Astrid Montgomery was not a child born out of love.
She was born as an experiment, so she believed her entire life. The pure use of her existence was to test methods for prolonging longevity of the human race while minimizing the resources needed. Minimal oxygen. Minimal food and water. A minimal human.
Both of her parents were medical specialists and scientists, hired by the reigning Chancellor at her birth. They had worked on biogenesis using beta radiation to alter the genome sequencing in an individual to not only withstand lethal radiation levels, but to create a product that could withstand the harshest conditions without fault. A legion of working dogs while the privileged enjoyed their cushy lives.
A perfect candidate to send to Earth. Well, almost.
Since birth, her parents had run a series of tests and experiments on her body. Blood manipulation. Genetic recoding. Physiological tests that nearly broke her body and soul. Most notably, the continued low dose exposure to radiation to force genetic material to mutate. They believed that exposing a child during their most productive years of tissue regeneration and cell growth would provide the best results. Unfortunately for them, the only thing it yielded was a child stripped of colored hair and a petite, brittle body, constantly on the verge of breaking. Fortunately for her, they died from radiation poisoning when she was 12. All of their secrets going down with them.
Which led her here. Being locked in this cell for the past 5 years of her life. Day in, and day out, Astrid sat in her mute colored cell as the Ark spun around Earth. Not even a damned window to look at Earth. Being floated at her age of 17 wasn't an option, but she was also deemed 'unfit' to join the population with the amount of information her young mind held. Not even to join the rest of the criminals. It could cause a revolution.
So, they kept her a secret from society. Locked away in a solitary until the day she'd float. But it was a hell of a lot better compared to life she had as a test rat.
It was a bleak life, but Astrid found ways to occupy her days. Petty tricks on the guards. Fidgeting her pin straight white hair into different hairstyles. Gymnastics and dance to lessen the frailty in her body, which did little to help besides aiding in her tricks against the guards. But most of all, reading. She had read nearly every book on this damned ship. Three times. From basic children's books, to lengthy fantasy series, and even air duct repair manuals. It was the only form of basic entertainment the guards allowed her.
93 days until the day she was destined to float. And she was eagerly counting down the days. 17 years on this hunk of junk space station, locked in captivity one way or another. Astrid was more than ready to end this miserable life. And by the Ark, she tried. But the guards were always too keen and too swift for her to ever complete the task. She eventually gave up after the third attempt and decided suffering in solitude would have to do.
Today was different. The usual guards stalking outside the door were quiet. But the other captives were not. Throughout the day, Astrid honed in on fussing and screams, all ending in silence. It made her uneasy, questioning the agenda of the Chancellor and council. Secrets upon secrets.
"Prisoner 89." A familiar voice banged his fist along her door. "Back against the wall."
"C'mon, Terrance, you know I won't bite. Hard." Astrid teased the guard as she slid down the chair apparatus she made from sheets fastened to the rusted pipes. She knew nearly all of them by name, either from slyly tormenting them or from just the frequency they visited her cell. Terrance, by chance, first met Astrid when she was in a particularly bad mood. Underneath the sleeve of his uniform, a faint, crescent shaped scar reminded them both of that experience.
The door swung open, revealing the guard with an unreadable face. "Hands out."
"What the hell do you want?" She arched an intimidating brow at the man, "Chancellor is finally going to give me an early release?"
His face was grim as two other guards flanked his side. "Sorry I gotta do this kid."
Before Astrid could react, one of the guards swarmed her side, pressing an electric rod against her neck. The jolts of electricity sent her body rigid. The last feeling before darkness overcame her was her head hitting the cool metal floor, and a sharp sting along her wrist.
Her body jolted-no- shook awake. But not by hands. By turbulent air tossing the cabin around. As the roaring pain in her head diminished to a dull throb, she cracked her eyes open. Muffled cheers and panicked echoes forced her senses to wake. Synthetic fuel tickled her nose. A groan escaped Astrid's lips as she straightened her back in the chair, feeling the straps holding her down.
"Hey." A curious female voice called out to her. "Hey! Are you okay?"
Her eyes fluttered around the cabin, shifting her gaze at all the faces until she settled on the one directly across from her. The woman's dark eyes filled with concern as she cocked her head to the side, dark locks pooling over her shoulder.
"What... what's happening?" The words came out hoarse against Astrid's throat.
"We're going back." She beamed with excitement from her chair.
"Back where?" Her eyebrows creased with confusion, trying to piece together what the woman meant. "What the hell is going on?"
"We're going to Earth. The Ark is sending us down to see if we can live. You just missed Jaha's speech."
Astrid eyes grew wide at the news. Fear panged deep in her chest, leaving her breathless. This couldn't be happening. She was supposed to die in 93 days. Not live. Her whole life, she waited for the moment when those doors would blast her into space. But now, she was expected to live. Not for her own pleasure, but as another test subject for the Ark.
"What's your name?" Her voice snapped Astrid out of her daze.
"What."
She chuckled softly at the blank stare. "What's your name?"
"Astrid."
"Octavia." Octavia tilted her head at Astrid, trying to piece together if she knew the girl. If Octavia had ever heard her name, or seen her face. But then again, there was a decent chance none of them knew who Astrid was, either. Maybe a myth that circulated through the Ark, but nothing more. Ideally, she'd like to keep it that way. She had no intention of making friends, even if their ship didn't crash into Earth and incinerate all of them.
In retrospect, Astrid was amongst a bunch of criminals. Some of which had probably been locked away for petty crimes such as stealing or drugs. But others went as far as murder. The thought made her shudder in her chair. Nothing good could come out of this, she thought as she scanned the rest of the 100.
She wondered what Octavia was in for. She didn't look like a murderer, but then again, it seemed unfathomable that any kid could kill somebody on the Ark.
Another blast of turbulence jolted them. Some of those who had taken advantage of the lack of gravity for their own entertainment, were then thrown against the ship. Sparks flew over Astrid's head. She braced against the straps in her chair, closing her eyes and waited, praying for the inevitable crash that would kill them all.
But it never came. Instead, the dropship was utterly still, utterly silent. Until the lights flickered over head and the seatbelts came loose. She watched as everybody rushed from their seats to the lower level. Anxiety pulsed against her skin as she climbed down the ladder, just after Octavia.
Whispers about the girl, the one who lived under the floorboards, with a brother no less, all directed at her. Even as Astrid watched Octavia embrace the older man, much older than 18, she couldn't help but wonder what her story was. What everybody's story was. Perhaps, if the violence wave of radiation didn't kill them all, Astrid would poke Octavia a bit to learn what her story was. One friend wouldn't kill her, right?
A gust of wind pushed past them as the door flung open. Sunlight, actual sunlight, warmed her skin. The smell of the air was indescribable. Pine, she guessed. But as she took the slow strides towards the door, Astrid's body... it felt changed. New. As if the aches that chronically lulled in her bones had been washed away. Her muscles, once feeble as a doe, embraced her body. Even the difficult task of just breathing, nearly wiped away as influx of oxygen and the forest filled her lungs. Probably the adrenaline that ran rampant in the air.
"We're back, bitches!" Octavia rallied as she stepped out on the ground. The first human back on Earth.
While everybody took off sprinting towards the lush green around them, her feet grew heavy on the ship, unwilling to move. Everybody's laughter echoed deep into the forest. All these people, pardoned from their execution and granted the chance of life. Life on Earth.
Not once, in her 17 years of life, did she expect this to happen.
She found the courage deep in her heart to shuffle her feet across the metal ramp. An invisible wall held Astrid back from taking that last step on the ground. A hand reached for hers, dragging her over that threshold.
"C'mon!" Octavia pulled her into the group of people, "There's nothing out here. Bellamy!"
Right in the middle of a crowd of people, her brother stood with a confident grin on his face. A natural born leader, ready to take his place on Earth. There was still a power hungry grin on his face as he looked towards us. It made her uneasy, questioning his motives, and just how the hell he got down here.
"Bellamy, this is..." Her words lingered as she waited for Astrid to fill in the blank.
"Astrid."
He scanned every inch of her with a protective look in his eyes. "Astrid what?"
"Does it matter?" It came off as more of a threat than a simple answer. Her last name, Montgomery, would be a dead give away of her parents. They were the only ones on the ship. And from the stories Astrid heard through the closet door her parents forced her in, they were infamous for their medical discoveries amongst the ship. Except for her.
Bellamy had lost interest in the conversation, shifting his gaze over their shoulders to the altercation behind them.
"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy snarked as he exchanged challenging looks to the girl and the Chancellor's son. Astrid may have been a shut-in, but she picked up a few things when listening to the guards. Just like how he got arrested days before their take off.
"We need to find Mount Weather." Chancellor Jr. walked up to them with determination, with the girl quick to his side. "You heard my father's messages. That has to be our first priority."
"Screw your father." Octavia snapped back with venom. "What? You think you're in charge here? You and your little princess?" Her gaze shifted to the blond girl, offering that same vicious stare.
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" By attitude and urgency laced in her words, the blonde obviously did. "We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be."
"How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a 20-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now." Her words were desperate as she talked to the small group around them. But Bellamy and Octavia didn't budge. In fact, they were already challenging their authority.
"You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change." Bellamy rallied, earning supportive cheers from behind. Astrid turned her chin away from the drama, minimizing her interest in the conversation. In a group full of eager and excited criminals, she wanted to keep a low profile. As if the white hair could allow that. Surrounded by an endless expanse of green, her white hair would be a dead give away.
"You're not listening." The Chancellor's son grew impatient, "We all need to go."
A brunette male with a challenging grin behind him shrugged him off, taunting him until a fight nearly ensued. But when another man with long layered brown hair jumped off the ship, it quickly ended. And Octavia, with her wits and charm, slipped a flirtatious remark to the 'spacewalker'.
Bellamy pulled her off to the side to scold her, leaving Astrid in the dust. Before she could investigate the land, another voice called for her attention.
"Are you coming?" The shaggy hair man, or 'spacewalker', asked her while the blonde tended Chancellor Jr.
"Anything sounds better than that." She snapped low under her breath.
He chuckled slightly at her harsh words while his eyes fixed on her hair. "I think I would have noticed if a girl with white hair was aboard the Ark."
"Never got out much." She snarked with a fake smile. Despite the repetitive messages, he didn't seem to get the hint.
"What's your name? Just so I don't have to call you 'grandma' while we're here." Astrid rolled her eyes at the nickname, giving a forced laugh. It wasn't very clever. Hell, even the guards came up with better nicknames than 'grandma'.
"What's it to you?" She sighed as she decided to let her bitter attitude sit on the back burner for a bit, "Astrid. And what about you and your friends, space walker?" She drawed out the nickname with a teasing tone.
"My name's Finn. And that's Clarke and Wells, Monty and Jasper. You really must not have gotten out much if you don't even know who he is." He turned over his shoulder to the beckoning blonde, tending to Well's knee. "See you later, Astrid. Gotta fetch food for a hundred."
The rest of the day was spent along the sidelines. Watching the members for the 100, well the 98 who still lived, that were still rallying and partying like it was their last day alive. Or perhaps, their first day to finally live. Without the shackles of the Ark and the incessant rule, Astrid was curious on how this would all pan out. Would everybody be able to exist in peace for the best interest of the people, or would the power struggle rip this group apart at the seams. Judging by the way Clarke and Bellamy bickered earlier, she placed her bet on the latter.
A large bonfire was lit in the middle of the camp with people cheering around. At the center, people were taking off their wristbands like it was a ceremonial rite. At in the middle, Bellamy Blake with his cronies.
"Astrid!" Bellamy called out from the middle of the circle, and she whipped her head to face his direction. "How's about getting that wristband off you?"
Her eyes scanned the clunky metal around her wrist. For a moment, Astrid debated about keeping it on. This was transmitting vital information to the Ark. But in reality, why should she keep it? Why would she help the Ark? As if they did anything for her besides locking her in a cell, one way or another.
"Fuck it, take it off. There's nobody up there that'll miss me anyways." Whoops around the fire grew wild as another person defied against the Ark.
"Atta girl!" Bellamy cheered as he motioned her to sit on the rock. Another boy, the one who picked a fight with Wells, fidgeted with the bracelet. A coy grin along his face.
"So, tell me, Snowflake, how the hell did you end up here?" She knew the question was targeted to her crime, and not the obvious way they had all gotten down here. But she decided to tease with the obvious instead.
"On a drop ship." She winced as the knife dug into her skin. He chuckled at the sarcasm.
"I mean, what's your crime? You don't look like a criminal to me." He pushed on as he fiddled with the bracelet.
Panic thundered in her heart. "I stole." Astrid lied through her teeth. "Guess it's frowned upon for a 12 year old to be sneaking around in the Chancellor's private documents."
The answer was fool proof enough for him to believe it. He huffed in surprise at her answer. In another breath, the wristband snapped off her wrist and tumbled to the floor.
"Name's Murphy. John Murphy." He said as Astrid rubbed her sore wrist.
"Astrid." She decided he seemed decent enough to know her name.
"I like Snowflake better. More fitting to the..." His finger gestured to his hair around his face, and Astrid rolled her eyes at the jab.
"Good one." Astrid snarked as she stood from the boulder, grabbing the wristband from the dirt ground. "Long live the Ark." She mumbled as she tossed the metal into the fire. Either from her quiet words or the rebellious act of metal entering the fire, everybody rallied at the top of their lungs.
Wells hobbled out a moment later from the drop ship. Completely irritated by the act of defiance. "What the hell are you doing?"
"We're liberating ourselves." Bellamy stood confidently as he spoke to him. "What does it look like?"
"It looks like you're trying to get us all killed!" Wells snapped, "The communication system is gone. These wristbands are all we got. Take them off, and the Ark will think we're dying. That it's not safe for them to follow."
She scoffed at his speech besides Murphy, "I don't see the problem."
"That's the point, Chancellor." Bellamy taunted him with that nickname, "We can take care of ourselves, can't we?"
Everybody cheered again.
"You think this is a game?" Wells grew more irritated with the defiance, just like his father. "Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there. They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers."
"The ones who sent us here to die, dipshit." Astrid sneered under her breath, just loud enough for Wells, John and Bellamy to turn their heads. The latter two chuckled while Wells frowned in disappointment.
"I don't care what he tells you. We won't survive here on our own." Wells tried to address the crowd, but it had fallen flat. "Besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"
"My people are already down." Bellamy gestured to the crowd around before pointing to the sky, to the Ark, "Those people locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. your father did that."
"My father didn't write the laws."
"No. He enforced them. But not anymore, not here. Here, there are no laws." People around them offered audible agreement with Bellamy. "Here, we do whatever the hell we want whenever the hell we want. Now, you don't have to like it, Wells. You can even try to stop it or change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."
John cheered behind him, riling up the crowd once more. People chanted that final line over and over again. Wells stood by dumbstruck at the utter lack of defiance.
Until the rain came.
All at once, the defiant cries turned into awe struck bliss as the rain poured onto the survivors. The cool sensation cascaded down Astrid skin, soaking through her clothes. Her hair grew heavy as it clung to her back. It was euphoric. Nothing could describe the crisp smell as she tilted her head to the sky, embracing every moment of it. A small smile of bliss rose through her cheekbones.
This. This is what living felt like. She had waited her whole life for this moment.