atomic man, john murphy.

What Came After (Part Two)

1 YEAR AND 93 DAYS AFTER PRAIMFAYA

Clove pushed around the last bite of her colorless food around on the metal plate. "Playing with it won't make it taste any better," Caesar said. Clove glanced up at him and rolled her eyes. "You can't stay mad at me forever, mi querida."

Clove shoved the last bite into her mouth and stood up. She placed her palms against the table and leaned forward. "You're the reason, Emilio never made it back here," She stated. "So I think I can stay mad forever."

Caesar sighed and rubbed his face. "Clove Josephine, you know that's not true."

"All I know is that Emilio was out there and we could've brought him back," Clove spoke in a hushed voice so the entire cafeteria wouldn't hear. "You should've fought for him, papa."

"You really think he would've had any better chance than being with Clarke and Bellamy?" Caesar questioned. "I needed to make sure you were okay because I knew he was going to be okay. In a few years, they'll come down from space and we'll get out of the bunker and we'll all be together again."

"If they even made it to space," Clove muttered before grabbing the tray and placing it with the other dirty dishes. As soon as she walked out of the room, the book boy that she shares a room with bumped into her.

After a few weeks of living together, Clove had learned his name; Lux Madden. But after a year of living together, that was about all she bothered to learn about him. "Want to meet up later?" Lux asked under his breath as the two walked down the hallway together.

"Don't feel like it today," Clove answered.

Lux shrugged. "Okay. Everything alright?"

"What, something has to be wrong with me because I don't wanna hook up with you?" Clove snapped. "I'm fine, Lux."

"No, CJ, that isn't what I meant," He defended. He shook his head "Never mind. I finished this book, wanna read it?"

"I don't read."

Lux chuckled. "I know, but we've still got years in here. You should take up a hobby at some point."

"I spar with Octavia and Miller all the time," Clove responded and then stopped her walk. "Actually, I'm gonna go do that now. Later, Lux."

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After sparring with Miller for a while, she had gotten her aching body ready for bed. When Clove got to her room, the overhead lights were already out and she had to use the few bedside lights that were on to make her way to her bed.

"Goodnight, mi querida," Caesar whispered as she climbed up the ladder to her bunk.

Clove sighed. "Night."

The girl climbed under the covers, the scratchy linen rubbing against her arms. Her eyes become heavy the moment her head hit the pillow. Soon her entire body became heavy as she began drifting to sleep.

Just Clove had fall asleep, she was dragged off her bunk by her feet. By the time she was awake enough to register what was happening, Clove was slammed into a wall and being held above the ground by her throat. She reached her hands up to the one's wrapped around her throat, desperately trying to claw the hands away as she gasped for air. Then she settled for thrashing her limbs around. Black spots clouded Clove's vision and her head became fuzzy.

Caesar slowly blinked his eyes as a crash woke him. He was hardly able to make out the figures in the dark room, but he eventually took in the situation and sprung out of his bed. Caesar pulled the man off his daughter and shoved him back so hard the man fell to the ground.