Homecoming

It was all too much to process. And while Wells was mostly happy, the shock and confusion kept the full weight of the news from sinking in. That, and the fact that he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in ages. Over the past few weeks, he’d become the de facto leader of the camp. It wasn’t a position he’d necessarily sought, but his officer training combined with his lifelong fascination with Earth had given him a certain set of skills. Yet, while he was glad to be able to help, and grateful for the group’s trust, the position came with an enormous amount of responsibility.

“Maybe I’ll rest for a minute,” he said, lowering his elbows to the ground, then lying back so he could rest his head in Sasha’s lap. Although he and Sasha were sitting apart from the rest of the group gathered around the campfire, the crackle of the flames didn’t fully mask the sound of the typical evening arguments. It was just a matter of time before someone came rushing over to complain that someone else had taken her cot, or to get Wells to settle a dispute about water duty, or to ask what they were meant to do with the scraps from that day’s hunt.

Wells sighed as Sasha ran her fingers through his hair, and for a moment, he forgot about everything except the warmth of her skin as he let his head sink against her. He forgot about the terrible week they’d just had, the violence they had witnessed. He forgot about finding the body of his friend Priya. He forgot that his father had been shot in front of his eyes during a scuffle with Bellamy, who’d been desperate to get onto the dropship with his sister. He forgot about the fire that had destroyed their original camp and killed Clarke’s friend, Thalia—a tragedy that had severed the last remaining bonds of his and Clarke’s romance.

Maybe he and Sasha could spend the whole night out in the clearing. It was the only way they’d get any privacy. He smiled at the idea and felt himself sinking deeper toward sleep.

“What the hell?” Sasha’s hand stopped suddenly, and there was a note of anxiety in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” Wells asked as his eyes snapped open. “Is everything okay?”

He sat up and took a quick survey of the clearing. Most of the hundred were still huddled in clumps around the fire, speaking in low murmurs that blended into a soothing hum. But then his gaze fell on Clarke, and although she was curled up next to Bellamy, he could tell she was focused on something else entirely. Although his intense, all-consuming feelings for her had evolved into something akin to real friendship, he could still read her like a tablet. He knew her every expression: the way she pursed her lips in concentration when studying a medical procedure, or how her eyes practically sparkled when talking about one of her weird interests, like biological classification or theoretical physics. Right now, her brows were knitted together in concern as she threw her head back, assessing and calculating something in the sky. Bellamy’s head was tilted up too, his expression stony. He turned and whispered something in Clarke’s ear, an intimate gesture that would’ve once made Wells’s stomach roil, but now only filled him with apprehension.

Wells looked up but didn’t see anything unusual. Just stars. Sasha was still staring at the sky. “What is it?” Wells asked, placing his hand on her back.

“There.” Sasha’s voice tightened as she pointed straight up into the night, high above the infirmary cabin and the trees that ringed the clearing. She knew this sky as well as he knew the stars up close. An Earthborn, she’d been looking up her whole life, while he’d been looking down. Wells followed her finger and saw it: a swiftly moving bright light, arcing toward Earth. Toward them. Just behind it was another, then two more. Together they looked like a star shower, raining down on the peaceful gathering around the fire.

Wells inhaled sharply as his entire body went rigid.

“The dropships,” he said quietly. “They’re coming down. All of them.” He felt Sasha’s body tense next to his. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as they watched the descending ships in silence for a moment, their breath falling into the same rhythm.

“Do you… do you think your father’s on one of them?” Sasha asked, clearly trying to sound more hopeful than she felt. While the Earthborns had come to terms with sharing the planet with a hundred juvenile delinquents in exile, Wells sensed that facing the entire population of the Colony was an entirely different matter.