chapter two
A WALK
"smile, the worst is yet to come."

After walking back towards the dropship, Evelynn spotted a boy angrily lunging himself at Wells Jaha while his a giant squad of other delinquents cheered him on.

"Would you look at this, Chancellor of Earth," the boy kicked him hard in the ankle, making Wells take a harsh fall. The other boy did not look he was going to stop beating the poor guy up anytime soon.

Evelynn ran up quickly and pushed herself between the Octavia girl and her brother.

"Hey stop it!" Evelynn burst out, she felt two arms cross over her stomach at the same time, holding her back from getting any closer to the fight. The Blake siblings.

The kid yelled back to her, "Mind your own business, red riding hood!"

Evelynn internally chucked at the nickname, glancing down at her red tank top.

She then looked up to see Clarke staring directly at her, looking like a deer in headlights. Evelynn gave her an innocent wave to which Clarke just let her jaw drop. Evelynn stifled a laugh.

Wells pushed himself back up and readied himself to continue the fight as the other kid smirked.

Cutting the fight short, Finn jumped off a ledge on the dropship in between the two boys.

"Kids got one leg," Finn told the other boy who was simmering in rage, "Why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?"

Octavia made her way up to Finn, "Hey Spacewalker," flirtatiousness dripping from her words, "rescue me next,"

Evelynn laughed at her as she watched her brother approach her, to which she defended, "What? He's cute,"

Her brother was not amused, "He's a criminal,"

Octavia was unfazed, "They're all criminals,"

Octavia ignored the fact that her brother seemed to want to say more to her, and she made her way back over to Evelynn.

"Sorry about grabbing you by the way," Octavia apologized, "I just didn't want you to get hurt, especially by Murphy."

"Don't apologize, I should be thanking you," Evelynn offered her a sweet smile. She looked behind Octavia and saw her brother standing behind her protectively like her shadow.

Octavia cocked her head, "I don't remember seeing you in juvenile detention or Earth Skills. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm—" Evelynn was quickly cut off by a body flinging themselves onto her. The person held her tighter than she had ever been hugged before and they were breathing heavily in her ear. "Evelynn!"

When they let her go, she saw Clarke with tears threatening to spill from her eyes, "I can't believe you're here,"

Evelynn laughed, "Me? I can't believe you're here."

Clarke was rubbing her hands up and down Evelynn's arms as if she was making sure she was really there. "I thought you were dead," Clarke said, her voice softer now.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," Evelynn joked, but Clarke didn't laugh.

"That's not funny. I really thought they floated you."

Evelynn nodded but couldn't help but smile, "Honestly, I woke up today certain I was being floated. But now I'm on earth with my best friend who I haven't seen in two years."

Clarke opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off by a voice coming from behind them, "Sorry to break up the happy reunion, but can I get a little help?"

They both turned to see Wells Jaha sitting on the ground clutching his leg. Evelynn smiled, "Go help him, we can catch up later." Clarke nodded.

Evelynn looked around at all the delinquents. She saw Octavia and her brother a few feet away having a seemingly secretive and intense conversation. She noted to herself not to interrupt that one.

She decided to walk over to the Spacewalker who was folding a map and shoving it into his pocket.

Evelynn called out to him as she got closer, "Hey Finn, where do you think you're going?"

He turned around and smiled at her, "Mount Weather."

Her brows furrowed in confusion, "I thought this was Mount Weather,"

He sighed and leaned against the dropship, "They dropped us on the wrong mountain. If we want to survive, someone has to go and get the food and supplies."

"Can I come?" Evelynn asked, bouncing on her heels. The more of the Ground she got to explore, the better.

"Yeah, of course, but—" his voice trailed off as he quickly ran into the dropship. He jumped out only a few seconds later, throwing her a jean jacket, "—you're gonna want that before it gets too cold."

Evelynn nodded and muttered, "Thank you," as she put the jacket on over her shirt. She didn't have any experience with the weather or feeling too hot or cold. It was always the same neutral temperature on the Ark.

She followed Finn as he walked over to Clarke who was still treating Wells's leg. Evelynn smiled to herself, Clarke was just like her mom.

"So, Mount Weather," Finn said, "when do we leave?"

Clarke turned around and stood up to face Evelynn and Finn, "Right now."

Clarke turned back to Wells, "We'll be back tomorrow with food."

Wells looked between them skeptically, "How are three of you going to carry enough food for 100?"

Finn turned around and grabbed a confused Monty and Jasper by the shoulders, "Five of us. Can we go now?"

Octavia ran over to them and slung her arm around Evelynn's neck, "Sounds like a party, make it six."

Her brother caught up to her, grabbing her other arm, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Octavia pulled her arm away from him, her tone defiant, "Going for a walk." Evelynn let out a small laugh.

Clarke, on the other hand, chose to ignore the bickering Blake siblings. Instead, she grabbed at Finn's wristband, which was all scratched up, "Were you trying to take this off?"

He smirked, "Yeah. So?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, "So, this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think your dead." Evelynn subconsciously rubbed at her own wristband.

"Should I care?" Finn retorted.

Clarke put him back in his place, "I don't know, do you want the people you love to think your dead?" Finn accepted his defeat and shoved his hands into his pocket, but Clarke continued, "Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying."

Evelynn watched as Octavia's brother's face fell, seemingly deep in thought. She narrowed her eyes at him as if she was trying to read his mind. Clarke's voice drew Evelynn out of her thoughts, "Okay. Now let's go."

Everyone started to follow Finn to leave camp, even Octavia, who's brother reluctantly let her go. Evelynn stayed back for a second, still eyeing the older Blake sibling suspiciously.

He caught her eye and walked closer to her, "Can I help you?"

She unconsciously stood up straighter to answer him, "What are you doing here?"

He seemed surprised by the question, but he pressed on, "I'm here to keep and eye on my sister. I—"

Evelynn stopped him, "Let me rephrase. How are you here?"

Now he was the one eyeing her suspiciously, "I snuck onto the dropship. You saw me."

"There is no way you could simply 'sneak on the dropship', security is too high on the Ark." Evelynn raised her eyebrows at him, "You had to have done something to be able to sneak on without being caught."

He stepped back from her, a look of fear in his eyes. But he quickly regained his composure, "And how would you know that? You don't know me. You don't even know my name."

Evelynn was caught, "Shit."

"Language," he clicked his tongue with the shadow of a smile, which caused Evelynn to smile.

He seemed a lot nicer with a smile.

"Bellamy Blake,"

"Evelynn Ortega,"

"Well, if you're still planning on traveling to Mount Weather, you should hurry," he said, gesturing towards the group of kids heading out of camp.

Evelynn nodded quickly and shot him a look as she ran towards the group, "I'm going to figure you out one of these days, Bellamy Blake. Mark my words!"

»»————-　★　————-««

The group walked for a couple miles is complete silence, but they didn't mind. The delinquents were all so awe-struck at the beauty all around them.

Evelynn walked alongside Jasper and Monty and they watched as Finn picked a gorgeous purple wildflower and placed it in Octavia's hair.

"Now that, my friend, is game," Jasper leaned over to them and said. Evelynn snorted.

Monty picked one of the flowers himself, "That, my friend, is poison sumac."

Octavia quickly pulled the flower out of her hair and wiped her hands off on her pants, "What? It is?"

Monty laughed a little, "The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal. Calming, actually."

Jasper patted Monty on the back, "His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark."

Evelynn bent down a picked a few flowers herself. She reached up and tucked one into Jasper's goggles to which he attempted to swat her off, but she was too persistent. She also handed one to Monty, but he just ate his. She grabbed one for herself and carried it in the palm of her hand, admiring the small flower with its velvety petals.

Clarke stopped in her tracks a few feet ahead and turned around, "Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?"

"Come on Clarke, try to enjoy the view," Finn told her, outstretching his arms.

Evelynn looked to the trees and then to the ground, curiosity getting the best of her, "Why haven't we seen any animals?"

Clarke shot her hand out towards Evelynn as if she had just proven a point, "My thoughts exactly. What if there are no animals? And what if we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us? We have to keep moving." Clarke eyed the flower in Evelynn's palm with a nod, "Sure is pretty though, now let's go."

Octavia rolled her eyes and muttered, "Someone should slip her some poison sumac."

»»————-　★　————-««

They walked further, the day passing slowly as the group attempted to keep pace with Clarke. Finn was a chatterbox the whole hike, which Evelynn found very amusing.

"Okay, okay, okay," Finn said, talking to Monty and Jasper, "I've got to know what you two did to get busted."

Evelynn let a smile creep onto her face, "This should be good,"

Monty slyly smiled, "Well, sumac's not the only herb in the garden if you know what I mean."

Jasper butted in, "Someone forgot to replace what we took."

"Someone has apologized, like, 1,000 times."

Evelynn laughed while elbowing Jasper before walking ahead of them, "You two haven't changed a bit." Monty stuck his tongue out at her.

"How about you Octavia?" Jasper asked, "What'd they get you for?"

"Being born," she said quickly, it was obviously a touchy subject.

Monty leaned over to Jasper, "That is so not game."

Jasper spoke up, filling the awkward silence, "And you Evelynn? You were disappeared on us for so long, this one has to be good."

Evelynn looked at the group of four faces waiting patiently for her answer. Evelynn saw Clarke even slowed her walking to hear the conversation.

"I attacked a bunch of guards a few years ago," she said, her voice low.

Finn's face lit up, "Wait a second,"

"What?"

"You're the crazy girl that the guards would talk about," Finn said, his tone happy, despite the words he was saying.

"Oh wow, that's so nice of you Finn," Evelynn said, sarcasm dripping through her voice.

Finn shook his head smiling, "I'm not saying you're crazy. You were in the lockup room right next to me. They threw you in solitary for two years. I always heard the guards telling stories about you. Your Ortega, right?" Evelynn nodded in confirmation.

Finn continued, "From what I heard, you got in some pretty good hits before the took you away. Is it true that you gave all of them each a black eye?"

Evelynn was shocked to her core, she didn't know how to respond.

Jasper spoke up, "Wait, were you the maniac who broke Nathan Miller's dad's jaw?"

Clarke walked back up to them and spoke, "Yeah, that was Evelynn. You should've seen how bruised her knuckles were."

Evelynn was so nervous that everyone would hate her, they were all accused of harmless crimes. She, on the other hand, committed a relatively serious one. Sure, she wasn't in her right mind, but it still happened.

Finn laughed and ruffled Evelynn's hair, "You're pretty badass, kid."

Octavia past her with a smirk, "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Monty spoke up, laughter in his voice, "Would you look at us. The traitor, the spacewalker, the sister, the maniac, and the stoners."

"Oh please tell me my nickname is not going to be 'maniac'," Evelynn begged.

Jasper laughed, "Do you prefer 'the crazy girl' instead?"

Monty chimed in, "Or we could go with 'psycho'."

Monty and Jasper both put one of their hands in the air and high-fived themselves at the same time.

Evelynn rolled her eyes at the two and watched as Clarke ran a few feet ahead of them, bent down, and signaled the group to come join her.

They made their way to her and knelt down. Clarke shushed the group, pointing at an animal in the distance, smiling brightly. It was a large deer sniffing at the ground ahead of it.

"No animals, huh?" Finn said quietly. He started to inch himself closer to the animal when he accidentally stepped on a twig. The snap made the deer look towards them.

Evelynn's heart skipped a beat as the animal stared at them, it's head mutated into two faces.

"That can't be good." She breathed.

»»————-　★　————-««

"Hey, do you want to know what I'd like to know?" Finn contemplated.

Evelynn laughed a little to herself, this kid never shut up, "Actually, I would like to know what you'd like to know,"

"Why send us down here today? After 97 years?"

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now—" Octavia put her arm around a tree and spun, "—I'm spinning in a forest."

Evelynn added, "Tell me about it, I woke up today ready to be floated."

Monty and Jasper turned around to look at her in sync. "They were going to float you?" Jasper asked, concern in his voice.

Evelynn outstretched her arms, "I turned eighteen today,"

Octavia laughed, "Talk about cutting it close,"

Finn nodded and threw his arm around Evelynn, "And talk about the best birthday present in history,"

Monty wandered past them tossing out ideas, "Maybe they found something on a satellite. You know, like an old weather satellite or—"

Clarke cut him off, walking by all of them to the front of the group, "It wasn't a satellite. The Ark is dying."

Everyone fell silent. "At the current population level there are roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

Finn stepped to Clarke with urgency, "So that's the secret they locked you up to keep? Kept you in solitary, floated your old man?"

Evelynn felt a pain in her chest. She didn't even know that Mr. Griffin was gone. Clarke pressed on, "My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had the right to know. The council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were about to go public when Wells—"

"What? Turned in your dad?" Monty asked. Clarke simply nodded.

"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves some time."

Monty couldn't help but speak up again, "They're going to kill more people, aren't they?" Clarke didn't respond, but her silence gave the answer away.

Octavia burst through the group in a bit of a rage, "Good. After what they did to me, I say float em' all." Jasper ran after her, "You don't mean that."

Finn turned to Clarke with the same urgency in his voice as before, "We have to warn them."

Clarke looked at him carefully, her voice softening, "That's what my father said."

Evelynn kept walking with the group until she ran into Jasper. She peered over her shoulder as Finn, Clarke, and Monty walked over to stand with them as well.

"Damn, I love earth," Jasper breathed, a smile on his face.

The group turned to see none other than Octavia Blake standing on a large rock with nothing on but a tank top and underwear. Everyone was speechless, and she was loving the attention.

Octavia continued to scale the rocks when Clarke called out, "Octavia, what the hell are you doing?"

She turned back to them, an innocent look on her face. Then she jumped off the rocks and everyone heard a splash.

The group quickly ran up the rocks after her to see nothing but Octavia's eyes above the water.

Monty called out, "Octavia, we can't swim!" A smile swept over her face, "No, but we can stand." She then stood up, showing the water was only waist deep.

While the other four chatted and frantically ripped off their jackets, Evelynn walked down and sat on the lowest rock by the river. She quickly took off her shoes and stuck her feet in the cool water.

Octavia smiled at Evelynn and splashed her with water, the front strands of her hair now wet, "Feels good, doesn't it?" Evelynn laughed and splashed Octavia back.

Before anyone else could jump in the water, Jasper's voice broke through the air, "Octavia, get out of the water."

Everyone looked to the water, seeing what Jasper was looking at. There was a giant snake-like animal swimming towards Octavia at rapid speeds. "Get out of the water now!"

Octavia turned around right as the beast snatched her and she was pulled underwater. Screams burst in the air. Evelynn was shocked, frozen to the spot, her feet still vulnerable in the water. Before she could react, Finn lifted her up and pulled her onto the higher rock with the rest of the group.

Always level-headed, Clarke shouted through the chaos, "If we distract it, it might let her go," she started pulling on a loose rock, "Help me."

The group pulled the rock out and dropped it into the water. Monty cried in success, "It worked! It let her go!"

Jasper yelled to her, "Can you get to the shore now?" Octavia wasn't getting any closer to them, just thrashing around in the water.

In an instant of impulsiveness, Jasper jumped into the river to grab Octavia, "I got you!"

Monty called out again, "Hurry! It's heading right toward you guys!" Jasper quickly pulled himself and Octavia onto the closest rock, a second later and they would both be dead.

Octavia was breathing hard as she desperately clung to Jasper, even after they were safe on shore. Evelynn let out a shaky breath, "Her leg."

Octavia's leg was dripping with blood from what looked like giant teeth marks on her upper thigh. Clarke instantly sprung into action after seeing Octavia's injury. She ripped off a piece of Jasper's shirt to tie onto her leg to stop her from losing too much blood, "You're going to be okay,"

Octavia nodded, resting her head on Jasper's chest. Monty patted Jasper on the back, "Note to self—Next time, save the girl."

»»————-　★　————-««

"This looks like a perfect area to set up camp for the night," Finn said nonchalantly as they passed a small forested area with more moss than trees.

Clarke shook her head, "We need to keep walking,"

Octavia let go of Evelynn who was helping her walk and reached forward, grabbing Clarke's arm, "Please can we stop? We're exhausted and my leg hurts."

Clarke looked to the rest of the group to see how they were holding up. Finn pretended to be asleep leaning against a tree while Evelynn fake yawned and Jasper and Monty dramatically fell to the ground in exhaustion.

Clarke rolled her eyes, "Fine," The group cheered as they all gathered around to find spots to sleep for the night.

The minutes rolled by silently as everyone laid down. Evelynn stared at the sky in wonderment. She watched as it became yellow to orange then red and pink and then a purple until the moon and stars began to appear and the sky became black.

She finally was able to watch the sun set. It was surreal.

In the darkness of the forest, plants and mushrooms of all sorts were glowing. Evelynn was struck to the bone with amazement. Coming to the ground and being able to experience this was a miracle.

She sat up and looked at the kids around her, all of them sound asleep. She chuckled to herself, apparently, they were genuinely as tired as they claimed.

Evelynn laid back down and stared at the stars. If only her mother could see her now. She was on the Ground, surrounded by plants and trees, she could hear birds chirping and the air never tasted so crisp.

Her mother always wanted to see the Ground more than anything.

She was living her dream.

Evelynn closed her eyes and smiled. She had never felt so close to her mom since she died as she did being in the one place her mother always wanted to be.

It truly was the best birthday present in history.