𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Seventeen

Clara swiftly sent Thomas to work in the gardens, and decided to return herself to working with Clint and Jeff as a Med-jack. It was fun to pretend nothing had changed in her roles for a while, but now she had to go back to her real duties in the Glade.

Admittedly, she wished she could stick with the Greenie for longer. She was already curious about him; but now she knew of his visions, that had only increased tenfold. It definitely helped that he was good looking too.

Returning to the Med room, she found Jeff and Clint sat inside, trying to chuck grapes in each other's mouths. Quickly deciding this was probably the most fun happening in the Glade currently, she found herself joining in enthusiastically.

After a number of failed attempts - and grapes somehow going missing - they ran out of the fruit, and were forced to instead sit and chat until they were visited by any injured Gladers.

"How's the Greenie?" Jeff asked the girl, squishing a stray grape with his shoe.

"Hmm?"

The girl fumbled over a response, only knowing what not to say rather than what to say.

"Oh, he's fine. Still a little shaken up I guess." She said with a shrug, feeling her face heat up.

Lying is weird. I'm not even lying, just withholding the truth...

Jeff and Clint didn't have any more questions about Thomas, already moving on in conversation, but Clara still found herself watching them as though they were suspicious of her. She was ridiculously awful at lying - or withholding the truth, as she preferred to call it.

"You should've seen Gally yesterday. He needs to stop picking fights with the other-"

Clint's amusing story - assumed to be funny by his laugh - was interrupted by the sound of a yelling from outside. Looking out the ajar door, they couldn't see anything particularly disruptive, but the loud noise was certainly odd. It was all usually fairly quiet during the day, and Clara had the sinking feeling that Thomas was somehow to do with it.

"What was that?" Jeff murmured in bemusement, going to get up.

"I'll have a look." The girl jumped in, already on her way to the door to check it out.

She wandered out of the door, creeping cautiously as though the noise would disappear if she made her presence too known. For a few fleeting moments, it was silent, and Clara thought that she imagined it.

And then again; a yelling emerged from within the Deadheads. Clara was like a deer caught in the headlights, looking up to see Thomas and Ben running right for her from inside the forest.

She recognised the look in Ben's eyes far too well. He had been Stung.

The girl was paralysed to the spot. Every boy before him that had been Stung - Justin, George, too many others - flashed before her eyes, and she found herself completely incapable of moving.

She could see he had already lost himself; the Sting taking control of any sane thoughts he may have previously had. Ben looked furious. He was growling, snarling, and chasing after Thomas as if he wanted to kill the boy.

And Clara was scared that he would achieve just that.

Lurching into action, she reached Thomas and Ben just as the latter dragged the former down onto the grass. The yelps from the scared Greenie were audible across the Glade, but Clara blocked all other sounds out as she stuck out her foot and shoved Ben off of Thomas.

Grabbing the boy's hand, she tugged him to his feet, and desperately tried to block Ben from getting to him again. This sort of put her right in the crossfire of violence; with no weapons to stop Ben.