CLARKE'S POV:

Bellamy hugs my shoulders and buries his face in the nape of my neck. Monty sees but doesn't comment. He lets go, and I turn and peck him on the lips. His lips are more cracked than normal, how long was it since he drank something? "Be careful." I whisper between kisses.
"You to." He whispers. "I love you."
"I love you to." I kiss his nose. "Promise me you'll stay safe?"
"I promise." He whispers, kissing me one last time. He can barely look away, and I find myself staring at the ladder long after he'd climbed down it.
"You two are gross." Monty laughs from the corner.
"Shut up Monty."

BELLAMY'S POV:

The axe goes whistling right at the flash. Thud. Charlotte shakes as she stares at me, eye wide. "CHARLOTTE!" My heart barely beats. I could've... "I could've KILLED you."
"You didn't" she smiles, "Is Johnnie here?" she stands on tip top, pushing a hand against the tree to peer over the bush.
"No, he's building the wall with Monroe..." her face drops, and her eyebrows sink. "Is that why you're alone in the woods?" my voice cracks, something it hasn't done since puberty. She smirks. "You could've DIED Charlotte."
"But I didn't." She giggles, soft and high. I share a look with Miller. He shakes his head, eyes imploring.
"We can't leave her alone in the woods."
"She's a kid..." He's practically begging me, inky brown swirls turning into an impending storm in his wide eyes.
"We haven't got a choice." I say, and turn back to her. She's slipped under the hedge, and slouches against it, lone eyebrow raised and arms crossed. "You're coming with us. Ever killed something before?" She giggles, smiling, eyes dancing till tears roll, fingers comfortably curling round the blade I hold out.

Charlotte comfortably keep pace with us, and spots tracks we'd never have noticed. Then she screams. I crick my neck looking where she does. Grounders? No. A creeping toxic yellow fog, floating towards us, hiding tall trees from view. I grab her tiny hand, clench it in my fist and sprint towards the ivy covered caves we'd found. Atom begins to howl, some ten metres behind us. I drag Charlotte faster, screaming for Miller and Drew to keep up. As I throw Charlotte into the cave I turn towards the thick yellow fog. My skin tingles but my eyes stare blankly towards where Atom was. A vague image of writhing pain flits through the fog.

 'Flound'ring like a man in fire or lime'.

I duck inside the darkness.

OCTAVIA'S POV:

It's dark. So dark. It's as if it's trying to eat me. I begin to shake, the long nights under the floor shaking my soul. But the ceiling is much to high to be the floor, I squint around. Where am I? Where am I? A little sparkle of yellow glimmers from a far off corner. A pointed sword dipped in glowing yellow is pointed at me. I scream. My lungs are cut of air by something. A pair of eyes slam into mine. They glare and send shivers up my spine. Something is pulled off my mouth. I start to scream again. "Stop." The hoarse voice whispers.
"What are you doing?" my voice shakes to a whisper.
"Saving your life."

The scent of burning flesh chokes me back to unconsciousness.

CLARKE'S POV:

A stampede of feet shatter the silence in the dropship, echoing up the walls. I scramble down the ladder, pushing through a crowd of coughing kids. "Monroe!" I yell, seeing her wiry body at the doors, pushing crying kids inside. "Monroe! What's going on?" I scream over the din. Her eyes snap round the heads of the kids until her wild eyes hit mine. Tear glisten, and her hand clinging to the curtain is slowly burning red. "There's this yellow choking fog outside. I sent everyone in. It's burning." Tears begin to glisten in her soft green eyes but she blinks them away hurriedly. "Close the door." She shakes her head.
"I can't." I can barely hear her voice over the din. "Murphy's still out there."

A bloodied figure stumbles in and slams the lever up, before grabbing Wells into a choke hold, pushing him against the wall. It hits me. That's Murphy, blood dribbling off his chin, splatting to the floor. "WHERE THE F*** IS CHARLOTTE!" He screams. Wells chokes something out, but it's just a few breaths. Finn is screaming, kids are screaming, crying, drip drop drip of blood. He loosens his grip. The next six words are the loudest. "I thought she was with you."
Murphy sinks to the floor. No one is allowed to touch him, I try. His burns look severe but he doesn't care. He sobs instead, clutching a dusty bent hairpin. I don't try again.

"Clarke, where's Octavia?" Monroe asks, green eyes glittering like poison. We search. She's not here. And we're missing about 8 other kids. Trina and Alex's dead bodies can be seen from the small dusty window on the top floor of the dropship, half writhing in the fading yellow fog.

"The fogs clear!" Murphy. The door crashes open and the ship shakes. I fall down the ladder and skid down the ramp to them. Monroe is holding Murphy back, pinning his arms in a position I am sickeningly familiar with. "We've GOT to GO." He screams between tears, writhing in Monroe's arms. She does not budge. "CHARLOTTE'S out there. ALONE." The sobs are getting worse, and now it's Monroe rocking him. "I know." She whispers, not letting go, voice silky and deep. "She'll be OK. She'll be with Bellamy." I step forward and pat him on the shoulder.
"He'll have found her. Don't worry. He'd never let anyone hurt her. Not when she means so much to you." He nods but the tears still fall.
"What if she's dead?" his voice is earth shattering, yet scarcely a whisper. Kids slowly clamber down the ramp. Pascal runs past to Trina, behind the dropship. His wails make the tears on Murphy's cheeks fall faster.
"Then we will bring her back anyway. But the three of us can't find 12 people... MONTY! WELLS! HARPER! FOX! ERIC! FELIX! STERLING! FINN! JOSH!" I scream, each name making them flinch. They slip at different times to us. I don't know what I'm doing. "Erm. We have 12 people out there. 6 are known to be close to the camp. Monty, Fox, Eric, Felix, Sterling, Josh, you need to go and find them, whether it's their dead bodies or alive ones. Finn, Wells, we need you to track Octavia. She's not been seen since just after brakfast yesterday, last seen heading into the woods, west side. You need to track her. The rest of us will go after the hunting team and Charlotte." Monty shakes his head.
"I've got to come with you." Monty says. Harper's eyes bug next to him, she stares in horror, and her narrow fingers squeeze his shoulder, head shaking. "I've got to. Three of you can't find five so far out in grounder territory. We know roughly where all six are and can send teams to them, but Clarke... You have no idea where they are. I'm the only other tracker." Monroe tilts her head at him.
"What about Jasper?"
"We found a natural poultice, there's enough for Harper to use for about six days." Tears sparkle on Harper's long lashes, and Monty squeezes her wrist.
"I have no idea what that is-" Monroe starts, trying to force out a laugh.
"And I don't care. We've got to go." Murphy practically runs into the forest. Harper hugs Monty before pushing him away and running into the dropship. I wait for him, and we chase after Monroe and Murphy, who tear through the forest, shadows dancing on the spotted floor.

ABBY'S POV

I crash through the doors, not caring who sees anymore. "RAVEN!" The tears streaming down my face choking the words. She jumps, slamming her head on the bonnet. "What?" she hisses, rubbing her head, "I told you, another day at least." Then she sees me, and the anger fades.
"There are no more days." Kane's voice shakes.
"The tiles. All the tiles have gone blank. All of them." I'm shaking like a leaf, and she squeezes my hand in her oily one.
"Get me a pressure regulator and my space suit and we can be gone in an hour." Kane's smile fades, and swallows.
"There's not going to be a we on the ground Raven. There's only two seats, and you'll need supplies. Those kids went down with nothing."
"What do you mean?" she folds her arms. This is the snarkiest she's been in days.
"Everything we're about to give you is illegal."
"YOU'RE NOT COMING WITH ME?" her eyes begin to blur with tears, and a few dribble to the edges of her lashes. She blinks them back, and arches her back. "I'm as expendable as they are, aren't I?"
"No... No... No you're not." I whisper, "We need you to live. The Arks dying. Down there is your only chance of survival." I wrap her in my arms, and we sob. Kane leaves searching for a pressure regulator. Those kids need us.

We shut her doors for her and kiss her cheeks goodbye. "In peace may you leave the shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground." The boosters fire, and we watch the blip of another tumbling drop ship towards a dying earth.

OCTAVIA'S POV:

The world spins back into light. I can see better now, light brighter. And I can see I am alone. "The hell am I?" I whisper, fingers scrabbling along cold rock. "The hell are you?" A gruff voice slides into view. A tall stranger stoops to the ground next to me, resting a soft, fluffy thing under my neck.
"I am Lincoln." His voice is gravelly, and he strokes my hair
"What do you want, Lincoln?" his hand is warm and rough against my forehead, as he brushes hair off it. His eyes a pale, shiny brown, with sparkly golden flecks from the flame in front.
"I saved your life." He whispers.
"Why?" I truly meet his gaze, his deep pupils locking with mine like we're the only things in the world. "We're enemies aren't we?"
He sweeps the last little bit of hair off my face. Looping it behind my ear. Shivers involuntarily sting my spine. He pulls an arm round my waist, and gently places the other on my cheek. His hands are big.
"Not me and you."

BELLAMY'S POV:

Charlotte's screams tear through the cave like a gunshot. Her eyes do not open, and her small fists coil tightly and slam against the rocks next to her. Miller and Drew jump up, weapons trained on the unseen enemy. I gently try to rouse Charlotte, sweat and tears blurring down her face. She does not wake, and try as I might to shut her up as Miller gets more and more stressed, pacing the tiny cave entrance, peering through the ivy into a swirling yellow fog. Eventually I shake her hard enough to wake. Her wide soaked eyes hit mine and she smiles waterly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up... Nightmares... Johnnie says I've seen to much darkness to ever really be light again." That boy would not be a good brother. I hold in the sigh, and instead wrap an arm round her shaking shoulders. "Octavia used to get nightmares to. All you've got to do is say, over and over, until it drowns out the demons is 'Screw you, I'm not afraid.'" Her lips begin to form the words, and then stop. The cave slowly turns pink, a thick fog of candy floss. Only it's choking us. Distant coughs and moans echo from where Drew and Miller were, then sharp green lasers snap through the thick pink. They slice it, and one beams into my eyes. A tiny hand grabs mine. I see it, I see it. Tall white robed people point guns at us. The world begins to burn pink.