"We're back, bitches!"

People flood out of the dropship, eager to finally set foot on the Earth they'd only ever imagined. Clarke stepped off the ramp, her eyes scanning the land around them. She couldn't help the grin that stretched over her face and the small laugh that escaped her lips. The sky and the trees and the dirt, the colors were so much more vivid than they'd ever been in the dusty old books on the Ark.

Curse her resourceful mind, Clarke's awe quickly turned to worry. How would a hundred inexperienced teenagers be able to survive on a radiation-soaked earth with no supplies, no idea how to get food or water, and no idea what was even out there? Not to mention that these were teens; they'd rather live in the moment than live past the next few weeks.

Clarke opened up a map fetched from the few supplies they did have. According to the Chancellor, they were supposed to be landing at Mount Weather, where they would find enough supplies to survive and maybe even people. Looking around them, they were not at all on a mountain. Flat land all around the landing site, the only mountains being miles in the distance.

"Lucky we didn't die in a fiery explosion, huh?" Clarke rolled her eyes, turning to raise an eyebrow at Finn. His smile faltered at her blank stare. "What? You not happy we aren't dead?"

"Of course I am, but why don't you ask that to the two people that died in the landing?" She huffed at his idle shrug. "Hey. You see those mountains over there? That's where our next meal is. If we can't make it there soon, we're all going to die anyway." She turns back to where she'd laid out her map, ignoring Finn still hovering behind her.

"Clarke!" Wells appeared over her other shoulder. "I've been through the dropship and assessed what we have. We don't have communication, heat, and not nearly enough to survive the next few weeks. We have to-"

"I know what we have to do," she snapped. "We have to get over to those mountains or we're dead. End of story."

"Woah, woah, you're serious?" Curse these boys, another came up to them from the mob. "We have food. We can find water. What else do we need?"

Wells scowled. "We can't survive off of what we have! They expected us to land somewhere with more resources, not in the middle of the woods!"

"Woah, hey, back off." Another guy strolled up, his walk leaking confidence. "Jasper's not done anything wrong. He just wants to have fun, don't you?" Jasper hesitantly nodded. "See? No need to get so angry. If anything, we should be angry at you, Mr. Chancellor's son."

Wells opened his mouth to protest before the other boy swiped his feet out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. His one leg was injured in the crash and he went down like a brick. Finn jumped in from the side, stopping the boy's punch. "Hey, Murphy. The guy's got one leg. Why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?"

Murphy glowered. "Sure, whatever."

Clarke watched him stalk away before Finn's voice caught her attention. "So, when do we leave?"

Clarke left camp alongside Finn, Jasper, Octavia Blake, and Monty Green, heading in the direction of Mount Weather. For now, their plan was just to scout out the route to the mountain, not engage just yet. They only had a few hours left in the day and wouldn't be able to make it back to the dropship by nightfall if they tried to reach the mountain.

Clarke held casual conversation with Octavia, Bellamy's younger sister, as they walked, Finn being the lead and the other two boys leading the rear. She'd been trying to recognize any of the plants in the area but none had popped out so far.

Finn froze in front of them, holding up a hand. He beckoned them forward, putting a finger to his lips. Clarke moved down beside him and her breath was taken away. "Holy shit."

"Quiet," Finn hissed, and they sat in silence as the deer grabbed leaves off a bush. Finn shifted forward to get a better view and Clarke winced at the loud crack of a twig beneath his feet. The deer looked up towards them, revealing not a normal head, but a deformed one, a second head stretching out from the first and covered in raw, red skin. It fled and left the group gaping in its wake.

Clarke was only shaken back to reality when Monty slipped away from their group to examine the bush the deer had been eating from. His face lit up and he plucked a leaf from the bush and turned to them. "Berries!"

"Berries?" Clarke stood to move over to him. "Are they edible?"

Monty popped it in his mouth. "Hell yes!"

Clarke snagged one off the bush. It was a little blue sphere with a small petal at its top. She rolled it between her fingers for a moment before reluctantly taking a bite. The flavor burst in her mouth and she had to hold back a gasp. This was the real deal. Not some artificial fruit grown in a metal room, but food that came from the earth and the dirt and the wind. It was extraordinary.

Everyone else enjoyed eating the berries while Clarke opened her pack and began to fill it up with as many as she could find. The corner of her eye wavered and she turned, hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of the deer again. Something flickered between the brush and as she leaned forward to get a closer look it vanished, disappearing into thin air. Clarke jolted back in surprise.

"You okay over there?"

Clarke offered Octavia a smile. "I'm alright. I just thought I saw something. It was nothing."

"Mhm," Octavia replied, already filling her mouth with more berries.

Clarke smiled in amusement but couldn't help looking back toward the brush. It was nothing, she told herself. You're just being hopeful.

Hopeful.

Though the berries were appreciated, they weren't nearly enough to live off of. Combined with the fact that everyone else was an asshole, Clarke decided to strike out alone in search of more food. Or maybe that was just an excuse to get out of camp. Either way, she headed out on her own into the uncharted forest. It probably wasn't the best idea, not knowing what was lurking in the trees, but Clarke didn't particularly care. Worst comes to worst, she'll die an easy death of being mauled rather than starving.

The woods were peaceful. Birds chirped as they flitted through the trees, the occasional mouse would scutter into her path, but Clarke much preferred their company to that of other people right now. It was stressful, attempting to corral the unwilling teens. They wanted to party. Wanted to enjoy themselves. What they did not want to do was listen to her. They'd rather follow Bellamy.

Whatever. She'd do this with or without their cooperation.

Clarke rested her hand on the hilt of her knife, tucked into the belt of her pants. She wasn't good with a knife, not in the long shot, but the only gun they had was Bellamys and that was empty of bullets. Her stealth wasn't the best either, but it would have to do.

A bird cawed loudly to her left and she turned just in time to see something peeking around the trees. It was a young girl, somewhere around Clarke's age, with wavy brown hair and tan skin. She froze, her jade eyes meeting Clarke's gaze. Clarke stepped back, blinking, and in that moment the girl vanished.

Clarke rushed forward, looking around the tree and searching the area desperately. That was impossible. Someone couldn't just disappear like that. They had to have gone somewhere, and yet the girl was nowhere to be found.

She was good. Or perhaps Clarke was just going mad.

Nobody had survived the apocalypse. Not on the ground.

Clarke was set.

She was mad.

"You're sure?"

"No." Clarke sighed heavily, resting her chin in her hand. "I have to be going mad, O. No one survived on the ground. It's impossible."

"Well, we aren't dead from radiation yet, so maybe it is possible." Octavia tore at the dried, artificial meat that was a part of the few supplies sent down. They were on their last stock and finally, people were beginning to worry. "Besides, shouldn't we be hopeful? If other people survived, that means we can, too. They might have food."

"We might have food if we could actually make it to Mount Weather!" Clarke scowled, waving away an offering of meat from her friend. "If these people weren't so self-centered we could be surviving rather than slowly dying."

"We aren't slowly dying," Octavia deadpanned. "They were prisoners. This is their first time away from adult control. Let them have their fun."

"They've had their fun. Now it's time for them to stop being lazy asses and do something productive!"

"Bellamy's been taking groups out hunting," Octavia said. "They haven't caught anything yet."

"Of course they haven't. None of us have any clue how to hunt."

Octavia nodded. "My brother thinks he's all high and mighty being in control of these asses. He's getting arrogant."

Clarke threw her a side glance. "Okay. And?"

"You should take his place."

Clarke groaned. "I'm trying to. None of them will listen to me. They think I'll be just like my mother."

"Then show them that you won't. Gain their respect."

"How?"

Octavia smirked. "You need to impress them."

Impress them. Like it was so easy.

Clarke decided in that moment that she was going to learn how to hunt. It would accomplish both of her tasks: get food, impress the delinquents. Win-win. If she could figure it out.

Clarke once again took off alone with her trusty knife strapped to her side. The area around the dropship didn't have much life in its radius, likely because of the scene that both the landing and the occupants had caused. Life was ever so slowly edging closer but not close enough.

Clarke froze as a rabbit hopped into her path. It surprised her, considering she was only a ten minute walk from the dropship, and the last time anything even remotely big had been seen it had been the deer. Clarke sunk slowly to the ground, determined not to miss this chance.

She moved slowly behind it, unsheathing her knife and holding it at the ready. The rabbit looked up from the ground, ears perked, and she stopped all movement, waiting until it looked back down. She edged closer. Only a couple more steps to go. The rabbit looked up again, turned to look straight at her, and bolted.

Clarke cursed under her breath. Had it heard her? Could it see behind it? She didn't know. Something had gone wrong, but she couldn't fathom what. Clarke would like to consider it bad luck, but knew it was otherwise.

She slipped the knife back into her belt, a frown set on her face. How could she ever hope to learn something if she couldn't figure out what mistakes she was making?

"You're too loud." Clarke froze, almost dreading looking behind her. The voice was unfamiliar, one she hadn't heard from the delinquents, but then again, there were a hundred of them. She likely hadn't met them all. She decidedly ignored whoever thought they could do a better job. She heard a snort of laughter. "You're too heavy on your feet. You're breath is too loud. You're unaware of where you're placing your feet."

"Alright, would you stop-" Clarke turned around and felt all the breath rush from her body as her eyes met with a familiar pair of jade orbs.