Lily felt her cheeks hurting from how much she was smiling, but she couldn't stop herself. Earth was truly beautiful, she loved the fresh air, the smell of grass and trees, and the sun. She loved how it heated her skin.
She remembered how she used to look at the sun from the Ark, but it was only there, a giant ball of fire. But even if up there they were close, it felt so cold. But it was even more magical seeing it from the ground.
Everyone around her was cheering, running, taking deep breaths of fresh air; she had never seen such happiness on the ground. And for a moment Lily had completely forgotten about the danger of radiation.
That thought reminded her about the wristband around her wrist. When Marcus had put it on her, she remembered it stung. So those needles probably checked their vitals. But there was no screen for them to see. Was it supposed to be shown on the Ark?
Yet again the same question that she had asked herself since she had been dragged out of her skybox came back again.
"Why did they send us here?" she muttered.
"I'm so glad they did," a voice made her turn to see a boy with big goggles on the top of his head and a goofy smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Jasper."
"Lily," she answered with a little smile.
Jasper smiled again, "I honestly didn't think that it would have looked like this."
"Yeah, me too," she admitted, looking around, "I thought the radiation would have killed us immediately."
"Whoa!" he exclaimed with a chuckle, "Dark much."
"Sorry," she answered, "I didn't want to tear down your enthusiasm."
Jasper shook his head, raising his hands, "No worries," he said, "You're not the only serious one." He then pointed at her back, making her turn to see Clarke Griffin and Wells Jaha looking at something and talking pensively with each other.
"What is going on?" Lily asked with a little frown.
"Don't know," he answered, "Let's find out, shall we?" He didn't wait for her answer as he made his way towards the two, but she could not help but let out a little chuckle. That guy was strange, but he seemed like a really fun guy.
Lily was about to follow him, when she saw Wells turning around and pushing Jasper away roughly.
"Jasper," she called, getting closer, just before another voice could be heard.
"Hey, hey, hey, hands off him. He's with us." When Lily turned, she noticed the guy that had been sitting next to her during the landing. He was not alone, but with many other guys coming closer, glaring at Wells. Lily was not sure if Jasper was one of them, but she knew that many on the Ark hated the Chancellor, and the Council, so Wells just being a Jaha was a target to many criminals.
"Relax," Wells said, turning to the guy named Murphy, "We were just trying to figure out where we are." Lily frowned at his words, what did it mean?
"We're on the ground. Is that not good enough for you?" The guy named Bellamy and his sister walked closer.
"We need to find Mount Weather," Wells exclaimed, getting Lily all the more confused. They were supposed to land on Mount Weather. Did something go wrong?
"You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority," Wells insisted, making his way towards Bellamy, and all of them followed to keep listening to the conversation. Lily was standing next to Jasper, and in front of them there were Clarke and Wells giving their attention to Bellamy.
"Screw your father," Octavia Blake shouted from next to her brother, "What? You think you're in charge here, you and your little princess?" She gestured towards Clarke, who took a frustrated breath before speaking.
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" she asked, before looking at each one of them. "We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."
They did indeed drop them in the wrong place. Lily thought back to Marcus, back on the Ark. He always thought that they had everything under control, but they made them land so far from where they could have actual supplies.
"I got a better idea," Bellamy said with a strong voice, "You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."
The others seemed to agree with this idea. Lily was not surprised, but she was sure Clarke and Wells weren't either. The difference between who was privileged and who wasn't was very evident to everyone on the Ark, but that didn't mean that the privileged didn't suffer the same rules. No one was safe on the Ark.
"You're not listening, we all have to go," Wells insisted, looking at Bellamy, but he didn't seem to change his mind.
Someone passed next to Lily, and in an instant Wells got pushed. "Look at this, everybody!" Only now she noticed that it had been Murphy the one who pushed Wells.
"The Chancellor of Earth," Murphy mocked him, and those words seemed to amuse many people around them, like Bellamy and Octavia. That wasn't looking good.
"Think that's funny?" Wells asked, walking up to Murphy, who only chuckled before, in a swift move, he was able to make Wells fall on the floor. Lily let out a gasp, as she heard Clarke calling for her friend while other boys blocked her so that she couldn't help him.
"No," Murphy answered as he observed Wells still on the ground, "But that was." The people around him kept screaming for Murphy to attack Wells, and many were finding that amusing. Lily observed, worried, as Wells pulled himself up, ready to fight against Murphy.
That was actually terrifying, they had just landed and they were already fighting against each other for what they were on the Ark. Wells seemed to have hurt his ankle in his fall, but he was ready to try and defend himself. But luckily, nothing happened, because from the top of the dropship jumped the guy that Lily had seen before in the dropship. And he landed in between Wells and Murphy.
"Kid's got one leg," he said, "How about you wait until it is a fair fight."
That seemed enough to convince Murphy to back away from there, and soon everyone was walking away from the scene, some of them clearly upset to not have seen the son of the Chancellor fistfighting. Lily took a breath, but then she decided to walk towards the boy, who was now sitting down with Clarke checking on his ankle.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly, looking up at Wells.
"It hurts when I step on it," but then he frowned a little as he looked down at her.
"Aren't you—"
"Lily Hale," she was quick to say, forcing a little smile, before kneeling next to Clarke. "Is there something I can do?" she asked.
"You worked in the medic field?" Clarke said with curiosity.
Lily nodded, "A medical technician more than anything."
"You worked with medicines," Clarke added, looking at Lily.
"Yes," she answered, "But I can help with the basics too." Clarke showed her a little smile, just before Finn's voice made them turn as he walked closer.
"So, Mount Weather. When do we leave?" he asked with a smug expression on his face.
"Right now," Clarke answered firmly, standing up. "We'll be back tomorrow with food."
"How are the two of you gonna carry enough food for a hundred?" Wells asked. He didn't seem convinced at all of that plan, but Finn was quick to turn and grabbed Jasper and another boy, telling Clarke that they now were four.
"Sounds like a party," a cheerful voice made them look to the side to see Octavia Blake, now strangely happy to be around the privileged, "Make it five," Lily noticed how her eyes stopped to glance at Finn. But behind her, Bellamy followed by, taking his sister by the arm.
"Hey," he said sternly, "What the hell are you doing?" Octavia only answered him that she wanted to go for a walk. Her brother didn't seem happy with her decision; he seemed to be quite overprotective of her.
"Hey!" Clarke exclaimed, shooting her hand forward to grab Finn's wrist. His wristband had a black mark on the opening. "Did you try to take it off?" she kept saying.
"Yeah, so?" Finn asked with a shrug of his shoulders.
"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark." Clarke was ready to answer, "Take it off, and they'll think you're dead." Lily found herself looking down at her wristband. She wondered if Marcus was looking at her vitals, but then she shook her head. He probably was, like he was looking at all the others'.
"Should I care?" Finn said, but Clarke was quick to answer.
"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" she challenged him. "Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying."
We are truly lab rats, Lily thought, briefly looking up at the sky, as if she could spot the Ark from there. But why? Why now? What was the rush?
She kept asking herself those questions, but she had not found an answer yet. It was such a big shot in the dark—a hundred years were many to wait. Did the Council get bored of ruling on the Ark? Did they want the ground as well?
"Now let's go," Clarke said, before turning to Lily, "You coming?"
Lily looked at Wells for a moment, "I think it's better not to leave him completely alone," she answered, "Two is better than one."
Clarke gave a small nod, not pushing the matter.
"Suit yourself," she said simply, then turned to join the others without another word.
Lily watched the group go for a moment, then knelt down in front of Wells. He hadn't said anything, but she could tell the pain was still there, dull and persistent. But the ankle was not the only thing that was bothering him.
"You didn't have to stay," he murmured, avoiding her gaze.
"I know," she answered, giving a brief glance to Bellamy still standing next to them, looking in the direction where his sister had disappeared. "But I wanted to."
Many people were hating on Wells, and Bellamy seemed to start getting popularity among the hundred, and he too was not happy to have a Jaha among them.
Lily gently pushed up the fabric around his ankle and examined it.
"It's a bit swollen," she said, more to herself than to him. "You should keep it elevated and avoid putting weight on it. For now, at least."