Being born as a child prodigy used to be a blessing for Claire Rivers, especially in a world where the survival of the human race was the ultimate goal. Always be the smartest person in the room, treated like the most essential personnel, having a c...
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CHAPTER ONE surrounded by idiots.
•••
ㅡDay 1ㅡ
THE DELINQUENTS spread out amid the trees all around the incongruously located ship. The celebratory mood still strongly lingered around them. Being on the Ground was the dream of the four generations of humans living on the Ark, but it wasn't the only dream that they were living at the momentㅡthe fact that they were finally free from the authority of the Ark couldn't be simply forgotten. Now all they wanted to do was just live for the moment, no matter how long that was.
Getting caught up in the moment was never really Claire's thingㅡnaturally, her instinct would remind her of the more improtant things whenever something less important caught her attention. So while the others were busy running around the trees and laughing with each other, she had done a full search of all the rooms in the dropship and gathered everything that could be useful.
Jaha was right, they didn't left them any food, water, or medicine. The Ark really depended on Mount Weather for that, but it could be miles away from where they were. She had seen the picture of the military baseㅡshe was the one who helped them choose the landing site for this projectㅡand nothing around them looked like it. Thankfully, she found a few old maps in the dropship. Now all she had to do was figured out where they were, how far it was from Mount Weather, and which way to go.
Just as Claire got off the ship, she was greeted by Clarke who was studying another map on the side of the door with a familiar figure beside her. It was the Chancellor's son, Wells Jaha. In truth, Claire was a bit surprised to see him thereㅡhe was arrested after herㅡbut knowing how strict the rules were in the Ark, and how devoted Wells himself to the girl next to him, she didn't find it hard to believe at all.
"Claire?" Clarke furrowed her brows at her, a look of disbelief on her face. "What are you doing here?"
Before Claire could answer, Wells already beat her up to it. "She was arrested for hacking security systems and deleting all newly upgraded communication systems." His tone was judgemental, and she didn't like it.
"A system upgrade that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't made it in the first place," the Rivers girl retorted matter-of-factly, then gave the guy a cold-eyed stare. "You're welcome."
They weren't friends before, but they weren't enemies either. Wells never made fun of her like the other kids, but he never tried to befriend her either. He always looked like he didn't know what to say to Claire, and she was okay with that. The only reason they ever spoke to each other was Clarke, just like now.
"Wait, so last week's chaos at Skybox was you...?" the blonde asked again, connecting the dots. Claire found it weird that she only found out now when people had been talking about both her crime and arrest since it happened. What was she doing in the solitary all this time? Curled up in the corner of her cell and prayed?
