Barricade- John Murphy

Chapter 3

Episode 1:
Pilot

As we walk Octavia comes up next to me and tugs me with her. "We can talk later. Okay?" She says softly and I smile nodding. "Look." She says smiling brightly. I look seeing a lake and we share a grin. We run ahead and I throw down my bag. I strip off my top as Octavia does the same. I kick down my pants as I toe off my shoes.

"Oh, damn, I love earth." I hear behind us and blush. I don't look back and instead just jump in. I hear a splash after me and I pop above water blinking it from my eyes. "Girls. We can't swim." Monty calls. "We can stand." Octavia says grinning and they all cheer. As they start stripping I step back a ways to give them room to get in. "Arty... Octavia get out of the water." Jasper yells.

I pause confused seeing them staring behind me wide eyed. I turn seeing something coming through the water towards us. I curse and turn moving as fast as I can. Octavia gets to the rocks and they yank her up out of the water. Something latches onto my leg and I scream in pain. It drags me under water and I feel water fill my lungs.

I can hear them yelling my name, but the water muffles it. I flail above the water coughing before it drags me back down. There's a splash somewhere and it releases me as I push up. I cough out the water I inhaled as there's a big splash right next to me. "I got you. I got you." Jasper's voice fills my ears.

He pulls me out of the water and I flop onto my back coughing. "Oh god. Arty, your leg." I hear Octavia. "Thank you." I say tugging Jaspers arm to hug him. "Note to self, next time, save the girl." Monty says making us all laugh. Clarke ties a strip of fabric around my injury and I wince in pain.

They help me up and I carefully get dressed. We decide to wait the night to give me a break, before finding a way across. I lean back against a tree, Octavia next to me asleep with her head on my good leg. I stare into the fire, not feeling the least bit tired.

"Can't sleep?" I hear a soft voice. I turn seeing Clarke sitting up. "Nope. Almost getting my leg eaten off is making it hard." I smile and she chuckles. "Not too much pain?" She asks and I shake my head. "Nope. Throbbing a bit, but not bad." I say and she nods. "Can I... can I ask? About my dad?" She asks quieter, but I still heard her.

"Bell and Tavi don't even know about it." I mumble looking down at my sleeping twin. "We can talk another time if you want." She tells me. "It's fine. On the Ark, there wasn't much of a curfew since people worked all hours. Sure, they wanted kids to sleep decent times. I didn't. Bellamy called me a night owl. I guess that was a thing years ago?" I say and she nods.

"I snuck out at night. Neither of them found out about it. One night when I snuck out, I ran into your dad. When he told me his name, I was terrified. I knew your mom was on the council, and thought he would turn me in. He didn't. Didn't even tell your mom." I say with a small smile.

"I got scolded for being out so late. Especially as a sibling. He started talking to me every night. Would tell me these bizarre stories. He said he told you the same ones. Even getting older, I would still sneak out. He started teaching me things. Earth skills, tracking. Things like that. He even gave me a book about medical techniques." I chuckle softly.

I look over at her seeing her smiling softly. "He taught me a good chunk of what I know. Except for what I learned from Bell and Tavi of course. And another person." I smile. "He was pretty great." She nods. "He somehow convinced a mechanic to teach me too." I add and she laughs. "Who was it?" She asks me. "Sinclair. Head Mechanic isn't such a rule follower." I giggle.

"You know, just being down here. Seeing you interact with the others. Hearing these stories? I'm a little jealous." She admits. "What? Why?" I ask her. "Artemis... everyone loves you. They listen to you pretty well. You didn't even raise your voice about volunteers. Finn, Jasper, and Monty didn't hesitate." She tells me. "I know Jasper and Monty. The night I got arrested was when I met them." I laugh.

We talk a bit more before she tells me she's going to find Finn, when we realize he disappeared. I lay my head back looking up at the stars and smile softly. I close my eyes, finally managing to doze off for a little while.

The next day we were wide awake and ready. We had found something sturdy enough to swing across the river. Finn wanted to go first and was taking his sweet time. I stood with Octavia, leaning slightly on her to keep my weight off my hurt leg. I zone back in hearing something about Apogee.

I look up seeing Jasper take the thick vine from Finn and grin. Finn says something to him that I can't hear before Jasper smiles looking down at us. "See you on the other side." He says before he jumps. I watch wide-eyed as he swings across. He tumbles and rolls when he lets go, and we run to the edge. He pops up cheering and throwing his hands up.

"We are apogee!" He screams. "Go, Jasper!" I cheer as everyone yells. Clarke climbs up and the rest of us follow. "We did it! Mount Weather!" He cheers, holding up a dirty sign. "O, we made it!" I cheer excitedly, and she laughs. Just as she goes to jump and swing, something happens. A whizzing sound flies by my ear. I flinch away from the noise, confused.

I shift my gaze to Jasper and freeze, seeing him impaled by a spear. "Jasper..." I mumble wide-eyed. "Jasper? Jasper!" I yell as I'm tugged over to hide behind a large boulder. "Shit... What the fuck was that?" I pant out. "We're not alone." Clarke says wide-eyed.