❝I don't do regrets. Regrets are pointless. It's too late for regrets. You've already done it, haven't you? No point wishing you could change it.❞
Elissa Bardot-Gray was never the one to be classified as a "rule breaker". She had a high-rankin...
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THE WALK BACK TO camp was somber, none of them talked as the thought of Atom hung heavy in the air around them. A never-ending chill permeated the air, causing Elissa to shiver as she walked with arms folded across her chest, hands tucked under them.
Maybe the chill accompanied the thought that they'd lost one of their own.
Elissa always knew there would be a chance that things could go wrong—that they could all die. It was a miracle that they even made it to Earth; the heat and stress of entering the atmosphere would be too much for the ancient dropship. But they had survived, they had made it. And although they'd lost the two boys at the time, their death had been no one's fault but their own. There had been no way to stop them.
They'd known that Earth would be dangerous, surviving would be a struggle and there was a strong chance that none of them would survive. Cold, hunger, disease. So many things that none of them were properly trained to handle.
That's why the Ark had sent them down in the first place—testing the surface—had enough time gone by to make Earth habitable again?
Besides, it was one of the easiest ways to get rid of one hundred delinquents—no matter if they lived or died. One hundred less people who would consume food, water, air. It would give the Ark the time they needed to fix the problems with the air supply shortage.
But with Atom's death, the dangers of being on Earth were suddenly much more threatening. There were things on Earth—phenomena like the fog, something that no one on the Ark had ever seen before, let alone heard about, that they didn't know how to deal with. Something deadly that they had no way to fight off, no way to protect themselves from.
They were fighting for survival against things they didn't even know existed.
Not only did humans survive through the radiation, but we're surrounded by an environment that is constantly trying to kill us...
Trailing behind Clarke, she could hear the heavy footsteps and grunts of Bellamy, Finn, and Wells as they took turns carrying Atom's body. Each of them was struggling under the dead weight and trying to keep their balance on the slippery moss-covered roots. The two boys showed up shortly after Clarke, following her trail. Both too late to help Atom—stunned at the sight of him.
"Octavia needs to know," Bellamy said, his voice hollow as he stared down at Atom's body, hauling him up and over his shoulders. Although not usually ones to follow Bellamy's lead, Finn and Wells both stepped up to help, offering a hand when he started to falter on the way back.
The sun had long gone down, disappeared behind the mountains, by the time they made it to camp. As they passed through the newly installed gate, they blinked around numbly at the clearing before the Dropship. The numerous campfires casted the space in an eerie orange glow, breaking through the darkness. Those that sat closest to the gate were the first to rise and a wave of murmurs spread out as people caught sight of the group returning.
