The 100

Chapter 1

CLARKE:

My hands were black from drawing with the charcoal on my cell's floor. It was covered with drawings of Earth, what it was before the nuclear war destroyed it 97 years ago, what it could be now. No one had been down to the ground since then and no one knew what could be down there now. For all we know it could still be a smoldering ball of radioactivity.

We lived on a space station called The Ark. There used to be other stations but they had fallen apart over the years. The Ark was built from the debris of the other stations and that's why it had lasted so long, but oxygen levels were low and we aren't going to last much longer. People were already suffering from oxygen deprivation and we were supposed to have up to 3 months left. I was one of the only people who knew about this problem, my father had figured it out and when he went to voice his discoveries, he was floated. Sent out to space to die, no suit or anything. My mom, Abigail Griffin, knows about it too but she hasn't said anything. I was locked up in this cell because of it, because I knew. The law said that minors, under 18, who had committed crimes would be held in this cell block until they turned 18. Then they would be re-evaluated and either walk free or be floated. Mostly always floated.

I'm still 17, I won't turn 18 for another couple months.

ABBY (Clarke's mother):

This had to work. These bracelets had to work in order to send the kids to the ground. Oxygen deprivation was getting bad, I had been treating people for it for the past couple weeks but there wasn't a lot I could do. Sending the 100 prisoners to the ground was our only shot at living and the bracelets were our only way to monitor their health and vitals while they were down there, that way we would know if it was safe to come down there ourselves.

I heard the door open and someone walk in. One of the guards.

"Dr. Griffin, we have more people waiting to be treated for oxygen deprivation." one of the guards spoke.

"Just get the oxygen masks, you can do it without me." I replied, I had to finish working on the bracelets.

"Abby, it's bad. We need you." the guard spoke again, in a more panicked tone.

"Okay, I'm coming." I dropped the bracelet I was working on and followed the guard.

The room was filled with people coughing and showing signs of lack of oxygen. I started bringing the masks around, they each got 5 breaths in the masks. When I reach a little girl, only about 6 years old, I tested her for blindness. Children are most vulnerable to the effects of oxygen deprivation and blindness was one of those effects. Her father stood behind me, watching closely.

I concluded my tests, she was going blind in her right eye. It was bad. We couldn't wait any longer.

**********

"Philonias, listen to me!" I yelled, he was the chancellor. He had to make a decision about sending the 100 to the ground early.

"Are the bracelets even ready?" He sounded concerned.

"They'll have to be. We can't wait any longer or everyone on The Ark will die." I said, it was the truth. We won't even have 3 months left.

"Fine, they go tomorrow. Alert the rest of the council." Philonias waved me off.