𝟎𝟎𝟖. ❝ BAD CIRCUMSTANCES. ❞
— IN THE DIM LIGHT OF THE UPPER DECK, CLEO'S HEAD GLISTENED WITH SWEAT. Dry tears covered her cheeks, her body crying for some much-needed rest. She pressed a cool cloth to Jasper's forehead, trying to lower his insanely high body temperature. Her hands shook, but she didn't know from what. Exhaustion? Emotions? The numbness gnawing at her inside didn't help her at all.
"Go," Clarke instructed, noticing the shaking hands. "They cooked some meat outside, go eat and take a nap. I'll wake you up in a few hours."
"I shouldn't," Cleo protested, shaking her head.
Her hair was out of its ponytail by that time, having come loose with all the lifting and holding down she'd had to do. Her hair tie had been thrown somewhere regrettably – she'd find it some other time.
"Really, go," she insisted. "We can take shifts."
Cleo looked at her friend before nodding, handing the towel over to her. She shakily made her way to the ladder, climbing down the rungs with trembling legs. Immediately, she was hit with the smell of cooking meat. Her stomach growled loudly in response, her feet taking her to the fire before her mind could catch up.
Outside at the fire, the two men in charge were handing out food for the delinquents – with a catch. One slab of meat for one wristband. If one didn't want to give up their wristband, they didn't get to eat.
Cleo's eyes squinted with tiredness, her body suddenly feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. She didn't have a wristband, she wouldn't be getting food.
From the sidelines, she watched sadly as her peers walked by with slabs of meat. A few offered her some, but she couldn't take that food away from kids who needed it. Murphy was right – she had never gone to bed hungry. She never worried about getting enough rations or making sure she'd be alive.
One night couldn't be too rough.
She caught Murphy's eyes before she slunk back into the darkness. She wandered off, not knowing where she could sleep. She didn't want to sleep in the dropship, she didn't want to sleep near the fire.
Cleo wandered to the graves, where she found Wells sitting with a lump of meat.
"Did you take your wristband off for that?" She asked, pointing at the meat. For the first time, she noticed that his wrist was bare.
"No," he said. "Bellamy and his goons forced it off of me the first night." Wells paused and looked at Cleo's own wrist. "You?"
"Actually, same as you." Cleo sat by his side. "How'd you get the food?"
"Harper gave me hers, said that she could go get another one and she felt bad," he explained, breaking off a chunk and handed it to her.
She shook her head, denying his offer.
"No, seriously – take some. She gave me a huge chunk, there's no way I can finish it all."
She looked at Wells doubtfully, unsure if she wanted to take it or not. Wells took her hand and dropped the meat in before she could protest again and she thanked him gratefully.
Tearing the meat apart, she began to eat. She almost let out a groan, that's how good it tasted. Cleo didn't think she had ever been that happy to eat in her entire life.
"So did Bellamy take yours off?" She asked curiously. "Cause he took mine off."
"No." Wells shook his head. "The son of a bitch didn't do it himself. He let his little followers do the dirty work."
"Of course."
In the emptiness of the forest, she could hear the whoops and hollers of the group bounce off the trunks of the trees. Together they ate silently, letting the food fill their bellies.
"I can't believe this is our world, now." Cleo finished eating quickly, her hunger not giving her an option to eat slowly. "Us against them? How did it come to this?"
Her words were spoken quietly, just loud enough for Wells to see. Her eyes were bright in the dark, gazing down to the freshly dug graves sitting in front of her. She didn't even know their names.
"Bad luck and bad circumstances."
She nodded in agreement but remained silent. She didn't know what to say or do. Cleo was tired of the ground and it hadn't even been one full week. Her eyes looked up to the stars, looking up at the twinkling lights. They were blissfully unaware of the pain and chaos they were looking down at. The Ark, situated somewhere in the air, didn't know that the ground was survivable. Not with kids taking off their bracelets one by one.
"I think we should go get some rest, yeah?" Wells asked once they finished their food.
"You go ahead, I think I'm just gonna clear my head for a little bit."
Wells looked around the dark forest cautiously before looking back at her. "I don't think it's safe out here. You saw what they did to Jasper."
She shrugged. "I'll be fine. I can scream like a maniac if I need help."
He looked discouraged, but it looked like he was more tired than he let on. He nodded eventually, bidding her goodnight and leaving towards camp. She watched him leave, waiting until he was in with the crowd before inhaling deeply and letting out a tired sigh.
Her eyes dipped down to the two mounds of dirt and she bit the wound on the inside of her cheek. Her mind was surprisingly empty, the tiredness swirling around her body not allowing her to settle down and focus on one single topic.
The crescent moon resting on her chest grabbed her attention, her fingers playing with the soft charm. She had spent so much to get the two matching charms that her parents had almost punished her, but it was worth it.
Penelope had adored mythology, her favorites being the twin gods Apollo and Artemis. She had assigned Cleo the moon, saying that she was the protector of children and maidens, and she had taken the sun. She wanted to sun to never set on her and Cleo hoped it never did. She hoped Penelope was dancing in the sun with the rays washing over her and keeping her warm.
The thought made her smile, but it made her chest weigh down heavily. Grief hung over her head, remembering the girl. She wondered what Moira was up to on the Ark. Was she doing better? Was she alive? Cleo hoped she was alive and she was doing better – she wanted to apologize.
Thinking of that made her realize that she wanted a lot of things. She wished the comms weren't down so she could talk to her parents and she wished that she would've just joined Bellamy when she had the opportunity. Cleo wished that she had a time machine so she could go back and make all the right decisions.
She knew she would've rather been up in the Ark than on the ground.
— mmmm this chapter
was literally so short
again but beaches
i promise they get
longer ok lol
also it's like ten
pm but whatever