The way back

[Gena Martin]

Hunter Solomon

She had tried to go after the Grounder. The coward seriously ran, trying to get out of the mountain, before - she couldn't even imagine what would happen. The answer came when she was close and outside: The mountain blew up. An entire mountain, that once housed an entire civilisation. And it housed Farm Station now. Everyone, old friends, everyone who came down with farm, was dead now. Gena sank to her knees, a cry escaping her. She had lost her mother, who came down with factory. She had lost her father. And now the few friends her family had left. Except one or two, maybe. Hannah, she thought, was not in there. But others. And now her entire station, except for a few like her, were obliterated. 

She suddenly heard something behind her. Gena remained kneeling, suddenly feeling the pain full force, the physical one as well as the emotional one. But the noise was too soft to be an attacker. And even then she didn't care. They were all gone. And Bellamy ran headfirst into danger in Polis where apparently another assassin waited. The soft noise barely audible now. Gena stood up. She slowly made her way to where she heard it. It was a person. She recognized the clothes as Ark issued. "It's okay!" She called out. "I'm from Arkadia. I'm not going to hurt you. You can come out. I... I can keep you safe."

[Hunter Solomon]

Hunter was out for a few minutes before he slipped back into consciousness feeling dazed and confused. Everything was a hazy blurr, but he couldn't tell if that was due to his head injury or the smoke lingering in the air. He could hear the crackling of flames that seemed to come from close by. He still had no idea what had actually happened, but he'd learned enough to know that being out in the open was probably a bad idea when the attackers could still be around. He crawled back into some bushes as best as he could and leaned against the trunk of a tree, panting heavily. He felt so confused, hadn't his mother told him that their people and the Grounders had agreed on a truce?

His mother! She was still inside the mountain, he realized and stared back at what was left of the entrance, his eyes widened in fear. Was it possible for anyone inside to still be alive, he wondered? He was about to try and get up when he heard some shuffling close to him. He tried his best to stay quiet, but he couldn't stop breathing heavily nor the small whimpers escaping his mouth. When he looked up at the young woman in front of him, everything about him spoke of fear and pain. The right side of his face was covered in blood, coming from the deep gash on his forehead and dripping down from his eyelashes. The scarlet colour made his steel-blue eyes stand out even more. The right sleeve of his shirt was ripped off and burned and the length of his arm was also covered in blood and burns, but he didn't really register the pain.

The boy relaxed a little when he realized the person in front of him was an arker, but he still looked terrified and hurt. „She's still in there!“, he said in a broken voice and his tear-filled eyes flickered to the flames licking up into the sky and then back at the girl. He seemed to be pleading for someone to help him, tell him what to do, what had happened or what was going to happen now, just anything to get him out of this confusing and terrifying situation he was in.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

She. That had to be his mother. But Gena couldn' tell hims she was probably dead. She could not even be sure. From her perspective nobody could have survived that blast inside the mountain. But she was no expert. What if there was a safe area. What if there was a way to kill everyone but a secluded part of the population? What if some survived inside and they just couldn't get to them? What if there was a chance for them? Gena nodded to him. If she was in there, she couldn't and wouldn't be able to take his hope. And she couldn't be sure.

"I can't do anything, kid." She whispered to him. She kneeled down to look at him. "There is so much rubble, I can't go through it. We need help for that." And for that they needed to go back to Arkadia. "You know where she was, right?" Where she was might be vital. "Arkadia has ways to try and find survivors down there. We have to head there and get help. If there is anyone still alive in there, they can find them."


Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

Hunter looked at the girl in front of him with doubt in his tear-filled eyes. She hadn't sounded particularly confident when she'd said that there could be survivors in the mountain. The boy didn't really want to leave if there was even the tiniest hope that his mother was still alive in one of Mount Weathers many rooms, but he knew that what the girl had said was true, they couldn't do anything without any help. He tried to remember where he'd last seen his mother, everything before the explosion seemed to be a haze.

„Uhm…she..she was in the dining hall when I saw her last.“, he stated after reflecting for a while. Hunter tried to get up, pressing the palm of his left arm, the one that wasn't injured against the tree he was leaning against to steady himself. But his knees were wobbly and he felt dizzy, almost falling back down to the ground.

„My..my head!“, he said in a weak voice and raised his hand to his forehead, blood still flowing from a gash that had covered one half of his face in red, the rest looking even paler than usual.
„Didn“t you get hurt?“, he then asked, looking at her to find any sort of injury.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

He didn't look too good either. If only she could get to a rover, she could radio in with Arkadia, get them help and allow for both of them to stay seated in a stable position, hidden from prying eyes of other attackers. Bellamy had shown her how to hide between bushes, how to make sure nobody could see her. She could do that for them. But with no radio, staying put could kill them. Especially her. She knew it was a risk just staying here to talk to the boy. She should get going, because who knew what was hurt inside her.

"I'm hurt, too." She admitted. "But we have to get going. I can't see any rover left.So we have no radio to call the others. And with your head and my stomach... we need help desperately." And they shouldn't wait. Especially with a head injury falling asleep could be dangerous. Then again, maybe they could see the smoke from Arkadia. Maybe they were sending people here. Maybe someone would meet them half way. "You can lean on me."



Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

Hunter looked at the flames and the plumes of smoking coming from the mountain, then back at the young woman with uncertainty. His blue eyes were still pooling with tears because he felt like he was abandoning his mother if he left. But he needed someone to tell him what to do as he felt so helpless and so he couldn't see any other option than following the girl.
The boy pushed away from they tree and leaned ahinst her, holding on a little bit tighter than was necessary for a moment because he needed the comfort.
„I can't lose her...she's all I have!“, he whispered, almost more to himself than to the woman. His father's voice haunted his mind as he told him to stop being such a pathetic wuss and get a grip of himself, but Hunter pushed it away.

He looked up into her eyes for a moment and then ahead, trying to remember where he and the rest of the Arkers had come from when they'd made their way to the mountain. He had blindly followed the guards and the other people in the group, not bothering to study the path and cursed himself for it now.
„Do you know the way? You really think we can make it?“, he asked doubtfully as he remembered the hours they'd spent on their journey to the bunkers, even with taking turns at making some parts of the way by Rover. Keeping in mind that they were both injured and he felt like he could barely walk without passing out, it seemed like an impossible task to make it back to Arkadia.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

She understood his fear. She once had it herself and now she no longer had parents. It was a pain she could not compare. So she understood why he was so afraid. Gena looked at him, a soft and warm smile on her face, hoping it would help him a little. She gave his shoulders an encouraging squeeze, knowing it would not help much. But time could heal those wounds. And it was the only thing that could. “I know, kid. And I wish I could tell you to hold onto hope. I lost my mother when the Ark came down. There’s something about mothers you should not forget: They want the best for their kids and they never truly leave us. You are as much part of her as she is part of you. And as long as you live, a part of her will always live, through you! But we will get help!” If there was still a chance for his mother, they would save her.

“We will.” She replied with surety. There were chances they would soon send out teams. When they stayed on the main road, they could make it back and maybe be found by the others. That chance was valuable by itself after all. “I know the way back. I’ve gone to and from often, so I know how to get us home.” She didn’t mention animals or grounders, but that was something the kid shouldn’t have to worry about right now. It was bad enough, that this was an issue to begin with. “Tell me something of your mother.”

Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

The way Gena talked made Hunter feel like his mother was already lost, at least that's what her words sounded like. Al this talk about his mother always being a part of him and living on through him, those were the kind of things you told a child on the occasion of it's parent's funeral or when it is faced with the death of another loved one. He really didn't want to hear those sympathetic words, it made the small hope he had of seeing his mother again shrink more and more and made everything seem so final and inevitable.
Still, he was glad that he had the young woman by his side. He wouldn't have known what to do and he needed somebody else, someone older to depend on and rely on for guidance. Had he been by himself, he would probably have died eventually, most like while trying to make his way back to Arkadia.

„Can we make it back before dark? What if there are Grounders on the way?“, he asked, looking at he with big, fearful eyes. The boy then remembered, that Gena had asked him a question of her own, encouraging him to talk about his mother. He wasn't quite sure how to talk about her without giving too much about his past away.
„She's the only one who ever cared about me.“, he said, looking down at the ground. He said this without any self-pity, his voice sounding rather like he was stating a fact, as if telling her the sky was blue.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

“We might.” She confirmed to him. It had just been night. The soft light of the morning would last them long enough to get to safe grounds and from there back to Arkadia. But night would fall before they would quite reach Arkadia. In summer that would have been different, but they were barely in spring. Sun would sink earlier. But she could not tell that to the kid. He was probably emotionally shaken enough. At least not in that way. “We might not even have to walk all the way back there. I am sure they will come our way. So if we stay on the main road, we might meet our people even before then.” And that meant they could be home sooner than expected. “They will come and look for survivors. We don’t give up on each other after all.”

As he spoke, Gena smiled. She felt herself reminded of her own mother as he spoke. And her father. They both cared about her so much. She guessed his father was long gone, but then again, it didn’t mean he had a good relationship with his father. There were different kind of people. “Mothers are like that. My mother would have done everything for me. My mother used to make something really cool. It was called champions soup. It was not really made of champions or champignons. But it was sweet. It was just a simple thing, buillon and noodles. But she made it with so much love, I always felt sooo much better immediately. Does your mom have something like that, too?”

Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

Gena's words gave the younger boy a little hope back, although it wasn't at all easy to ignite that spark inside of him. Given the experiences made during his young life, he hardly had any childish innocence left inside his heart. He could only wish that her guesses would be true and their people would actually find them on the road back to their camp. With his injuries, he wasn't even sure if he could make it all the way back and he didn't want to burden the older girl with leaning on her since she'd been affected by the explosion as well.

He cradled his burned arm close to his chest as they made their first few wobbly steps down the slope of the mountain. Talking about mothers made him smile and his heart ache at the same time and he tried to think of a story similar to hers without dwelling too much on the worries he had regarding his mother. He scratched his head with his healthy hand and bit his bottom lip as he tried to think about a memory in particular.
„She...would make up these little stories when she brought me to bed at night.“, he remembered with somewhat of a smile. „And sometimes, she would try to collect some extra points to get me a special treat.“, he recounted, looking a bit lost in his thoughts and forgetting about his pain for a moment. But with the good memories of his mother, always came the bad ones of his dad, as if they were catching a piggyback ride from them and the hint of a smile that had briefly illuminated the boy's face vanished again.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

His words reminded her of her own mother. Not that she needed to collect extra points. Her job allowed her to bring leftovers home. Most of the time she even gave points to others, because the left overs that would otherwise have been wasted would go to them. They didn’t need as many as they earned most of the time. Especially once Gena started working, too. With three incomes and that benefit, it was often easy to share what little they managed to aquire to others. Maybe his mother might even have gotten some extra points from hers. It would not far from the possibility of it.

“My mother cooked.” She said. “For the people on the Ark, for Farm and Factory station. She brought back left overs for us, because she was allowed to. She was such a sweet person. When someone would have little she would often pretend to forget she was only meant to serve a small portion. Especially when they had kids. I learned from her, so I did the same. I was always a bit more generous with the kids.” And many of the grown ups had started to ask her for slightly smaller servings so pregnant women and children could get slightly bigger ones. Especially men. There were many guards with familes who asked her to do that. “We also handed left overs to those who had very little. I remember a woman once, so proud of having earned extra so she could get ingredients for a cake for her son. But she forgot one point. My mom just added one of ours to the total so the kid would get a cake. She never admitted to it in front of the woman, always told her that she had enough after all.”

Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

Hunter could almost forget his pain as he listened attentively to the story Gena was telling about her mother. It had always amazed the boy how the people who had least of all, were the most giving. His own station on the Ark had been a great example for this. It had been one of the poorest station of all and of course there had been those who kept what little they had to themselves and noone could blame them. But in general they had all been a tight knitted community where anyone who could spare even a small scrap of bread gave it to someone who had even less. If it hadn't been for some of his neighbours, Hunter would probably not have survived since his father spent so many of their points on booze.

„I remember that my mom brought home a cake for my eigth birthday. I had never had a piece of cake before and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten!“, he said with a huge smile on his face as he thought of that memory. Of course the smile vanished the next moment as he remembered that his drunk father had come home to find the crumbs of the precious gift and he had yelled at his mother for spending so many points and he'd beaten his son because he was the reason for his mother's spending.

Tag: Gena Martin

[Gena Martin]

Cake was no longer that hard to get by. That was one thing Gena would always remember and cherish. She had learned to make a simple cake and a crumble especially for the kids. It was rich in nutrients and taste that it was easy to make kids eat it without having a second thought of what would be left after. And this kid, he was in need of distraction and comfort, especially as the woman who walked with him was basically bleeding, potentially bleeding to death and his mother potentially dead, he needed all the distraction he could get.

"Tell you what, when we make it home" if they did. "I'm going to make you a little cake." It was the least she could do and she could do that injured. Her arms were fine. She could make the kid some cake or just a crumble. But that was the only form of comfort she could really offer to him. 

"And you don't worry about the ingredients. I am one of the only cooks still left and down here, I can make my own grain and there is enough fruit to last us for ages. And we have seasoning. Have you ever tried a real plum?" Gena had tasted the fake aromas of it, but nothing compared to the real thing in her mind. She loved the real taste of plums and she knew where some grew. She could get him some or have someone get them for her. 

Hunter Solomon

[Hunter Solomon]

Hunter realised what Gena was trying to do and it was a nice gesture, but it wouldn't help. She was treating him like and adult would any other kid, trying to take his mind of the trauma of the moment. The problem was, he wasn't like the other children, even for Arker standards his childhood had been rough. And he didn't think like that because he wanted anyone's pity or sympathy but he had to see the reality of it. When his father had still been alive, telling himself that he was alone and strip his mind to his bare survival instinct had been the only thing that had kept him going. Sure, he had had his mom and she tried her best, but she'd been too terrified of her husband herself to be able to do much for her son. Still, he appreciated the young woman's efforts to keep his spirits up and he wasn't going to destroy her hope of helping him and just decided to go along.

„Yes, I've been helping the farmers cultivate new plants. They allowed me to eat one of the plums so we could use the stone to plant it. It was the best thing I've ever tasted!“, Hunter managed to give Gena a soft smile as he remembered how the plum's juice had run down his chin, a surprise to the boy since most of their food had only ever been dry. He grunted as his head hurt and his vision blurred for a second. But he knew that he had to power through if they were to get back to Arkadia. He had to let the guards know about his mom, if there was any hope of her still being found alive they were the only ones who could do it.

Tag: Gena Martin