Alternate Worlds

Discovery

The world had changed. Priamfaya and it's wave of death left almost nothing alive. There was no more vast green trees and signs of life or water; it was empty. Gone. Nothing left but a range of desert and death. There was no signs of life to be found, and Clarke was finding it more than difficult to survive.

"Five years on a burnt planet with no food or water... Great." She mumbles under her breath while staring out over the Earth from the rubble of Becca's lab. She stayed there for as long as she could, only two or three days, before venturing out. Now there was no turning back.

Clarke packed the rest of her rations and walked on foot through the grand desert waste land left of Earth. For hours she walked in the suffocating heat, until she stumbled upon an old friend; machine you could say. The rover.

It seemed luck was looking up for her. Rather than walking the rest of the way to Arkadia to scavenge, she could drive there and cut the time in half.

For hours she drove in the sand avoiding the whirling and storms coming her way. It took longer than expected in trying to avoid them, but once arrived she found her once home in ruin. Nearly nothing was left of the home her people had built. Even if the grounder hadn't destroyed the remainder of the Ark, it  never would have survived the death wave.

With a heavily heart she gathered all she thought to be useful: A few left over rations , a radio, and a box of things to remember her friends by. Even a letter from Jasper for Monty. That would be held onto for safe keeping when they came back down from space. If they came back at all....
No don't think like that. They made it and they're fine.

Clarke shakes her head and loads back in the rover, her next destination clear. Polis. If she could get into the bunker with her mother and Octavia then she could survive the next five years on Earth. However when she arrives what she finds is worse than she could have imagined.

The bunker door was sealed by the rubble of the collapsed tower. No matter how hard she tried to pull her way through, nothing came of it. The door was sealed shut.

Now with the world destroyed and life fruitless, what becomes of the commander of death?

~~~

For what felt like eternity and a never ending disaster of misery and hardship, Clarke journey's across a sand filled world to the last spot of green on Earth. It was difficult, and there were times when Clarke nearly gave up, but in the end she persevered. 

As she walked through the forest and it's emerald green lavish life, she finds a body of water near by. Sighing from relief she all but jumps in, the cool water lapping against her skin. It was refreshing and much needed on her tired form. Clarke didn't spend to much time swimming, however, knowing she needed to keep pushing forward to find food and shelter. The longer she walked the more she worried this was all there was, nothing but trees  and open terrain.

She uses the makeshift crutch to continue on the rough path forward until she stumbles upon something she never imagined she'd find. An infant asleep by a tree. Her blisters were small but present on her little face, but that's as far as the eye can see given the baby was wrapped in a little white blanket. A name embroidered at the end- Madi.

Clarke's heart stops in her chest as she kneels down and inspects the infant, only to find her breathing peacefully. She was alive! Quickly diverting her eyes around her, Clarke lifts the infant in her arms, holding her as close to her chest as she could, a single tear falling down her cheek. The baby was entirely alone. No mother or father in sight. With a shattered heart Clarke looks down at the babe in her arms, the small human wiggling in her grasp. She was waking up. With a small cry Clarke rocks her back and forth, murmuring a lullaby her own father had sing to her as a child. It didn't take long for Madi to calm down in her arms, relieving the woman deeply.

"Come on, little one. Let's get you home."

Clarke keeps the blanket wrapped around the baby and hold her close as she treats further into the woods. Her legs grew tired the longer she walked but she knew she had to preserver. The little on in her arms depended on that.  For more than an hour Clarke trudged through the trees and brush, hoping with everything to find something-anything-  for shelter.

And luck was on her side.

A small weathered out sign reading Shallow Valley came into view. She made it. With a relieved sigh Clarke walked to the small village behind the sign, only to freeze in place. There was not one survivor left alive in the entire village. People, bodies,  red with radiation lied still along the ground and inside of cabins. Perhaps Clarke was not so lucky after all.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Madi." Clarke whispered as her heart fell. She looked down at the baby with tears threatening to spill, only to find her cradled and fast asleep; not at all aware of the devastation surrounding them. Her small fingers wrap around Clarke's as she gurgles and wiggles in her sleep, making Clarke smile for what felt like the first time in forever. "We've got this. And I promise I will never let anything happen to you. Ever."

As Clarke looks over the village and up at the sky she feels less of the sight of the world and more of the peace in her mind. She has a reason to live, a purpose to survive.

What becomes of the commander of death when there's no one left to kill? She retires and fights for life. More specifically the small life in her arms with a future bright and right in front of her.