WHITE DWARF • THE 100

13

Swearing under her breath, she stormed over towards the drop ship, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead. The sun blaring down on them was slowly cooking Cassie, who was one of the only ones still wearing her jacket. She refused for the others to see.

"Where are you going?" Jay yelled, not having the effort to catch up with her long strides.

Cassie didn't turn around, shouting the reply over her shoulder. "Giving that kid some peace."

Without waiting for a reply, Cassie stormed into the drop ship, flying up the ladder to the level where Jasper was. When she got there she had to stop herself from gasping. Jasper, a kid whose grin ate his entire lively face, had ghostly pale skin with a grimace implanted on his features. His eyes were closed, his head tossing from side to side. Despite being asleep, he was still alerting everyone in the camp - and the world - that he was hurting.

Monty and Clarke's attention instantly snapped to the violent girl clambering her way through the hatch. Both of their faces were the picture of confusion, with Monty asking, "What are you doing, Cassie?"

"Building the fence was taking it's toll on me, so I figured I'd come up and see how Zombie's doing," she fluently lied, tossing a glance again at his sleeping form. She'd been hoping to knock the kid unconscious with a single blow; it seemed insensitive to smack a sleeping, recently-speared teenager.

The two both raised their eyebrows, and Cassie let the act drop. "Fine. The kid was loud so I thought I'd knock him out to put him out of his misery. Can't smack him when he's sleeping though - I'm not that cruel." They seemed sated with this, returning to their work. Cassie stood there awkwardly, finally allowing herself to drop to the ground. "Wake me up when all of this shits over."

Cassie curled up in on herself, the hard metal floor digging into her bones. She paid this no mind - she'd become accustomed to pain. This was nothing in comparison to some of the things she'd endured.

*

It was like it used to be. The walls were still the same dull grey, the beds still shoved harshly against the wall, the artificial light making all of the occupants paler. Yet there was an air to the place that she couldn't describe. The only way to explain it is that whenever she crossed the threshold, her worn muscles relaxed and a smile danced across her face easier than before.

Callum grinned at her, rolling into the room with Ryan at his side. It was infectious, her face reciprocating the action. Whenever he was happy, so was she. Ryan adoringly placed his hand on Callum's shoulder, squeezing it tenderly while looking at their daughter. His gaze held a softness she craved. All of a sudden her vision became blurred.

"How was it, my star?"

She nearly collapsed at hearing his nickname for her. He always called her it, and it always made the weight on her shoulders lighter for a short while. She didn't realise how much she missed it until it crossed his lips.

Cassie stumbled over her words, "How was what Dad?"

Ryan answered this time, fixing his usually hollowed out gaze on her. This time, it held something she hadn't seen in him for a long time: happiness. Like his eyes, his voice was kind. Too kind. "Killing us. How was it?"

She felt her lip wobble. Her words were shaking so much they were barely coherent, and her tone held a pleading quality. "Daddy?"

The wristband on her arm instantly popped and crackled, snapping off of her. She let go an intake of breath, the almost silent hum of machinery becoming non existent. Cassie had next to no time to react as her parents both grinned at her simultaneously, their lips turning bluer by the second. What she wanted to say got stuck in her throat as she too felt the constricting in her throat, and the thinness in the air.