chapter one
THE GROUND
"we're the beginning of the end."
622 days.
Evelynn's once empty floor was now covered in tally marks, one for each day she was trapped into her skybox from hell.
The lone resident of Skybox 72.
The only human contact she had were two emotional and heavily guarded check-ups with Abby and with the guards who brought her rations.
The guards who brought her food sometimes would stay and chat with her, telling her stories of the other kids in the various skyboxes.
She would try to imagine what they looked like or what their lives were like based off of their crimes. From stealing to murder, every story interested her, longing for more than what her life had become.
Evelynn woke up on September 13th feeling any emotion except the ones someone would usually feel on their eighteenth birthday. For most, their eighteenth meant they gained their freedom. For her, it meant the death sentence.
She was wearing the dark red shirt Clarke gave her all those years ago. She rubbed her fingers over the crimson fabric trying to remember those good times before she was locked up.
She sat in the middle of her floor listening to her music box, all the songs vividly burned into her memory.
She felt time tick by as she patiently waited for death. To her knowledge, the council already reviewed her case, judged her, and determined that she was too dangerous to let be free, instead deciding to throw her into the black abyss of space to have the air sucked out of her body.
It was super rare that anyone was ever set free on the Ark after serving time in the skybox. And Evelynn knew her story was not going to be a rare one.
Evelynn barely had time to think before her skybox doors were being thrown open.
Two guards entered abruptly, both tall and intimidating. They weren't the same guards who brought her food and conversation, but she assumed it was normal since she wasn't getting food today.
They both surrounded her and pulled her off the floor sharply, "Prisoner three-oh-nine, face the wall,"
Evelynn complied, she already accepted her fate years ago.
Their voices were urgent and loud which threw her off, "Hold out your arm."
She turned around to see them holding out some odd-looking bracelet they held out to her. That was not normal. She shook her head, "Tell me what it's for first."
Neither of the guards spoke, their cold, unyielding eyes staring her down.
She turned her attention way from the guards and the funky bracelet as she heard shouts coming from outside her door. She pushed past the guards and ran to the door to see dozens of other guards pulling all of the other delinquents out of their cells.
"You're floating us all? Some of them are still young! You can't do that!"
One guard with light hair barked at her, "Drop your contraband," Evelynn quickly realized she was still clutching her music box. She shook her head again and held the silver metal to her chest.
The guard jumped at her, trying to grab it from her. She shoved him away, "Please don't take it," Evelynn stammered, her heart rate increasing, "It was my mom's."
The other guard with the wristband launched himself at her as well, but she quickly pushed him with all the force she could muster, causing the guard to tumble to the ground.
They locked her up for two years for being dangerous. She was going to show them dangerous.
The first guard lunged at her again. Evelynn kicked him hard in the shin, causing him to topple over. She then kicked him in the stomach for good measure.
The second guard stood by the doorway, she walked towards him and gave him a solid slap across the face. He was so surprised, he doubled back a few steps giving Evelynn time to run.
She moved quick, shoving her music box in her pocket. The guard she slapped stopped her quickly by swinging his leg out in front of her. Evelynn tripped out of her cell with a scream.
She looked up to see all the kids in juvenile detention being brought out of their lockup cells as well. Evelynn held onto the wall to help her stand as she frantically tried to figure out what to do.
She was being grabbed by one of her guards again when she saw an unconscious Clarke in Abby's arms.
Why was Clarke here?
Evelynn got a burst of adrenaline, she sharply grabbed her arms away from her guard and burst into a sprint to familiar faces.
"Abby!" She called out as she shoved through delinquents and guards. Before she could reach her friend, Clarke was being taken away by guards on a stretcher.
Abby looked up at her, but she was unable to explain amongst the panic around them.
Evelynn was nearly screaming, her voice breaking on the verge of tears, "What did they do to Clarke? Where are they taking us?"
Abby wasn't able to say anything before Evelynn was dragged away from her. Her guards had her pinned, one held her tightly, arms behind her back, while the other walked in front of them.
She used her legs to kick the guard walking in front of her and he fell over with a groan. She giggled a little, but her joy was short-lasting because the guard quickly stood up and picked her legs up to carry her away.
She sighed dramatically letting her body go limp, just to make their job even harder. She suddenly felt sharp needles pricking into her skin as a third guard successfully strapped on her wristband.
She was being walked along side all the other delinquents, but they still wouldn't let her walk for herself. To be completely fair, she probably would've tried to run away again, but it was still annoying.
There was a boy near her who didn't look much older than her with slicked back brown hair and a guard's uniform. He had a poorly concealed fearful expression plastered on his freckled face as they walked closer to their destination. He kept his head down so far down, almost disappearing into his jacket. Evelynn thought he almost resembled a turtle retreating into its shell.
Evelynn watched him as he walked beside her for a minute. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't seen a boy her age in years or if he was just really attractive, but god, this kid was cute.
"Stop looking so nervous, it's scaring me," Evelynn spoke to him. He did a double-take as if caught off guard that she was speaking to him.
He looked over at her cautiously with a slight smirk, his mood seeming to lighten a bit. He motioned towards the guards carrying her and spoke in a quieter voice, "What'd you do?"
She smirked, copying his hushed tone, "Didn't you know? For a few crimes extra, you can get VIP transportation."
The boy chucked half-heartedly, his mind seemingly occupied with something else. She narrowed her eyes a bit, "Do you know where they're taking us?"
Her guards dropped her legs forcefully and shoved her forward to get in line with the rest of the delinquents as they entered some sort of machine.
The boy placed his hand on her back and walked her into the machine, looking around and behind him wildly, as if being followed.
Once they were well into the machine, Evelynn recognized it as a dropship.
The young guard stepped out of line and seemed a lot more relaxed. He turned to her and twisted his lips into a smirk, "You're going to the Ground."
»»————- ★ ————-««
Evelynn buckled her seatbelt and listened to the sound of kids talking and a low hum of the dropship wrapped in her thoughts.
They must know that sending them to the ground was a complete suicide mission. But then again, her life was either: definite death by flotation into a freezing airless void or possible death by a beautiful radiation soaked planet.
She closed her eyes and hummed to herself, trying to ignore the anxiety filling her veins, until she felt a drop in her stomach and realized the dropship was released. She inhaled sharply, grabbing onto her seatbelt tight.
As her eyes shot open and her stomach twisted into knots, a familiar voice rung out, "Lynnie?"
Evelynn turned to her right to see two boys strapped to the wall, one with neat black hair and the other shaggy brown with goggles on his head.
"No freaking way," Evelynn breathed as if all her fears evaporated, a smile forming on her face, "If it isn't Jasper Jordan himself,"
Jasper smiled, adjusting his grip of his seatbelt, "I haven't seen you in years!"
Evelynn nodded with a fading smile. After her mom was transferred to the medical station, she lost contact with her friends from Farm Station, specifically Jasper and Monty. She saw them in school, but she was very preoccupied with spending time in the med-bay with her mom and Clarke. And then she was sent to lockup for two more years. Not really easy for her to keep in touch with friends.
The boy beside him chimed in, "Remember me?" Evelynn smiled again, "Who could ever forget Monty Green?"
Monty grinned brightly back at her, but their conversation was cut short by the violent shaking and rumbling of the dropship.
Evelynn then heard another familiar voice ring in the air, "What was that?"
"That was the atmosphere,"
Evelynn looked across the ship and sighed in brief relief to see a very nervous looking Clarke with the Chancellor's son, Wells.
At least Clarke was okay.
There were a few little screens around the ship that flickered on and began to play a video.
"Prisoners of the Ark hear me now. You've been given a second chance. And as your Chancellor, I hope you can see it as a chance, not just for you, but for all of us, indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what's waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would of sent others. Frankly, we are sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."
Someone else on the ship called out, "Your dad's a dick, Wells," Evelynn couldn't help but crack a smile.
"And if, however, you do survive, your crimes will be forgiven. Your records wiped clean."
"Your drop sight has been chosen carefully. Before the last war Mount Weather, a military base built within a mountain, was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain 300 hundred people."
Evelynn decided to tune out Jaha for the time-being and focus on more entertaining things, like a boy who just playfully flicked a piece of her hair out of her face. She laughed as she watched him float in front of them enjoying the lack of gravity, doing flips and floating freely through the dropship.
People were cheering and laughing as they watched him. Clarke, on the other hand, did not look amused.
The boy floated sideways in front of Clarke and Wells, "Hey check it out, looks like your dad floated me after all,"
A girl with long brown hair a few seats over from Evelynn laughed at him and was cheering him on, "Go, Spacewalker!"
"You should strap back in before the parachute deploys," Wells said sharply.
Two boys, one in front of Jasper and Monty and the other near the girl with brown hair started to pull off their seatbelts to join the Spacewalker.
"Hey you two, stay put if you want to live," Clarke yelled at them sharply.
The kid continued to bother Clarke, "Hey, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year,"
Evelynn was confused why Clarke was even here in the first place, but even more so why she would be a 'traitor' and be put in solitude.
"Your the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk," Clarke retorted.
Evelynn smiled, she had heard about his story from one of her guards. It felt surreal, like learning a fictional character is actually real.
"But it was fun!" He continued, "I'm Finn,"
Clarke just ignored him. Evelynn could tell that Clarke was on edge with three boys now floating through the air. "Stay in your seats!"
The dropship suddenly jerked violently. Evelynn squeezed her seatbelt tightly making her knuckles go white. The boys were all sent flying, hitting the wall sending sparks flying everywhere. Everyone started screaming, the dropship becoming complete chaos.
Evelynn squeezed her eyes shut trying not to think of the fact that she could be plummeting to her death. Why was the universe trying so hard to kill her today?
The ship continued to jerk around sporadically for what felt like hours until it came to a sharp stop.
Evelynn opened one of her eyes, peeking to see if they were done moving. The lights in the dropship continued to flicker, but there was complete silence.
"We made it." Evelynn gasped, placing a hesitant hand on her chest with a weary smile.
"Hear that?" Monty said, Evelynn looked at him confused, "No machine hum,"
Jasper let out a breathy laugh, "That's a first,"
Everyone started to unbuckle their seatbelt straps and climb down the ladder to the first level of the dropship, excitement and curiosity overwhelming everyone.
Evelynn unbuckled but stayed seated, watching Clarke run to the two boys who tried floating with Finn. Miraculously, Finn looked completely unharmed.
"Finn, is he breathing?" Clarke asked. He shook his head, looking absolutely devastated.
"The outer door is on the lower level," one boy cried out, "Let's go,"
Clarke jumped right back into action, following the group to the lower level, shouting down to them, "No, we can't just open the doors,"
Evelynn smiled watching Clarke. She always liked to be in charge, and that didn't seem to change on Earth.
Evelynn stood up cautiously, feeling the weight of earth's gravity on her. She almost tripped over her own feet so she decided to walk very slowly over to a shell-shocked Finn.
"It's not your fault, you know," she said quietly kneeling down next to him as he stared horrified at he motionless boys.
Finn looked at her carefully, "They were doing what I was doing, if I had just stayed put—"
"You can't do that to yourself," Evelynn cut him off.
He gave her a grateful smile, "What your name?"
"Evelynn,"
"Alright Evelynn," Finn said as if he was testing out her name, "How about we check out the Ground,"
Evelynn nodded fast, excitement filling her veins. Finn laughed and followed her down the ladder.
Evelynn looked over the sea of people to see Clarke standing with the girl with long brown hair and the young guard from earlier.
Why is the guard here?
Evelynn put a hand in her pocket to keep her fingers on her music box as she slowly pushed her way through the people to try to hear the conversation.
"Hey, where's your wristband?" Clarke interrogated.
The girl swung around quickly, "Do you mind?" She snapped, "I haven't seen my brother in a year."
Evelynn was confused. Brother was a foreign term to her. It was a word for another child in your family. Like a sibling. But no one had siblings on the Ark.
A boy called out from behind Evelynn, "No one has a brother,"
"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor,"
Evelynn watched as Octavia's blood began to boil until she lunged herself at the people who were talking about her. But her brother held her back.
"Let's give them something else to remember you by," he attempted to calm her.
The girl was still itching with rage, "Yeah, like what?"
A smile crept onto the boy's face, "Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years,"
Octavia seemed to be pleased because she smiled brightly and then turned to face the outer door.
Evelynn held her breath as she watched the boy slowly pull the leaver causing the dropship door opened.
Evelynn felt herself moving in front of more people to see. She blinked quickly, her eyes adjusting to the bright sun on their faces. She was speechless.
The earth was bright, the sun shining down through the tall, green trees. Everything was so green, the plants and the leaves. Evelynn smiled as she looked at the sky. She had heard stories about how truly blue the sky was, but it was even prettier in person. Earth was everything she ever dreamed of.
It was like seeing color for the first time.
Octavia slowly walked herself down the dropship floor to the outside until her feet hit the dirt. She threw her arms up in the air, excitement bubbling in her voice, "We're back, bitches!"
The whole entire ship of 100 kids burst into cheers and screams as they ran to take their first steps on the ground.
Evelynn ran off the ship, her feet sinking into the soft dirt. She looked to the sky and smiled a large toothy smile. She felt happier than she had in years. She closed her eyes held her arms out wide and spun in circles breathing in the crisp air.
When she stopped spinning she watched as Clarke wandered off, Finn following her. Evelynn wondered if Clarke even knew that she was there.
Evelynn just laughed to herself in complete euphoria. She walked deeper into the forested area. She let her fingers brush against the rough bark on the trees as she sunk to the ground, leaves and plants enveloping her legs as she sat, back against a tree.
She sucked in a large breath of air through her nose feeling completely at peace.