Crazy Claudia

2178 words

Smoke grey. That was the color of these four walls I got to know so well, forced to stare at them for the past two months of my containment until the clock struck 12 on October 1st. Unity day. My eighteenth birthday.

I glanced down at my hands that balanced the dagger Alec and I once pick-pocketed from one of the guards after a fight. My heart ached at the loss of my lover but maybe getting a spontaneous execution was better than counting down the days and minutes of your pin-pointed death.

I never celebrated my birthday anyways, especially since my parents weren't around for so much of my life. They were both criminals; thieves. I had guessed Shumway used that to his advantage in more ways than one. Not only manipulating me but pinning his own crimes on the daughter of two offenders. Nobody would question a thing.

But this birthday I was dreading more than usual. It was also my death date.

My train of thought was interrupted when the sound of the heavy doorway could be heard. My head shot up immediately, wondering what business the guards possibly had with me since I had just eaten an hour ago. I quickly hid the dagger, tucking it into one of my boots well-aware of surprise inspections.

"Prisoner 348, on the wall." They demanded strictly in a cold tone. I quickly got up from my bed, obliging their instructions but not without answers.

"What is this?" I questioned the male but he chose to ignore it. I glanced over my shoulder, watching as one of them unlocked a box with metal bracelets in it. I knew exactly what they were.

"Hold out your right arm." Again with the monotone, yet it was intimidating. 

I spun around quickly, eyebrows knitted together in worry and dismay. "I don't turn eighteen for another half-month." I shook my head.

The man turned to me sternly, "Hold out your arm." He repeated, the guard behind him triggering his electrical weapon as a warning if I didn't follow directions.

I hesitantly held out my arm, leading to the man clasping the steel around the wrist, inserting several tiny needles into my skin. I winced at the pricks, immediately uncomfortable at the feeling of pointers dug into my complexion.

Not a minute after, a needle was stabbed into my neck causing me to respond in self-defense. I grabbed the guard's arm, twisting it before giving him a swift kick, sending him across the room. 

The second guard approached me and I was prepared to do the same until my vision became blurry and my eyelids heavy as I stumbled crashing onto the floor.

...

My eyes began to open slowly, my senses heightened from the loud noises around me. I realized I was strapped against a hard chair, making my eyes flow open immediately as I jerked forward against my restraints.

"You should stay put if you want to live." An unfamiliar voice spoke, capturing my attention. It came from a blonde girl sat across from me, strapped into a chair as well.

I glanced around, seeing the multitude of teenagers strapped into seats just like I had been. Some being unlucky and strapped to the walls but I still had no idea what was going on. Luckily, a recorded video of the Chancellor began to play on the screen above me. However, when I saw his face, all I could think of was Alec. It wasn't Jaha's fault that Shumway deceived him, but he was the one who pressed the button that sent him floating into space.

I broke my glance from the screen but I still listened carefully, 

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance, and as your chancellor it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you.. expandable."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes with a shake of my head. Expandable? "And by that he means we're being dumped on Earth for an experiment. We are literally lab rats." I mumbled to myself in frustration.

Hollers of cheer and laughter caught me off guard, especially once I saw one of the boys floating in the air, showing off with a slow back flip while others encouraged him. The boy, who's name I learned to be Finn, came to a stop at Wells Jaha who was seated next to the blonde girl across from me.

"Check it out." He smirked, crossing his arms and laying his body flat while he hovered in the air, "Your dad floated me after all." He joked and I cracked the smallest smile at the teenager's humor.

The station jolted abruptly, sending Finn flying across the room along with others who had followed in his footsteps to take off their seatbelts. The room was shaking, making me nauseous as sparks flew down from the ceiling as we edged closer and closer to the ground.

I closed my eyes shut as the lights flickered on and off and items began to fly off the wall, crashing into other objects, and possibly some people.

I took deep breaths as the shaking stopped and the sound of machines whirring halted. I slowly peeled open my eyes; from what I saw, nobody was hurt.

People began to unbuckle their seatbelts, so I followed in their footsteps wanting to get out of my restraints as soon as possible. "The outer door is on the lower levels! Let's go!" I heard somebody yell but I couldn't see over the mob of people waiting impatiently to step foot on the ground.

"Stop!" The blonde girl exclaimed, making everybody pause in their footsteps, turning to the girl who was halfway down the ladder. My eyebrows furrowed at her sudden outburst. She climbed down the ladder fully, walking to the front of the room, along with another male who's dark brown hair was slicked back. "The air could be toxic."

"She's right." I chimed in, earning stares from the people that surrounded me. "We should be cautious." I agreed with the blonde who gave me a single nod.

A boy pushed through the crowd, parting it like the red sea. I recognized him. I saw him around the Ark; he was always up to no good. I couldn't quite remember his name. "Like we're going to listen to anything you say, crazy Claudia." The boy snarled and it came to me. John Murphy. How could I forget his venomous voice?

Crazy Claudia? Was that the best he had?

"We all know what you did." He spat, returning the glare. 

I wanted to yell at him that I would never do such a thing and that I was framed for my crime; but I decided I didn't have to justify myself for anybody. They could think what they wanted, as long as I knew the truth. This was my second chance. Not me sitting on my hard mattress, counting the days until my death awaited me. And I sure as hell wasn't going to waste it proving myself to people like John Murphy.

I was so caught up in his ignorance that I didn't realize the people around me had been whispering in gossip and I finally realized why. Octavia Blake. The illegal sibling who hid under the floors for 16 years.

"If the air is toxic, we're all dead anyway." Octavia's brother grumbled while he held onto her like he was afraid to let go. He turned to his sibling, "Let them remember you by becoming the first person on the ground in 100 years." He half-smiled, reaching for the levers that pulled open the steel doors.

The light it revealed was blinding, taking me what felt like forever for them to adjust but when they did, it was so worth it. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the trees, the plants, the grass- everything was so.. green. I inhaled, taking in the fresh air I never thought I would experience.

Octavia was the first to walk forward, slowly. She took a leap from the stairway, onto the beautiful patch of green. I glanced over, seeing her beam as she threw her hands into the air, "We're back bitches!"

...

Watching the others go crazy over the lush forest of green was amusing as I sat on a large rock, carving a stick into a sharp point with my dagger; witnessing quietly. Unfortunately, as Clarke had discovered from her map, we had been dropped on the wrong mountain. Not only was there a radiation-soaked forest between us and our next meal, Clarke, Wells, and Bellamy took it among themselves to argue about how we would pursue it.

"We're just trying to figure out where we are." Wells defended him and Clarke as they were isolated from the bigger group, worrying the rest of us.

Bellamy scoffed, raising his arms, "We're on the ground. That not good enough or you?" He rose his eyebrows in disbelief at the two.

Wells looked hesitant, since the small quarrel was starting to attract a bigger audience. He stepped forward to Bellamy, "We need to find Mount. Weather. You heard my father, it's our top priority-"

"Screw your father." I cut him off, standing up from the rock I've been observing from but I decided to speak up. I twirled the stick through my fingers while Wells looked at me with shock that I dare speak against his word. "What, you think you're in charge here?" I rose my eyebrows.

Octavia joined in, siding with me, "Him.. and his little princess." She turned to Clarke, "They think they're better than us."

Clarke stepped forward, defending Wells, "Do you think we care who's in charge?" She challenged me, "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." She spoke directly to the people around us, trying to gain their support. "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."

Bellamy intervened, "I got a better idea." He began, glancing between the two with a cunning smile. "Why don't you two go? Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."

The people around him yelled in agreement almost immediately before Bellamy turned to me, "And take her." He analyzed me from head to toe before a small smirk played out on his lips. I wasn't sure what he was trying to do but I didn't like it.

"What makes you think I'm privileged?" I questioned his judgement with a cross of my arms. I was nowhere near privileged. He didn't know anything about me.

Bellamy stared me down before speaking, "Prove to me that you're not and I'll stand corrected." He challenged with a shrug, waiting for me to accept but I did the opposite.

"I don't have to prove anything to you." 

He didn't have the chance to reply wittingly when Murphy objected with a scoff, leaning on a nearby tree, "No way is American psycho going to be responsible for retrieving our food-"

I rolled my eyes before throwing my knife into the bark with precision, the blade digging into the wood that just missed the side of his face. I smirked when his eyes widened, wandering to the knife besides him before his jaw clenched in anger. He marched towards me until Bellamy held him back. "She's going."

Octavia led out a loud laugh of impression, "Sick!" She hunched over with a wide smile, "I'm in." She walked over to Clarke, Wells, and I with a grin but Bellamy grabbed her arm.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked her through gritted teeth, clearly disapproving of her decision.

"Going for a walk." Octavia replied snarkily and I cracked a smile, liking her already.

Wells shifted the focus of the conversation, "How are the three of you going to carry enough food for 100?" His eyes wandered over the three of our clueless faces, clearly not thinking the whole plan through.

Finn walked over with both his hands on the shoulders of two other boys. Monty and Jasper I believed they were. "Six." He gave another signature smirk, "When do we leave?"

Clarke looked around at the team before she nodded in approval, "Right now." She stated, before walking forward and leading the way.

Octavia glanced at me with a smile before following Clarke, along with Finn, then Jasper, then Monty, and then me. On my way out, I pulled my knife out of the tree, giving a sarcastic smile to Murphy before I exited.