CHAPTER THREE
LEFT BEHIND

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     Aspen didn't know how long they ran. Long enough for her legs to flare with pain. Long enough for her lungs to burn desperately for air. Long enough for her tears over Jasper to dry and for blind panic to take its place. They had stopped at first, hearing Jasper scream, but they hadn't been able to stay. There was no way of knowing where the other strangers on earth had taken Jasper, and they needed to get back to the camp and warn everyone else. They were not alone on earth, and the strangers were clearly not very friendly. Jasper was gone, but the other kids sent down to earth could be saved, as long as Aspen and her group got to them in time. She just hoped whoever had been watching them hadn't already attacked the camp.

When they finally neared the camp, exhausted and dehydrated, Aspen heard all the screams and shouts and thought briefly that they were too late. She needn't have worried. When she cleared the trees, she saw that her people were perfectly fine. They were just chaotically cheering on two boys fighting in the clearing below the ridge where Aspen was standing. She shook her head in disbelief. She had mistakenly thought there would be some sort of order when they returned, but apparently not. She started easing herself down into the clearing, using various roots as footholds to keep from slipping, then went still when she finally realized who the two boys were. Murphy and Wells. Wells was still limping on his bad ankle, and a knife was in his dominant hand. A hand, Aspen realized a second later, that no longer had the wristband right below it. Murphy, bloody and dirty from his fall to the ground, wasn't wearing a wristband, either.

As Aspen watched, trying to catch her breath, Murphy flew up from the ground and went at Wells again, shouting something at him that Aspen couldn't make out through all the shouts of encouragement. Wells easily sidestepped him—Aspen saw a hint of training in the way he moved, and wondered idly who had taught him how to fight—and then he had Murphy twisted around until his back was to Wells's chest, the makeshift knife pressed to Murphy's throat. The shouts grew louder, and Aspen burst into movement. Clarke and Finn were already making their way down the incline, so Aspen followed their footsteps, not wanting to lose her feet and fall.

"Wells!" Clarke shouted, her voice rising over the shouts. The group of delinquents quieted once they noticed the group they had sent out for food was already back, though with one less person. An ache formed in Aspen's chest. Clarke made her way over to Wells and Murphy, so Aspen, figuring she had the fight handled, collapsed onto a nearby log and lowered her head into her hands. Her lungs were still burning. She needed water, badly. "Let him go!" she heard Clarke order, and then a grunt as Murphy was shoved away. Aspen glanced up through her blonde strands of hair to find Murphy once again in the dirt. Murphy was quick to bounce back up again, but to Aspen's shock, Bellamy blocked his way.

"Enough, Murphy," Bellamy ordered, though Aspen had a feeling he didn't stop the fight because of any concern for Murphy or Wells. He probably just wanted to know why they were back so soon. "Octavia!" Bellamy called out, rushing toward his sister once Monty had helped her down the incline. Aspen didn't know when she had twisted her ankle. Probably during the run. The bite the giant snake in the river had given her hadn't been bothering her this much before. She was mildly aware that her left knee hurt, and vaguely remembered banging it on a rock when she had tripped over a stack of animal bones. A shiver went down her spine. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Octavia breathed, accepting Bellamy's help, going from Monty's arms to his.

"Where's the food?" Bellamy demanded, but only after he knew for certain Octavia was alright. There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Aspen raised her head up, then straightened her spine. She could breathe a bit easier now, much to her relief, though her mouth was still parched. She licked her cracked lips, then looked around her at the group of delinquents. Had they found fresh water while they were gone? It should've been the first thing they searched for, though they had probably pushed it off and collected rainwater instead.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather," Finn said eventually, once it was clear everyone else in their group wasn't willing to speak. Aspen had a pounding headache, and the last thing she needed was Bellamy's loud voice directed toward her.

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy demanded once again. Aspen reached up to rub at her temples.

"We were attacked," Clarke revealed. She sounded defensive.

"Attacked?" Wells asked. "By what?"

"Not what," Finn corrected. "Who."

"My god, there's absolutely no point being dramatic about this!" Aspen burst out, forcing herself to her feet. She turned on Bellamy with a glare, though Jasper getting speared wasn't his fault. It felt good to glare at someone, though. "We were attacked by other people, and I'm pretty sure they know exactly where we are. There's no way anyone who lives around here missed our landing." Bellamy looked at her like she was insane, opening his mouth to argue, but Clarke quickly jumped to her defense.

"It's true," Clarke confirmed, making Bellamy snap his mouth shut. Aspen was mildly annoyed that her own word wasn't worth enough, but bit back all of her annoyed retorts. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground was wrong. There are people here, survivors." Murmurs broke out around them. Aspen ran her eyes over the crowd gathered. Judging by the amount, not everyone had gathered to watch the fight between Murphy and Wells. The others had likely been left at camp. "The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us."

"Yeah, the bad news is the grounders will," Finn put in. Aspen whirled toward him.

"I'm sorry, are you enjoying scaring everyone?" Aspen snapped at him. Her mind had raced ahead while they had been running, wondering why the grounders hadn't chased after them, why they hadn't picked them off on the way to Mount Weather. Why they hadn't attacked until that moment, when Jasper had raised the sign for Mount Weather and screamed out the mountain's name. It didn't make any sense. "We don't know that. Maybe—maybe Jasper entered their territory, or something—"

"Jasper," Wells cut in. Aspen bit her lip and turned toward him. "The kid with the goggles? Where is he?"

"He got hit," Clarke explained tiredly. "They took him." Clarke's eyes trailed down to Wells's wrist, and then she reached for it, her voice sharpening. "Where's your wristband?" Wells jerked his arm out of her grip, then turned a burning glare Bellamy's way. Aspen turned her head to stare at him, horror closing up her throat.

"Ask him," Wells said through a clenched jaw.

"How many?" Clarke demanded.

"Twenty-four and counting," Murphy drawled from the side, sounding amused. Proud, even. Aspen's eyes went over the delinquents with fresh eyes. She wondered how many of them had been forced to give up their wristbands, like Wells, and which of them bought into Bellamy's words about being free.

"You idiots," Clarke whispered, horrified. She raised her voice then, so all of them could hear her. "Life support on the Ark is failing." Abrupt silence welcomed her words. Many of them had parents to get back to. Friends. Grandparents. Guardians. "That's why they brought us down here! They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off their wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!" More silence welcomed her words, and Aspen could see that her speech had worked, if only on a few of the kids watching.

"We're stronger than you think," Bellamy said suddenly. Aspen turned disbelieving eyes on him as he walked forward, directing his words to the delinquents watching. "Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same?" The delinquents looked at each other, considering. "We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore. They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals!" Cries of support rang out. Aspen could feel dread weighing down her stomach as she watched. "You're fighters, survivors! The grounders should be worried about us!" It was the most idiotic thing she had ever heard, and yet the delinquents took it in excitedly, crying out their support wordlessly. All Aspen saw was children who didn't take any of this seriously, and a man taking full advantage of that.

Clarke rolled her eyes, shook her head, and walked away. Aspen didn't blame her at all. But instead of storming away like Clarke and Monty, Aspen moved forward until she was right beside Bellamy, who was taking in the shouting with a smirk. It took him a moment to notice her, but when he did, Aspen just raised her chin to meet his eyes.

"None of us are criminals, huh?" Aspen asked quietly, so low that only Bellamy could hear. When Bellamy narrowed his eyes, Aspen jerked her chin toward a boy nearby, the loudest of them all. "I was imprisoned for a year, and I learned quite a bit. He's a rapist. The girl was thirteen years old. That girl? Killed a five-year-old little boy. That guy? Nearly beat his girlfriend to death." Bellamy was silent as a grave when Aspen dragged her eyes back to him. "A lot of us don't belong here. You're right about that. But just as many do deserve it. What you're doing now, it's not going to help the good ones. It'll just encourage the bad. And I think you know that. You slipped up a bit in your speech, Bellamy. Quite a few 'we's' in there. Does that mean you're a criminal, too? Or you would be, if they followed us down here?" Bellamy stared at her, still completely silent. Aspen tilted her head at him. "I think you're running away. And using your sister as an excuse doesn't make you any less of a coward."

She walked away before he could respond.

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She found Monty inside of the dropship, looking for extra jackets, supplies, anything and everything they could use for shelter, food, or weapons. There wasn't much of anything. Most of it had already been picked apart by the hundred. Monty was fiddling with one of the lights, for some reason, so Aspen approached him curiously.

"What are you doing?" Aspen asked, cocking her head to the side. Monty offered her a small smile, though it was strained, for good reason. He didn't seem to have an answer for her, shrugging his shoulders to show he was just doing it to feel better. Aspen sighed and let her shoulders slouch. "I heard Clarke's getting a search party ready for Jasper. Mind if I help?" Monty opened his mouth to respond, but he stopped when there was a metallic sound above them. They both glanced up to see Clarke climbing down from the upper level, a backpack thrown on her back.

"...not your ankle, Wells," Clarke was saying. Aspen peered over her shoulder and saw that Wells was following her down. "It's you." Aspen raised an eyebrow, then shared a worried glance with Monty. The last thing any of them needed was for Clarke and Wells to be arguing back and forth on a rescue mission.

"You came back for reinforcements," Wells argued with her. "I'm gonna help." Clarke completely ignored him, turning away to leave the dropship entirely.

"Clarke," Monty called after her, moving forward. "We need him. So far, no one else has volunteered except for Aspen."

"I'm sorry, Monty, but you're not going, either," Clarke ordered, though she looked regretful saying so.

"Like hell I'm not," Monty snapped, irritated. "Jasper's my best friend."

"You're too important," Clarke pointed out. "You were raised on Farm Station and recruited by engineering." Monty stared at her in confusion, and Clarke sighed. "So, food and communication. What's up here..." She lightly poked Monty's temple. "It's gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark and I'll bring Jasper back."

"And what about me?" Aspen asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Clarke studied her thoughtfully.

"I remember seeing you in the sick bay," Clarke said eventually. Aspen raised an eyebrow. It was true that Aspen had spent a lot of time in the sick bay, mainly because her mother was a nurse, and jobs tended be inherited through the children on the Ark. Her mother had been convinced that Aspen would be a doctor one day, like Clarke's mother. Aspen had never been very interested in it, but she knew how to stitch someone up, at least. "If I don't make it back, they'll need you to help them with any illnesses."

"I don't know shit about curing illnesses," Aspen said in exasperation. Clarke motioned toward Monty.

"Well, he knows plants. Forage for anything we can use for medicine, at least. We'll need anything we can get if Jasper is still alive." Aspen opened her mouth to argue with that, planning to say that Clarke probably needed more than Finn on her side during the search, but Clarke was already turning away. Aspen stared at her back in disbelief, then rolled her eyes and shared a disbelieving glance with Monty. Clarke was speaking to Finn, who had come into the dropship while Clarke had been ordering Aspen around. "Hey. You ready?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Finn scoffed, "and neither should any of you. That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet."

"So, what?" Monty snapped. "We let Jasper die?"

"That's not gonna happen," Clarke reassured before she rounded on Finn again. "Spacewalker?" She scoffed and shook her head. "What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer, and you're really just a coward." She went to step around him, but Finn blocked her way.

"It's not an adventure, Clarke, it's a suicide mission!" Finn snapped. Clarke didn't give him a response. She just swept past him, and Wells was quick to follow, though he paused to order Finn to build a wall around the camp with fallen logs and tree limbs. He was gone soon, too, and it left Finn with only Monty and Aspen. She glared hard at him.

"Jasper looked up to you," was all Monty said before he walked away. Aspen stayed, only for a brief moment.

"You let him swing first," Aspen said eventually, making Finn blink in confusion at her. She glared even harder. "You let him swing across that river first, and he got speared for it. Now, you're not even going to bother looking for him? You're a fucking joke." With that, she turned her back on him and went to Monty, who was grabbing a lamp and heading for the ladder. Aspen went up to the second floor before him, and then reached down to grab the lamp. He murmured a thank you before he joined her on the upper level, and then he went over to a lowered section in the floor, by a set of seats. Aspen joined him and set the lamp down.

"What's the plan?" she asked, curious. He had collected tools while on the lower level. A metal bar. Plyers. Anything he could use as a tool. He also had a few discarded bracelets, though they all seemed dead by the way Monty looked at them.

"Well, I was thinking, since the wristbands send out vital signs to the Ark, then we could use them as a way to create a radio. I mean, since they're transmitters, then it shouldn't be impossible." Monty picked up another wristband, then sighed and set it down. "It only works, though, if I find one that isn't dead. These were all broken when they were taken off."

"You'd think they would be more durable," Aspen muttered, "considering we were literally sent to earth in a dropship that malfunctioned before landing." She ran her fingers over the wristband around her own wrist, biting down on her bottom lip. She grimaced. "God, I know I'm going to regret this...but here." She stuck out her wrist, stretching out her entire arm and turning her head away. "Try to use mine. Maybe you can get a signal from mine." Monty took her hand in his, reaching over to pick up the metal bar even as he gave her a doubtful look.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It seemed like you were very pro-wristband."

"Oh, I am," Aspen reassured. "But with the amount of kids who have taken them off already...It's only been, what, two days? The Ark thinks that over twenty kids have died since we landed, so they might think the earth isn't livable. What we need is to communicate with them. We need a radio. If you can use our wristbands to do that, then..." Aspen shrugged her shoulders and shoved her wrist forward some more. "Just do it before I change my mind."

"If you say so..." Monty murmured, and then he pressed the end of the metal bar carefully beneath her wristband. Aspen grimaced at the cold of it, then grimaced even more as Monty started bending it forward, trying to pry the wristband apart. The metal bar ended up digging into the skin of her wrist. Aspen winced in slight pain. Monty caught it and glanced up at her uncertainly, but she just nodded at him to keep going. He started speaking a moment later, in hopes of distracting her. "Hey, do you want me to describe some plants to you that have healing properties? Clarke did tell you to go look for herbs."

"With killer Grounders on the loose? I don't think so," Aspen scoffed, wincing again as Monty applied more pressure to the bar. "You can describe some if you want, but the best I can do is look around the camp and a little bit outside of it. I'm not going too far, especially not alone, and especially without a weapon. That's just stupid. Why didn't they send us first-aid kits, at least—ow, son of a bitch." The wristband popped off, and Aspen heard the sound of a live electrical current coming from it. She leaned forward and saw blue lights at the end of the needles that had been inside of her skin, keeping her vitals. She rubbed at her sore wrist. They both waited in bated breath, then released it in disappointment when the blue lights winked out. "Well," Aspen sighed, "that was a waste."

"I'll try to avoid touching the needles next time," Monty murmured thoughtfully, setting the wristband aside for further observation. He turned toward her a moment later. "Okay, from the top of my head, the best herb to fight infection is...basil, sage, oregano—"

"Aren't those seasonings?"

"They're herbs first," Monty said with a smile. Then it dimmed, and he grimaced. "Since we landed close to Mount Weather, that means we landed in North America. None of those grow organically here. Our best hope is the elderberry, I think, but..."

"There were literally zero berries that we saw on our trip," Aspen sighed, her shoulders slumping, "so there's probably none around the camp, either." She drummed her fingers along her thigh, then tilted her head to the side.

"I'm sorry," Monty murmured, looking guilty. "I know a lot about plants, but...it was more of a fun hobby, you know? I'm much better with the engineering side of things. How to grow plants, and ways to keep them growing with machines." Aspen reached up and planted her hand on his mop of dark hair, ruffling it slightly, much to his embarrassment. She grinned when he ducked his head.

"That's a lot more than I know," she admitted, sighing to herself. "Hell, the thing I'm most skilled at won't exactly help us down here." She looked around the upper level, then grunted as she pushed herself to her feet. She dusted off her hands. "You know what? I'm going to make Jasper a place to sleep up here. It's better if he's not healing outside, and everyone will be picking a spot to sleep downstairs. This can be Jasper's little healing area." She motioned toward the little space Monty had set up his little workshop. "You can sleep there, maybe? I'm sure you'll want to stay with him. I'll get some blankets."

"Thanks, Aspen," Monty said softly as she turned to leave. She just waved her hand through the air and started climbing down the ladder.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this is a very short chapter, I'm sorry, but this episode is so...boring, and I didn't want to scene break into the next episode.