The Girl With No Name // the 100 Wattys 2018!!

Eighteen

The night fell, and all Theresa could do was pace back and forth inside the medical tent. Jackson had found her and confined her to the inside; he said it was to keep her safe, and she was afraid that he was right. He told her that it would be best for her to try and get some sleep -- just in case the need for evacuation came, but sleep wasn't coming to Theresa tonight. Not after the things she had seen.

So, she stayed awake. Jackson came in, forcing her to sit down on the cot as he changed her bandages and checked her wounds. Things were still looking good -- at least that's what he told her. As for the pain, the pain was tolerable. She was getting the ability to walk again, but it was hard to lay on her back. Jackson suggested that she do more walking, and maybe even some stretches to help with the muscles in her back.

When she asked what she should do, he brought her outside. They were gathering up emergency supplies when a loud murmur rose through the crowd. All eyes were turned toward the entrance, but Theresa wasn't able to get a good look at whatever everyone was seeing.

"What's going on?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," Jackson replied.

The murmuring sounded like the same two words. "They're here."

---

Three months had past and it was a miracle that Theresa lasted as long as she had. Part of her thought that they just gave up looking, but that definitely wasn't the case. Theresa just got better at hiding. The observation deck was more like her home now, and every day she was there, she waited for Jasper or Monty to come, but they never did. She began to wonder if they had abandoned her. Everyone on the Ark certainly knew that she wasn't dead; everyone was on the lookout for her. Every day out of confinement was tough. After weeks of stealing old, torn-up uniforms, scrounging for food, and avoiding all possible contact with anyone, she was tired.

Her hiding spots really varied, though. Some days the floor was her spot, or the observation deck, or the vents. One day, she was forced to crawl through the vents, and it took her a while to come down. While she was crawling through them, she caught a conversation between the Ark's Chancellor Thelonious Jaha and the Ark's head Doctor Abagail Griffin.

"You can't seriously be considering this, Thelonious," Dr. Griffin said.

"We're really out of options here, Abby," Chancellor Jaha replied. "If we're going to run out of air, we need to know if the ground is survivable."

Running out of air? Theresa covered her mouth, suppressing a gasp as she continued to listen.

"But these are just kids! We can't send them down there. We don't know anything," Dr. Griffin argued.

"We either risk a hundred, or we risk everyone. It's a tough decision, but it has to be made. I'm sorry, Abby."

"My daughter is in there, Thelonious. You can't expect me to be okay with this."

"My son is there as well. This is just as hard for me as it is for you."

"What about the missing one? The girl? It's been three months -- for all we know, she could have cost us some of our air supply. No one has been able to find her. Say we do find her -- then what do we do?"

"Then she gets sent down too."

A lump formed in Theresa's throat. Sent down where? They couldn't possibly send her down to Earth. It wasn't survivable. There was no way.

"You know Kane isn't going to stand for that," Dr. Griffin argued.

"I'm the Chancellor, and I make the decisions. If she's found, she gets sent down as part of the hundred."