Homecoming

Clarke stifled a grin until the door clicked shut behind Scott, then stepped over to Wells and wrapped her arms around him. He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips.

“Thank you, Officer Jaha.”

“You’re welcome, Medical Apprentice Griffin.”

Clarke was exhausted. She hadn’t eaten anything since the previous evening, and all the food they’d taken to the crash site had gone to the survivors. The team had taken turns leading the survivors back to camp, and there were only a few injured left to deal with. She had put it off as long as she possibly could, but there was no way to avoid treating Scott. He sat on a log at the edge of the clearing, looking up at her as she approached.

“I thought you’d never get to me,” he said, his lips pressed together into something resembling a grin.

“I’m sorry about the wait,” Clarke said, hoping that maybe he wouldn’t recognize her after all the months she’d spent in Confinement and her weeks down on Earth.

“It’s okay, Doc. It took me this long to come to Earth just so you could finally show me your bandaging skills. I believe we were interrupted last time.”

Clarke’s heart sank. Scott knew exactly who she was, and he hadn’t grown any more charming since she’d last seen him.

“Let’s see what’s going on here.” She gestured for him to show her his wrist. He held out his hand to her, and she took it, her stomach churning in protest as she made contact with his clammy skin. She turned his hand over, moving it gently back and forth and from side to side.

“So you’re a real doctor finally?” Scott said. “I guess that means you can’t afford to get all squeamish during examinations now.”

“Not exactly,” Clarke replied without looking up. “I never finished my training, but I’m the closest thing we’ve got down here.”

“Well, doctor or no doctor, you’d better do a good job.” He wiggled his fingers in her palm. “That’s my shooting hand after all.”

Clarke pulled a bandage from her supply bag and began winding it around his wrist and hand. “It’s not broken,” she said matter-of-factly, hoping to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible. “But you’ll need to limit your use of this hand for a few days to allow the swelling to go down.” She inhaled deeply and looked him directly in the eye. “Which shouldn’t be a problem, since we hunt with spears and arrows here, not guns.”

Scott met her gaze with a glint in his eye. The skin on Clarke’s arms rippled with goose bumps. “I wasn’t talking about shooting animals,” he pronounced coolly. Before Clarke could ask him what he meant, he cocked his head to the side and surveyed her with the same expression that used to make her want to shower as quickly as possible. “So, why didn’t you finish your training?”

“I was Confined before I completed it,” Clarke said flatly, not meeting his eyes.

“Confined? You?” He paused for a moment, then snickered. “Little Miss Perfect, Confined. You know what, though? I don’t mind being treated by a convict. I kinda like knowing that, all that time, there was a bad girl hiding under those scrubs.” He lowered his voice as a woman in an officer’s uniform strode past, talking urgently with a man Clarke vaguely recognized. “I hope you brought those scrubs to Earth. I always liked the way that they made your—”

“You’re all set,” Clarke said with exaggerated cheer as she secured the bandage and gave him an extrahard pat on the wrist, ignoring his grimace of pain. “I’ll see you around.”

Without giving Scott another look, Clarke hurried away, shuddering as if to throw off the weight of his heavy, lingering gaze.

CHAPTER 4: Wells

Wells winced as he trudged up the slope toward the lake for the eighth time that day. He’d walked nearly twenty miles trekking back and forth, leading survivors to the camp and then heading back for another group.

There were more adults than kids in the clearing, a sight that seemed almost as a strange as the two-headed deer they’d spotted their first week on Earth. Their presence was made all the more conspicuous by the fact that they could do nothing more than stare in wonder and shock at their surroundings while, all around them, teens who’d been rotting away in a detention center just a few short weeks ago were barking out directions.

Wells had also been struck by the lack of happy reunions. He’d only witnessed two of them finding any relatives, and they were both Phoenicians. None of the Waldenites or Arcadians had any loved ones on the ships.

“I can’t believe I made it.” A young woman panted as she gratefully accepted Wells’s assistance climbing the steep slope.

“You had a pretty rough landing there,” he said, shortening his stride so it’d be easier for her to keep up. Although it’d been only a few weeks since his own arrival, he’d forgotten how unsteady he’d felt at first.

“Not the landing,” she said, stopping to look up at him. “On Phoenix. It was… terrifying.” She turned to glance up at the sky, then sighed and shook her head. “They don’t have much time left.”