( FIFTEEN : THESE SOMBER NIGHTS )

THE WALK BACK TO camp was somber, none of them talked as the thought of Atom hung heavy in the air around them. A never-ending chill permeated the air, causing Elissa to shiver as she walked with arms folded across her chest, hands tucked under them.

Maybe the chill accompanied the thought that they'd lost one of their own.

Elissa always knew there would be a chance that things could go wrong—that they could all die. It was a miracle that they even made it to Earth; the heat and stress of entering the atmosphere would be too much for the ancient dropship. But they had survived, they had made it. And although they'd lost the two boys at the time, their death had been no one's fault but their own. There had been no way to stop them.

They'd known that Earth would be dangerous, surviving would be a struggle and there was a strong chance that none of them would survive. Cold, hunger, disease. So many things that none of them were properly trained to handle.

That's why the Ark had sent them down in the first place—testing the surface—had enough time gone by to make Earth habitable again?

Besides, it was one of the easiest ways to get rid of one hundred delinquents—no matter if they lived or died. One hundred less people who would consume food, water, air. It would give the Ark the time they needed to fix the problems with the air supply shortage.

But with Atom's death, the dangers of being on Earth were suddenly much more threatening. There were things on Earth—phenomena like the fog, something that no one on the Ark had ever seen before, let alone heard about, that they didn't know how to deal with. Something deadly that they had no way to fight off, no way to protect themselves from.

They were fighting for survival against things they didn't even know existed.

Not only did humans survive through the radiation, but we're surrounded by an environment that is constantly trying to kill us...

Trailing behind Clarke, she could hear the heavy footsteps and grunts of Bellamy, Finn, and Wells as they took turns carrying Atom's body. Each of them was struggling under the dead weight and trying to keep their balance on the slippery moss-covered roots. The two boys showed up shortly after Clarke, following her trail. Both too late to help Atom—stunned at the sight of him.

"Octavia needs to know," Bellamy said, his voice hollow as he stared down at Atom's body, hauling him up and over his shoulders. Although not usually ones to follow Bellamy's lead, Finn and Wells both stepped up to help, offering a hand when he started to falter on the way back.

The sun had long gone down, disappeared behind the mountains, by the time they made it to camp. As they passed through the newly installed gate, they blinked around numbly at the clearing before the Dropship. The numerous campfires casted the space in an eerie orange glow, breaking through the darkness. Those that sat closest to the gate were the first to rise and a wave of murmurs spread out as people caught sight of the group returning.

Elissa had a painful lump of tears in her throat, watching as Wells and Finn slowly lowered Atom to the ground, his face mercifully covered by his jacket. When they stepped back, exhaustion lined their every feature as they stared down at the fallen boy. The gathering crowd began to chatter amongst themselves at the sight, several people calling out and asking what had happen.

Clarke, ignoring the ever-growing crowd, turned back to the rest of them. "I need to go to Jasper. I'll need boiled water to make the medicine."

Bellamy nodded firmly. "Of course. Whatever you need."

Clarke looked surprised by his quick acknowledgement but decided not to comment on it.

Despite the heavy exhaustion in her bones, Elissa knew she needed to do something, to do whatever she could to help Jasper get better. They couldn't lose someone else today.

"I can do that, Clarke. I can get some boiled water," she stated and stepped up. Clarke gave her an appreciative look, before her and Finn turned and hurried through the crowd toward the Dropship.

Bellamy met her eyes and took in her expression, before giving a nod and turning to look at a brown-haired girl standing on his other side. "Roma," Bellamy began, and the girl brightened under his attention. "Give Elissa a hand. Get her anything she needs." As he continued, her pleased expression slowly fell, turning into disbelief. At Elissa's name, she shot her a sneer of disgust, which Bellamy responded with a cool glare of his own. "Now."

Elissa rolled her eyes and turned away, intended on finding the metal tin she needed to boil the water with or without the other girl's help.

As she turned, she met Wells' eyes. He gave her a tired look, but still managed to give her a grim smile. "Guess I've got another grave to dig."

She nodded. "I'll come find you when I'm done," she told him, reaching out and giving his arm a gentle squeeze. He nodded and they parted ways.

Elissa headed in the direction of the crackling fire, hearing Roma give an exaggerated sigh and followed her. As she walked, she passed an annoyed Octavia who was headed in the opposite direction and when she met her eyes, Octavia's expression faltered before Elissa could look away.

"Octavia, stay there," Bellamy began, his voice took on a pleading edge at they moved away from the area.

Oh boy, that's not going to be easy, Elissa thought, and pity flowed through her at the thought of the other girl discovering what happened. She knew the two of them had been growing close since they'd landed; Atom's death was going to be tough for her to deal with.

"So," Roma drawled from behind her and Elissa had to grit her teeth—she could hear the smirk on the girl's face. "You and Jaha seem real cozy. Anything going on there that the rest of us should know about?"

"No?" Elissa frowned, unsure why Roma had decided that today of all days she'd try to pick a fight. Sure, she wasn't exactly popular or well liked by most of the group, but she'd done her best to keep to herself and generally out of trouble. And she'd never talked to the other girl, only knew her in passing. Eyes darted from fire to fire, she kept searching for the tin.

"Are you sure?" Roma simpered. She sped up and easily caught up to Elissa, her longer legs easily covered the distance between them. "What about Jupiter? Hmm—I heard you two used to be really close." She leaned toward her, whispering almost like she was going to share a secret with her. "He's so dreamy and so, uhm, yummy."

Something inside Elissa snapped. Maybe the stress finally caught up to her; maybe she didn't appreciate Roma talking about her brother in such a way. All she knew was that she'd had enough. But as she whirled around and stepped in front of Roma—the girl stumbled to avoid crashing into her—the fiery feeling inside her seeped away, a cool deadly anger took its place.

Roma was either looking for trouble or attention. And who knew, maybe it was her way of dealing with the stressful day.

"Listen here, you uncaring bitch," Elissa snarled up at her, "maybe the only thing you care about is getting into every guy's pants, fine. I don't care. But show some fucking respect. In case you hadn't noticed, someone died today." Roma's expression fell slightly at the reminder, although she glared back, unwilling to back down. Elissa turned around and grabbed the closest empty bottle and shoved it into the other girl's chest. "There is someone else here who needs our help. So, shut up and go get some water."

The taller girl glared down at her, and Elissa could see her face turn red even in the orange glow of the fire. Maybe she wasn't used to being stared down, maybe she was used to getting her way. But unfortunately for her, Elissa wasn't going to budge an inch, glaring back at her with her shoulders squared and chin tilted up, letting the girl know that she expected her to do as told. Finally, Roma turned away with a huff, snatching the bottle from Elissa's hand and stormed toward the water container.

Instead of watching her go, Elissa let her eyes slide shut, took a deep breath before trying to expel the rest of the anger that still festered in her chest. Calm down. Getting angry isn't going to help Jasper. Opening her eyes, she looked back toward the fire and felt relieved when her eyes landed on the metal tin she needed.

Reaching out, she picked it up and gripped the cool metal between her fingers. She kneeled and set it up over the fire. Fortunately, those who'd been sitting around it earlier had been drawn away, curious about their arrival.

Flocking toward them like vultures.

When Roma finally returned with the water, the two girls didn't exchange a single word. Roma simply handed over the water and helped Elissa set up the fire. It didn't take long for the water to boil, and the moment it was done, the taller girl was gone.

Elissa sighed as she carefully handed the boiled water, using her jacket to carry the hot tin as she made her way to the Dropship. An anxious Monty was waiting for her on the ramp, and impatiently motioned for her to hand it over, using his own jacket to grasp it before hurrying back inside.

Rubbering her warm hands tiredly over her face, she took a minute to pull herself together. She'd done her part of helping Jasper, now all she could do was wait to see if Clarke's medication would work. The day's events finally hit her, and her shoulders sagged from the weight of her exhaustion. She needed sleep. She briefly entertained the thought of finding somewhere to hide so no disturbed her. But what if someone needs me? Wells came to mind. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed her exhaustion back. She needed to check on him to see if he needed any help. Then she could finally sleep.

Elissa rolled her shoulders and twisted her neck one way then the other, feeling the satisfying pop that came with the motion.

Heading off in the direction she thought Wells would be, she passed by several fires, some still surrounded by chatting teenagers and others settling down for the night. Those who talked were quiet, the came took on a somber atmosphere as people realized that Atom was dead. He'd been well liked by many.

Finally making her way across the clearing to the other side, she found Wels exactly where she thought he would be—sitting on the same log where they chatted after first burying the other two boys.

When Elissa finally planted her butt on the ground next to him, she promptly threw herself backward onto the mossy embankment behind them. With a sigh, she stretched—hands high above her before they fell back to the ground.

A snort of dry amusement came from Wells, "Rough day?"

"You have no idea," Elissa replied with a yawn. "All I want to do is sleep."

A hesitant but happy smile crossed his face. "Clarke finally came to talk to me today."

Elissa felt her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Oh?" She didn't think they were going to be on talking terms anytime soon. She wondered what had changed.

Wells nodded, his smile growing. "I think...I think things are finally going to get better between us."

She reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulders in a brief hug. "I'm so happy for you, Wells. I know how much it's been bothering you. Now you guys won't have to dance around each other all the time."

He huffed a laugh at her. "I sure hope so," he sighed and looked content as he stared out into the dark forest ahead of them, his expression suddenly took on a sad but pensive look. "I know today was a shitty day, for...well, everyone. But I honestly feel like that was the worst of it. That things are going to get better from here on out. They only can get better from here on."

Elissa smiled at his optimism, although she couldn't quite bring herself to believe his words. "I sure hope so," she said, echoing his response. Another yawn overtook her. "Alright, I think I'm done for the night. I'm going to head to bed," she told him and pushed herself to her feet. "You heading in soon?"

Wells shook his head. "No, I volunteered for night watch."

She blinked down at him dumbly. "Seriously?" She shook her head in amusement, "How do you have any energy after today? I'm dead on my feet."

"I don't know. I guess I'm just wired. A lot happened today. I'm just looking forward to being able to think some things through. The peace and quiet will definitely help."

She gave him a dry look before cracking a smile, "Well, don't let me interrupt your 'peace and quiet' any longer," she said, doing air quotes with her fingers.

He grinned up at her. "Yeah, get out of here. Can't hear myself think with all your babbling."

"I try my best," she bowed mockingly. Straightening, she moved to step passed him and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't stay up too late or you'll be no use tomorrow. I'm sure Bellamy is going to be pushing us to et the wall done as soon as possible. And I'm doing all the work."

"Bellamy, huh?" Wells asked, giving her a sly look before wiggling his eyebrows. Elissa was confused, until she realized she'd called Bellamy by his first name. "Something change between you two? Just this morning you were spitting his last name like a curse."

Elissa rolled her eyes, although she was glad for the darkness that hid the unintended blush that spread across her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh," he shrugged. "You'll tell me eventually. You know that camp-gossip is my thing."

"Nothing happened," Elissa told him firmly. "We just had to spend a lot of time together in confined space."

Wells wiggled his eyebrows up at her again—she smacked him on the shoulder.

"Not like that, you goof. Charlotte was with us the entire time."

"Alright, alright," he exclaimed, rub his arm in mock pain. "No need to get violent."

"Pretty sure violent is my middle name," she muttered, rubbing her chin. "Alright, I'm heading in. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yup," he responded, reaching up and squeezing her hand. "Sleep well."

Elissa squeezed his hand gently in response and headed up the hill, back toward the Dropship. She kept her head down, watching her steps to assure that she catch one of them on a root in the darkness.

"Omph!"

Elissa exclaimed as she promptly slammed into someone.

She nearly lost her balance until two strong hands latched onto her upper arms and kept her upright. Startled, she glanced up and found Bellamy looking down at her perplexed.

Her exhaustion instantly flared into anger. "Watch where you're going, Blake," she spat up at him with a glare.

That reaction was met with immediate consequences—his expression cooled and he dropped her arms, took a step back away from her to put some distance between them. Guilt washed through her as her temper fizzled away. Way to go, Elissa, all he did was help you.

"Next time, I'll let you fall on your face, okay?" He asked her pointedly, making to walk past her without giving her a second glances.

Without a coherent thought, her fingers instinctively reached out and closed around his wrist as he walked by.

"Wait," she called.

Pausing, Bellamy shot her a cool glare at where she was holding him, before he met her eyes. Elissa dropped his wrist like it had burned her.

"I'm sorry," she began, her gaze fell to the side. "I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just...it's been a long day with...everything that happened." Elissa rubbed her face, not able to find the words she wanted to say. Being tired wasn't exactly excuse when he had been through the same thing as her. "I'm sorry," she repeated meekly, unable to meet his eyes.

When warm callous fingers brushed across the back of her hand, her eyes snapped up at him in surprise. He hadn't moved, still staring down at her—but as their eyes met—his expression softened and he dropped his hand back to his side.

"It was an eventful day," Bellamy summarized for her, giving her an understanding look.

Elissa huffed out a laugh at his understatement, a quirk of a smile tugged at her lips. "That it was," she agreed with a nod.

They stood quietly for a moment, silence settled between them and she realized that it wasn't as strained or uncomfortable as it used to be. Before that day's chaos, things had always been tense between them.

Wells was right, something had changed.

"I should go," Elissa broke the silence after a moment and he nodded, but she hesitated to leave. "Hey...Bellamy?" She called out tentatively before he could leave. He turned to face her once more, looking patient. "Thanks—for today, I mean."

Bellamy didn't ask her what she was thanking him for, merely studied her, eyes darted between her own before his lips quirked up into a small smirk. "Get some rest, Bardot."

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