What He Left Behind

Chapter 3

CLARKE POV

28 May 2150

"It's been 58 days. Needless to say, my life got easier the day I found the Rover. I found a village in a valley, surrounded by grass and air and a clean stream. It's like Praimfaya completely skipped over this little area. I've been calling it Eden. It's safe here, no grounders or reapers are trying to kill me. I have drinkable water and food. I don't know how the hell I'm going to make it five years without human interaction, but if it means I'll see you again, I have to try. Just wait till you see this place—"

I stop, sure I heard something in the woods. Which is crazy, I know it's crazy, but when has anything ever made sense down here?

I get up from the porch and stand completely still. All I hear is silence. But as I turn to go inside, I hear it again: the faintest rustling of leaves, the snap of a twig. I turn around just in time to see what I think is a child. The poor kid's hair is matted and unkempt, its clothes are torn, and its face covered in grime and blood. But how could a child have survived Praimfaya? I walk forward, trying to assure the child that it's okay but it only startles the child further.

"Hod up! Beja!" I yell, as I pick up the pace until I find myself a few yards away from the child. "Yu laik natblida, sha?"

I receive a blank stare from the child, but considering it isn't running from me, I take it as a good sign. I step forward, ready to continue reasoning with the child, but before I get the chance to speak, I feel something tighten around my ankle. I scream in pain as I look down to see a bear trap clamped onto my leg.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. The only other person on this planet and it just so happens to be the child from hell?"

Slowly and painfully, I make my way back to my home in the valley where I do my best to assess the damage that has been done on my leg. I painstakingly stitch up my wounds, until the pain becomes too much, and I lose consciousness.

I jolt awake, the pain in my leg rushing back to me. I feel around for my medical supplies only to find them gone. Everything is gone. I pull myself off the counter I'd used as my makeshift medical table and hobble slowly down to the stream. It's there that I find the little hell-child spearing fish, but as soon as the child realizes I'm here, it runs away again.

I lower myself onto a rock and sketch a photo of the child. When I'm satisfied with it, I walk to the halfway point between where I sat and the tree the child was hiding behind. I lay the sketch on the ground, and I back away a few steps. The child creeps toward the sketch, cautiously, to be sure that I won't make any sudden movements.

"En's ku," I say gently, "Ai nou na bash yo up. Ai laik Clarke kom Skaikru. Chon yu bilaik?"

"Ai laik Madi kom Louwoda Klironkru."

Madi. The child's a girl.

"Do you speak English, Madi?"

She nods, timidly.

"Good. How old are you?" This time, my response comes in the form of one grubby hand with all five fingers extended. My heart breaks for her, having lost her family and everything she's ever known at only five years old. She's so young to have survived the past 58 days on her own. "Are you hungry?" Another nod. I offer her my hand, which she takes as I lead her back to my cabin in the village.

After we eat, we go back to the stream, where I help her get cleaned up. I wash her body and hair, which I am also able to brush through. I bring a large shirt I washed a few days ago to put her into while we wait for her clothes to dry. As we go back to the cabin, I feel her pace slow and realize that she must be exhausted. She's been keeping herself alive for the last two months, I'm sure that would be exhausting to any five-year-old, even if it is the five-year-old from hell. I lean down to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way back to my cabin. Our cabin.

"Reshop, ai yongon. Bilaik jos yumi nau."

I wrap her up in a blanket I found and lay her on the bed. She's quick to fall asleep, and I can't blame her. For what feels like forever I just sit and watch her sleeping, so peacefully. I'm amazed that she's been self-sufficient for this long, but I'm thankful that I found her. Now I can take care of her, she's not alone anymore. I'm not alone anymore. And with that thought in my head, I fall asleep at her bedside, holding one of her little hands safely within my own.

Trigedasleng Translations (Line by line.)

Wait up! Please! You're a Nightblood, yeah?

It's okay. I mean you no harm. I am Clarke of the Sky People. Who are you?

I am Madi of the Shallow Valley Clan.

Goodnight, my child. It's just us now.