path you were going to take. It's pretty simple, if you ask me".

      All Sam does is roll his eyes and let Quinn lead the way. 

      They walk in silence for most of the trip. There's small remarks about which direction to go next, but he's letting Quinn take the lead and she seems to know what she's doing. He knows for sure that they must've been walking for hours, based on how the sun's shining through the trees and giving them the ability to see where they're going, because when they left they couldn't see anything.

      He never thought that he would be going on a mission to retrieve supplies from a pod that the camp had no previous knowledge about with Quinn Devons, Makayla's newest friend. He likes that Makayla's making friends, but he never expected someone like Quinn to become so tight-knit with her. Whenever Makayla isn't around him, she's with the brunette walking in front of him.

      "Why do you want to get to this pod so badly?" Sam questions, after the many minutes of silence the two have experienced on their journey. Quinn doesn't look back at him, continuing her walk forward. He can see her head moving around, scanning the trees in case something's hiding up there — something Makayla has reinforced on the daily, that Grounders hide in the trees, and if there's a suspicious silhouette, you need to run.

      His question seems to bounce off of deaf ears, but to his surprise the girl eventually answers. "I don't want to die down here. As much as I hate the Ark, and all the bullshit privileged motherfuckers on Alpha, the Ark's help against the Grounders would be nice" She explains, Sam nodding along even though he knows she can't see it. "And, Makayla talks my ear off about how she wants this place to be a utopia. I'm somewhat doing this for her".

      Sam doesn't know what to say to that. Makayla's his best friend, practically family, and there's already someone on Earth that's willing to go to great lengths to help her get what she wants. He bites his tongue, unsure about how to continue the conversation without insulting the girl.

      "Makayla's fun. I like her, she's probably one of the only real friends I've ever had" Quinn adds, and Sam sees her turn her head backwards, her eyes glancing at him. She scoffs. "I fucking knew that I shouldn't have told you that".

      His eyes go wide. "No, no, no, it's just it's weird hearing someone speak of Mick so highly, because she didn't have many friends on the Ark" He's quick to explain, recalling how he was essentially the girl's only friend on the Ark. He owes a lot to her, because of how she would share her rations, spend every waking second making sure he was occupied so he wouldn't have to deal with his shitty family, feeding his dreams of being a zero-g mechanic.

      He really misses zero-g.

      "Was she your only friend on the Ark?" Quinn questions, making Sam almost stop in his tracks. He's never really thought about that. Of course he had other friends, but it wasn't the same as him and Makayla. They were all mechanics, others that worked their asses off to try and become a zero-g mechanic (Though many of them would never reach that status). The closest thing he had to a friendship like his and Makayla's with someone else was a certain brunette that he was almost always in competition with. 

      They always tried to one-up each other when it came to things on the Ark. She got a certain job done in record time, perfectly completed, no mistakes? He'd get an even harder job done in record time, with absolutely no mistakes. 

      The two of them were the only ones who were able to take the test to become zero-g mechanics before they turned eighteen, and as much as they were in competition with each other, Sam couldn't help but feel bad when the brunette couldn't become what she always dreamed to be because of some health condition — so he had told Sinclair, the head of engineering on the Ark, that he wouldn't accept the opportunity unless she got it, as well.

      But now she's still on the Ark, experiencing zero-g whenever she pleases and he's stuck on the ground, trying not to be murdered by Grounders.

      "No. I had others, I'm not that alone" He responds, seeing Quinn nod along as she turns to continue leading them towards the pod. It's only a few more minutes of walking in silence before they see a clearing, the silhouette of a figure, and the pod, sitting in all its glory.

      "What the hell is Clarke doing here?" Quinn mutters, probably to herself, as they watch her walk towards the pod, almost hesitantly. Sam tells her it's the exact reason why they're there — to get the supplies, to make sure no Grounders can take them before they can get access to them. Sam scans over the pod one more time, almost missing how the metals of the Ark looked, before getting up and calling over to Clarke.

      "Hey! Clarke! Hold on!" He calls, taking himself and his bag towards the piece of machinery. Up close, the pod looks pretty shitty — it almost looks like a bunch of scrap metal put together to make a sorry excuse for a pod. He wonders who must've put it together, and how it even held during entry into Earth's atmosphere.

      Clarke gives him a small smile as he walks over. "Do you think it's any good supplies or is the Ark giving us the illusion of help?" Quinn calls from behind them, taking her time on the walk towards the pod. Sam lets out a huff, annoyed that she can't just have faith in the fact that they might be saved, at least for a little more time.

      "Let's just see what's inside" Clarke commands, Sam nodding to her as the two reach the doorway of the pod. He puts his hands on the metal, missing the feeling of working with it every day. He wishes he were still up in space, even if he would be separated from Makayla. Being a mechanic in space is different than being a mechanic on the ground, and he doesn't like it.

      The two lift the door up, seeing a figure inside. Sam's baffled that there's even a person in there, someone who survived the descent onto the ground in the piece of shit of a pod — but when the figure turns their head, he's even more shocked.

      "Holy shit — Raven?".

      𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 —

sorry for not updating last monday! life got really busy and i just had absolutely no time for anything, but we should be back to weekly updates, at least for now!

this chapter is kind of filler, but sam and quinn's interaction is really important for like their entire development, soooooo i'm not sorry for it being mainly filler. but also, i was somehow able to create over 4k words of mostly my own scenes, which is pretty insane. i love incorporating my own scenes into the show, especially because they're so much easier to write.

i also have the rest of this act & act two planned out in my head, things are subject to change, but im so excited to reveal everything i'm plotting!!

𝟒𝟐𝟔𝟐 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒