WILD HEART • COMMANDER LEXA [1]

iv. REUNION

"I need two pressure dressings and saline. Lots of it."

Erica opened her eyes slowly, then slammed them shut again. After the minute it took for her eyes to adjust to the light, she recognized Clarke lying beside her, talking to a woman she didn't know.

The area around her was made nearly entirely out of cloth. The light peeking through one of the openings nearly blinded her, the coruscating glow too much for her eyes to bear. The voices of the other individuals were suppressed by the throbbing in her head. Erica figured she should get up, but the intense pain she felt coursing through her body suggested otherwise.

"Clarke," she breathed, her voice barely audible.

"Get her some water," The woman spoke, a shorter man whom Erica hadn't noticed got up and left hastily. "Erica, honey. You're gonna be okay. It's me, it's Abby Griffin, do you remember me, honey?."

"Abby," Erica's eyes welled with tears at the sight of the woman she'd known since her childhood. She remembered her mother.

"Have you seen my mom? Is she here?" Tears had begun slipping from her eyes involuntarily.

"She's not here, I'm sorry. But, there's still hope, we haven't found all of our people yet, when we landed, we all scattered. She was with Farm Station, and we haven't been able to locate them yet." Abby wiped Erica's tears away. "I promise I'll let you know the second I hear anything. Don't lose hope,"

Erica could only nod, unable to speak after hearing this news.

A woman with blonde hair and a guard's uniform came in, looking as orderly and stoic as a guard could.

"Where is Anya? Clarke?" Erica changed the subject, pushing herself up slowly, coughing multiple times after she spoke.

"She killed her," Clarke replied, lazily tossing her head towards the guard woman.

"No," Erica slowly swung her legs off of the table she was on. "She was our best chance. She was our friend."

A few tears unwillingly spilled down her face, creating streaks of skin than were somewhat cleansed of the mud that had previously covered them. Quickly, Erica wiped them away.

The guard lowered her head guiltily, then turned to the other woman. "Are they going to be alright?"

"They will be."

"I'm sorry ma'am, we had no idea who they were. If we had known it was your daughter and her friends we-" The guard's excuses died down when she realized nobody cared that she didn't know who they were, or that it was out of her control.

"Where have you been?" The guard pressed.

"Byrne."

"It's fine, Mom," Clarke said to the woman tending to her wounds. It made more sense now, Clarke did look just like her mother.

"We were in Mount Weather." Erica breathed out.

"The grounders took you there?" Byrne asked, stepping closer.

"No. The Mountain Men," Clarke sat up just like Erica had, but her mother pushed her back down. "We have to get them out."