T H R E E

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"HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW?" Finn asked as they all carefully walked down a steep hill in the forest. "Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up in a rotting cell, and now," Octavia said, stopping as she grabbed a tree and spun around it, "I'm in a spinning forest."

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or-" Monty tried to figure out what had happened, but Clarke cut him off.

"It wasn't a satellite. The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." Clarke ripped off the bandaid, making everyone stop and look at her, but she just walked past them.

"Maybe if they floated all the cheaters on The Ark, they'd have five." Harlai mumbled as she walked past Monty and Jasper, who always seemed connected at the hip.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asked her as he rose his eyebrows. Could he be anymore blunt?

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, then Wells..."

"What, turned in your dad?" Monty asked Clarke from the back of the group.

Clarke paused as she walked and she shook it off. "Anyway, the guard showed up before we could." Her lips pressed together in a tight line as she looked up at Finn. "That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk."

"Well, if we all die, at least they grabbed up some more time for themselves." Harlai said as she kicked a small stone, watching as it bounced off their path and down a slope.

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asked with a concerned expression, but this time Clarke didn't answer.

"Good." Octavia responded to the silence as she jumped off a small ridge in their path and she walked ahead. "After what they did to me, I say float them all."

"You don't mean that!" Jasper said as he walked after her, Clake watching Octavia with a look.

Monty stayed behind, but Harlai decided to go after them with a solemn look. She wanted nothing more than for her mother to live, but she hoped to God that if they killed anyone, it was her father. He deserved that at least.

When everyone caught up with Jasper and Octavia, their eyes widened as Jasper said, "Oh, damn, I love Earth" with a goofy grin.

There Octavia was on some rocks by the river as she pulled her pants down. Harlai laughed to herself as Clarke's mouth dropped wide open.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke yelled just as the girl jumped into the waters with a splash, everyone running to the river, but not jumping in.

"Octavia, we can't swim!" Monty said from the top of the rocks as the girl watched from the water, her eyes being the only thing they could see.

"I know, but we can stand." Octavia said as she began to straighten up, making the others grin as she laughed.

"Hell, I'm joining ya." Harlai said as she began to tug down her own jeans, catching the eyes of the boys as well. She chuckled to herself but just as she was about to jump in, her eyes caught sight of something in the water. "What the fuck?"

Apparently, Jasper saw it too because he began to sound nervous as he shouted at Octavia. "Get out of the water!" She slowly turned around and that's when everyone else saw the long monster advancing quickly towards her. "Get out of the water, now!"

It was too late. Whatever it was grabbed her with its teeth and began to try and drag her underwater, Harlai wincing, her eyes widening as she heard Octavia's piercing screams.

Jasper called out for her, his eyes wide as he became frantic. "No!"

They all just stood there in shock, no sign of Octavia and Harlai still pantsless. A moment later, Octavia burst out of the surface of the water as she gasped for air, her arms wailing around as if she was trying to grab something or wiggle out of its grip.

"What the hell is that?" Monty yelled in fear as he watched it drag her around yet again.

"Don't just stand there, we have to help her!" Harlai had felt as if she were frozen, watching the thing pull Octavia around. She knew that if the young woman died, Bellamy Blake would kill them all, Harlai first. She ran to the edge of the rocks, but before she could jump into the water, Monty grabbed her arm.

"What are you going to do?" He asked her with wide eyes, to which she replied, "Try not to get eaten."

"No, wait." Clarke pushed Finn away from the edge who was about to dive in as well. "If we distract it, it might let her go. Help me."

The blonde bent down and she tried to push a large rock or rather a small boulder over the side of the river's edge. Harlai and the guys quickly went to her side, pushing the rock into the river, a splash following it. The idea must have worked because the river monster that grabbed Octavia let go of her and began to swim after the boulder, thinking that it was more food.

"It worked! It let her go." Monty exclaimed as they all straightened.

Jasper began to run towards where Octavia was, watching as she continued to frantically try to keep herself up. "Octavia, get to the shore now!" Not a second after saying this, he jumped into the water and grabbed her, beginning to pull her to the shore. "I got you."

"It's coming back, headed right for you guys!" The rest of the four hurried to the shore where Jasper and Octavia were coming in so they could help as Monty yelled this. They needed to hurry because the abnormally large snake began to advance towards them in the water again.

Just as Jasper pulled Octavia onto a boulder in the water, the thing slithered past them in the water. If they were a second slower, Jasper and Octavia would be snake food. Harlai grimaced as she saw the deep gashes in Octavia's thigh and she watched as Clarke examined it quickly. Falling to her knees beside Jasper, Harlai ripped off some fabric at the bottom of his soaked grey t-shirt to hand to Clarke. With an impressed look in her eyes, Clarke took it and tightly tied it above the gashes as Octavia embraced Jasper in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you." She breathlessly spoke as Jasper hugged her back gently.

"You're going to be okay." Clarke said as she continued to work on the fabric on Octavia's leg.

"Note to self-" Monty looked down at the two with a smile. "Next time, save the girl." The group began to laugh as Monty patted Jasper's shoulder, Harlai not being able to wipe a grin off of her lips.

•••

THE NEXT MORNING, the group of 'criminals' went to the river again after a night of sleep in the forest. Finn stood at the highest point of rocks with a tangled mess of vines in his hands, deciding to use this as a ropeswing to the other side.

"You wanted to go first, so quit stalling." Clarke told him in a quite flirty tone with a raise of her eyebrows. "Mount Weather awaits."

"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine." Harlai heard Jasper whisper this to Finn as she climbed up the rocks. Her eyes locked onto the vines, feeling the need to go first, but Finn had already taken the spot.

"The apogee." Finn repeated as he turned to look at Jasper with a smile. "Like the Indians, right?"

"Apogee, not apache." Jasper corrected him as he looked to the others with an amused expression while Finn tugged on the vines to sure they were safe for like the fiftieth time.

"He knows, today Finn." Clarke remarked impatiently.

Just as Finn was about to swing across, Harlai jumped to his side in excitement. "Wait, let me." She could see Finn's uneasiness and she had been itching to do something crazy since she made it to the ground.

Gaining another impressed look, this time from Finn, he said, "Knew there was a badass in you, Shorty."

Harlai chuckled softly as he passed the vine rope swing over to her and she looked across at the other side. It was so close yet so far away. Looking to Clarke and seeing that her impatience was growing, the young woman decided not to waste another minute. "See you on the other side." She said with another laugh and with that, she ran off of the cliff, swinging through the air with wide eyes that were full of excitement.

It all happened in slow motion. Harlai could feel the wind running through her hair, the birds chirping all around her. Once she got the farthest she could go with the vine turned makeshift rope, Harlai let go with an excited laugh and rolled on the ground once her body made impact. The others quickly ran to the top with Finn as the man caught the rope swing just in time to see Harlai stand up with a proud grin. Her whole body was pumping with adrenaline.

"We are apogee!" She yelled with her arms outspread, making the others all whoop and holler in victory.

"Yeah, you did it Harlai!" Clarke yelled across the river with a wide smile. They were going to find the food, making safe passage over the snake filled river and they knew the rope was safe now, all thanks to Harlai's courage. The small woman began to do a little victory dance, hearing Finn, Clarke, Monty, Jasper, and Octavia laugh and cheer her on.

Turning and seeing Clarke grab the swing, Harlai yelled out at the top of her lungs some words of encouragement, "Come on, Clarke, you got this! Whoo! Apogee!" She laughed quietly and then she turned to look around. Pausing as she saw something on the ground, she walked over and saw that it looked like an old tin sign. Grinning brightly, she grabbed it as she read what it said and held it up towards them. "We did it! Mount Weather!"

Just as they began to cheer along, Harlai caught a glimpse of something flying towards her. Before she could even dodge it, the spear flew right into her chest, sending her flying backwards and colliding with a tree. She began to frantically gasp as she stared down at the thick wooden spear in her chest and she could vaguely hear Clarke yelling her name. Harlai thought that if she were ever to be impaled with anything that she would immediately pass out from the pain, but that wasn't the case. The excruciating pain spread slowly from where the spear had went straight through her, to her sides, down her arms and legs, and finally making it to her fingertips, making it radiate through her entire body. She just wished she would die right then and there as the blood began to pool around her frail body. Fortunately for her, black spots began to cloud her vision until she fell into unconsciousness.

•••

HARLAI THOUGHT THAT SHE WAS DEAD. If she were dead, would she be in constant pain like she was currently in? It felt like it had been years, decades even, since she was impaled with a spear. She wondered if Clarke and the others were okay, if they made it back to camp.

Her body was dragged out of the darkness when her eyes would flutter open for a second, catching flashing images of someone that was literally dragging her. Her body was sticky, making her subconsciously grimace. It had to be the blood that she lost. She couldn't make out who it was, but she knew that it must have been the one who tried to kill her and was only taking her to finish off the job. After thinking this, she completely passed out again.

That was when the nightmares began. She used to have some in the cell, but the first night that she stayed on Earth, she was free of them. Harlai guessed that the constant physical pain wasn't enough, the universe decided to add psychological pain as well.

Most of them started off with a real scene that always made her feel horrible. It was her dad pressing a young woman up against the wall of their home as he made out with her. It was such a repulsing image that it made Harlai want to throw up. She even got a glance of the wall they were making out against, the one that he used to mark her height on every year when she was a kid. It didn't help that the woman he was cheating on his mother looked to be just a few years older than her.

The whole thing wasn't even about what Harlai caught her father doing. She knew that her mother was so smart, she had to have known already. The thing was that her father was so worried about himself that he had to frame his own daughter and put her in the skybox where she would eventually be brought out to be floated.

The next scene was the one that haunted Harlai the most. After finding out from Clarke that the people on the Ark were going to die after three, maybe four months, she couldn't stop thinking about her mother. Her nightmare was her mother sitting in their home, all alone. The oxygen was draining slowly, making her mother Elise gasp and groan. She looked absolutely pitiful. Her skin was as pale as snow and her lips were beginning to turn blue. Elise's emerald green eyes, the ones that Harlai gained from her, widened as she let out her last breath. Internally, Harlai was screaming out in pain. The pain that came from the poison that radiated through her veins and the pain that came from losing her mother, even though it wasn't true.

A second later, her mother slowly dragged herself to her feet and looked straight at Harlai. Her blue and crusted lips slowly turned upwards as she held out a surprisingly steady hand. "Come join me, darling."

Harlai winced in pain as she took a step towards her mother, but the pain came from the real world. Bellamy Blake had gotten Harlai Turner off of the sticks she was mounted on and held her in his arms, a worried expression crossing his face.

As Harlai placed her hand into her mother's, Elise's lips moved, but it wasn't her voice. It was Bellamy's. "I got you, Sleeping Beauty."

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Word count: 2492

Ayeee two chapters in one day! Plus, this one's super long and dramatic. I'm on a roll 🤪