Apogee

2269 words

My fingers glided through the tall plants and bushes of green filled with dozens of purple flowers. I followed Clarke and Finn's lead, walking beside Octavia while Jasper and Monty trailed behind.

I tilted my head back, staring at the tallness of the trees that looked to go on forever. I was so intrigued by my surroundings it was only until Jasper spoke that reminded what we came here for, "..that, my friend, is game." He nudged his best friend, eyes roaming over to where Finn stuck one of the purple flowers behind Octavia's ear.

"No. That, my friend, is poison sumac." Monty pointed out, correcting Jasper as he picked one from the bushes himself.

"What? It is?" Octavia listened to their commentary, quickly removing the flower from her hair and all traces of it in worry of the results from the plant.

Monty chuckled, reassuring her, "The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually." He informed and I raised an eyebrow at him, mentally asking him how he even knew that.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the ark." Jasper answered once he saw my expression.

Clarke turned around seriously with furrowed eyebrows at our off-topic conversation. "Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?"

"Would you try to remove that stick up your ass?" I replied with a tilt of my head, earning an eruption of laughter from the teenagers behind me. Clarke didn't find this amusing, though, as her expression remained serious and unimpressed.

Finn attempted to rephrase my words, "Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" He asked in amazement at the nature around him.

"Well, it's simple." She began, "I wonder, why haven't we seen any animals?" She rose her eyebrows, bringing up a good point. I then realized from the minute we've been here, I haven't seen a single animal. Not even a bird. "Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though." She added the last part sarcastically before leading the way once again.

It was silent until Octavia spoke up, lightening the mood, "Someone should slip her some poison sumac." She joked while Jasper snorted as we continued on our journey.

"So what did you guys do to get busted?" Finn questioned the four of us in curiosity.

Monty was the first to answer, saying that sumac wasn't the only herb in the garden. They were so open to answer, mostly because more than half of the 100's crimes had been petty ones. 

I quickly jogged up to Clarke before they asked me what I was in for. Clarke didn't even look my way once I joined her side and I began to feel a little guilty. I cleared my throat and she glanced at me before staring straight ahead, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off that way earlier. This is our second chance and I don't want to make enemies on the first day."

The blonde turned to me finally, giving me her attention, "Murphy being the exception, I'm guessing." She rose her eyebrows in a teasing manor.

I sighed with a roll of my eyes, "Murphy's got it out for me." I shook my head before changing the topic at hand, "So.. do-over?" I offered with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded in agreement with a small smile, "Yeah, sure."

I returned the smile, looking out into the distance and doing a double-take from what I saw. I crouched down quickly pulling Clarke down with me. "Look." I whispered pointing out the animal.

The others followed in our footsteps once they saw what it was we were staring at. I examined the big deer covered in light brown fur in amazement. "No animals, huh?" Finn whispered to Clarke.

He crawled forward, leaving the rest of us to watch as he stepped on a twig, snapping it, causing the deer's attention to divert and turn to us revealing that it had more than one head. The second one was bloody and left me speechless as I gasped, falling back abruptly with shock.

"Holy shit."

...

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn finally spoke up after the long silence we had been in seen we'd seen the mutated deer. "Why send us down today after 97 years? I mean what changed?"

"Who cares?" Octavia scoffed, dismissing the question without a second thought, "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell and now I'm spinning in a forest." She announced gleefully, doing just that, and spinning around a tree with a smile.

Monty shrugged, "Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know like an old weather satellite or-"

I glanced over at him while we carefully trudged downhill, "Or maybe, this is their way of killing us." I said, intriguing Finn as he continued to listen carefully, "Reducing population to make more time for the rest of the ark. That whole speech about them wiping our records clean was probably bullshit. They don't care about us. Plain and simple."

Finn stopped, turning to me with his eyebrow raised, "Quite the theory you got there, Claudia."

"It's not a theory. It's a fact." I corrected the spacewalker.

"It's intense." Jasper added until Clarke finally chimed in, dismissing all of our theories.

"The ark is dying." She said flatly, causing us all to stop our movements entirely and turn to her. "At the current population level, there's roughly 3 months left of life support- maybe 4 now that we're gone." She didn't wait for us to keep up with her footsteps while we still stood in shock before realizing we needed to keep moving.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn interrogated the girl and then it clicked for me. Clarke Griffin. The traitor. At least that's what they called her, but I refuse to believe anything the ark says when the real traitors are on their very own dropship.

Clarke didn't respond but Monty did with a voice of worry, "They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" He glanced around to the five of us with a frown, knowing the answer to his own question.

"Good." Octavia broke the ice abruptly, "After what they did to me, I say float 'em all." I couldn't help but agree in a sense after what they did to my parents, Alec, me. 

Jasper let out a breath of admiration, "Oh, damn, I love Earth."

I turned to see what he was drooling over and realized that it was none other than Octavia. "Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" I asked the girl who was undressing herself on top of a rock, staring out into the river before her.

She looked back at the rest of us, not saying a thing, wearing a smirk before she jumped in without hesitation. I ran over at the sound of the splash, checking to see if she was okay. 

I peered over the rock and looking into the water with a big smile for the first time I've gotten here. Her head was just above the water while she watched us with a smile.

"We can't swim." Monty yelled out, concerned for her.

"No, but we can stand." The girl rose up from the water that laid still at her stomach before she began to laugh. I bit my lip, taking off my jacket, along with Jasper and Finn. I kicked off my shoes, ready to hop in until Jasper's face fell, and he let out a yell.

"Octavia, get out of the water!" He said suddenly, getting the rest of our attention, noticing the water was rising and edging closer and closer to Octavia.

I squinted my eyes, staring into the water and witnessing what looked like a giant snake. "Get out of the water now!" I ran over, reaching for her hand but she was yanked away and pulled down into the water by the creature.

She continued to switch from being dragged underwater to letting out screams once she got a chance for air. "What the hell is that? We have to help her!" Monty exclaimed and I nodded rapidly, trying to think, my eyes wandered over to a large boulder.

"If we distract it, it might let her go." I mumbled walking over and pushing the rock with all my strength but struggling to do so. "Help me!" I instructed the four who were watching in anxiousness. They rushed over, pushing along with me, causing the large stone to fall in with a big splash.

The creature abandoned Octavia, immediately swimming over to the object that had fallen into the water. "Octavia, get to the shore!" Jasper yelled, "We don't have much time!" 

The girl was still struggling in the water, gasping for air as her arms flailed. Jasper wasted no time in jumping in the water to save her.

"Jasper, hurry, it's coming back!" I warned him and his eyes widened as he lifted Octavia onto the rock. The creature was swimming over so fast I didn't think he would make it. I quickly leaned over, grabbing onto Jasper's wrists and lifting him up onto the rock with all my strength.

He landed besides me as we fell back onto the rock, breathing heavily. Octavia coughed, spitting up some water. I crawled over to her quickly, examining her bloodied leg. Clarke ripped off a piece of Jasper's shirt, using it to wrap around the injury.

Octavia wrapped her arms around Jasper, thanking him over and over.

Jasper turned to me with a smile, "You saved my life." He hugged me, and I was caught off guard to say the least, patting his back slowly.

"Don't mention it." I let out with a small chuckle.

"Note to self: Save the girl." Monty jokes, earning an eruption of laughter from the rest of us.

...

"Come on, skywalker!" I egged on the boy above Clarke, Octavia, Monty and I. Jasper and Finn stood at the top of the hill. It was the next day, and oddly enough Octavia and Jasper's near-death experience had brought us closer to one another. Our adventure from there had gone smoothly and now we waited 15 minutes for Finn to swing across the border where Mount Weather awaited. "You wanted to go first, now quit stalling."

Finn smirked from above, tugging at the branch for the thousandth time, checking for stability. Jasper encouraged him with a whisper, "Just hang on until the apogee and you'll be fine." He nodded.

Finn turned to him, "The apogee like the Indians, right?"

Jasper squinted, taken aback at how incorrect he was, "Apogee. Not Apache." He corrected with a laugh.

Clarke shook her head, "He knows." She shouted towards the two, "Today, Finn."

"Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side." He saluted before he took a few steps back, ready to finally complete the action until Jasper stopped him.

"Wait." He grabbed his arm, bouncing up and down as if he was motivating himself, "Let me. I can do it."

I tilted my head, watching as Finn passed the rope over to Jasper who wore a nervous smile, glancing down at the four of us. "See you on the other side! Ha ha!" I smiled widely watching him swing across the forest of green smoothly with yells of cheer. "Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!"

He landed roughly, crashing onto the floor, leading the rest of us running to see if he was okay. "Jasper?" I called out and he stood up to his feet, holding out his arms before throwing his fists up into the air with a yell, "We are Apogee!" 

"Yeah!" We mimicked his stance, throwing our hands up with cheer. I tilted my head back closing my eyes with a beam before applauding Jasper for his bravery. I jumped up and down with Octavia while Monty and Clarke cheered him on."You did it, Jasper!" The blonde screamed with excitement.

Jasper hopped up and down, kicking his feet together in accomplishment as I laughed before turning to Finn, grabbing the vine. "My turn."  My heart raced as I spoke the words, feeling bold and happy in the moment. My adrenaline was pumping as Octavia patted my back, clapping at my voluntary action.

"Alright, Claudia! Whoo!" Jasper hollered from the other side, encouraging me, making me smile widely. "Apogee!" He repeated, picking up a sign and dusting it off, smiling at it before raising it while he sprung up and down, "We did it! Mount Weather!"

I nodded, biting my lip, ready to swing- and just like that, the moment of bliss was gone. A long spear-like object flew through the air with a whistle, passing by the five of us, and striking Jasper directly through the chest.

My mouth fell open when I saw his body fly backwards, his back hitting a tree as his body lie still. "Oh my god, Jasper!" I yelled in shock at his limp body, turning around to Clarke not knowing what to do, but she was frozen in shock as well.

"Get down, get down!" Finn grabbed my arm roughly, jerking me back before doing the same with Clarke as we ran back, crouching down behind a large group of rocks.

Our heads snapped at the sound of footsteps crushing twigs and leaves. My eyes scanned the setting quickly, not seeing anyone but hearing swift movements.

"We're not alone."