章 4: Chapter 3 The Red Weed
Nighttime had fallen, and most of the 100 had gone to sleep. I kept looking around to see if I could see Lincoln but apart from that one time, I have not seen him again. I guess he must have gone back to Anya to report how many of us are here. I know he will show up again, no doubt after the acid fog. My biggest problem at the moment is what to do about Charlotte killing Wells.
If Wells lives, then Jaha may not decide to stay on the Ark ring when the rest of them come down. He may never get involved with the whole city of light, and Allie, I couldn't decide what to do. My knowledge of future events is one of my most significant assets.
If Wells lives, will the whole City of light thing never happen?
Will someone else take his place?
Will he want peace with the grounders? He seemed to think that the ground was his just because?
Hmm, in the end, I decided I will try and save his life but not to the point that it risks me being found out as not human. As long as Charlotte doesn't meet up with Bellamy and get the whole slaying your demons talk, she won't try and kill him. Then if I tell Wells not to dig graves at night as it's dangerous due to the grounders, he should live.
As I was thinking about this and trying to plan for the stuff coming up. My thoughts were interrupted by Jasper groaning in pain. I watched Clarke as she took his pulse.
She looked at me, "His pulse is thready." she said unhappily. I wasn't even sure what she meant by that but I could hear his heart having a hard time beating and it was weaker sounding than everyone else's heart.
"Shut that kid up!" Someone shouted. I guess if I was trying to sleep listening to someone moaning in pain would annoy me as well.
"Be quiet" I heard another shout.
"Don't listen to them. You're gonna make it through this, ok? Promise" Clarke comforted him. To bloody right he is. Just looking at him made me feel guilty but it was something I know I have to get used to. For the mountain to fall I know I will have to let some if not all of the 100 be caught but thinking about doing it is going to be a lot easier than actually doing it. What about the missile to TonDC? How will I feel about letting that happen? I thought I could just see everyone as characters from a TV show and not care that much about them but having spent the last few days with them I can't help but like some of them.
I heard Clarke walk outside. "No! No! No!" I heard a child moan. So that is Charlotte I couldn't bring myself to hate her. She was just a scared child with no family and alone on the ground. She didn't get enjoyment out of killing Wells; she did it due to being afraid.
I watched Clarke walk up to her "Hey, wake up. It's ok. It's ok." Clarke said to her as she woke up in a panic.
"It's just a dream. You're Charlotte, right? I'm Clarke." She introduced herself. I wasn't sure how she knew Charlotte's name though. "It's ok to be scared. Do you want to talk about it?" Clarke asked. I could guess she knew what she was scared of.
"It's... my parents. They were floated and they... and they see it in my dreams and I just…" Charlotte said hesitantly and afraid. It is times like this I have to question if Jaha is thinking right, how could he not think people would attack his son.
"I understand. My dad was floated, too." Clarke said the pain was evident in her voice.
"So, how did you end up here?" Clarke asked I don't remember why she was locked up. It was one of the thing's I am worried about the big events I can remember. Like the bunker with guns, Raven coming down, The bridge being blown up, the grounders being burned alive, Clarke and Finn being taken by the grounders to heal Anya's 2nd. All of these I can remember but any of the 'Small things' I can't remember like why did we blow up the bridge. I know the Grounders we're marching to war but I can't remember the little things we did. We won't be using flares so no village will be set on fire but there must have been more than that.
I can only hope it comes back to me. This was a downside that I forgot about when becoming a vampire is that your human memories fade and are hard to remember. I should have taken that into account.
"Well... we were taking my parents' things to the redistribution centre and… I kind of lost it. They said I assaulted a guard." Charlotte said embarrassed. They sent a traumatised kid to prison for being upset as a guard took her parents' things. Of course, she is going to be angry.
"See that bright star up there? That's the Ark orbiting above us. I think whatever happens up there, We can leave up there all the pain and sadness, maybe we can just move past it." Clarke said. I think she was saying it more to herself than to Charlotte.
Clarke snuggled up with Charlotte and they both drifted off to sleep. I will make sure that Charlotte comes with us to the river tomorrow and then Wells should be fine.
Morning came and Clarke got up and went to check on Jasper. I know she will look at what the grounders used soon. Looking over at Bellamy and his group they were getting ready to go hunting. Grabbing the 3 spears I had made with actual metal spearheads I walked over to them.
"Bellamy here these will be better for hunting with," I said as I threw the 3 spears to him.
"Nice, these are much better than the knives and wooden spears we made thanks." He said, giving me a nod.
I watched as Murphy tried to throw his knife into the tree and watched as it bounced off.
Jasper let out a loud moan. "That damn kid, messing with my head," Murphy complained. As he walked back with the knife. I held my hand out for it. Murphy passed it over reluctantly before I spun around and threw it into the tree watching it sink half an inch into the tree.
"Better think of a new excuse," Bellamy whispered to him. "He's not gonna last much longer," Bellamy said louder to him.
"Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but if it was you in his position I think you would want us to try for as long as possible," I replied to them both.
I heard Atom and some other guy whose name I didn't know walk up to us. "We searched a half-mile in all directions. No sign of Trina or Pascal." Said Atom.
I looked at Bellamy "2 people are missing" I asked. I didn't remember anyone going missing. I know that Atom will most likely die today but there was nothing that I could do about that.
If I didn't want Wells to die then I had to make sure that Charlotte didn't go with the hunting party and I can only really do that by making sure she came to the river with us.
"Ya, I wanted to keep it quiet. They have been missing for two days" He replied, looking around to make sure no one overheard us.
"Good plan but you could at least tell me and Clarke. You said it's been two days already then they are most likely dead." I said. They could have also been taken by the grounders or the mountain men. I think the mountain men did take some of the 100 before the grounder war but I wasn't sure if I just thought that up.
"Look, Bellamy, people are scared, and that dying kid, he's not helping the morale around here," Atom said in part I think due to him hating Jaha.
"Look there is a chance that Jasper can still be saved and if he is that will boost morale. So we are not going to kill him till he isn't savable anymore" I said ending that thought.
"Morale will go up when we find them more food," Bellamy said.
"In the meantime, if anyone asks about Trina and Pascal just say they are out hunting or something. And when you go hunting later, keep an eye out for them." I said.
"If they don't show up by the end of tomorrow then we can tell the camp they are most likely dead" I finished.
"Fine, let's go kill something," Murphy said, wanting to get out of camp.
"You're not going. I need you to stay here. If the grounders are circling, we can't leave this place unprotected." Bellamy said I was sure that if Atom and Octavia hadn't hooked up then Atom would be staying behind.
I looked to the side and saw Charlotte starting to follow them. "Nope you're not going with them," I said, grabbing her and walking her back to camp.
"Why not I want to hunt as well?" Charlotte complained.
"What do you know about hunting?" I asked amused
"I can learn," She argued back.
"Yes, you can learn. However, if you want to learn you can start after we have food. If you scare all the animal's away then the camp will go hungry. Not to mention the Grounders look I will be going out later you can come with me okay?" I told Charlotte.
"When all the noise is scaring me," Charlotte asked.
"Okay give me 5 or 10 minutes to see if Clarke needs me to bring anything back or need my help and then we can set off okay?" I asked her while walking her over to a group of girls.
"Okay but hurry please," Charlotte said sitting down.
"I will be as fast as I can, We can even try some fishing when we get to the river we have never had fish before," I promised her.
Looking at the group of girls "Keep an eye on her till I get back". I told them. Seeing them nod I went off to see if Clarke needed anything like red seaweed.
I climbed up the stairs to hear Finn say "Garden of Eden this ain't." I guess he was complaining about how tough it is to live on the ground.
"This is infected. He could be septic." Clarke said more to herself than the rest of us.
Looking up at Monty "Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark? Monty?" Clarke asked.
"That would be a firm no," Monty said disheartened.
"How is he doing?" Wells asked as he climbed up the ladder.
"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke snapped back.
"He is just trying to help Clarke," I told her.
"I know… Right. You want to help? I need you to hold him down." Clarke said, taking a deep breath.
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" asked Monty.
"Not if she is going to do what I think she Is," I said to him.
"Okay, I will get his arm and cover his mouth so people don't hear him screaming. I'm sure they would not take that well. Finn, you take the left leg Wells, you get the right." I told them.
"Hold on tight, I'm sure he will kick," I warned them.
I watched as Clarke heated up the knife. "Hold him still. I need to cut away the infected flesh." She warned.
I placed my hand over his mouth. I could hear him making muffled screams but I doubt it was much louder than the moans he was making before.
Octavia climbed up the ladder "What the hell are you doing? You are killing him?" She asked, rushing over to pull us off, Jasper.
"She's trying to save his life," Finn said.
"Octavia, I've spent my whole life watching my mother heal people. If I say there's hope, there's hope." Clarke said to Octavia.
"This isn't about hope, it's about guts. You don't have the guts to make the hard choices. I do." Bellamy said as he climbed up the ladder.
"Look at him. He's a lost cause" said Bellamy.
"Well if you are ever hurt then we will follow your advice, However Clarke said he can be saved so that is what we are going to do." I snarked back at him.
"He's been like this for 3 days. If he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself." He said looking at me made me raise my eyebrow. "Octavia, let's go."
"I'm staying here." She replied not looking at him.
"Power-hungry, self-serving jackass. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." Monty said.
"No offence," he said looking at Octavia.
"Maybe. But he is also right if we can't start getting him better by tomorrow night. It would be kinder to kill him." I told Monty "Dying from sepsis is slow and painful." letting it go quiet.
"Did you look at the poultice?" I asked Clarke.
"No, I am going to do that now," she replied, picking it up and going outside.
I walked outside and saw that Charlotte was where I left her thank god. I walked up to her. Come on let's go I think a few of us are going out of the camp you know Clarke right?" I asked her.
"Ya she was nice to me last night," Charlotte said as we walked over to see Clarke, Finn and Wells.
As we got there Wells was looking at the poultice. "I know what it is. Its seaweed has no root structure" Wells said, showing Clarke. Hmm, learn something new every day.
As we walked up I felt Charlotte grab my hand and give it a squeeze. "Right. Well, then there must be a water source nearby." Clarke asked
"Yeah, it would have to have a slow current, lots of rocks. The water would probably be more red than green." Wells said.
"I know just the place," Finn said.
"All right. Let's go." I said walking up to them with Charlotte. "She wants to get out of camp. Jasper is scaring her."
"Hey. I know what this stuff looks like. Do you?" Asked Wells. To take a guess it would look like red seaweed I thought what else would it look like.
I looked down at Charlotte. "So would you like to walk or do you want a shoulder ride," I asked her with a smile? She smiled back.
We were walking through the forest Clarke and Wells at the front. With us three a bit further back. "Thank you for letting me come, the camp was making me feel bad," Charlotte said while looking around amazed.
I guess the younger kids hadn't had the chance to explore yet. Then again it's not safe far from camp. Not that camp is the safest place either. I remember there were a few killers in the 100.
"You are welcome. Better you are with us than getting lost following the hunting party" I said to her. You see anything up ahead. I asked.
"There is something red in the ground," Charlotte said pointing at something. I remember this is where they find the car. Wait, didn't Finn find a bunker at some point as well?
I really need to explore more. Maybe I can find that bunker with the guns before the Ark tells us about it but I have no idea which way it was.
Finn runs ahead and stamps on it [Bang bang].
"What is it?" Wells asks as fin pushes the moss and dirt away.
Fin grabs a handle and opens the door "Ha! It's an automobile." Wells said, surprised.
"Come on, guys. This thing's been here 100 years. Alright? It can wait. Jasper can't." Clarke said running out of patience.
I looked up at Charlotte. "We will look at it on the way back when we have more time," I told her.
"Okay?"
She nodded back and looked back at the car as we walked past it. We walked out of the forest and finally saw the river. "Can I go play in it?" Charlotte asked me.
"Only if you stay in the shallow parts and near the bank," I said, putting her on the ground.
"Promise" Charlotte said as she ran ahead of us.
"You think that is safe?" Finn asked me.
"Ya the shallow parts are the Eel was in the deep part at waist-deep," I said back to him. And if the grounders use that seaweed then the place they get it can't be that bad or they would find something else to use." I finished.
We watched as Charlotte played in the river looking like a kid her age for once. It was sad to see that she couldn't do this often.
We got to the rocky bank "Charlotte do you see any red seaweed?" I shouted to her. I know any grounders around would have seen and heard us long before I shouted.
"It's in the deeper parts of the river," She shouted back. Using her hands to drink some of the water. It seems like the idea of just being able to drink when you want and as you want is not something that wears off in a few days.
"Okay, we will get it so don't go after it" I shouted back.
"Hey, that thing that bit Octavia, how big was it." Wells asked.
"Hmm, I would guess about 10 feet long and maybe 2 feet wide it could swallow a 2-year-old in one bite why?" I asked as he was looking at the river not wanting to get in now.
Finn sat down and took off his bag. "We could rig this into some kind of a net. Find something to lower it into the water."
"Or we could just do that," he said as Clarke just walked into the water and picked up the seaweed. I laughed.
"Charlotte come here" I shouted to her as she had gone a little down the river she started to run back.
[Birds squawking] A large flock of birds came flying down the river and flew over us. Charlotte grabbed me. "Don't worry it's just some birds, '' I reassured her.
[Bellow!!!!]
"Grounders?" Asked Charlotte.
"It could be a war cry," asked Wells
"or a warning." Said Finn
"What the hell is that?" Finn asked, shocked at the dirty yellow smoke cloud that was coming at us. Ah, shit the acid fog.
I picked up Charlotte "Run. Run!" I shouted. "Get to the Car."
Finn opened the door and we all jumped in. "It's getting inside," Wells shouted as we started to cough.
"Seal any openings. Coughed out. We started to pull off our jackets and use them to cover any openings coughing while we did so.
Some time had passed but we were not sure how long. Finn cleaned the glass to see outside.
"It's still out there," he said as he looked out.
"Look, we should just make a run for it. Jasper can't wait much longer." Said Clarke either not knowing what will happen or not caring.
I scoffed at her. "Us dying in a cloud of acid fog isn't gonna help, Jasper. And losing our only medic will be a massive loss so we will have to stay here till it passes we have no other option."
While the others had red rashes on their skin from the acid fog mine was clean. I do however still need to breathe however so I still can't go outside without holding my breath which I can only do for a max of 30 minutes.
I had yet to test how hard I am to cut my self I have yet to cut myself by accident but that could be due to the metal being too soft or just luck.
Finn was trying to break into the glove box of the car to see if there is anything in there worth looking at. I know they found boose but surely there was some form of tech in there after all if Becca made the flame then there must be tech somewhere unless all the grounders took it.
I would love to see what phones were like before the bombs. Hell, it was 100 years from the time I left and our tech was nowhere near making the Flame. [Bang]
Finn managed to get the glove box open.
"Is that…" Clarke started.
"Booze Hooch. Rotgut." Finn said, cutting her off.
Finn takes the top of the bottle off and takes a sip.
"Well, careful. Finn, it could be…" Clarke tries to warn him.
"Whiskey, I think," Finn says, not sure how he knows though I thought the Ark only had moonshine. "Better than the moonshine on Agro station."
"Alcohol's toxic," Clarke warned.
"I would be more worried about the last 100 odd years of radiation that's been subjected to instead alcohol poisoning," I warned them.
"This is Earth. Everything's toxic." Finn said not caring "Plus, it's a time-honoured rite of passage."
"We'll pass," Wells said for him and Clarke as if he could decide what she does. In fact, just saying that would make her drink it to spite him.
"Far be it from me to stand in the way of tradition," Clarke says, taking the bottle and taking a sip.
She offers it to me. Well, when in Rome I take the bottle and give it a sip. I never really liked alcohol in my old life and this new life is no different.
"Charlotte, you want to try?" I ask.
"You can't give it to her, she's just a kid," Wells and Clarke say to me.
"She is only going to have a sip. I'm not making her drink a bottle for god sakes," I said, rolling my eyes at them. Charlotte takes the bottle and looks at everyone before taking a sip.
"Ewww," Charlotte says, spitting it out. "That's disgusting" , giving me the bottle back and whipping her mouth on her jacket. I gave her my bottle of water to drink.
"It's been hours. Jasper…" Clarke said.
"Is in good hands. Octavia will take care of him." Finn cut her off.
"While we're on the subject, why is it that everyone thinks me wanting Jasper to not die is a bad thing?" asked Clarke.
"They don't, they are just scared he is a constant reminder that it could be the next," I said.
"Like I'm such a downer. It can be fun. Yeah. You think I'm fun. Right?" Asked Clarke, ah the booze is doing the talking I see remind me to get her drunk with Lexa in the future.
"Oh, yeah. Among other things." Finn said.
"Ya you can be fun at times," I said to her.
"You're fun," Wells said forcefully. "You remember that time…" he started.
"Remember that time you betrayed me and got my father executed?" Clarke snapped. Ah the joys of being drunk. "Yeah, I remember."
"Where were we? Fun." asked Clarke
"Yeah," Whispered Finn, uncomfortable with the topic.
"Well, since you brought it up, and I didn't, because I don't want to talk about it, what were you thinking?" she asked all of the hurt shown on her face.
"I made a mistake, Clarke." Wells just whispered out defeated.
" 'I made a mistake, Clarke.' Not good enough. You know, I bet you couldn't wait to run to daddy. Tell him everything so that he'd finally believe you were the perfect son he always wanted." Clarke said to him with tears in her eyes.
"What do you want me to say?" Wells shouted at Clarke.
"I want…" Clarke started.
"How about the truth," I asked him.
They both stopped arguing and looked at me. "I am telling the truth," Wells said to me but I could see the fear in his eyes not to mention I knew it was Clarke's mum.
"You're lying. I always know when people are lying to me." I said to him look back. "You came down to the ground because you knew that Clarke was going to come down to the ground," I said, taking a pause.
"Someone like that wouldn't break a promise they made to that person, not at all," I said.
"Shut up you don't know what you're talking about," Wells said afraid.
"Oh," I asked looking at Clarke.
"He is the only one I told it had to be him, Clarke shouted at me."
"Is he the only one who knew though?" I asked Clarke. She looked off for a minute.
She looked back at Wells and didn't say anything, just thinking.
The next few hours passed in silence. Clarke was thinking about something no doubt who actually killed her dad. Finn was asleep as was Charlotte. And Wells was giving me the evil eye.
Clarke jumped up and looked outside the glass. "The fog's cleared. Come on. Let's go. Jasper's waiting." She said not waiting for anyone to catch up. Finn and Wells got out first and I helped Charlotte get out.
"So how has your first adventure been?" I asked her as I placed her on my shoulders again and we started to walk back to camp.
"Much more fun than camp?" She replied back with a smile.
Charlotte took a nervous breath "You don't think Wells told his dad about Clarke's dad?" she asked.
"Nope, he clearly likes her far too much, he is covering for someone. It takes a really good person and friend to take the blame for such a thing." I told her.
I looked at Clarke and Finn and listened to what they were saying.
"Trapped in a 100-year-old car by toxic fog. Last night was pretty... What's the word? Fun." Finn said to Clarke.
"We should've left the second the fog cleared. Jasper's life is on the line" Clarke said, mad at herself.
"Even if the fog cleared, we'd never make it back through these woods at night," Finn said, taking a nervous breath.
"You were kind of rough on Wells," he said
"Hardly," Clarke said sarcastically.
"He's a pretty straight-up guy. And he loves you. You know that, right? But every time your dad comes up, he won't give you a straight answer." Finn said, letting her think about it.
"I agree with Violet. I think he is hiding something and if Wells wasn't the only person that knew…" Finn said, letting it trail off.
"What the hell!!!" Someone shouted.
I ran up to Finn and gave him Charlotte. "Take her back to camp with Wells. Jasper needs the seaweed. Go Now Don't let her see" I shouted at him as Clarke and I ran to the person that shouted I knew they had found Atom.
We arrived to see Bellamy kneeled next to Atom holding a knife but couldn't bring himself to kill Atom. We both walked up next to him and kneeled down. He looked up at Clarke. You could see in his eyes he was hoping Clarke would be able to save him.
Clarke looked Atom up and down. I knew there was nothing to be done. The acid burns had made him blind puss was still leaking out of his eyes and nose. I was sure his lungs were ruined as well. Clarke looked back at Bellamy and just shook her head.
She leaned down to Atom "I'm gonna help you, all right?" she whispered to him and started to hum. Taking the knife from Bellamy she placed it near Atom's neck but stopped. I placed my hand on top of her and gave her a forced smile. I could see the thanks in her eyes as she looked at me.
It was only right that I helped kill him since I allowed him to end up like this. I pushed the knife into his neck where Clarke had placed it.
[Humming]
Less than a minute later Atom stopped breathing and I couldn't hear his heart beating anymore. That last half of a minute seemed to take so long. I wasn't sure how I felt there was an empty hollow feeling in my stomach.
Clarke just kept humming even though Atom had died and Bellamy was looking sort of out of it. I could see that my hands were shaking. "Clarke"
"CLARKE!" I shouted at her to get her attention. "We need to get back to camp for Jasper, let's not let another person die, okay" we need to focus.
"Ya ya sorry," She said, still a little out of it.
Bellamy grabbed a trap out of his bag. "We can use this to carry him. I will get the front, you get the back" He asked.
I just gave him a nod "Ya okay" I said trying to work out how I felt. I wasn't sure what I was meant to feel after killing someone which is what I had done. Clarke just helped put him out of his mercy. I had let him come out of camp knowing he would die.
Did I think that his life was less important than Wells' life? Was it? I started to daydream to get my mind off it. It would do me no good to torture myself over this now I had made my choice now I had to live with it. Just treat it like an animal you killed in a hunting trip I told myself over and over.
Night soon fell by the time we got back to camp. They opened the gate and we walked in. I heard Clarke say something about Jasper. I guess she was making the seaweed tea for him.
"I better go get this grave dug" I heard Wells say to Bellamy. That reminded me I had to keep a watch on Charlotte tonight as long as I did that it would all be worth it. Yes, I just need to do that. I looked around the camp and I managed to spot Charlotte in the tree she was at last night.
I heard Octavia walk towards Atom. "Octavia, just stay there. Please, stay back." I heard Bellamy ask but it sounded more like begging.
"Atom." I heard her scream out, each one stabbing me like knives, making the empty feeling worse.
"There's nothing I could do," Bellamy said to her. No, but I could have done something I thought traitorously to myself.
"Don't." Octavia cut him off and stormed off back to the dropship.
"Jasper?" Bellamy asked Murphy.
"Still breathing. Barely. I tried to take him out, but your psycho little sister…" Murphy said.
Bellamy grabbed him and pushed him against the tree "My what? My What !!"
"Your little sister," Murphy replied submissively.
"Yeah, that's right. My little sister. Got anything else you want to say about her?" Bellamy asked inches from his face.
"Nothing sorry," Murphy said.
"Get him out of here," Bellamy told one of the people near Atom.
Murphy, pissed, tried throwing his knife at a tree and missed as it went flying into the dark towards the gravesite.
I walked over to Charlotte. "Hey got room for one more I asked.
She nodded back. I sat down next to her and pulled her close to me. I watched as she cuddled into me.
"You are really warm," She whispered to me.
"I know I have a birth defect but I make a great bed warmer" I teased back to her. "Time to go to sleep okay," I told her. As long as I keep Charlotte here then it will all be worth it I told myself.
Clarke came out of the dropship and walked off towards where Wells was. I looked down at Charlotte who had fallen asleep cuddling up next to me. I focused on listening in on what Clarke and Wells were talking about.
"Wells? I know I probably don't deserve it but I need to know the truth." Clarke asked desperately.
Clarke took a calming breath "It was my mom. Wasn't it? She's the one who told your dad. I didn't want to believe it. I... I couldn't." I could hear her start to cry.
"I couldn't. I blamed you because of my father's death and it's my mother's fault. Isn't it? Wells... Please." She begged.
"I knew how you would feel. I wanted to…" said wells.
"To protect me. So, you let me hate you." Clarke said, crying.
"What are friends for?" I heard Wells ask her. I stopped listening in and wrapped my arms around Charlotte and picked her up before finding a secluded place on the other side of camp where it was quiet. Looking in the tree's around camp I didn't see any grounders which were odd. I know that they were meant to be watching us.
Cuddling Charlotte I fell asleep hoping none of my choices caused me nightmares I have far worse ones to make in the future.
AN: Next chapter will be a combination of episodes 4 and 5.
With Wells not being killed and no what we want when we want.
There isn't really an episode 4 like in the TV show. So it will mainly be focused on episode 5 Raven coming to Earth.
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