Taming Chaos // J.M // The 100

Chapter 1

"Prisoner three-zero-two, get up and turn against the wall."

In the centre of his prison cell, Ethan struggles futilely against the confines of his singular, thin blanket. "Hold on a second," he demands, lips hanging upside down, hands reaching towards his feet to untangle the mess of a rude awakening. His back aches when he successfully pulls his foot out and rolls onto his stomach to analyse the guards standing by his door, the smile dropping.

"Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding." Ethan Beckett steadies himself with a hand against the wall, eyes darting towards the exit. "I know it's my birthday, but I think you may be celebrating a tad too early, I'm still only seventeen." 

The blue-eyed, stubbled guard with a tag that reads "Michael" rests a hand purposefully against his belt, fingers grazing the stun baton as a warning. Ethan's gone many rounds - verbal or not - with this guy, and quite frankly, hates his guts.

Ethan follows the movement, "Threatening me with a good time, Michael?"

With a disgusted scowl, he gestures towards the wall. "Ethan Beckett, face the wall and hold out your right arm."

Ethan pulls a face. Swallowing with difficulty, he moves a step to the right, just enough to see past the Guard's head and into the Skybox. 

Rows upon rows of cells were open, kids he'd never seen before being led out by what seemed to be the entire royal guard if they had one. His breath gets caught in his throat when Michael grabs him, and without time to maneuver away, Ethan is forced to twist and obey, face pressed against a cold wall where the second guard could clamp something heavy over his wrist.

They were being let go? No. Too risky, too harmful for the Ark, not enough rations.

Then the alternative. . .

The council is getting rid of them. Permanently.

Ethan digs his shoes into the floor, searching desperately for something to spit their way. Show them he's not afraid. No words are found, and he tosses his head back instead, ready for the impact. He misses entirely.

Five doors down, he catches a girl his age sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of her apparent mother.

Ethan's closer now, enough to hear them talk, but there's a palm around the nape of his neck, preventing any attempt at pulling away to join them. The rehearsed press of fingers makes him panicky, and brings an unwanted, recent memory to the front of his mind.

"You're being sent to the ground!" The mother says, tightening her hold on the girl's shoulders. "All one hundred of you!"

"Earth? You're sending a hundred kids to Earth?" Ethan yanks against constricting arms, eyes as wide as saucers. "So, what, we die by radiation and you guys get to bond about this being for the greater good?" 

Fingers dig harshly into the skin underneath his hairline. He knows he's in the right, winces a "float you" at the guard named Michael. The eye contact he makes with the mother, Abby Griffin, is too short that he can't see the expression twist on her face.

The moment is gone and he's pulled around the corner all too soon.

When they force a hundred prisoners onto a ship aging the same number, Ethan's quickly hoping for a distraction to save him from his impending doom. He hadn't realised how many teenage delinquents were waiting for judgement day until seeing them all in one area. The stupid piece of junk metal attached to his wrist serves as a reminder that they were nothing but pawns to the Chancellor. 

"See if the Earth is survivable," they said. "Let's go check ourselves," they did not.

The hundred of them are nothing to the Ark but test subjects.