a/n: you all should know that when I start stories I have insane momentum. That will disappear in a week, I promise. Updates will become less regular and more manageable. (Also I'm out of school now so I have way more time to write than before)

Though Ronan could not recall a memory of what he once imagined the ground may be, he knew he was never anywhere close to what he saw. He didn't know the sun was warm, that the air below was stifled and crawling with dust. He didn't know about the sound of wind that could replace the generators, that colors on earth were brighter than any artificial paint on the walls where he'd grown up. He couldn't picture those walls, of course, but he knew he'd never seen a green so vibrant as the grass beneath his feet.

"Can you breathe?" a voice called from the trapdoor above the bunker. Ronan was the first on the ground.

A smile crept across his face as he realized that he was the pioneer. The first man on the ground in who knows how long. The air tasted sweet like honey, like a memory locked someplace deep inside of him. He turned down to the dark faces staring up at his silhouette bathed in sunlight.

"Hell yes, I can breathe!"

Hardly a second passed before the next person mounted that ladder. It was a small girl—the smallest he'd seen so far—with a round face marked by a heavy scowl. As she reached the top, he held out his hand to help her up; she would have to hoist herself out of the hole. He half expected her not to take it, to remark that she could do it on her own. He was almost surprised when her thin hand slipped into his.

"Welcome to Earth, kid," he smiled as she pushed herself up to a stance. "I'm Ronan."

He watched as her narrow eyes widened, overcome with a wonder she tried to suppress. Her lips parted, a little gasp as she inhaled for the first time. When she turned back towards him, he could have sworn she was younger, like a child entering the world. "Wren."

The name was suitable, Ronan thought. A little bird. It seemed the best way to describe her from what he'd seen. The next person behind her was the Asian girl he'd seen talking to the two blondes below. Eliza, he thought he'd heard her say. She was smart; he needed someone like her on his side.

"You got it?" he asked as she hitched her first leg onto the ground. He'd extended his hand again but unlike little Wren she hadn't even noticed the offer. Eliza turned to him and nodded, barely acknowledging his presence at all. Something about the girl left him uneasy, like a hidden agenda was working right below the surface. But he understood her just by looking. He knew she questioned what the others assumed as true. He knew she would connect the strings between every last unsolved mystery. He knew she was there to survive, not to search for niceties. He didn't trust her for a moment, but he needed someone smart, and he needed to keep an eye on her. It was in both of their best interests.

But before he could say another word to Eliza, another person was at the top of the ladder, and it was again his turn to help them up. They continued to climb, person after person, until they were helping each other up and he wasn't needed manning the gate. For the first time, he was able to truly look around instead of just staring at the sky. Nothing could have prepared for him for how blue a sky it truly was; he could hardly tear his eyes away.

Where he stood was beautiful. A paradisiacal clearing with a sky more blue than he could ever picture in his dreams and grass that tickled his ankles. On one end of the space was a ring of cabins, on the other was land set aside for gardens or farms, run-down picnic tables and a well. There were other structures too, half-finished or falling apart, but it seemed the whole world had been built just for them, a city waiting for its inhabitants.

But Ronan's stomach sank when he looked beyond, for surrounding them were four stone walls, each ten feet tall, boxing them in. There had to be a door, an exit into the world beyond. This was Earth but they were still enclosed, and the harder he stared he could have sworn the walls grew higher.

"Keep the monsters at bay, huh?" said a voice behind him. He turned around to see a girl around his height with a mess of black curls. There was a smug smile on her face, a degree of pride as though she owned the place. He wasn't quite sure yet what to make of it.

"What monsters?" It was a dumb question, but he watched as the girl froze, as though a question was formed just behind her lips but she could not find what it was she wanted to say. It caught her off guard, something was off. Her defenses were gone.

She blinked twice. "I—I don't know," she said. "Figure of speech, I guess. But whoever built these walls wanted to keep something out, right?" The smirk was wiped from her mouth completely, which left Ronan satisfied. Arrogance wasn't his biggest threat. The girl wanted power; he could give that to her. If she could be his muscle they might make a good team.

"Or they want to keep us in," said someone else. It was a pale boy around their same age, with a scowl like little Wren's only his seemed genuine. "Or the rest of the world is a damn wasteland."

The girl smiled, her wit returning at the sight of a stranger. "Or the exit is just behind the cabins and we're dumb to see it."

"If that's the case we're totally fucked."

"Bianca," she held out her hand.

He shook it. "Xavier."

Ronan frowned, "There's gotta be a way out. There's no food in here."

"Too bad I don't know shit about farming," said Xavier. "Don't really plan on learning either."

"You don't have to learn," snapped Ronan. He appreciated the quick banter between the two, the way neither backed down to each other's intensity. He liked them, really. Everyone else he'd talked to so far—Eliza, Wren, that bitchy blonde girl in the bunker—he couldn't trust. Bianca and Xavier were so far open books. They didn't have to say it but he knew they wanted the same thing as him, even if none of the three could quite articulate it. "All we have to do is delegate that to someone else."

"You think you're in charge here?" Bianca raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed defensively before her chest, but Ronan could still tell that something about him left her unsettled. Asking about the monsters had thrown off her guard. Good. He had the power.

"Don't see anyone else stepping up," he shrugged. "Besides, I'm the one who opened the door, wasn't I?"

"Don't get eager now," muttered Xavier, but the hesitation in his tone told Ronan he was listening. Being in the inner circle was good for him; he could tell he'd craved that seat for quite some time.

"How are you so sure someone else knows how to grow food?" Bianca was harder to crack than he'd anticipated, still on edge and still looking over her shoulder.

"We had to grow food down below somehow, right?" he said. "Even if we can't remember anything, we know things instinctually. I don't need a memory to know this is my first time on the ground. If one of these kids is from a farmer family odds are they still know the basics."

"Sounds like they'd still have more authority than us." Us. Ronan liked the sound of that. Bianca's complaint hardly even phased him.

"I think we can handle some farmers," he scoffed. Sure, the farm hands certainly had some intelligence—more than he did, at least—but he had no doubt he could take them down in a fight. Then again, they may be the ones growing the food, but that didn't mean they had control. If someone else was in charge of parceling it out, providing for everyone, then the farmers wouldn't have much power at all.

Still, that was a problem for later. First they needed to find someone who knew how to work the land, then they could struggle for rule.

Ronan gazed around the field once more. All around were teenagers milling aimlessly, mingling with strangers, laughing at the newborn sun. The panic from the bunker seemed to have dissipated entirely, replaced with wonder and enthusiasm, like the air was laced with opium. He watched as what seemed like the last person leave the cave, hauling her body onto the ground. It was the blonde girl who had protested going up at all; Ronan's stomach sank when the look of discomfort did not leave her face. Someone wasn't happy to be on the ground.

"We should call a meeting," he said, whipping back to face his new allies. "Organize everything. Let's find those farmers—"

"Not yet," Xavier cut him off, shaking his head as though the idea was ludacris. "They don't need a leader yet. Right now they're happy. Once they realize they're all gonna starve, we step up with a plan. Just like that, we're the saviors."

He was right, but the blonde still worried Ronan. She was cautious to leave the bunker in the first place, and still cautious now as she stepped food on the soil. They wouldn't make it very far if they played it safe. They had to find their way out from these walls, they had to find a way to regrow humanity. They wouldn't do that without pushing the boundaries.

But Ronan couldn't back down now. He'd promised Xavier and Bianca grandeur and power. With those fantasies in mind, they could be a threat to him if he dared show weakness. No, he couldn't admit that the nervous girl across the field was a sizeable rival. He needed respect, and that came from his inner circle. He needed Xavier and Bianca.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Let's wait it out."

The blonde was socializing strictly with her friend from before and a small girl, easily the youngest Ronan had seen so far. The boy she was with didn't seem have any backbone at all, and the third to their trio was an actual child; she wasn't meandering her way towards power just yet. He didn't have to lead his allies on that he was concerned of her threat. He already had a head start.

"Let's split up for now," he said. "Make your rounds, be amiable. They're more likely to follow if we make a good impression first."

Xavier smirked. "First impressions aren't really my thing, you know?" That didn't surprise him at all, honestly. A snarky boy with a bitter glare and icy snarl, Ronan should have known better.

"Then make them scared," he shrugged, covering his mistakes with fallen leaves to mend the holes. "I don't care if they love us or fear us—"

Bianca finished the thought. "They just need to know that if they're on our side, they live." 

a/n

sorry no Terra/Maisie/Jamie/Kennedy in this chapter. but I think Ronan's a pretty cool dude too. 

in case it wasn't clear, Ronan was the "intimidating" dude in the last chapter and Terra is the "blonde girl" in this chapter. They haven't introduced themselves to each other yet. 

also, yes I am well aware that not all characters have been introduced (namely Cassandra, Casper, Hollis, and Felix.) They all will be in the coming chapters, I promise. 

IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE: please send me your characters' last names. I decided I need them even though our kids don't remember them. Okay that's all. 

QUESTIONS

-should Ronan be the leader? would he be a good leader? would Terra be better? does Terra even want to be a leader, or is he just paranoid? (if so, what are the implications of his possible leadership abilities based off that paranoia?)

-should he trust Bianca and Xavier? why does he trust them more than Eliza? why doesn't he trust Eliza? 

-what did Bianca mean when she mentioned the "monsters"? was it actually a figure of speech, or something more? why did she seem so off-put by Ronan's following question?

-why are there walls surrounding the camp? 

-who even built the camp? how long has it been there?

-can anyone even farm?