Story Drafts

John Murphy

"Quiet." The guard demands, pulling us quicker. Zayden's cries echo the halls and I look around, finding all the other prisoners of the skybox out in the halls.

"What's happening? Are you floating all of us?" I ask.

"If you don't shut up, I'll take your baby and float it." A guard snaps and I hold onto Zayden tighter. Octavia and I are silent after that, not wanting to hurt Zayden. He continues to cry as we walk, and I do my best to calm him down, but he just keeps crying.

The guards take us into a large room where all the other prisoners are being brought. At the sound of a baby crying, all the prisoners' heads turn to look at us, their eyes going wide. The guards take us to two seats with buckles, one of them being more sophisticated than the other. My eyes widen as I realize what's happening. The guards sit us down and buckle us in, sitting Zayden on my lap and fastening him to the buckles connected to mine and keeping him close to my body. They tie a duffel bag to my leg before leaving, and I turn to look at Octavia.

"They're sending us to the ground, aren't they?" She asks and I fearfully nod my head. I look down at Zayden who is still crying, and start bouncing him to calm him down. "You do realize what this means, right?"

"That we're all going to die in a giant ball of fire for no reason?" I snap.

"No." Her frown morphs into a grin. "You're gonna see Murphy again. Zayden is gonna meet his dad."

"Oh my God." I gasp, tears filling my eyes. "You're right."

Octavia laughs, but I see tears forming in her eyes too. She looks down at Zayden and sticks her finger out for him to grab onto.

"You're gonna meet your Dada, Zayden."

"Dada!" He squeals and we laugh. I hear other chuckles and look up, finding other people watching us. "Mama!"

"Yes, Baby." I coo, looking back down at him. "Mama."

There's a loud slam that echoes around us, and my head flies up. I start feeling anxious when I realize that they closed the doors and we're about to take off.

"Octavia, I love you." I say, taking a hold of her hand. "You're the best aunt to Zayden and you've helped me with him so much. If we don't make it out of this, I just want you to know that meeting you was one of the best things to ever happen to me."

"I love you too, Farren. When I first saw you, 6 months pregnant and being thrown into the cell, I knew I would protect you and your baby at all costs. But look at us now. You've been the one protecting us. Thank you for that and thank you for everything else you've ever done."

The ship starts rumbling and Octavia grips my hand tighter while I hold Zayden closer to me. After a few minutes, the screens on the walls turn on to show the Chancellor. He starts going on about some stupid mountain, but I just ignore him.

"Your dad's a dick, Wells!" I hear someone shout and my eyes widen. Wells Jaha is on this ship.

There's more chatter and chuckling before someone yells "Spacewalk Bandit strikes again!"

"Did they just say Spacewalk Bandit?" Octavia asks me with wide eyes. "As in-"

"Finn." I mutter, looking around for my twin brother. I can't see him anywhere, but I hear his voice echoing.

"Check it out. Your dad floated me after all." He says and I can only assume he's talking to Wells.

"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Wells snaps back at him.

"Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live." Clarke commands a couple kids cutting their harnesses.

"Hey, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year." I hear Finn's voice again.

"You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk."

"But it was fun. I'm Finn."

"Don't you have a younger twin sister around here somewhere?" Clarke asks Finn and my heart stops.

"Yeah, and if everything was healthy, a niece or nephew. But who cares?" Finn replies and I fight back tears.

"What? A niece or nephew?" Clarke gasps and the parachutes deploy, sending Finn and the two others flying into the walls. Sparks fly everywhere and Zayden starts crying in fear. I hold him tight and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for it all to be over.

Eventually there's a slam and everything goes quiet aside from Zayden's cries.

"Listen." A boy calls. "No machine hum."

Everyone starts undoing their seat belts and Octavia help unclip Zayden, holding him and trying to calm him down while I unfasten myself. As soon as I'm free, I take Zayden from Octavia and start the long process of calming him down.

"The outer door is on the lower level!" A guy shouts. "Let's go!"

I see the want in Octavia's eyes as she watches everyone rush down the ladder.

"Go on." I say and she looks at me. "We'll be there as soon as I calm him down."