“David,” Clarke’s mom warned from the kitchen, where she was tearing open protein packets and mixing them in with the greenhouse kale. She didn’t like it when Clarke’s father made jokes about going to Earth. According to her research, it was going to be at least another hundred years until the planet was safe. #51 в контекст | | |
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Her father cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?” #53 в контекст | | |
“I want to see where all the people lived. Why aren’t any apartments on the map?” #54 в контекст | | |
Her father smiled. “I’m afraid we don’t have anything that detailed. But people lived everywhere.” He traced his finger along one of the squiggly lines. “They lived by the ocean… they lived in the mountains… the desert… along the rivers.” #55 в контекст | | |
“How come they didn’t do anything when they knew the Cataclysm was coming?” #56 в контекст | | |
Her mother walked over to join them on the couch. “It all happened very quickly,” she said after she’d sat down. “And there weren’t many places on Earth where people could hide from all that radiation. I think the Chinese were building a structure here.” She zoomed out the map and pointed to a spot on the far right side. “And there was talk of something near the seed bank, here.” She traced her finger to the top of the map. #57 в контекст | | |
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Clarke’s mother fiddled with the globe. “That was in what would’ve been Virginia, right?” #59 в контекст | | |
“What’s Mount Weather?” Clarke asked, leaning in for a better look. #60 в контекст | | |
“Many years before the Cataclysm, the United States government built a large underground bunker in case of nuclear war. The scenario seemed unlikely, but they had to do something to protect the President—he was like their Chancellor,” she explained. “But when the bombs finally fell, no one made it there in time, not even the President. It all happened too suddenly.” #61 в контекст | | |
An uncomfortable question bumped against the jumble of other thoughts in Clarke’s mind. “How many people died? Like, thousands?” #62 в контекст | | |
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“Billions?” Clarke rose to her feet and padded over to the small, round, star-filled window. “Do you think they’re all up here now?” #64 в контекст | | |
Her mother walked over and placed her hand on Clarke’s shoulder. “What do you mean?” #65 в контекст | | |
“Isn’t heaven supposed to be somewhere in space?” #66 в контекст | | |
Clarke’s mother gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I think heaven is wherever we imagine it to be. I’ve always thought mine would be on Earth. In a forest somewhere, full of trees.” #67 в контекст | | |
Clarke slipped her hand into her mother’s. “Then that’s where mine will be too.” #68 в контекст | | |
“And I know what song will be playing at the pearly gates,” her father said with a laugh. #69 в контекст | | |
Her mother spun around. “David, don’t you dare play that song again.” But it was too late. Music was already streaming out of the speakers in the walls. Clarke grinned as she heard the opening lines of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” #70 в контекст | | |
“Seriously, David?” her mother asked, raising an eyebrow. #71 в контекст | | |
Her father only laughed and bounded over to grab their hands, and the three of them spun around the living room, singing along to her father’s favorite song. #72 в контекст | | |
“Clarke!” Bellamy emerged from the tree line, breathless. It was too dark to see the expression on his face, but she could hear the urgency in his voice. “Come and see this!” #73 в контекст | | |
Clarke stumbled awkwardly through the water. She reached the muddy bank and, forgetting that she was barely dressed, broke into a run, ignoring the rocks under her bare feet and the sting of the chilly night air. #74 в контекст | | |
He was crouched on the ground, staring at something Clarke couldn’t make out. #75 в контекст | | |
“Bellamy!” she called. “Are you okay? What was that sound?” #76 в контекст | | |
“Nothing. A bird or something. But look at this. It’s a footprint.” He pointed at the ground, his smile shimmering with hope. “It’s Octavia’s, I’m sure of it. We found the trail.” #77 в контекст | | |
Relief coursed through Clarke as she knelt down for a better look. There seemed to be another print a few meters away, in a patch of mud. Both looked fairly recent, as if Octavia had walked by only hours earlier. But before she could reply, Bellamy stood up, pulled Clarke to her feet, and kissed her. #78 в контекст | | |
He was still wet from the lake, and as he wrapped his arms around her waist, her damp skin clung to his. For a moment, the world around them faded away. All that existed was Bellamy—the warmth of his breath, the taste of his lips. He moved one of his hands from her waist to her lower back and Clarke shivered, suddenly acutely aware that she and Bellamy were standing in their underwear, dripping wet. #79 в контекст | | |
A cold breeze shuddered through the thick canopy of leaves and danced across the nape of Clarke’s neck. She shivered again, and Bellamy slowly unlocked his lips from hers. “You must be freezing,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her back. #80 в контекст | | |
She cocked her head to the side. “You’re wearing even less clothing than I am.” #81 в контекст | | |
Bellamy ran his finger up her arm, then tugged playfully at her damp bra strap. “We can fix that, if it bothers you.” #82 в контекст | | |
Clarke smiled. “I think it’s probably a good idea to put on more clothes before we head off into the woods to follow those footprints.” Even though she didn’t think the tracks would vanish overnight, she knew Bellamy wouldn’t want to stop now that he’d found the trail. #83 в контекст | | |
He looked at Clarke. “Thank you,” he said, leaning over to kiss her again before he took her hand and led her toward the shore. #84 в контекст | | |
They dressed quickly, then grabbed their packs and headed back into the shadow-filled woods. The trail was fairly easy to follow, although Bellamy kept spotting the next print long before Clarke saw anything. Had his eyes grown that sharp from hunting? Or was it the by-product of his desperation? “Forget the gills. I think you’ve developed night vision,” she called when he dashed toward yet another footprint she hadn’t noticed. She’d meant it as a joke, of course, but then she frowned. The radiation levels on Earth clearly weren’t as high as she’d once feared, but that didn’t mean they were safe yet. Low-level radiation poisoning could take weeks to present, even if their cells had already begun to deteriorate. For all she knew, that was why no more dropships had arrived. What if the Council wasn’t waiting to determine whether Earth was safe—because the hundred’s biometric data had already proved that it wasn’t? #85 в контекст | | |
Her heart racing, Clarke glanced down at the monitor clamped to her wrist and counted the days they’d been on Earth. She looked up at the moon, which was three-quarters full. It had been a pale sliver that first terrible night after they’d crashed. Her stomach plummeted as she remembered a pivotal moment in her parents’ research. The day most patients grew sicker. Day twenty-one. #86 в контекст | | |
“I’m used to looking for things in the dark,” Bellamy said ahead of her, oblivious to her anxiety. “Back on the Colony, I’d sneak into the abandoned storage areas. Most of them didn’t have electricity anymore.” #87 в контекст | | |
Clarke winced as a branch scraped her leg. “What were you looking for?” she asked, shoving aside her concern. If anyone did begin presenting signs of radiation poisoning, they had some medicine that might help, albeit a paltry amount. #88 в контекст | | |
“Old machine parts, textiles, the odd Earthmade relic—anything worth trading at the Exchange.” His tone was casual, but she could hear a hint of strain in his voice. “Octavia didn’t always get enough to eat at the care center, so I had to find a way to get extra ration points.” #89 в контекст | | |
The admission pulled Clarke from her own thoughts. Her heart ached at the idea of a younger, slighter version of the boy in front of her, alone in a dark, cavernous storage area. “Bellamy,” she started, searching for the right words, then cut herself off as she caught sight of something glinting from the shadowy depths behind the trees. She knew she should keep moving; they couldn’t afford to lose any more time. Yet something about the way it shimmered brought Clarke to a stop. #90 в контекст | | |
“Bellamy, come look at this,” she said, turning to walk toward it. #91 в контекст | | |
There was something on the ground, scattered among the roots of a large tree. Clarke bent down for a closer look and saw that it was metal. She inhaled sharply and reached out to run her finger along one of the long, twisted pieces. What could it have been part of? And how had it ended up here, in the middle of the woods? #92 в контекст | | |
“Clarke?” Bellamy shouted. “Where did you go?” #93 в контекст | | |
“I’m over here,” she called back. “You need to see this.” #94 в контекст | | |
Bellamy materialized soundlessly next to her. “What’s going on?” He was breathing heavily, and there was an edge to his voice. “You can’t just take off like that. We need to stick together.” #95 в контекст | | |
“Look.” Clarke picked up a piece of metal and held it in the moonlight. “How could this have survived the Cataclysm?” #96 в контекст | | |
Bellamy shifted from one foot to the other. “No clue,” he said. “Now can we keep moving? I don’t want to lose the trail.” #97 в контекст | | |
Clarke was about to set the strange artifact back on the ground when she noticed two familiar letters carved into the metal. TG. Trillion Galactic. “Oh my god,” she murmured. “It came from the Colony.” #98 в контекст | | |
“What?” Bellamy crouched down next to her. “It must be part of the dropship, right?” #99 в контекст | | |
Clarke shook her head. “I don’t think so. We have to be at least six kilometers from camp. There’s no way this is wreckage from the crash.” At least, not our crash. #100 в контекст | | |
