The Transfer | Gally TMR

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rays of sunlight streamed through the gaps in my eyelashes as I yawned, outstretching my arms as I suddenly realized that my head was resting on another's chest. The steady rising and falling of breath and the rhythmic heartbeats. Gally. I smiled, glancing up only to see his beautiful, comforting eyes staring straight back at me, a goofy grin plastered on his face. I giggled lightly.

"What're you looking at?" I smiled, sitting up slightly, glancing down at my foot to see it still wrapped up tight. Gally smiled, wrapping his large arms around my waist from behind and resting his chin lightly on my shoulder.

"You." I laughed.

"Hah, no duh, slinthead." I said wryly as Gally chuckled, standing slowly before walking around to the front of me and lifting me up off the ground."Can you walk on it" He asked nervously. Ahh, the dreaded question that had plagued my dreams. I sighed, determined to not let down the group as I balanced along the wall, slowly placing my damaged foot down on the ground, not ready just let to allow the weight of my body onto it's frail, broken exterior. Biting my lip, I could tell Gally was feeling only mediocre about the idea of me walking, and I had to prove him wrong. I could probably make the others believe, but it would be tough to fool Gally. I had to, though. I was not going to slow the group down.

"Lilli if you can't walk on it you can just tell me I-"

"I can do it! I know I can, I'm just...stretching...is all." I said, in an only half believable tone. Gally sighed, nodding as he offered his hand for support, but I shook my head. I was going to do this, by myself. Slowly lowering my foot to lay flat on the ground, I closed my eyes shut as I began to place weight down onto my foot, and I instantly regretted it. Thee pain was excruciating, and even with a small fraction of my weight on the foot, I knew that there was no way I could do this. Certainly not for a 4-5 hour journey. Gally was quick to run forward, steadying me as I quickly retracted my foot from it's position on the ground. I bit my lip, regretfully shaking my head. Gally nodded, a wave of protection washing over his face.

"It's ok, it's ok. Don't worry. We'll figure something out, ok?" I sighed, nodding. I felt helpless and weak, but I knew I had no other choice. There was no way I could wake on that foot. I noticed that a lot of the Gladers were already up, when Shai came bounding towards us, a giant smile evident on her face.

"Guess what? So, Minho and I were talking, and we both figured that you wouldn't be able to walk, what with the condition of your leg, so we thought about it- and we've come up with a solution! Granted it's only temporary, but it might help, if even for a portion off the trip!" Shai said, excitement obvious as Minho came running up behind her, two makeshift crutches in his hand. I smiled. Shai and Minho made a great team.

"You guys! Thank you so much! How did you make this!" I said, a grin plastered on my face as Minho gently handed me the crutches. I admired them as I slowly placed them under my armpits and steadied myself. Minho smiled, turning to Shai.

"Well, for the post we used a couple of dull spears that we'd brought with us, and we just took the blade off. Then we used rocks to take the sharp part off the blades, wrapped them in rags, and reattached them at the top for the arm support!" Shai said, obvious very proud of herself. I was beaming as I leaned forwards to give Shai a hug. She laughed, steadying me as I smiled.

"Thank you guys so much!" I smiled.

"I'm just happy we could help!" Minho chimed in. We had left only about an hour ago from our resting place, and I was already lagging behind. Not erratically far, but farther than I should have. I was near the very back of the group, next to Thomas who had taken up the rear, while Minho took up the front. Most of the group was doing at least a light jog, but there were some that had slowed to a walk to reserve their energy. I'm fairly convinced however, that the walking was simply for my benefit, as if it would make me feel better to see everybody walking and slowing the pace along with me. I dreaded being that one in the group who slowed everyone down, but I suppose it was the inevitable considering my horribly damaged foot. Shai had re-wrapped it from me before we left, in fresh bandages that she had bought with her from the Glade. It still ached, but I was strong, and I was not going to slow everyone down even more just to whine and complain about something that no one could do anything about. Sighing slightly to myself, I noticed Thomas watching me intently. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Let me know if you need a break, ok Lilli?" I smiled, nodding.

"For sure. Don't worry, I'm doing fine." Rule one out of the book of life, Thomas. If a girl says she's "fine", she is rarely fine.

"Gally really wanted to be back here with you, but we really needed him in the middle to keep the peace and whatever else it is your boyfriend does." Thomas said, smirking cheekily and I chuckled, my mind wavering temporarily from the pain in my foot as I blushed.

"Yeah, he's good at that kind of stuff. You know, mandating peace, keeping order, chatting it up with your boyfriend." I smirked, and this time it was Thomas' turn to blush as I gestured up towards the middle of the group, where Gally and Newt were chatting amongst themselves, in full fledged discussion. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Thomas smiled, watching Newt intently, everything about him. The way he moved, the way his hair shone in the sunlight, all of it. It was so obvious, he loved all of it.

"He's not my boyfriend..." Thomas mumbled, blushing profusely as he stared down at the ground. I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Please, Thomas. I'm not blind. I mean, hell, even if I was blind I'd be able to tell that you too were smitten!" I chuckled, and Thomas's smile turned into a full fledged, goofy looking grin.

"You really think he's smitten?" I smiled, nodding in sincerity.

"I know it. You know, you should tell him. Just...be honest with him. I mean, I'm sure he's already got a bit of an inkling, but you should just come out and say it...you know? Ask him out." I said, matter-of-factually. Thomas' eyes grew wide.

"You really think I should?" I nodded.

"Totally. It's the only way to know, right? Just be honest, lay it all on the line. Something tells me he feels the same way, anyhow." Thomas blushed, smiling softly to himself.

"When we get out of here. I'll tell him when we get out off here. Thanks, Lilli." I smiled sweetly in return, glad that I could serve of some use on this agonizing trip.

A/N: Yay! Another update! Sorry if these Author's Notes are, like, seriously boring. Lol, you're allowed to skip them. But on the off chance that you're actually reading them, I just wanted to say that I hope you have a great day! ILY! Also I hope you're enjoying the story! I know exactly how I want it to end, and I'm so excited! It's already like 2am here lol so there probably won't be another update until tomorrow, but I'm determined to finish this thing! Woop woop! Comment if you guys want a sequel, because I have some amazing ideas in mind (and plot twists as usual lol) so please comment and vote ILY!

Also I apologize if there are some grammatical or spelling errors throughout this book, it's only a first draft of typing, so once I have the whole thing published I'll go back and edit out all the errors. I just don't feel like wasting time editing stuff you guys have already read, when I could be updating ith fresh material. ILYSm  <3