Responsible for survival

Explaining

RAVEN'S POV:

Finn takes Wells far ahead of the rest of us. We can hear his sobs echoing past. They break my heart.
"He hasn't said a bloody word to me." I growl. "I come to bloody earth, and he can't even say hi." Murphy shuffles a little as we walk, he looks at me, chewing his cheek. He stops, and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"I have bad news... Finn-"
"Has a dead boyfriend." Charlotte's little voice is to perky for that statement. My boyfriend has a boyfriend...a dead one. "WHAT?" I splutter, gut twisting and I feel sick burn my throat, and I stop walking, clutching the tree till my knuckles sparkle white in the pale dawn light. Tears begin to spill down my cheeks and I'm sinking to the muddied floor. "He CHEATED for a guy he's known five days. FIVE?" I hiccup. Murphy sits on the floor with me, and gentle rubs away my tears with his dry thumb. Then the anger tries to burn. "I'm going to... I'm going to" my voice gets weaker as I sob harder and Murphy wraps me up against his chest like the last time this happened. I get snot on his shirt again.
"You can't do anything."
"You could float him." Charlotte points out. I giggle and the tears stop for a minute. Murphy helps me up.
"Come on, you've got a space ship to save."

The camp is in early morning disarray. The youth of the kids hits me like an asteroid. An eight year old is darting around as a tall, pretty blonde girl runs after her, holding up a badly cleaned shirt, faded mud stains coating it beige. Her hair flows in a braid and bandana and she catches her, tickling her tummy as she pulls the shirt on. "HARPER!" Murphy yells, stumbling down the banks of the clearing. I pull up a sleeping Charlotte higher on my hip and follow him. She turns around, revealing the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen. "Murphy!" The relief in her eyes hits me with fear. She wasn't expecting them back. Who have we made an alliance with? Finn is nowhere to be seen. I assume he's already gone to cry. She looks behind us, waiting. "Where's Monty? Clarke? Bellamy? Miller? Where are they?" her voice panics, speeding up. Her frenzied eyes searching, pleading that her fears are wrong. I hope they are to.
"Calm. They're fine, hopefully... can you call the camp?" Murphy nods, holidng out his arms for Charlotte. Harper nods and open tents up and screams into them. An ocean of kids faces peer at us through bleary eyes. There are screams of joy and happiness from the crowds. Charlotte wakes up and drops from my arms and runs to one of her friends in the crowd. Then a few kids realise it's just us. A boy, goggles pushed against a wavy fringe pushes forward. "Where's Octavia?" Then another voice asks about me, and suddenly there are more questions than I'd like to hear. Murphy screams for silence. Charlotte drags her friend to the front. "EVERYBODY! This is Raven!" he yells, "She's got a radio, apparently all our wristbands are dead, but she can tell the ark we're alive-"
"Whatever, what about Octavia?" The boy is goggles is bouncing from foot to foot, staring into the forest.
"Great to see you to Jasper, hope you're feeling better." The venom in Murphy's voice makes the crowd recoil slightly. "Let me finish. The grounders are our allies." The crowd murmurs and yells poke between the crowd. The Jasper kid looks so offended, and I stifle a giggle. "ALLIES. ALLIES. CALM DOWN! They're not the only ones on the planet... there's another enemy. The mountain men. THEY have Bellamy, Miller and Drew prisoner. Charlotte WAS their prisoner." Mutters bubble from the crowd, and Harper sinks to her knees. Another girl, younger but still amongst the oldest in the camp, hugs her, whispering reassuring things in her ear. "TOGETHER we are going to defeat them. The grounders currently have Octavia-"
"Then why didn't you get her!? If they're our allies-" Charlotte stands up, barely brushing Jasper's elbow. She points her chin, and charlotte's friends daintily put their fingers in their ears.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! LET US FINISH. THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND OCTAVIA. AT LEAST SHE'S ALIVE, 'COS WELLS ISN'T." Charlotte screams. Everyone flinches. The words leave a silence.
"Wells is dead." Murphy nods, unsure of how to keep the audience's attention. "Killed before Monroe formed our alliance." A tall blonde boy with floppy hair and a soft jaw line smirks. "She, along with Monty and Clarke, are working WITH the grounders to free Bellamy, Miller and Drew." Harper is shaking on the ground now, and I walk over to her, wrapping an arm over the poor girl's shoulders. The other girl smiles gratefully at me, and darts in front of Harper, swiping away tears I hadn't seen from next to Murphy. "WE WILL get them back, I promise." Murphy stares at the crowd, gaze lingering on Harper, "ALL of them."

ABBY'S POV

Kane puts a hand on my shoulder as I refresh and recheck the signal. "It's going to be OK. Raven will have got there." I can tell he's saying it as much for him as he is for himself. He helps me to a seat.
"You need to rest..." his eyes gently look at me. "You've barely slept since we sent out the dropship. It's been 5 days." I nod, but I can't just rest.
"What if I killed her Marcus?" I whisper. "What if I killed my own kid?" Tears spill over my eyelashes.
"Whatever it is that killed her, Abby, it won't be your fault. You saved her from dying in pain as she couldn't breathe up here, as she got floated. She didn't die in pain. Maybe all the wristbands don't like the water as much as we thought... There was that big cloud over them after all..." I hiccup to calmness. He wipes away my tears and strokes my face a little, before he realised he'd done it. He burns red and drops his hand.

"T t Thissss is R-R-R-R-Aven Reeyyyyeess." The radio crackles. We leap to it. "T-the- the 100 ar-are-are aaaaaaallllive." The radio crackles and pops and repeats sounds. Sinclair grins, pushing her straight to the private system. The signal improves, and I push the button.
"Raven? Raven it's Abby. Are you OK?"
"I'm OK." Her voice pops faintly but we don't care. More and more council and high ranking officials hurry into the room. "Abby... We're not alone..." Me and Marcus meet each other's shocked looks. What does she mean? It's impossible anyone could've survived, we've contacted every known bunker. "What do you mean?" Marcus asks down the radio.
"People survived the cataclysm."
"How? Have you met them?" My voice wavers high as Thelonius struts in, anger burning behind his passive eyes.
"Well... Murphy?" The radio crackles and squeals and everyone cringes.
"Let's see," a deep voice comes through the radio."Day 1: You sent us without food, so Clarke, Monty, Jasper, Octavia and Wells," The chancellor draws a sharp breath and stands next to us, "All tried to go to mount Weather to get food-"
"You're on mount Weather." Thelonius growls harshly.
"Noo..." the boy's voice laughs, then cuts it short. "WE'RE on the wrong mountain, about 30 miles away. Anyway... They tried to get over snake infested water. Jasper was struck by a spear. They ran back to camp, and we –me, Clarke, Bellamy, Wells and Finn- Went to get him. We got food as well. Not enough though. Atom, Zoe and Nathan were all running the camp. Zoe and Nathan had gone hunting. Atom took some of the wristbands off. Bellamy, Nathan, Atom and Drew went hunting. The rest of us stayed at camp to finish building it. Acid fog came. During the acid fog Bellamy, Drew, Nathan and Charlotte –who'd followed them due to Wells's" bitterness burns through the radio and Jaha twitches, "negligence and her assuming I was with Bellamy- Were kidnapped by the mountain men. Octavia was also taken by a grounder. We've made an alliance with the grounders against the Mountain men. Clarke, Zoe, Monty and I all went after them. Finn and Wells went after Octavia, and Harper, Sterling and the other kids at camp went after the other kids who didn't make it onto the ship. Clarke, Zoe and Monty are still with the grounders, getting Bellamy, Nathan and Drew back. Charlotte escaped and is with us." My stomach clenches. Clarke's in danger.
"I'll take it from here." Raven's voice echoes down the radio. "Abby, it's me. Clarke will be fine. I promise. What do you need to know?" Marcus leans over and grabs the radio, our fingers brushing.
"Raven, how many are dead?" An indistinct conversation floats through the wire, and Murphy's voice comes out again.
"12." A sickening silence coats the cabin. You hear everyone trying to guess.
"Who?" Kane asks, hand shaking as he presses the volume button.
"Erm, two in the dropship. Glen Dickenson and Alexis John." The ones we already knew, who died in the landing. "Trina, Kit, Viola, Harley, Alex, Cassie, Conah, Conner and Atom in the acid fog." The long list of names shakes the room. Someone scribbles the names down. That'll be heart breaking for the parents. "And Wells." The chancellor snatches the radio.
"WHAT?"
"The grounders killed him before Zoe organised the alliance." I place my hand on Thelonius' sagging shoulders.
"Then why are you in alliance with them?" he spits, skin burning under my hand. I glance at Kane, who reaces for the radio. Jaha pulls it out of reach.
"Because then everyone would be dead. No offence, chancellor-" the venom in this kids voice is great, "But we've had more close misses to dead kids than you've floated people. Your son's blood is on your hands."
"MURPHY!" The radio squeals and we all cringe. Crackly voice echo down it as it squeals and pips. "Hi." A sweet little kids voice smiles down the radio. "It's Charlotte. They're fighting... It'll be a while. We'll tell you when they get back. Bye."
"BE careful!" I call down the radio, before putting it down. Silence rolls over the room.