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Chapter 4: The ground II
🕑 Added 2025-10-02 18:44:56 +0000 UTCThe water erupted in a splash as Jason landed just ahead of Octavia. The makeshift spear he'd hurled earlier jutted from the river snake's lower body, blood streaming into the water like dark ribbons.
The creature thrashed, furious, its slit-pupiled eyes snapping immediately toward the new target. "Get out of the water! Now!" Jason shouted over his shoulder.
Octavia didn't hesitate, splashing toward the rocks where Finn and Clarke pulled her up with frantic hands. "Jason, get out of there!" they all cried at once. Jason didn't move. Instead, he shifted his stance in the chest-deep water, squaring himself against the massive serpent. "Nice way to test this body out," he thought, rolling his shoulders. His pulse quickened but it was not from fear, but from something sharper. Excitement.
The snake surged forward, water frothing around its massive head. Its jaws snapped, aiming for Jason's leg.
'Now!'
He slipped to the side, effortless, the strike missing him by inches. 'Huh. Perks of a super body.' His eyes flicked to the spear still stuck in its gut. Without hesitation, he darted forward, gripped the shaft, and ripped it free. Blood poured into the water. The snake hissed, enraged, but before it could recoil, Jason used the creature's own body as leverage, vaulted closer to its head, and rammed the spear down with brutal force.
The point drove through scaled skull. The snake convulsed violently, the water exploding with waves as its tail whipped around. Jason was dragged under with his grip torn from the spear. He latched onto the serpent's thick neck instead, arms clamping tight. His legs pressed into its side, every muscle straining.
He didn't just squeeze with his arms but he pressed his entire body into the motion, twisting, forcing his strength to bear down. Bones creaked, then snapped, one by one.
CRACK.
The serpent's thrashing slowed. Another CRACK and its body went limp, shuddering once before stillness claimed it.
Jason released, shoving the heavy carcass away. His boots touched sand, and he waded back to shore. Water streamed from his clothes, his chest heaving not with exhaustion but with exhilaration.
'That was… actually fun. Shocking, but fun.'
"Jason!"
Octavia barreled into him, arms locking tight around his neck. "You saved me. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jason said simply.
"Really?" Her wide eyes searched his face.
"Yes," he assured, lips quirking slightly. "I'm okay."
Wells Jaha POV
The sound of whooping and hollering wasn't what Wells expected as he stepped out of the dropship. He frowned. The one hundred were gathered around a blazing fire, voices loud, bodies swaying.
'What the hell are they doing?'
He limped closer, wincing at the pull in his injured ankle. The shouts grew clearer
"Take it off! Take it off!" His eyes widened. 'The wristbands.'
Forcing his way through the press of bodies, he reached the fire just as Murphy raised a wristband like a prize, the metal rod in his hand glowing faintly from where he'd pried it loose. The crowd cheered wildly.
"Who's next?" Bellamy's voice boomed.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Wells demanded. One of Murphy's goons moved to shove him back, but Bellamy held him off. "We're liberating ourselves. What does it look like?"
"It looks like you're trying to get us killed," Wells shot back. "The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we've got. Take them off, and the Ark will think it isn't safe to come down." The crowd wavered at that, murmuring. Bellamy's jaw tightened. "That's the point, Chancellor."
This made the crowd giggle again.
Wells pressed forward, with his words spilling fast. "Those aren't just strangers up there. They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers. We won't survive here on our own. And if it really is safe, how could you not want them to come down?"
Bellamy stalked closer, pointing a finger at the sky. "Those people killed my mother. Your father enforced their laws. Up there, they wrote the rules. Down here, there are no laws. Here, we do whatever the hell we want!"
"Whatever the hell we want!" Murphy echoed, riling the crowd. Soon, the chant spread like wildfire. "Whatever the hell we want! Whatever the hell we want!"
Wells' hands clenched uselessly at his sides. 'Idiots,' he thought bitterly.
Then
THUNDER.
The sky opened, rain spilling over the camp. Excitement erupted instantly. Shouts of "Real rain!" and laughter filled the night.
"We need to collect this," Wells said, turning to Bellamy.
Bellamy smirked. "Whatever the hell you want."
Back to Jason – General POV
Night had fallen. The camp slept soundly, but Jason wasn't among them. He wandered just outside the circl, boots crunching over damp earth. The forest around them glowed with hundreds of tiny blue lights, speckling the trees like stars scattered across bark and leaves. He stilled, staring in amazement at the beautiful sight. 'Bioluminescence. Could be radiation's effect on the ecosystem. Or just evolution taking a strange turn.' Either way, it was beautiful.
For the first time since arriving, Jason let himself breathe. The others might have been born on the Ark, but so had he in this new life. He was no different from them and it was his first real forest too. His first night under real stars again. His first brush with a world untamed.
He reached for the nearest trunk and, almost on impulse, began to climb. His enhanced body carried him upward with ease, He scaled faster than any normal person could, branches whipping past until he perched high above.
The view stole his breath again. A sea of glowing trees stretched endlessly, the night alive with faint pulses of light.
Then he felt a movement below. Jason narrowed his eyes. A figure moved carefully through the trees. Blond hair catching the glow.
'Clarke?'
Jason slipped down the tree with the kind of quiet grace no one would expect from someone his size. His boots barely disturbed the moss when he landed, moving without a sound as he stepped behind Clarke.
"You enjoying the view?" he asked casually.
Clarke gasped, nearly jumping out of her skin as she spun around. "Jason! You scared me, I didn't even see you here." He raised his hands a little, lips twitching with amusement. "It's okay, but what are you doing out here?"
"I was looking at the lights," she admitted softly, her gaze flicking upward. Jason followed her eyes, the faint blue glow of the trees painting the night in ethereal strokes. "Yeah… it really is something else compared to what we were used to." He tilted his head, motioning for her to follow.
She hesitated for a second, then stepped closer, letting him lead her to a fallen log covered in moss and speckled with blue luminescence. Clarke sat, eyes wide with wonder, leaning forward as though she could unravel the mystery of the lights by staring hard enough. Jason didn't even try to hide the way his eyes lingered on her instead, the way the glow lit her hair, softened her features.
"They're amazing, right?" he asked quietly.
Clarke smiled at him, and for a heartbeat it almost caught him off guard. "They are. We never would have seen this if we stayed on the Ark."
"No," Jason murmured, gaze drifting upward through the canopy where stars peeked through. "No, we wouldn't have."
Clarke's eyes found him again, thoughtful now. "What you did for Octavia… that was really brave. Jumping into danger like that."
Jason shrugged it off, almost uncomfortable under her praise. "It was nothing. Jasper or Finn would've done it if they were closer."
Clarke shook her head firmly, but before she could argue further Jason rose to his feet. "Just a sec," he said, holding out a hand for her to follow. Curious, she stood and walked after him. "Where are you taking me?"
"It's a treat," he said simply, leading her along the trail he'd followed earlier while moving around.
After a few minutes they stopped at a wild blackberry bush, dark fruit clinging to thorn-wrapped branches. Jason crouched down, studying them. Some were still green, but most glistened ripe. He carefully maneuvered his hand through the thorns, plucking off a cluster.
"Are you sure those are edible?" Clarke asked skeptically. Jason glanced up with a small smile. "Of course. They're blackberries." His fingers stilled on the branch as memory washed over him. Back then, back home or rather, back in his old life Marcus and Deshawn used to drag him to the orphanage yard where the blackberries grew thick.
They'd spend hours picking them, laughing when their hands stained purple, before crushing them into juice inside. The taste had been simple, sweet… one of the only good things they had. Both of them were gone now, but the memory clung sharp and warm.
"Jason?" Clarke's voice broke through his thoughts. She was staring at his hand. The thorns, sharp and jagged, had bent harmlessly against his palm instead of piercing skin.
He blinked. "Huh?" Then, realizing, he shook it off and turned back to her with a handful of berries.
"Huh? Oh, yeah?" Clarke plucked one from his palm. "Do they taste good?"
"Well you tell me, try it." He said.
She popped it into her mouth and her eyes widened. "Mhhmmm… this is really good!" she said with genuine delight.
Jason chuckled under his breath.
"Thank you," Clarke added softly as they began to make their way back toward camp.
Jason glanced at her, about to say something, when movement ahead drew his eye. Finn emerged from between the trees, carrying what Jason guessed was water. The boy froze for half a second before clearing his throat.
"Oh, uh… Jason."
Jason smiled faintly, meeting his gaze. 'Well… now this is awkward.'
