Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, you are such an uptight prick!”

Clarke throws her best friend's phone down, soundless as it falls onto the soft comforters of the dorm bed.

“He really is, isn’t he?” Raven asks rhetorically. She glares a hole through the hole by her feet, brown hair falling around her face like a curtain. Clarke's emotions get the better of her, knowing what is about to happen. Clarke had taken the phone from her friend's feeble grasp and told off her boyfriend, more or less (definitely more).

“Fine, we will go to the game-.” Clarke drags out (Cue the panning of Raven’s spirited outfit, a decked-out red nightmare).

“-But only because that asshat of a boyfriend of yours said we shouldn’t.” She finishes.

“Yes! Oh my god have I said I love you recently?” Raven scrambles over to hug Clarke.

“Get dressed! We need to leave in 10 minutes.”

Clarke groaned loudly, but inwardly she was glad to have found a distraction for the brunette from her boyfriend. They had only dated for a few months, but Clarke spotted a distinct change in how Raven dressed, acted and how her spirit had been tempered since then.

Tapping through her closet hangers, she found very little to contend with as far as the home team’s merch went. She took a look around her dorm, spotting a last-ditch effort to show she almost cared about the football game.

Clarke tugged off her gray sweatshirt, immediately craving the return of the warmth it provided. The ruffled red dress would have to do, meeting mid thigh on her leg. It wasn’t skin tight but it didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination either.

“How the hell do you not have a boyfriend with a body like that?” Raven quipped, whipping around from her mirror. Clarke smiled tightly at the recurring mention of a relationship. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to date someone, or that she hadn’t found someone, she just wasn’t interested in pursuing it. It wouldn’t work well with where she was at right now, between school and pouring her heart into caring for Raven. Raven wasn’t helpless, but they had assumed a natural big-sister-to-little-sister relationship since moving in together.

“Not a priority… Plus how do you know I don’t have one?” Clarke replied cheekily, thinking she had gotten her there.

“Because when I’m not with Finn, you’re with me eating ice cream out of the box on the couch.”

Clarke paused at that, finding nothing to respond with. They resumed getting ready for the overstated football game until Raven all but dragged her out of the dorm door.

---

The crowd roared for the rushing players after the field goal like they hadn’t been screaming at the “false calls” from the referee two minutes ago. Clarke tried to follow along, she really did. However, someone caught her eye several rows down. A brunette with all the confidence and grace of a fucking greek god. Clearly from the wrong side of town, he was surrounded by boys from what must’ve been every frat group on Earth.

Clarke continuously found her eyes drifting down to him, until he glanced up and instantaneously found Clarke’s eyes. Winking at her, he turned fully to her. She took him in, not missing the way he glared down to the edge of her dress.

He has young eyes, big and brown and far beyond appearing innocent. He had a light to him, which gave her the overwhelming urge to gush about it like a schoolgirl. His hair was a dusty dark brown color in the sun's gleam.

Wait.

Clarke paused her obnoxious leering, not wanting to be completely reduced to a teenage girl again. She closed her eyes and pictured adult and mature things, like bills and NOT hot frat boys at a football game. Unable to help herself from looking over one more time, she saw that he had resumed watching the game and hadn’t turned around again before the end of the first half.

“I’m going to grab some snacks, want something?” Raven stated before exiting the bleachers.

“Nah, I’ll just eat after the game.”

Clarke glanced around her and back down to the field, now empty of players over the half time. She pulled out her phone, which had a message from her mom on it.

Mom~ You coming home soon?

Shit.
Clarke had forgotten about coming home. It wasn’t much of a drive, but the night was already beginning to make an appearance as the autumn 5pm moon creeped out. Quickly typing out an excuse as to why she’d be late, Clarke tucked her phone back in and watched the players take the field. She noted that Raven still hadn’t returned, little worry occupying her mind. Watching the players with mild interest, she also spotted the pretty brunette still in his spot on the bleachers by his friends.

The players run around the field, clearly trying to hype up the crowd with much success. Clarke caught the tail end of something the brunette said.

“-YOU'RE SUCH A SHOW OFF ROAN!” He screamed to the oblivious football player, Clarke guessed. Soon the game began again, and this time Clarke watched with a renewed focus on the one player who the guy yelled at.

The home team was winning already, but soon they scored again and ran another victory lap around the field once again. The other team seemed to sag in defeat, however one of the players became a straggler as he stood in the middle of the field, seemingly lost.

Clarke focused on him, curiosity spiking within her.

He swayed on his feet, almost imperceptibly if you weren’t watching him. His knees buckled and he fell face first into the ground which caused a ricochet of gasps around the stadium. The friend of the brunette hustled over first, nudging his shoulder gently. The silence was deafening in the bleachers, no one quite sure what to do.

Within seconds, the man on the ground flipped over and wrestled-no, attacked the other player. It was a graphic scene Clarke almost felt appalled to watch. From meters away, she could see his teeth dig into the man's neck while he was still crept over him. The cannibalistic action inspired a commotion in the crowd, and newfound panic creeped into the screaming mothers and children.

The attacking man on the ground seemed to become a pale, ghostly color that Clarke hadn’t noticed before. There was no defense from the victim, simply getting torn up in front of hundreds as the others were too afraid to intervene.

Screams echoed into the night as Clarke felt frozen to her chair. The bleachers began emptying around her and she found panic within herself when Raven still hadn’t returned. Tearing her eyes away from the vicious scene, when the men were finally getting torn apart by officials, Clarke’s body took action for her on a subconscious instinct to get away from the scene.

The football player who tried to help was no doubt dead, time a valuable thing lost in the assault.

Someone grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her out of the bleachers and up the stairs. When she finally gathered herself enough to look up, she recognized the pretty brunette hauling her up. Clarke found her wits and took her arm back, climbing the stairs herself.

“Time to go Princess.” He breathed out, unmoved by her regaining of her independence.

“The hell?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re one of the last out and we really need to get out of here.” He responded huffily, like she was speaking nonsensically.
“I am perfectly capable of deciding for myself.” Clarke knew it wasn’t the time to argue, but she halted on the stairs. She hadn’t given up her independence in her 21 years, and she sure as hell wasn't going to start now.

“Dear god woman. Fine, stay here. I was just trying to help.” The brunette resumed stair climbing at a nearly olympic pace. At the point she realized she was staring at his ass, she realized that it was really, really, time to go. She began her escape from the stadium with a glance back to the field, where a bloody massacre overtook the once green and painted grass. Bodies were sprawled everywhere as the single man ran like a fox gone rabid.

Chapter Text

Finally breathing a bit of fresh air, Clarke stepped outside of the desolate stadium and quickened her steps over to her car and folded herself in.

Shit.

Only a quarter of a tank left.
While Clarke didn’t like driving on fumes and dreams, it’d have to do while she carted over to her parent’s house. Clarke started the car and left the empty parking lot, save for an empty truck or bus here and there.

It was only a ten minute drive to her parent’s simple brownstone on the other side of the city but that was enough to get her into her thoughts.
Clarke’s younger brother had been taken away when she was 10, which wasn’t a reliable age for solid memories. She noticed that her parents hadn’t seemed particularly heart broken when her brother developed an odd sickness, but hadn’t ever thought past that.. After her 16 year old brother disappeared, tensions arose between her parents and her as she began isolating herself.
Tommy Griffin was a strong boy, he had inspired Clarke to scavenge for opportunities beyond what their parents’ could provide. At only 16, he had been working 2 jobs and saving for, as he told little Clarke, his “ticket out of this scrappy town.” A few days before one of his last big paychecks came in, before school restarted, Clarke saw less and less of her brother until he vanished completely. Those days were foggy in her mind.
After he was gone, Clarke started having more fights with her mom, and her dad turned to drinking. This inspired her to want more escapes from the house, a domestic mess.
This is where Clarke’s aggressive need for independence came from. (She doesn’t like to be told what to do, she’s the bossy one.)

Pulling into the driveway, Clarke was drawn out of her thoughts of Tommy. Her college years (She was in her second year of studying medicine) had been where she reconnected with her parents again and visited them regularly.
She walked into the unlocked front door with her attention split between two things upon first glance.
The place was a literal shit-show. (Tables knocked over, holes in the walls from chairs being thrown, and glass cracked all over the floor.)
Her parents were gone.
“Mom? Dad?” Clarke ventured into the hallway further, her mind starting to race.
“Is anyone here?”

Met with silence, Clarke’s skin started to crawl and goosebumps formed along the back of her fair skinned neck. She was really starting to regret the red dress now.
Clarke threw her blonde hair into a ponytail as she exited the house and got back into her car. She tried to text her mom first.
Clarke- Mom, where are you?
Then, Raven.
Clarke- Raven where did you end up? Parents aren’t home so I am going back to the dorm.

---

Clarke slowly drove through the entrance of the university, where if she thought her parents’ house was a shit-show, this was a full on visit from hell.

Cars had crashed into one another and when no one was in sight Clarke really started to wonder what she missed. She parked her car in the middle of the front yard and hopped out, scanning the scene.
Panis settled into her belly and she decided it was time to prepare. For what, Clake didn’t know but she could connect the dots.

A HUMAN had gone feral and started eating people. (Not good.)
Her parents were missing. (Also not good.)
San Francisco looked like it got a botched face job. (Definitely not good.)
Everyone was gone. (Super not good.)

She stopped back in her room and threw on some gray cargos and a white tank with some black heavy duty boots (because there was no way in hell she was going into the apocalypse with a flirty dress on.)
She noticed Raven’s stuff had been sifted through, so she also grabbed a backpack. It felt important to mention that it had ‘Glamping’ in glitter letters across the front from when Raven decided to drag her to an impractical camping trip.
She threw in a first aid kit and other necessities she figured might come in handy at some point.

Back at her car, she checked her phone to see no messages from anyone. She left for a gas station as a pit stop.
After she refilled her car at the empty lot, she went into the station. Shelves had been torn off the walls and fridges broken into. Nearly everything was gone. She found herself wandering the aisles regardless, picking up food here and there. She only got 3-4 packs of jerky and nuts, but it was important anyway.
Clarke had found a pill bottle on the ground, when she had heard a muttering in the neighboring aisle.
She crept around, first spotting a pair of boots then black jeans leading up to a red-sweatered Raven, who was cradling a bottle of Tito’s vodka with her red eye-black still adorning her cheeks. Her mascara had been thoroughly ruined, and Raven hadn’t spotted Clarke yet.
“Oh my god Raven-” Clarke rushed over to the drunk girl on the ground and knelt down to her.
“What happened to you?”
Raven barely glanced up to Clarke, clearly too intoxicated to form comprehensible words.
“Hmm-shi-...t…Finnuh is de-” Raven hiccuped.
“Dead.”
Clarke didn’t need to hear anymore as she threw Raven’s arm over her shoulder and lifted her up and out to her car, laying her into the backseat of Clarke’s red bug. Shortly, Raven passed out as Clarke pondered where the fuck she was going to go.
She started driving to the coast, because maybe that’s where everyone else ended up. (She didn’t actually know, but there wasn’t anywhere else for her to go anyway.)

Her drive quickly got interrupted though, as there was a group of bumbling idiots crossing the road. At first glance, she thought it was a collection of corpses dragging out of nowhere but that’d be crazy (...right?) Clarke mentally reprimanded herself.
It took a second glance but she recognized the front of the group while he was cursing at her (she honked and almost hit them) for no reason. It was the pretty brunette from the game, but now he was dressed in dark cargos, an Achilles graphic t-shirt and held a rifle behind his back.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Clarke screamed, hopping out of her car.

“You almost hit us, crazy b-” Another guy started, but the brunette shoved him out of the way, stepping forward.

“Miller, shut up. Weren’t you supposed to evacuate with everyone else?” He questioned.
“What are you talking about?”

“There was a civilian evac., everyone’s gone now.” He stated simply.

“I hadn’t noticed…” Clarke responded dryly, more serious questions nagging at her.

Clarke suddenly took in their attire with the mix of the group’s weaponry, which was a collection of guns and metal bars.

“What are you doing?” She pressed.

“Avenging one of our own. It’s time for you to leave, right now.” The brunette turned away, clearly done with the conversation.”

“The fuck I will. You haven’t told me what’s going on or why I need to leave jackass… And stop telling me what to do.” Clarke started to get irritated, which was fueled by confusion and a nagging panic.

“Alright Princess.” The brunette said sharply. “Since you feel the need to know everything, I’ll lay it on you. The world is going to shit and we’re all gonna die-”

“Hey I could use a last hook-up if you’re interested-” A longer-haired guy interrupted from the back, his weapon of choice a hand-gun. Clarke tasted puke in her throat.

“Shut up Murphy. It’s time for us to go.”

“Wait, shouldn’t we stick together? If everyone’s good as dead we might need all hands-on deck.” From another guy, with black hair and a computer case instead of a weapon. Clarke hadn’t seen this one before, but he looked certainly more approachable. In fact, she thought she had seen him in her MicroBiology class.

“Absolutely not. She’d just be another mouth to feed.” The guy- Miller, threw in.

“... Blake, you can’t seriously be considering bringing her.” Miller added, observing his face.

“She has a car… That’s more than we have.” Bellamy stated plainly, still in thought.

The group of five guys eyed her car, and Clarke had a bad feeling about what they were thinking.

“There is no way you all are going to fit in there-” Clarke turned to her five-seater. She also had a sleeping Raven in there and she was her first priority.

“With us…” Clarke trailed off whipping back to the boys. Bellamy’s face morphed into a gorgeous sight with a dazzling smirk and she realized in that moment that she didn’t trust them for shit.

Clarke turned for one moment back to her car and everything went dark with a thud on the back of her head.

Chapter Text

Clarke’s eyes flew open, panic instantly throwing her body forward with momentum.

THUD

Bad, bad idea. Her head whacked against the surface on top of her. She rubbed at the sore spot, regretting her choices. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light- or, rather, the darkness around her. She couldn’t see anything and Clarke hadn’t ever been claustrophobic but it felt apparent now as she realized what a cramped spot she was really in.

“Don’t move, Clarke, it’s no use.” Raven sounded from next to her.

“Raven? What the hell is happening?” Clarke took a deep breath assuming she was currently in the trunk of a car. She was squished into the brunette next to her, but couldn’t tell much else than that.

“We’re in your trunk, that much I figured out. I can’t remember why or how though.”

She sounded sober, so Clarke was thankful for that at least. But if Raven wasn’t an incoherent hangover grouch, it must’ve been several hours that they had been on the road.

The purring of the car engine resounded around Clarke and she could hear that the car was going pretty fast for the small streets of San Francisco.

That is, if they were still in San Francisco. Clarke didn’t entertain that thought much though. If this really was an apocalypse, her poor navigational skills would land them in trouble since the coasts of California had been all she knew.

Clarke took inventory of her thoughts, while she was still being pushed into Raven in the pitch black trunk, of how long they must’ve been out. The car couldn’t have much gas on it left with the speed they were moving, so they should be stopping soon.

She tried to shift, only to find herself face to face (or she assumed anyway, by the breath on her cheek.) with Raven.

“Last I remember, I was standing around with some dumb frat guys then it went dark.”

They must’ve stolen her car and shoved them in the trunk. What a bunch of assholes. Fury welled in Clarke’s stomach as she evaluated how they were going to get out of this.

Suddenly, with little grace, the car jerked to a stop and the engine went silent. Somewhere outside the car, Clarke heard a line of swears. Clarke jostled around a bit so that she was facing the trunk door and laid her hands onto the surface above her.

The light that poured in with a snap blinded Clarke temporarily. She had to close her eyes at the light, immediately pushing herself out of the trunk.

Clarke, now sitting up in the trunk with Raven behind her, first saw Bellamy standing in front of her with a rather troubled expression. His brows were furrowed together tightly, his dark eyes boring into hers and his jaw set tightly. The other boys were spread out in various states of disinterest behind him.

She hopped out of the car and pushed Bellamy out of the way, not shying away from jabbing her elbow into his side. He let out a hiss but said nothing. Clarke’s eyes jumped around the new landscape, mountains towering over them in every direction. The air had more of a bite now, the crisp wind pulling at her unruly blonde hair.

“I mean this with every ounce of my being-” Clarke started, turning back to the brunette, who was still watching her.

“What the fuck did you do?”

---

The blonde, whose name currently escaped him, narrowed her eyes. Bellamy didn’t have the energy to deal with her, his anger already about to boil over.

It has been a troubling day to begin with. To Monty’s credit, they hadn’t come across anything of danger by heading East. The mountains hadn’t been as densely populated, and wherever all the civilians went, (hell if he knew where) this wasn’t it.

Sure, it wasn’t his brightest idea to knock the girl on her head to get her in the trunk, but she seemed vaguely useful with her car and to put it plainly, Bellamy felt guilty leaving her there with her intoxicated friend. So, he killed two birds with one stone.

Bellamy hadn’t had an easy go of it, to be expected. He spent most of his teenage years working to care for his little sister after his mom committed suicide and his dad was an absent alcoholic when he was only 16. It felt almost cliche, but whatever. Bellamy survived it, he not only got him and his sister out of there, but he got them to college. He waited until Octavia was 18 to enroll the both of them into college then found himself in a fraternity with a hefty scholarship.

He could say he wasn’t a party boy, but he would be lying. That is how he ended up with this group of guys, who for better or for worse, were all he had now.

Thoughts of Octavia and her straight black hair and her innocent expression taunted him, her whereabouts unknown. They had gotten split in the crowd's sudden panic after the game and he never found her. The reality that he might never see her again twisted like a knife in his gut.

Looking around at his crowd, he counted his men once again. He couldn’t lose another, he couldn’t.

Nathan Miller, his best man. Not much of a cheap drinker, he preferred the nicer stuff. He carried his own handgun, with a steady aim and something to prove.

John Murphy was no doubt the worst drinker of them all. He never talked about his past but had an incredible skill with a gun, so Bellamy couldn’t argue. He was consistently out of it, drunk out of his mind but no one questioned how he always had a beer on him. Maybe it was time to start.

Monty Green was, as Murphy dubbed him, the nerd of the group. The reason they would make it out of this, if they did. And wherever Monty went, Jasper Jordan would be quick to follow. They made an odd pair, but they usually brought good weed to the parties so no one complained.

“Wake the fuck up dude.” A hand slapped his cheek, a brazen red blush smearing the skin.

He looked down onto a pissed off blonde, the cold air pinking her cheeks and the sun creating a halo of light on her head.

“I’m not done telling you what an enormo-fucking-mistake you’ve made by knocking me out and driving us to the middle of nowhere.” She practically had steam flying out of her ears, and Bellamy has to resist the urge to smirk.

“Chill princess, you don’t even know what’s going on.”

“Do you? Because I’m starting to think you don’t.”

Bellamy ran his hand along his cheek, where he had been slapped. It’s true, Bellamy didn’t have a clue what they were going to do next. His plan was to go east past Colorado and into Kansas, where he had heard they were sending the civilians. The only reason he hadn’t hopped on that bus with the rest of them was because Roan’s death, the attacked football player, had greatly upset the group of boys. However they didn’t get far into their revenge plan as the girls and empty city had thrown a wrench in their plans. Aborting that plan in favor of a possible safehouse from whatever everyone was running from now seemed like their best bet.

“We need to get supplies, that’s our next plan.”

“Why did we stop?” The blonde questioned, motioning to her red car. There was an accusatory air to her voice. Bellamy had had just about enough of this chick. He needed to cool off, and the sun was starting to go down after their second day of driving. They had only made it to Grand Junction, Colorado, or so the sign said, so they still had a ways to go.

“Your car ran out of gas, and we still have a long ass walk ahead of us. Get your head together, we’re survivors now.” Bellamy pulled his rifle from his back strap and pushed past her pointed fingers and accusations.

“Survivors of what?”

“I don’t know yet.” He pushed a finality to his tone to ensure she was done with her questioning.

He glanced once into the seemingly endless forest and headed down the hill from the road, looking for something to hunt.

Chapter Text

Clarke was just about fed up with that guy. So what, he got them trapped in the middle of nowhere and now doesn’t want to deal with the fact that they're stranded with god-knows-what so he runs away? What an asshole.

She parked herself with the others, who were sitting in various states on top of or around the car. They had tried their best to look busy, as if they weren’t eavesdropping on the heated talk. She looked to Raven, who seemed to be settling in with the group of guys better than she was.

“Hey Raven, can we talk?” Clarke hoped she had a pleading look on her face, and knew she prevailed when Raven nodded and got up from her place against the car next to who she figured was Miller.

The girls walked a few meters away from the car on the road.

“You wanna tell me what happened after the game?” Raven took a sharp breath at the mention of the game.

“There isn’t much to tell. I left the stadium with the crowd because I didn’t know where you ended up. Then, I just went back to the dorm. Crazy sirens started going off and I didn’t know what to do because you still weren’t back yet so I tried to find Finn.”

When Raven didn’t show any sign of continuing, Clarke prompted her again.

“He was d-...” Raven’s eyes glossed over almost imperceptibly. “Finn was dead. I got to his apartment and he was just there, on the ground, looking like an animal had ravaged him.” Raven wiped at her eyes furiously before tucking her arms tightly.

“Oh, Raven, I’m so sorry.” Clarke rushed forward and hugged the brunette. Raven’s shoulders jerked a bit when she unwrapped her arms to return the embrace.

No other words were said, the unspoken understanding weighing heavily in the air.

Separating, Clarke looked down at her boots and kicked some rocks along the road before looking back up.

“Wow, you look like shit.” Clarke teased, suddenly taking in Raven’s still-ruined makeup. The eye black had faded away but her bleeding mascara was still ever-present.

“At least I can always count on you for a pep-talk.” Raven quipped, laughing despite herself. Raven readjusted her perfect ponytail, then pulled Clarke along walking back to the car. Raven didn’t ask about Bellamy, or about what they were even running away from.

“So what do we do next, captain?”

Clarke’s first thought was food, but that couldn’t be a priority as the moon was surfacing and they were in the wide-open. “We need to find shelter.”

The girls arrived back to the car, where the boys latched onto their conversation. Bellamy still wasn’t back, it seemed.

“Where are we?” Clarke questioned, inviting the boys into their conversation with a look.

“Grand Junction, Colorado.” A black-haired guy inserted, who seemed like he kind of knew what he was doing. This led Clarke to her next question. “Who are all of you?”

A few minutes later, Clarke had officially met Monty, Jasper, Miller and Murphy. “We need to find shelter, someone grab Bellamy and let’s get moving.” Clarke stated, and no one seemed to have the energy to disagree with her at the moment so Miller hopped up and headed for the forest.

---

They had been walking for half an hour, and Clarke’s watch said it was 8:32pm before they saw any sights of civilization. Or what used to be one, it appeared.

They entered a ghost town of buildings and houses before finding a high school that showed some promise. The group filtered in with little conversation, everyone on edge. It was now pitch black with the exception of a few street lights. Bellamy led the group inside and Clarke carried the caboose as she made sure everyone got in okay.

The doors were unlocked, everyone seemed to have left in the middle of a school day. Therefore, there was no way to lock the doors. It was once everyone was standing inside the school’s lobby before Bellamy spoke up. “Everyone, fan out. Grab anything that seems remotely useful and meet back here in an hour.”

Coincidentally, Clarke and Bellamy both headed for the stairs before they realized what was happening. Bellamy grunted before turning and heading in the opposite direction. Clarke rolled her eyes and pulled out her twin knives she had packed in her backpack.

Once upstairs, she had time to think while she looted the classrooms. It was sad to steal from these classrooms where life had once been.

She passed by a classroom where there were backpacks sprawled across several desks, waiting for the owner to come back and claim them. Cell phones were on top of desks, and ungraded test papers on the teachers’ desk. A wave of something indecipherable hit Clarke as she looked away and instead looked in the emergency kits.

Yes! A pair of radios were sitting still packaged in the kit.

Clarke pocketed them and continued her search. Having cleared the second floor after a while, she headed back downstairs.

No one else seemed to have gotten much based on the small pile in the middle of the lobby. Some of them had been back for a while it seemed because they had made a small circle of chairs and couches where Murphy and Jasper were lounging.

“Oh my god, I forgot why I hated being alone with you.”

“Can it Murphy, you love my deluxe weed blend.” Jasper giggled, clearly high off of god-knows what.

“-Like, exactly. I like your weed, not you. I feel like I’m losing brain cells talking to you.” Murphy bit out dryly. Clarke didn’t have a very good read on Murphy yet, he just seemed like an asshole.

“Like something you see? My offer from a few days ago still stands.” It took a moment for Clarke to realize he was talking to her.

“In your dreams.” Clarke replied with a smirk. She dropped her items into the pile and plopped down in the chair next to Jasper. He seemed like somebody who’d be fun to know.

“See Murphy, some people enjoy being around me, like Clarke here.” Jasper threw his arm around Clarke, which between two chairs wasn’t exactly comfortable but Clarke didn’t say anything.

Raven hopped into the empty couch from behind all of the sudden and with her came Monty and Miller. Bellamy was the last to arrive with a more relaxed energy as he sat down opposite Clarke and didn’t look at her once.

She tried to pretend that it didn’t sting, but it was her own fault anyway. She slapped him and didn’t once consider that she might want this brunette on her side while she had been arguing with him.

She took the time of unorganized conversation to study him. His dark hair curled around his ear and his neck and he had a new stubble shadowing his face that Clarke hadn’t noticed the first time she saw him. Her thoughts were interrupted when Jasper brought her into the conversation once again.

“What do you think Clarke? Thoughts on threesomes?” Jasper’s face was so serious Clarke choked on her own spit in her throat.

Clarke took a moment before saying, “Anyway, what did everyone find?” She looked down at the pile, various foods (most likely stolen from lunchboxes, but she tried not to think about that.) and notebooks, first aid supplies, and then her radios she found.

Monty must’ve just spotted those, because he gasped and lunged for them, immediately studying them.

“Monty, do you think you can find others with those?” Clarke questioned.

“It might take me a while, I’d have to figure out if they can each channel multiple frequencies, and then we would have to find which frequency people would most likely be usin-”

Monty was cut off by a loud sound of glass cracking.

Everyone went silent. The crackling was followed by a low buzz, a growling.

Bellamy and Clarke finally looked at each other. She didn't know what he saw in her eyes, but he hopped up from his chair and tossed her one of his handguns. He turned tail and headed for the noise, but after Clarke caught the gun she lurched up and caught his wrist to stop him. The others were watching, no one even breathing.

Clarke dropped his wrist and motioned for him to wait. She motioned for the others to stay.

Her and Bellamy crept up on the noise, which was coming from one of the classrooms. There was no one inside, but a window had been shattered. Out the window was a gruesome sight, Clarke felt puke threatening up her throat. Bellamy turned white as a ghost as well, arms falling down from their aimed shooting position.

Outside of the window were herds and herds of walking creatures, disgusting corpses with chunks missing from vital places. One was missing half a face, flesh brutally ripped open. They were all walking parallel to the school, not towards the building. That was their hail mary, the group was in no way equipped to fight.

Bellamy swore when one of the corpses seemed to get distracted by the school’s entry. That broke Clarke’s stupor and they both sprinted to the front entryway and away from the classroom.

Instead of using the small handgun however, Clarke figured her knives would be better equipped for this situation. The noise from the gun might alarm the other corpses, and Clarke couldn’t risk that.

She had beaten Bellamy to the door, however the problem seemed to take care of itself. The corpse had heard another noise apparently, interrupting his inspection of the school and he began walking- no, dragging in another direction. His clothes were normal, just jeans and a grey polo against his pale flesh. Veins bulged in his neck, and it all just seemed too normal aside from his missing arm. There was little blood staining his clothes, and Clarke felt sick again.

She didn’t know what she would’ve done if she had to have used her knives, Clarke was no killer. She was just a medical student.

Bellamy must’ve sensed her internal freak-out, as he disarmed her by taking her knives out of her stiff hands and pocketed them.

The reality of their situation dropped onto Clarke like thousands of pounds of bricks, and she fell to her knees on the floor. Bellamy stayed standing next to her, staring out onto the eerie sight ahead of them. Hundreds of corpses walked past at a crawling pace, and they were nearly invisible to them inside the school.

Clarke was suspended in disbelief, and she had never felt so powerless. How were they going to survive this? She had no idea. She didn’t know how long they stayed like that, just watching.

Chapter Text

Once Bellamy had long left Clarke’s side and the corpse herds had mostly migrated by, she found it within herself to stumble back to the school lobby, where the group sat. Clarke had steadied herself before a game plan became the priority. Whatever understanding that had occured between Bellamy and Clarke dissipated though, because he once again refused to acknowledge her existence. 

“So, are we completely fucked or what?” Jasper giggled enthusiastically. The weed must’ve dulled the realization of the coming of the apocalypse on him, because he didn’t seem too bothered otherwise. 

The rest of the group dove into conversation after that, a harsh truth that while they may now be homeless, parentless, and barely surviving, they were just teenagers at the end of the day. 

“Well if the world is ending, let’s fucking enjoy it.” A sardonic tone escaped Murphy, but he didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest. Clarke found little fight against staying the night, or maybe forever in the school, letting the rest of the group get distracted with Jasper’s concoctions. 

She wandered off after that, leaving Raven in an arm wrestling match with Miller and Murphy and Jasper singing carols. 

Clarke found herself in the female bathrooms, once again another picture of life frozen in time. She took in her appearance. Her hair wasn’t as bad as she thought, but she took her time rinsing thoroughly in the sink. She couldn’t be sure how long running water would be available, so she intended to use it. 

Clarke’s boots and grey cargos served well as a badass apocalyptic outfit in her opinion, not that she was necessarily worried about that. (Okay she was, and you would be too.)

After fixing herself and tossing her hair into a knot on her head, she finally sank down to the floor. 

Clarke had no fucking clue what she was going to do.

The logistics of surviving this weren’t handsome. A fool would try to fight their way through that mess of death. (Hah, a rhyme.) 

In her storm of thoughts, Clarke hadn’t noticed the tears rolling down from her leaky eyes. She also failed to see the figure looming over her. 

“You just gonna keep creeping?” Clarke snarkily spoke, futility wiping at her wet cheeks. 

“Maybe.” A dark rumble replied plainly. 

“You’re not supposed to be in the girls’ restroom.” That comment earned a low chuckle as Bellamy finally plopped next to her. She wasn’t mad at Bellamy, she didn’t know why she felt like she should be. 

“God, these bathrooms are so much nicer than the boys’ bathroom. Some shit has gone down around there, literally.”

“Yuck. Could’ve lived my life in peaceful ignorance not knowing that.” Clarke gagged for extra effect. Bellamy shrugged, clearly unbothered. Another silence settled over them. 

“What was high school like for you?” Clarke wasn’t sure why she felt propelled to ask that question, but she wasn’t ready for more silence.

“Probably not what the princess experienced.” Another moment passes without him opening up, but Clarke doesn’t say anything to his slight.

“Me and O didn’t always live around San Francisco. We used to live in this alcove a few hours way, a trailer park that gave meaning to in the middle of fucking nowhere. Therefore, top notch housing equals top notch education, obviously.” A bitter note stuck out of the sarcasm, a nerve hiding behind his humor. “The school was a real piece of shit, but I was a good fucking student. Top of my class, and it felt so fucking good to be there.” 

“At least he’s humble.” Clarke snorted.

Bellamy flipped his hair back, flashing her a shit-eating grin from the side. Clarke ignored him. 

“History was always my favorite. The teacher was hot as hell.” Bellamy sounded genuine saying this, but Clarke couldn’t help but wonder if the teacher comment was just a shield to his passions.

“You’re telling me that bad-boy, frat-god Bellamy Blake is a nerd?”

“Was a nerd, this information could seriously hurt my rep, y'know.” Bellamy corrected, pounding a fist to his heart, wincing at the thought of losing street cred. Clarke tutted at this, and Bellamy used the sound as an excuse to look back to her along the wall. 

---

Bellamy decided to leave out the bit of him being the target of god-awful bullying during his high school years. He ended up using them as fuel to escape, and eventually becoming the bully. Sounds awfully cliche, doesn’t it?

Another moment passed before either of them spoke, finally content to sit in silence.

“Where to next?” Bellamy heard her ask the question, but when nothing came to mind at first. “I don’t know, maybe build a house and live life in the mountains until we inevitably die.” Saying it aloud sounded a touch morbid, but Bellamy ignored that. 

“You mean you don’t want to find the rest?” A pang of grief struck through his heart, a smiling brunette filling his mind. Bellamy didn’t know where Octavia was, and Clarke hadn’t asked when he mentioned her earlier. 

“You’re assuming they are alive.” Clarke made a face at him with that, clearly disagreeing. 

“Of course they are. We have to find them.” Of course the princess had a hero complex. 

“Curiosity killed the cat, princess. It’s not our responsibility to find them. I only protect my own. Surviving should be the first priority.”

“Oh my god, you actually believe that.” Clarke huffed. “What about our family? The human race?”

“Again, not my problem. I don’t have any family that I would want to find.”

“What about the rest of us? Don’t we get a say in where we go?”

“If you’re talking about yourself, then sure. Go right ahead and stomp into the herds princess, you aren’t my responsibility.” Bellamy avoided her eyes at that. “If the rest of the guys decide that finding the rest of the human population should be a priority, then that’s what we will do. Whatever the hell we all want.”

That must’ve tipped Clarke over the edge. Because she stood up and marched out without another word.  So much for getting Clarke on his side. 

“Fuck.” Bellamy muttered, standing up himself. He hadn’t meant to piss her off, but what he said was the truth. He had no plans to find the rest of the world since they had never done shit for him. If his crew wanted to, he’d follow without a second thought but otherwise no. For fucks sake, they didn’t know if anyone else was even alive. They could’ve been the last people on Earth.

He walked out of the bathroom, pushing back his unruly curls as he went. 

---

Walking back out to the party, she found an exhilarated Monty Green. The rest of the group seemed to be otherwise preoccupied with a new wrestling tournament.

“Clarke, I got the radios to work!” A rush of relief hit Clarke as she sat down beside Monty. 

“Yes Monty! That’s amazing. Can we talk to others with it?” Monty raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly, like he heard her real question. Can we find everyone else?

“Yes. It might take me a while to find which channel they may be using, if they are even broadcasting to anyone. But we should be able to hear it.”

“Thank you.” Monty went back to work, tinkering with the radios on the chair. Clarke hadn't noticed Bellamy standing across the room. She’d have to tell him later to walk louder. She took in his face, his eyes focused on the radio. He looked like he wanted to break them into a million pieces, his fists tightening at their sides.  

Ignoring him, Clarke glanced over to the wrestling match occurring right now. It was Raven against Jasper, who was failing miserably. The others were drunkenly giggling at the match. She patted her knives that she had gotten back from Bellamy in her pocket before standing and walking over to the door. She knew she wouldn’t get much sleep, so she decided to stand post, watching the outside world shift around her. 

Clarke shut her mind off and focused on her environment, watching for corpses in the dark. She had a feeling they wouldn’t have the luxury of being careless outside for a while.

Chapter Text

Bellamy woke up with his face smashed sideways into the arm of the couch, almost falling off the side of it. A grown escaped him as he hefted himself upwards. 

Looking around the room, he took in the empty state of it. The boys must’ve vacated the place, and Clarke with the brunette were nowhere to be seen either. He knew the den of the school was the safest place, ideally, since it was the center and furthest point from entrances but man, it was fucking creepy. 

Dark hallways found little illumination as he glanced at the forking paths in every direction. He tested his weight on his feet before standing, no memory of how he ended up on the couch. Bellamy was slightly disturbed at the lack of recall before he fell asleep, his mind slow and his senses dull. A calling came from one of the hallways, a giggle and Bellamy, come play with me!

He staggered forward towards the lifeless halls before his mind could catch up to his instincts. He could’ve sworn there weren’t this many hallways last night. 

It was so dark, he couldn’t tell which hallway the voice came from. Bellamy tugged the hair at the nape of his neck, panic coursing through his veins. He had to find her. Bellamy settled on another hallway and began running through it, pounding on the old linoleum floors. His boots thudded over and over again, darkness never ending. 

Bellamy, please! I want to play a game.

Bellamy’s heart was beating faster and so out of control, he had to slow down. He was being taunted, played with. A harsh cry escaped his throat as he fell to his knees and his face contorted with panic. Tears dripped down his cheeks and Bellamy,  for the first time since he lost her, felt scared . 

He gripped his head, rocking back and forth. 

Big brother, I’m scared. Please come find me. 

“No! Stop it!” He cried, squeezing his head tighter and the tears came faster and-

---

“Bellamy, wake up. You’re okay. It was just a dream.” Clarke ushered,  gently gripping his wrists as they brutally yanked at his hair. She was scared that he might rip it out at the seams. She wasn’t sure what else to do to comfort him, she certainly couldn’t hug him. 

His eyes were thick with wet, sloppy tears and when he finally opened them the darkness of them nearly swallowed Clarke whole. She had no idea what had happened to him, but she woke up after her guard shift to him crying and almost howling in pain. No one else had woken up, but she suspected they would soon as the sun peeked into the school’s center. 

“Where is she? Did we find her?’ Bellamy startled, pushing up and away from her as her hands fell from his wrists. 

From her crouched position in front of the couch, she almost the way he tensed up in his neck and shoulders as he futility looked to each exit. She almost missed the way his eyes got all squinty as he looked down at her, finally breathing out as he stared, waiting for something from her.

Clarke had no words, however. A moment passed without her saying anything, just watching him for a sign of distaste or discomfort. It never came. 

“Fuck. We have to find the rest of them.” The words came out like a sign of defeat, and Clarke supposed they were one. 

“Glad you finally came to your senses.” The moment was gone and she stood up almost missing how he rolled his eyes as she stepped away from the couch. 

She nudged the others awake, not-so-gently kicking Murphy with the toe of her boot until everyone was up. 

“What the fuck woman?” Murphy seemed to be battling a hangover as he rolled onto his other side on the ground. 

Clarke finally propped herself on the arm of the couch, carefully keeping her distance from Bellamy. She looked at everyone, who waited for a statement from her. 

“We need to keep moving today. Grab a weapon and a snack pack.”

“Where are we going?” A semi-awake Jasper asked, only a perplexed look in his eyes. 

“East? Kansas might be our best bet.” Clarke glanced at Raven, looking for a sign of confirmation. The girl nodded slowly, eyebrows knitted together in thought. 

“We are going to have SO much fun together!!” Jasper pushed his oversized sunglasses up on his nose and hopped up, his mood apparently improved. “I have the best aux skills.” 

“How are you going to find an aux, genius?” Murphy “We have no technology.” 

Jasper thought on this, all the while throwing random supplies into his backpack.

“Guess I’ll just have to sing.” Clarke looked to his face for a sign of humor, but when she found none she heard a groan from Murphy. 

“You’re dead serious, oh my god. Kill me now.” 

A chuckle erupted from everyone in the room and just like that, the apocalypse disappeared and they were just a group of students. 

---

Raven had never considered herself a selfish person. Sure, she had her moments but completely abandoning the human race (wherever they were) to just do whatever? That seemed insane. From what Clarke had told her, Bellamy had been dead set on doing whatever the hell he wanted until this morning, when he made a full 180 degrees and started packing his bag to make the journey. 

That seemed pretty fucking fishy. 

Raven was inquisitive enough to figure out the brunette had a secret, but didn’t know if she cared to find out what it was. She could already see the negative effects on Clarke from his looming presence. Talk about a party pooper. 

From what she had learned thus far, everyone had someone to look for. Besides her. Raven had managed to scope out her new group amidst the partying last night, taking in every bit of information like a sponge. 

If things went sideways, Raven was taking Clarke and running. 

John Murphy has a dad, who was in the hospital pre-evacuation and his whereabouts unknown.

Nathan Miller has a boyfriend and a dad, who was apparently leading most of the evac in California at the initial panic. 

Jasper Jordan apparently has a girlfriend, but Monty sighed heavily and shook his head at the mention so Raven isn’t unconvinced that she's imaginary. 

Lastly, Monty Green has a mother, who apparently sent a cryptic message to run a few minutes before the evac which sent Monty down a spiral. 

Everyone had a reason to keep moving, and after 4 hours of walking on the highway they had yet to find any trouble. 

The sun was at the afternoon peak but they hadn’t covered much ground. A sign told them that they were in Palisade, Colorado and Bellamy muttered something about a town called Mesa. A huff from Clarke told Raven she didn’t want to agree but had too, and the two had stayed clear away from each other otherwise. 

“What do you think we’ll find in Kansas?” Raven almost didn’t catch what Clarke had asked. 

“Umm..” She racked her brain. Mostly, Raven could only think about how much her feet hurt. And food, she was pretty hungry too. “I dunno. Maybe a break from Murphy?  Some decent food would be nice too.”

A feeling like happiness trickled over Raven as Clarke chuckled. It was nice to know somethings never change.

“Good to know where your priorities lie.” Raven picked out a few things from her trail mix bag and handed them to Clarke, who in turn handed her the things she didn’t like. It was a nice system they had. 

The group walked for several more hours, Jasper’s jokes running out until the sun was setting and the group was quiet. They settled underneath a highway bridge, the roads empty and no buildings in sight. 

The forestry around them seemed restless, and Raven could sense that the group was pretty on-edge. 

Readjusting her ponytail, Raven had just set down her pack and glanced over to Clarke, who had been arguing with Bellamy again when a stroke of pain erupted from her hip. Clarke had suddenly glanced at her, her eyes widening. 

Raven whipped around to find her attacker lunging for her. With no weapon in hand, Raven had no choice but to watch as a child’s corpse came closer to her. It had a bloodied doll that had been snapped in half with sharp edges in an iron fist, and something panged in Raven’s heart. 

The doll must’ve been the weapon used but Raven came to this conclusion too late as she barely stumbled away from the child. It had a chirping, ghastly sound that came out of frustration as the child changed trajectory. Raven continued backing up, unable to look away but eventually stumbling backwards on a rock and hitting the newfound scratch with another sharp object. Raven gasped and tried to kick at the feet of the girl’s corpse. She scrambled on the ground and the group of boys helplessly called and ran after Raven from a few meters away. 

The corpse made a last ditch effort to grab Raven’s face and managed to scrape her cheek before Clarke grabbed the wrist of the child from behind and twisted in an inhuman fashion. Clarke took a knife with her other hand before the child began swiping at her and plunged it into the back of the neck. The corpse made a gurgling sound from its neck before shakily collapsing onto Clarke. The weight must’ve caught her off-guard, however, because Clarke tumbled backwards and took the corpse with her. Raven tried to scramble up to help but Miller grabbed her underarms from behind and hoisted her up.

Raven watched as Bellamy quickly pushed the young body off of Clarke, knelt beside her and took his own shirt to get the blood off of her neck and chin while she watched him with a look of terror. Raven’s heart throbbed at the knife still in Clarke’s hand, a rich blue color staining the blade. She pushed Miller off before examining her own injuries, a deep cut into several layers of skin planted right on her lower hip. She grunted as she sat down on her side, trying to get a better look. 

A few seconds later, Clarke was beside her again placing a clean gauze from the school’s medkit onto her hip and effectively stopping the bleeding. No longer with a knife, a haunted look reigned Clarke’s features as Raven studied her from the ground. She hated feeling helpless, but the cut on her hip was so awfully placed that she couldn’t twist very well without throbbing pain. 

“I’ve just killed someone, Raven.” She whispered heavily, glancing to the ground before grabbing antiseptic.

“That-...” Raven winced at the cut on her cheek that Clarke began cleaning. “That was not someone. That was something. Something inhuman.”

Clarke slowly nodded and rolled Raven onto her sleeping bag before unrolling her own next to her. Jasper and Monty were planted a few meters to her right, and Bellamy and Miller to her left. She was basically surrounded, and the feeling of helplessness trickled back into her mind. She couldn’t lay comfortably on her mat without her hip throbbing in pain, so Raven settled for sitting up and watching, since she wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. The leaves rustled nearby and Raven jerked, never taking her eyes off of her surroundings.  

The group remained silent for the rest of the restless evening, Murphy taking the first shift of the night.

Chapter Text

Following the sleepless night, the group continued down the desolate highway with a renewed speed. Clarke figured it was because everyone was on edge, not wanting to become a liability; or bait for the monsters. 

The hollowness in the unsaturated little girl's eyes flashed through her mind and Clarke tripped up on her feet. Playing it off, she chanced a look to Bellamy and found him already watching her, a scrutinizing brow twisting his features. 

Clarke ran her hands over her knives in the belt loops of her cargos for what must’ve been the 50th time. She rested them on the handles before quickening her steps to catch up to Raven, who was at the front of the herd. 

“You shouldn’t be moving this fast right now.” Clarke took her time saying this with a pointed look to the gauze wrap sticking out of Raven’s pants on her hip. 

As expected, Raven ignored her. 

“Raven.”

“I’m not the weak link in this group.” 

“You’re right. That’s reserved solely for Jasp-” Jasper made an affronted gasp at this. “-er and he’s walking slower than you are.”

When Raven made no sign of slowing, Clarke continued. 

“You’re only going to hurt yourself more. Slow down. We have all day to get somewhere.”

“She’s right. We won’t be going anywhere if you can’t walk because you’re pushing shit too far.” A voice chimed in from the right of Clarke but she didn’t need to look to know who it was. A grunt sounded from Raven, but she slowed down a pace. Clarke let her fall to the middle of the group, sensing she was no longer needed. 

The group adjusted to Raven’s speed, leaving Clarke and Bellamy at the front and Miller bringing up the rear. 

“What’s our game plan princess ?”

“You’re listening to me now?” Clarke scoffed at the sarcasm he supplied with the nickname. 

“No. But it might be worth a laugh.” 

He shifted his rifle on his back which drew Clarke’s eye to him and off of the road. His black shirt had minimal smears and his hair was longer than when she had first seen him. She could tell he wasn’t a fan by the way he huffed when it got in his eyes. 

She glanced down to her watch, it was 10 in the morning. They had gotten moving around 7am but Clarke didn’t have a clue where they were. 

“Headed to Kansas right? That’s our best hope for finding signs of life. Those things- Monsters- or whatever we are calling them have only been seen at night. So we roll during the day and at night we hustle to shelter and hope we can out-last them.”

Bellamy seemed to mull this over as his brow scrunched down again. 

“We’ve been on the road for three hours at this point, I imagine we will have to hop off the main roads for the quickest route to Kansas.” Clarke added in his silence. 

“Yes.” He finally said. 

There were two options the way Clarke saw it. The highway continued around the mountain, and cars had begun to line up abandoned leaving them with several blind spots. Or, they could take the mountain and hike it up, which could be hard for Raven but it provided the most direct route east. 

Whatever Bellamy was looking for he must’ve found in her plan as a silence settled over them for the rest of the walk. 

---

Monty never considered himself a particularly religious person. Pre-apocalypse he would pray for whatever got him through his biology and data science classes. Lately though, he found his thoughts wandering the existence of a god. Would he be laughing at them like they were animals being herded to the slaughter? Would God be feeling regret, remorse for creating humans in the first place? It all got very dark after a while. 

His mom wasn't one for religion either. Or, at least, she hadn’t been. Monty’s last few weeks with her had been filled with her mutterings and the appearance of crosses on the kitchen table. At the time he passed it off as a mid-life crisis after his dad had passed away. Now, Monty has his suspicions it was for a different reason entirely.

Did he think his mom could be guilty of something related to the apocalypse? No of cour-

His thoughts were interrupted by a feminine scream. Monty’s hand flew to his side bag (Imagine a satchel of sorts) where his gun was inside. Jasper let out an audible gulp as the group halted while Bellamy and Miller found each other. 

“The scream was nearby. We have to find them.” Miller rolled his shoulders back and started towards the noise.

“Miller, don’t be short-sighted. We can’t just jump off at every whim. We don’t know what’s in those woods.” Bellamy’s words almost made sense to Monty, but he could see Miller was entirely unconvinced. 

This was when Clarke decided to chime in. “We should at least go check it out. Someone could need medical help, and we have the supplies to provide that.” Bellamy glared at her but relented as the group lurched forward. Monty watched Raven stay back, leaning against a car taking weight off her hip. 

“Murphy, stay with her.” Clarke barked at him before running off, much to his annoyance as he rolled his eyes and parked against the car as well. 

Monty sprinted through the trees alongside Jasper, who was already gasping for air. Miller and Bellamy dodged trees and over bushes while the two of them fell behind and got hit by the swinging branches. If it was a test of fitness, they were last. 

When Bellamy and Miller slowed, Monty tripped over a twig on the ground and in between them. His hands landed on the ground and he felt the skin of his hands scrape on the rocks. He didn’t dwell on the pain though as he looked upwards as saw a clump of blonde hair and heard a deep moan on the ground just ahead of him. 

A girl was underneath one of the rotted corpses with a vise-like grip on a knife stuck into its head. Sickly blue blood drenched her knuckles as the body went limp on top of her. Monty kicked his feet forward from the ground and pushed forward on his hands, towards the girl. 

He pushed the body off the girl before Bellamy and Miller had the chance to react. He saw a hand from his peripheral take the knife from the body but he leaned over the girl to assess for any injuries. She stared back up at him, panic and tears and mud marring her face. 

When Monty didn’t see any red blood, he pushed up and offered a hand to the girl.

“Are you okay? My name’s Monty. What just happened?” 

The girl had pushed herself up, but made no move to take his hand.

“Give her a minute to catch her breath, Monty.” Bellamy was now wiping off the blade with his pants before dropping it on the ground next to her. Clarke soon emerged through the trees, now walking as the danger had passed. Monty watched as she quickly skimmed the surroundings before spotting the girl. Monty took a step back and let Clarke kneel next to her instead. The girls’ eyes flitted nervously between the two of them. As Clarke calmed her down, Monty took a moment to look her over. 

Her blonde hair, leaves and dirt knotted into it, was braided down to her shoulder. Her clothes, a black jacket and ripped jeans were covered in dirt as well. She looked about their age, however. 

“M’ Clarke. Who are you?” Clarke grabbed her hand from the ground and hauled her up. She snatched the knife before tucking it into her jeans as she stood up. 

“My name’s Harper. Harper McIntyre.” Her voice was small, Monty leaned forward to hear it.  He vaguely heard Miller and Bellamy behind him, starting back to the main road after poking at the rotted. 

Monty forced himself away from Harper as he followed suit to the main road. Mentally, he pounded his head against a tree for letting himself get distracted. She just got attacked. God, his survival skills needed some work. 

---

Clarke put an arm around the girls’ shoulder, Harper, and she took her back to the road following Monty. He had a deer-in-headlights look Clarke couldn’t quite decipher but she decided to ignore it. 

“I’ve been alone for a week now. I thought I forgot how to talk.” Clarke smiled a touch and glanced at her. 

“Your hair’s cute. Did you do it yourself?” The girl nodded. 

“I could do yours if you wanted.”

Clarke reached her other hand up to her hair, grimacing at the act. Her hair was still in a knotted clump on her head, and when something crusted off on her fingers she almost gagged. 

“I’d like that.” Clarke didn’t know how to braid, her mom never taught her. Her mom. Where the hell was she? Her dad? Thoughts of her parents’ torn up house wracked her brain as confusion filtered in where sadness should be. There was no blue blood. No dead bodies. Her parents' car keys were gone from the shelf. They must’ve ran. How would they’ve known? To run, that is. When she had initially driven there cars were still driving on the streets. People walking on the sidewalks. No hint at the fucking apocalypse. 

They reached the road and Clarke went through quick introductions. Raven leaned against a car still, and winced when she tried to move towards Clarke as she spotted her. 

“Time to redress that wound.” Clarke found her backpack and pulled out a gauze pack and antiseptic. Raven reluctantly leaned back on the car, rolling her waistband down revealing the wound. Clarke peeled back the bandages and held her breath as fresh blood still trickled down. 

She felt Harpers’ eyes over her shoulder as she tossed the old dressing away and held an old shirt under the wound. It went deeper than she initially thought. The attack with the broken doll left a wide scratch trailing just above her hip bone, where the skin was soft. Clarke just hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t get infected. They were already unequipped to deal with an injury, Clarke only had one gauze pad left before she broke into the schools’ emergency kits. 

Raven leaned forward on her side a bit, her face a sickly palor. Clarke’s hands moved deftly, pouring the solution on her hip and ignoring the gasp from Raven. She placed the gauze over it and strapped it down with a white wrapping around her hip to secure it. Raven pulled her pants back up and thanked Clarke with a hand on her shoulder as she limped away. 

The sun had started to set, a wary feeling overtaking Clarke’s logical thoughts. 

“We need to find shelter.” She said to no one in particular, but everyone heard. They all looked to her for instructions, Bellamy even watching her with mild interest. 

How was she supposed to keep them alive?

Chapter Text

“I think I’m allergic to something in these trees.”

“I think I have some Allegra in my bag, want it?” Murphy made a show of reaching into his bag. 

Jasper, poor, naive Jasper sidled up to Murphy as he did so. 

“YES, Oh my god actually? My nose and eyes are burning.”

“Fuck no dipshit. Why would I have allergy medicine?” Jasper made a sound like a puppy whine, and ambled off away from the group again. Clarke noted the puffiness of his eyes, the perpetual sneezes.

They had been on the move for several days now, much further than they anticipated. CLarke guessed central Colorado maybe? Denver, if they were lucky. They had ditched the highways and opted for off-roading, pushing through shrubs and thick forestry now.

The sun began to set, and previously the group had gotten lucky with gas stations and abandoned homes during the night. Tonight, their luck seemed to have run out. Clarke watched as Bellamy's shoulders tensed, on guard with the growing threats. They needed to take cover, and fast. Conversation faded completely, Clarke was caught off guard with the sudden silence. Only the sound of crunching leaves and crickets chirping disturbed the night. 

She moved from her spot in the back of the group to the front, Miller and Bellamy silently drifting away to make space for her. The three continued to push on, leading through the forest. 

Clarke set her eyes on the upcoming trees, and as they began to thin out and open up. She pulled out twin knives from her belt and nudged Miller’s arm. The three raised their weapons and braced as they exited the forest. The sky had settled with the newly disappeared sun, burning hues of orange and purple overwhelming Clarke’s vision. Then, structures came into view.

Houses, all vague copies of the next began populating the open space. Clarke’s hands tightened on her knives, and she heard Bellamy readjust his crossbow (accumulated from the hunting section of a gas station) on his shoulder. She didn’t mean to let her eyes drift to him, but they did anyway. The moment they did he glanced back, and they both nodded before entering the town. The two of them hadn’t talked once in the last few days, instead they spent them avoiding each other for fear of butting heads.  

“What the hell…” Miller whispered, knocking Clarke out of her thoughts. She turned her head and instantly spotted what Miller saw. Row after row, houses were lined up in a small town and no one was there. Every house was an exact copy. 

They stepped onto the gravel path connecting them to the town. Bellamy motioned the first house on their left to the group, and Clarke fought the urge to roll hers. Always has to be in charge, doesn’t he?

He kicked down the door to the house and found an empty room, with only a bed and a few other necessities. 

“We stay here.” 

“Murphy, want to cuddle?” Jasper squealed, the wariness from before long gone. 

“Bellamy, there’s not enough room in here for all of us.” Miller shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, his face tightening in disapproval. 

Instead of responding, Bellamy simply grabbed Jasper’s hat, ( “Hey! That’s mine!” ) turned, and fell backwards onto the bed, using Jasper’s hat as an eye cover. 

With a disgruntled sound Miller sat at the edge of the bed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. With the rest of the group moving to do the same, Clarke leaned back on the door to the house. The house only had one room, entirely made of grey concrete, only a few square feet in each direction. There was a small window next to the door, and Clarke moved towards it, careful not to step on anyone’s feet. 

The window stared straight into the house across the road, and Clarke could see into it’s window. In the bed, there was a person. The person was sitting on the bed, staring at the wall expressionless. Goosebumps trailed down Clarke’s arm as she harshly whipped away from the window. Kicking Monty’s foot in the process, she muttered an apology and slid down against the door to settle into a restless sleep. 

---

Waking with a jolt, Bellamy threw the hat off his face towards the wall. He sat up on the bed before glancing around the small room. His back prevented him from reaching over, sore and stiff. Standing up, he reached for his crossbow to find nothing. His mind was muddy, this didn’t register as wrong . He glanced around the room once more. Where did everyone go? I mean, fuck, I know it was cramped but they could’ve woke me up if they were leaving. 

His stiff back, no doubt from the poor bed, took over his thoughts. He stretched his arms up and out, feeling the pull in his shoulders. God, he needed to relax. 

Bellamy went for the hat to return to Jasper, a twinge of guilt accompanying the thought of the poor boy. He didn’t need to do that, it was a jerk move. When he glanced at where he threw the hat, it was gone. Suddenly, a clock chimed a heavy ding in the distance. The hat dropped from his mind as he got up and walked towards the window. It was dark. Too dark. No moon or stars hung in the sky and no houses surrounded him. 

His heart thudded in his chest, panic crawling in at the edges of his head. 

“Bellamy? What are you doing in there?”

Bellamy felt a drop of sweat roll down his cheek as he slowly turned towards the door. 

“Can I come in? Pretty please? I just want to see you!”

The high-pitched voice rang in his head and all of the sudden he knew this wasn’t real. But god, did he want it to be. 

He reached for the door handle, twisting until he heard a click . 

Only, the click never came. The door was locked. 

“Let me in, Bellamy, I just want to play with you. I miss my big brother.” He tried again on the door. And again. And again. He threw himself into the door, slamming his shoulder again and again against the door. He looked down to find a puddle on the floor, and felt his cheek, realizing he had been crying.

Agony twisted his heart as he slid back against the door. “LET ME OUT GODDAMMIT!” He cried out, his throat hoarse. “Let me out. I need to see her.” Tears rapidly descended his cheeks and he stopped wiping them off. He pulled at his hair, too long and too thick. Everything was too heavy all at once. “Please.” It came out as a whisper.

“Bellamy? What’s wrong? Hey, wake up.” The voice was more masculine. Wait, that’s not Octa-

“Bellamy?” His eyes opened to Jasper leaning over him, the most serious face he had ever seen on him exuding concern. Bellamy felt the wetness on his cheek, but he couldn’t find it within himself to care. He sat up and slammed the hat into Jasper’s chest before walking away with a growled “M’ fine.”

Bellamy opened the door to the house, and got down one step before he saw an entire village’s worth of people staring back at him. Well shit. 

“Who are you?” A person in grey asked. Wait. Nevermind. They were all in grey. Grey sweatshirt and pants, brown worn-in slides on their feet. The only telling feature about them was their hair and skin colors. 

“Um.” Bellamy froze. Meanwhile, the rest of the group stirred and gathered behind him, unsure of what to do. Bellamy felt a shove at his shoulder.

“We didn’t mean to intrude. We just needed a safe place to stay. We will be leaving now-” Clarke made to move down the stairs but was held back. One of the villagers put a hand on her chest, effectively stopping her. Bellamy’s fist clenched subconsciously and he had to force himself to breathe. He pulled Clarke back by her shoulder. 

“You should stay. Our leader wants to meet you.” An eerie feeling took over Bellamy. The villagers continued to stare at them, and he didn’t feel like that was a suggestion. He nodded slowly, and the villagers seemed to have accepted this and stepped back. One stepped away and led them towards the larger house they hadn’t spotted until now, at the end of the very long street of houses and various buildings. 

As he walked, he mentally noted each building. The one with concrete pillars must’ve been a hospital, with large windows opening up to the lobby. They walked past a larger building with a fenced in yard, and some cows grazed on grass. Farm. The whole town existed on one strip of gravel, seemingly never ending. It made Bellamy nervous, considering there was no fence protecting them from the corpses and no one seemed particularly worried about it. He was on edge, to say the least. 

They finally made it up to the final house, a larger version of the one they had slept in. All concrete. No colors. This place was fun!

---

Clarke followed behind Raven, making sure she got up the concrete stairs alright. They had been holding up the end of the pack with her hip. She hadn’t had a chance to redress it over the last day, and she could tell it was very much still hurting Raven. A feeling like hopelessness washed over Clarke and she had to physically shake her head. She glanced up to Harper, who seemed to be drifting towards Monty lately. She supposed the group could’ve been a lot worse in terms of surviving and keeping company. 

Who are these people?

She looked over the village for the nth time. Everything was so plain and simple. How did they keep themselves safe from the monsters at night? Questions at the edge of her mind kept bugging her, but she thought of the quantity of houses, the functionality of everything. They could all have their own house! A safe place to stay. Who was she to question their methods if they didn’t have to stay on the move anymore?

They entered through the large (surprise, concrete) doors and into the main hall. There was a long table, surrounded with chairs. At the end of the table sat an older man with kind eyes, He was smiling at them.