A couple of hours had already passed since Clarke and her group had left, but for now, no one seemed to care whether they were back or not. They were all too excited to be on the ground. But twenty-four hours were a long time, and they couldn't just stay put—they needed to eat, or at least drink.
That's why Lily and Wells had decided to look for water nearby—maybe a river or a little stream. They needed to find the basics, or the more aggressive people in the group would become even more aggressive as time went by.
Lily was walking around by herself, not getting too far from the dropship, her eyes scanning the ground for signs of moisture or moss. The sound of footsteps and laughter made her glance up—and she caught sight of Murphy and his group noticing her. They exchanged looks, smirks spreading across their faces, before making their way toward her.
She instinctively folded her arms, bracing herself for what was coming.
"And where is our nurse going?" Murphy called out, sauntering toward her with that same half-smile he always wore—like everything was a joke, especially people. "Bellamy doesn't want us spreading out."
Lily threw a quick glance toward where Bellamy stood near the dropship, but he was too far to hear.
"Is he our leader now?" she asked dryly. "Are you his guard now?"
Murphy tilted his head slightly, observing her closely for a moment. "Where are you going, sweetie?" he asked, voice laced with mockery. "You're so eager to make friends with the privileged."
"I don't like to see us fight with each other when it's not needed," she answered after taking a breath, her eyes flicking toward Wells, walking not far away.
"He's a Jaha," Murphy muttered with disdain, like that name alone was a crime.
"He's here. And right now, he's searching for water—for all of us," she said, voice steady. "I think you can give him a break."
She turned slightly, about to leave, when a hand firmly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Who are you, sweetie?" Murphy asked, studying her face with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. "Are you part of the privileged too?"
She glared at him. "Why do you care so much about this?" she asked, finding his obsession with who was what on the Ark quite exhausting.
"Why aren't you answering?" he said, the smirk never leaving his face, while the boys behind him chuckled among themselves.
"I don't like to be bothered," she answered, giving a pointed look to the hand holding her arm before raising her eyes back to his—cold and sharp. "Or who bothers me."
Murphy seemed amused by her words, and after observing her for another beat, he finally let her go. As soon as she was free, Lily took a step back, keeping her eyes locked on him.
"What's your name?" he asked curiously.
Lily took a breath but decided to answer. "Lily Hale," she said. "Now can I go look for water?"
"Don't let me stop you, Lily." Murphy gestured for her to go. "See you around," he said as she turned to walk away.
That guy really needed to calm down. They weren't on the Ark anymore, and if they wanted to finally live in peace, they had to stop dividing themselves based on who they used to be. That kind of aggression would only recreate the same toxic environment they had escaped.
The Ark had become an awful place to live because of its strict rules and the belief that anyone no longer useful to society was just wasting oxygen. But now they had plenty of it. They had the chance to make something good out of this new home—a safe one. Lily truly believed that people who had suffered under that system could be the ones to build a better life.
At least… until the people of the Ark followed them down.
She couldn't imagine her father giving up control that easily. Not Marcus Kane. The second he set foot on Earth, he'd try to enforce his precious rules again. But that didn't mean they had to follow the same path. They could be different from the adults so many of them loathed. Like Wells's father.
Speaking of Wells, Lily was still curious about how the Chancellor's son had ended up among the hundred, but she hadn't asked. The way he'd looked at her earlier, as if he recognized her, made her uneasy. She didn't want anyone to know she was the girl Councilor Kane had helped secure a job for. Not now, when everyone was trying to decide who had been "privileged" and who had been labeled a criminal.
Her search for water hadn't helped. The forest where they'd landed was thick with trees and grass, but no stream in sight. If they wanted to find clean water, they would have to go deeper—but Lily wasn't about to do that alone and unarmed. She didn't know this place. It was too easy to get lost, or worse.
They'd have to wait for Clarke and the others to return. She just hoped no one would freak out about going a night without food or water.
As she turned back toward the dropship, something caught her eye—a flicker of deep purple among the green. She stepped closer, brushing away some tall blades of grass, and found it: a black raspberry bush, low and thick, its leaves broad and jagged, its branches heavy with ripe, dusky berries.
She crouched beside it, inspecting the fruit more closely. Not just one bush—there were several of them, scattered over the shaded patch of forest floor. The berries were firm and plump, dark but not black, with the distinct matte sheen she remembered from the lab. Rubus occidentalis. Edible. Safe. And more than that, she remembered using its leaves and fruit extracts in mild anti-inflammatory treatments on the Ark.
Lily reached out, plucked one, and popped it into her mouth. Sweet. Tart. It burst on her tongue like the first real thing she'd tasted in years.
But as she moved to grab another, her gaze landed on a neighboring plant—its stalk thinner, its berries smaller and glossier, almost red-black. She leaned closer. Solanum dulcamara. Bittersweet nightshade. It grew in similar climates, often near brambles and hedges. It looked inviting to someone who didn't know better—but it was toxic.
"Not you," she muttered under her breath.
Her fingers hovered over the raspberries again, tempted to gather them right then and there. But she knew there were too many. And it wouldn't make sense to take the risk of going back and forth alone, unarmed.
She stood up, brushing the dirt off her knees. "Alright," she whispered. "This is something."
With one last glance at the clustered bushes, Lily turned on her heel and began walking back toward the dropship. The others might not trust her—or listen—but food was food. And maybe, just maybe, it would help shift something in this messy, distrustful group.
Maybe if she brought them something good, they'd stop tearing each other apart—at least for a little while.
"I found some food in the woods," she said brightly as she returned to camp to talk to Wells. But as she walked closer, she noticed that something in his expression was oddly pensive, and that made her frown.
"Is everything alright?" she asked, watching him.
He nodded quickly. "Yeah," he said, but it sounded just a little too forced. She didn't push.
"What did you find?" he added, eager to shift focus.
Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out the raspberries she had picked. Wells's eyes lit up, taking one gently in his hand, studying it.
"Is it edible?" he asked.
"It is," she replied confidently. "It's not much, but at least we'll have something to eat."
"How do we have it?" Bellamy's voice made them both turn. He was walking closer, eyeing the fruit in Wells's hand with mild interest—but more suspicion.
"I found them," she said immediately, standing a little straighter. Everyone seemed too eager to start fights with the Chancellor's son. Her arms crossed over her chest as she faced Bellamy directly, tilting her chin slightly.
"There are some bushes not far from here," she continued, gesturing back toward the forest, "but we'll need a couple more people. It's too much to carry alone."
Bellamy was watching her now—closely. Calculating. Measuring. And Lily found herself looking at him with the same curiosity. Who was he? Why was he dressed as a guard? And why didn't he wear a wristband? Wells was. But Bellamy seemed to have entered the dropship, and Lily could not understand how someone that seemed to hate the privileged as much as Murphy did, could manage to do something like that without some kind of help. Lily thought back to her father; Marcus Kane was in charge of the safety of the people of the Ark, and there was nothing he didn't check. How could Bellamy get on the dropship with them?
"Atom," Bellamy called as he kept observing her. It didn't take long for a guy with black hair and blue eyes to come forward, waiting for Bellamy's command.
"Take two other people with you and follow her to get the food she found."
Atom looked at her, eyes widening. "You found food?"
Lily nodded. "Not far from here," she said. "But Wells and I need only two more people."
Bellamy's lips turned up into a little smirk. "Wells is staying here, aren't you?" he said, stepping closer to him, a false friendly smile on his face.
Wells glared at him as he walked toward where Lily was standing. "You seemed quite eager to see me working," he said. "Well, I'm working."
Bellamy stood silent as he observed Wells. He was suspicious, and he seemed angry.
"You can come too if you want," Lily said, taking a step forward.
Bellamy seemed surprised by her words, and for a moment she genuinely thought she had done something he was really not expecting. But then his tough act came back, and with a shake of his head he answered,
"Feel free to do whatever you want," he said, as another guy went to stand next to Atom.
Lily took a breath before leading the small group into the forest. But as she looked back, she noticed Bellamy watching them and being joined by Murphy and the other guys. They started to talk to each other.
"Bellamy seems eager to lead," Lily said as they walked.
"He seems to know what he's doing," Atom answered, pushing the tall grass so that he wouldn't fall.
"No one knows what we're doing," Lily said in a low tone.
She had no idea what time they had landed on Earth, or how much time had passed, but the sun was getting closer to sunset and Lily didn't really know how to feel about their first night on Earth. The more the sun went down, the more the woods became scary and dark.
"We have to go back," she said as the other three kept picking raspberries.
"Yeah," Wells said, looking around. "It's not safe to stay out here in the dark."
The four of them had managed to pick many raspberries. It still wasn't enough for ninety-five people, but at least they could eat something.
When they returned, though, they noticed that everyone was gathered around a huge fire that had been set. They were all whooping and shouting.
"What is going on?" Lily asked, sharing a look with Wells, who only shook his head before making his way through the crowd.
What were they shouting about? Lily was quick to move behind Wells, following his movements until they reached the center, where they saw a girl kneeling on the ground while Murphy was opening her wristband. They all shouted with excitement when Murphy showed the metal band in his hand before throwing it into the fire.
"Who's next?" Lily turned with a confused expression. Next? Were they lining up to take off their wristbands? Who came up with that idea?
Lily felt silly even just for having asked herself that, as her eyes landed on Bellamy, who was looking proudly at the next person getting ready to take off their band.
"What the hell are you doing?" Wells asked, stepping closer to Bellamy, who stopped another guy from charging at Wells.
"We're liberating ourselves," Bellamy said in a calm tone. "What does it look like?"
"It looks like you're trying to get us killed!" Wells exclaimed firmly, and Lily observed Bellamy taking a breath as Wells kept speaking.
"The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we've got. Take them off, and the Ark will think we are dying. That's not safe for them to follow."
Lily instinctively touched her metal band at that thought—but immediately pushed it away.
If he cared, he wouldn't have sent me to the ground, she thought, trying to hide from herself the spark of sadness.
"That's the point, Chancellor," Bellamy said, flashing Wells a smirk. "We can take care of ourselves, can't we?"
The last part he shouted to the people around them, who once again started shouting and whooping, clearly agreeing with him.
They hated the Ark and its rules. Lily couldn't deny that she hated it too, and she could understand how sweet it felt, the prospect of doing what they thought was right and just. But the problem was this: were they all on the same page? To build something, they had to agree on different points of view—or at least find a middle ground. But could Bellamy and Wells ever do that?
"Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there," Wells kept saying, making Lily look up at him. "There are our farmers, our doctors, our engineers. I don't care what he tells you. We won't survive here on our own."
Lily looked down, once again her eyes fixed on her wristband. They were all so young, and many of them had been locked in the skyboxes for more than a year. Did they actually know how to start a new society? It would've been beautiful to think that they were ready to do so, but maybe Wells was right—alone, it would be difficult. But at the same time, Lily could see where Bellamy was coming from, and the idea of continuing to live as they had before was just as frightening.
Lily felt truly stuck. She didn't know what to think, or what she wanted.
"And besides, if it's really safe," Wells said, turning to look at Bellamy again. He didn't seem to like what Wells was saying, and Lily hoped no one would attack anyone again.
"How could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"
Bellamy didn't hesitate with his answer. "My people are already down," he said. "Those people locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that." He stared at Wells.
Those words really hurt, and Lily looked down, feeling almost ashamed. For who her father was. Every time she heard the story of someone being floated, Lily couldn't help but feel guilt, as if she were the one who had pushed the button. She knew she wasn't, but she also knew that her father believed deeply in those laws—and she knew how many people on the Ark had been hurt by the same rules that were supposed to protect them.
Lily looked at Bellamy. She couldn't even imagine how bad it must have been for him—his sister hidden under the floor for years, and then, in just one day, left alone. His sister in the skybox, his mother dead. No wonder he was so angry at the Ark.
"My father didn't write the law," Wells answered, but Bellamy cut him off.
"No, he enforced them. But not anymore. Not here."
Lily bit her lip, looking down. That wasn't what laws were meant to do. How did it happen? Why did humans always find a way to hurt each other—even when they were part of the same community?
"Here there are no laws," Bellamy's words made her raise her gaze to look at him. Her heart was hammering in her chest when people shouted in agreement. "Here we do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want."
"This is not the answer, Bellamy," she said, taking a small step forward. Her movement made Bellamy take his eyes off Wells for the first time.
"You don't have to like it," he said, shaking his head before looking back at Wells. "And neither do you, Wells. You both can try to stop it, change it, kill me."
Lily shook her head at the thought. This could really become too dangerous.
"You know why?" Bellamy said, turning toward her. When their eyes met, he flashed her a smirk and then glanced back toward Wells. "Whatever the hell we want."
And as he spoke, the crowd began to repeat the same phrase:
Whatever the hell we want.
They all agreed. He had managed to convince all of them. And that belief was too dangerous. They weren't five people; they were a hundred, with different characters, beliefs, and temperaments. If no one drew the line, something bad was bound to happen.
A loud crashing sound made them all look up to the sky. Lily froze for a moment, before recognizing what the sound was. And when a drop of water fell on her cheek, she realized: that sound was thunder, and they were witnessing rain for the first time.
A drop landed on Lily's cheek, cold and electric, and her breath caught in her throat. Then another hit her collarbone, then her arms, her eyelashes. Within seconds, the sky opened.
It was soft at first—like fingertips tapping her skin—then heavier, soaking through her clothes, making her hair cling to her face. It wasn't harsh like the sterile showers on the Ark; this was wild and real. It smelled of soil and sky and something old, something free.
Lily's lips turned up into a smile at the feeling. It was truly different. It really felt like being alive for the first time.
"We need to collect this," Wells's voice made her look at him, suddenly remembering that they had yet to organize for their first night on Earth. And reality crushed her happiness a little, but she knew they had to do it.
"Whatever the hell you want," was all Bellamy answered. He wouldn't help them.
Wells took a deep breath before turning to walk away. Lily pushed her blond hair back, looking at Bellamy. They stared at each other for a moment, and Lily would be lying if she said she didn't think about staying back just to enjoy the rain—to do whatever the hell she wanted.
But she couldn't.
So, with one last look, Lily turned her back and followed Wells where he had disappeared.