𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞︱the 100, book 1

( forty-five )

There was a loud ringing in Harley's ears. Every part of her body hurt, as if she was one giant bruise. When she breathed in slowly, her chest warning her with a sharp pain to do otherwise, she was inhaling heavy smoke and ash. She was still as confused as before, and she wanted to sit up and figure what was going on to calm the swirling thoughts in her head, but Harley wasn't sure if she could move, even an inch. She told herself repeatedly that she had to at least try and forced herself to dig her fingers into the dirt, aiming to pull herself up.

As Harley began to shift, there was suddenly a stinging pain in her shoulder and upper arm. She nearly screamed at the burning sensation, panting and remaining still again. Now that she was more awake and alert, she could hear people sobbing and screaming. Others were hurt, in the same state she was, if not worse. Harley wanted to give it her all to help, but the scorch on her arm was still there, and the leftover ache left her believing that she couldn't move as of now.

Harley could hear footsteps, heavy ones racing towards her and she grimaced as they got closer. "Harley? Harley, is that you?! Are you alright?!" They sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't answer. The words were stuck in her throat.

However, Harley was able to slowly adjust her head to the side. She had to blink a few times, feeling tears build up, but managed to make out Octavia's blear figure. She had a darker shadow behind her, who was tall and equally recognizable, but Harley was confused when she thought she was sure it was Lincoln. "W-What.." She began to whisper, her voice hoarse, but was quieted quickly.

"It's alright," Octavia said in a soothing voice, her gloved hand coming to brush Harley's long hair out of view of her injury. She inhaled sharply, seeing the singed skin, an outcome of the fire blast. It didn't look bad, possibly only a second degree if not less, but had to have been painful still. "You're gonna be okay. Lincoln, we need Abby here," she requested. Harley heard him leave, to fetch Abby, but she still needed answers. Her head felt as if it was spinning.

"What happened?" It hurt to even speak, Harley thought, but she needed to know. Her, including a lot of other people, had gotten severely hurt, or worse, even killed.

A look of distressed crossed Octavia's face. "A missile," she replied, doing her best to keep Harley calm. "Tondc was hit by a missile."

It was hard to get, but Harley trusted she was being told right. There was only one civilization on Earth that had the power and engineering to do something like this; Mount Weather. Before Harley could let it sink in any deeper, Lincoln had returned with Abby, and the doctor went to work. "Sit her up," Abby ordered, forcing Octavia to give her a hand in helping Harley move upwards.

The pain shot through Harley as Octavia grasped her good arm, helping to move into a upright position. She nearly cried out, but bit her lower lip instead, trying to keep stiff as Abby inspected her arm. "It's not bad," Abby confirmed. "It's just the worst." Compared to Harley's bruises and scrapes, it was the most severe wound, despite it only being minor. She got lucky. "I need to clean it, but it's going to hurt."