Chapter 18: Chapter 18 The 100: Ripples

'System, while it's nice that the clutter of my ever-growing skills list combined, why did it occur?'

[Superior skills supersede lesser skills, from now on when user absorbs lesser skills they will be added into the better skill, which will still be enhanced. The other method to obtaining superior skills is to amass enough various branch skills to equal the higher skills.]

'Cool, any other requirements to receive higher skills I should know about?'

[Access Denied, user's access level too low. User must either increase their level of access or meet the specific criteria to learn the higher tier skills to learn more.]

'I'm gonna run into this a lot aren't I?... Whelp better get back on track, this Dimension's storyline gets pretty fast-paced.'

[User is correct.]

-On Earth in The Woods-

  After running a good distance from the ambush Mbege who had been in the lead, tripped and fell onto a skeleton. Finn and Octavia attempt to help him up, gulping in air, Finn gasps, "Who were they?" Clarke breathing just as hard, picks up a deformed skull murmurs, "What are they?" Octavia still helping Mbege get up, "We are so screwed." Before they could continue panicking they heard what could only be Murphy screaming in agony. Clarke hearing this drops the misshapen skull back down and said, "Murphy! He's alive." She immediately begins to head back in the direction they had just been running from.

  The rest begin to follow her, while Finn cries, "Clarke, wait. Wait! Wait." As they get closer Finn catches up with Clarke and grabs her arm, "Stay out of the trees." They arrive at the spot they were before running and looking at the spot Murphy had fallen and see that his body isn't there. Finn shocked, "He was right there." Mbege groaned in worry, "No. Where is he?" Clarke scanning the area replied, "They took him." They argue whether to follow the obvious trail the attackers had left or to gather the snake remains that had been left behind, head back to camp and gather reinforcements. Clarke noticed that Octavia's leg wound was seeping through her pant leg decided that it would be better if they head back and gather a larger group people to rescue Murphy.

-A Few Hours Later At the Camp-

  Wells had just finished burying the two delinquents that had died on landing, he gazed once more at the two mounds as the sounds of laughter and people being industrious occurred all around him. With a sigh he picked up the pile of clothes and the two sets of boots he'd scavenged from their corpses and headed back into camp. The area already looked different as Bellamy had the area closest to the dropship cleared of debris. The groups that had been out gathering were currently sorting the berries into different piles occasionally checking with Jasper if it was edible or not.

  Monty Green a young male of East Asian descent, stands at 5'8 ½ (174 cm) and has a slim figure, with an oval face shape that is framed by his straight, black hair, tan skin with a golden undertone, and deep brown eyes. Monty was in the process of setting up the communication array with the assistance of some people and his best friend Jasper Jordan, who has brown eyes, thick dark brown hair, pale skin and a slim figure. The most notable characteristic of his apparel is the goggles he has worn since he arrived on Earth. They looked like they were debating something and while Wells was heading closer to make out what they were saying, Atom, a young man of average height, looking very physically fit, with short black hair and blue eyes, walked up to Wells and asked, "Hey, where'd you get those clothes?"

  Wells replied, "Buried the two kids who died during the landing." Atom reaching for the clothing, "Smart. You know, I'll take it from here. There's always a market for…" Wells pulled the bundle back from Atom and pushed him back as he said, "We share based on need, just like back home." As Atom once more reached for the items Bellamy walked up, got in between them and said, "Atom I'm afraid the young Chancellor is confused. " Bellamy turned to Wells and arched an eyebrow, "Not that you were available for the meeting about our temporary camp. Atom here is in charge of our inventory and it's been decided that we'll use the old way of bartering, of course all food collected will be shared like back in the Ark, but for any materials that are limited in availability, we'll need some trade."

  Wells turned to Atom and handed him the bundle, "Sorry about that I misunderstood what you were saying." Atom took the bundle and scoffed, "Of course you did Mr. Chancellor being raised in privilege must make you think everyone else is a dumb savage. Well we're no longer up there with those limiting rules so we can live freer. Why don't you Be that way as well?" Atom then walked away without a backwards glance.

  Bellamy turned to Wells and murmured, "Walk with me a bit. I think we need to discuss your future interactions with everyone else. You seem to be confrontational, which is very stupid on your part since your father personally had a hand in giving each one of these kids a bad time. Which I might add is an understatement. He sentenced my mother to die, and would have done the same to my sister when she came of age."

  Wells paled in response, "I didn't know, I'm sorry, but that was him not me." Bellamy drew closer and growled, "But it could've been if the Ark wasn't failing. You were the elite up there, but now you're down here. Now I can see the difference between you two, but it's not so easy for all the younger ones here. You need to remember that and try to make some friends down here after all, we're all on the ground now."

  Before Wells could reply they heard a commotion from one of the sorting groups. Bellamy turned towards them and saw his sister limping along leaning on the shoulder of Mbege. He ran over, "Octavia. Are you all right?" She grinned slightly in response, "Yeah." then she winced and went to sit on a log. Turning to Finn who sat on a different log, "Where's the food?" Finn then handed the bundle of snake meat and said, "This is it, we didn't make it to Mount Weather." Bellamy handed the bundle to one of the other delinquents, "Give this to the cooking group." Once done he asked, "What the hell happened out there?"

  Clarke spoke, "We were attacked." Wells joining the group, "Attacked? By what?" Finn having taken a drink of water stated flatly, "Not what. Who. It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder." As the surrounding kids gaped in shock Clarke announced, "It's true. Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us." Finn cut in wryly, "Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will."

  After a brief pause Bellamy looked at the returning group closer, "Where's Murphy?" Clarke reddened in response, "Murphy was hit. They took him." Wells said, "Took him where exactly?" Finn replied, "They left an obvious trail for us to follow, but we decided to get backup before mounting a rescue mission." Bellamy said, "Good plan, especially since it looked like Octavia suffered injuries from these grounders, get her safe and we can form another scouting party that will include me and some of these crude new weapons we made out of scrap."

  Wells added, "We'll want to keep the group small for quick travel and have the rest of the group setup defenses in case of attack." Clarke ignoring Wells turned to Bellamy and asked, "Do we have any supplies for medical aid?" Bellamy replied, "I don't know that yet we were still scavenging materials from within the dropship for hunting, why don't you check with Atom, he's been cataloging the more valuable materials  and piling them in a separate area."

  As she left Wells proceeded to follow, when Bellamy grabbed his shoulder saying, "I'd give her some space she seems pretty pissed at you. If you keep pushing, it could get ugly." Wells stopped and turned to him glaring, "What do you know about this? You don't know me or Clarke, so why are you interfering?" Bellamy arching an eyebrow, "Really, I need to know someone real well to see when they're mad and who is making them mad. Seriously Wells, Clarke isn't being subtle about how she feels right now. I may not know the details, but when someone is that angry, pushing just makes it worse. Believe me when I say this, you do not want to push anyone when they're that angry at you." Wells took a deep breath and sighed, "I know that you're trying to help, but Clarke can be pretty stubborn if I don't keep trying she'll just ignore me until it's too late. I have to try, especially with the revelation that things are more dangerous than we imagined." Staring in the direction Clarke walked off in Wells sighed and decided it would be better to update his father before they went off to rescue Murphy.

  Monty and his group had been working on assembling the communications array, when they had heard the news about grounders they had paused and were debating on whether to continue building the array or join in building the fence. Wells had been passing by, heard what they were saying stopped and stated, "Without the ability to communicate with the Ark, we won't be able to get backup, after all now that we've all been pardoned they have to help us when there's an emergency. Especially since this proves that Earth is habitable once more, they'll be coming down here to join us. If we warn them they can send different supplies with the next group." Monty and his group nodded at that and began to resume assembling the array.

  Wells turned from them and looked around seeing the kids that had previously been running around, laughing as they had been gathering and sorting things now doing so in silence occasionally jumping at the slightest unfamiliar sound. It was obvious that with the revelation that they were not alone and that the people there were unfriendly, the delinquents no longer felt safe. Thinking about the words Bellamy had said he continued his trip to the dropship to update his father on the situation.

  In the ship Clarke had finished talking to Atom and had assembled a backpack with some makeshift bandages and water bottles. Having secured what she could she began heading out as Wells stepped in she glared at him in silence waiting for him to move pass. Wells in response stopped and said, "I hope in those supplies you packed some way to transport Murphy, if not I can assemble something real quick, I'm thinking that parts of the parachute would be good material and some rope." Clarke frowned and stated, "You're not coming." Wells sighed and sadly replied, "I understand that you're angry with me, but we need to work together to survive the coming crisis. Without my help many things could go wrong, that's why I came down here, to help. If I can't help you out there I'll help here in setting up a safe area for you to return to."

  Before Clarke could retort Finn came in through the entrance, pushing the curtain to the side his expression morose. Clarke then turned to him, expression brightening and said, "Hey, you ready?" Finn frowned, "I'm not going anywhere, and neither should any of you. That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet." Clarke's expression darkened once more, "So what, we let Murphy die? That's not gonna happen. Spacewalker? What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer. You're really just a coward." Finn huffed, "It's not an adventure, Clarke, it's a suicide mission." She reddened further, "If Murphy hadn't taken your place it would be you that would have been speared and taken. Don't you want to help the person who took your place." She then turned and left brushing through the entrance curtain roughly.

  Wells filled the silence, "That went about as well as could be expected, I just need to finish communicating with the Chancellor with an update, then I for one will attempt to catch up with her and assist in getting Murphy back."

  At one of the sorting locations Octavia was groaning as Bellamy was changing the bandage on her leg, "What the hell was it?" Octavia grimaced, "A giant snake." Bellamy tightened the last knot and said as she hissed, "You could have been killed." Before she could reply Clarke speeding into their are said, "She would have been if Mbege and Murphy hadn't jumped in and killed it, Finn and I pulled her out. In fact the meat we brought was the leftovers."

  Octavia who noticed that Clarke had supplies setup for a rescue hopped down from her seat and hissed in pain, "You guys leaving? I'm coming, too." Bellamy turning back to her and then to Clarke said, "No, no. No way. Not again. At least not until you're in better shape. In fact if you don't wait till you recover I..." He realized he was starting to do the same mistake he had just been telling Wells not to do, he stopped, took a deep breath and turned to Octavia, walked closer to her and embraced her. Murmuring into her ears, "Look I'm sorry I started to smother you, but look at this from my point of view, I sent you on what should been a safe trip to scout a safe route to Mount Weather and what happens the next day? You're brought in bleeding from an animal attack and Murphy who I sent to protect you has been attacked, possibly killed by hostile grounders. I want to protect you and I want you to have the freedom you deserve. Can you meet me halfway by at least recovering from your first adventure, before going on you're next?"

  Octavia who had been shocked by Bellamy's outburst then the sudden change in attitude replied, "What happened to my brother that would enforce all the rules and be so overbearing?" Breathing a sigh he stepped back and replied, "I grew up, when they floated mom because of my mistake, I realized that strictly enforced rules would kill those I loved. From now on I prioritize the safety of those I care for not the rules that would crush them. I will do all I can to protect you, but I refuse to be the reason you stop being happy. I was given this chance to help you because someone up there knows that strict adherence to the rules makes no sense, but knowing them can be a good guide to better decisions. Octavia, please recover first, I know it's hard, but please."

  As Octavia pondered his words Clarke spoke up, "He's right. Your leg's just gonna slow us down. When you're in better condition we can try to reach Mount Weather once more or go to one of the closer known cache spots, Councilor Kane is looking into a closer location for us to use. As the closest thing to a physician down here I recommend you be on light duty for a few days if not a week." Once Octavia nodded in response to what she said, Clarke turned to Bellamy, "I'm here for you." Bellamy smiled wryly, "I'm flattered, but I have others for that." Octavia burst into laughter and Clarke blushed, "That's not what I meant and you know it, I heard you have a gun." Bellamy frowned, "Now where did you hear that?" Clarke grinned, "Just now, from you, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the only person in a guard uniform would be equipped with weaponry suitable for the occasion."

  Bellamy shrugged then sighed, "Alright you got me, I have a gun. Now what do you need me and my gun for?" Clarke rolled her eyes and said, "To go save Murphy of course." Bellamy stopped smiling, "I see where this is going, who else is coming?" Clarke replied, "Me, Mbege, you.." Wells walked in and said, "And me. I'm here to help carry Murphy back, I've got all the appropriate materials to bring him back." He hefted his seat-belt/insulation designed backpack. Bellamy turned to his sister said, "Octavia, if you're up to it you can help Atom with inventorying what we can use for our defense, I heard that Pike was going to explain how to make bows and arrows in an hour, if things haven't changed we could really use some long range weaponry and with the skills you developed under mom you'll probably be the best at making them." Turning around he motioned to Clarke, "Lead on princess." With the sound of Octavia giggling Clarke led the new group back into the woods.

-On the Ark-

  Jacapo was feeling the pinch, he needed to prepare all the dropships properly, keep the Ark habitable, and continue his plans to either prevent or lessen the impact of as many of the coming tragedies as possible. He had been in the process of outlining the necessary modifications to make in the remaining dropships, when he was called away to report to the Earth Monitoring Station.

  When he walked in he saw a frowning Chancellor Jaha, Councilor Kane, and Councilor Abby. Jacapo took a look at the board to confirm that the wristbands were showing green across most of the monitors and grinned, "Shouldn't we have good news right now, I mean it looks like we're doing good. Unless there was something wrong and I need to check the monitoring equipment?" Chancellor Jaha's frown lessened and he said, "Sinclair, I have good news and bad news to relate to you. My son has just informed me that there are grounders who survived the nuclear apocalypse meaning that the radiation levels should be survivable. This means we can prepare all the dropships for launch, the unfortunate thing is that they appear to be violent."

  When the Chancellor paused Abby spoke, "They may be violent, but it doesn't appear that they are killers though, as you can see the vitals of Murphy, the captured delinquent has been severely injured, but must have been treated otherwise he would be dead, since he has a something to monitor." Councilor Kane replied, "Nevertheless, an attack occurred and since they haven't contacted anybody since we have to assume that the violence may continue. In that respect we are thinking that changes will have to be made on those going down in the first dropship. We know Diana Sydney was to be sent down in the next dropship with a handpicked crew, but with the current situation we think it would be better to send a more well equipped group down first instead. We need to know the status of the other dropships before we make a decision."

  Jacapo frowned gave a thoughtful expression and then grinned widely, "Why not send down two dropships? I already finished prepping Diana's and am just a couple hours from finishing the next. All I really need to do for the second one is finish the final programming, since it would be incredibly unsafe to have them land too close to each other. I'm thinking we keep Diana landing at Mount Weather since that would be a more defensible position and the other closer to the kids, if you're plan on helping them." He then frowned a bit, "You do plan on helping them right? It would be a poor showing to send them to die, promise to supply them, turn around and leave them to die once more. Would defeat the purpose of having humanity survive to then no longer be human."

  Chancellor Jaha grinned, "Then that's how we'll do it, can you make anymore adjustments to the two dropships so that we can arm the guards we send down." Jacapo grinned once more and replied, "With the food at Mount Weather we can replace the little food we were planning to send with them with weaponry instead, the other thing that would help is reducing the other materials we send down such as medical supplies, spare clothes, the fancier tools, and finally the least recommended less people." Now no longer smiling as widely Jacapo ended with, "Whatever you decide I can make the best modifications I can do, the other thing to remember is that with enough time I can turn one of the stations into a dropship, the sooner we send people down the more time I have to make the necessary modifications, of course to do that I'd also need the appropriate crew to remain behind to make the changes."

  With that revelation Chancellor Jaha breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Councilor Kane, "I think you would be the best person to send down in the other dropship to help those kids survive as well as you Abby for the medical needs Jackson can remain up here until the last dropship to deal with any minor health issues." Councilor Kane saluted and said, "You can count on me to do what's best for the people. In fact I've found the cache list for the 100 to begin scavenging for supplies closer to where they landed. I will convey the coordinates to them as I gather the personnel for the other dropship."

  Abby frowning slightly interjected, "I believe we're jumping ahead a little aren't you worried that the grounders will attack soon? Also I won't be able to do much down there without the necessary tools and equipment." Jacapo replied, "Easy enough there are a couple escape pods that became defunct before people could use them for suicide by Earth. I can have my best mechanic refurbish them to be material drop-boxes. They'll be good for quickly sending supplies down with one person riding along. Also if I recall there's one that we grabbed back when we grabbed the MIR-3 satellite. Now I'm going to need to bring in my best zero-G mechanic for this, since I will be busy putting in the maximum effort possible to make the modifications you requested for the dropships. She's brilliant and will be the quickest in getting them ready for launch. Do I have your permission to bring her in and get her assistance?"

  After a brief pause Chancellor Jaha nodded, "Permission granted, but she will have to be separated from everyone else until I can make this public. After all I want to wait just a little bit longer before we send people down, with Kane's cache list we can wait a little bit before sending more people down. We need to see if the radiation has truly gone down enough to survive. Once you have her repairing the three escape pods, please get back to your other duties." Jacapo saluted, "At once Chancellor, until we can meet once more upon the ground." As he turned and left they replied in unison, "Until we meet again upon the ground."

-The Ark: Industrial Airlock-

  A figure in bulky mix and match spacesuit covered in soot finished one last weld, turned it off and did a cool space flip back into the airlock. Once the outer door had closed the figure began to remove the helmet as the airlock began to whoosh in pressurized air. Once the helmet was removed it revealed a teenage girl, Raven Reyes, she has an olive complexion, brown eyes, oval face, and dark brown hair. Raven's long hair is currently pulled back into a half braid, half ponytail, she is 5'5"(1.65 m) and has an athletic physique, currently wearing classic style earrings. As the inner doors lights are flashing a voice breaks out, "Damn it, Raven. Wait for pressurization." She replies with a laugh, "Sorry, boys. Places to go."

  That's when the warning light blinks out, the inner door opens, and a pair of technicians strides to remove the spacesuit. It has the feel of a pit crew at Indy, a well-oiled machine. The less handsome of the two is Red, he's a white male with black hair and brown eyes. Raven remarks, "Did anyone notice there's no damage to 'B' dock?" She turns so they can help her out of the bulky spacesuit, continuing as seals are unfastened and tape is unpeeled. Red frowning, "'B' dock's restricted. You know that." Raven now out of the suit revealing a lithe figure wearing black undergarments reaches for her clothes, "What, are they gonna float me for looking? Guys, come on. An Exodus ship was launched. You're not curious about that?"

  Red inspecting the suit and still frowning replies, "It was not launched. It was ejected. According to engineering, a routine maintenance accident forced them to eject." Raven having finished putting on her pants pauses in reaching for her shirt and huffs, "A maintenance accident that didn't cause any damage? That's a lie and you know it. Fine. Well, if that doesn't stir your tank, how about this? Why would they build a dropship in the first place?" She then begins to put on her shirt, Red interrupts, "Just slow down, all right? We need to check your vitals." Raven finishes putting on her shirt and reaches for her signature red jacket, "I'll save you the trouble. I feel good." The other technician replies, "Prison visiting day. Tell lover boy I'll pay him the two days' rations I owe him when he gets out."

  Hearing that she puts on a necklace and handles a charm, which is a gray metal shaped like her namesake, smiling, "It was three days. Hey, stash my gear. I'll come back for it later." Red with a worried look stops her saying, "Okay, Raven, stop. Lockup's been quarantined. There's some kind of a virus. There's no visitation for at least two months. Sorry." As she begins to pale and begins to head off to visit medical to confront Abby, Jacapo walks in smiling, "Raven just the person I need to see, I need your help with a project of the utmost importance. At ease gentlemen, Raven and I have some Council work we need to do so please refrain from talking about Raven for the foreseeable future. Otherwise you know what happens, I'll need you two to handle the rest of the repair work with a different crew."

  As the other two paled they nodded, picked up the suit, cleaned up and left hurriedly. Raven had also paled fearing the worst, but seeing that Jacapo had been in a good mood, perhaps she wasn't in danger of being floated. Once the other two were gone she turned to Jacapo and frowning said, "This has to do with the dropship right?" Jacapo winced, "I certainly hope you haven't been making your views known otherwise there will be some serious repercussions. I'm here to update you on the current situation with the 100 and recruit the youngest zero-g mechanic in 52 years."

  Raven grinned, "I am indeed the youngest, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without you as my mentor. Now what's the project you need me for?" Having seen her smile turn into a stern look he sighed, "Alright first thing you should know is that we had to send all the delinquents to Earth, in order to find out if it's survivable. So far it seems to be, we just have a problem with the apparent native population being hostile. I'm thinking it's a misunderstanding." Seeing her expression darkening he hurried, "The Ark is dying, I've done all I can, but with our current population we only have six months before things start getting serious. I might be able to make the needed repairs in time, but it's a cascading failure, so for every fix a new problem pops up. The Council has decided that we needed to begin the process of heading back to Earth. The 100 were sent down and barring the initial landing, they are doing fine so far."

  Raven took some calming breaths, "Are you saying thst Finn was sent down there to die?" Jacapo shaking his head, "No, he was sent there to live, the Council was talking about floating every delinquent before they came of age to expand the timeframe. The Chancellor activated Project Exodus instead. He saved them from being executed." Raven had paled at his words, "So instead they got sent to die slowly?" Jacapo reached out and hugged her, "No, they are doing fine, in fact, we're able to communicate with them in real time. We even have wristbands that show their vitals and so far Finn's vitals are fine."

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  Raven, who had been about to cry, began to laugh, "So if they're fine, why are you coming to me?" Jacapo backed up while holding her hands and said, "I need your help in sending supplies down and perhaps a person to assist with the machines, the only person down there right now with any mechanical experience is Monty." Raven giggled replied, "Monty is more of a programmer than a mechanic. I see what you mean now, what is it that I need to fix?" Jacapo smiled and led her to the quarantine zone, "Unfortunately this will be your base of operations, but I'll make sure your personnal tools are brought here and that you'll be well fed."

  Raven stepped into the room and saw three different types of escape pods in various conditions of decay. She walked up to the one in the best condition and rubbing her hand along it's surface she said, "God, what a piece of junk. They must have found this thing when they salvaged Mir-3 in twenty one oh two. You want me to get a hundred-and-thirty-year-old escape pod ready to stand up to the inferno of re-entry. How long do I have to make these ready?"

  Jacapo laughed, "The maximum time you have is twenty days, but don't you worry I'll be helping you periodically and you'll be supplied with the best parts I can get my hands on after-all if I'm sending my best student down, I want her to go with the best chances she can have. So, do you think you can beat the time-frame I have for you?" Raven stopped looking at the pod turned and stated, "Hell, yes, I can do it. In fact with enough help I can get all three done in fourteen days." Jacapo guffawed, "That's the spirit, just write up a list of what you need and I'll have it delivered within the day. Unfortunately I have to go right now, but I'll come and assist you when I have time, until then I must repeat that you are to stay here, please." Raven now beaming with excitement began to examine the pods closer, "You got yourself a mechanic."

-On Earth in The Woods-

  The rescue group had not gotten very far from the camp, but they were already starting to feel the effects of Clarke's fast pace. Bellamy feeling winded gasped out, "Hey, hold up, we need to pace ourselves, we'll do no good by exhausting ourselves. Besides, as much as it pains me to say, you don't survive a spear through the heart." Breathing heavy Clarke replied, "Murphy screamed when they moved him. If the spear had struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. But that doesn't mean we have time to waste."

  Bellamy feeling incensed grabbed her arm and barked, "Listen princess, I care for Murphy too, he protected my sister, but I repeat we won't be doing any good if we're too tired to save him." Wells was about to interject when Finn walked in having caught up to the group quipped, "Hey, why don't you find your own nickname? You call this a rescue party? Got to split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me." As he grabbed her arm pulling her from Bellamy's grasp she responded, "Better late than never." Finn grinned, "I like to think so." They laughed as they made their way to the river leaving the other three behind.

  Bellamy having sent Mbege to follow at a safe distance turned to Wells who was gazing in the direction Finn and Clarke had left in. Chuckled in exasperation he turned to Wells, "Guess we got more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Wells feeling frustrated snapped, "We have nothing in common." Bellamy took no offense seeing Wells pain replied, "No? Both came down here to protect someone we love. Your secret's safe with me. 'course, for you it's worse. With Finn around, Clarke doesn't even see you. It's like you're not even here."

-Hours Later-

  As they grew nearer to the river, Finn with a thoughtful look said, "I've been thinking about Mount Weather. How come they didn't attack until Murphy crossed the river? It's not like we were being quiet and they didn't know we were there." With dawning realization Clarke exclaimed, "They waited for us to cross. The river's a boundary. Which means Mount Weather is off limits. How are we gonna get those supplies? What are we gonna do for food?"

  Before Finn could respond to her they discover a trickling waterfall spilling into a pond he breaths out, "Wow." Clarke remarks coolly, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about water." Laughing Finn began to wade right into the pond, "Oh, yeah." Clarke, who had begun to fill her water-bottle, noticed and in exasperation said, "Come on, Finn. We don't have time for this." Finn moved further into the pond, "Clarke, we've been hiking for hours. We need to take a break."

  Clarke replied, "I'll take a break when we find Jasper. Come on. No, no. Finn! Don't!" as she reached out to pull Finn from the water, he pulled her in and she let out a gasp and continued, "Damn it, Finn! Oh, wow. Okay. Maybe just a minute." As she began to float there, her expression melted into delight. After some splashing, while Finn was floating he glanced at Clark and said, "Yeah. I think I know why you're so hell-bent on finding Murphy, why you're always taking care of everybody else."

  Floating there Clark laconically replied, "Now you sound like my mother. No. Go on. This should be good. The delinquent psychiatrist." Finn's expression turning sad, "You couldn't save your father." Shocked at his words Clarke starts to swim away from Finn when she notices a red splotch on the other side of the pond and immediately swims over with Finn following closely. They examine the flat stone, it was used for something and is covered in blood. Finn spots something in a small crevice, reaching in he pulls out Murphy's knife. Clarke gasps, "Murphy...He was here. We should get the others." As she turns to follow the trail Finn grabs her arm and whispers, "We're close."

  Once the others catch up they follow the trail, as they go Finn constantly looks at various bent or cut plants, following a trail that the others can barely see now. Mbege asks, "Hey, how do we know this is the right way?" Bellamy replies, "We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker." Wells examining one of the cut bushes remarks, "It's called cutting sign. Fourth-year earth skills. He's good." Finn who was a couple paces ahead hisses, "You want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your backs?" Before anyone can retort they hear a distant moan. Mbege shaken by the sound stutters, "W-What the hell was that?" Clarke turns to Bellamy and whispers, "Now would be a good time to take out that gun."

  They creep closer and the moaning becomes clearer, they make it to a clearing where the grass is overgrown. In the center of the clearing, Murphy is strung up to a tree, as he continues to moan Clarke gasps and heads closer calling out, "Murphy! Oh, my God." As she gets closer Finn shouts, "Clarke, be careful." Clarke ignoring his words moves ever closer, "Murphy? What the hell is this?" Seeing that his wound is filled with something she steps onto a pit trap as it gives way she lets out a scream and grabs the lip of the pit. While Finn was racing forward he shouted, "Clarke! Get her up! Pull her up!" Bellamy beat him there having grabbed her arm began to pull her up. Finn, Wells, and Mbege caught up and assisted in pulling her out of the trap. "You okay?" Finn asked. Clarke gasping for air nodded and replied, "Yeah."

  After they recovered their composure, Clarke stated, "We need to get him down." Finn circling the tree said, "I'll climb up there and cut the vines." Wells going around the other side said, "Yeah, yeah, I'm with you." Mbege followed Clarke who had gotten underneath Murphy. As they lowered him down she noticed that some leaves had been applied to his wound and said, "There's a poultice on his wound." Wells having gotten down from the tree had begun setting up a makeshift stretcher replied, "Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Bellamy chuckled darkly while continuing to scan the area said, "Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing." Finn jumping down from the tree remarked, "Maybe what they're trying to catch is us."

  As Mbege begins to assist Wells in completing the stretcher, Finn growls, "Hurry up, Mbege." Murphy moans at the jostling he receives while being secured to the stretcher, Clarke hissed, "Be careful." Suddenly they hear a distant growling, Mbege pauses and yelps, "What the hell was that?" Bellamy replies, "Grounders?" The distant growling ceases for a moment as the grass parts to reveal a black jaguar, as it leaps snarling at Bellamy, Clarke shouts, "Bellamy, gun!" He pulls out his gun and smoothly shoots it once in the head. As its corpse sails towards him Wells pulls him out of the way. Mbege moves closer with his makeshift knife and prods the body to see if it truly is dead. Once the death is confirmed they begin to setup a way to transport the carcass with them and proceed to make their way back to camp.

-Hours Later at Camp-

  Octavia had spent most of her time assisting in making arrows for hunting using bits of the dropship that had broken in landing. She had taken a brief break though to follow a blue glowing butterfly to a tree circle filled with them. Jasper had been collecting nuts nearby, stopped and had decided to follow her, worried she might get hurt. Octavia had been so enchanted with the butterflies that after having some land on her outstretched arms, that she had a make-out session with Jasper surrounded by the glittering wings giving of blue light. Now it was dark out and she was holding his hand staring into the fire. Lost in thought she was thinking that things were fun when she heard one of the guys yelling, "They're back!" Into the firelight the rescue party came carrying the still form of Murphy and the corpse of a jaguar.

  Octavia let go of Jasper's hand and went over asking, "Is he…" Clarke filled in the silence, "He's alive. I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage." Octavia and Jasper went into the dropship to get the bandages, as they did so the rest of the group began to cheer and assisted Bellamy in preparing the jaguar for a filling dinner. Bellamy having his burden taken from him roared, "Who's hungry?!" As the cheering roared louder he waited for a lull and said, "Tomorrow we'll need to work hard, but for tonight we can enjoy this bounty that fell into our laps."

  As the other delinquents cheered some more they began to share the gathered berries and eat the jaguar, Clarke said to Finn, "He's stable for now, but without medicine…' Finn turned to her, grinned and said, "Well we brought him back safe. After we rest tonight we can work on the next part." He headed towards the fire and grabbed some meat, came back and handed her half, they proceeded to sit down to eat in companionable silence. In the trees up above the delinquents, a Grounder watches the Delinquents' Camp silently.

-On the Ark-

[Ding for indirectly causing the animosity between Murphy and Wells to drop due to Wells being in the group to save his life +1 to Charisma and Luck, +10 Karma. Jasper making out with Octavia in the place of Atom, +1 Luck, +2 Karma. Bellamy is levelheaded, not sabotaging things, and leading responsibly +2 Charisma +10 Karma. More dropships will make it to earth increasing chances that the Ark will be more complete later in the storyline. +3 Intelligence and Wisdom, +10 Karma. Further rewards will become available as story develops.]

'Status'

User 01010111

Age 46 Level 46 (exp 42100/46000)

Condition: Normal

Stats

Strength 55H>56H

Dexterity 81H>82H

Constitution 104G>105G

Intelligence 92H>95H

Wisdom 88H>91H

Charisma 57H>60H

Luck 28H>30H

Skills

Acting E+, Astronaut H, Basic Blades I, Basic Languages A, Body Language C+, Camping H+, Car Mechanics F, Cleaning E, Cold Resistance D, Cooking E, CQC D, Disease Resistance H+, Dive B, Driving E, Enhanced Hearing C+, Enhanced Smell B+, Enhanced Swimming A, Enhanced Touch E+, Enhanced Vision D+, Fire Resistance H+, Heat Resistance F+, Investigation I, Night Vision G+, Maintenance D, Mathematics D+, Medicine C+, Mining F+, Parallel Thinking E+, Poison Resistance H+, Rad Resistance H, Sailing G, Shooting E, Stealth D, Surgery F+, Taming H+, Teaching G, Tracking I, Volleyball F+, Woodcraft G, Writing G+, New Skills ()

Perks

Ambidextrous, Chief Engineer, Contortionist, Entomorph: (Fall Armyworm), Explorer's Map, Fashion Sense, Lachrymose Leech, Leadership, Medusoid Mycelium, Memory Palace, Mentor, Plantamorph: (Birch, Elm, Evergreen, Maple), Pupa, Secret Smasher, Snow Gnat, Stoic, Toughness, Uncommon Physical Growth, Zoomorph: (Anchovy, Bass, Blue Wildebeest, Camel, Carp, Chicken, Cod, Crow, Cow, Crab, Deer, Eel, Goat, Goose, Hare, Horse, Impala, Kangaroo, Llama, Lobster, Mackerel, Mole, Mouse, Mussel, Nile Tilapia, Octopus, Oyster, Pig, Pigeon, Pollock, Possom, Prawn, Rabbit, Raccoon, Rat, Red Mullet, Reindeer, Salmon, Sardine, Seagull, Sheep, Shrimp, Squid, Trout, Tuna, Turkey, Vole, Zebra), World Compass

Sealed(Nightblood, Flame Implant)

Corpse Absorption Progress

Ant (.08932), Aphid (.01257), Bedbug (.00174), Bee (.00605), Centipede (.00115), Cockroach (.01725), Dandelion (.00127), Earwigs (.00186), Flea (.00146), Fly (.11812), Ivy (.169), Jellyfish (.00122), Lice (.00155), Mosquito (.08904), Moth (.00669), Pill Bug (.00689), Slug (.01504), Spider (.00259), Wasp (.01411), Worm (.00265)

Abilities:Tutorial Pocket(100 Karma Coupon)

Limited(Diagnose F)

Sealed (Flight G+, Ink Squirt, Mild Poison Bite, Rally, Photosynthesis)

Achievements: A Sailors Life For Me, Family Man, For The Family!, Fungicide, Globetrotter, Happily Ever After, No Stone Unturned, Survivor

Karma: 478 Total Positive

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