❝ 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀
𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 ❞
- 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀

𝗔𝘃𝗮'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"His pulse is thready" Clarke states and I feel Jasper squeeze my hand as he groans in pain.

"Go back to sleep!" Someone yells and I grit my teeth in anger.

"Quiet!" Another person snaps.

"Don't listen to them. You're gonna make it through this, okay? Promise" Clarke speaks to Jasper.

Jasper makes a god awful noise that makes me cringe in sympathy for the poor boy in front of me.

"Can he just die already?!" Some guy shouts.

"Shut the fuck up!" I scream and I hear people talking but not clear enough to know exactly what they're saying.

"I'm gonna get clean water. Keep an eye on him" Clarke announces.

"I'll get it" I offer and Clarke nods, refusing to look me in the eyes.

I climb down the ladder, hearing Jasper moaning in pain which only makes my gut twist in worry for the boy i've only just met.

As I exit the drop ship I rub my marked wrist slightly but snap my head up as I hear a scream.

"No!" It sounds like a child.

I quickly make my way towards the sound only to find a young girl, maybe around the age of twelve, laying down and screaming in her sleep.

"Hey, wake up" I say softly, putting my hand on the girl's arm.

She shoots up from her nightmare with her eyes wide in fear and cowers away from me.

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay. It's just a dream" I whisper to the paranoid girl.

"What's your name?" I ask the girl who hugs her knees up to her chest.

She doesn't answer me so I sit down next to her.

"I'm Ava" I tell her softly.

"Charlotte" She whispers in a small afraid voice.

"Charlotte? That's a pretty name" I smile and she nods, staring at the ground.

"It's okay to be afraid. Do you want to tell me what happened?" I ask, putting my hand on her back and rubbing it in soothing circles to calm her down.

"It's...my parents. They were floated and they- and I see it in my dreams and I just-" Charlotte cries, making me feel bad for the young girl.

"I know how you feel. My mom was floated too. I was around your age" I explain to her and she looks up at me with an unexplainable look.

"So, how did you end up down here with this lot?" I ask giving her a small warming smile.

"Well...we were taking my parents' things to the redistribution centre and...I kind of lost it. They said I assaulted a guard" She tells me.

"Been there, done that" I joke but even that doesn't make her smile.

"Charlotte, I know that it's hard to lose your parents. I was in your place once and I didn't think i'd ever be able to move on. But I did. I found friends that I could call family and I learned to love them more than I missed my parents. You wanna know what I think?" I ask the girl.

"What?" She mumbles looking up at me.

"I think that whatever happened on the Ark is in the past. We're on the ground now, maybe this is our second chance at life" I tell her.

"Do you really believe that?" Charlotte asks me and I smile softly at her.

"I think I do" I reply.

I wrap my arm around her and she lays her head on my chest, letting me lay my cheek on her head. Charlotte snuggles into me and I look up at a bright star in the sky that I know is the ark.

I really hope that things are going to be different down here.

╳°»。 ∾·⁙· ღ ➵ ⁘ ➵ ღ ·⁙·∾ 。«°╳

"The grounders cauterised the wound. Saved his life" Clarke states as she tries to clean it with a wet cloth.

"Saved his life so they could string him up for live bait" Finn adds.

"They still saved his life" I grumble but everyone ignores me.

"Garden of Eden this ain't" Finn declares.

"This is infected. He could be septic" Clarke says and I look down in worry.

"Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?" Clarke asks Monty who is looking at his best friend in worry.

"Monty!" Clarke snaps and he looks from Jasper to her.

"That would be a firm no" Monty sighs.

"Remember what I told you. You have to be careful in removing them or you'll fry the whole band" I warn my friend and he nods.

"My mother would know what to do" Clarke mutters.

I open my mouth to tell Clarke she doesn't need her mother but i'm interrupted.

"How's he doing?" Wells asks, kneeling down next to Clarke.

"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke asks sarcastically and I bite back a smirk.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help" Wells replies and Jasper lets out another moan of pain.

"Right. You want to help?" Clarke asks and Wells perks up like a child.

"Hold him down" She adds.

"What are you doing?" I ask in confusion as Finn nudges me out the way to hold down Jasper's arms while Wells holds down his legs.

Clarke shoves a knife into the fire and I gulp in concern.

"I'm not gonna like this, am I?" Monty asks.

"I don't think so" I mumble.

Clarke pulls the knife out of the fire once it's scolding hot and I grab Jasper's hand tightly. She places the hot knife onto his wound and Jasper screams in pain, writhing around.

"Hold him still!" Clarke demands.

"I need to cut away the infected flesh" She tells us and my stomach turns in sickness.

Jasper shakes violently and then lays still making me panic.

"Stop it! You're killing him!" Octavia shouts, entering the room.

"She's trying to save his life" Finn objects, sticking up for the blonde.

"She can't" A voice says and I look up to see Bellamy.

Wells stands up in front of Bellamy and I squeeze Jasper's hand tightly.

"Back off" Wells says.

"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die" Clarke argues.

"Kid's a goner. If you can't see that, you're deluded. He's making people crazy" Bellamy fires back.

"Sorry if Jasper's an inconvenience to you, but this isn't the Ark. Down here, every life matters" Clarke snaps angrily.

"Take a look at him. He's a lost cause" Bellamy states and everyone looks down at Jasper.

I see Octavia worriedly wiping Jasper's sweaty head with a wet piece of cloth and Clarke turns to the girl.

"Octavia, i've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If I say there's hope, there's hope" Clarke insists.

"This isn't about hope, it's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard choices. I do. He's been like this for 3 days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself" Bellamy announces and I glare at him in anger.

"Octavia, let's go" Bellamy demands as he reaches he ladders.

"I'm staying here" She replies, not even looking at her brother.

Bellamy looks at me and I glare at him the hardest i've ever glared at anybody in my life.

"I think you should go, Bellamy" I state, anger clear in my tone.

His face softens slightly but I look down at Jasper, not looking at the asshole as he climbs down the ladders.

"Power-hungry, self-serving jackass. He doesn't care about anyone but himself" Monty fumes but then looks up to see Octavia's sad face.

"No offence" He adds for her sake.

She shrugs as if she doesn't care but I can tell it bothers her so I shoot her a reassuring look which she returns.

"Yeah. Bellamy is all that. But he also happens to be right" Finn says and we all look at him in disbelief.

I give Jasper's hand one last squeeze before getting up and storming away.