Kass Morgan - Day 21

No one wanted to stand near the grave. Although four of their own were already buried in the makeshift cemetery, the rest of the hundred were still disturbed by the idea of lowering a body into the ground.

No one wanted to stand with their backs to the trees either. Since the attack, a creaking branch had become enough to make the anxious survivors jump. And so, the nearly one hundred people whod gathered to say good-bye to Asher stood in a tightly packed semicircle, their eyes darting between the corpse on the ground and the shadows in the forest.

The comforting crackle of the fire was conspicuously absent. Theyd run out of firewood last night, and no one had been willing to venture out for more. Wells wouldve gone himself, but hed been busy digging the grave. No one had volunteered for that job either, except for a tall, quiet Arcadian boy named Eric.

Are we sure hes really dead? Molly whispered, edging back from the deep hole, as if worried it might swallow her up as well. She was only thirteen but looked younger. At least, shed used to. Wells remembered helping her after the crash, when tears and ash had streaked her round cheeks. Now the girls face was thin, almost gaunt, and there was a cut on her forehead that didnt look like itd been properly cleaned.

Wellss eyes flashed involuntarily to Ashers neck, to the ragged wound where the arrow had pierced his throat. Itd been two days since Asher died, two days since the mysterious figures materialized on the ridge, upending everything the Colonists had ever been told, everything they thought they knew.

They had been sent to Earth as living test subjects, the first people to set foot on the planet in three hundred years. But they were mistaken.

Some people had never left.

It had all happened so quickly. Wells hadnt realized anything was wrong until Asher fell to the ground, gagging as he swiped desperately at the arrow lodged in his throat. Thats when Wells spun aroundand saw them. Silhouetted against the setting sun, the strangers looked more like demons than humans. Wells had blinked, half expecting the figures to vanish. There was no way they were real.

But hallucinations didnt shoot arrows.

After his calls for help went unheeded, Wells had carried Asher to the infirmary tent, where they stored the medical supplies theyd salvaged from the fire. But it was no use. By the time Wells began frantically digging for bandages, Asher was already gone.

How could there be people on Earth? It was impossible. No one had survived the Cataclysm. That was incontrovertible, as deeply ingrained in Wellss mind as the fact that water froze at 0 degrees Celsius, or that planets revolved around the sun. And yet, hed seen them with his own eyes. People who certainly hadnt come down on the dropship from the Colony. Earthborns.

Hes dead, Wells said to Molly as he rose wearily to his feet before realizing that most of the group was staring at him. A few weeks ago, their expressions wouldve been full of distrust, if not outright contempt. No one believed that the Chancellors son had actually been Confined. Itd been all too easy for Graham to convince them that Wells had been sent to spy for his father. But now, they were looking at him expectantly.

In the chaos after the fire, Wells had organized teams to sort through the remaining supplies and start building permanent structures. His interest in Earth architecture, once a source of annoyance to his pragmatic father, had enabled Wells to design the three wooden cabins that now stood in the center of the clearing.

Wells glanced up at the darkening sky. Hed give anything to have the Chancellor see the cabins eventually. Not to prove a pointafter seeing his father shot on the launch deck, Wellss resentment had drained faster than the color from the Chancellors cheeks. Now he only wished his father would someday get to call Earth home. The rest of the Colony was supposed to join them once conditions on Earth were deemed safe, but twenty-one days had passed without so much as a glimmer from the sky.

As Wells lowered his eyes back to the ground, his thoughts returned to the task at hand: saying farewell to the boy they were about to send to a much darker resting place.

A girl next to him shivered. Can we move this along? she said. I dont want to stand out here all night.

Watch your tone, another girl named Kendall snapped, her delicate lips drawn into a frown. At first, Wells had assumed she was a fellow Phoenician, but hed eventually realized that her haughty stare and clipped cadence were just an impression of the girls Wells had grown up with. It was a fairly common practice among young Waldenites and Arcadians, although hed never met anyone who did it quite as well as Kendall.

Wells turned his head from side to side, searching for Graham, the only other Phoenician aside from Wells and Clarke. He didnt generally like letting Graham take control of the group, but the other boy had been friends with Asher and was better equipped than Wells to speak at his funeral. However, his was one of the few faces missing from the crowdaside from Clarkes. Shed set off right after the fire with Bellamy to search for his sister, leaving nothing but the memory of the five toxic words shed hurled at Wells before she left: You destroy everything you touch.

A crack sounded from the woods, unleashing gasps from the crowd. Without thinking, Wells pulled Molly behind him with one arm and grabbed a shovel with the other.

A moment later, Graham stepped into the clearing, flanked by two ArcadiansAzuma and Dmitriand a Walden girl named Lila. The three boys were carrying armfuls of wood, while Lila had a few branches tucked under her arm.

So thats where the other axes went, a Waldenite named Antonio said, eyeing the tools slung over Azumas and Dmitris shoulders. We couldve used those this afternoon, you know.

Graham raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the newest cabin. They were finally getting the hang of it; there were no gaps in the roof this time, which meant it would be much warmer and drier at night. None of the structures had windows, though. They were too time-consuming to cut, and without access to glass or plastic, they would be little more than gaping holes in the walls.

Trust me, this is more important, Graham said, raising the pile of wood in his arms.

Firewood? Molly asked. She flinched as Graham snorted.

No, spears. A few wooden shacks arent going to keep us safe. We need to defend ourselves. The next time those bastards show up, well be ready. His eyes settled on Asher, and an unfamiliar expression flitted across Grahams face. His customary veneer of anger and arrogance had cracked, revealing something like real grief.

Do you want to join us for a minute? Wells asked, softening. I thought wed say a few words for Asher. You knew him well, so maybe youd like to

It seems like you have everything under control, Graham cut him off, avoiding Ashers body as he met Wellss eyes. Carry on, Chancellor.

By the time the sun had fully set, Wells and Eric were placing the final shovelfuls of dirt on the new grave while Priya wrapped flowers around the wooden marker. The rest of the group had drifted away, either to avoid watching the actual burial or to stake out a spot in one of the new cabins. Each could fit about twenty comfortably, thirty if people were too tiredor too coldto complain about errant legs sprawled across their mound of charred blankets, or the odd elbow to the face.