climbed down to hell on the devil's tree
I clutched a branch of soot and flame
the thought that rose
to scorch my feet
the 100 seasons 1 ― 4
book ONE of TWO
started ― july 21, 2024
finished ―
cover made by @mccl...
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Cora Rydell's eyes flicked back and forth between the various screens, hyper-aware of any change to the vital signs being shown to her. A screen faded in her peripheral, and she snapped her gaze to it, watching as the words "TRANSMISSION TERMINATED" flashed in red before her.
Her heart dropped to her stomach as she turned toward one of the control panels. "Another one, Jackson. Same as the others," she said, and despite her voice being impossibly soft, the man still heard her. She almost didn't see the way his face fell before he nodded and continued his work at the control panel.
Cora crossed her arms, directing her attention back to the tiles. The previous few hours had gone from writing up the same reports about Earth that she had been for years to being thrown into the chaos of a hundred teenagers being sent to the ground because the space station they lived aboard was dying. It was jarring, to say the very least.
She still didn't believe she had processed all the information flung at her yet.
She lifted her hand to her mouth and began to chew on her pointer fingernail. As a communications assistant working under―who worked under Callie Cartwig, Cora had landed the job of helping monitor Earth and the activity that transpired on the green planet. Mostly, it consisted of watching screens and reporting when she saw any change in the weather. Callie had always praised her skills and intelligence, claiming that she could one day become a leader on the Ark and do more than simply watch screens.
The news of Callie's execution had fractured Cora's heart and, quite frankly, disrupted her entire life. She was only recruited because she was Callie's prodigy and they needed someone with her intellect. At least, that was what was told to her before she was taken to the control center and learned about the one hundred teenage criminals sent to the ground because the space station was dying. And that if she were to tell anyone about anything that she was told, she would be floated.
If she was honest, her role hadn't changed drastically. She was still required to watch screens, but now, she had to look for any changes in the teenagers' vital signs and determine how they were dying.
Dying...
Her eyes drifted to two particular screens which were fortunately active. Finn Collins and Alec Kane were two boys she knew decently well and had developed quite a fondness for. It was through a mutual friend that they had met, and Cora could confidently say they were a part of the few friends she had. Her heart would not be able to handle seeing one of their screens go dark.
