( FOUR : QUEEN ELISSA )

THE FIRST HALF HOUR of their journey to Mount Weather was silent, and it gave Elissa the opportunity to soak it all in. She found that it was so peaceful and colorful on Earth; without the dark cell walls constantly enclosing around her, she felt so free. She walked a few paces behind Clarke with Finn beside her. They all knew that there was a significant chance that the radiation was slowly killing them, but in that short moment, Elissa couldn't bring herself to worry because she knew what it was like to live in the Sky Box.

The trail became slimmer and slimmer as time flew and they moved right through a beautiful patch of purple flowers. Elissa subconsciously slowed down to admire them; Octavia following suit. Finn picked a flower and tucked it behind Elissa's ear, causing her to hum in appreciation. She allowed a small smile as he brushed the hair out of her face.

"Here you go, Queen Elissa." Finn said, smiling.

The smile dropped from Elissa's face, rolling her eyes at the name he gave her. "Queen? Where'd you get that from, Spacewalker, pull it out of your book of pick-up lines?"

Finn quirked up an eyebrow at her. "Did you not pay attention in school? In Greek and Roman mythology, Elissa is the first queen of Carthage. So, enjoy the flower, Queen Elissa."

"Now that, my friend, is game." Jasper noted, pointing at Finn with obvious respect. Elissa rolled her eyes.

"Also," Month chirped up, "that, my friend, is poison sumac." He plucked another flower from the bunch as they continued to walk. Octavia exclaimed childishly, jumping away from the flowers as if they were a bunch of cobras rearing back ready to strike her. Monty was quick to reassure her by popping one of the flowers into his mouth. "The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming actually." He threw another one in his mouth, making Elissa snort.

"How does that flower taste, Monty?" Elissa teased.

Monty swallowed, shrugging his shoulders. "Mmm, like a flower."

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Jasper explained to them.

"Hey, doesn't that hurt?" Finn asked, nodding toward the gnarly burns on Elissa's left forearm. Frowning, she looked down at wound and shook her head. She had completely forgotten that they were even there. "Did you actually forget that you were hurt?"

She nodded, which seemed to only baffle Finn more. She quickly pulled her jacket sleeve down to avoid another situation like this.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke called from ahead. Elissa could hear the clear urgency in her friend's voice, so she quickened her pace.

"Come on, Clarke," Finn groaned, an annoyed edge in his voice. "How do you block all of this out?"

"Well, it's simple," Clarke began, waiting for the rest of the group to catch up to her. "I wonder, why haven't we seen any animals?" Elissa frowned. Finally glancing around, and for the first time, she realized that the peacefulness she was feeling was quite unnatural. There were, in fact, in the middle of a forest. There should have been animals everywhere. Maybe not in plain sight, but from how quick they dart away, they should've been able to hear them scattering across the ground. "Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

When Clarke turned to continue walking, Octavia muttered: "Someone should slip her some poison sumac."

Jasper snorted and Elissa rolled her eyes.

Finn fell in step with Elissa, resting his forearm on her shoulder. "I gotta know what you guys did to get busted."

"Sumac's not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean."

Jasper nudged Monty with a sour look. "Someone forgot to replace what we took."

"Someone has apologized like, a thousand times." Monty countered, rolling his eyes.

"What about you, Queen Elissa?" Finn asked. Shocked by the question, Elissa stopped and looked up at him. "What crime did you commit? Is it as bad as the rumors make it out to be?"

"Worse." She said it so flatly that she almost believed that one word caused the world to stop spinning, caused the wind around them to stop blowing. Finn and Octavia both froze on the spot, while Jasper and Monty smothered their giggles with their hands, thinking that she was joking. She looked back at them with hooded eyes. "Seriously, guys. It's worse than the things you've heard. What I did was unforgivable."

"Come on, Queen Elissa, there isn't a single thing that's unforgivable." Finn commented, moving to rest his arm across her shoulders. "And I like you, so, that's gotta count for something."

"Oh, my God!" Clarke whispered.

Elissa pulled away from Finn when she saw that the blonde was waving at them to come over. She jogged to her, crouching down, only to see a deer grazing in the clearing in front of them. Her jaw slacked in wonder. She could feel the others crowding around, Jasper's knee jabbing into her hip, but she didn't dare take her eyes off the deer. It was an animal. She blinked. A real animal. She couldn't believe her own eyes.

"No animals, huh?" Finn smiled, taking a step forward to get closer. Elissa caught sight of the twig in his path, but opened her mouth too late. The snapping of the twig echoed off the trees, making Elissa clap a hand over her mouth as the deer's head shot up.

An involuntary horrified yelp escaped her lips when she caught sight of the deer's face. It had two of them, looking disheveled and mutilated. A patch of revolting irritatingly red flesh combined the two. The entire group seemed to simultaneously lean away from the creature, all disgusted and horrified. Elissa released a breath she didn't know she was holding when the deer gracefully pranced off.

Suddenly, Elissa's entire body stiffened. She stood and stumbled away from the others. Her back straightening out as something off hung heavy in the air around them. Something was going to go terribly wrong back at the dropship. She couldn't tell how she knew it, but she just knew. She felt as if a great distance was separating her from them, as if she and them were on opposite sides of a rifting cracking floe of ice.

Her sudden outburst caused the rest of the group to whirl around, surprised. Clarke's entire body went rigid. "What's wrong, Elissa?"

Elissa shook her head, running her hands over her face. "I-I-I don't know, but I just have this intense feeling that something is happening back at the dropship. I think I'm gonna head back. I'll keep an eye open at that end and let you know how things go when you guys get back. Plus, I think there is plenty to do around there. You and I both know that none of them have made an effort to gather water."

Clarke nodded, frowning briefly at the thought of Elissa traveling through the forest alone. "Are you sure? We're pretty far from the campsite."

Elissa reached out and touched Clarke's arm before she turned away. "I'll be fine. Be careful out there, all of you. By the face of that deer, we don't know what's out here."

Finn gave her shoulder a squeeze. "You be careful, too. We don't need our Queen getting herself hurt before her coronation."

"You're still not funny, Spacewalker."

Sun shining through the canopy high above her, Elissa took a deep shuddering breath as she pushed her way through some low hanging branches, leaves and pine needles crunching her boots with every step she took. Reaching up, she pinched the bridge of her nose trying to figure out what she was going to do when she got back to the dropship.

Stepping forward once more, she carefully made her way down a steeper part of the slope, grasping at branches and smaller trees scattered down the side to stop herself from careening down the hill head first, each trunk bending slightly under her weight. Making it to the bottom, she jumped over the last tangle of roots, landing in a crouch, her feet splashing in a small puddle. Staring down at her now soaked boots, she felt momentarily glad that someone had thought to provide her with boots before they'd sent her down to Earth.

Pushing herself to her feet, a small smile crossed her face as the sound of a bird chirping finally graced her ears. A peacefulness had settled in the air around her and she was determined to enjoy it before she made it to the dropship.

Maybe not everything that had happened was as bad as she'd thought. She was here. On Earth. One of the first people to step foot on the ground in nearly a hundred years, the place they'd all originated from. And she was free from the confines of her cell, free to do whatever she wanted.

With that thought in mind, she strode forward, hoping that she was going in the right direction. Earlier, when she'd looked at the map Clarke had been using, it appeared as if she only had to head downhill and it was nearly impossible for her to miss the river that cut through the valley. It was only after she'd weaved her way through the forest for another fifteen minutes that she realized that she could hear the thundering river and as she made her way closer, the sound only got louder.

Finally reaching the ledge that overlooked the river, she peered over a log which separated her from the muddy steep banks.

Whoa, that's...a lot of water.

Eyes widening at the sight before her, she stared down at the raging water as it crashed and ripped down stream. The river was much larger than she'd originally anticipated, at least twenty meters across and she couldn't even begin to gauge how deep it went. The area closest to her, directly below the embankment, was made entirely of pebbles and smooth stones. Scattered throughout the area were boulders, some as small as her head and others as large—if not larger—than the hatch to the dropship. Large stones peaked out of the water everywhere she looked, the water swirling around them, looking like giant stepping stones to reach the other side.

Suddenly filled with excitement at the prospect of touching water, she stepped over the log, carefully placing her feet on the muddy embankment before quickly scrambling and sliding down the slope, yelping as her feet slipped out from under her and she slid the rest of the way down on her butt. Managing to get her feet underneath her at the last second, she planted them firmly on the gravel and stumbled forward, barely stopping herself from going face first into a nearby boulder.

Grumbling in annoyance, she tried to brush some of the mud and grit out of her pants, but it had already seeped in, the dark fabric of her pants stained a muddy brown. With a grimace, she flicked off a couple more lumps of mud before giving up with an exasperated sigh.

Looking up, she gazed out in front of her, studying a couple of the large boulders out by the water, figuring that they were as good a place as any to head to. Stepping out onto the pebbles, she took note of how wobbly they were and carefully started to make her way across the beach heading toward them. Reaching the large chunks of rock, she realized that they were a lot bigger than she originally thought, the one directly in front of her easily towering over her head, the one behind it even taller, both casting large shadows on the area below.

Touching the rough surface, she scampered up the side of the closest one, gripping the surface with her hands and feet, and pulled herself to the top before getting to her feet. Staring down in wonder at the rushing water below her, she watched the current as it moved along before disappearing around the bend further downstream. She could even feel the gentle spray of the water as it crashed against the rock she was standing on.

Though the sound of the roaring water was loud, she found it oddly soothing, the constant sound seeming to melt away some of the tension out of her shoulders.

Looking at the rock beneath her feet, she found the flattest patch she could, before undoing her jacket and shrugging it off her shoulders, staying only in her thin, dark blue tank top. Setting down the jacket, she lowered herself on top of it, crossing her legs in front of hr as she leaned back on her hands. A sigh escaped her and she closed her eyes, head rolling back as she basked in the sun, the warmth feeling glorious on her bare skin.

Unlike from the Ark, the sun was different here, she could expose her body without worrying about the radiation, or the risk of blinding herself if she didn't have eye protection. Instead, it just felt pleasant, soothing. The rays warming the skin of her arms, her neck, her face. She knew that eventually she'd have to complete her trek back to the camp, and deal with everything there, but right now, she was going to enjoy every second of peacefulness she could get. Everything else could wait.

Who would've thought in a million years that I'd ever experience something like this?

Birds chirped and twittered around her, the lively sound bringing a soft smile to her face. Even if humans hadn't managed to survive down on Earth, birds had at least made themselves at home, and seemed to be thriving in the forest around them.

Elissa'd probably enjoyed the sun for about an hour when a sudden deafening crack cut through the sound of the rushing water. Lazily opening her eyes, she peered across the river curiously, searching the far bank for any sign as to what had made the sound. The greens and browns on the other side of the river looked remarkably similar to the side she was sitting on: steep banks leading up into dark bushes, trees towering high above them. Branches swayed slowly in the soft breeze that had been swept up by the river.

When nothing immediately caught her eye, she shrugged. Probably just another animal. If birds and deer had survived, there were bound to be other species in the area. Maybe is was another deer? Or a wild cat? No other sounds came after the initial snap; the rustle of waving branches and the rush of water seemed to fill the air once more. Something had changed, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Just as she began to relax once more, she frowned when she realized what was out of place. A chill swept up her spine, goosebumps prickling across her skin. The chirping of birds had stopped entirely; it was as if someone had flipped a switch.

Feeling suddenly alert, she leaned forward with a frown, resting her arms on her knees, head tilted to the side as she listened intently. She could feel the muscles in her shoulders tense when the sounds of birds failed to return. Examining the area around her, she couldn't see anything which set her on high-alert.

But something had changed.

A sudden shadow moving between the trees caught her attention and her eyes snapped to the spot, searching for any sign as to what the shadow belonged to. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she continued to wonder, the movement having been too fast for her to grasp. Whatever it was had disappeared into the foliage or had stopped moving entirely.

There it was; something was watching her. Suddenly, the sky overhead was not blue but milky and opaque, like a giant bowl turned upside down.

The air was stifling, and she felt sure that there were eyes on her.

Slowly, Elissa pushed herself to her knees and stayed crouched as she looked around. Peering over her shoulder, she checked the forest behind her, making sure that nothing had snuck up on her while her back was turned. When she turned her eyes forward and focused on the bank across from her. Elissa's heart lurched violently in her chest, and she had to blink as her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing and if it was actually real.

There was man standing on the ridge across from her in the exact spot she'd seen movement earlier. He stood tall, almost casual as he stared at her with dark eyes.

That's...not possible, she thought faintly, staring at him with wide surprised eyes. He definitely hadn't been standing there a few seconds ago, she was sure of it. He must have stepped out from the tree-line when she was looking back over her shoulder.

Heart pounding wildly against her ribs, she swallowed the lump in her throat, her mouth suddenly went bone dry as she studied him warily. He was dressed in dark greys and browns, both the color and the texture of the material made it easy for him to blend into the area behind him. Hood pulled back from his face revealed a tanned complexion with strong features and dark eyes, skin covered in either mud or some sort of paint. The sides of his head were shaved to the scalp, but the dark brown hair along the top was pulled back into an assortment of twists and plaits.

Elissa could see—even from her distance—that he was well built. His clothing draped across muscular shoulders, and the bare skin of his arms showed the line of each distinct muscle. The man was fit and defined unlike any of the other delinquents.

Her heart thudded in her chest as she studied him and he, in turn, studied her. His gaze was intense, and she shivered involuntarily as dark eyes roved over her face, chest and the rest of her body; his expression stayed carefully blank, not even bothering to appear curious at the fact that he was surveying a girl who was so very different from himself. He just looked so indifferent, like her presence hadn't affected him one bit.

Elissa swallowed thickly when she caught sight of a hilt of some sort of blade strapped to his back. He had a hand-crafted bow in hand with a quiver of arrows hanging on his shoulder, the dark fletching peeking over. While his stance was fairly unthreatening, she had a gut feeling that it could change in a blink of an eye.

The entire thing felt too surreal to her. No one was supposed to be alive down here. She'd been taught since her first history classes that humans had all but ceased to exist during the last way, that the radiation on the surface was simply too high for them to survive. But here, standing in front of her, was physical proof that that wasn't the case.

Everything they'd even learned on the Ark was wrong.

Jaw clenched, Elissa knelt with legs stiff beneath her, realizing that she didn't know exactly what to do. Slowly wiping her sweaty palms on her pants, she contemplated her options. She'd never expected to run into someone out, least of all someone that hadn't arrived on the dropship with her. She didn't know who he was was or where he'd come from. Were there more of them, or was he one of the few remaining survivors? All in all, she didn't know how this guy would react if she made a move too hastily.

As per usual, the worst scenario struck her—that he's been waiting for the moment when people began to wander away from the ship, and was picking them off one-by-one. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Pascal or Trina since right after they landed. The thought sent a shiver of worry her body and shifted uneasily, her knees digging into the rough surface below.

She needed to get to the others. Now.

Cautiously reaching down with her right hand, she grasped the material of her jacket in a tightly clenched fist, ready to make a run if and when she needed to.

How was she going to do this? She was extremely exposed, more so than she'd care to admit, sitting on the boulder. The open clearing around her provided her with little to no protection at all. If she could somehow slide off the back side of the boulder, she would be able to put the rock between her and his weapons. It would at least give her cover until she figured out her next move.

That's stupid, there's no way I'd make it. I studied archery on the Ark and I know how fast an arrow travels. He'd shoot me before I could even get off this damn rock.

Elissa started to get anxious; toes wiggled nervously in her boots as he continued to stare, almost unblinking, never even seeming to shift on his feet.

What did he want? What's he waiting for? Biting the inside of her lip, Elissa tried to figure out what to do. Should she leave? Could she leave? The man had set her on edge, his stare suddenly hardened into a glare as his stance tensed and the grip on the bow tightened. The hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end. She wasn't sure that if she turned her back, he wouldn't just lodge an arrow between her shoulder blades.

She gritted her teeth at the thought.

She was stuck.

Movement behind the man cut through her thoughts, and her stomach clenched in fear. When he glanced behind him, Elissa finally found her opening. Launching herself to her feet, she spun and jumped down onto the gravel below, hoping that the boulder would giver her some form of protection. As she landed, her knees buckled beneath her, boots sliding on the slippery rocks and her hands flew out in front of her, slamming into the gravel as she struggled for balance. A hiss of pain escaped her, feeling the sharp rocks tear into the palms of her hands.

Shit!

Not pausing to take the time and look to assess the damage, she shoved herself back to her feet, sprinting as fast as she could for the bank she'd come down not even an hour before. Using her momentum, she scrambled up the slope, ignoring the sting of her grazed hands as she reached out and grasped onto some tree roots to help herself get up the rest of the way up. Hauling herself up all the way, she scrambled over roots and logs before leaping to her feet, jacket still clenched tightly in hand and dashed back up the hill.

Dashing up the slope, she wove left and right, dodging around trees, clearing fallen logs and small bushes, feet pounding on the soft moss beneath her. Arms pumping at her sides, as she tried to put as much distance between her and the threat that she didn't even know was chasing her. Then there was the sound of snapping wire. The whoosh of an object slicing through the air. Elissa screamed. Her body jerked to a stop, leaning against a nearby tree. The long shaft of the arrow stuck out of the tree beside her left bicep. Glancing down, she saw a cut where the arrow had grazed her, the blood surprisingly less than she expected.

It was a warning shot.

Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself off the tree and sprinted through the forest. Sweat dripped down the side of her temple and down the back of her neck. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't hear any sounds that indicated that he was still following her. Instead, she could only hear the harsh pounding of her heart and the ragged gasps that tore from her lungs as she pushed her body further and faster than she had ever thought possible. She couldn't bring herself to think about slowing down, or look over her shoulder to see if she was being followed.

Coming up to a slight dip in the forest she recognized, she felt a small sense of relief in knowing that she was close to safety. Slowing her pace to a jog, then to a halt, she turned to look back the way she'd come, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

Nothing. Everything was dead still. Not a single bush or branch moved. It hardly looked like she'd ran through there at all. It was completely undisturbed. Swallowing nervously, Elissa didn't know if she should feel relieved of worried that there was no sign of anything out of place. Maybe he hadn't chased her and the man was just a really good shot.

Once her breathing evened out, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, she tore the hem off the bottom of her tank top and used the cloth to bind the wound on her bicep. After she tied the two ends together with a hiss, she turned to head up the remaining distance to the dropship, happy and relieved when she could see movement and the sight of familiar faces.

Wiping her hands on her pants in an effort to remove the grit that stuck to her skin, she gritted her teeth when her grazed palms came in contact with the rough material of her pants. Looking down at them, Elissa noted that along the heel of her palms the skin had been rubbed raw. The area pink and bloody with blood slowly seeping through the thin cuts. Grimacing as they stung, she gently brushed away the dirt and pine needles that stuck, knowing she'd have to wash them soon if she wanted to keep herself from getting an infection.

Looking up, Elissa examined the group around her, searching for any sign of Wells, knowing that he would be one of the first people to hear her out. The delinquents had broken down into smaller factions and were sorting through the scraps scattered throughout the area, some tearing the large parachute into smaller sections to use as some form of shelter.

When she didn't catch any sign of Wells, she frowned, chewing on the inside of her lip. Who else could she tell? Clarke and the few other people who she trusted were moving in the opposite direction, and wouldn't be back for some time.

What about Bellamy?

Elissa scowled at the thought. He was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. In fact, she didn't want to talk to him at all. But who else could she tell? It's not like she had many other options. As much as she hated to admit it, it made sense to tell him: the others seemed to follow his lead, or at the very least, listen to him. Everyone had the right to know about this. They needed to be aware that they weren't the only ones alive on Earth. That there were still people living here, still surviving.

Plus, he might be an asshole, she tried to convince herself, but his sister's out there. And if he cares about her, he'll listen to what I have to say.

Glancing around, she quickly spotted him sitting around a fire with a few of the guys. Murphy and Mbege sitting not too far away. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her resolve, knowing what she had to do. This wasn't just about them. This involved everyone in the group. She easily made her way toward them, stopping only a couple of feet away.

Murphy glanced up at her and gave her an unimpressed look before returning to filing the sharp piece of metal he must have found in the scraps. Nathan ignored her entirely.

"Blake," Elissa snapped, feeling a flash of irritation when they all pointedly ignored her presence.

He didn't bother to even look up at her, just gave an exaggerated sigh and continued to file his own piece of scrap metal. "What do you want, Bardot?"

"I saw someone out in the forest, down by the river," she stated firmly, deciding to get straight to the point, not wanting to talk to him longer than she had to.

"That's...exciting." Bellamy replied dryly, glancing up to give her a derisive look. "And why should I care?"

"A stranger, Blake! He wasn't part of our group."

That seemed to get his attention because he looked up at her, giving her a skeptical look, eyebrows furrowed. "Not one of us?"

Elissa rolled her eyes. "Yes. As in didn't come from the Ark, didn't arrive on the dropship, not part of this group, isn't one of these many teenage delinquents." She waved a hand out around them sarcastically. "Shall I keep going?"

His curious look quickly tightened into a glare of annoyance. "That's not possible. Besides, it probably was one of our own. Trina and Pascal have been off exploring from the moment we got here. It was probably one of them."

"Well, I don't think either of them know how to whittle because I was just grazed by a freakin' arrow!" She spat through clenched teeth, glaring down at him. "I'm telling you, it wasn't them."

"Look, Bardot..." Bellamy sighed, pushing himself to his feet, taking a step toward her so he could look down at her. However, once his eyes finally caught sight of her, whatever he was going to say died on his lips. Instead, a small smirk grew on his face as he stared at her. "Well, this is a surprise. You should wear less clothing more often." His eyes slowly raked over her body.

Frowning at his comment, she realized that in her hurry to get back to the dropship, she'd forgotten to put her jacket back on and was wearing only her blue tank top, which was apparently cut low enough to catch Bellamy's attention.

"Eyes up here, Blake." Elissa snapped her fingers twice in front of his face. He blinked, dragging his eyes up from where they'd been looking. He gave her an unabashed smirk despite her irritated glare. "And before your tiny little mind gets distracted again, I'm being serious. There was a man out there, and he definitely wasn't one of the hundred because there aren't any men here."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair to push it away from his face. "You're being ridiculous. No one's been in this area for nearly a hundred years. Or did you not learn anything in your history lessons?" He asked her mockingly, tilting his head slightly as he studied her.

Elissa scowled, feeling exasperated that he just kept trying to brush her off. "What makes you think our teachers were right? It's not like any of them have been down to Earth before. For all we know, they could be wrong, and there could be survivors." She swallowed, licking her lips. "Fine. Just thought you would want to know what I saw, since your sister is still out there." She told him quietly and he frowned at the mention of his sister.

Before he had a chance to say anything in response, she turned and walked away from them, ignoring the mocking way that Murphy whistled and twisted his finger around his temple, making her way through the crowd that had stopped to watch the brief altercation. She kept her gaze forward, jaw clenched, refusing to meet the gazes of any of the delinquents who stared at her as she walked by. She ignored the smirks and the snickers that followed her as she went.

A small hand slipped into her own as she passed through the crowd. She found Charlotte staring up at her, eyebrows drawn together in a concerned frown. Giving the younger girl a small wavering smile, she squeezed her hand gently, letting her know how much she appreciated her comfort.

They didn't believe her, but she knew what she'd seen. She knew she'd have to be extra vigilant, for Charlotte, for Wells, even for the rest of them. Because sooner or later, something would happen and they'd all find out that she was right. Hopefully, their ignorance of her warning wouldn't come with dire consequences.

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not edited.