𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭︱raven reyes, book 1

xxiii. the first shot

THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, JUNE HAD COME BACK TO THE CAMP WITH EVERY INTENTION TO ONLY TALK TO CHANCELLOR JAHA ABOUT BELLAMY BUT HAD FOUND OUT THAT THE GROUNDER THEY HAD IMPRISONED ESCAPED. Truthfully, June had only joined in the fear up until she remembered the guns brought back to camp with them. At least now, they had real weapons to defend themselves with if he came back with his friends. The last thing June wanted was a war, but it could be unavoidable. They didn't know anything about the grounders or how to even start with talk of peace.

Wells was still lingering in the back of June's mind. She knew she only hallucinated him from the nuts, but he had still felt so real. It was like he somehow knew she couldn't move on from his death and still blamed herself. Despite the guilt flowing, June blinked a few times, focusing on the screen Raven had set up. It was Unity Day in The Ark, a day they celebrated when the twelve stations came together. They discuss peace, forgetting the violence when a thirteenth station was blown out of the sky for refusing to comply to prove a point to the rest.

"My friends," Chancellor Jaha announced. "This is a historic Unity Day. Every year, we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the Ark, but this is the last time we do so while aboard her." He gripped the edges of his platform, pausing. "Next year, on the ground." The people in The Ark clapped afterward. June couldn't help but smile, imaging their excitement to fulfill the dream.

"Right," Miller scoffed from the other side of June. "After we did all the work!" A few delinquents watching nodded in agreement. "Someone shut him up."

"You shut up, Miller," Raven countered, tilting her head to peer past June and to him. "No one's forcing you to watch."

"Well, at least their chance worked," June mumbled, putting emphasis on the word. They did sacrifice one-hundred delinquents for a possibility that Earth was survivable, and they happened to be lucky it was. As a silence fell over them again, June tuned out Jaha's voice about Unity Day. They all had known what happened, but the dark side of the event was always covered with talk without the conflict they endured.

June was snapped out of the daze when she heard loud shouts a short distance behind her. She was startled until she recognized it as only Jasper, and he was excited. "Whoo! Yeah!" He cheered, appearing from in between two trees with his goggles covering his eyes and with a large can. "Monty strikes again! Call this batch Unity Juice!" A cheer erupted through the crowd, rushing towards him.

Grinning to herself, June pulled the canteen strap off her shoulder and unscrewed the top. She joined in with her friends circling Jasper, waiting her turn up until he poured the strong-smelling moonshine into the canteen. They didn't have long until the rest of The Ark came down, and stopped the delinquents from their freedom streak.

The Chancellor's final words in his speech echoed through the crowd. June wasn't sure if he couldn't figure out the delinquents were having too much fun or wanted to pretend they were well-behaved due to him wiping their records clean. "To our sons and daughters on Earth listening to this message, we will see you soon," he promised. "The first Exodus ship will launch in under sixty hours, carrying you the reinforcements that you need, so stay strong. Help is on the way."