Earth Skills

Nova, Clarke, Octavia, Finn, and Monty stayed crouching behind a large rock looking out into the trees. When they couldn't find anything after a few moments Nova spoke, "Let's go. Stay low and move fast."

Without waiting for a nod of approval from the others she took off keeping her slightly up to see if she could see anyone hiding in the trees. She only paused when she heard a dull thud indicating someone behind her fell to the forest floor.

"Monty get up!" Octavia said reaching down to help him. His eyes were locked on something in front of him though, a skull. "Who are they?" Finn asked.

Picking up the skull that looked more like a gorilla skull, Clarke asks, "What are they?"

"We are so screwed." Octavia states, voice shaking slightly.

Right after the words left her mouth a distant scream was heard from where the five delinquents just were. "Jasper. He's alive." Clarke says, then she starts running back to the river.

"Clarke, wait! Wait." Finn calls, running after her. This prompts the other three to run after her too. Nova slides her knife out of her pocket to have some protection against the enemy.

Once they all reach the river they look across to see that Jasper is no longer there, "Where is he?" Monty asks.

"They took him." Clarke says.

"We have to get back. Regroup. We can come back for him later." Nova says, gripping her knife tightly.

They all nod in agreement, turning back around to head to the drop ship. Finn looks at her clenched hand, "How do you have a knife?"

"My dad gave it to me before I got on the drop ship. Good thing too."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Elara and Wells were walking back into the camp from burying the two guys that died when they landed. Wells had the clothes clutched in his arms as delinquents ran around chasing each other. "Hey, where'd you get the clothes?" Atom asked.

"We buried the guys who died during the landing." Elara answered.

"Smart. I'll take it from here. There's always a market for-"

Wells cuts him off, "We share based on need, just like back home."

"You still don't get it, do you Chancellor?" Elara and Wells turned at the sound of another person entering the conversation, "This is home now. Your father's rules no longer apply." Bellamy says, taking a shirt from the pile to put on.

Elara rolls her eyes at the older boy. Wells, annoyed, throws the clothes down. Delinquents that were watching rushed over, fighting others for a clean clothing item.

"Is this what you want? Chaos?" Wells asks.

"What's wrong with a little chaos?" Before either Elara or Wells can answer, a girl screams from the other side of camp. The two sprint over to see Murphy holding her above the fire.

"Bellamy. Check it out. We want the Ark to think the ground is killing us, right? Figure it'll look better if we suffer a little bit first."

"Let her go!" Elara yells through clenched teeth.

"You can stop this." Wells addresses Bellamy.

"Stop this? I'm just getting started." Bellamy states, a smirk on his lips.

"You're a monster." Elara spits, glaring at the boy in front of her. As the words leave her mouth Wells rushes over and pushes Murphy away from the girl. As Murphy's grip loosens the girl escapes and runs away.

"You're dead." Murphy says, standing back up and getting in a fighting position.

Elara chooses to ignore the fight, knowing that she wouldn't be able to aid Wells in any way. Plus she figures he knows how to hold his own and if she had to put money on it, she bets Wells will kick Murphy's ass.

Instead she rushes over to the girl to check on her and see if she's alright. The girl just nods. "Try to avoid Murphy and his gang. Whatever you do, don't take off that wristband." The girl nods once more.

Elara's attention gets brought back towards the fight as she hears Clarke's voice, "Wells! Let him go."

"I say kill him." Nova deadpans. Wells backs off and Murphy throws a glare at him then Nova.

Bellamy's eyes meet his sister, "Octavia. Are you alright?" He asks as he sees Finn and Monty help her back into camp. She nods in response.

"Where's the food?" Bellamy questions the group.

"And where's Jasper?" Elara asks.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather." Finn answers.

"We were attacked." Clarke adds.

"Attacked? By what?" Wells asks, eyebrows knitting together in concern.

"More like who." Nova says, "There are others here. Grounders."

"The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us." Clarke continues.

"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will." Finn says morbidly.

"And Jasper?" Elara asks once more, concerned for the boy who is no longer with the group.

"The grounders took him." Clarke answers. She then notices Wells' bare wrist, "Where is your wristband?"

"Ask him." He nods his head at Bellamy.

"How many?"

"Twenty-four and counting." Murphy smuggly answers.

Nova laughs, "I said that you're all going to die down here. That just proves my point."

Clarke ignores the comment and starts addressing the group, "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us."

"We're stronger than you think. Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. The rest of us, probably not. We are not prisoners anymore. You're fighters, survivors! The grounders should worry about us." Bellamy argues.

Nova shakes her head and rolls her eyes, "Yeah, we're fucked with this dumbass taking over as leader." She says to the group still near her.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Elara and Finn enter the drop ship together, "Hey, you ready?" Clarke asks Finn.

"I'm not going anywhere, and neither should any of you. That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet."

"So what, we let Jasper die? That's not going to happen." Clarke says.

"I'm coming with you." Elara speaks up, "I can help you with his injury."

As Elara finishes talking Nova steps through the open drop ship door. "You ready?" Clarke asks her.

"I'm not going." She simply states.

"What, why? You're probably our best fighter. If we run into the Grounders we'll need you." Clarke argues.

"I'm sorry Clarke, but I need to stay back for exactly that reason. I want to get everyone to start building a wall. I want to make weapons. And hopefully I can start to teach some people how to properly fight and use said weapons."

Clarke nods at Nova's statement, "Fine. Just stay out of trouble."

Nova rolls her eyes, "Trouble usually finds me." She turns around and heads back out the drop ship, she waits for the rescue group to leave before she addresses the rest of the delinquents.

Once the group is gone and out of earshot Nova makes a fist and pounds three times on the side of the drop ship. "Alright fuckers, listen up."

Every eye moves to the petite girl standing on the drop ship ramp. "I saw what the grounders can do first hand. We need to be able to protect ourselves. I need everyone to work together to build a wall around the camp. We can use the fallen trees."

"Who made you boss, Kane?" Mbege asks, leaning against a tree.

Nova instantly smirks, she slips her knife out of her pocket, opening it to reveal the blade. In the blink of an eye she launches the blade through the air making it land just an inch from the side of his head.

Mbege's eyes widen in terror, "Anyone else want to try to argue with me?" The group stays silent, "Good. That's what I thought. Now continuing on, I'm going to need some people to start making weapons too. Spears and shit. I probably won't get the chance today but sometime soon I want to start doing fighting lessons, everyone in this camp needs to know how to protect themselves."

She pauses for a minute letting everyone take in her words, "Alright. Let's go. Form groups, most people should be working on the wall. I only want 5 people working on weapons for now."

After picking the five people to start working on weapons, Nova herself follows suit. She remembered reading in a book on the Ark how to build a bow and arrows. She had a feeling Elara would like to learn how to use it, knowing that it was Robin Hood's weapon of choice and that was always Elara's favorite book.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Elara walked in the front of the group beside Clarke and Wells. "Hey, hold up. What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart." Bellamy said, taking his gun out and waving it around.

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells says, shaking his head.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste." Clarke responds.

"As soon as you two take those wristbands off, we can go." Bellamy states, gesturing between Clarke and Elara.

"The only way the Ark is gonna think we're dead is if we are dead. Got it?" Clarke snaps, Elara nodding in agreement.

"Brave princess."

"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" Finn asks, stepping through the trees and joining the group. "You call this a rescue party? Got to split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me."

Clarke and Finn head off, moving slightly to the left. "Guess we got more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Bellamy says to Wells.

"We have nothing in common." Wells glares at the older boy.

"No? Both came down here to protect someone we love. For you it's worse though. With Finn around, Clarke doesn't even see you."

Elara rolls her eyes and tugs on Wells' hand. "C'mon. We'll search in groups of two." The friends start walking away, Elara turns around to address the last two, "Stay within yelling distance."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Once darkness settles Nova allows the delinquents to stop working and have some fun. She finished the bow and made a dozen arrows. She heads into the drop ship to check on Monty.

"Hey, how's communication coming?" Her voice startles the boy.

"Not so good. Octavia gave me her wristband but the lights went out. I think I need to keep it working once it's off, because trying to get it to work again hasn't had good results."

Nova nods her head in thought. It's silent for a moment as both teens let their minds wander. "Do you think you would be able to keep mine working?" Nova finally asks.

Monty looks up, shocked, "Your dad-"

Nova interrupts, "My dad's an ass. He's the reason I'm here in the first place. Hell, he's the reason I was locked up. I don't mind making him think I'm dead for a little bit. Plus if you get the communication to work he'll find out soon enough that I'm perfectly fine."

Monty hesitantly nods, "I'm not 100% sure if it will work, but the more chances I have the better the results."

Nova nods and holds out her wrist, "Then taken it."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Finn and Clarke call the group over to a cluster of rocks. Finn is crouched low to the ground, tracking Jasper and his captors. "How do we know this is the right way?" Murphy asks.

"We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker." Bellamy retorts, causing Elara to roll her eyes.

"It's called cutting sign. Fourth-year earth skills. He's good." Wells replies.

Finn shushes them, "You want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your backs?"

A distant moan stops anyone from replying, "What was that?" Elara whispers, just loud enough for the group to hear.

They all start heading in the direction of the moaning. As they break through the tree line, they come into a clearing. In the center is a large tree, tied to the tree is Jasper.

Clarke quickly runs forward, "Clarke, wait! Be careful!" Finn calls, chasing after her.

The rest follow closely behind. Before they make it to the tree, the ground beneath Clarke falls away. Bellamy instinctively reaches down grabbing her hand before she can fall into the ditch.

He hesitates for a minute before pulling her up. Once Clarke regains her breath she looks to the group, "We need to get him down."

Finn nods, "I'll climb up there and cut the vines." He nods to Murphy, "You're coming with me."

"There's a poultice on his wound." Elara speaks up for the first time since they found the boy.

"Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells questions.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner still breathing." Bellamy suggests.

"That's a delightful thought." Elara mumbles. As Murphy and Finn work on cutting Jasper down, a low growling captures the group's attention. "What was that?"

"Bellamy, gun, now!" Clarke calls out as the group sees something large moving around the grass.

He pulls up his shirt and reaches for the gun only to realize that it is no longer there. Then out of nowhere a large, black panther leaps from the grass. Three gunshots go off and the panther disappears. Everything is silent for about 20 seconds.

Elara once again sees the grass moving, this time close to Bellamy. Without much thought, she sprints over to him and tackles him to the ground, landing on top of him.

Two more gunshots ring out, the animal finally laying dead on the ground, right where Bellamy was once standing. Elara, realizing that she is still laying on top of Bellamy, blushes and quickly pushes herself off of him, standing up once more.

Bellamy looks at her in wonderment, clearly shocked that she just saved his life. It's the same look that Clarke has on her face, except she is looking at Wells, who has the now empty gun held tightly in his hand.

*_*_*_*_*_*

As night falls the group makes it back to camp. Nova is still with Monty and rushes out when she hears someone yell from outside, "They're back!"

Monty rushes outside too, right behind Nova. The minute his eyes fall onto his best friend he asks, "Is he-"

"He's alive. I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage." Clarke says. Though she didn't need to because Elara was already grabbing the things needed to help.

Behind Clarke, Elara, Finn, and Jasper, Bellamy yells to the delinquents, "Who's hungry?"

Nova raises her eyebrows, "Is that a panther?"

Bellamy smirks and nods. Him and Murphy bring it closer to the fire so they can cut it up and cook it. At the same time Elara, Clarke and Finn bring Jasper into the drop ship. They make sure he is on the top floor so he stays as far away from everyone else as possible.

Working together, Clarke and Elara clean the wound and make sure it is no longer bleeding. After about an hour Clarke leaves the room, leaving Jasper with Elara and Monty.

Outside of the drop ship Nova decided that now was the perfect time to practice with the bow and arrow, despite it being dark and hard to see. She was rather far from the group, no longer being able to hear her fellow delinquents.

After taking a few practice shots, she was quite happy that the weapon worked well but quickly realized that whoever used it was going to need a lot of practice. It was very different from any weapon that was on the Ark.

She started to make her way over to the arrows to collect them and head back to camp, but when she had all of the arrows a glowing animal caught her eye. She tilted her head trying to get a better look. At first she thought it was a small bird but when it flew closer she realized it was a butterfly.

"Well, aren't you beautiful?" She mumbles, holding out her hand for the insect to land on. A small smile starts to form on her lips as she watches it fly away. She begins to follow it but shakes her head deciding that she should head back, not wanting to be out on her own for too long.

Once she makes it back she notices that the food is done and people are lining up to take off their wristbands for it. Rather than wait in the line she marches to the front grabbing three sticks. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Murphy angrily questions her.

"Grabbing food?" She raises an eyebrow.

"You need to take your wristband off. And it's only one piece per person."

"Okay, first, look with your eyes," She holds up her bare wrist, "My wristband is already off. Second, the other two sticks are for Elara and Monty. So fuck off."

She turns on her heel and quickly walks into the drop ship. "Food." She calls out to the two sitting with Jasper.

They smile at her, "Thanks."

She nods, "Also, for you Lara." She holds out the bow and arrows.

"You made it?" The girl questions excitedly.

"Mhm, I figured if you were going to use any weapon it would be this. I think I'm going to make one for myself too."

"You remembered that I liked Robin Hood?"

"Of course, you're my best friend."